LINKS

 

 

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From Faith to Faith 

October 2006
Senior Pastor: Dr. Carl W. Bogue
Assistant Pastors: Rev. Bruce Buchanan & Rev. James Kobb

 

 

Ladies of Faith Church: The October WIC meeting (Women in the Church) will be held on Saturday, October 7th. Come on over for breakfast at 9:00 a.m. with a brief business update to be followed by an overview of the women of the reformation. A book about these reformation women will be available to all who sign up for the meeting. A sign up sheet for attendance is on the vestibule table. Signing up is not necessary for attendance, but is necessary if you wish to receive a book and it helps the women preparing breakfast to know how many to plan for. Hope to see you there for food and fellowship.

8:15 a.m. business meeting (all women are welcome)

9:00 a.m. Breakfast (provided for you)

9:30 Reformation theme program

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Hans and Gretchen Deutschmann, MTW missionaries to Czech Republic, will be here at Faith Church on Sunday, October 1st. Hans will preach the morning service. Hans emigrated from Germany to the United States in 1958, then attended high school and college in Wisconsin. After serving with the U.S. Army, he obtained his M.A. from the University of Wisconsin, where he and Gretchen met in 1970. After marrying in 1971, they taught school in Wisconsin. Desiring to know God and His Word better, Hans attended Covenant Theological Seminary. Graduating with an M.Div. in 1980, the Deutschmanns served as pastor, teachers, youth leaders, and counselors until 2000 when they answered God’s call to pursue foreign missions. The Deutschmanns have six grown children.

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From the Pastor’s Study


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It is hard for one who loves the doctrines of grace which were rediscovered during the Reformation not to be motivated along those lines each October as the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation is celebrated. In determining whether to put something together this year for the newsletter, I decided to reproduce something inspired by a brief article written by Bishop J. C. Ryle entitled, What Do We Owe to the Reformation? This sparked my interest when I first read it, I have used it in the newsletter on a previous occasion, and I want to summarize what I read.
“First and foremost we owe to the Reformation an English Bible, and liberty for every man, woman and child in the land to read it. Of all the agencies which brought about the overthrow of Popery in England, the translation of the Bible was the earliest and most powerful.” With each Church possessing a Bible, the religion of the priests could be tested by Scripture. Not surprisingly, the spread of Scripture in the language of the people most alarmed and enraged the Romish priesthood. Reformers such as Tyndale were martyred. Every time you read your Bible, never forget your debt to the Reformation.
Secondly, “we owe to the Reformation an open road to the Throne of Grace and the great foundation of peace with God.” The road had been blocked by “heaps of rubbish of man’s invention.” Those seeking forgiveness “had to seek it through a jungle of priests, saints, Mary-worship, masses, penances, confessions, absolutions, and the like, to that there might as well have been no Throne of Grace at all.” The Reformation cleared away such false obstacles. Justification by Faith alone apart from works of the law was the Biblical message (Romans 3:28). “You that are walking by faith and enjoying peace with God, by simple trust in the precious blood of the Atonement, never forget that you owe this priceless privilege to the Reformation.”
Thirdly, “we owe to the Reformation a true idea of Christian Worship.” Prior to the Reformation the service of “worship” was to most a “mysterious performance, which left them entirely in the hands of the priests.” Again the simplicity of Scriptural worship in the language of the people was the key. That you can understand what is happening in worship, is in a large measure owing to the Reformation.
Fourthly, “we owe to the Reformation a true notion of the office of a Christian minister.” The ministry had become a sacerdotal ministry and every clergyman was a sacrificing priest, serving as a mediator between God and man. Spiritual tyranny was the result. “The Reformers brought the office of the clergy down to its Scriptural level...They cast out the words ‘sacrifice’ and ‘altar’ from the Prayer Book, “and retained the word ‘priest’ only in the sense of ‘presbyter’ or ‘elder’.” The service character of the clergy was stressed. When you realize the value of the Christian ministry and “the superiority of the pulpit to the confessional”, never forget that for clear light on this point you are indebted to the Reformation.
“Finally, we owe to the Reformation a right standard of Christian holiness.” Monastic life and vows of celibacy were repudiated as the hallmark of sanctification. Not withdrawal, “but in doing our duty in every position to which God calls us,” is the true test of the Christian walk. Every true Christian has a full time Christian vocation, regardless of what his employment might be. Never forget, we owe it to the Reformation.
I almost hesitate to close without saying more about Ryle’s conclusion. I will quote just two sentences. You must fill in the detail. “We have neither an adequate conception of the evils from which the Reformation freed us, nor of the enormous good which it brought....The prison has been thrown open; let us not resume the yoke and return to our chains.”

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Daylight savings time ends October 29th. When you go to bed Saturday, October 28th set your clocks back one hour!

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Congratulations to Andy Bogue for successfully completing truck driving school and obtaining his Class A commercial drivers license. Way to go Andy!

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;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;October Preaching Schedule


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October 1:;;;;;;;;;AM: MTW Missionary Hans Deutschmann

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;PM: Pastor Buchanan

October 8:;;;;;;;;;AM: Dr. Bogue: “Justification by Faith Alone”;Romans 4:5

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;PM: Pastor Kobb

October 15:;;;;;;;AM: Dr. Bogue: “But Not by Faith that Is Alone”; John 14:15; James 2:17

;;;;;;;;;;;;PM: Dr. Bogue: “But Not by Faith that Is Alone (Con’t); ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;John 14:15; James 2:17

October 22:;;;;;;;AM: Dr. Bogue: “Semper Reformata”; Psalm 44:20-21

;;;;;;;;;;;;PM: Dr. Bogue: “The Merit of Christ – Alone!”; Romans 5:10, 21

October 29:;;;;;;;Reformation Sunday

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;AM: Pastor Buchanan

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;PM: Pastor Kobb



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FREE BOGUE STUFF: As the Bogues prepare to move to smaller quarters they need much less stuff. In the next few months you can find Bogue stuff hanging in the hall coat rack or on the back tables looking for a new home. If you are interested in having Bogue “stuff” in your home, pick it up and take it with you. Every few weeks the stuff will change. Currently there are men’s dark socks, medium short sleeved shirts and men’s pants. Next week these will be gone and new “old” stuff will be up for grabs.



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Missionary Updates

David and Marcia Jones (Middle East): David and Marcia, and their sons Gareth and Evan, have finally arrived at their mission field in the Middle East. For safety concerns we have withheld the name of the country. They have several prayer requests:

1-Pray that they learn the language. They will be taking language classes for the next two months.

2-Pray that they will be able to develop loving relationships with their team members, co-workers and neighbors.

3-Pray for Evan and Gareth who have started their internet classes. Pray they will study hard and make some good friends.

4-Pray for discernment in God’s leading.

5-Please pray for their older children Ian and Heather, who are working and going to school in Texas; and Bethan who is going to nursing school in Alabama.

6-Please pray that they will be humble enough to not be anxious; and that they will have hearts that believe God and take Him at His word.


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Sam and Lois Mateer (Chile): Sam reports that eighteen years ago there were six Protestant churches in Las Condes, Chile, and now there are eighteen churches. In July a group of 290 students gave up a week of their vacation to spread the gospel by offering to pray with people waiting at stop lights, on busses, subways, in parks and on the street. They held a successful VBS with over thirty children in attendance. Pray for this year’s outreach as they are nearing the time to gear up for next year. The session and deacons, in joint meeting, are looking at the future, how to be more effective in reaching into the large community (12,000 to 15,000 citizens alone) that has hardly been dented. Please pray with them in asking God to give His direction and for them to be able to see and do it.


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;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;The Ordinary Means of Grace – The Word

by Rev. Bruce Buchanan

Now, I want to look at each one of the means of grace individually. First we will examine the Word of God. But to begin with, I want to reiterate that in speaking of God’s grace, or the means of grace, we are not describing grace as though it were a substance or a fund of blessing that God or the church “dispenses.” No, in giving us grace, God gives us himself.

We don’t have a right to fellowship with God. Indeed, we owe him all obedience as our Creator, but we could not have any “fruition” (WCF 7.1) of him as our blessedness and reward if not for his voluntary condescension. And his gracious accommodation to us is his covenant with us.

Where do we encounter this covenant? In the Bible. In fact, if you open your Bible to the contents page you will no doubt find covenant mentioned in the first heading. Well, probably the term is different. If your Bible is like mine, it reads “Old Testament” instead of “Old Covenant.” But the principle is the same. The writers of the New Testament, using the language of the Greek translation of the Old Testament, used the Greek word for “testament,” or a unilateral (one sided) disposition or distribution. We also use this idea in our culture in a person’s “last will,” meaning his one-sided disposal of his worldly goods when he dies.

So, the Word of God to man is a covenant document. It not only contains information about the covenant mixed in with other information. No, it IS the covenant, as even the two major divisions indicate: Old Covenant, New Covenant. So, this is the first way that the Word is a means of grace to us. It is the communication of God’s will to us, for us, and about us, in the context of our relationship to him as Creator—and more, as Redeemer.

Secondly, the Word of God is our primary instrument for returning worship to God. WCF 21.5 explains it this way: “The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear; the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith, and reverence; singing of psalms with grace in the heart;… are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God.” In other words, our worship is nothing less than the celebration of the terms of the covenant God has made with us, in the words of that covenant, in the glorifying of the God who made that covenant with us to bless us.

The Word of God created the world (Heb. 1:2; 11:13; Gen 1 “and God said…”. And subsequently the Word of God created the church, or the called-out-of-the-world people of God (1 Pet. 1:23-25; Jas. 1:18). It is by the Word that the message of the gospel comes and the Spirit of God savingly works to seal the covenant promises of God to an individual by faith (Eph. 1:13; Acts 10:44). It is the Word of God that sanctifies the believer, and grows him in grace (Jn. 17:17; 2 Pet. 3:18). The Word of God was made flesh, and dwelt among men (Jn. 1:14), in an ultimate act of loving condescension. And when we return ourselves to the written Word, we too “behold his glory,” we receive his grace, we receive him.

The Westminster Larger Catechism most fully sets forth the manner by which the Word functions as a means of grace, Q & A 155-60. I encourage you to read those doctrinal statements with appreciation, and study the Scriptural support given along with them.

In conclusion, as this congregation (through its search committee) labors seriously to seek and to call a minister of the Word for this flock, observe Q & A 159:

Q. How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto?

A. They that are called to labour in the ministry of the Word, are to preach sound doctrine, diligently, in season and out of season; plainly, not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit, and of power; faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God; wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers; zealously, with fervent love to God and the souls of his people; sincerely, aiming at his glory, and their conversion, edification, and salvation.

Nothing could be more serious than to ensure that the principal minister of this principal means of bringing God himself close to you will do that very thing, and do it well.

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(next installment: The Sacrament of Baptism)


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