October Newsletter Posted

Zion NewsletterThe Zion Chronicles for October 2011 is now available for download. You can view the document or download it here. Also, we have updated the church calendar for the month. You can view that by month, week, daily, or agenda style, by clicking here.

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Basics of the Reformed Faith: Scripture’s Authority

Here on the Zion blog, we will be offering a series that will cover the basic subjects of Reformed theology. You can see the whole series of “Basics of the Reformed Faith” here. This week: The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture.

In Genesis 1:1 we read “in the beginning was God.” Echoing the opening declaration of the Bible, in John 1:1 we read that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” But John goes on to say “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The fact that God chose to reveal himself in the person of Jesus Christ (the eternal word made flesh) brings us to the subject of the inspiration and authority of the Bible.

It is important to understand what the various human writers of the Bible say about the Bible itself. What kind of book is it? What do they testify about it?

The Bible never claims to be an “inspirational” book which grants its reader some sort of spiritual insight or self-enlightenment. The Bible was not given to motivate us to live better lives, or to motivate us to do great things. As we have seen, the Bible is given by God as a testimony to the Word made flesh (Jesus).

The testimony of the biblical writers is paramount. As Paul says in his second letter to Timothy, “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” Although the term “inspiration of Scripture” is used to describe God’s revelation of himself to us in written form, modern translations of the Bible (such as the ESV) correctly note that the verb which the King James Version famously translated as “inspired” (theopneustos) is better translated as “breathed out” by God. This emphasizes the fact that the various books of the Bible (Scripture) are given to us by God (”breathed out”) through the agency of human authors. This is why in Romans 3:2, for example, Paul can speak of the Old Testament as “the very words of God.”

Since the Bible is the very words of God (it doesn’t merely contain the word of God), it comes to us with the authority of God himself. The Bible is God’s word written and must be seen as divine speech through human agency. As one writer (B. B. Warfield) so aptly put it, “It says, God says.” Continue reading at WSCal Valiant for Truth Blog

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Update | Outreach Opportunity: Courageous Movie

First posted earlier this fall, but updated with more resources, contact information, and clips of the movie!

Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. When tragedy strikes home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering.

Continue reading

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Youth Fiesta Progressive Dinner

Calling all youth! Join us this Sunday (9/25) at 4 p.m. for this month’s fun & fellowship as we scramble around Garner for our annual progressive dinner! We’ll leave from Zion E&R Church and enjoy delicious appetizers, food, desserts, and lots of fun. Fiesta attire is not mandatory, but it is encouraged! (Especially ponchos and sombreros!)

From the church, we’ll go to:
The Haacks: Appetizers
The Davisons: Smoothy Drinks
The Steens: Main Course
The Hammitts: Dessert
The Parsonage: Pinata, Closing, and Bonfire

Interested in coming? RSVP to Pastor Brian. We hope to see you this Sunday at 4 p.m.!

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Basics of the Reformed Faith

Here on the Zion blog, we will be offering a series that will cover the basic subjects of Reformed theology. The series will offer bite-sized explanations of key doctrines to give new believers and people new to the Reformed faith an easily understood tour of key tenets of the faith, and it also serves to remind those of us who have been at Zion for a long time what we mean when we say that we are a Reformed church. Most of these articles come from Westminster Seminary California, our pastor’s alma mater and one of our new Missions of the Month. First up, “In the Beginning: God.”

The Bible opens with a remarkable statement in Genesis 1:1– “In the Beginning, God . . .”

This simple assertion is packed with meaning. Some of the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith are found in this short declaration, and it is important to give them due consideration.

The first thing this passage tells us is that before anything was created, God already was. In fact, God always was, without beginning or end. Since God alone is uncreated, we speak of him as eternal. God exists before time itself, and is not bound by the succession of moments (time) as are we.

As the creation account unfolds in the subsequent verses of Genesis 1, we learn that the eternal God creates all things. Whatever now exists, exists only because God created it. There is no such thing as eternal matter. There is no eternal realm of mental forms (or ideas) as Plato led us to believe. There is no eternal convulsing of matter–ever expanding, ever contracting–as taught in much of contemporary science. There is only the eternal God who created all things, and who already was in the beginning. This indicates that nothing exists apart from the will of God, and all created things (the heavens and earth, humans as well as angels) are necessarily contingent, and depend upon God for their existence.

Unlike his creatures who are bound by both time and space, God has no such limitations. Because God is unlike us in this most fundamental way, he must be distinct from that which he has created, and can in no sense be dependant upon created things. God has no needs, as do we. God has no parts, as we do. Although he is personal, he does not have the kind of passions or emotions that we do as creatures. This is the God who gives orders to the sun and the stars, who gives life to inanimate matter (as when he made Adam from the dust of the earth – Genesis 2:7), and who is Lord over death. This God utterly transcends his creatures. Continue reading at WSCal’s Valiant for Truth Blog

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Two Articles for Busy Parents in the 21st Century

Pastor Brian has posted about two articles on his website for parents as we think about raising our children in the fear and admonition of the Lord for the 21st century. Times are tough for parents, and hopefully the following will be of some help to you. The two articles are:

5 Lessons for Parenting in the Digital Age
1. Technology No Longer Has Boundaries
2. Know When to Cut It Off
3. The Difference Between Preference and Addiction
4. Focus on Technology that Connects Us to Our Children
5. Model the Balance

Children Suffer from Second-Hand Stress
A quote from the article: “… few [parents] consider the dangers of secondhand stress. If you make yourself miserable to do a special favor for your child, he might enjoy it. But if he senses your negative feelings, he might come to share them. Secondhand stress is one of kids’ leading grievances.”

Read more about both articles here and how you can keep stress and digital tech from hurting your family.

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Fall Conference 2011 – Dr. W Robert Godfrey

Dr. W. Robert Godfrey is the featured speaker at the Fall 2011 Conference sponsored by Covenant URC in Pella, IA. The conference will be held on October 14-16, 2011. The topic is “Living Christianly in a Post-Christian World Conference.” He will be speaking on 2 Peter 2:1 – “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.”

Check back for here for specific times, but put October 14 – 16 in your calendar right now! Go to covenantpella.org for more information.

Directions

About the Speaker

Dr. Godfrey has taught church history at Westminster Seminary California since 1981. Continue reading

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Summing Up Regeneration

We recently wrapped up our last sermon series on regeneration, and we’ll be diving back into book study of 1 John: Light, Life & Love. As we begin this new study, this would be a great time to invite a friend to church to get in at the start of this series!Before we totally turn our attention away from the topic of regeneration, it would be helpful to summarize what we’ve seen concerning this doctrine from God’s Word.

Few living teachers are clearer on Scripture and God’s Truth than R.C. Sproul. He reminds us of the highlights of regeneration:

Our natural prejudgment of reality is against God. To receive the truth of God requires that our “anti” bias be changed. The key work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration is not giving new knowledge to the brain but changing the disposition of the heart. Before the Spirit turns that heart of stone into a heart of flesh, we have no desire for the things of God. We may desire the blessings that only God can give us, but we have no affection for the things of God. At the moment of regeneration, the eyes of the heart are opened somewhat, but this is just the beginning. The whole Christian life involves an unfolding and enlarging of the heart’s openness to the things of God.

  1. Regeneration is the divine work of God the Holy Spirit upon the minds and souls of fallen people, by which the Spirit quickens those who are spiritually dead and makes them spiritually alive. This supernatural work rescues that person from his bondage to sin and his moral inability to incline himself towards the things of God. Regeneration, by being a supernatural work, is obviously a work that cannot be accomplished by natural man on his own. If it were a natural work, it would not require the intervention of God the Holy Spirit.
  2. Continue reading

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New Address for Facebook

Our Zion Facebook page has been updated! Catch us at facebook.com/zionerchurch.

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Thinking About the 10th Anniversary of 9/11

It hardly seems possible that, ten years ago on September 11, 2001, we witnessed an act of horror, evil, and grief that left a nation reeling. There has been a great deal of soul-searching and reflecting on the Event and what it means today. How should Christians ponder 9/11 a decade later?

Here are several articles that will help Christians process what happened on that infamous day, how to process what has occurred since, and how we should look to the future to be faithful and obedient sons and daughters of the living God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ligonier Ministries is making their monthly devotional magazine Tabletalk available for free. Selected articles are highlighted below for you to ponder. On top of these, John Piper (of Desiring God) helps us believe what Scripture teaches on God’s sovereignty and suffering in the wake of 9/11.

May these articles stir your soul to deeper trust in the Lord, a deeper love for His Word to do it, and a greater zeal to serve Him!

John MacArthur “Can God Bless America?”
In this era of terrorism, poverty, oppression and a few less-distinct enemies, waves of patriotism occasionally revive the slogan “God Bless America.” Sadly, though, the sentiment long ago became a cliché to which people rarely give serious thought. The phrase is even seen… Continue reading at Ligonier.org

Charles Drew “A Pastor’s Reflection
What do you do when the world falls apart? When the planes struck, I was in my office overlooking Columbia University on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, eight miles north of Ground Zero. I listened helplessly to news reports and to the sound of sirens as rescue workers raced… Continue reading at Ligonier.org

Thabiti Anyabwile “The Gospel for Muslims
In 2005, I make my first trip to the Middle East. I was there to engage in a Christian-Muslim dialogue sponsored by a local university’s Muslim and Christian student associations. As far as we knew, it would be the first such public dialogue in this country’s history. It would be… Continue reading at Ligonier.org

R.C. Sproul “Ten Years Later
A full decade has passed since America suffered the tragedy of 9/11. Ten years ago, I repeatedly heard the question raised: “Where was God in all of this? Where was God on 9/11 when the planes crashed into the twin towers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania?” My answer… Continue reading at Ligonier.org

John Piper “Why I Do Not Say, ‘God Did Not Cause the Calamity, but He Can Use It for Good‘”
Many Christians are speaking this way about the murderous destruction of the World Trade Towers on September 11, 2001. God did not cause it, but he can use it for good. There are two reasons I do not say this. One is that it goes beyond, and is contrary to, what the Bible teaches. The other is that it undermines the very hope it wants to offer… Continue reading at DesiringGod.org

Burk Parsons “Coram Deo Ten Years Later”
The world has changed. We are not the same people we were on September 10, 2001. The events of September 11, 2001, and the events that followed in ensuing years have not only changed America but nations and peoples throughout the world. People are more afraid and less naïve. People are more aware of the differences between world religions and of the different cultures of those world religions. People are either more antagonistic towards the religion of their fathers or they are more committed adherents. Continue reading

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