My desire, and my return.

I learned to play a new song over the last few days and my heart cries out as I play it. It's Jeremy Camp's "My Desire"

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
You want to be someone laying down your pride
You want to be someone someday
Then lay it all down before the king

You want to be whole, you want to have purpose inside
You want to have virtue and purify your mind

You want to be set free today
Then lay it all down before the King

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire to be used by You

You want to be real, you want to be empty inside
And I know my heart is to feel You near
And I know my life
It's to do Your will
It's to do Your will

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire, to be used by You
Oo yea
This is my desire, this is my desire
To be used by You

All my life I have seen
Where You've taken me
Beyond all I have hoped
And there's more left unseen

There's not much I can do to repay all You've done
So I give my hands to use

This is my desire, this is my return
This is my desire, to be used by You
Oo yea
This is my desire, this is my desire
To be used by You

The Cross Current Ministry Website

TCC equips the Church to engage the culture, and now we have the "Church" website up and running. You may be familiar with our outreach website www.thecrosscurrent.ca where you can find such things as info about our latest radio broadcast, or events such as the recent debate we participated in.

Check out www.thecrosscurrent.net to see how we work with local assemblies to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Here's a video of Cory (the founder and host of the radio show) introducing the ministry.

Free Grace Alliance statement on the Gospel

UPDATE AUG 2010: This post seems to be getting a lot of traffic all of the sudden. I have long since joined the FGA myself, as they have come to clarity on the issue of dealing with the GES and the FGA stance on the Gospel is true.

Lou's made a post at his blog about the FGA Executive Council's statement on the Gospel. You can read it here. The part about the Gospel is this;

The Executive Council also issued the following official statement:

“The FGA’s mission is always and everywhere to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when we preach the gospel. We encourage every member of the FGA to be fervent and faithful to preach that message. Within the membership of the FGA there has been discussion about the minimum one must understand to be saved. Regardless of a person’s convictions, believers are called to preach the gospel, not the minimum.”

Please continue to pray for and support the FGA and join us in following the Executive Council's charge to "always and everywhere proclaim the death and resurrection" of God's Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ as we preach the gospel at home and abroad.

And now my thought by thought response:

The FGA’s mission is always and everywhere to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ when we preach the gospel.

His death for our sins and resurrection IS the Gospel. 1 Cor 15:1-11. You can not "preach the Gospel" without preaching His death and resurrection. This statement shows they have slipped past the safety line in their theological thinking.

We encourage every member of the FGA to be fervent and faithful to preach that message

Huh? They "encourage" members to preach the Gospel? Did the Lord leave us any choice in this matter? Mark 16:14-20

Within the membership of the FGA there has been discussion about the minimum one must understand to be saved.

God GAVE us the Apostles to clear this whole "discussion" up. 1 Cor 15:11 Eph 1:13-14

Regardless of a person’s convictions, believers are called to preach the gospel, not the minimum.

If a person's convictions are something other than the Gospel then they need to be disciplined (if they actually are a Christian) or witnessed to. Period.

Please continue to pray for and support the FGA and join us

I can do no such thing. The Love of the Lord constrains me to pray for them to repent. And for the Spirit's protection on believers who might be exposed to this.

following the Executive Council's charge to ‘always and everywhere proclaim the death and resurrection’ of God's Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ as we preach the gospel at home and abroad.

Again, as before, His death for our sins and resurrection IS the Gospel. You don't preach this "as" you preach the Gospel. It is it.

It scares me to see former defenders of the faith loose their way. I know God will be glorified and my prayer is that we will see that glory come!

The Passing of Perry F. Rockwood

Perry F. Rockwood died this Friday at about 5pm here in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Years ago my very good friend attended Perry's church, the Missionary Bible Church. It was then that I first started to hear of the incredible faith of this man, and God's faithfulness towards and through him in ministry. I even got to sit under his preaching one Sunday morning.

Perry ministered around the world through The People's Gospel Hour (PGH) and each month he started with nothing but the faith that God would provide. He would travel internationally and broadcast PGH on Christian and secular radio stations all over the place.

Last August, his grandson in-law, who is a close friend of mine took me to see the PGH operation. I was able to speak with Perry for a bit about how they ran the radio program, why they chose the stations they did, how the ministry was structured and how they created and provided resources. It was an incredibly valuable experience. Even just Saturday of one week ago that meeting with him was referenced in a radio ministry meeting as we discussed our direction and plans.

At the time I met him Perry was 90 years old, but more spry and enthusiastic about the Lord, the Bible and Ministry than most men I know in their 2o's and 30's. He spoke of the importance of Salvation, with such intensity and dedication. The protection of the Gospel with passion. And the King James Bible as the "only presserved Word of God for today." On that last point he and I differ, but the man was completely sold on the doctrine. Perry's integrety would not allow him to back off from anything he was convinced to be true. I don't share his view on the King James Bible, but I really ought to share his view and dedication to integrety. It's funny that this morning's broadcast of PGH was a message on the King James Bible. It's almost like Perry is getting his last poke in on the topic, and there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it. He was a forceful man in life, and his legacy will be the same no doubt.

Sitting with friends last night I heard that after a battle with cancer that Perry died on Friday evening. I immediately called his grandson in-law and left a message. I'm told that he praised the Lord and preached the Gospel constantly through the days he was in the hospital. Well done, good and faithful servant are the words I can almost hear Our Lord say of this.

Perry is right this instant in a place of unspeakable Glory, and peace. The struggle with sin and temptation is now over for him. He will spend the rest of eternity basking in the Light of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And knowing Him as he has been known by Him, with no more barrier to his view of the Lord. I'm terribly sorry for our loss, but oh so very greatful for Perry's gain. I can hardly wait to join him.

Visualizing The Consistency of Scripture

Chris Harrison created an incredible (to me anyway) looking visual representation of cross references in the Bible. The thing that stands out to me when I look at this picture is how interlinked Scripture is. Besides the fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls, and the way Scripture is copied eliminates the idea of the Bible changing over time, this picture shows how changes would stand out like a sore thumb! Here's a quote explaining this visualization.

The bar graph that runs along the bottom represents all of the chapters in the Bible. Books alternate in color between white and light gray. The length of each bar denotes the number of verses in the chapter. Each of the 63,779 cross references found in the Bible is depicted by a single arc - the color corresponds to the distance between the two chapters, creating a rainbow-like effect.

Beyond my depth

So I'm working through the grammar of Eph 2:8 with respect to what exactly is "the Gift of God." There are two options which seem more reasonable than the rest to me. That would be that "ye are saved" or that "ye are saved by Grace through Faith".

Darby seems to render it as I understand the doctrine, and the underlying Text "For ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God's gift"

That is to say the subject is "ye are saved" and that both "this" and "it" refer back to this subject. The problem comes with the gender and number of the Greek words, such that there is the potential for conflict between plural/singular and masculine/feminine/neuter.

Right now I'm digging into the website www.ntgreek.org for some insight.

Here is a copy of a forum post that shows where my thinking is (including my questions) right this instance.

Each sentence must have a subject, www.ntgreek.org says "The subject of a sentence is a word or a group of words about which something can be said or asserted. It must be a noun or a group of words functioning as a substantive. " and of a substantive "A substantive is a noun, pronoun, or any word functioning like a noun. This could include such items like an adjective, participle, or infinitive used as the subject or a direct object of the sentence. A substantive may be one word or a group of words."

sozo is a participle, and described by www.blueletterbible.org as a "verbal-noun" that is plural and masculine. (the noun soteria is feminine does this affect the gender of the sentence since sozo is a participle?)

It would see to me that "ye are saved" is the "subject" of the sentence. It is the group of words about which something can be said or asserted.

And if this is the subject, then doesn't it follow that touto and doron refer back to it - este sozo?

If it could refer to the varied genders and numbers of "by grace through faith salvation" then why not to the "ye are saved"?

Updates will be in the comments