Norchase ESL, English Bible Study Week 8

Everything went well tonight. Roberto's wife Terri came tonight for the first time, and she was a wonderful help. May the Lord continue to bring people into the work we are doing at Northchase.

The same people are still coming consistently, so praise God for that. Cinco de Mayo too k a number of Latino folks out as expected. Nonetheless, we still had 27 adults for the ESL and 8-10 people stay for the English Bible Study. The ones who have been coming consistently have increased in their English speaking ability, so that is encouraging. Everyone continues to enjoy the market that we do at the end of the ESL, and we try to keep it light-hearted and fun. Our set up has worked well thus far; having the inital teaching, then small groups, and lastly the market helps break up the monotony of it all. Ultimately, we truly want to meet both their physical and spiritual needs.

Some New Unexpected Growth It Appears

We continue to pray for these people, and we gave out several Nepali New Testaments tonight. We pray the Lord would use His Word to convict the hearts of these people that they would repent and believe in Christ alone for salvation. We spoke on idols tonight coming out of Romans 1:18-25, and I think they had some understanding of what we were trying to communicate. Because they are probably Hindu and thus polytheistic, we pray that they don't merely adopt Jesus as another god among many. On the contrary, He is King of kings and Lord of lords! Let us therefore bow before Him in all adoration, seeking to know Him above all things! To Him be the glory forever! Amen!

How has reclaiming Biblical Authority, especially in Genesis, influenced our fallen world today?

As Biblical Authority has been reclaimed, hearts have been changed to the glory of God, for evangelism has gone full steam ahead.  Hope has been restored, and the elect of God continue to be called out to worship Him in great numbers.  

God always preserves a remnant, and organizations like the National Association of Nouthetic Counselors continue to spearhead a movement to now reclaim the Sufficiency of Scripture in evangelism, discipleship, and wise counsel.  We need not refer lost sinners and troubled saints to the secular world for help; we have the Word of God! Amen!  

As Genesis is defended with greater fervor, research groups like the RATE Team (Radio Isotopes and the Age of the Earth) cause the evolutionists to scrape the bottom of the barrel as they search for something to throw back.  When facts run out, name-calling is used, yet the saints grow in their confidence and conviction of Holy Scripture each day, and God is glorified in their bold strength which He supplies during persecution.

How has Biblical Authority begun to be reasserted in today?

Many Conservative Orthodox Evangelicals have gone back to the Scriptures and submitted to the historicity of the Biblical text. They have reasserted Biblical Manhood and Womanhood along with the Sufficiency of Scripture to give wise counsel.  However, the Genesis issues must continue to be fought for, so ministries like Answers in Genesis and The Institute for Creation Research continue to press hard against naturalistic science which seeks to undermine the Days of Creation and Genesis Flood.  Incredible original research from the RATE (Radio Isotopes and the Age of the Earth) Team, has given Old-Earth Scientists much to wrestle with as the evidence pours in against an eons old earth and universe.

Reasserting Biblical Authority In Reclaiming the Gospel of Grace

In light of all that tragedy in and out of the Church in the past two centuries, how do we even attempt to reclaim the message of God's good grace to undeserving sinners?.  We do so by reclaiming and reasserting Biblical Authority.  And though many devout Bible believing Christians have done so in most parts of Scripture, many still compromise with naturalism in the early chapters of Genesis regarding the Days of Creation and the Genesis Flood.  If we do not assert Biblical Authority in Genesis 1-11, we will likely repeat the same mistakes as those during the early 19th Century.  

We must not be afraid to take ridicule when we assert a literal six day 24 hr creation week and Genesis Flood.  In reality, it is only through the Biblical lens that our present geology makes sense.  As Ken Ham says, "If there was a Global Flood, what would we expect to find?  Billions of dead things buried in rock layers all over the earth.  And what do we find?  Billions of dead things buried in rock layers all over the earth."  The problem is never the Scripture, the problem is that man's fallible ideas both contradict Scripture and give us a false understanding of the world.

What have been the long-term devastating effects of compromising Biblical Authority in Genesis during the 19th century?

Man will seek any means by which to justify his sin, and when he thought he could scientifically deny the Scriptures, he did so.  Tragically, as Biblical Authority collapsed in the mind of the Church, so did Christianity in the West.  Racism spread throughout the world on the back of Darwinian Evolution, and the Church was no exception.  The rise in euthanasia, abortion, sexual perversion, etc. dominated the landscape.  

It was not long before Aborigines in Australia and Pygmies in Africa were murdered, stuffed, and put on display as transitional ape-men.  The Church did nothing as it was embroiled in racist inclinations of its own.  Nazism, Communism, and the like began to take root and the soil became red as crimson as the world watched in horror.  Today, abortion on demand, drug and alcohol abuse, sexual perversion, and other vile deeds occur at unprecedented rates.