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.
What
is the process of coming to faith and salvation ?
Romans
10:9-10 and 13-17
Charles
e Whisnant, Pastor/Teacher October 27 2013
How
Shall People Be Saved? 10:13-21
13 For "everyone
who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14 But how are
they to call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they
to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they
to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are
they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"
16 But they have
not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has
believed what he has heard from us?"
17 So faith comes
from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18 But I ask, have
they not heard? Indeed they have, for "Their voice has gone out
to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world." 19
But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, "I will
make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation
I will make you angry."
20 Then Isaiah is
so bold as to say, "I have been found by those who did not seek
me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me." 21 But
of Israel he says, "All day long I have held out my hands to a
disobedient and contrary people."
How you can be saved from God's wrath
and from the guilt and dominion of sin with the hope of eternal life
in God.
What
is the process of coming to faith and salvation ?
Keep in mind that the problem Paul is
dealing with in Romans 9 and 10 is mainly the unbelief of Israel and
why it happened and why this does not undermine the faithfulness and
reliability of God.
So what Paul does in the last verses
of Romans 10 is show once more that the reason most of Israel does
not have a share in salvation is that they do not believe in the
Messiah, Jesus.
What are the prerequisites of
salvation? Maybe they missed it? Maybe they didn't believe because
they didn't have what they need to know to be held accountable to
believe.
So Paul is going to specifically spell
out the steps to salvation that apply to the Jews or for that matter
anyone else. And Paul's argues that they had all they needed to
know to be saved.
WHAT ARE THOSE STEPS WE NEED TO KNOW
TO BE A PART OF GOD'S SAVING PLAN? ROMANS 10:14-17
But how
are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are
they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are
they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to
preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful
are the feet of those who preach the good news!" 16 But they
have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has
believed what he has heard from us?" 17 So faith comes from
hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
WHAT THE
CONDITIONS ARE THAT HAVE BEEN PUT IN PLACE FOR ISRAEL AND THAT MUST
BE PUT IN PLACE WHENEVER ANYONE IS TO BE SAVED?
Romans 10:14-15 and 16 cf. Isaiah 53:1
A
preacher must preach the gospel of grace
The
sent preacher must preach the good news that there is hope
The
preacher good news must be heard
The
heard good news must be believed
The
belief must be the kind that calls on God for salvation.
Sending,
preaching, hearing, believing, calling on God.
Then
vs. 17 So faith
comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
So
we have: Sending to preach, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ,
hearing the gospel of Christ, and believing in this Christ, then
calling on the Lord Jesus for salvation.
I have always heard that preachers should live in a hut, or a shack,
or at least that show he and his family our humble. Well Charity and I
have lived in some of the really bad houses. Does that make us humble?
No just mad. Preachers and churches have allowed us to live in some of
the worst places a person could live in. And give us the so little
money to live on that Charity and I had to have another job to make a
living.
Why don't we expect doctors and
lawyers, and CEO to live in run down houses where they you have to trap
and get rid of 100's of mice every year. 100x11 years = how many. So
why should preachers?
Now, Steven Furtick is spending a lot of that money on a 16,000 square
foot house in Weddington. It has 7 ½ bathrooms, according to building
permits, which put the contract value of the house alone just shy of
$1.4 million. The land cost another $325,000, for a total cost of more
than $1.7 million.
If a preacher lives in a nice home people will say he is taking the money from the church. Hate that.
Charity and I have lived in some trashy houses. But we have made them look very nice in the end. But
to be honest we have had some very nice houses. In Connersville, the
church built us a new home and gave us a nice salary to live on. And
Charity and I didn't have to have another job. That was nice until the
pastor fired us. When we lived in Altoona, the church moved us to a house that was really not very good. But then a member gave us the money for a down payment for a house. Then a member worked dirt cheap to help us fix it up. And then the church gave us a salary that help pay for it. Boy I wish I could write a book and sell it. I could be another John MacArthur, or John Piper or a David Jeremiah! Now they have others to write their books. Well they take their sermons and turn them into books. (And I am so glad they have their books and tapes I love them) If a preacher can honestly build a nice house, wear good clothes and drive a good car that is good for him to do that. Its another matter in any profession to not to do otherwise. Well all that I can say about this matter.
On Tuesday and Wednesday we worked on the "Chad Project" on the upper property. And I took some time on Wednesday to do some studying for the Wednesday Bible Study. We had a great Wednesday Night Bible Study at Rivers of Joy Baptist Church. Started this morning by taking Charity to work at Union Mills at 7:00 a.m. She worked unto 3:30 today.
On Thursday I took an hour to do some landscape on.the Chad Project on the upper property. Then did some study and as a researcher done some on some topics.
First: I discovered that I could download from Amazon Richard Baxter's two volumes : A Christian Directory: Christian Ethics. Some 1100 pages. And a second volume Practice Resources. I was able to download them on Kindle Fire. Then for the first time I download them on my Android Phone. Just amazing. Second: I am on two website Groups through Facebook. Love both of them. They challenge my belief, and cause me to research more about what I believe. Third: I researched several projects today: And posted them on my other websites:
https://riversofjoybaptist.wordpress.com/2013/10/10/metropolitan-tabernacle-pastors-and-auckland-baptist-tabernacle/ The church that Charles Spurgeon was the pastor and Thomas Spurgeon who took his place. The history of the churches and its pastors.
https://riversofjoybaptist.wordpress.com/2013/10/11/reformers-vs-anabaptist/ The post address the issue of John Calvin and Martin Luther and what they really did. And a brief history of the Anabaptist vs. the Reformers and links to go to.
https://vimeo.com/home/myvideos I download my sermon from I Peter a week ago. Five videos and they take two hours at least per video of 14 minutes.
The family threw me pre- birthday party on Saturday at Eric and Leslie Whisnant house. Leslie had a wonderful meal prepared for us.
The photos are not in order of the events that took place.
2
3
The theme of the event was THE OWL. There are two owls on our property back of the house and that was the theme. So Charity had Union Mills to make a cake with the owl.
4
And also there was the cookie owls that they made, and they were really good.
5
So here is the cake and the Stuff Owl and the cake
6
We had time to play with AGW and Trey while we were there
7
Charity holding Trey
8
9
10
We had fun with AGW and Trey and Zippie liked Trey as well
11
AGW and I had a great tea party
12
13
14
Chad and Bri hard a work on the fish cookies.
Chad had to go to a wedding in Louisville but go in on the cookies
16
Becky and Briley and Kyle hanging out
17
18
We went to Broadway Baptist Church with Leslie and Erie at the 8:15 a.m. service
19
I said I would go if Eric would were a suit and he did.
20
Then we went to Ashland Ave Baptist Church at the 10:15 a.m. service and saw some good friends from when were were there in the church
21
22
Well Heather and Chad found this Owl. We had fun for sure
23
24
Yes Mrs. Lula Mae Pryer our friend from Ashland Ave Baptist
25
You know at 66 (well on the 22nd) you can have a little fun
26
The plate of cookies specially made by Chad and Briley and the family
27
Briley at the soccer game]
28
AGW getting ready to play soccer
29
Heading to play AGW soccer game
30
Becky is back from her training in S.C. and holding Trey at the game
YOU JUST DON'T TAKE ENOUGH PHOTO AT THESE EVENTS
Charity and I went to see AGW play Soccer on Saturday. And the family was there. And we got so involved with family and the game I forgot to take photos. I hate that too.
31
Mr. Beaver was glad to have a friend Mr. Owl
32
So Charity puts the fellows on the fire place
I took this photo, and Charity is standing in the background