Chosen to Bear Fruit: Election in John’s Gospel
By Shawn Lazar A chapter from Chosen to Serve: Why Election Is for Service, Not for Eternal Life Do you remember when it was time to give oral presentations in class? It was always nerve-wracking for me. When the teacher picked up her list of names and started randomly choosing who would go next, I […]
Basics of Apologetics: Self-Defeating Propositions
If you want to see the importance of logic in real life, watch Judge Judy. Here’s a clip of a man losing his case in twenty-six seconds. A woman claimed that two men stole her purse. When she listed an “earpiece” among the stolen items, one of the accused helpfully interjected, “There was no earpiece […]
Fan the Flame
I am trying to learn how to be a better preacher. So is Bob. We’re both competitive that way— trying to better than we were before. We know the grim statistics, that just 12% of people say they usually remember the message (Schultz J and Schultz T 1994: 189). When we preach God’s grace and […]
Your Maintenance Plan
Do you know the difference between repenting of your sins and confessing your sins? Here’s an illustration. In Texas, there’s about two weeks during the spring and about two weeks during the fall when no one complains about the weather. For those brief moments, the weather is perfect. It’s sunny enough not to need your […]
John W. Robbins on Head Faith vs Heart Faith
One day I’ll have to write an article about John W. Robbins’ understanding of faith and saving faith. Robbins was a disciple of Gordon H. Clark. He ran the Trinity Foundation, which publishes Clark’s books, including Faith and Saving Faith. That book has been influential in Free Grace circles because it clearly shows why works […]
Is Faith Trust in a Person?
Sometimes people will say that saving faith is trust in a person. What does that mean, exactly? Here is John W. Robbins explaining when that expression makes sense, and when it does not: “Long before the neo-orthodox theologians thought of saying that faith is an encounter with a divine person rather than assent to a […]
Evangelism vs Pre-Evangelism
“How can you be so stupid???” We were talking about doing evangelism, when David and Anna [names changed] explained to me how David came to faith in Jesus. They started dating while David was an unbeliever (don’t do that, folks, cf. 2 Cor 6:14). As the relationship progressed, Anna confronted David about his lack of […]
Bob on the Bay
Bob was recently at Bayside Community Church in Tampa, FL. Here are links to the two messages he gave there. 10:00 AM His Promised Return is Certain http://bcctampa.sermon.net/main/main/20971995 11:00 AM What Manner of People Should We Be? http://bcctampa.sermon.net/main/main/20971964
Fruit Bearing: Together for Jesus
We aren’t a big ministry. Bob and I are the only full-time people. Bethany and Mark are both in the office, but part-time. Ken and Brad are offsite, and both part-time. But despite being small, I think we are productive. Six 48 page Grace in Focus issues a year. Two 100+ page Journal of the […]
Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) and Salvation by Works
Bible Study Fellowship (BSF) has done much good, teaching people the Bible. But I hope, like any other ministry, they are open to some constructive criticism. This past semester they went through the Gospel of John. I was disappointed to read how often the Notes changed the promise of life from a message of salvation […]