Wednesday Night Meeting and Carl Cartee

Just a reminder that we will be meeting back at the Renfro Center
Basement this Wednesday (tomorrow) at 7pm. We'll be continuing our study on Ephesians with a look at Ch. 5. 10-21 which is an awesome passage.



Also this Saturday @ 7pm there is a Carl Cartee concert at
Gardner-Webb and the admission is a non-perishable canned food item. We will be getting a group together to go and will make plans after tomorrow's meeting. If you'd like to go and won't make it to the meeting tomorrow please contact us.

New Podcasts: Ephesians Series

Just updated the Foundation Podcast with two recent messages from the Ephesians Series. Visit the podcast site or click below for direct downloads. Share and Enjoy!

Changing Your Clothes: Ephesians 4.20-32

Walk in Love: Ephesians 5.1-10

The Beloved Disciple and Lazarus?

When I found out several months ago that Dr. Ben Witherington III would be visiting a local church here in Shelby and that he would be giving a lecture, I knew that I didn't want to miss out on the opportunity. And...I'm glad I didn't.

Dr. Witherington's lecture was one of the most interesting lectures I've ever sat through and it was on the topic of the Beloved Disciple mentioned in the Gospel of John. The traditional view, and the view that I grew up hearing from Sunday School, was that the Beloved Disciple was John son of Zebedee, the disciple, who was also part of Jesus' "Inner Three" consisting of Peter, James and John. This John was also the same person who wrote the book of Revelation from Patmos and the three letters of John. It is traditionally taught that John is just referring to himself as the Beloved Disciple in his Gospel and that, for the most part, is what most people believe.

Well Dr. Witherington certainly threw a monkey in that wrench! Not only did he present the idea that the Beloved Disciple(BD) was not John, son of Zebedee, but that the BD was in fact Lazarus. And on top of that, Lazarus was in fact the one who wrote most of the Gospel of John, or at the least, it was put together from a collection of his memoirs.

Interesting stuff huh? Well if this does interest you and you'd like to read Dr. Witherington's arguments for this position, he conveniently posted the lecture up to his blog and you can read it here.

If Dr. Witherington is correct about Lazarus then how does that affect the way we preach the Gospel of John? Or does anything even change? Would the Bible be any less powerful if Lazarus wrote a gospel instead of one of the disciples? Wasn't he a disciple of Jesus too, even if he wasn't one of the 12?


I encourage you to read the lecture from Dr. Witherington and as well as his blog. If you read the lecture, please share your thoughts on the topic as well as anything from the lecture you agree/disagree with. Below is the link to the lecture:

Was Lazarus the Beloved Disciple?

Ephesians Study Notes for Chapter 4.20-32

Just updated the Foundation Box with the sermon notes from Ephesians 4.20-32. You can check out our Box to download any of the previous files from the Ephesians Series.

Feed Your Brain

This being the 21st century and all, we are not flying around in personal space craft wielding lightsabers like in Star Wars, or chasing after the last drop of fuel like in Mad Max, but we do have access to more information than ever before.

We have access to the works of some of the greatest minds in Christian History and yet we choose to fill our minds with the latest Tim Lahaye book, or waste our time reading the most popular and coolest emergent book out right now. It's sad, I know.

There are plenty of good(and free) online sources, but I wanted to point out three that I think are good.

The first one is Reclaiming the Mind. It is basically an online theology program covering all the basic areas of Systematic Theology. It also has a library of Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) papers from a range of different contributors. It is backed by the likes of JP Moreland, John Frame, Roger Olson, Sam Storms, William Lane Craig, etc, and best of all it's FREE.

The second one is Biblical Training. It is sort of like an online Seminary. They go into actual seminary classes and record classes for the whole semester. They have classes ranging from Old and New Testament survey classes, Systematic Theology, Church History, Apologetics, World Religions, and even new believer classes, all for free. These courses are taught by some of the top scholars from various Seminaries, including Craig Blomberg, Bruce Ware, John Piper, etc. It's also endorsed by J.I. Packer if that name means anything to you. The goal of this is to help train pastors and missionaries in the field who don't have access to information like this, or can't afford to go to seminary.

The third one is Faith by Hearing. It is a huge collection of sermons and lectures from almost everyone imaginable. So download them put them on your iPod and learn a little something. You got to love their banner with all those guys with iPods, good stuff. I recognize Martin Luther, John Owen, and Jonathan Edwards, I don't know who the others are.

Anyway, take advantage of all the resources we have access to today. You don't have to go to seminary or have a huge library to get the training and resources you need. It is kind of ironic that while we have more access to information than ever before in Christian History, Biblical literacy is at its lowest point.

Box Update

Just updated The Foundation Box with notes from our study on Ephesians 4.11-16. (Download here)

Super-Bad

I know, I know, you aren't supposed to brag, but by golly my new Bible is bad-to-da-bone. As my brother would say, "it's Metal." This is the new ESV Thinline Tru-Tone series of Bibles available from Crossway. But you can save yourself $10 if you buy it from Amazon for the great price of $19.79. They offer about ten different cover designs that all rock.

Check them out here.






PS- I know our good buddy Steven Staton will buy one because he certainly is Metal and loves rockin' an awesome Bible.

Alcohol and the Christian: Do they mix?

It seems rare that even a month will go by in my life where the topic of alcohol and the Christian does not come up. It comes up all the time. Our ministry is non-denominational with people coming from many different denominational backgrounds: Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Pentecostals, and so on, which at times can lead to a difference of opinion. It also seems that about every 3rd odd day I'll hear some joke about a Methodist drinking at the bar or the Southern Baptist hiding in the basement sippin on some Kentucky Gentleman. Our worship leader is Methodist...my girlfriend is Methodist...and I'm the lonely Baptist, so you see the dilemma I'm in right? Or is it really a dilemma? Do we have different views? I'm not quite sure, but there is one thing that is certain: alcohol is everywhere and Christians drink. As my opinion has changed many times over on this topic, I find myself growing, what would appear as, more liberal in my opinion on alcohol and the Christian and constantly battling with the teetotalism taught to me in the Baptist church. Don't get me wrong: abuse of alcohol and being a drunk certainly is a sin, but it is no more of a sin than being a glutton and overdoing yourself in the buffet line. Methodists go to the bar and Southern Baptists go to the buffet and to each is his own vice. Gluttony and drunkenness are both sins and one shouldn't be used as an excuse for the other.

So what am I saying? Well, I'm not going to take the time to develop my opinion in this post but let's just say that I'm certainly not a teetotalist who believes that one must abstain from alcohol, nor am I a Silly-Billy who will use my freedom in Christ as an excuse to get drunk. I do believe being drunk is a sin on all occasions but drinking alcohol in itself is not a sin. And that's about as far as I'll go in this post, but I do want you to read a couple other well worthy reads....especially the iMonk's post about the hypocrisy in the Baptist Church when it comes to alcohol use. I also hope you'll take the time to comment with your own views on alcohol and the Christian. Do they mix? What is your opinion? Should Christians stay away from alcohol in public? Should Christians drink at all? Is it not OK to drink a cold one at the bar as long as it is in moderation? What do ya think?

One Big, Happy, Lie: Southern Baptists, Alcohol and Me

Alcohol and the Bible

Church Protests Dead Marine's Funeral?

I ran across this article this morning about some crazy fundamentalist Kansas church that actually went to a dead Marine's funeral with signs that said, “God hates fags” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.” Oh, and the protest had nothing to do with that specific Marine. In fact, these wackos regularly "argue that U.S. troops are dying as punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality."

This type of stuff really makes me angry and at the same time it hurts because it's churches(hate groups) like this who are destroying the testimony of the Church as a whole. How in the heck could anyone think that something so screwed up as this brings any glory to God? In fact I think God probably wouldn't be so mad if someone punched them in the face for their stupidity...I know I'd sure like to...

Anyways, evidently I'm not the only one who thinks this is ridiculous because a jury awarded the family of the Marine $11 million in punitive and compensatory damages that the church, Westboro Baptist, will now have to pay after the family filled an invasion of privacy lawsuit. I couldn't agree more with this ruling and I think the church should face consequences for their actions...but that's just my opinion. What's yours? How do we as Christians respond or react to obviously false churches like this one? Do we sit back and be quiet while they destroy the testimony and image of the Church? Do we speak up and call them out? Let's hear what you think.


Baltimore Sun Article on Lawsuit
Wikipedia article on Westboro Baptist