FYI...periodic notes from Dr. Scott
Dr. Scott A. Lemenager
Special Assistant to the President & CEO
Evangelical Church Alliance
Words of Wisdom
The links to the left of this column are handouts and a PowerPoint presentation that were made for the Annual ECA Conference. Please feel free to use them and let me know what you think about the subject of "Death and Dying" that we all face in life and ministry.
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RC Sproul has said,
"The tentacle of theology invades every area of life. In fact, true Christians should think about everything theologically because everything has theological significance. God creates the universe, he is the sovereign ruler over all things, then all things find their meaning and significance as they are related to Him." "There are no brute facts, there are no mute facts because every fact is tied to its creator so that meaning and significance are in relationship to God. A Christian worldview is shaped by a Christian's God view."
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I have a number of great thoughts from C.H. Spurgeon
"Doctrines in the head, without holiness in the life, are of no service." "If your theology doesn't change your behavior, it will never change your destiny." "He who does not long to know more of Christ knows nothing of him yet." "I may all the doctrines of the Bible, but unless I know Christ, there is not one of them that can save me." "There is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty." "We shall grow in grace, but we shall never be more completely pardoned than when we first believed."
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Josh Buice has said
"Faithful preaching will be boring to unbelievers. Faithful singing will be unimpressive to unbelievers. Faithful praying will be pointless to unbelievers. Faithful giving will be illogical to unbelievers. Faithful worship will not entertain unbelievers. We need faithful churches."
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Church history has repeatedly and clearly proven one thing: once the highest view of scripture is abandoned by any theologian, group, denomination, or church; the downhill slide in both, theology and practice, is inevitable.
Dr. James White (Theologian)
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All people are biased
When you present the Gospel and defend it you might find that many people have an "inner Skeptic's dial." This dial is turned way up against biblical Christianity but turned way down when it comes to their views. Watch for the absurd, as the universe sprang into existence out of nothing (ex nihilo, nihil fit). Another is the application of mathematics to all phenomena is a coincidence rather than the result of divine planning.
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Faith is not an abstract hope about the future absent of reality, a subjective feeling divorced from truth, a leap in the dark, the power of positive thinking, nor a trick of the mind. True faith is only present when it leads to trust. All people everywhere have faith in the fundamental principles of life. Remember Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God.