Pester Brat's Saint and Sinner Hypocrisy Blog

This church is in SE Florida in Coconut Creek, and where my oldest daughter attends. Emmanuel Baptist Church Covenant Having been brought by divine grace to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ, and to give ourselves wholly to Him, we the members of Emmanuel Baptist Church, do in the presence of God, angels, and this assembly, solemnly and joyfully covenant with each other to walk together in Him as one body to the glory of our one Lord. We do, therefore, in his strength agree - - That in brotherly love we will remember one another in prayer, encourage each other in our Christian walk, carefully watch over each other, and faithfully warn, exhort, and admonish one another as occasion may require: That we will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but will uphold the public worship of God, and the ordinances of His church: That we will not omit closet and family religion at home, nor neglect the great duty of religiously training our children, and those under our care, for the servi...

A Friendly Challenge to Pastors (Part 2) Ephesians 5:23 states simply that Christ is head of the church. That statement reflects the truth that Christ is the incarnate God, the redeemer of His people, the risen Lord Who has been exalted to God's right hand and given the name that is above every name. The church was given to Him before the foundation of the world and He came in time and purchased it for Himself. The church exists because of Christ and it exists for His glory supremely. It is the happy lot of the church to be under the gracious and righteous rule of the living, glorified Christ. However, there is a problem: far too often Christ is not treated as the Head of His church. Far too often other wills have priority over His will in the affairs of the church. This can be seen in many areas, I will name a few: 1. The preaching of the Gospel: The Gospel is the declaration of Christ, His person and His work. It is the explanation that He has satisfied the claims of Divine Just...

A Friendly Challenge to Pastors (Part 1) The work of a pastor has become much less obvious than was formerly the case. Congregations and pastors alike often have very differing ideas on the matter. In many instances the bottom line is that pastors must keep the people happy while also increasing the attendance (and collections). How to accomplish these tasks can drive a person to distraction! Perhaps some would find it surprising to know that neither of these objectives is specified in the Bible as the work of the pastor. The primary work of the pastor, according to the Scriptures, is to feed and protect God's people. This is plain beyond dispute from passages such as: Jer. 3:15, 23:4; John 21:17; Acts 20:18-21, 26-28; 2Tim. 4:2; 1Peter 5:1-2. This feeding and protecting is of a spiritual, and not physical, nature. Christ appoints men, gifted by the Holy Spirit, to be over His churches in order that those men might instruct the redeemed in all His holy will and protect their souls ...

Spurgeon Describing Hypers on Reprobation "I have fancied I have seen in certain hyper-Calvinists a sort of Red Indian scalping-knife propensity; an ogre-like feeling with respect to, reprobation; a smacking of lips over the ruin and destruction of mankind; as to all of which, I can only say that it seems to me to be “earthly, sensual, devilish.” I cannot imagine a man, especially a man who has the spirit of Christ in him, thinking of the ruin of mankind with any other feeling than that which moved the soul of Christ when he wept over Jerusalem, crying, “How often would I have gathered thee as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings!” Let no one imagine that the spirit of Calvinism is a spirit of hostility to universal humanity. It is not so. It is a perversion and a caricature of the expositions of Calvin and Augustine, and of the Apostle Paul, and of what our Master preached, to represent us as thinking with complacency of the ruin of any one of the human race." MTP, V...

This article was referred to me by a brother in Christ, and is no reflection whatsoever of Grace Fellowship and our Deacons. As a matter of fact, most of it doesn't apply, and this type of thing is often the result of giving Deacons in baptist and other churches more authority in the church than the bible gives. This is for the general benefit of those who read, and for the glory of God What Pastors Wish Deacons Knew by Derek Gentle I appreciate you more than you know There is not a greater blessing in a pastor's life than a godly deacon who loves the Lord and loves the Word of God. I feel that I couldn't have a more wonderful relationship with them. I wish every pastor were so blessed. Just looking out in the service and seeing you there is an encouragement. Knowing you are praying for me motivates me. Knowing you share the vision of a growing, evangelistic church and impacting our community challenges me to my best efforts! God bless you godly deacon. You are appreciated!...

‘New Perspective’ corrupts the Gospel at its heart Jul 20, 2006 By Jeff Robinson Baptist Press OWASSO, Okla. (BP)--The “New Perspective” on the apostle Paul’s teaching about salvation has far more in common with the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church than it does with historic evangelical belief, theologian Sam Waldron said at the 24th Annual Southern Baptist Founders Conference July 11-14. Waldron said the New Perspective undermines the biblical view of justification by faith in Christ alone -- a doctrine at the center of the Gospel -- and represents a return to the Roman Catholic doctrine of justification by works. Whereas Martin Luther and his fellow reformers in the 16th century reasserted the orthodox Scriptural doctrine of justification in the Protestant Reformation, the New Perspective overturns it, he said. “The New Perspective is influencing many in evangelical circles and in my view corrupts the Gospel at its heart,” Waldron, a pastor at Heritage Baptist Church in Owensbo...

Want an idea on where Mr. King stood on some doctrinal issues? Check the following links out: www.aomin.org (summary) www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/papers/vol2/530515-A_Comparison_and_Evaluation_of_the_Theology_of_Luther.htm (original and more details)

Why Politicians Shouldn't Be Theologians Dr. Mark Osterloh, "a Tucson physician and unsuccessful 2002 Democratic gubernatorial candidate," is leading the charge for a bill (likely now to be decided on by Arizona voters in the November elections) which would, in essence, guarantee one lucky voter per election of a $1 million dollar prize just for casting a ballot. Yes, that is right. In order to bolster voter turnout, Osterloh is proposing the adoption of a "voter lottery" whereby one random voter who casts a ballot each election is selected to receive a $1 million dollar prize. It's an incentive that Osterloh says not only makes sense, but is Biblical. From the Arizona Daily Star on May 19th: "People don't always do what they should do," he said. Anyway, he said, it's little different from religion, which he also said is based on incentives. "What does God say? Do what you're supposed to do and I will reward you with eternal life i...

Who Accepts Whom? By Pastor Daniel Chamberlin of Covenant Baptist Church in Broken Arrow, OK. www.covenantbc.com "Are you a Christian?" asks Bill. George confidently responds, "Of course I am; I accepted Christ a long time ago." How often have we heard an exchange similar to this! And if you were Bill, perhaps you felt a bit uneasy hearing this feather-light response. The problem is not so much that what George said was wrong, as that he failed to say more. Modern methods of evangelism have produced a glut of "George's" who talk as if becoming a Christian were something of their own doing. It goes something like this: "God has done all He can do, the next move (the really decisive one) is up to you... Heaven or hell––the choice is yours." By thus "accepting" Christ, man virtually becomes his own savior. Man is in the driver's seat, and God becomes a mere spectator. Man becomes the sun around which all else in the universe rotat...

"There are three things that earthly riches can never do; they can never satisfy divine justice, they can never pacify divine wrath, nor can they ever quiet a guilty conscience. And till these things are done man is undone." - Thomas Brooks

The Lord has been blessing in numerous ways over and above his constant everyday blessings that we have a tendency to take for granted. For example, Lord willing we will have our PT Cruiser sold this weekend. Someone from about 2.5 hours away is coming to look at it this weekend, so I think that's a pretty good sign. But that is not the only reason for this Blog Post. 1. For months now, we have been having the sermons from our worship service broadcast on our local cable station, for which we are thankful to the Lord for. But soon, our local cable station will be webcasting everything. This station is a non profit set up, so the onlt regualr costs we have for this is the cost for blank DVDs. The sermons are already available to listen through our website ( www.gracefellowshipmh.org ), but if you are interested in watching the DVDs soon, the website address for Cable 8 is www.camera8.tv . Keep checking the website to find out when it will be webcast. 2. With that however, is the new...

The Doctrine of Regeneration ...by Isaac Ambrose First, the necessity of it: "Except a man be new born, he can never be saved" -JOHN 3:3. It is our Savior's speech, and he avers it with a double asseveration, " Verily, verily, I say unto thee." Again, GOD the Father thus counsels not only Nicodemus, but all the Jews of the old church, saying, " Make you a new heart and a new spirit, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" Ezek. 18:31. Notwithstanding all their privileges, yet here is one thing necessary, that must crown all the rest; they must have a new heart, and a new spirit, that is, they must be new born, or there is no way but death. Nor is this doctrine without reason or ground. For, man is first unholy, and therefore most unfit to enter into heaven; " without holiness no man shall see GOD," Heb. 12: 14. And what is man before he is new born? If we look upon his soul, we may see it deformed with sin, defiled with lust, outraged with ...

"A Discourse of Mortification" by Stephen Charnock For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. — Rom. VIII. 13. THE apostle having before spoken of justification by Christ, and shewed the necessity of sanctification, whereby we indeed resemble the holiness of God, which he shews to be wrought by the Spirit of God, which is the band of communion between saints and Christ, who raises them both from sin here and the grave hereafter; and that we are not debtors to the flesh, that we should follow the suggestions of that, but to the Spirit, to observe his inspirations; he then in the text backs his exhortations with a threatening and a promise: a threatening to excite our industry, and a promise to prevent our dejection. You must not imagine you shall be justified without being sanctified; for if you live after the flesh, you shall fall under that eternal death which is due to sin; but if you follow th...

Another Gospel ARTHUR W. PINK SATAN IS NOT AN INITIATOR but an imitator. God has an only begotten Son—the Lord Jesus, and so has Satan—"the son of Perdition" (2 Thess. 2:3). There is a Holy Trinity, and there is like wise a Trinity of Evil (Rev. 20:10). Do we read of the "children of God," so also we read of "the children of the wicked one" (Matt. 13:38). Does God work in the former both to will and to do of His good pleasure, then we are told that Satan is "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2). Is there a "mystery of godliness" (1 Tim. 3:16), so also is there a "mystery of iniquity" (2 Thess. 2:7). Are we told that God by His angels "seals" His servants in their foreheads (Rev. 7:3), so also, we learn that Satan by his agents sets a mark in the foreheads of his devotees (Rev. 13:16). Are we told that "the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2...