Founders Baptist Church

Introduction--God's plans NEVER change. -In the realm of men, there are some who claim perfect success because they continually redefine what they were looking to accomplish. If they fall short, if they fail, they simply LIE about what they were aiming at in the first place. They move the goalposts. They redefine their original intentions. The REALITY of success is not as important to them as the APPEARANCE of success. This happens REGULARLY in politics. -God not only has no desire for such redefinitions, HE HAS NO NEED.-His plans never need redefinition, or adjustment.-WHY--Because everything that He purposes, He remains committed to, and He has all the wisdom, and power, and authority, necessary to accomplish it. AND He does indeed accomplish it.-It is because this is true, that the revelation of God's plans in the Old Testament remain perfectly consistent in the New Testament.-God never declares something in the Old Testament -in the form of promise or the expression of purpose- and then adjusts it in the New.-What you see unfolded in the New Testament is the revelation of what God purposed before the He formed the world. Before He ever said it, in the Old Testament, it was established in His everlasting decrees. The Old Testament and the New Testament are perfectly consistent with each other, because they reveal the plans and purposes of God that never shift or change.

How can we understand and apply the Scripture to our lives- Can we take any biblical passage or verse and accurately apply them to our particular situations- Can we use and apply verses of Scripture that don't seem to apply to us today-- -This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and host, Dr. Josh Philpot, discuss how to rightly go about dividing the Word of God, that we may properly apply it to our lives today. Dr. Caldwell tells us we can take any principle from any text of Scripture and make some application of the principle. However, if we haven't considered the original context of the passage, then we haven't even understood the principle correctly.

Introduction--This morning's sermon deals with an issue in the 19th verse that is incredibly important.-Like almost any doctrine we might consider, the implications for the doctrine expressed in this verse are multiple. They are highly consequential.-Remember how we come to this 19th verse.-The question raised earlier is how God's purpose can be the grounds for Christian security, when it appears that perhaps God's purposes have failed regarding the nation Israel. If God keeps His promises, if His purposes prove effectual, then how does one explain the current lost condition of most Israelites-

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, host Dr. Josh Philpot reminds us that in a recent podcast, he and Dr. Richard Caldwell have spoken about the canon of Scripture. Dr. Caldwell shared that the Scriptures were completed about 90 A.D. in the writing of the book of Revelation by the Apostle John. That was about 2000 years ago. Today we often hear people say that they were inspired by God and others that say they have received revelation from God. --They say they have received this revelation by way of visions, dreams, or in other sorts of ways. Dr. Philpot says since God's revelation of the Scriptures came to an end with the complete canon, now compiled in our Bibles, does God go on giving revelation beyond that- Does God give special, extra, additional, or even new revelation to individuals or groups for further enlightenment or a higher way of living for Him-

Does God speak audibly- Does God speak to individuals and tell people things today as He did during the days of the Bible- Is God speaking audibly to His people today---This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and host, Dr. Josh Philpot, discuss how God has spoken in the past and how He goes on speaking to people today.

A theodicy is a defense of God's actions. -The claim is that God has done something wrong. -The claim is that God has done something that does not add up to good or does not add up to justice. -A theodicy is an answer to such a claim. It is a vindication of God's character. It is a demonstration, a defense, that shows that the claim is false.-Romans chapter 9 represents such a defense. -Paul raises a question -has the Word of God failed-, answers the question, and then anticipates a false claim based on a true answer, and then answers that false claim with a defense of God's character.-HE DOES NOT DO THIS OUT OF ACADEMIC INTEREST. This is not just theoretical for Paul.-These are the very questions, and objections, and accusations, that Paul dealt with in his ministry.-And as I look at this theodicy, a couple of things stand out to me at the very outset. One of these I have mentioned many times before, but it bears repeating.

This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, a listener asks if it is right for a Christian to go to court- 1 Corinthian 6-1-8 seems to say that Christians ought not to go court to work out their grievances. The listener writes and asks specifically about John MacArthur -MacArthur- and Grace Community Church -GCC-, going to court and suing L.A. County. They want to know if this sort of thing conflicts with the directions given by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 6-1-8. Or does it not apply because the grievance is not against another believer-

Introduction--The intense sorrow that Paul knows over the lostness of the Jewish people, was not just personal, it was theological.-God related Himself to this people by covenant. To them belonged great privilege, as Paul noted in the first 5 verses.-As unbelievable as it was, this people who had been given so much, had crucified their Messiah.-This is what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost. He preached that ISRAEL needed to recognize their error.-ESV Acts 2-36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.--This is the same witness that Peter and John gave when they were called before the council for healing a man in Jesus name.-ESV Acts 4- 5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, -By what power or by what name did you do this-- 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, -Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead-- by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.--Again, not