01 January 2009

In With the New

Happy New Year
from all of us at TeamPyro




Here's something to read if you get tired of football:

How I Got Drawn into the Lordship Debate
The Complete, Canonical List
  1. A Word of Personal Testimony
  2. A New Song in My Mouth
  3. Should sinners be urged to worship, love, and obey Christ as Lord?
  4. A Brief Interlude about History and Terminology
  5. My Short, Eye-Opening Stint as a Youth Pastor
  6. Meeting John MacArthur
  7. How Zondervan Acquired The Gospel According to Jesus
  8. The Aftermath
  9. Why the lordship "debate" died

27 comments:

W. Ian Hall said...

And let's hope its a good one for the progress of the gospel.
Happy New Year

Moon said...

Happy New Year guys! :D May the Lord's grace be with you today and always!
And thank you so much for this wonderful blog!

Fred Butler said...

Boy, I'll tell you. Nothing quite says "new years" like an inebriated baby wearing a sash.

Jon said...

My new years resolution? Pray that God will prompt me to read his word EVERY single day and to strike the fear from my heart of sharing His truth to all the people around me.

Keep up the great work guys! God Bless!

Dizma said...

All blessings to you in Year 2009.

James Scott Bell said...

Go Trojans.

Boerseuntjie said...

Philippians 4:6-8
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things."

John 3:3
"Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you,UNLESS ONE IS BORN AGAIN, he CANNOT SEE the kingdom of God.”"

2 Corinthians 5:17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is A NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, ALL THINGS have become new."

Ephesians 4:20-24
"But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, AS THE TRUTH IS IN Jesus: that you PUT OFF, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND, and that you PUT ON the new man which was CREATED ACCORDING TO God, in TRUE righteousness and holiness."

SALEM to all in 2009:
May the Peace of Messiah Jesus fill your life with His grace & mercy, as you are drawn ever nearer unto His Person & Work, which has put to death the enmity we have with God, to overcome the penalty of sin in death.

Marie said...

And let's hope its a good one for the progress of the gospel.

Amen!

A happy and healthy New Year to all of you and your families!

Unknown said...

Two verses for the old year/new year observance for the few of us there might be that love the power and flow of God's "Ein Feste Burg (A Mighty Fortress)" German so powerfully used in founding the Reformation (and sadly Nazism, proving it's solely His Revelation (sola Scriptura), not sinful man's information:
The old year is past (2 Corinthians 5:17)! Happy New Year!
Josua 24,15
*15 Und wenn es übel ist in euren Augen, Jahwe zu dienen, so erwählet euch heute, wem ihr dienen wollt, ob den Göttern, welchen eure Väter gedient haben, die jenseit des Stromes wohnten, oder den Göttern der Amoriter, in deren Land ihr wohnet. Ich aber und mein Haus, wir wollen Jahwe dienen!
Joshua 24:15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
Johannes 1,12
*12 so viele ihn aber aufnahmen, denen gab er das Recht, Kinder Gottes zu werden, denen, die an seinen Namen glauben,
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:
(The German is from the "Losungen" or "Watchwords" daily Scripture verse program at www.losungen.de (for 2009 update see www.combib.de/update/losungplus.html), the Elberfelder version; a Hernhut Moravian Brethren tradition where daily scriptures (1 OT, 1 NT) are drawn by lot, usually only 1 verse each)
The English is my e-Sword KJV (www.e-Sword.org).

Colloquist said...

To all 3 gentlemen of Team Pyro: thank you for holding Scripture on high. Thank you for teaching, encouraging, and exhorting your readers. You have blessed me immeasurably with your writing as we travel this road! May the Lord shower His blessings upon you in 2009.

donsands said...

One year closer to His return! What a Day that'll be!

Happy New Year! May this be a prosperous year for us all, as our soul prospers.

"The LORD takes pleasure in them that fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy." Psalm 147:11

Unknown said...

Happy New Year.

Leberwurst said...

Resolved:

To stop grieving the spirit, but instead to walk in Him.

To stop gratifying self, but instead die to self.

To not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of my mind.

To glorify Christ by living a life that reflects and presents the Truth of the Gospel I have been made sure of by His Grace and Sanctifying presence.

Solameanie said...

Happy New Year and God's richest blessings to all.

To paraphrase the late Bette Davis in "All About Eve," I'm sure it's going to be a bumpy year. May the Lord shine brightly as His people proclaim His Word and demonstrate the peace that passes understanding.

~Mark said...

May the new year find you all closer in your walk with god than ever before! :D

Anonymous said...

All three of you have blessed me immeasurably this past year. I have greatly benefited from your writings, teachings, exhortations and encouragments. And Phil, having had the privilege of meeting you in February counts as one of my year's highlights. :)Since that time, I've gained much insight from listening to your (and Don's) sermons.

Thank you all for continuing to boldly contend for the great faith.

Happy New Year!

Stefan Ewing said...

Happy New Year, brothers and sisters!

Thanks to Phil, Frank, Dan, and all you commentors for contending for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints, and to be iron sharpening iron.

I've just been invited to start off 2009 by helping serve communion for the first time, this coming Sunday. It's a privilege I don't deserve, but by the grace of God (literally).

I'd better reread Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, and 1 Corinthians 11, and pray....

Susan said...

Oh, I'm so glad you posted something for New Year. This gives me an opportunity to wish you all a happy new year...and an excuse to post the link to what I'm listening to right now: the #1 broadcast of 2008 on Focus on the Family--Ravi Zacharias's talk on God and remembrance (3-part series). Hope you'll enjoy it as much as I do.

Happy New Year, everyone!


http://www.focusonthefamily.com/popups/media_player.aspx?ShowPath=Focus%20on%20the%20Family%20Daily&broadcastDate=2008-12-29

Susan said...

JohnnyDialectic: "Go Trojans"


Go Penn State! (Sorry, JD--I'm a Bruin.) :)

Unknown said...

New Years Resolutions:

Resolved, to read though the Bible this year using the One-Year Tract Plan on the ESV website.

To read all 13 Non-Fiction books and 1 Fiction book on my nightstand.

To daily read from Spurgeon's Morning and Evening.

To be more active in the blogosphere.

To Cut out The little tv time I spend wasting weekly (2 hours) and when I watch something (Via netflix) it will be something of quality that I want to watch, not something I watch to distract the brain from other tasks.

To be more active in the physical realm and drop those last 20 pounds to get to 200 and then 10 more.

I post this here, so it's in the public record and because I respect the Pyromaniacs... if I should make commitments it should be in the presence of those I respect who I should not want to disappoint by not keeping.

Stefan Ewing said...

Phil, this is a belated thanks for all the links to your posts on the Lordship debate.

At first, I treated them as an "aside," but there's a wealth of good stuff in them there posts (and in the ensuing comment threads). I've already started digging through the GTY resources linked to from one or two of the threads. And it's good to read your testimony, too.

Shawn said...

Phil,

I just spent an enjoyable day reading over all your links, including all the various comments, I learned a lot and had quite a few laughs at all the people constantly trying to argue with you.

I sincerly thank you for all the time you take doing this blog (along with your teaching and preaching found at other sites), I have learned a great deal from you, and really do appreciate it. That goes for Dan and Frank too. Happy New Year brothers.

trogdor said...

I'd also like to thank you for posting these links about the Lordship issue. While the overt "debate" may be over (since one side has not a Biblical leg to stand on), the damage is still covertly infiltrating churches and especially "evangelistic" ministries everywhere.

My testimony also includes coming to grips with Jesus as Lord, and seeing how deficient my antinomian "faith" was. For me, the key text was Ephesians 4, another passage you'll never hear suggested for evangelists. But the night-and-day difference between saved and unsaved shown in that passage was quite different from the night-and-night reality of my life. Coming to faith (and openly talking about it) led to being confronted at church by several people who were upset that I was discounting my 'conversion' when I raised my hand in Sunday School when I was about five.

That was fourteen years ago, and ever since then I've been keenly aware of the no-Lordship view and how damaging it is. It rears its ugly head in the evangelistic technique of "pray this prayer and you're saved, and oh yeah you might want to join a church or something too". People speak of friends/family as "Christians who aren't living like it", but at least they know they're going to heaven because they were baptized forty years ago. Suggesting that a person who made a profession of faith years ago but has completely abandoned it (in word and deed) needs to be saved sets off a stinkbomb in Bible study, and brings out the half-doctrine of "eternal security" and charges of works-based salvation.

So yeah, the debate's dead, but the issue is alive and well. It's just infiltrating like a virus rather than as a full frontal assault. Thanks for all you've done to take a stand against this plague.

Stefan Ewing said...

Regarding Scripture reading relevant to communion, obviously Exodus 24 and Hebrews 9 also fit into the picture, then Exodus 20-23 and Hebrews 8 and 10 for context, and so on....

And since our Lord and Saviour instituted it during the Passover meal, really in-depth background reading might also cover the Lord God's institution of Passover, then you'd have to include Jeremiah 33 and other prophetic passages to tie it all together....

Stefan Ewing said...

I stopped at Exodus 20 and 24 and Hebrews 9.

Truth Unites... and Divides said...

Hi Phil,

Much thanks for the immensely helpful recap of your spiritual journey and of your involvement in the "Lordship Salvation" controversy. And, of course, much thanks to Pastor John MacArthur for having the courage to preach and teach and write on "The Gospel According to Jesus", a book (latest edition) that I recently obtained and read last fall.

P.S. FWIW, here's Professor Dan Wallace's tribute honoring Professor Zane Hodges who passed away in 2008.

Unknown said...

thanks for sharing about how you got drawn into the Lordship debate- i read it with great interest because I am presently teaching "The gospel according to Jesus" to my bible study.
For the last year i have been teaching the book of Acts and got to thinking " why in the world is the good news offensive" I mean its the greatest news the world has ever heard... so i got Johns book and sure enough when i read about the implications of Jesus being Lord i could see clearly why this would be offensive- after all how wants to be enslaved to anyone..we are all about freedom here, we don't like to use the word slavery, we find it offensive and yet the good news has to do with being enslaved to Jesus and so i can see why that is offensive...anyway when i saw the article about the book i read it with great interest--so today i got a good laugh when i took out Lightner's book " Sin , The Savior and Salvation and read chapter18 "What about Lordship Salvation?" - he writes against it but what made me laugh was when he said " the term Lord in Acts 16:31 or anywhere else it is used of Christ does not mean Master over one"s life. Rather it is a descriptive title of who He is- the Sovereign God"-
da--if Lord means sovereign God then you better believe he is the Master over ones life- He is God and we better obey-
anyway i thought of you all just wanted to say thanks-
robert- Community Bible Church Vallejo-