Short Term Mission Evangelism Opportunity to India!

by Antonio da Rosa

Dear readers of Unashamed of Grace. I come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus. Between the dates of October 10-21, 2007, God, our Father, will be using a team that He is raising up to declare His glory to the Meitei and Rongmei people groups of Imphal (city), Manipur (state), India. The team will be proclaiming freedom to the captives and healing to the brokenhearted by doing saturation evangelism in villages with a view to planting an estimated minimum of four (4) new churches.

Are you willing to prayerfully consider stepping out in faith to bring the gospel to people groups that are less than 1% 'Christian'? During a recent missions conference at my church, the plenary speaker gave a most sobering statistic:

If you add the number of unsaved in North America, Central America and South America to the unsaved of Africa, you still have less unsaved people than you have in India.

India is in the strategic 10/40 window and is in dire need of men and women from the ages of 14 - 100+ to come share the gospel. The fields are white for the harvest! It is impossible to get full-time missionary visas in India, so the Short-Term option as presented in this specific trip is a strategic endeavor that will result in new church assemblies in villages that do not have a single Christian witness.

This team, which I will help in leading (the Lord willing) and that I am in the process of recruiting and mobilizing, will be partnering with a national mission organization that will be the team's guides and interpreters. Once the evangelism has been done, funds are left for the full time salaries for ably trained and experienced disciplers to do the follow-up work.

Because of tribal distinctions and caste considerations, these nationals cannot even go to the villages to do evangelism! The team that God is recruiting is the 'in' into these villages, as Western people's are viewed as the highest caste and heartily welcomed by the tribal people.

The commitment of this trip is minimal in time: only 11 days, from the time we leave LAX to the time we return. Anyone in the United States (citizen or resident aliens) are able and welcomed to come. Actually anyone from around the world is welcomed!

Please contact me if you are interested in going on this strategic and significant trip. The itinerary is chock full of interesting and unique ministry opportunities and divine appointments.

Matt 16:25-26
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

Expand your horizons, and build upon and invest into the abundant life that God has for you. This trip will be one of unlimited significance. What are your plans for this year? The significance of our actions that are not done with eternity in mind is lost the very moment we live them, like the fleeting taste of candy on our lips. But such sacrifice as this, to take the gospel to a foreign land in great need, will achieve a meaning, not only for time, but one that will transect into eternity, to the praise and glory of the Father, and of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Are you willing to go?

A Fun Quote

"Many non-Calvinists don't seem to realize that we Calvinists once held the exact same beliefs they now do. We offered up all the same arguments against the Doctrines of Grace,and were angered if not sickened by said doctrines as they are now. They do not realize that we have seen ALL of their arguments before, having once owned them ourselves."

Do you agree with this Quotation? XIV

by Matthew

Is this sound theology? Or is this a false gospel of works?

James attacks several problems that had arisen in the congregations. One that caused much trouble was the misunderstanding and misconstruing by some persons of the doctrine of the free gift of righteousness through faith. (Rom. 5:15-17) These individuals mistakenly claimed that a Christian, having faith, did not need works- that faith had nothing to do with works. They overlooked the fact that true faith would show itself in some form of action. They were thereby denying that Christ "gave himself for us that he might deliver us from every sort of lawlessness and cleanse for himself a people peculiarly his own, zealous for fine works." (Titus 2:14) James was contending with the idea held by some Christians that a purely intellectual faith was sufficent for the Christian. This would ignore any need for faith to affect the heart, and would deny that faith had power to move a person to make changes in his personality and his life and to do things for others in positive expression of that faith. They were, if they maintained this idea, becoming like those of whom Paul speaks as having "a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power."- 2 Tim. 3:5.

It should not be understood that James argued against the doctrine of righteousness "apart from works of law," which teaching the apostle Paul clearly defines in Romans chapters three and four. (Rom. 3:28) James' comments and counsel on Christian conduct always rest on the basis of "the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jas. 2:1) James was not in any way saying that works of themselves can bring salvation. We cannot properly devise a formula or build a structure through which we can work out our salvation. The faith must be there first. As James clearly emphasized, good works will come spontaneously from the heart, with the right motive of helping people in love and compassion.

(Commentary on the Letter of James, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, p.6-7)

What's the Interpretation? First in a Series

by Antonio da Rosa

I am proposing a new series. I am going to post a verse or two and pose a question that can only be answered by your interpretation of the text.

Please do not just answer the question. You must back up your answer with a well-thought out discourse. It doesn't need to be long or loaded with Greek, grammar, or what-have-you, but it must support your answer!

Tell us the reasons from context, your analogy of faith, logic, reasoning, and/or through corroborating verses why you consider your position to be true.

OK. The way in which this first attempt goes will determine whether or not if I will periodically continue to follow in this series.

Directions:

1) Read the verse
2) Answer the question
3) Support your answer by a well-reasoned discourse
----------

John 12:42-43
42 Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
NKJV

Question:
Do these rulers possess eternal life or not?

Does Anybody Agree with this Quotation XIII

by Antonio da Rosa

Folks, I am in the process of more dialogue with the Evangelism pastor at Shadow Mountain. Here is a quote to bide the time by none other than John Piper.

But if, over the next ten or twenty years, John Piper begins to cool off spiritually and lose interest in spiritual things and become more fascinated with making money and writing Christless books; and I buy the lie that a new wife would be exhilarating and that the children can fend for themselves and that the church of Christ is a drag and that the incarnation is a myth and that there is one life to live so let us eat drink and be merry—if that happens, then know that the truth is this: John Piper was mightily deceived in the first fifty years of his life. His faith was an alien vestige of his father's joy. His fidelity to his wife was a temporary passion and compliance with social pressure; his fatherhood the outworking of natural instincts. His preaching was driven by the love of words and crowds. His writing was a love affair with fame. And his praying was the deepest delusion of all—an attempt to get God to supply the resources of his vanity.

If this possibility does not make me serious and vigilant in the pursuit of everlasting joy, what will?

http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/96/101396.html

(Thanks to Solifidian for bringing this quote to my attention.)

How many steps are there to heaven?

by Antonio da Rosa

The following is a beginning of a gospel discussion that I am having via email with the Pastor of Evangelism at my church, Shadow Mountain Community Church



From: Antonio da Rosa [mailto:agdarosa@cox.net]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 4:10 PM
To: Dean Osuch
Subject: The gospel

Hello Dean.

My name is Antonio da Rosa. I have been a member at Shadow Mountain Community Church for about 14 years. I am a graduate from Southern California Bible College and Seminary.

I have seen your name around in the bulletin and on the website, and heard it here and there.

I am just going to get to the point. I have a problem with this page on the Shadow Mountain Community Church website:

Shadow Mountain Community Church

I would like to discuss it with you either in person or if you would prefer by email.

I have seen all of the emphasis that you have been putting on evangelism and the ministry outreaches you have headed up. It is very encouraging. I would appreciate the opportunity to discuss this very important, and often sensitive, subject with you.

Every blessing in Christ,

Antonio da Rosa
agdarosa@cox.net



----- Original Message -----
From: Dean Osuch
To: Antonio da Rosa
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 4:13 PM
Subject: RE: The gospel

I would be more than happy to discuss this with you. What is your concern?

Dean Osuch
Pastor of Evangelism
Shadow Mountain Community Church



From: Antonio da Rosa [mailto:agdarosa@cox.net]
Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 7:46 PM
To: Dean Osuch
Subject: Re: The gospel

Dean,

Thank you for your response.

I have problems with the "ABC" approach of the webpage and a couple elements of the Romans Road java presentation.

Would you prefer to have an email dialogue with me?

Thank you for your time, as I know that you are a very busy man, as are all the Shadow Mountain pastors. Anything that I would say to you would be by the way of a kindly discussion, and for food for your thoughts. I have a great love for my church and for evangelism. Soteriology, the gospel, and its presentation have been a main focus of my study for nearly 10 years.

As the Pastor of Evangelism at SMCC, I am sure that you would appreciate the opportunity to listen to another angle, another perspective to the truths that we both hold so dear.

Sincerely,

Antonio da Rosa


----- Original Message -----
From: Dean Osuch
To: Antonio da Rosa
Sent: Friday, March 09, 2007 10:01 AM
Subject: RE: The gospel
Antonio,
Thanks so much for you kind response. I prefer email discussion because it gives me time to reflect on what you have to say and prayerfully respond to your suggestions and ideas. I look forward to our discussion together.
Blessings,

Dean Osuch
Pastor of Evangelism
Shadow Mountain Community Church


Here is my latest response:


Hi Dean, I will take these things a few steps at a time. I will, upon your interest, go into greater detail with any and all points, and make valid, biblical arguments to support my position.

Dealing with the web page, first. I will get to the Romans road in another email. Here is the "ABC" page pasted:

If you would like to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ and be sure that you are going to heaven, it's as easy as ABC. Pray to God and:

· Admit that you have wronged God.
· Believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and rose again from the grave.
· Confess Him to be the leader of your life.


Let me first note that I am all for someone being sure that they are going to heaven. In theology, this is called "assurance". Certain assurance, I believe, is absolutely necessary at the moment one believes the gospel. (We will return to this). For the time being, assurance is what God wants all His children to have, and Jesus makes a point to share that assurance is inexorably linked with His gospel promise (John 3:16; 5:27, 6:35-40; 6:47; 11:25-26). This doctrine is described with the phrase "assurance is of the essence of saving faith". This means at the moment one believes Christ in His gospel promise, he has certain assurance of his eternal destiny. (This does not mean that this assurance cannot be counfounded, or that it is never doubted.) Assurance is the bedrock on which Christians strike out in their Christian walk. We can get into this more later.

I have problems with this "three step" approach to evangelism.



1) Admit that you have wronged God.

In evangelism, there is a difference between something that is psychologically necessary to receive eternal life and something that is theologically necessary to receive eternal life. For instance, it would be a psychological necessity in order to believe the gospel for one to believe that there is a God and that there is a heaven and hell. These are just two examples.

This can be illustrated thus: in order to go to the ballgame, one must present a ticket to the collector at the stadium's gate. This can be likened to the theological necessity/requirement to receive eternal life. All that the man in charge at the gate requires is the ticket, period. But for the guest, many more logical requirements may be necessary. He needs to purchase the ticket, have proper attire, and have transportation arrangements. He needs to acquire the money necessary for the purchase price. These necessities can be likened to the psychological necessities/requirements to put one in the correct state and frame of mind conducive for faith.

The theological necessity is only one step: Believe that Jesus guarantees your eternal destiny, well-being, by merely taking Him at His word, apart from any personal works whatsoever. You believe that you are eternal secure simply through faith in the promise of Jesus Christ alone.

The psychological requirements may be few or great in number depending upon the subjective nature of the mind of the person to which the gospel is addressed. The usual context by which one will be prepared for faith into Jesus Christ in His promise is through conviction of sin. Why would one need Christ to guarantee his/her eternal well-being? Precisely because our sin caused a breach between God and man, that is humanly impossible to repair.

This has been quite the roundabout way to say that the "A" in the webpages "ABC" steps to God, is not a theological requirement for the basic relationship with God that comes the moment one believes Christ in His gospel promise.

The bottom line in evangelism is precision when we declare the truth of God. What is foggy in the pulpit is blackness in the pew. Ambiguity is the enemy of good evangelism. (We will get into this more later).

All that we say, all that we give to the sinner in need of Christ is for the express purpose of pointing the potential convert to faith into Christ by way of His gospel promise. When we say that Jesus is God, that He was born of a virgin, that He died on a cross for the sins of the world, that He rose bodily from the dead, and any other information about Him, it is to encourage faith into Christ in His promise. It is to persuade the sinner that Christ is able to give eternal life, that He has the authority and desire to do so, and that He can be trusted.

Let me reiterate. The normal context by which a sinner is prepared for faith into Christ is a conviction of his/her sins. Does God demand this conviction as a theological requirement for entrance into the kingdom, as the man at the stadium requires only a ticket? No. It is conceivable that someone can be saved without giving much consideration to his sin. Imagine a plane crashing and you only have a few minutes to give a gospel presentation. Something like Acts 16:31 could suffice, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved!". The moment that one believes Christ guarantees his/her eternal destiny, he is born again.



2. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for you and rose again from the grave.

This belief, as important as it is, falls short from receiving eternal life. Let me explain how. I was a Catholic before I came to faith in Christ. I believed, was persuaded, was convinced that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and rose again bodily from the dead. Was I saved? No. Let me tell you why. I didn't trust Jesus' promise to give eternal life to all who merely believe in Him for it. A person can believe that Jesus died on the cross for their sins and rose again from the dead but still not take Jesus at His word in His gospel promise. They may still be clinging to their works, their church, their sacraments, their rituals, etc.

Jesus' gospel promise is precisely this: He alone is the Guarantor of eternal life to all who merely believe in Him FOR it. Said another way, Jesus guarantees eternal life to the one who takes Him at His word when He says:

"Most assuredly I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life" (John 6:47).

Sharing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for one's sins and rose again from the dead falls short. Of course it is the heart of what one tells the sinner who needs to be saved. It shows why Jesus can be trusted in for eternal life, it shows how God provided our salvation. But, one must be told that eternal life is received by believing in Jesus' in His promise whereby He will give anyone eternal life who simply believes in Him for the express purpose of receiving it.

Christ's passion and subsequent resurrection has given Jesus Christ the authority to dispense eternal life as He pleases. And it pleases God to give eternal life to all who believe Jesus in His promise. Jesus put it this way:

John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Notice the "Do you believe this?" What is the "this"? It is precisely that Jesus Christ guarantees eternal life to the one who believes in Him for it. One can believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for one's sins and rose again from the dead and still not believe "this".



3) Confess Him to be the leader of your life.

I am going to be brief here, but I am very concerned about this last "step".

First, nowhere in the Bible are we told that we need to confess Jesus Christ to be the leader of our lives in order to be justified or to receive eternal life. Nowhere.

Second, this is quite an ambiguous requirement anyway. What does it mean to confess Jesus to be the leader of your life? Who do you "confess Him to be the leader of your life" to?

The invitation to believe in Jesus for eternal life is a simple and beautiful promise, unencumbered by demands of any kind, beside believing Christ to receive an absolutely free gift.

Discipleship, on the other hand, involves rigorous and hard works, and the losing of one's life.

The call to salvation and the call to discipleship are two distinct calls that only the theologian can confuse.

There are many who equate the call to self-denial, self-mortification, giving up one's life, and doing all other kinds of hard works, with conversion, but by so doing they either explicitly or implicitly deny the freeness of the gospel. By no stretch of the imagination is the demand for self-denial and self-sacrifice an invitation to receive a free gift. The attempt to harmonize these polarities always ends either in hopeless absurdity or in theological sophistry.

In this respect the man on the street is often more perceptive than the theologian. If someone were to offer him a gift in return for self-denying obedience, he would readily recognize that offer as grotesquely misrepresented!

The Son of God never engaged in such contradictions. What was free, He represented as free. What was costly, He presented as costly.

This is a main area in which I would like to dialogue. You may have some passages in mind, and I surely want to discuss this more.

The Reformation mantra was "sola fide". If one must "confess" something, can it be still regarded as "only by faith"?

Dean,

I hope that you take my comments in the spirit in which they were given. They are intended as food for thought in order for you to consider prayerfully. I would be happy to go into greater detail with any of my above points, and field any questions that you may have. I would be more than happy to review and discuss any pertinent scriptures.

thank you for your time in reading this!

Your forever brother in Christ,

Antonio da Rosa

Does Anybody Agree with this Quotation XII

by Antonio da Rosa

Pastor Steve Lawson, preaching at a conference sponsered by John MacArthur and his Grace Community Church:

If you want to receive this gift it will cost you the total commitment of all that you are to the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many here who think they are saved, but are not; they have never really done business with God.

Question: Is eternal salvation the result of doing "business with God" as if it were some contractual arrangement whereby the "cost" is the undying obedience of the sinner, and once paid God makes good with His stipulated obligation to save?

I want to single you out in the midst of this crowd. Have you taken up a cross in order to follow after Christ? Have you recognized your own sinfulness, acknowledged that God's judgment is true, have you acknowledged Christ's right to rule your life? Have you submitted to the Lordship of Christ? Have you really come to the end of self? Because Jesus does not begin until you end.

Question: Does Christ receive sinners into His family as they are or does He require that they put all things on the table up front, putting an "end [to] self"?

You need to make terms of peace with this king or you will be subjected in damnation forever. Christ has made terms of peace and you need to settle out-of-court with him. You do not want to go into that final day of conflict with Christ, for He will be ruthless in the execution of justice. He offers mercy today. He will agree to terms of peace and surrender, but they are His terms of peace, not ours. His terms are this: you must love Him more than anything. If you cannot do this, you will meet Him in the final judgment and glorify God in your destruction.

Question: Must we love Christ more than anything or we cannot be saved? What happened to "just as I am", and the ideas of growth in grace and knowledge?

Final question:

How can this man escape the charge of works-salvation?

Feelings, whoah, whoah, whoah, feelings...

by Antonio da Rosa

I recently stumbled upon this line on a blog post:

"People who believe themselves saved are no more saved than their automobile."

I wrote this person and asked them these questions:

1) How do you think such a circumstance, such as the one you describe for us above in your quote, happens? How do you think people who are not saved, nevertheless believe themselves saved?

2) How are you made aware personally of people who believe themselves saved but aren't? What are the indications that someone who believes himself saved is rather unsaved?

To which she answered:

"I can answer both of those through George Whitefield's powerful sermon 'Method of Grace'."

The text of this sermon can be found here : Method of Uncertainty and Doubt

I read the text of this sermon and here is how I responded:

I see that you have John MacArthur's book, "Hard to Believe" on the front page of your blog. The name of the book comes to mind when I read this sermon.

How can I "speak peace" to my soul, according to Whitefield. Lets see:

1)One must be "made to weep, "made to bewail," "made to feel" his transgressions. One must feel "the arrows of the Almighty".

How much must I weep, how much must I bewail, how much must I feel my transgressions? Is a little enough? How much of a frenzy must I be whirled into in order to fulfill this requirement? How long must I be in this state before I can get onto the next obligations to have peace?

How much did you mourn over your sin? How do you know you mourned enough, that you felt enough? When assurance is based upon inherently subjective means such as these given by Whitfield, certain assurance becomes impossible.

But this is not enough. Someone can wail and weep and bereave his sins but "still be strangers to Jesus Christ".

2) "Conviction must go deeper." One must understand "original sin". It is not enough to show contrition for one's sins. They must understand that they sin because of Adam, and because of Adam's sin, they deserve hell.

Can a child be born again? This hard-believism being taught seems to preclude children from being saved. The gospel is beautiful and simple, that even a child can understand and be saved. Yet this man is heaping burdens upon men and women in order to secure some peace. How much do children have to weep over their sins? How much weight of original sin must a child feel before they can fulfill this obligation to secure peace of heart?

3) One must "acknowledge that God would be just to damn him, just to cut him off, though he never had committed one actual sin in his life." You cannot call yourself a Christian "if you have never felt the weight of original sin".

To what degree and how much must one be torn over their ancestor's sin that causes them to be damned even if they never sinned even once? Is their a degree scale? How is it that i could not look back at these conditions for peace and ask myself if I fulfilled them enough? Seems to me fertile ground of the devil to instill doubt and uncertainty in the mind:

"You didn't repent enough, you didn't grieve enough, you didn't show enough remorse, you didn't dispay sufficient contrition." How much is enough for peace?

These things aren't enough. You can get this far and still be rejected by Christ and have no peace.

4) Next you must realize that your works are "a menstruous cloth -- that God hates them". "There must be a deep conviction".

How deep must one's conviction be? How would one realize how deep they actually are? Could you not later wonder if you were sufficiently convicted of the utter lack of worth of your righteous deeds?

These things aren't enough to have peace in your heart. There are more. This next one enumerated for us by Mr. Whitefield is a bit ambiguous and bizarre:

5)"Before you can speak peace to your heart, you must be troubled for the unbelief of you heart."

Unbelief of what? Has he told us what we should be believing? How much am I to be troubled? Is it sufficient to merely be sad that I have unbelief? Or must I be utterly distraught over it?

Listen to what he says to his church:

"if you would not think me uncharitable, if I doubted whether any of you believed in Christ; and yet, I fear upon examination, we should find that most of you have not so much faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the devil himself."

How can you tell if you have insufficient faith? What is your definition of faith and how can you know if you have the right kind or the right amount of faith? Could this not be used of Satan to instill more doubts? "You don't believe in Jesus, you have a false faith, you have a spurious faith, you are merely a spritual phoney, and are a hypocrite."

Is he calling the majority of his church unsaved? I wonder how long he had preached there!

Next he says:

"Now, my dear friends, did God ever show you that you had no faith? Were you ever made to bewail a hard heart of unbelief? Was it ever the language of your heart, Lord, give me faith; Lord, enable me to lay hold on thee; Lord, enable me to call thee MY Lord and MY God? Did Jesus Christ ever convince you in this manner? Did he ever convince you of your inability to close with Christ, and make you to cry out to God to give you faith? If not, do not speak peace to your heart."

So does everyone have to go through this process to have peace? I must have a false peace. I never asked God to give me faith, I never grieved over my lack of faith, I never thought of my inability to "close" with Christ. As soon as I heard that Jesus Christ guaranteed for me eternal life if I took Him at His word, I believed it.

The appropriation of peace just keeps getting harder and harder...

6) Next, one "must be enabled to lay hold upon the perfect righteousness, the all-sufficient righteousness, of the Lord Jesus Christ; you must lay hold by faith on the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and then you shall have peace."

How thoroughly must I lay hold? How can I be enabled? How can I know if I have been enabled? How can I know that it is not a faith of my own doing but actually a faith that God gave me as a gift?

We have to both be enable to lay hold, then lay hold. Then we must "apply Christ to our hearts". We must be "married to Jesus Christ". We must feel and have "Jesus Christ give himself" to us. We need to "feel Christ" in our hearts. We need to hear him "speak peace to our souls".

How can I know I am married to Christ, how can I be sure that Christ gave Himself to me? Could it not be a counterfeit feeling given by Satan, who has made himself out to be a minister of light? How do I know it isn't Satan whispering a false "peace" to my soul?

Next he says "you may be at peace" but it is a false peace.

He seems to contradict himself. Some have peace that is false, but they know no better. Some have peace, but it is a genuine peace, and others have no peace, but are saved, yet backslidden.

I suppose it is possible to believe one has grieved enough over his sin, over original sin, over his lack of righteousness, over his unbelief, and still have a false peace and be unsaved. Why? He deceived himself into believing he had those feelings. Maybe he did not have them to the proper degree. Possibly they were counterfeit from the devil.

Next, God and Christ must be our "friend".

How can we know if God is truly our friend? Can't the devil deceive us here as well?

Next he says "There are many of us who lose our peace by our untender walk; something or other gets in betwixt Christ and us, and we fall into darkness"

How do we know if we really ever had peace to begin with? How do we know that the peace we originally felt was not some Satanic counterfeit? Every time we sin, do we then lose our peace? How can we ever have peace with all of these provisos, caveats, and strings attached?

Did your father remove peace from you until you jumped through his hoops? "You have every reason to believe that I am not your father because of this, that, this and that!"

He then writes:

"we should be growing up to a faith of assurance"

How long must one suffer and plead with God and wait before one can have assurance and peace?

John says that "we can know" at the very moment that we are children of God, without all this riga-morrow that this man burdens people with.

The end of the matter is this:

With this man's advice, you can have no real peace, you cannot have certain assurance of your eternal relationship with God.

Assurance looked for in our feelings and attitudes will not yield the certian assurance that God desires for us to have.

Antonio