The Mt. Baker
church of Christ
(1860 Mt. Baker
Highway, Bellingham, WA)
Invites you to our
GOSPEL MEETING
with Evangelist
Dennis Ross
(Camden, South Carolina)
Sept. 24–29, 2006
Monday-Friday:
7:00 PM
(Sunday: 9:30 & 10:30 AM, 6:00 PM)
Learn about New
Testament Christianity!
The gospel
is God’s power to save us! (Romans 1:16)
(From I-5 take Exit # 255
and go East 4.2 miles)
For more information: please call (360) 752-2692
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Are Babies Born Sinners?
(Joe R. Price)
A prominent
theological doctrine is that humanity inherits total depravity from Adam and
Eve. According to this belief we are completely disposed to evil and utterly
void of good from birth. Consider the following:
“Our first parents, being seduced by the subtlety and
temptation of Satan, sinned in eating the forbidden fruit....By this sin
they fell from their original righteousness and communion with God, and so
became dead in sin, and wholly defiled in all the faculties and parts of
soul and body.”
“They being the root of all mankind, the guilt of this
sin was imputed, and the same death in sin and corrupted nature conveyed to
all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation.
“From this original corruption, whereby we are utterly
indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to
all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions.” (The Westminster Confession
of Faith," Ch. VI, 1-4; The Book of Confessions, 6.031-6.034)
The Bible says the person who sins, dies because of
his own sin. The son does not bear the guilt of his father (Ezek. 18:20). We
do not bear the guilt of Adam’s sin. Spiritual death entered the world
through Adam’s sin, but spiritual death comes to each person when each
person sins. This is the clear and simple statement of Romans 5:12:
“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world,
and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all
sinned.”
Advocates of this false doctrine think they find
Biblical support for their doctrine by going to Psalm 51:5. David wrote,
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived
me.” Was David speaking of his own sin, his mother’s sin, or the sinful
world into which he was born?
David was not referring to his own sin at birth.
Infants have no knowledge of good and evil (Deut. 1:39). Yet, in context,
David spoke of God desiring “truth in the inward parts” and God
making him to “know wisdom” (Psa. 51:6). David is not speaking of his
spiritual condition as a child.
Paul was spiritually “alive” prior to having
moral capacity and responsibility toward the law (Rom. 7:9). When Paul was a
child he was innocent of sin. So was David. Furthermore, the word of God
says that “God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes”
(Eccl. 7:29). Human beings are upright when they come into this world. Human
beings seek out sin; we do not inherit sin.
David could have been referring to his mother’s
sin. Since “all have sinned,” she
would certainly be included in that number (Rom. 3:23).
David was most likely referring to the world’s sin.
He did not speak of “my” iniquity or “my” sin, but of “iniquity” and “sin.”
The thoroughly sinful environment of the world into which David was born
gave occasion to his own corruption; he chose to sin like the rest (see Eph.
2:1-3). In contrast to sin’s corruption, God desired David to be thoroughly
absorbed by truth and wisdom (51:6). According to Psalm 51, this was now
David’s intent as he sought God’s forgiveness.
The kingdom of heaven is entered by those who are
“converted and become as little children” (Matt. 18:3). Conversion means
to change from one form or state to another. If children are born sinners,
is Jesus telling us to change into sinners to be saved? Furthermore, when
one converts into the moral likeness of children (which, according to
Calvin, is totally depravity), wouldn’t that mean that prior to the
conversion he was innocent? My, what confusion is caused by the doctrines of
men!
David was not born a sinner and neither were you.
Babies are not born in sin; they are innocent of sin. We chose to commit
sin, and our sin produces our spiritual death. The gospel save sinners, not
babies (Mk. 16:15-16; Rom. 1:16).
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You can find the
complete outline of this sermon at
BIBLE ANSWERS
Spiritual Weakness
Scripture Reading:
Jude 20-25
1. Spiritual weakness is real & challenges us. We must face
it in ourselves & help others who are weak, 1 Cor. 16:13; Eph. 6:10 (Matt.
26:41; 1 Ths. 5:14).
2. What do we mean by “spiritual weakness?” (Rom. 4:19; 8:1-8).
I. REASONS FOR SPIRITUAL WEAKNESS.
A. Immaturity (spiritually undeveloped), 1 Cor. 3:1-2;
Heb. 5:12-13 (1 Pet. 2:2; cf. 1 Jno. 2:14).
B. Being Distracted of the World, Matt. 26:41 (Jno. 18:18); Eph. 6:11-13;
Jas. 1:2-3; Heb. 6:9-11; Gal. 5:1, 7.
C. Being Overcome by Sin, Gal. 6:1 (Jas. 5:19).
D. Not Using God’s Word to Judge what is Right, 1 Cor. 2:12-16; 11:30.
E. Left Alone, Spiritual Weakness Becomes Carnality, 1 Cor. 3:1-3; Rom.
8:5, 7.
II. SYMPTOMS OF SPIRITUAL WEAKNESS.
A. Weak in Resistance:
1. To temptation, Eph. 6:10, 13, 16.
2. To error, Eph. 4:14 (Rom. 1:16; 1 Pet. 3:15)
B. Weak in Appetite, Matt. 5:6; Jno. 6:27.
C. Weak in Estimating His Ability & Responsibility, Matt. 25:18 (Phil.
4:13).
III. WHY IS SPIRITUAL WEAKNESS SO BAD?
A. Left Unattended it Becomes Willful Sin, Heb. 10:26.
B. It is Contagious (Num. 32:6-7).
IV. RESPONSES TO THE WEAK,
Lk. 13:6-9.
A. Support the Weak, 1 Ths. 5:14.
B. Try to Restore the Fallen, Gal. 6:1-2.
C. Pray for the Weak, 1 Jno. 5:15-16.
Conclusion
Jude 20:25: Grow in faith & help others be strong.
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You can find the
complete outline of this sermon at
BIBLE ANSWERS
Descriptions of Church
Scripture Reading:
1 Peter 2:7-10
What is the church? What kind of people
make up the church? How & when does one enter it?
I. WHAT IS THE
CHURCH?
A. Definition
(ekklesia): “to call out of,” Matt. 16:18-19.
B. People “Called Out” by God (Acts 2:39).
1. Out of darkness (1 Pet. 2:9); into kingdom (1 Ths. 2:12); into
fellowship with Christ (1 Cor. 1:9).
2. Called by the gospel, 2 Ths. 2:13-14.
3. “Called out” identifies relation of the saved to God & to the world.
II. DESCRIPTIONS OF
THE CHURCH.
-What kind of
people? (Acquired, redeemed)
A. A Purchased People, Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 1:18-19 (Rev. 1:5-6).
B. A Saved People, Eph. 1:22-23; 5:23 (Acts 2:47).
C. A Possessed People, Matt. 16:18 (1 Pet. 2:9-10; Tit. 2:14).
D. A Separated People, Col. 1:13; 1 Pet. 2:9.
1. From sin & darkness into light of kingdom.
2. Not of this world, 2 Cor. 6:16-18.
3. Saints, 1 Cor. 1:2.
E. A Submissive People, Eph. 5:24; 1:22-23 (Col. 3:17; Matt. 28:18).
III. ENTRANCE INTO
CHRIST’S CHURCH, Acts 2:47. (How?
When?)
A. Baptism & Entrance
into the Church of Christ.
1. Purchased: By blood of Christ, Rom. 6:3 – Acts 20:28.
2. Saved, 1 Pet. 3:21 -- Eph. 5:23.
3. Possessed, 1 Cor. 12:13 -- Matt. 16:18.
4. Separated, Acts 22:16 -- 1 Pet. 2:9.
5. Submissive, Mk. 16:16 -- Eph. 5:24.
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NOTEWORTHY
NEWS
(Current events in the
light of Scripture)
Raise Your Hand
Joe R. Price
We take for granted the casual motion of raising our hand
about our head. Not Claudia Mitchell, who lost her left arm in a motorcycle
accident in 2004. But she may be able to take it for granted some day.
Mitchell is the first woman amputee to receive a
thought-controlled prosthetic arm. The devise is controlled by the user’s
brain and improves on earlier prosthetic arms. She can use the new arm to
carry a tray or open a jar just by thinking about it.
Jesse Sullivan was the first person to receive one of
these prosthetic arms. A double amputee, he was fitted with his device five
years ago.
“To make the new arms work, Mitchell, Sullivan and
four other patients underwent a procedure called ‘muscle re-innervation,’ in
which shoulder nerves that originally went to the amputated arm are grafted
to chest muscles. Thought impulses are received by the graft, muscle
activity is picked up by electrodes that send signals to the arm’s computer
and then the arm’s six motors cause the required movements.
“About five months after the surgery, Sullivan was
able to activate four different areas of his major pectoral muscle. A
contraction in each area leads to a different action, such as opening and
closing a hand.
“A natural arm is able to make 22 discrete movements,
said Gregory Clark, a professor of bioengineering and a prosthetics
researcher at the University of Utah.” (“Amputee controls bionic arms with a
thought,” CBC News, 14Sep06) Research and development continues.
I wonder how many human thoughts it took to invent
and refine this amazing arm. We take for granted the intelligence it took to
design it. Yet, evolutionists tell us to believe that the human arm with its
“22 discrete movements” just came into being by random chance over billions
of years! No, design demands a designer. “I will praise You, for I am
fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works” (Psa. 139:14).
The First Intelligence, God, made intelligent man in His image.
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