Political Prediction: January 30, 2012

If Romney gets the GOP nomination look for President Obama to pander to evangelicals in some way shortly before the election.

There's a wide gap in this voting block that is not favorable towards Romney. I suspect the President will try to take advantage of that discontentment. I don't imagine it will be the same type of strategy as Gingrich or Santorum are taking, but I do imagine it will be done in such a way as to make sure everyone knows the President is protestant and Romney is Mormon.
We will have to wait and see, but it should be interesting.

The Gathering Church

This past Sunday we were thankful to get to worship with a church plant in Ashe County called The Gathering Church.  We were blessed to worship our Creator by singing songs that were about Him and His work and not about us. We were blessed to listen to some good expository preaching from 1 Corinthians and learn some of the implications of divisions within the Body of Christ and our responsibilities towards one another.  Good times!

We also enjoyed spending the day with one of the elders and his wife and children who are quickly becoming dear friends. Thanks Scott, Bonnie, Joel, Evan, Alyssa, Josiah, and...  We love you in the Lord!

Expansion

I began with what I thought was going to be a fairly straightforward task of studying baptism and its role in salvation. As I was finishing up studying baptism in the gospels and was preparing to move on to Acts and the epistles I realized that I was going to have to expand on what I was studying.

Isolating NT texgts about baptism was going to give me a clear picture of a piece of the soteriological puzzle, but it was going to be isolated from the larger picture displayed in the puzzle. As I realized this I began to realize that if I am going to have a robust understanding of soteriology then I am also going to have to study all of the New Testament passages that deal with the subject. Otherwise I am going to miss the forest for the trees.

In short, this is going to take a while! :)

To Do List...

1. Catch up on my daily reading in Job.
2. Study the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith to determine whether or not to adopt it for Articles of Faith in the church plant.
3. Finish working on the church plant's constitution.
4. Finish studying and organizing my introduction to the Gospel of John.
5. Finish studying baptisms place in soteriology for my conversation with a brother in the Lord.
6. Start & finish studying the warning passages in Hebrews for my conversation with same brother.
7. Paint kitchen.
8. Replace knobs on bathroom sink.
9. Move entertainment center & drill new hole in the floor for its new location.
10. Read Biblical Eldership.
11. Work on a trivium structured catechism for our family.
...that's all I can think of for now...

Twin City Bible Church

Our family had the privilege of worshipping today with our brothers and sisters at Twin City Bible Church in Winston Salem, NC. As we prepare to plant a church here in Wilkes we are visiting some other churches who share some of our distinctives to see how those distinctives flesh themselves out in these various churches. Today we were blessed to worship in Scripture, preaching, song, and communion in a reformed, elder-led church. Something I've heard many times became more real today as I witnessed it....Theology Matters. What a blessing it was to hear and sing about God's sovereign grace, the reason that grace is necessary, and to culminate the renewing of mind by singing praises to our Savior and God. Hallelujah! What a Savior!

CPU

Got a new laptop today with an eye to the future. Amy, my wife, needs our current laptop to do various and sundry things and I'm going to be needing one to work on serving my brothers and sisters in the Lord as we plant a church in the next few months.
So here's to laptops, microsoft word, biblegateway.com, esvonline.org, net.bible.org, and other online resources.

Traditions

Recently I spent 5 hours with a brother in the Lord who was explaining to me a view he holds with which I disagree. He had some good points so I decided to study it for myself and find out exactly what I think about it. While studying I have constantly had to beat back the things I have learned my entire life in order to not push my traditions on the Scriptures, i.e. eisegesis, and instead allow the text to speak for itself, i.e. exegesis. It has been a tough process but the fear of the Lord has made me do it. I only want to believe my traditions inasmuch as they are reflective of the teaching of the Scriptures. Where the two part is the same place where I want to part with my traditions and this is a hard thing.

The truth of the matter is though that I'm not dealing with history or math problems, but with what the Creator has said about Himself and the nature of salvation and I tremble to think of the One who can kill the body and then throw the soul into Hell. God have mercy on me and help me to believe what You have said.

The Uniqueness of the 4th Gospel

I was surprised to learn that over 90% of the Gospel of John is unique. Here's a chart I made detailing the material that is included in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), but is not included in John's Gospel and vice versa. Thanks to Bible.org for all of the articles that allowed me to compile this information.

Material Exclusive to either John’s Gospel Or the Synoptic Gospels
Event/Information	The Gospel of John	The Synoptic Gospels
Jesus’ Genealogy		X
Account of Jesus’ Birth		X
Events of Jesus’ Childhood		X
Account of Jesus’ Baptism		X
Account of Jesus’ Temptation		X
Sermon on the Mount		X
John the Baptist’s Doubts		X
Casting Out Demons		X
Healing Lepers		X
Parables of Jesus		X
Transfiguration of Jesus		X
Selection & Sending Out of the 12 & 70		X
Eschatological (Prophetic) Addresses		X
Woes on Religious Leaders		X
Institution of the Lord’s Supper		X
Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane		X
Giving of the Great Commission		X
Account of Jesus’ Ascension		X
Jesus as the Creator	X
Jesus as the “Only Begotten” of the Father	X
Jesus as the promised Lamb of God	X
Jesus as the Great “I Am”	X
Turning Water into Wine	X
Conversation with Nicodemus	X
Conversation with the Woman at the Well	X
Account of the Woman Caught in Adultery	X
Raising Lazarus from the Dead	X
Jesus Washing the Disciples’ Feet	X
Upper Room Discourse of John 14-17	X
Teaching on the Coming of the Holy Spirit	X
Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer	X

Iowa

Excited to see the beginning of the 2012 Presidential election tonight. I don't think Iowa is about who is going to win as much as who is going to have to go home. Personally, I am hoping that Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry are going to have to go home after tonight.

Driving in the Snow

Drove home in the snow after a great time with the Day family in Ashe County. My wife was on the phone telling people we were safe and she was saying what a good driver I was in the snow. I know it's just a compliment on my driving, but there's something about getting a compliment from your wife that does a husband good. I'd rather have my wife's compliment than 100 from others.

New Year

I hope this year to post something almost every day.

1st day of 2012 was another day with the usual routine. Same successes, same failures...here's to more unusual days to come.

¹ Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; ² but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. -Psalm 1:1-2

The blessed man is not influenced by the wicked, but instead finds his delight in God's law.