Here is one of his sermons. He died in the pulpit on February 5, 2012 in his church in Virginia Beach. He was a true general of the faith, a great man of integrity and holiness, and a lover of Christ. We miss you already sir....
Why the Sufficiency of Scripture is So Important
Here is a message I preached a few weeks ago from Mark 7:1-13. There is a lot there I still need to learn! Here is a bit of it....
--------------------------------------
• Satan is no dummy. Right from the beginning, He knew that the way to hurt God and get mankind into a mess is to continually tempt us to disobey God's commandments...His Word. And in the process of this battle, two mistakes are made by man:
- The first is to not care "what thus says the Lord" and do our own thing in lust and carnality.
- The second is just as bad: to begin to create rules, rituals, methods, and life and ministry constructs not according to the Word, but according to the dictate and desires of man's sinful heart. And that is what makes the sort of hypocrisy in the text so bad: the traditions Jesus described flowed from man's sinful heart.
• The first error is the sin of the culture; the second error, if we aren't careful, is the sin of the church.
• And in both errors, the sin is that Scripture isn't Sufficient. Both represent rebellion against Christ.
- The first says, "Obeying Scripture won't make me happy or fulfilled or successful."
- The second says, "Obeying Scripture won't make me holy or anointed enough or sanctified enough."
• In both cases, man veers off into his own ideas. Let me say that again. In both cases, man drifts off into his own ideas...one into carnality and the other into legalism or pragmatism.
• The second error is particularly dangerous for the church. Why? The problem is two-fold:
- The development of a rule-based hypocrisy that goes beyond Scripture (common in holiness traditions).
- The development of a no-rules-based hypocrisy that works to eliminate the controls of Scripture.
• Bp. Hall said, "It is a dangerous thing, in the service of God, to decline from his institutions; we have to do with a God, who is wise to prescribe his own worship - just to require what he has prescribed - and powerful to avenge what he has not prescribed."
• So what we must strive for is to NEVER minimize God's Word, but NOT to go beyond It either. And to be honest, as a pastor, just reading this text makes me begin to think of anything we are doing in a "Corban" manner that actually mitigates against what God said.
• In other words, could it be dangerous to say "we are doing this for God" when God's Word forbids it, either by direct command, principle, or pattern?
Here is a challenge for each CRCC household: Have you set up anything in your life that deceptively makes you think you are obeying God, but in actuality causes the Word of God to be set aside?
A Post by one of our 15-Year Olds
She called it "My Journey from Death to Life." Wow. All praises to Christ!
http://d6reformation.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/my-journey-from-death-to-life/
Thank you Lord! :)
More D6 Hope!!!!!
This was written by a CRCC Dad. Yes...I said DAD. Praise your Name Jesus! :) :) :)
---------------------------------------------------
D6 has birthed Hope for my family!
April 2010 was the month of new beginnings for our family. Earlier that year we had resolved to do whatever it would take to make 2010 a year of doing and applying God’s word to our lives, rather than our frequent stance of merely hearing and expecting change in our lives. We were desperate for true change; TRANSFORMATION! We had reached a point of spiritual stagnation! Growth was absent (at least measurable growth) and we became more and more frustrated with the direction of our lives. This frustration paralyzed us and before we realized it, we were spending less and less time in the Word as a family and giving more of our time to the things that REALLY do not matter from an eternal perspective. But praise God for an awakening that caused my wife and I to desperately search for some answers! In our searching, the Holy Spirit had me to do a Google search for family churches in Chesapeake. The results of that search led us to CRCC where we immediately connected to the vision and mission of the church.
One of those missions, the D6Reformation, really hit home! We began to realize that we had missed a very important part of our foundation: Consistent Family Worship and Discipleship. I looked in the mirror, repented to God and to my wife and sons and began my pursuit of multigenerational faithfulness by getting my family together for Family Worship and Discipleship on a regular basis. From the moment we implemented this in our home, things finally all started to come together for us. The more we learned and began to intentionally apply Deuteronomy 6/Ephesians 6, our lives began to transform. The results have just been overwhelming (in a good way). Before long, the vision for our family became one that was more Godly (God inspired and influenced) than the one we initially had in place. The influence of this culture no longer has a stronghold over my family because I am submitted to the Word as the head of my household and I will not allow the enemy or myself to lead them to a very real hell.
This posture has also ignited the love that I have for my wife. I have come to understand that God has appointed me Priest, Prophet, Protector, and Provider; a role in which I will be judged and held accountable for in the presence of our God. And let me be real, I have had moments when I felt like I did not know enough of the Bible to teach my family. Moments when I wondered what my wife would think of me and how my son’s would receive my teaching? All of these fears were overcome by my simple act of obedience to God. I no longer live in nor am I controlled by fear. I allow my faith in our God to lead, guide and direct me in discipling my family. My obedience has caused a whirlwind of peace and order to dwell within our family. My wife and son’s are excited about our times of fellowship and are active participants in our Family Worship. Watching our son’s eagerly find scriptures to support our study and engaging in discussion has changed me as their father. Holding my wife’s hand and looking at the fire that’s in her eyes while I am teaching and instructing our family has pushed me to become even more prepared by studying the Word of God, by reading assigned books, and by spending more time in prayer; rather than overindulging in extracurricular activities. Now I can proudly declare that “There is Hope for the ----------’ family!”
We have aligned ourselves in the Word of God, have connected to a ministry /church family that believes in the sufficiency of the scriptures, who are living, breathing testimonies (their lives model the TRUTH of the Word of God) And WILL NOT APOLOGIZE FOR HOLDING YOU ACCOUNTABLE! The change and answers that we needed were in the Word of God all the time. Family Worship and Discipleship has helped us discover and live God’s will for our family! We are extremely grateful that God answered our prayers through the vehicle of the D6 Reformation. If you have not taken a look at the information within the site, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do not allow another day to pass. Today could be the day of your family’s TRANSFORMATION! Don’t wait any longer!