If, on the other hand, you meet a person who is not thus prepared, a person who as yet has no conviction of truth of the gospel and perhaps no idea, or even a false idea, of what the gospel actually is, it is worse than useless to try and stampede him into a snap 'decision'. You may be able to bully him into a psychological crisis of some sort, but that will not be saving faith, and will do him no good. What you have to do is to take time with him, to make friends with him, to get alongside him, to find out where he is in terms of spiritual understanding, and to start dealing with him at that point. You have to explain the gospel to him, and be sure that he understands it and is convinced of its truth, before you start pressing him to an active response. You have to be ready to help him, if need be, through a spell of seeking to repent and believe before he knows within himself that he has received Christ, and Christ has received him. At each stage you have to be willing to go along with him at God's speed. But that is God's business, not yours. Your business is simply to keep pace with what God is doing in his life. Your willingness to be patient with him in this way is the proof of your love to him no less than of your faith in God. If you are not willing thus to be patient, you need not expect that God will favour you by enabling you to win souls.
J.I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Parenting Conference
I you are in the Huntsville, Al our church is holding a Parenting Conference. Ramona and I will be doing one of the breakout sessions for parenting teenagers (imagine that).
If you are interested, you can get more information at our church web site at the parenting conference page. The cost is only $10 per couple for materials. The two main speakers are Tim Keeter and Paul Lamey both who are excellent teachers. Men who will faithfully open God's Word to you about the subject of parenting.
If you are interested, you can get more information at our church web site at the parenting conference page. The cost is only $10 per couple for materials. The two main speakers are Tim Keeter and Paul Lamey both who are excellent teachers. Men who will faithfully open God's Word to you about the subject of parenting.
The Class I am teaching
My brother asked about the class I was teaching in the comments of the previous post.
I am currently teaching a class called The Fundamentals of the Faith on Sunday mornings at our church. It is a class for new/young believers where we systematically cover the basic doctrines of the faith. We also cover some basic areas of practice such as bible study, prayer, etc. I am teaching most of the classes, but we will bring in others to teach from time to time to give me a break and to let other qualified men have a chance to teach.
We are using as our primary doctrinal text a book by Wayne Grudem called Bible Doctrine. It is a good basic description of all the major doctrines and a number of significant minor doctrines. There are a couple of places where Professor Grudem teaches a different understanding of a particular doctrine than we would at our church. However, those differences are on what we would consider minor doctrines.
At the rate I am going, the course will probably run for about two years as we try to go slow and allow for questions and discussion. By that time we may very well have a new crop of students so I can see the class going on indefinitely.
I am currently teaching a class called The Fundamentals of the Faith on Sunday mornings at our church. It is a class for new/young believers where we systematically cover the basic doctrines of the faith. We also cover some basic areas of practice such as bible study, prayer, etc. I am teaching most of the classes, but we will bring in others to teach from time to time to give me a break and to let other qualified men have a chance to teach.
We are using as our primary doctrinal text a book by Wayne Grudem called Bible Doctrine. It is a good basic description of all the major doctrines and a number of significant minor doctrines. There are a couple of places where Professor Grudem teaches a different understanding of a particular doctrine than we would at our church. However, those differences are on what we would consider minor doctrines.
At the rate I am going, the course will probably run for about two years as we try to go slow and allow for questions and discussion. By that time we may very well have a new crop of students so I can see the class going on indefinitely.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
It has been a while
It has been a while since we posted. I recently had an commenter ask that we continue because of the help we have been. I don't know that I can start full time blogging again. Along with the remaining eight kids (three are out of the house now), I am now teaching a Sunday School class and taking a class at our church, along with my work schedule.
However, we certainly want to help any of you who are out there who may be struggling with your adopted children. So, we would be willing to answer you questions here. If your question can be asked in a general way, post a comment here and we will try to respond.
If the question is more personal in nature, you can either leave an e-mail address here or look at my profile and send me one from there and I will try to get back to you.
By His Grace
Bob
However, we certainly want to help any of you who are out there who may be struggling with your adopted children. So, we would be willing to answer you questions here. If your question can be asked in a general way, post a comment here and we will try to respond.
If the question is more personal in nature, you can either leave an e-mail address here or look at my profile and send me one from there and I will try to get back to you.
By His Grace
Bob
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