Countercultural community. We adopt a chastened correspondencetheory of truth that is less triumphalistic than that of some in the older evangelicalism. The answer is that we cannot contextualize the gospel in the abstract, as a thought experiment. We therefore do not see our corporate worship services as the primary connecting point with those outside. The Plan of God We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. It is not enough that the church should counter the values of the dominant culture. Pastor Stephen Armstrong conducts a breakout session at the 2018 VBVMI Bible Conference. Stephen Armstrong's passing on Friday, July 8, 2022 has been publicly announced by Restland Funeral Home and Memorial Park in Dallas, TX. Such a biblically grounded and united mission is the only endur- ing future for the church. But the truth of Scripture cannot be exhausted in a series of propositions. By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all his people; by his ascension he has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with him. Read the Revelation Timeline Decoded Bible prophecy study series. 3. The concept of a futuristic 70th week of Daniel is a deception from the Jesuits of Rome, who created it to deflect blame away from the Popes, as the Protestant Reformers had rightly identified them as the Son of Perdition and the antichrist beast. III. Pastor Armstrong teaches on the coming apostasy of the church described in the New Testament letters and in the book of Revelation. The Verse By Verse Ministry (VBVM) International study app, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor Stephen Armstrong. We have a vision for a church that sees conversions of rich and poor, highly educated and less educated, men and women, old and young, married and single, and all races. Presented at the 2014 VBVMI Conference, held on October 9-10. There are many seekerdriven churches that help many people find Christ. The Tri-une God We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. Our theoretical knowledge of Gods truth is only partial even when accurate, but we nevertheless can have certainty that what the Word tells us is true (Luke 1:4). It brings out the purpose of salvation, namely, a renewed creation. We believe that a zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification. That means 95% have already committed fornication!. But we also reject a view of truth that sees truth as nothing more than the internally coherent language of a particular faithcommunity. Stephen passed away August 22, 2014 in Grand Saline. Truth, then, is correspondence between our entire lives and Gods heart, words and actions, through the mediation of the Word and Spirit. At the same time, and in the same congregations, there will be engagement with the social structures of ordinary people, and cultural engagement with art, business, scholarship, and government. It is true that some Jews are being used by the Jesuits of Rome, to steal, kill and destroy; but they are not the beast of Revelation. That means 15 million people that are living together are unmarried. Too many Christians have learned to seal off their faithbeliefs from the way they work in their vocation. We have committed ourselves to invigorating churches with new hope and compelling joy based on the promises received by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. If youre in charge of handling the affairs for a recently deceased loved one, this guide offers a helpful checklist. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satans dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. There will be calls for radical Christian community in which all members share wealth and resources and make room for the poor and the marginalized. The pastor continued on to say that COVID-19 was likely a plague from God intended to punish those who are intimate outside of the marital bed. Pastor Steven Anderson teaches a futuristic 70th week of Daniel, assigning it to the end times 7-year tribulation period. The emphasis is on Christianity as a way of life to the loss of a bloodbought status in Christ received through personal faith. How should we relate to the culture around us? CONFESSIONAL STATEMENT The gospel moves people to holiness and service out of grateful joy for grace, and out of love of the glory of God for who he is in himself. Then Satan caused the Popes of Rome to rise to power, to try to eliminate the Two Witnesses, the Scriptures and the saints; waging war from inside the church. Verse By Verse Fellowship, a Northeast Side church, announced Pastor Steve Armstrong died . If you would like to have it removed, please In this imbalance there is little emphasis on vigorous evangelism and apologetics, on expository preaching, and on the marks and importance of conversion/the new birth. The Spirit of God not only converts individuals (e.g., John 16:8) but also renews and cultivates the face of the earth (e.g., Gen 1:2; Psalm 104:30). . Stephen passed away in January 2021 leaving behind a library of insightful Bible teaching and a ministry team committed to advancing the Gospel worldwide. Expand the Memories and Condolences form. The integration of faith and work. 4. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. Yet postmodernisms response is dangerous in another way: its most strident voices insist that claims to objective truth be replaced by a more humbly tolerant and inclusively diverse subjective pluralisma pluralism often mired in a swamp that cannot allow any firm ground for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. Such a stance has no place for truth that corresponds to reality, but merely an array of subjectively shaped truths. Listen to recorded teaching, read the accompanying full-length notes, print lessons for use in small groups or for teaching . You know, I believe in what youre saying, that God may be using this as a wake-up call, Baxter added. Jacksonville. 1. You can search using the name of your loved one, or any family name for current or past services entrusted to our firm. Unless you are experienced as an estate executor, you probably should hire an attorney. As we confess in CS(1), [God] providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace. (The epistemological issue). Bartley Funeral Home The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the virgin Mary. Box 702107 What replaces the gospel will never promote a mission-hearted faith anchored in enduring truth working itself out in unashamed discipleship eager to stand the tests of kingdom-calling and sacrifice. The Bible is to be believed, as Gods instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as Gods command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as Gods pledge, in all that it promises. Pastor Stephen Armstrong exposes several common techniques used by false teachers to mislead. These movements have led to the easy abandonment of both biblical truth and the transformed living mandated by our historic faith. As the Jewish exiles were called to love and work for the shalom of Babylon (Jer 29:7), Christians too are Gods people in exile (1 Peter 1:1; James 1:1). There are many churches with a radical commitment to the poor and marginalized. Together they are simultaneously Gods pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things. The ultimate answer is that God must, for his own glory, send revival in response to the fervent, extraordinary, prevailing prayer of his people. We believe that such commitments will drive us afresh toward Scripture, toward the Christ of Scripture, toward the gospel of Christ, and we will begin to grow in our ability, by Gods grace, as churches, to act in line with the truth of the gospel (Gal 2:14). Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. As the mediatorial King, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of Gods sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. The Kingdom of God We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant: the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust, and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. 210.319.5055 2023 ~ all rights reserved, Access all of our teaching materials through our smartphone apps conveniently and quickly. pump cover bodybuilding. Because God chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, no human being can ever boast before himChrist Jesus has become for us wisdom from Godthat is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Pastor Stephen Armstrong discusses all that the Bible can tell us on the coming world leader called the Antichrist. The claim to objectivity is arrogant, postmodernism tells us, and inevitably leads to conflicts between communities with differing opinions as to where the truth lies. #ArmysArmy It brings out the means of salvation, namely the substitutionary work of Christ and our responsibility to embrace it by faith. But we have a vision for a church that equips its people to think out the implications of the gospel on how we do carpentry, plumbing, dataentry, nursing, art, business, government, journalism, entertainment, and scholarship. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Teaching from the 2016 VBVMI Bible Conference held in San Antonio, Texas, on October 14-15, 2016. This balance shapes our understanding of discipleship and preaching. This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved). Horizons Event Centre For the common good. Indifference to the poor and disadvantaged means there has not been a true grasp of our salvation by sheer grace. The session is moderated by Jerry Dyke of VBVMI. The good news of the Bible is not only individual forgiveness but the renewal of the whole creation. The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of Gods sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. Online condolences and donations may be made at www.imfunerals.com To eliminate the propositional nature of biblical truth seriously weakens our ability to hold, defend, and explain the gospel. How this relationship to culture shapes us. MINISTRY INTERNATIONAL, P.O. Messiah came in power and glory when He caused the people of the prince from Daniel 9, the Roman army, to desolate the city, temple and Jews. 2. II. in 2003 Stephen was called by God to lead a church planting effort in the city as pastor of Living Word Fellowship. If a church seeks to be a counterculture for peoples temporal and eternal good, it will guard itself against both the legalism that can accompany undue cultural withdrawal and the compromise that comes with overadaptation. God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. At the heart of corporate worship is the ministry of the Word. What could lead to a growing movement of gospelcentered churches? He worked as a . Proudly Serving the Communities of Van Zandt County and surrounding areas, Grand Saline, Texas, East Texas, Tyler, Sulphur Springs, Terrell, Athens, Greenville, Rockwall, Seagoville, Mesquite, Rowlett, Kilgore, Balch Springs, Wylie, Mount Pleasant, By the Spirits agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into Gods family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. At worst he is a false prophet or misguided pastor.. Verse by Verse Fellowship. Inasmuch as Christ was given by the Father for us, and his obedience and punishment were accepted in place of our own, freely and not for anything in us, this justification is solely of free grace, in order that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. According to the Endtime Ministries website, she was home as of Monday, but still feeling fatigued. Horizons Event Centre Pastor Anderson condemns Easter and Christmas, but doesnt seem to understand that those concepts were part of the falling away from Scriptural truth, which happened in the 4th century, before the Popes took power. We affirm that truth is correspondence to reality. There is a fastgrowing charismatic movement with emphasis on glorious, passionate, corporate worship. Giving to charity is a meaningful way to honor someone who has died. For more about our confessional statement, check out our series of 14 booklets written by the Council and edited by co-founders D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller. By being a counterculture. We must work for the eternal and common good and show our neighbors we love them sacrificially whether they believe as we do or not. It teaches its members to conform their bodily being to the shape of the gospelabstinence outside of heterosexual marriage and fidelity and joy within. What kind of arrangement is appropriate, where should you send it, and when should you send an alternative? The speakers from the 2015 VBVMI Conference gather for Q&As. Pastor: Stephen Armstrong. The Holy Spirit is himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service. See CS(2). 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