“Evaluating Youth Ministry – An Abolitionist’s View ” by Voddie Baucham

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Pilgrim

Are you a YMA (youth ministry abolitionist)? Perhaps after listening to this sermon by Voddie Baucham, entitled Evaluating Youth Ministry: An Abolitionist’s View, you too will join the growing ranks of those who are abandoning the train wreck known as youth ministry and return to a family integrated model of biblical worship.


In this message delivered at the 2009 Sufficiency of Scripture Conference, Voddie outlines his three main objections to youth ministry as:

1). Age-segregated youth ministry usurps legitimate authority and responsibility.

2). Age-segregated youth ministry has not accomplished its own stated goals.

3). There is no clear biblical mandate for the current model of age-segregated youth ministry; it simply doesn’t exist. We don’t have our current model of age-segregated youth ministry because we went to the Bible and the Bible showed us clearly that this is how discipleship ought to be accomplished.


Resource: DefendingContending.com

Mark Driscoll, Grow Up!

"Who Does He Think He Is?"
If you want some good reviews of Mark Driscoll. Here's a few links to check out:

John MacArthur on Mark Driscoll

DefCon - I've Had it With Mark Driscoll and His Mouth. Now it's Personal!

John MacArthur on Mark Driscoll - Part 2

"The Gospel is supposed to be the stumbling block and offence, not our behaviour."

"The strongest opposition against striving to live a life of decency and holiness comes not from the world (they’re anxiously waiting to meet a Christian who actually practices what he preaches), but it comes from the very ones who claim to be Christians."

Read more about this topic by Pilgrim at DefendingContending.com.

Is God a Monster?

Tommy Clayton

Content Developer and Broadcast Editor, GTY.org/Blog

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Nearly fifty years ago, the British agnostic Bertrand Russell penned these words: “There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell. I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment” (Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian).

Self, Self, Self

I'm not a sinner. I'm the sinner. That's what you have to get in mind. The Pharisee (the law keeper) beats his chest and looks up to heaven praying out loud in public to God proclaiming all that he has done for the Lord. But the tax collector can't even raise his eyes toward heaven praying, "God have mercy on me, I was born a sinner."

You must come to grips with your own sin before you can see the magnificence of the cross and what Jesus' death and resurrection means to you personally. Daily we must know why Jesus died for us and what he sacrificed and put to death on that cross. Daily we must put to death our egos. Daily we must see the defeat over sin as God's victory and not our own. To God be all the glory and praise! Honour Him with our lives daily; feed the hungry, uphold the rights of the oppressed, clothe the naked. Without love and faith it is impossible to please Him. Daily feed yourself with His word and meditate on it. Daily pick up your cross and follow Him.

Do You Wear A Mask?

Are You Resentful?

Love
1 Corinthians 13:5
"...It does not insist on its own way; it is nor irritable or resentful;"

Resentful in Greek means to count up wrongdoing. How many things can you find wrong in other people? How about your spouse? I know that if my colleagues knew more about me, they'd be able to criticize me. The more you know about a person, the more that person opens up themselves to you and trust you, the more susceptible they are to scrutiny and criticism from that person in whom they have put their trust.

When someone shares their whole life with you and puts their faith and trust in you, you have the responsibility to protect that information and not use it against them as a weapon. There is nothing gained but pride. When two people are emotionally attached to each other, whether it be mother and son or spouses, they are more sensitive to the criticism from each other.

Turning Work Into Worship - Mike Abendroth

Do you work for the Glory of God?

Since Salvation has done for us and to us, how then shall we live?

How should we work?

Charles H. Spurgeon - Christian Competition

“First, even professed Christians may pursue desirable things by a wrong method. ‘Ye fight and war, yet ye have not.’ Have not churches tried to prosper by competing with other churches? We foolishly say, ‘At such and such a place of worship, they have a very clever minister; we must get a clever minister too. In fact, he must be a little cleverer than the other church’s hero. That is just what we need – a clever minister!’ How awful that we should live in an age in which we talk about clever ministers preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ! How sad that this holy service should be thought to depend on human cleverness!
Churches have competed with each other in architecture, music, apparel, and social status. In some cases, there is a measure of bitterness in the rivalry. It is not pleasant to small minds to see other churches prospering more than their own. Other congregations may be more earnest than we are, they may be doing God’s work better, but we are too apt to turn a jealous eye toward them. We would rather they did not get along quite so well. ‘Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?’ (James 4:5) If there were a disturbance among them that caused the church to break up and die, we would not rejoice. Of course not. But nor would we suffer any real sorrow.
In some churches an evil spirit lingers. God will never bless such means and such a spirit. Those who give way to them will desire to have but will never obtain.”

Jesus Never Said Anything about Homosexuality

By Alan Shlemon
Jesus didn't talk about homosexuality. Does that mean it's okay?

If you’ve ever said that homosexuality is a sin, there’s a good chance that someone tried to correct you with, “Jesus never said anything about homosexuality.” It doesn’t matter what Bible verse you believe bolsters your claim, they believe that Jesus’ silence on the matter trumps all other considerations. But there are a number of reasons why this objection doesn’t work.