Posted by The Pastor on April 29, 2008
By now most of you have heard of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, long time pastor to Sen. 
Barak Obama and his comments that have become quite controversial. I have no interest in discussing them here. However, he did make one very interesting statement at his visit to the National Press Club a few days ago. There is a Baptist Press article here that discusses the theology of it.
The gist of the statement was a response to a question about whether or not Jesus Christ was the only way (John 14:6 says he is). The question directed at Rev. Wright was:
MODERATOR: Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but through me.’ Do you believe this? And do you think Islam is a way to salvation?
Wright’s response was:
Jesus also said, ‘Other sheep have I who are not of this fold.’
The obvious implication was that he believes other faiths can be saved. He is quoting John 10:16 in his response. The truth is Jesus was not saying that other people can come to salvation even if they are not believers in Jesus. He was telling a group of Jews that Gentiles will one day come to hear his voice and become his sheep. He was talking about us … European, African, Asian, Hispanic, and all non-Jews. And praise God for it. But he is not saying that Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists are going to be saved. The label for this liberal theology is Universalism. It is the notion that all people of faith will go to heaven. You might have heard people say it this way: “All roads lead to the same place.” That is just now what Jesus taught. So to be a follower of Jesus Christ, one must reject Universalism.
Posted by The Pastor on
This is the first sermon in the series from Malachi entitled “I Have Loved You” from Malachi 1:1-5
[audio:Malachi1-IHaveLovedYou.mp3]
Posted by The Pastor on April 25, 2008
1,000 churches! 60,000 believers. All united to serve God and expand His kingdom by loving the “least of these” in our communities in NC. The Biblical Recorder reports a huge effort. Read for yourself.
Posted by The Pastor on
Want to know what a real Revival looks like? Look no further than Jena, LA.
You’ve been to them and so have I. The typical four day, Sunday through 
Wednesday, planned Revival meeting. A guest speaker is brought it along with some special musicians to sing extra songs. Some add things like dinners before or fellowships after the services. In preparation for them prayer meetings are held either in the church or in the homes or both. And then we publish fliers and newspaper ads. All for the result of maybe a few decisions during the Revival, but seldom much more.
Then along comes something special, as is the case in Jena, LA. The town is best know for the "Jena 6" which were 6 black teens charged with the beating of a white boy named Justin Baker. Read the Wikipedia article for more about them. As a result of the racial tensions 20,000 people marched in the sleepy 
little Louisiana town to protest what they believed was lenient treatment of the white students involved in the situation while the black students were treated harshly.
Once again, what Satan intended for evil, God used for good (see Genesis 50:20). When the Revival was started no one thought it would end up like it did. Baptist Press has an interesting article that describes how Jena is experiencing a real revival.
My prayer is that I can be part of something like this; I want to see a great outpouring of the Spirit that changes my community in the same way. The question is how much do I want to see it? Prayer and personal holiness, I believe, are the beginnings of something like this.
Posted by The Pastor on April 24, 2008
I just wanted to let the church know how excited and proud I am of the O team. Our G.O. Teams started tonight with the second of our two teams making calls, writing letters, and making visits to encourage and show the love of Christ to member and prospects alike. The O Team went and made a lot of contacts and we are so happy about how the Kingdom was advanced tonight.
Pray for those contacted and ask God to work in their lives! And thank God for the people of the O Team who stormed the very gates of hell by GOing and making disciples.
Posted by The Pastor on April 23, 2008
On Wednesday, April 23, 2008 I mentioned three men who chose to run across the Sahara Desert in northern Africa. Here is a video about part of their trip.
Posted by The Pastor on April 21, 2008
Operation Inasmuch was a huge success. Posted here is a video of our church’s experience. Be warned it both funny and touching.
Posted by The Pastor on April 18, 2008
Ben Stein, yes that Ben Stein from the Comedy Central game show and from the film Ferris Beuller’s Day Off, has narrated a new movie called Expelled. It is a documentary about the subject of Intelligent Design. It has become quite controversial as it blows the doors off one of the least talked about scandals in American Education. If you believe in the theory of intelligent design, which is to say you believe that a higher power designed and created the earth, then you are persona non grata in American Universities. You will be "Expelled" which is to say derided and ridiculed and your life made a living hell until you either quit or do something else to get yourself fired. In some cases people are outright fired or merely do not have their contracts renewed. If you want to see a trailer for the movie, then look below…
Posted by The Pastor on April 12, 2008
Jesus told his disciples a parable in Matthew 25 about a king who said to his servants that they had fed him when he was hungry and gave him a drink when he was thirst; they had given him hospitality when he was a stranger and clothes when he was naked; they visited him when he was in prison. Obviously they had no idea what he was talking about, so they asked, "When we did all that?"
In Matthew 25:40 He said, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." (KJV) The point is that as we help others we are helping the King of kings. When we serve and minister to the needs of "the least of these" we are proving our love for Jesus and ministering to Him.
On April 19 churches all over the state of North Carolina will be participating in Operation Inasmuch, a ministry where churches do mission work right in their own communities. OIAM, as we are calling it, is a chance for you to minister to our area and help build the witness of our church and the Kingdom of God.
We will have a rally during our Sunday Night worship service to honor God and pray for OIAM. Please be there to help us get ready by seeking the God we are serving. It will of course be at 7:00 pm on April 13th.
Posted by The Pastor on April 5, 2008
You will notice that our site looks very different.
Thanks to a site redesign we have some great new features that I want to make you aware of.
- Notice the new look and feel. It is clean and consistent throughout.
- You can search the sight using the search box at the very top of the page.
- The “Downloads” page will contain files that can be useful to you. If you ever hear the pastor say, “You can download that from our site” then you will find it there.
- Also notice the extra useful features along the right hand side. There is a local weather status section which will give the current conditions. Below that are pictures of events related to our church. Click more photos to see other High Peak Pix. Then you find links to sites having to do with our church’s denomination and finally links of use like Christian Movie Reviews, a link to our local paper, and Bible Gateway, which is a bible study site.
- On the left you will see below the welcome message a bible quotation that switches each time you visit the home page. Send us an email to add your favorite verse.
- Below that are entries from our pastor’s personal blog.
- Want to comment on any item? Click on the “Comments” or “No Comments” linke below each entry and it will give you a box where you can add your thoughts. To protect our site from objecionable content each comment must be approved. So they will not show up till later in the day after you comment.
- Finally, you can “subscribe” to our sites RSS feed at the bottom left. If you don’t know what RSS is, this might be of help to you. But it is a cool way that you can get posts from our site as they are added directly in your email or web browser without ever even having to go to our site.
Go ahead and check things out and please click on the Comments button and leave one yourself to see how it works.
