When am I Ready to Become a Christian?

By John Piper

We open the week with an email from Karla, who writes in with a very short question, to the point: “Pastor John, how does a person know when he or she is ready to take the jump and become a Christian?” What would you say to Karla?

Affluence and Discontentment

by Tim Challies

“Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these,” Jesus said as He recalled the beauty of a common lily (Luke 12:27). And I suspect that even Solomon in all his splendor could not have imagined the sheer affluence that you and I enjoy today. The lily is here today and gone tomorrow, so eeting and commonplace that we overlook its intricate beauty and fail to acknowledge the glory of the God who made and sustains it. Is it possible that we have grown so accustomed to our affluence that we have lost the wonder of it, too? Is it possible that our affluence harms us even as it blesses us?

Did Ancient Extraterrestrials Visit Earth?

By Robert Velarde

In the beginning, ancient aliens visited planet Earth, significantly influenced human history, and possibly even engineered human life to evolve. Furthermore, as a result of ancient alien visitations, history is replete with clues regarding these alien astronauts.

Flying saucers and little green men may seem the stuff of 1950s B-movies, yet ideas like the ones just described are gaining momentum not only in popular culture but also in some scientific circles. In the 2012 motion picture Prometheus, director Ridley Scott touted the concept that aliens visited Earth and seeded human life on it.1 The more lighthearted adventure, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), also gave direct nods to alien involvement on Earth, while the older film, Stargate (1994), made a direct connection between Egypt and ancient aliens, and the seminal film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) involved aliens in the development of human intelligence.

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Conforming to the Image of Christ

The obvious fact that we all sin can create an atmosphere of false security among us, leading us to accept with ease the idea that sin is so commonplace that we ought not to be too bothered by it lest we surrender our mental health to a self-deprecating neurosis. Yet in our desire to console ourselves and maintain a good self-image, we may push to the back burner the mandate of God, “Be you holy, even as I am holy.” Evangelical Christians are most vulnerable to succumbing to this distortion. We stress the fact that our justification is by faith alone and insist that our righteousness is found in Christ alone. Though these assertions are true, it is equally true that the faith by which we are justified is a faith that brings forth fruit in our lives. The slogan of the Reformation was that we are justified by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. The instant true faith is present in the heart of the believer, the process of sanctification begins. Change begins at once. The Christian begins to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are becoming holy. If we are not becoming holy, then Christ is not in us and our profession of faith is empty.

  Passages for Further Study 1 Peter 1:15–16 1 Timothy 2:8 Resource: Ligonier.org

Statism

In a post-Christian world, people who have rejected God often make an idol of the state, and the state often encourages such dependence. The twentieth century witnessed the rise of a particularly despotic form of statism in countries from China to Russia to Germany. What dangers do we face when the state attempts to replace God? In this session, Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. discusses the dangers of statism and the way Christians should respond when they find themselves in a nation where statism has gained ascendancy.

Resource: Ligonier.org

Women to be Elders and Pastors

Egalitarians say that Gal. 3:28 allows women to be elders and pastors

by Matt Slick

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus," (Gal. 3:28).

The egalitarians often quote Galatians 3:28 in their arguments to justify that women can be pastors and elders. Their reasoning is that since the verse says that there is neither male nor female in Christ then the offices of elder, bishop, pastor, etc., should not display gender differences since there is neither male nor female.
The problem with this interpretation is that the context of Galatians 3:28 is dealing with salvation and not church office qualifications. Contextually, Paul says in Galatians 3:24 that we are justified by faith and that we have been clothed with Christ (v. 27). In 3:29 he speaks about our belonging to Christ. So, there is nothing in the context to signify that women can be elders or pastors.
A closer look at Galatians 3:28 will reveal that Paul is showing there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. This is important because the Jewish people understood the Messiah was coming only for them (Matt. 15:24). Paul negates the distinction of nationality regarding salvation as he also negates the distinction of slave and free, male and female. He says, "you are all one in Christ Jesus."

In Christ

The phrase, "in Christ," occurs 90 times in the New Testament. It is used to designate those who are saved. The Bible uses the phrase, "in Christ," to tell us that we have redemption (Rom. 3:24), are all live to God (Rom. 6:23), have escaped condemnation (Rom. 8:1), are approved before God (Rom. 16:10), are sanctified (1 Cor. 1:2), are made new creatures (2 Cor. 5:17), are God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10), have been granted grace (2 Tim. 1:9), and have obtained salvation (2 Tim. 2:10). There are many more, but this will demonstrate the point well.
As we see from the above paragraph, the phrase, "in Christ," is a designation of our relationship with God through the person of Christ. We are in Christ. Consider 1 Cor. 15:22 which says, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive."
So, Galatians 3:28 is not about women in ministry but about those who are "in Christ"--those who are saved. Therefore, it does not support the idea of women elders were pastors.

Keeping a Pure Conscience

By John MacArthur

John gives practical, biblical advice on how to sharpen the divinely-implanted tool for Christian growth—your conscience.

Through the years I've been a pastor, I have watched our culture unravel in its addiction to corruption. People are enslaved to sex, numb to violence, and terminally self-consumed. The rapid increase in the pervasiveness and openness of sin is paralleled by a decreasing sensitivity to conscience. And no wonder. People are trained to ignore their guilt—and yet their drowning in it.

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