PERSONAL STORY AND LIFE OF CHARLES E WHISNANT FAMILY . Life is growing and learning every day, every experience gives us new wisdom and insight into giving God the glory.
Monday, October 31, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
Thursday, July 28, 2016
Racial Issues? Can They be solved by Salvation and the Gospel
This is an article that is written and not changed. I disagree in part with this but it good to see what others or Nana is saying.
July 26, 2016 http://christandpopculture.com/racial-issues-really-disappear-gospel-response-john-macarthur/t
at the age of 11, Olaudah Equiano — the son of an Igbo elder in what is now Nigeria — found himself in a slave ship’s cramped quarters. His autobiography describes the horror: "The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate… almost suffocated us… the air soon became unfit for respiration… and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died."
This was life for captured Africans in the infamous Middle Passage — the second leg of a three-part voyage that began with the trading of European goods for human cargo in Africa, which was then transported across the Atlantic and sold for raw materials that were carried back to Europe. Africans who survived the transatlantic crossing became slaves in the Americas.
Relatively speaking, Equiano fared better than most. His time in slavery was spent largely in the service of British navy captains and on cargo ships. In 1763, he was purchased by an American Quaker who allowed him to conduct his own minor trading operation. Equiano excelled at the venture and within three years had enough money to purchase his freedom.
In 1767, free and converted to Christ, he moved to England and became an active abolitionist. He spoke widely against the brutality of slavery and called for an end to the transatlantic slave trade. In 1798, Equiano’s cause gained an important ally: William Wilberforce.
The Gospel enables believers to see social issues from a spiritual perspective — but does it remove social issues altogether?
Following his conversion, Wilberforce became Parliament’s anti-slavery voice. His 20-year battle to end the slave trade came with great personal costs. Historian Ramsey Muir writes that "in 1807 some 17 million pounds changed hands in the slave trade in Liverpool in just one year." Some of the trade’s "stakeholders" were among Wilberforce’s own influential circle. Thus, to expose the evils of the system was to invite "vitriolic attacks in the newspapers; [Wilberforce] was physically assaulted, he faced death threats and he had to travel with an armed bodyguard." Yet he persevered.
Wilberforce perceived enslaved Africans as fellow men and brothers and was moved to take their cause as his own. He rejoiced with tears in Parliament in 1807 as the transatlantic slave trade was ruled illegal. Wilberforce didn’t leave a legacy of numerous theological treatises yet his commitment to other image bearers revealed a solidly scriptural understanding of God.
The men we Christians lionize are usually known more for their doctrine than for their application of truth to the issues of their day. In our own time, we often honor (and rightly so) contemporary theologians who shepherd us in our orthodoxy. Many are fiery preachers with solid Biblical expositions that leave us in awe of a big God. Dr. John MacArthur is certainly among these men.
MacArthur is valiant for the truth. As a younger preacher, he was among the 334 evangelical leaders who gathered in Chicago in 1978 to formulate the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy. Just a decade into his pastorate, MacArthur joined luminaries including J. I. Packer, Francis Schaeffer, and R. C. Sproul to defend Biblical inerrancy against liberalism’s assaults. Since then, he has remained steadfastly orthodox in his passion for the Scriptures. I’m thankful to say that my own theological formation has benefitted greatly from his confident preaching.
So when The Master’s Seminary — of which MacArthur is president — released a YouTube video titled "Racism and Black Lives Matter" on July 8, 2016, I expected a strong application of the Gospel to today’s polarizing racial issues. What I heard instead was disappointing.
The clip begins with this question to MacArthur:
Here’s a portion of MacArthur’s answer:
I expected a larger view of the Gospel from a man like MacArthur. While he explains the Gospel as preeminent, his overall position says otherwise. My husband explains it best:
I’m surrounded by black Christians for whom racial issues have not disappeared with salvation. Dr. MacArthur’s position is disrespectful to those battered by the blows of discrimination. If nothing else, his response is very insulated. Not many pastors in Baton Rouge, St. Paul, Dallas, Ferguson, Baltimore, or Chicago could sit today and claim that salvation erases racial issues.
Answers like MacArthur’s tend to scoot too close to Luke 11:42: "For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others." As someone whose understanding of the Gospel has been shaped by teachers like MacArthur, I would’ve been encouraged to see his bold passion for the Gospel extend to touch current issues rather than avoid them. I would’ve rejoiced in his acknowledgement of ugly racial injustices while heralding the power of the Gospel to reconcile enemies (Ephesians 2:14-19). His ability to preach and leave us in awe of a big God would’ve been a gracious gift to the Church in these divided times. Instead, he condenses the Gospel to a message that denies current racial issues.
John MacArthur’s words were disappointing, as was his timing. The Master’s Seminary chose to release this video on the topic of race just three days after the shooting death of Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, by white officers of the Baton Rouge Police Department. The shock of Sterling’s death was barely absorbed when a second black man, Philando Castile, was shot and killed by an officer in St. Paul, Minnesota on July 6.
The days following 2016’s Independence Day were difficult ones for America. We watched families grieve the unexpected end of loved ones in Baton Rouge, St. Paul, and Dallas and were reminded, not of our unity, but of our land’s abiding fragmentation. Our Fourth of July celebrations this year ended with cries.
And as we mourned, many, particularly African Americans, were reminded of other reasons to weep. We remembered men and women killed hastily and seemingly without due process of law. Our tears over those killed in July were also for Eric Garner, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin. We cried for Amadou Diallo and Emmett Till. We cried for Laura and L. D. Nelson, a mother and son lynched together in 1911 over a railroad bridge in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. We cried over the terrors of chattel slavery and the dehumanization of Jim Crow segregation. And yes, we even cried for Olaudah Equiano and 12.5 million Africans captured, packed, and shipped through the transatlantic slave trade.
In Genesis 1:27, the Bible declares that "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." And in Luke 12:6-7, Jesus adds: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows."
If God remembers the sparrows, then human beings made in His image are worthy of our concern. So when blood is spilt, it’s right to grieve. Much more, when death and repression come as the result of prejudiced systems, then we lament and call for repentance (Jeremiah 7:1-7). If persons (and even nations, see Matthew 11:10-24) await the ultimate examination of a holy Judge, then Christians do well to sound the alarm when we see the sin of racism and injustice.
But instead of bold words of caution, some corners of evangelicalism saw the contention of early July and said nothing. Others, like John MacArthur, offered evasive remarks. We tend to lose our voice when it comes to the issue of race. And when we do speak, our inclination is to reduce our message to Galatians 3:28 and little else: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Russell Moore writes that some white Christians "assume that if they don’t harbor personal animus against those of other ethnicities, then there is no ‘race problem.’"
Perhaps this is Dr. MacArthur’s perspective. In the video, he implies friendship with certain black leaders and recalls holding memorial services for Martin Luther King in black high schools. Like the man who justifies himself from the suspicion of racial bias by naming the minorities he knows, this section of John MacArthur’s video sounds a bit conciliatory. He says this: "Look, I’ve been on that side of it [the racial justice side?]… But I also see the power of the Gospel and when the Gospel changes your life, you go from social issues to spiritual issues." While he may not nurture prejudiced feelings toward minorities, Dr. MacArthur’s statement reveals a major disconnect from the experience of his said black friends.
Yes, the Gospel enables believers to see social issues from a spiritual perspective — but does it remove social issues altogether? Indeed, do we actually diminish (or perhaps even doubt) the power of the Gospel to conquer racism if we ignore the reality of that sin?
Addressing The Gospel Coalition Council in May 2016, Mika Edmondson said this:
Furthermore, we show the beauty of our Savior’s work in making us truly one when we mingle our voices together and insist that, in the fullness of time, even racism will bow at Christ’s feet. Rather than using Scripture as a reason to dismiss social issues, we should emulate the model of Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce, who offered an accurate application of Galatians 3:28 through their joint address of the racial injustices of their time.
Image via The Master’s Seminary.
Note: Access to the John MacArthur video "Racism and Black Lives Matter" linked in this article is at the discretion of the original publisher’s YouTube privacy settings. Unfortunately, at present (6/26/16), it is not publicly available.
— Nana Dolce
Nana Dolce was born in Ghana, West Africa; she lives today in Washington, D.C. with her husband Eric and two home-schooled daughters. She has a Master of Arts in Theological Studies and serves on staff at a local church. She blogs at motherhoodandsanctity.com.
Friday, February 20, 2015
John MacArthur 29 Reasons for Expository Preaching
29 Reasons Why John MacArthur is Committed to Expository Preaching
I listen to the lessons John gave at the Master’s Seminary on this topic.
1. A failure to do expositional preaching usurps the authority of God over the soul.
2. A failure to do expository preaching usurps the headship of Christ over His church.
3. A failure to preach and teach expositionally hinders the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has one tool by which He does His saving and sanctifying work. What is it? The Word of God… John 17:17, “Sanctify them by Thy truth, Thy Word is truth.”
4. A failure to do expositional preaching demonstrates pride and a lack of submission… Mavericks don’t like to submit to biblical truth because they don’t want to submit to God. It’s really frightening.
5. A failure to do expositional preaching severs the preacher personally from the regular sanctifying grace of Scripture.
6. A failure to do expositional preaching, biblical, doctrinal exposition removes spiritual depth and transcendence from worship.
7. A failure to do expositional preaching prevents the preacher from fully developing the mind of Christ critical to His work.
8. A failure to do expository preaching depreciates by example the spiritual duty of personal Bible study.
9. A failure to do expositional preaching prevents the preacher from being the voice of God on every issue of his time… Jeremiah 8:9 says, “They have rejected the Word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?”
10. A failure to do expositional preaching breeds a congregation that is weak and indifferent to the glory of God and Christ. A failure to preach Scripture redirects people from a God-centered perspective to a man-centered perspective. It tends to undermine confidence… in Scripture. There’s a certain indifference toward Scripture conveyed by the failure to teach it, but it produces a congregation that is indifferent to the glory of God and Christ because the purpose of Scripture is to enable people to glorify God and Christ. It’s amazing how low people’s view of God is in those environments, a low view of Christ rather than, as we said earlier, a great lofty transcendent view.
11. A failure to do Bible exposition robs people of their only true source of help, the Scripture. It is true, is it not?, that the only source of spiritual help is the Word of God, or the application of the Word of God, the proclamation of the Word of God which leads to the understanding of the Word of God.
12. A failure to do biblical exposition produces an attitude of indifference toward divine authority.
13. A failure to exposit the Scriptures lies to people about what they really need. It is…isn’t it Jeremiah 8:11? Treating people’s wounds superficially? They think they’re getting spiritual help and they’re not.
14. A failure to exposit the Scriptures strips the pulpit of power.
15. A failure to do expository preaching assumes that the preacher can change people by his ability. I don’t believe that. I would probably guess that if you asked any preacher if he thought he had the ability to change people, if he was anything other than a rabid Arminian, he would probably deny that. But in a fact, don’t tell me what you believe, show me by what you do when you get in the pulpit.
16. A failure to do expository preaching reduces the preacher’s words to the level of everyone else’s word. You’ve just engaged your people at the same level that all the people are…that all the pundits and all the theorists, and all the philosophers and all the religious people have engaged them. You’ve just lowered yourself to the common level.
17. A failure to do expository preaching portrays an attitude of self-love rather than loving the Lord with all your heart, mind and soul.
18. A failure to do expository preaching creates a destructive disconnect between doctrine and life.
19. A failure to do expositional preaching denigrates the person of God by omitting those attributes and truths of his revelation that trouble and terrify the unregenerate.
20. A failure to do expositional preaching reduces the preacher to the level of every rival teacher shorn of authority. It leaves ministry success to be determined by who is most clever, who can get the biggest crowd.
21. (…they’re all interwoven) A failure to do expositional preaching emasculates the dominion of the pulpit over people’s minds and souls.
22. A failure to do expository preaching disconnects people from the legacy of the past from the history of the church.
23. A failure to do expositional preaching removes protection from error and carnality so dangerous to the church. This is unfaithful shepherding.
24. A failure to do expositional preaching abandons the duty to guard the truth.
25. A failure to teach expositionally fails to defend threatened truths.
26. A failure to do Bible exposition generates shallow, selfish prayer.
27. If you don’t do expositional preaching, you fail to lead people to self-denial, cross-bearing humility.
28. A failure to do expositional preaching cheats people of the means to truly delighting in the Lord. Shallow knowledge means shallow love.
29. A failure to do expositional preaching lacks the general manliness of message and ministry.
You can read or listen to the full messages “Why I Am Committed to Expository Preaching” Part 1 and Part 2.
Recommended Preaching Resources:
- The Fundamentals of Expository Preaching – 24 Lectures Taught by John MacArthur and Steven Lawson. See 250+ other free seminary resources here.
- Book from John MacArthur and faculty at The Master’s Seminary: Rediscovering Expository Preaching: Balancing the Science and the Art of Biblical Exposition
- Are Preachers More Like Doctors or Lawyers? A helpful post from Leadership Resources
Tuesday, February 03, 2015
Thursday, August 14, 2014
Friday, August 08, 2014
Monday, March 31, 2014
Monday, March 24, 2014
Grace Community Church–John MacArthur 03 23 2014
Dr. Iain Murray speaking at Grace and he is only 82 years old
John MacArthur and the Master’s Choir
Monday, March 17, 2014
John MacArthur Teaching of Salvation by God ALone
The title that the person who recorded this I believe, made the title, but John MacArthur did not mention David Jeremiah or Calvary Chapel.
While I believe that many today make salvation a process that is up the person. If you want to be saved on your own you can be saved, and God will save you if you ask. While I don't believe this in that God opens the heart unto His salvation.
Sinners do not respond better if you change the method, if ;you just change the invitation to suit the sinners idea than he will be better to be saved. This is not even biblical.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
Friday, January 31, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Monday, January 20, 2014
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Reason For Expositional Preaching #1
Saturday, January 11, 2014
WHY PREACH/TEACH EXPOSITIONAL :
NUMBER #1
- YOU USURP THE AUTHORITY OF GOD OVER THE MIND AND SOUL IF YOU FALL TO EXPLAIN THE WORD OF GOD
- You usurp the authority of God over the mind and soul if you fall to explain the word of God you have replaced the authority of God with whatever else you're doing. It really is a question of authority.
- YOU USURP THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST OVER THE CHURCH
- We see it all through the NT the authority of Christ over the Church.
- That God has made the one who is Lord over everything to be the head of the church.
- IT HINDERS THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
- The Spirit uses the Word to sanctify them, by the truth, The word is truth, the only tool the Spirit has is the scripture and where the Scripture replaced by anything else the work of the Spirit is hindered .
- Isn't it unthinkable for a Christian not to submit to scripture. John says If you love Christ you will obey him as well in I Peter 1 14 as Obedient Christians.
- There is this among preachers who do not yield to scripture, it reveals an inferior inadequate love for God and his glory and the honor and glory of God and an inferior understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit
- DEMONSTRATE PRIDE, AND A LACK OF SUBMISSION
- Isn't it unthinkable for a Christian not to submit to scripture. John says If you love Christ you will obey him as well in I Peter 1 14 as Obedient Christians.
- There is this among preachers who do not yield to scripture, it reveals an inferior inadequate love for God and his glory and the honor and glory of God and an inferior understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit
- IT SEVERS THE PREACHER PERSONALLY FROM THE REGULAR SANCTIFICATION OF SCRIPTURE.
- What does that mean? If you are not an expositor you are not in the study of the book. And you have just been cut off from the sanctifying power in your life. Then you put yourself in a dangerous spot.
- If there is one way to discredit everything, and the integrity of the gospel and the church is the testimony of the pastor. What just kills me is the immoral pastor, the pastor who does not live by the Word.
- So what keeps you sanctified to the point that you will not go that way? The only thing that will is what will sanctify anyone and that is the work of the word in your heart.
- REMOVES SPIRITUAL DEPTH AND TRANSCENDENCE FROM THE PEOPLE CRIPPLING WORSHIP.
- That is to say it cripples worship. What do I mean by that, well let's take it from the positive side when you come on Sunday or you go to Bible study or go to an opportunity to be taught the word of God, you were taken down into other depths that scripture inevitable to places you haven't been right?
- PREVENT THE PREACHER FROM FULLY DEVELOPING THE MIND OF CHRIST CRITICAL TO HIS WORK. From fully speaking for Christ whom he serves.
- 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 we are remind of a very important spiritual truth and read it please. Mark it down, an unconverted natural person doesn't get it, doesn't understand the things of God. People are just not favorable with the Scripture. Lost people just do not get the truths of God. And that is to be expected as a response.
- DEPRECIATED BY EXAMPLE The spiritual duty and benefit of studying If the pastor doesn't do it.
- If the pastor doesn't do it why should others in the church do it. I never ask a young person to do something that I had not already done. Even in those early years I would work my fingers off writing in learning the Word of God. If this bible is not valuable to me why should it be to anyone else. I need first to be a preacher of the word, not a preacher of the building.
- PREVENTS THE PREACHER FROM BEING THE VOICE OF GOD ON EVERY ISSUE OF HIS TIME
- If you know your bible you can be the voice of God on every issue.
- BREEDS A CONGREGATION AS WEAK AND INDIFFERENT TO THE GLORY OF GOD, AS
- If you do not do expositional preaching if you don't give your people the eternal powerful word of God you breed a congregation that is week and indifferent to the glory of God, honor of God, the honor of Christ.
- IF YOU DO NOT DO EXPOSITIONAL PREACHING ON THE NEGATIVE SIDE YOU ROB PEOPLE OF THEIR ONLY TRUE SOURCE OF HELP. THEIR ONLY TRUE SOURCE OF HELP.
- 1 Timothy 3 we covered that in a series on Sunday in the Adult Bible Class.
- There is no help apart from the Lord, and there is no help apart from understand the Scriptures about God.
- THE FAILURE TO DO EXPOSITIONAL PREACHING PUTS THE RESPONSIBILITY ON THE PREACHER TO CHANGE PEOPLE
- Say that most preachers feel that responsibility. I would be in a mental institution if I believe that people's eternal destiny depended on me. I am a Calvinist because that is a defensive posture. I can not handle that responsibility. And I don't have to either.
- FAILURE TO PREACH EXPOSITIONAL REDUCES THE PREACHERS WORDS TO THE LEVEL OF EVERYBODY ELSE'S WORD
- I just say my words then I am just like anyone else. The audience can pick and choose what they hear.
- You may think you can come up with a clever way that you think you can articulate your message, but if it's not the Word of God then you are reduced to the level of everyone else who has an opinion, an ideal, a viewpoints, a theory, a religious insight, a perspective
- FAILURE TO PREACH EXPOSITIONAL IS TO PORTRAY AN ATTITUDE OF SELF-LOVE RATHER THAN LOVING THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART SOUL AND MIND AND STRENGTH.
- ANOTHER WAY: WHATEVER YOU LOVE MOST WILL DOMINATE YOUR LIFE AND WHATEVER YOU LOVE MOST WILL DOMINATE YOUR MINISTRY.
- I don't want to walk into the pulpit and say "the other day I was thinking." (poor typing the script of John and its said, "I don't want to walk in the pole dancing on the other day.")
- A FAILURE TO DO EXPOSITIONAL PREACHING CREATES A DESTRUCTIVE DISCONNECT BETWEEN SOUND DOCTRINE AND LIFE
- Another way: LIFE IMITATES THEOLOGY
- Since I adopted John MacArthur's method of preaching I have like he has been highly criticism and not been practical and preaching is not applicial . I never make application, I am not relevant.
- IT ELIMINATES THE TRUTHS, THE TROUBLE AND OFFENSE AND TERRIFIED THE LOST
- A failure to do biblical exposition makes the congregation: if they fail to do biblical exposition to teach the full counsel of God as revealed in holy Scripture it eliminates the truths, the trouble and offended and terrified the lost and the sinful.
- WILL DISCONNECT GOD'S PEOPLE FROM THE LEGACY OF THE PAST
- Some of my very favorite preachers and theologian and teachers are those who have already died many years ago. When I was preaching Romans the first time around, or Ephesians, or Revelation I read over 100 people on the subject. Most of them were dead a long time ago.. Why do you read commentaries on any book from dead men? Really dead people: Calvin, Luther, Spurgeon, etc. Pink, Ironside, and Whitefield, and others older Baxter, Edwards,
- REMOVES THE PROTECTION FROM ERROR THAT IS DEADLY TO THE CHURCH
- Shepherds understand they have to protect sheep, because there are those who dress up in sheep clothing and teach error. That is what Satan does, comes inside the church and cause all kinds of trouble. We have to watch and warn.
- Sometimes Christians can not tell truth from error. A very dangerous situation and unless we clarify doctrine, unless we defended threatened truth, unless we guard the truth of scripture, unless we expose error we are not faithful shepherd's.
- EXPOSITORY PREACHING ASSURES PEOPLE THAT THEY HAVE HEARD FROM HEAVEN
- Too many preachers preach what has not come from Heaven.
- I believe people should hear from God and people want to hear from God and the way you guarantee that is by given them the word that God has spoken on the pages of holy scripture. Far too many people believe that they have heard something so profound they believe it came from God when indeed they have not.
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