From Faith to Faith
September 2006 VOL.
XXII No. 9
Senior Pastor: Dr. Carl W. Bogue
Assistant Pastors: Rev. Bruce Buchanan & Rev. James Kobb
A new L.A.M.B.S. (Ladies AM
Bible Study) will begin Thursday, September 7th, at 9:30 a.m. in the fellowship
room. The L.A.M.B.S. study group will have one or two studies on the different
names of God. September 7th we will vote on another study book that will follow
the names of God study. All ladies of Faith Church are welcome and encouraged to
attend. L.A.M.B.S. meets the first and third Thursdays of each month.
The Lord’s Supper will be celebrated during
morning worship on September 3rd. Please prepare your hearts and minds to come
to the Lord’s table.
A new adult Sunday School will begin
September 3rd. Pastor Bruce Buchanan will be leading the class in a continuation
of his previous class on the Westminster Confession of Faith. Please remember
class begins promptly at 9:30 a.m. as the opening exercises have been
discontinued.
The Session of Faith Church would like to
extend a hearty thank you to all the ladies who were involved in preparing such
a nice meal for our hosting of Presbytery last month. Thank you for all your
donations and hard work. It was greatly appreciated.
The Ordinary Means of Grace – Handling Abuses
by Rev. Bruce Buchanan
This month I am inserting an extra study into our series, for the sake of
timeliness. Last month in this study we went “back behind” the description of
the earliest New Testament church record (Acts 2), in order to find the
institution of the ordinary means for the church in this age from the mouth of
Jesus Christ himself. The fact of such explicit institution by our Lord is not
merely of historic interest or pious acknowledgment. This Head of the Church,
who gave these means, is still very much alive and is still present with his
church. In fact we have a description of his nearness to and interest in his
church in Revelation, chapters 2 & 3. Thus, we risk his evident displeasure if
we take it upon ourselves to tamper with his ordinances.
This matter is of more than passing interest to us, as we note with alarm the
further disintegration of mainline Presbyterianism. In what could only have
seemed to our forbears (were they alive to note it) as an unseemly joke, utterly
out of place in the church, our wayward ecclesial cousins at this summer’s
Assembly authorized the use of “alternative” baptismal formulae. Instead of
baptism in the Name of “Father, Son, and Spirit,” they suggested alternatives
like “Mother, Child, and Womb” and “Rock, Redeemer, Friend.”
The question was put to me, “What difference do the words we use make? If we
make too much of them, aren’t we turning a formula into an incantation?” In
short, no, insisting on the words of Jesus’ institution is no punctilious
prescription. Beside the fact that he himself is present to administer his
baptism by his Spirit, and visibly through his minister, and has told him what
to say, there are at least two other issues.
First, there is the matter of the body of Christ. It is non-geographic, and it
is non-temporal—that is all members of this body regardless of their home of
origin or time of earthly life are presently living members of the body of
Christ. All believers have always been obliged to unite themselves visibly to
the church. This is the function of baptism. The same words used to unite the
Apostle Paul to the church were used to unite Augustine to the church and Luther
to the church and you and me to the church.
There are more issues than simple verbiage involved, of course; yet regarding
the outward appearance, all who have desired to clothe themselves in the
identity of the church, to experience both her joys and her sorrows, have for
two-thousand years set an absolutely unchallengeable precedent, founded upon the
clear command of Jesus. Into what body are those baptized into “Mother, Child,
and Womb” baptized? No one knows for sure.
But what of “Rock, Redeemer, Friend?” Isn’t the use of such scriptural language
an admissible option? Well, the New Testament tells us that Jesus was “the
spiritual rock that followed” the Israelites in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:4). He
is called the “friend of sinners” in Matt. 11:19. So, what clear Trinitarian
truth is being expressed in this alternative expression? But the offering is
really just a smoke-screen anyway. It is an act of a willful heart bent on doing
things differently for the sake of doing it.
Second, history teaches that churches are reluctant—sometimes for good reasons,
other times not so good—reluctant to question the “validity” of baptism
performed by another communion. The question is: “Do we recognize this body as a
true church, at least to the degree that the baptism they administer is
“recognizable” as Christian baptism?”
One period in history where this question was asked in a pointed and pertinent
way was the age of the Reformation. Whether all the issues they dealt with and
the answers they arrived at are applicable in the same way in our own day as in
theirs, we can agree with them on this:
Baptism in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (in water) is an
objective, visible, quantifiable characteristic of Christian baptism, and where
it is missing we can say unambiguously that such baptism has not occurred.
We don’t need to scratch our heads, or debate about whether or not a church has
passed a point of doctrinal declension so as to be “a synagogue of Satan.” We
don’t have to wonder if their ministry is corrupted to the place that they have
none, and so have no right administration of sacraments. They are rejecting even
the outward costume of the Christian church.(next installment: The Word as
Means)
Vacation Bible School 2006 has come and
gone. This year our theme was the “King is Coming”. We studied creation, the
fall, the covenant, salvation and glory. Through this curriculum we were able to
bring the full counsel of God’s word to the children. Each day we studied
various catechism questions relating to the themes, and we also learned Psalm
100. The staff this year was outstanding; each person who had an area of
responsibility did an excellent job in teaching the children truths of God’s
word. The staff all came forward early in the year desiring to help. This is
such a blessing at our church with people willing to help and cheerful to boot.
We had a tremendous turnout in our attendance this year for all ages. With
attendance from some of our other fine reformed churches in the area we had
groups of kids desirous of hearing God’s word and knowledgeable in the way. The
children studied Pastor Emad Mikhail, our missionary in the Middle East, in
their missions class, and each day were encouraged to bring in money to help
support sending forth the gospel. The children raised $580.00. This was
outstanding; with our attendance being around 45-50 students each day. So in
covering theology, memorization, missions, crafts, recreation and snacks VBS
2006 is forever in the memory of the children and staff. As director I cannot
begin to say how thankful I am to the staff that work to do so much to make this
week a blessing in the lives of all who attend. Thank you staff and may God
richly bless you and our feeble efforts in sharing the Gospel. –Dave Rastetter,
VBS Director
September Preaching Schedule
Sept. 3: AM: Dr. Bogue “What a Fellowship”; Mark 14:22-24
PM: Pastor Buchanan
Sept. 10: AM: Pastor Buchanan
PM: Pastor Kobb
Sept. 17: AM: Dr. Bogue “Christ Our Righteousness”; Romans 5:19; Isaiah
61:10
PM: Dr. Bogue #133 “The Messianic King”; Psalm 110
Sept. 24: AM: Dr. Bogue “Faith: My Gift or God’s”; Eph. 2:4-5
PM: Dr. Bogue “Faith: My Gift or God’s”; Eph. 2:8
Missionary Updates
Calvin & Geeta Taylor – India: Calvin reports that he has had the opportunity to
preach in several places over the past several weeks. Having a very favorable
response to the Living in Grace Conference they hosted in May, they would like
to make the material more widely available there. They have already started
working on making the material themselves to they can present it effectively.
They are grateful that their support account is in good shape. It is a blessing
to be able to focus on their work and not have to worry about their monthly
support. Prayer and praise item Thank God for a good visit from Calvin’s parents
in which they taught in four Vacation Bible Schools and one retreat arranged by
the Children’s Home.Their neighborhood Bible Study is doing well. Pray that God
would show them how to reach more people. Pray for Calvin as he starts a new
Bible Study for leaders of neighborhood fellowships. Pray that God would enable
the right people to attend since many of them are busy.Pray for Geeta as she
home schools Karuna and Nathan. Pray for their family relationships,
particularly for them to make time to be with their children and to be good
examples for them.
Prayer Chain Requests
July 27: Leslie Blankschaen requests prayer for her daughter Debbie.
Last evening Debbie was taken to the hospital for emergency surgery due to an
ovarian pregnancy. Leslie reports that Debbie is doing well, but it was a close
call. Please pray for her quick recovery so she may return home to take care of
her small daughter.
July 27: Please pray that the flyers Lake OPC are distributing that they bear
fruit in new members. Please pray for Larry Oldaker as he travels back and forth
to preach to them.
July 29: Bertha Horvath has bronchitis and is feeling under the weather. The
doctor has her on antibiotics. Please pray for a speedy recovery.
July 31: Karla Richards had previously requested prayer for her boss’s
granddaughter Lauren who has now passed away from complications resulting from
the two types of leukemia she was fighting. Please pray for her family.
Aug. 15: Please pray for Sue Caler as she is in Barberton Hospital. Doctors have
diagnosed her with Crohn’s disease.
Aug. 15: Please pray for Lake OPC church which will be having a booth at Lake
County Fair.
