Did you hear the good news? If you are a member or regular attender of Faith Church you now have a mailbox in the church vestibule. If you didn’t get a mailbox slot, but would like one please let Pastor Mark or the church office know of your request.

What is an Old School Presbyterian Church?

1) Old School Presbyterians are committed to the idea that the Bible, which is the Word of God, is entirely sufficient for everything in our faith, life, and practice and we do not need to add anything of our own, nor should we. Therefore our worship is to be ordered according to God’s instructions, and not according to our imaginations or traditions or in any way God has not prescribed for us. This formulation is sometimes referred to as the Regulative Principle of Worship, which refers to the idea that our worship is entirely regulated and ruled by the teaching of scripture. This means that Old School Worship is neither “contemporary” nor “traditional” but simple and biblical.

2) In Church Polity Old School Presbyterians are committed to the idea that Presbyterianism is the form of church polity the bible teaches.

3) In Theology, Old School Presbyterians are committed to the Calvinism of the Westminster Standards, and believe this is the system of doctrine that the Bible teaches. They further believe that when men are ordained in Presbyterian churches, their subscription to the standards should be full and complete, and that any exceptions that a man has to the standards should be minimal.

4) Old School Presbyterians are also committed to the doctrine of the Spirituality of the Church and believe that the Church is not to embroil itself in party politics, nationalism, or anything that Christ has not commissioned his church to do. Dr. Morton Smith explains further what the spirituality of the church entails:

“There is a twofold work for the Church to accomplish. It is the gathering of the elect through the preaching of the Word, and then the instruction of those thus gathered in the full teaching of the Word. In other words the mission of the Church is to evangelize the lost, and then to teach the whole counsel of God to those who have been evangelized. We see the Church in Acts also ministering to her poor, but ultimately this was to the end that they could be taught the faith. This and this alone is the mission of the Church. R. B. Kuiper says, “The church’s task is to teach and preach the Word of God. Whatever else it may properly do is subordinate and subsidiary to that task. This is its supreme task.” He concludes his chapter on this subject by saying:

Just because the preaching of the Word is so great a task the church must devote itself to it alone. For the Church to undertake other activities, not indissolubly bound up with this one, is a colossal blunder, because it inevitably results in neglect of its proper ask. Let not the church degenerate into a social club. Let not the church go into the entertainment business. Let not the church take sides on such aspects of economics, politics, or natural science as are not dealt with in the Word of God. And let the church be content to teach special, not general revelation. Let the church be the church.

We may add further that since this was the only task given to the Church by her King, the Church should confine herself to carrying out this task and this task alone.”

5) Old School Presbyterians also believe in preaching that is warm and aimed not merely at the intellect, but at men’s hearts and convictions. They are interested in and pray for genuine biblical revival within God’s churches.

– Andy Webb

Policy reminder: Occasionally it is good to remind the congregation of church policies that impact us all and need to be followed for good order. One such concerns any action, publication, promotion which is officially sponsored by FPC or might appear to be. Meetings of church groups, study materials for Sunday School, youth groups, women’s groups, etc. must all receive Session approval. Gifts to the church, while well-intended, need to be received by Session to be sure that they are consistent with our beliefs, goals, etc. Also included in this would be individuals who may want to post something about a non-church activity, pass out brochures promoting something or petitions to be signed which might be placed on tables or circulated in person. No matter how innocent it is, or may seem, we urge you to run these things by Session. Remember, please request permission first. Your help in this is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

To:                    Faith Presbytery Church Congregation

From:               R.L. Roach, Clerk of Session

Subject:            Military Chaplain Sponsorship Program

Dear Congregation,

             Session has approved adopting a chaplain through the MNA Chaplain Ministries of the PCA. Information regarding the Chaplain Sponsorship Program can be found on the PCA web site. The goal of this ministry is for churches to adopt a chaplain and pray for him, as well as the prayer requests that he forwards regarding the men and women to whom he is ministering. When I first suggested the chaplain ministries to Session my thoughts were to introduce our congregation to a man ministering to our troops in Afghanistan or Iraq. My desire was to introduce you to a man ministering to those who are daily facing their own mortality and, by God’s providence, uniquely open to the Gospel.

             LT Garland Mason is currently deployed in Iraq. His contact information is listed below. This is all that I have for now. The Chaplain Ministries Coordinator advised me that he would note LT Mason’s assignment in the next Guardian magazine and that LT Mason will add Faith PC to his distribution list for any ministry updates and prayer requests. DOB: Feb. 14, 1972. (Wife: Myah; Children: Ben (1995) and Leah (1998).

CH (1LT) Garland Mason                                    504^th 82^nd ABN

10 Hercules Drive                                                 10 Hercules Drive

Fort Bragg, NC 28307                                          Fort Bragg, NC 28307

HHT 3-73 CAV

CSC SCANIA

APO, AE 09331

Home: (910) 339-1748 mason2828@aol.com

Office: garland.mason@us.army.mil

Home church: Raymond Presbyterian Church, Raymond MS

The Lord’s Supper will be celebrated during the morning worship service March 2^nd. Please prepare your hearts and minds to come to the Lord’s table.

W.I.C. (Women in the Church) will have it’s first meeting of 2008 on Saturday, February 9^th. Breakfast will be provided beginning at 9:00 a.m. followed by a devotional on “Hospitality” led by Kelly Rastetter. There will also be a missions update by Myrna Best. Come prepared to share a hospitality tip with the group. A sign up sheet will be posted for those attending and for two special ladies who would be willing to prepare breakfast. If you would like to volunteer to prepare breakfast for the group please look for the sign up sheet.

Prayer request from the Johnsons in Sweden: “Local politicians are debating our right to home school. The local newspaper quoted one of the socialists characterizing homeschoolers as white, southern American right-wing fundamentalists. Please pray for the preservation of our children.

The Battle is Won through Forgiveness, Restoration

By Sinclair Ferguson
Alliance Council Member 

How successfully do you handle the sins of others? Observation suggests that the Christian family too often reacts with either hot indignation or cold indifference, without a proper sense of biblical responsibility.
    
Sometimes we seem as bad at handling others’ failures as we are at overcoming our own. No doubt these two things are related. Yet, given the nature of the gospel, would we not expect that the church should be vastly different from the world on this point?
    
Scripture gives several principles which should govern our response to the sins of others.

1. Grief. A life has been marred. Christ’s name has been shamed. Perhaps others’ lives have been invaded by the consequences of sin. Things can never be quite the same again. Hearts will have been hardened, making repentance the more difficult. Knowing this, we will weep with those who weep.

2. Realism. Conversion does not deliver the saints from the presence of sin. We may have died to sin, but sin has not yet died out in us. The regenerate man is only in the process of being healed. Sin dwells in him still, and is deceitful still.
    
This does not excuse the believer’s sin, but it underlines that it is possible for Christians still to sin. Scripture encourages us that there will be no fatalities, but warns us that we can still be critically wounded.
    
The strong-stomached authors of the Westminster Confession caught this balance when they wrote that “sanctification is throughout in the whole man; yet imperfect in this life, there abiding still some remnants of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irreconcilable war . . . In which war, although the remaining corruption, for a time, may much prevail; yet, through the continual supply of strength from the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome . . .” (XIV,ii,iii)
    
Such knowledge does not protect us from grief over others’ sins, but it does help us to see that a single wound is not the end of the war, and thus preserves us from despair of ourselves or others.

3. Self-examination. We too are frail, we too may fall. Our sins may not have produced the same public consequences as those of our brethren, but may be no less horrible. We may have been spared the combination of sinful desire, the pressure of temptation, and the opportunity to act that has brought another to fall. Only those who know that they too are “subject to weakness” will be “able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray” (Heb.5:2).

4. Mutual confession. We are to confess our sins to each other, and to pray for one another (Jas.5:16). Why? Because mutual confession breaks the grip of Satan over the guilty heart.    
Satan’s paralyzing stranglehold depends on our acceptance of his winsome lies:1) No other Christian could have sinned as you did; 2) No other Christian will accept you and love you now, so you must disguise your sin by any means you can. But in mutual confession we discover and overcome his lies, and break the blackmailing grip that Satan has gained over us. It brings us back into the fellowship from which we have withdrawn out of guilt and a fear of discovery.

5. Forgiveness and reconciliation. Those whom Christ welcomes we must welcome. He grants grace and forgiveness in order that there may be amendment of life. We dare not reverse that gospel pattern by demanding rigorous rehabilitation before we extend forgiveness and reconciliation.

6. New discipline. Brothers and sisters who sin are to be restored gently (Gal.6:1). There is a twofold emphasis here, on discipline and grace. Those who have failed need to drink long and deeply from the fountain of grace, learning again and again that we are not justified by our sanctification but by God’s grace. They will need to be protected from Satan’s efforts to overwhelm and cripple them with guilt, or to drive them to a sense of despair.     
Moreover, they have sinned, as we ourselves have, and together we must help them to remodel and rebuild their Christian lives and testimony. The foundations must be strengthened, the ruins must be reconstructed.    
It appears from our Lord’s teaching that all this may normally be accomplished informally by fellow Christians, long before it becomes necessary for formal discipline to be inaugurated. Such discipline is for the intractable only (Matt. 18:15-17).
    
We must never lose sight of the fact that the New Testament church contained one who, after his regeneration, denied Christ with blasphemies. Christ prays for those whom Satan seeks to sift like wheat. He loves them still.
    
Who knows to what usefulness a brother or sister may be restored by those who have learned how to handle the sins of others as well as their own?