The Words of the Gospel of Eternal Life

Jun 28

Posted by Mike Stallard in Gospel-centered | 1 Comment

I appreciate the recent article by Duane Litfin in Christianity Today, May 2012, entitled “You Can’t Preach the Gospel with Deeds and Why It’s Important to Say So.”  In some earlier posts and previous articles I have lamented the problem of expanding the definition of the gospel of eternal life to include within the umbrella of the definition the social implications of that gospel.  Hence, attempts are made to place what has been termed the “social gospel” under the definition of what the Bible means by the word gospel.  Litfin’s article assists us in the direction that I would like to see us go.  It is the biblical direction in my view.  It is also not a denigration of the responsibility of Christians to do social action as a witness to the gospel or an act of love in Jesus’ name.  But Litfin articulates with clarity the importance of the out loud declaration in words of the content of the gospel of eternal life.  Note this paragraph from his article:

“So let us say it again:  The belief that we can ‘preach the gospel’ with our actions alone represents muddled thinking.  However important our actions may be (and they are very important indeed), and whatever else they may be doing (they serve a range of crucial functions), they are not ‘preaching the gospel.’  The gospel is inherently verbal, and preaching it is inherently verbal behavior.  If the gospel is to be communicated at all, it must be put into words.”  (p. 41)

I have not yet read Litfin’s new book Word versus Deed: Resetting the Scales to a Biblical Balance.  However, in light of the CT article, I think I would find it agreeable and useful.  Beyond that, the expected harmony with Scripture makes the book an attractive purchase.  Interestingly, Jesus said in John 5:24, “…he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life…”  Our good deeds may point people to God so they can consider His work (Matt. 5:16), but salvation comes by believing in the words of eternal life.

Walter Kaiser and the Barndollar Lectures

Jun 23

Posted by Mike Stallard in Baptist Bible Seminary, Barndollar Lectures | No Comments

I have more details on the Barndollar Lectures to be held at Baptist Bible College & Seminary on  September 10-13.  Dr. Walter Kaiser has confirmed the following topics for his four presentations:

Monday, “God’s Promise of the Land to Israel” – Gen 12:2-3, 7

Tuesday, “God’s Promise to Regather Israel Back to Their Land” — Jer 32

Wednesday, “God’s Promise to Revive the Nation and Unify it Once Again”–Eze 37

Thursday, “God’s Gift of a Revival in Egypt”–Isa 19

We look forward to having Dr. Kaiser minister to our students through these messages.  His clear teaching on the national and land promises to Israel has been a blessing down through the years. 

The Exceptional Beauty and Innocence of a Young Child

Jun 20

Posted by Mike Stallard in Family | No Comments

Last Saturday I spent a good part of the day with my son David, his beautiful wife Brielle, and the extraordinary young lady who is my 19 month-old granddaughter Ella (note the picture).  There is something of exceptional beauty and innocence in all young children.  When I watch her play, try to talk, and intereact with her surroundings, there is an almost surreal quality to the moment.  I had not seen this up close like this (where I would notice) since my three children were born (over 20 years ago now).  Such innnocence actually reminds me of what I wish human beings were normally like (at least the innocent part).  However, even young children of Ellas’s age show signs of temper, rage, and rebellion.  I don’t think my son David trained Ella to have those undesired traits.  Sin is not merely environmental.  Children don’t just learn to sin from parents and others in their lives.  No, there is something more serious going on.  Men and women are born with sin natures — that is, a propensity to go contrary to God’s design for them (Eph. 2:1-3 among other passages).   The absolute quandry we were in required the Cross of Christ as the only possible solution to render both the justice and the grace of God (Rom. 3:21-26) in our behalf–applied to us by faith and faith alone in Christ’s finished Cross-work.  I am thankful for Christ’s work for me in this way.  As a result I have hope that my innocence will return — in fact, I’ll have more than I have ever had, complete freedom from the presence of sin.  When Jesus returns he will begin to make all things right.  I long for that day.  Until then, I have a glimpse of things to come in the exceptional beauty and innnocence of a young child.

Eyes to See: God, Health, Resurrection, & Rapture

Jun 20

Posted by Mike Stallard in Apologetics, Health | No Comments

Recently, I had one of the strangest things happen to me.  I woke up one morning and my eyesight had changed overnight from farsighted to nearsighted.  I picked up my iPHone and could see it clearly where the night before I needed my glasses to make out anything clearly.  What a strange miracle I thought!  Then I looked up and it was all foggy when I tried to see long distance.  Ouch! In church I could not see the words of the songs on the screen, but could read my Bible clearly without glasses.  The week before the reverse was true.

Such an immediate shift caused some consternation to be sure.  But three doctors’ appointments later a natural explanation was at hand.   I had been given the drug prednisone by my general doctor for a skin rash.  That drug spiked the sugar in my system enormously.  As a result, the lenses in my eyes absorbed excess water and other materials.  This caused the lenses to bulge which changed the refraction in my eyes.  Hence, I went overnight from farsighted to nearsighted.  Of course, my doctors took me off the prednisone and I was put on medicine to help my system regulate the sugar.  The retinal specialist told me that it would take about six weeks for my eyes to return to the state they were in before the change occurred.  After the six weeks were up, another miracle of sorts appeared.  My eyes were actually “better” than they were before I had the recent problem.  All of my astigmatism was gone.  The very slight offset to my farsight was gone.  My far off sight was now perfect.  Even my close up sight was slightly better.  I thank the Lord for this even though I did not enjoy the process.

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Homegoing of Jan Coudriet

May 29

Posted by Mike Stallard in Family | No Comments

Last week, Jan Coudriet, my son David’s father-in-law passed away.  He was the Director of Camp Sankanac, a BCM ministry located near Pottstown, Pennsylvania.  I heard someone say that 500 people were at his funeral Sunday night.  I know that the visitation with the family was scheduled from 4 to 6 pm Sunday and it had to be extended to 6:30 because there were so many people.  I believe they had to cut the line off to begin the funeral service.

The service was truly a celebration of a life well-lived for Christ.  There are several good things to say about Jan Coudriet.  I will mention a couple of them here.  First, Mr. “C” (as my son calls him) had been the camp director for 29 years.  This shows he loved kids and desperately wanted them to hear the gospel and turn to Christ.  No one stays that long in a ministry without being committed.  He was involved in helping ministries in China and India.  His whole life was tirelessly spent connecting youngsters (and others when opportunity arose) to faith in Jesus Christ.  Second, when my son married Jan and Beth’s daughter Brielle bringing our two families together, we entered into a wonderful relationship with a new extended family.  They welcomed us.  We never had any cross words.  Jan was the epitome of godliness and deferring to others. 

The picture I have attached is a picture of Jan with Ella Stallard, the granddaughter that we share.  I say that in the present tense.  Jan is still alive.  To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.  One day Jan’s body will be raised from the dead at the rapture of the Church and reunited with his spirit.  I will hug his neck again.  I am reminded of the words once given by D. L. Moody in anticipation of his own death:

“Some day you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody is dead…Don’t you believe a word of it!  At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now…That which is born of the flesh may die.  That which is born of the Spirit will live forever.”  (The Life of D. L. Moody, 554-55)

One of my personal memories of Jan was when I was doing a prophecy conference at the church he attended.  He took me to Dunkin’ Donuts on a Saturday morning before driving me to the sessions that morning.  I blame him for helping me become addicted to the Turkey Bacon Flatbread sandwich!

As I was looking through the pictures of Jan over the weekend, there was one that strongly captured my attention for some reason.  It was a picture of him when he was in China on one of his missions trips.  He was standing in front of a picture of Mao, the famous, former Communist leader of Red China.  Mao killed millions of people in the name of what he believed.  In terms of how history was changed by Mao some say that he was a great man.  But as I look at the life of Jan Coudriet, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jan Coudriet was a far greater man.

We will miss the big guy but we sorrow not as those who have no hope.

The “Apostasia” in 2 Thessalonians 2:3

Jan 28

Posted by Mike Stallard in Prophecy, Rapture | 2 Comments

At the Pre-Trib Study Group last December, Dr. Wayne House presented a paper on the meaning of apostasia in 2 Thess 2:3.  He had earlier made a presentation at the same conference study group back in the mid-1990s, but had done some more work on it and decided to present the main idea again.

The debate over apostasia in this passage stems from the two major options:  a departure from the faith or a departure from the earth as in rapture of the Church.  Of course, if the latter is true, then the debate about the timing of the rapture of the church is over — pre-trib wins.  However, the issue is far from clear as Dr. House shows.  Most dispenstionalists have probably held that it refers to departure from the faith or rebellion or declension.   Some have taught that the great decline of the Christian faith in the West (and in the Western Church) during the 20th century is a fulfilllment of this prophecy.  Both of the two options, if I remember correctly, are listed in the notes of the Old Scofield Reference Bible (1909).

The translation of apostasia as rebellion as found in the NIV was rejected by House.  He suggested that this thought has existed only as a translation of the word in English translations since the King James Version but earlier English versions had favored the simpler idea of departure.  House argued that the word meant departure and that the issue of what the departure was from or what the nature of the departure consisted of was something that only the context of a passage could deliver.  Grammatically, the word does not automatically carry the idea of rebellion by the simple use of the word.   House points to contextual ideas (the general focus of 2 Thess 1-2 on end-time issues and 2 Thess 2:1 talking about the rapture itself.  Thus, he argues the following:  “What makes the most sense in the context, that the Day of the Lord had not come because a rebellion against government or a defection from the faith had not occurred, or that the departure to be with Christ had not occurred? Remember, in 1 Thessalonians 1, the encouragement was that the coming of Christ would rescue believers from the coming wrath”  (page 5 of House paper).”

In my own commentary, First and Second Thessalonians: Looking for Christ’s Return (2009), I respectfully discuss House’s position using his earlier paper that ended up published in When the Trumpet Sounds (1995).  However, I gravitate to the position that the word means apostasy, rebellion, or declension and that it is associated in some way with what follows — the appearance of the man of lawlessness (the anti-Christ figure).  However, I respect the argumentation of Dr. House and must remain open to the possibility that he is right.  Why do I go to the later connection of the man of lawlessness instead of linking to the immediate context given earlier along with the general theme of the book?  In this matter, I cannot be dogmatic.

Embarrassment and Prophecy

Jan 26

Posted by Mike Stallard in Dispensationalism, Prophecy | 1 Comment

Last year with the failed predictions of Harold Camping (once again…and again), we have been reminded by many of the failed prophecies of the past.  Many come from the cults (Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists/Millerites).  Y2K was extremely revealing and financially profitable for some video makers.  There were both Christian and secular alarmists on that one.  I have been especially curious about the rise of non-Christian doomsday prophecies that seem to proliferate in our culture — all of them NOT coming from a dispensational premillennial outlook on the rapture of the church. Read the rest of this entry »

Seminary Internships

Jan 24

Posted by Mike Stallard in Baptist Bible Seminary | 2 Comments

When I went to seminary I did not have an internship in a church that was a formal, full-time position where I was mentored by a church pastor and staff to take the content I had learned in the classroom and implement it in real ministry and develop my leadership skills.  Looking back, I really  needed one.  While I respect the small windows of application that I received along the way, it turns out that my first real internship was the first church where I served as lead pastor!  They deserved better…much better.  For five years and three months I learned how not to do church.  The church members were the recipients of my halting yet occasionally effective ministry.  They deserve more than a medal. Read the rest of this entry »

My Story

Jan 24

Posted by Mike Stallard in Billy Graham, Gospel-centered | 1 Comment

My personal testimony can be found under the My Story menu at the top of my blog site.  However, I have decided to include it here since many readers only look at the blog entries.

All men in their innermost being want their lives to matter.  I am no different.  I have, since my earliest recollections, wanted to be someone whose life counted in a significant way.  As I have come to know and understand, a life that really counts is also one that counts for eternity and not just for this life’s journey.  Also, I can never remember a time when I did not believe in the existence of God.  From the time when I was five years old and prayed my first prayer when I had to go to the hospital for surgery to the time I prayed a few years later for God never to let Mom, Dad, my brother Jimmy, or me ever die, I believed I could talk to a heavenly Father.  Where this desire to communicate to the Creator came from I cannot tell.  I never attended a church service except for one occasion before I was twenty years old.  I can only believe that the Scriptures are true and wise when they speak of the innate knowledge of God and eternity that the Maker has placed in every one of us.

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Alabama Crimson Tide, Football, & Real Life

Jan 23

Posted by Mike Stallard in Sports | 1 Comment

On January 9, about fifteen people, all Alabama fans (two graduates) and all Bible-believing Christians partied at my house as we watched the national championship game between my team the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tigers from LSU.  The outcome (21-0 BAMA) was pleasing to all of us and with excitement, we indeed proved that Baptists can dance!

Within a week, however, one of the Bama stars, a defensive back was arrested for possession of marijuana.  Deflating, yes…unexpected, no.  Our present evil age continues to degenerate all around us (at least in North America) as biblical living grows less attractive to a hedonistic society.  I will always root for the Tide being a graduate from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and having grown up in the state as an Alabama Crimson Tide and Bear Bryant fan.  I also understand the character building that can be in sports.  But students must receive and embrace the lessons for real life.  While I enjoy football as a fan, I refuse to let it become the center of my life.  On the days when BAMA loses, Jesus is still raised from the dead and at the right hand of the Father.  While I always look forward to football season and how my team will do, I am looking ahead far more to the glorious appearing of my God and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.