"Born of God's will, not free will" – John 1:12-13 I. Some have received Christ (Eph. 2:1-3; Acts 17:28-29; 1 John 3:1) II. Regeneration (Eph. 2:4-6; Titus 3:5-6; Jn. 3:3, 5-8; 1 Jn. 2:29; 1 Jn. 4:7; 1 Jn. 5:1) III. How Christians are NOT born A. Not born of blood (Gal. 3:16; Lk. 3:7-9; Jn. 8:31-39) B. Not born of the will of the flesh (Rom. 9:10-16; Rom. 3:10-12) C. Not born of the will of man

Josesph reveals his true identity to his brothers. What was the prevailing factor in his life? Lady luck or a Holy Sovereign God?

We will discuss the foreknowledge of God (versus foreordination), predestination and the fact Scripture teaches that it speaks of the destiny of believers and NOT the choice of WHO would believe. Also Reference: 1 Peter 1:2, Ephesians 1:-5, Psalms 17:15, 1 John 3:2, Philippians 3:21, Colossians 1:12-18, 1 Corinthians 2:9, Ephesians 1:11-12 MUSIC: Hymn # 301 (C) "Only Trust Him" Hymn # 4 (C) "How Can It Be?" Hymn # 137 (C) "Near The Cross" Hymn # 629 (E) "Love Lifted Me" https://bbfohio.com

MarsCast is back, and we're returning from our July hiatus with an episode worth the wait. Everyone's got a Calvin quote ready to fire, but whose Calvin are they actually quoting? The Calvinist Calvin? The internet meme Calvin? The cold, predestination-obsessed villain who invented a God without compassion? Dr. Cornelis Venema, President Emeritus at Mid-America Reformed Seminary and one of the most careful Calvin scholars working today, joins host Jared Luttjeboer to launch a four-part series stripping away the caricatures and returning to the sources. Before you can know what Calvin said, you have to reckon with how badly we've misread him, and Dr. Venema is exactly the right person to help us do that.

The sermon examines Ephesians 1:11-14 to clarify the relationship between divine predestination and human free will, specifically refuting Calvinist determinism. It argues that God's work applies exclusively to those who freely trust in Christ, emphasizing that salvation is a choice rather than a forced decree. The speaker highlights the Holy Spirit as a seal guaranteeing eternal security until the final redemption of the believer. By contrasting biblical truth with philosophical fatalism, the message assures listeners that their inheritance is secure and guaranteed by God's wisdom, not blind fate. This assurance provides comfort and confidence for living a faithful Christian life amidst the uncertainties of the world.

#41 Let God be God Basic Bible Doctrines John 1:1-ff, John 3:16 1 John 2:1-2 Dr. Jim Phillips preaches this message on the mission field. If anyone would like to make a donation to help no matter how small. It will be appreciated. Thank you. Our Address in Fish Lake Valley is POB 121 Dyer, Nevada 89010 or HC 72 Box 19102 Fish Lake Valley Nevada 89010 The sermon centers on the imperative to let God be God—revealed not through human invention or cultural distortion, but through Scripture, especially the incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, who embodies divine love, grace, and truth. It affirms that God is not the author of evil, nor does He predestine anyone to damnation, rejecting both hyper-Calvinism and the false gods of Islam, Mormonism, and other systems that distort divine sovereignty. The message emphasizes universal atonement, grounded in John 3:16 and 1 John 2:2, where Christ's sacrifice is for the sins of the whole world, not merely the elect, and calls believers to repentance, personal responsibility, and a life of obedience rooted in divine love. It warns against religious traditions and ideologies that obscure the true nature of God, urging a return to biblical revelation as the sole authority, and concludes with a powerful affirmation of Christ's eternal identity, His resurrection, and His ultimate authority over life and death, calling all people to respond in faith.

This sermon centers on a single towering truth: every spiritual blessing, our being chosen, our predestinated, our adoption, our inheritance, and our final glory, is lodged in one place only, in Christ. It is secured not by works but by faith in His death, burial, and resurrection. The message clears away the Calvinistic fog that hangs over the word "predestinate." Predestination is not a sealed decree settling who may be saved and who may not; it is God's sure pledge concerning the believer's destiny, that we shall be conformed to the image of His Son, brought into the full standing of sons, and granted the redemption of the body at the resurrection. Adoption, the sermon presses, is not the moment a sinner becomes a child of God. It is the future crowning of a sonship already ours, the day when this mortal body is changed and the believer stands wholly united to Christ. The tone throughout is pastoral and urgent. It calls the Body of Christ to live in eternal hope, to see that not one of these blessings is earned, that each is a free gift of God's grace reserved for those who are in Christ, and so to walk in faith, in surrender, and in readiness for the inheritance soon to be revealed.

The sermon presents a robust critique of Calvinism by grounding its argument in the narrative of the Book of Jonah, demonstrating that the doctrine's core tenets—such as total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, and the perseverance of the saints—contradict the clear biblical testimony of human responsibility, divine conditional promises, and genuine repentance. It emphasizes that salvation in the Old Testament refers primarily to physical deliverance rather than soul salvation, which only became available through Christ's finished work, and that the repeated use of 'if' in Scripture underscores God's genuine openness to human response. The story of Nineveh's repentance and God's subsequent change of heart, along with the mariners' fear of God and their voluntary acts of worship, expose the logical and theological inconsistencies of a deterministic system. The sermon concludes by affirming that salvation is secured through faith in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, not predestination, and that eternal security is grounded in Christ's present reality, not human performance or foreordained perseverance.

The sermon presents a robust biblical defense of free will and conditional election, arguing that God's choosing of believers in Ephesians 1 is not a predetermined decree of salvation but a result of personal faith in Christ. It refutes Calvinist interpretations by emphasizing that 'chosen' and 'predestinated' refer to those already in Christ through faith in the gospel, not a prior selection apart from human response. The preacher underscores that election is located in Christ, the true elect, and that access to its blessings requires believing the gospel and being baptized by the Holy Spirit. Through scriptural examples—including Judas, Israel, and the call to 'whosoever will'—the sermon dismantles the idea of a fixed, preordained group, instead affirming that God's purpose in election is to make believers holy, blameless, and loving before Him. Ultimately, the assurance of being chosen is not found in hidden decrees but in the present, personal decision to trust in Christ, making the gospel the open door to eternal blessings.