The Truth War
In this book, MacArthur clearly puts forth in scripture’s call to contend for the truth. He tells of the past and present the deceivers of the truth. He also shows how historically this is been true in the Gnosticism, Arianism, Sebellianism. And now the ‘emergent church’ uses them and other isn’t that have tried to reduce or kill the truth in the name of mere number.
Mac reissues a chapter from one of his previous books on discernment for the reader to see that discernment is a byproduct of truth. It is one of those components that you must use it or lose it with discernment we must focus on what is scriptural and everything is compared to that.
He did, however, state that deceivers and those being deceived should be taught with love in case they could be brought back to godly understanding. we should never attack a person but merely the lies day promote.

Ephesians 4:14-15
so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ

Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur

Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur

These women were recorded in the Bible for their courage, compassion, and spiritual giftedness.  I's no wonder women were so often part of God's plan. It was their faith that made these women extraordinary, faith in the power of the God whom they worshipped and served.
Introduction
The women spoken of were not extraordinary because of their qualities but because God is great!  (Gives us ladies pause to think huh?)  
All women in the Bible point us to the person of Christ – awesome calling!  But the Bible never demeans or belittles women.   It is not a second class citizenship the Bible portrays for women that are documented in it.  The Bible gives the command to honor your father and mother.  This came at a time when other cultures thought of women as property and not as people to be honored.

Chapter 1  Eve
When most people think of Eve they think of the fall of man.  The Bible never speaks of her looks, how many children she had or how long she lived.
Eve was God’s definition of femininity, before sin.  We get so wrapped up in image, cosmetics and body shape, even within the church, we fail to see what God has set before us as an example.
Eve is depicted as subordinate yet equal.   A relationship which the Trinity illustrates perfectly how the headship and submission function within a relationship of absolute equals
Eve was created out of man’s flesh.  No other being is ever recorded as being created from other flesh.  It causes us to reflect on the unity of marriage as the two shall be one.  Women are called weaker vessels in the Bible. This does not mean lesser.  The Bible is clear that each has its own responsibilities and abilities.  The male is to care and shelter, while the female carries the young and is the nurturer.

Chapter 2 - Sarah
Sarah was considered a legendary beauty.  Kings were impressed with her beauty when she was in her sixties they wanted her for a wife.  She would have known about the promise God gave to Abraham.  Being barren would have compounded her frustration.  
She made a mistake by giving Hagar to Abraham that he would become a father by her.  When this happened she became so jealous she threw out both Hagar and Ishmael the offspring she was hoping to procure for Abraham.
This occurred again with Isaac and Jacob each having two wives, King David having more than one and Solomon having over 1,000 concubines.
Despite these outbursts of temper and ill-conceived plans, the Bible says she judged Him faithful who had promised. Heb 11:11.
Chapter 3 – Rahab
Rahab was a harlot. It is assumed that Rahab was a willing participant in this sin.  She was living off her culture’s insatiable hedonistic appetite.  
Yet she is part of the lineage of Christ.  And in Hebrews it says Rahab the harlot by faith did not perish with those of unbelief by receiving the spies in peace.  What a awesome thing to be said of a person, their faith is what made them special!!!

Chapter 4- Ruth
In Ruth’s story we find her as her husband had died and her mother-in-law, Naomi, is preparing to return to Israel.  Naomi tells Ruth to stay and remarry, but Ruth is totally committed to her mother-in-law.  
Again it is the faith Ruth displays that makes her such a compelling character.

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF HEAVEN BY RANDY ALCORN

A BRIEF OVERVIEW
By Mark Zimmermann

For those of you who take the plunge into Heaven by Dr. Alcorn I would highly recommend that you read his Appendix A before reading the beginning. This will explain his motive behind writing this work.
I believe his doctrine of “Christoplatonism” is dead right and we all have bought into this doctrine in some manner. What he defines as Christoplatonism is a false philosophy that gives the spiritual realm a higher ground than the material and physical world that we live in and view as common. In this philosophical system we end up with a Gnostic idea that Heaven and Earth are opposites.
Gnosticism taught that anything spiritual was good and anything material, or had matter, was evil. This is where many early heresies began to enter into the first stages of Christianity. These heresies attempted to dismantle Trinitarian doctrine. (Any doctrine that tampers with the Trinitarian framework described in scripture will inevitably result into idolatry.)  By this worldview we tend to see heaven as non-physical and surreal and thus are basically disinterested in it when we compare it with our here and now.
Dr. Alcorn has placed literal biblical references before us in this book so we may know the reality of the physical heaven described by the Bible. By doing so he has attempted to place a true Christian worldview back on track within us so we can find the joy of anticipation of where we as Christians are going to spend eternity.

Heaven

Early Christians were preoccupied with Heaven.  The Apostle Paul wrote to live is Christ to die is gain.  I desire to depart and be with Christ which far much better.  Phil 1:21, 23 – If you were to inherit something would you not want to know what you were getting before you received it?  
We know because of sin we will die.  The only question is where we will go.  Now for those of us that are Christians we will go to heaven.   Are you looking forward to going to Heaven?
Do you think as John Eldrede wrote in the Journey of Desire that Heaven is and unending church service?  Or a time where you are assigned a cloud to sit on where you play a harp all the time?
Why do you think the writers of scripture present Heaven as a garden, a city a kingdom?  They do this because these are things we understand- it helps our finite minds bridge from what we know to what we do not understand.  
Alcorn says he believes our first glimpse of Heaven will cause us to gasp in amazement and delight.  And each thing will be new and wonderful.  

What It All Boils Down To

Responsible Evangelism
How hearers understand the Gospel has a direct impact on the church’s corporate witness in the community.  To be very clear the most important thing in evangelism is the Gospel!
There are four main points in evangelism area God – Man (sin) –Christ (propitiation) – Response (accept or reject).   Be prepared to present them in a clear concise manner when evangelizing.
Altar rail invitation use emotions to bring people down to make a commitment.  This is not usually a salvation experience but merely an emotional high that will fade. Remember Dever’s words ‘what you win them with you win them to’.

New Members
Membership class should be with an Elder or Pastor to make sure prospective members understand and can articulate the gospel.

Worship Style
Many church’s have a variety of styles, both musically and in structure.   No particular style is necessarily wrong unless it takes the focus away from God or His word.

Discipline
The biblical example should be followed with a view to restoration.  Accountability partners will help prevent the need for discipline.

True Salvation

From chapter 2:

Believing the true Gospel, and responding to it in repentance and belief, is the only way to be saved. The Gospel and its required response, therefore, are the very last things we want to assume that people know – even if some of them insist otherwise. The human heart is astoundingly deceptive (Jer. 17:9), nominalism (being a Christian in name only) has spread in our churches like gangrene, and misunderstandings about the Gospel abound among professing evangelicals, especially regarding its relationship to other religions and its implications for our everyday lives. People need to hear the Gospel – whether they’re professing Christians or not.  

2Cor. 4:5 For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus' sake. The implication is that once you try to turn the corner from technique, program, or entertainment to the Gospel, it’s likely that you’ll either lose them, or they will be converted to you, not Christ. The Gospel of Christ has never needed the gimmicks of man to effect conversion in the soul. (p44)

It has been my conviction that one who attends a “real” church should get a “real” Christian education. If I am to attend “every time the doors are open” then why should one attending seminary for only a short duration have any better education than me who spends a lifetime in corporate study? Acts 2:42. And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. How serious are we about knowing our great God? I know of only one place where He has given to us His own self-revelation. Should not we be adamant about knowing what He has said? This is the only manner that we will be His light to the world that He desires the salvation thereof. 1Tim2:3-4 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4. who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Chapter 1 - The Four Ps

Chapter 1-  The  4 Ps


Preaching
God’s word is the way He chooses to reveal Himself to us.  If we neglect hearing, preaching or studying the Word we are in effect shutting God out.

Prayer
Prayer is more than a God-sized vending machine to give you every little desire.  It is true, He is our source of blessing and if we have been constant in His Word, our prayers will be in agreement with His will.
Prayer that will aid the health of a church should include:

• Prayer for faithful preaching from the Word of God


• Prayer to increase the spiritual maturity of the congregation


• Prayer for sinner’s conversion


• Prayer for opportunities for evangelism, both corporate and personal.


• Pray thru your church directory


• Pray the promises of God in the scripture

Personal Discipling Relationships
You must know someone  before you can really disciple them.  They must trust that you believe what you are teaching.  Going through a book would be a good way to start they study part of this relationship.
The author notes that “ spiritual maturity is not just about our own quiet times but the love for other believers and a solid expression of that love”.

Patience
God works for eternity.  Getting biblical clarity in a discipling relationship or the congregation is not a quick fix.    All change being implemented should be compared to the scriptures.
1.  Time- our vision is usually very short sighted. We may look a year, two possibly five into the future but rarely do we go further than that in our planning.  We should seek to plan much farther down the timeline.  Many things do not happen overnight and it must be in God’s time.

Questions
Why is preaching the Gospel so important for the life of a church?
What 3 passages will you memorize for the purpose of praying for your church?
Pick one person to disciple.
Pick a book to go through.
Do your ideas of time and eternity help cultivate impatience?
What could be done to change this?    

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

     The introduction of this book states that the church of God is the only institution entrusted by God with the message of repentance of sins and belief in Jesus Christ for forgiveness. This single task ultimately displays His glory to His creation. This solitary message is what is known as the gospel – euangelion – the good news or as the Old English says, “Glad tidings.”
     The gospel is what grows the church in both the vertical (spiritual) and horizontal (numerical) realm. It does so by protecting the assembly from doctrinal error and moral wickedness. The church must be faithful to this gospel message and trust that Christ will build His church by this very method that He has set forth before us. We, as a church, do not measure success by the count on our membership role but by our faithfulness to remain steadfast to the whole of scripture.  
     So what is the gospel? The authors of this book have outlined the gospel as:

God is our holy Creator and righteous Judge. He created us to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever, but we have all sinned, both in Adam as our representative head, and in our own individual actions. Rom. 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned. Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, We therefore deserve death – spiritual separation from God in hell. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Eph. 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. We, in fact, are spiritually stillborn, helpless in our sins. Ps. 51:5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me. Rom. 5:6-8 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. 8. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Eph. 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. We are in need of God to impart spiritual life to us. John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."  So God sent His Son Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, to die the death that we deserved, and He raised Him up for our justification, proving that He was God’s Son. Rom. 5:1 Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. 1:4 declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord. If we would have Christ’s perfect righteousness credited to us, and the penalty for out sins accounted to Him, we must repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ for salvation. 2Cor. 5:21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The Old Testament showed us the Law and how helpless that we were in our own efforts to keep it; this is not good news. The New Testament contains this good news that even though we are all sinners we have Jesus Christ as our substitute. He alone paid our sin debt in full making us alive to righteousness and an access to God’s peace. He is Jacob’s ladder.    
Originally posted by Castus Fumus

The Deliberate Church

The Deliberate Church
By Mark Dever & Paul Alexander

2nd Forward
In this section the author defines ‘deliberate’ for us as being  “careful, thorough and thought out”.  This definition when applied to a plan from the Word of God will net a church that is successful in God’s terms not that of man.

Questions

1. Does the Gospel enjoy functional centrality in your church?  Why or why not?


2. Does anything you are currently doing detract from God’s glory?

In this section the author asks if the plan is replicable.  Replication is a must!  For a plan to be replicable in must be intentionally bound to the Word of God.
We need not worry as much about programs as a method of building the church.  This is not to say that programs are bad of themselves, however, we are called to preach the Word.  Nowhere in the bible does it say do clubs or community classes.  These are ways of reaching out to the lost, but presenting God, man’s sin, Jesus and a salvation response are the impetus that compels our action.

Introduction
What are we building?  Do we know what it looks like?  What foundation are we laying?  Without God’s plan, building a church, even with the best intentions is a setup to failure.

The Church is intended to be a corporate display of His glory and wisdom.  It is also the corporate dwelling place
Of God’s Spirit/
The Word builds the church with faithful preaching.  Our thoughts of the Gospel will shape our methods.  Is it as alive and vital, working in our lives?
Are we submissive to the Scriptures? Are we faithful in teaching/preaching?

1. What drives your church?  Is it methods or programs or just whatever works?


2. How do you measure success?  Is it results or faithfulness to the Word of God?