Does God Abandon? - Rom. 1.

In this sermon Dr. Suiter raises the question, "Does God abandon?" "Has He abandoned America?" This sermon was preached by Dr. Suiter, the former Interim Pastor of Twin City Bible Church. To listen to it, click on this link: sermon.

Church Unity

Church unity has been on my mind a lot recently. Perhaps because my church is struggling in this area at the current moment. Therefore I have much more been driven to the Word to find the answer to Church unity problems. I have come to conclude that the basis for church unity is in fact Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul begins Romans 12 with the verses that have been made familiar by AWANA and Sunday Schools all over America "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." These verses begin Paul's transition from doctrinal instruction to doctrinal practice. In verses 4-6 we find that Paul brings out two truths that are inextricably rooted to the point that you cannot have one without the other: The individuality of the believer and the oneness of the body of Christ "For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;" So how can the church be both individual and one? The answer is found with two important words in the middle of verse 5 "in Christ". Now the inhumanly possible task of uniting individuals can be fulfilled and can only be fulfilled by the power of the Gospel. That gospel is Jesus Christ! The individuality of the believer and the oneness of the church are rooted and sustained in the one and only Jesus Christ! Therefore the basis for church unity is Jesus Christ. The sustainer of church unity is Jesus Christ!

Timothy’s Well

Come Celebrate Christmas With Us!

Who? Timothy's Well and your friends

Where? Rachel Call’s house

When? Saturday Dec. 22 @ 6:30

Bring cookies or brownies to deliver to the widows of the church for the first 30 minutes.

· We will minister to the WIDOWS!: 30 min.

· We will provide a place for catching up with old or new friends.

· With special performances by Matt Brinkley featuring Brad Browning

· Hosted by Mike Ervin and Rachel Call

The Church

For the past month we have been going through a study on ecclesiology (the study of the church). In this study we have endeavored to discover who we are in Christ. What we are supposed to be doing as the body of Christ. We will seek to find answers to many issues we face right now. We will not consult man’s wisdom; rather we will make our focus the wisdom of God – His Word and Holy Spirit. If you have been missing this study please see me or email me and I will give a packet that will catch you up with the rest of us!

Need some Christmas gift ideas? Here are some books that I highly recommend.

1. Abandoned To God by David McCasland
- This book is about the life of the author of the famed "My Utmost for His Highest", Oswald Chambers.
2. Jonathan Edwards: A Life by George M. Marsden
- This biography is about the greatest theologian in American history.
3. Overcoming Sin and Temptation by John Owen

Justin Taylor posted a link to some helpful tips from Mark Dever.

Before you decide to leave a church.

The Church

I originally posted this article last July. I really would like for you to consider the issues that are raised in this article and comment at will.

"During our discussion time, I brought up an interesting point concerning why people don't like church or Christianity. Now we all know that there are people in the world who claim that they do not believe in God, yet at the same time we see that they actually do believe in a god, whether that god is in some religion or in themselves. Looking out over our generation it's easy to see many who are disillusioned with the church. Why? Well, I think it isn't so much that they do not believe in God but that they have a hard time believing in the Church. Just ask someone you know that used to attend church why they stopped. Most of the time they are going to tell you a story of how someone from the church wronged them or they discovered hypocrisy in the church. It takes a lot of faith to believe in the church does it not? One of the most historic creeds of the church is the Apostle's Creed. This creed was used to summarize the message of the Bible, the Gospel. This Creed was very important; it was so important that people had to recite it at baptism. There is a phrase at the end of the creed that usually gets overlooked or gives people the heeby geebies because of their association with the terminology. The Creed begins with 'I believe,' so everything that comes after that is prefixed with 'I believe.' The last section of the Creed states 'I believe...in the holy catholic church.' Did you hear that? They had to state that they believe in the church! Now here is my disclaimer, 'catholic' is definitely not referring to the Roman Catholic church, rather it is meaning 'universal church.'
Now I want you to know that by no means am I seeking to bash the church, the beautiful bride of Christ. Rather I love her and want to see her become more beautiful. I do recognize that I am counted among that number in the bride of Christ, and I love her. Therefore, I want to call her to that attention. When we ask the question 'Who is God?' we are not going to find an exhaustive answer, but rather we are quickly going to find out more about ourselves. We are the church, the called out ones from every tongue and tribe and nation, all over the world. We are called to literally be the body of Christ. Do you get that? We are His body here on earth and He is our head. He moves us, His body parts, by telling us what to do and how to conduct ourselves through His Word and His Spirit. So how are you doing? Are living out the call on your life? Can people around you say, 'Yes, that guy/girl is definitely part of the church?"