Why do You Do That

Jesus was in the beginning with God and was God. When Jesus was incarnated as a man he did not give up His nature/deity.  Phil 2:5-11 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Listen to Jesus' words in John 17:5- And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Jesus was with God before the world was created.

How about the Father's words to the disciples Mark 9:7- ...this is my beloved Son: hear him.

There is also the condemning words of the Scribes in Mark 2: 5-12  When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.  But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,  Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?  Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)  I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

One of my favorites is his response to the Pharisees in John 8:56-58 when he places himself equal to God the Father....  Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him. thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?  Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.

Ephesians 2:8,9- For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast.  Isaiah said, all out righteousnesses are as filthy rags.

The thief on the cross was promised by Jesus to be in Paradise that day. The thief was bound by nails to the cross and deserved to be there. The thief had no opportunity to do anything good while nailed to a cross and obviously did not do good works while he lived.



The message of redemption throughout the Scripture is Believe.  And after we believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ, we do good works. Ephesians 2:10- For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we walk in them.

Any religion that teaches that works of any kind like baptism or church attendance or abstaining from certain foods... is not teaching Bible truth.

Salvation is obtained by grace through faith in Jesus and is promised for eternity. Once you have believed upon Jesus as Saviour your salvation will never depart. The Bible teaches that once you are saved you can never lose it. No matter how you perform your life as a believer you will never be lost again. Jesus said he would in now wise cast you out.

This explanation could go for several pages but the simplest verses that truly prove this point are found in Ephesians 1:5-14 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

I will bring out a few simple points.

1. In God's foreknowledge He has predestined every believer to be adopted into his family. When the Bible writers wrote they used terms and language that we would understand to relate our relationship to God.  The Term adoption is still used. When someone was adopted into a family they could not lose their inheritance. Even if the father wanted to disinherit them they could not. So, as a believer in Jesus I am a Son of God (John 1:12KJV) and as a son I am adopted, and as an adopted son I can never lose my inheritance- i.e.. heaven. (11)

2. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.  We are not waiting to be forgiven we have it now. And it is all according to his grace. God is not like us. When he says forgiven he means forgiven- As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12KJV)

3. Once we believe we are given the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God does at least two things in these passages. First he seals us. It was customary then that when someone bought goods they would put their seal on them to show ownership, so if they got mixed in with other people's stuff they would immediately recognize which was theirs. God will not get his children mixed up with the devil's children and once he owns something it is his. God's children are the wheat and the devil's are the tares.    Second, the Spirit acts as our earnest. The earnest was a down payment. Earnest money shows that you are serious about purchasing a property. For the sake of this application it also meant that once you put that money down you could never take it back. If you reneged or broke the contract that earnest money stayed put. Once we are given the Spirit of God it not only shows ownership but it shows that god is so serious about our salvation that even if he wanted to (which He never will!!), He could not get out of the contract. Once the Spirit is given to us he stays with us. And when time comes to gather God's possessions at the rapture, He will not mistake his children from the Devil's because of the Seal that is upon them. 

If we could lose out salvation heaven would be empty of humans! God forgives and God keeps!

Women are not to hold a position of bishop/teacher/pastor

This is a hot-button issue for sure;  but that does not mean that we should shy away from it,  if it is a scriptural truth.

1 Corinthians 14:34,35- Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law.  And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.

1 Timothy 2:11,12 - Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

1 Corinthians 11:1-3-  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.  Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God. 

God has an order. And when that order gets messed up God cannot do what God could do. God's order has always been and always will be this: God- Christ- Man- Woman. And not just any man/woman, a husband and wife. This order goes far beyond preaching and church, it extends, and in reality, begins in the home or family - which God created in the Garden of Eden before he created the church.

God is to be the divine leader in the home and the husband is to spiritually lead his wife and children. He is the provider and protector who yields to God and supplies for his family. The wife is to be in submission to her own husband (Ephesians 5:22). The children are not even mentioned in the order of Authority of the home because they have NONE.

The home structure is to extend into the Local Church. As goes the family so goes the church. Men are to stand up and preach the truth. This principle or Doctrine is not by any means diminishing the role of women. I am married to a wonderful wife that helps me lead the home by teaching my children morals and discipline and the Bible and she educates them and "keeps" the home while I am at work outside the home.  We are on the same team in bringing up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

But i believe the thing that makes my house run smoothly is (of course God's Grace!) but i believe it is the fact that my wife knows her place in God's order - she is submissive to her husband as the head of the home.  That means when I decide to do something that may not be the best idea,  she lets me - if I am wrong she lets me be wrong,  she trusts that God will deal with me.  Sometimes a man needs to fail to learn how to succeed.  If I decide to move our family based upon God's calling then she accepts that with the understanding that God is in control.   God's order is preeminent.

When a woman preaches she stands in Authority with God's word and she usurps the God given Authority of the man.

Ecclesiastical Separation

Many people ridicule Baptist churches because they do not partner with other "denominations" or civic or political groups. This is called Ecclesiastical separation and is not an opinion or preference but a Bible Doctrine.    We are separatists by design.

Galatians 1:3-9 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

The word accursed there means - banned, excommunicated.  It is obvious that this means separated from the assembly - some go as far as to say it is referring to eternal damnation.

The Bible teaches that Salvation is by Grace through faith, not of works. (Eph 2:8,9 KJV)  And some assemblies teach a works based salvation or a salvation that ignores a holy lifestyle after conversion.  It is for these reasons, and others, we cannot partner with them. We have a very conflicting "gospel".  

Justification is by the grace of God alone,  through faith in Jesus' blood sacrifice alone;  plus nothing and minus nothing!   Jesus said it is finished on the Cross!  Any other gospel is a false gospel and any other Jesus is a false Jesus and any other religious system is legalism or Gnosticism or Lasciviousness.

We also reject the prosperity gospel based on scriptures like these;     ...in the world ye shall have tribulation...   ...if they hate you,  know they hated me first...    ...yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.      ...and many more!       Too many people are professing Christianity without understanding that they are depraved sinners and it is their sin that needs to be repented of and Jesus that needs to be trusted in - not blessings!

Neither do we partner with social or political or civic organizations - with very few exceptions - for the obvious reason that they are not separated from the world and its mentality and there is no ability on our part to govern their standard.

For example:  We do not partner with a political party because their public opinion might be pro-choice or they might sympathize with the LGBTQ movement or some other social justice debacle.  We cannot and will not partner with that.