A MINISTRY OF FAIRFAX BAPTIST TEMPLE DEC 2016

TEMPLE

trumpetVolume 44

Issue 2Inside:

A Christian Approach to Human GovernmentCrosspoint Baptist Church 4th AnniversaryEveryone’s a Theologian!Missions SundayWho’s in Charge?

Fair xaBAPTIST TEMPLE

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Obey them that have the rule over you. I Peter 2:13

God ordained three entities to maintain social stability: human gov-ernment, the home, and the church (spiritual government)—balancing our loyalties and duties to all three is sometimes very difficult. In this regard we can find inspiration in the experience of the Apostle Paul who lived through the dark days of the Roman Emperor Nero. Thankfully, it is hard to imagine that America will ever have such a wicked and despotic ruler.

Citizens of the United States have the privilege of voting often for

those who will serve us at all levels of government. Sometimes we elect people whom we like and admire and at other times political offices may be filled by those whom we disdain or distrust.

What should a Christian’s response be, no matter who is elected? The ques-tion is complicated by the fact that every true Christian is a dual citizen with allegiances that flow from both a physical birth and a spiritual birth, but the Bible is very clear about how we should behave with regard to both our temporal and spiritual authorities.

A Christian Approach to Human Government

What should a Christian’s response be?

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by Todd L. Abbey, Pastor Fairfax Baptist Temple

Pray for those in Authority.

We may be tempted on a daily basis to criticize the decisions that are made in both our state house and on Capitol Hill, but Christians will accomplish far more through prayer than by criticism. We should make it our daily duty to pray for the salvation of our local and national leaders so that they will make wise choices that honor God!

Seek good for your fellow man. Amos 5:14

Our contemporary society places far more emphasis on citizen’s rights than on their responsibilities and it is easy to scorn those who like to have it so. How refreshing it would be if all Christians set an example of simply doing right to their fellow citizens. God is not a respecter of persons, and our life should reflect Him.

Obey God rather than man! Acts 5:29

If the time comes that human gov-ernment begins to usurp the authority that belongs only to God, it is the duty of Christians to remain faithful to God. When the Apostles were told that they could not preach any longer in the name of Jesus Christ, they

humbly defied the order and preached on! In our country we are experienc-ing a rising tension between our long-cherished freedom to serve Jesus Christ according to the teachings of Scripture, and increasingly restrictive decisions at all levels of government from the Supreme Court to the local county clerk.

Alas, the question we face is no longer academic: obey God or man?

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:1-2

Christ is the only constant in an unstable world. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords Who never changes and never fails on His promises and we must cherish our relationship with Him as the only certain way to live a fulfilled life.

May every Christian believer be a steady and moral constant even as everything changes around us so that, amidst a stormy sea, others will see the Rock on which we stand. As indi-viduals we may not be able change the whole country, but we can certainly impact one soul at a time!

A little over four years ago Pastor Mike Barr, his wife Stacy and

their three children – Kaylee, Andrew and Josiah – left their thriving youth ministry at Fairfax Baptist Temple to strike out into the unknown, seeking to plant a new independent funda-mental Baptist Church as so many from FBT had done before them.

In July of 2012 they held the first meeting of Crosspoint Baptist Church in Iowa City, Iowa. Three months later the church was organized with 13 charter members and has never looked back. Growth has been slow but steady in this university town where the Gospel is little appreciated by large sectors of the community, but

Crosspoint Baptist Church

Celebrating 4th Anniversary to the glory of God

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diligent outreach efforts have yielded lasting results among people of diverse backgrounds and nationalities.

Celebration of the fourth anniver-sary earlier this year saw 51 people in attendance, and the day was marked by the stirring, opening prayer of a member who thanked God for establishing a church with a passion to reach lost souls, finishing with the heartfelt words: “Thank you, Lord, that I am one of those souls!”

Crosspoint now has 36 members and recently added its second deacon. Enthusiastic support for the unwav-ering Gospel focus was evident by strong participation in a mid-year Soul Winning Seminar tied to an “Operation Saturation” outreach. 22 members learned how to be more effective witnesses and then went out and reached 3,000 homes with the Gospel!

Pastor Mike Barr & family

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Everyone’s a Theologian

No matter where we go, no matter what we watch, read, or listen

to, we are being exposed to someone’s theology. If we fail to recognize this fact the constant drumbeat of con-trary opinions will wear us down and hobble the quality of our walk with God.

Growing up just outside of Dallas, TX, I have always been a Cowboys fan. That being said, even I had a problem with a certain outspoken wide receiver who would emphati-cally state on many occasions, “I love me some me!”

These outbursts usually occurred immediately after an impressive per-formance on the football field, and if nothing else, revealed the athlete’s deep, burning love for himself and his abilities. His words also demonstrated

an attitude founded in anti-biblical theology.

Throughout the Bible man is reminded of his weakness. David cried out to God for help in Psalm 6:2, “Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak,” and Paul decries his weakness in Romans 7:24, “O wretched man that I am!”

To say the least, these statements have a different tenor to “I love me some me.”

An unbiblical theology sees man as the pinnacle of the evolutionary ladder, and an elite athlete could easily see himself at the top of that pinnacle. The Bible warns against such pride-ful attitudes in well-known passages such as Proverbs 16:18, which states, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”

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We praise God for the new members He sends to us

each quarter and pray that they will quickly find a place to be able to serve God with

their spiritual gifts.

Pastor Todd & Rebecca AbbeyReagan, Carson

Curtis & Ami Billman

Isaiah, Noah

Alaina Bradford

Ella Tripp

Wallace & Jennifer Cannon

Mike & Debbie Davidson

James & Ann Marie Grazioplene

FBTMEMBERSNew

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A proper knowledge of who God is, or Theology Proper, produces a healthy perspective of God in relation to man. Theologist Henry Thiessen points out that even the “idea of God is infinitely greater than man himself.”

Any achievements man may attain are dwarfed by the works of God that make human achievement seem pointless. A proper view of man, or Anthropology, has the same effect, showing man as a fallen being in which

there is nothing that can give him merit in God’s sight.

Tanya Harris

Jason & Jodi Jefferis

Keithlee, Kinzee

Joel & Suzanne Jensen

Cecelia Walls

Daniel Burrell

Rudd Tucker

Min EumJihyun (Ji) Yeo

When man is aware of his fallen state, he is reminded that there is not much of “me” to love!

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by Gary Boyd, Youth Pastor Fairfax Baptist Temple

The Master’s Kids Choir dressed up as children from around the world and sang “One Step at a Time” and “Gospel Shoes” in our evening service. We were grateful to have five dif-

ferent missionary families with us on Sunday, Nov. 6.

Following the pattern set by the Word of God, we endeavor to partner with missionaries that will take the Gospel to the lost, see souls won to Christ, see converts baptized, and see more churches planted.

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Missions SundayTom & Tiffany DepewTom and Tiffany worked with a veteran missionary in Taiwan to become familiar with language and outreach challenges as they prepare to go to the Tianjin region in Northeast China. They will be taking a survey trip to China this spring, visiting several cities in order to narrow down exactly where God would lead them to begin their ministry.

Bill & Tammy BrouwerThe Brouwers have been missionaries for twenty years, beginning their ministry in Nakuru, Kenya, where they started a church which is now under the leadership of a national pastor. They also started a Bible Institute in order to train ministry leaders. After pastoring in the States for a short time, the Brouwers returned to East Africa, where they currently serve in Tanzania where they have started several churches.

Adam & Bethany Gibbs The Gibbs are currently on deputation. Pastor Gibbs has been an Assistant Pastor “down under” in South Australia for the past two years which allows them to begin the church planting phase of their ministry as soon as they return. They will return to the field in January and plan to start a new church in the Adelaide Region.

Rick & Cheri Moeller The Moellers have been missionaries for thirty-six years. They began their ministry in South Africa where they served until 2009 when God called them to Scotland. For the past five years they have been replanting a church in Grantown on Spey, Scotland. Rick is Chaplain of the Strathspey Thistle Football (Soccer) Club which affords a great ministry outreach.

Ken & Heather Wheelock The Wheelocks have been missionaries serving in Guayaquil, Ecuador for eleven years. They started the Faith Baptist Church, and in 2015, they started a Bible Institute to train nationals for the ministry. Ken was saved while stationed in Italy with the Navy through a church started by another FBT missionary. When he returned home, he joined FBT where he was called to the ministry and trained.

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Our recent convulsive political season highlighted a disagree-

ment (or ignorance) about America’s cultural identity. It is a potent issue fuelled in turn by the fundamental question: Who, ultimately, is in charge, God or Man?

This debate lies at the heart of many ailments weakening the social structure and political cohesion not only of America but of an entire Western civilization that once prided itself on being Christian. The elements of the debate are not complex and the answer is surprisingly easy to compre-hend for anyone coming to it with an open mind, but a major problem lies in the fact that significant numbers of people are invested in denying the obvious.

There are in essence only three pos-sible answers to the question of who is in charge. The first possibility is that the world happened by accident and we humans are merely little accidents within the larger accident. Though this view—in the guise of a theory posing as scientific fact—is the official,

state-approved and publicly-sponsored “religion” of the Western world, it does not pass the scrutiny of empirical evidence nor indeed of common sense. To believe it, one must accept that our earliest ancestor was not an ape or an amoeba but a rock. Life sprang from non-life! Still, if you want to elect man as god, it will have to do.

At this point—there is no god, but man; there is no good but what man says is good—Marxist thought comes into play for the ordering of society to bring about heaven on earth. That the West, including America, is well on the way to the realization of the Marxist dream is evident in the massive inroads forged by the dogmas of political correctness and multiculturalism, the assault on traditional family values and on the concept of the nation state. “Tolerance” is the new shibboleth. Today, Europe is a post-Christian socialist society, while cultural Marxism is so entrenched in the thinking of many Americans that they view with increasing suspicion and hostility those raised in the tradi-tions of God, family and patriotism.

Who’s In Charge?

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The second possibility is offered by religion—that view of the world that sees god or gods above or beyond the realm of man. Religion comes in many guises but all religions fall into two main camps: those that are aggressively engaged with the world, triumphalist and expansive, and those that are disengaged and aesthetic. Despite their apparent differences, all religions share a view that the way to “god” requires some effort, following some rules, joining some church or mosque or temple, adopting some disciplines or participating in some ceremonies that will take the seeker at least part of the way, or most of the way, or almost all of the way, to “god.” The focus is on self-effort. One can never be sure until death that enough has been done to qualify for complete acceptance by god, but since most people view them-selves as “good” and refuse to think too deeply about what “good” means, this uncertainty does not seem to present much of a problem until death nears and they are confronted by the awful uncertainty of the void.

The third possibility is found exclusively in the Christian Scriptures. Christian denominations derive their identities principally from how much they take from or add to the Bible (usually the latter). Very few (chiefly Baptists, and to add to the confusion, not all who call themselves Baptists) accept the Bible without embellish-ment, subtraction or addition, as their exclusive and final authority—the so-called “Baptist distinctive.”

The most distinctive thing about this “distinctive” is that it rejects religion (and all the outward forms that all religions employ) as a way to God and instead embraces the imperative of reconciliation and enter-ing into a relationship with God (on God’s terms), as a very first step.

In short, religion is what man says about God: Scripture reveals what God says about man and uniquely reveals what God has done to reconcile man to Himself through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, making it plain that man is incapable of reconcil-ing himself to God.

This incarnation of God in Christ is an inexcusably radical concept for self-centered humanists They may condescend with an impatient shrug to the superstitions of the masses in their stumbling search for and appeasement of non-existent gods but they fiercely reject the notion of a supreme and tran-scendent God crashing from eternity into time, searching for man.

Religionists, on the other hand, simply can’t accept that no good thing dwells in them.

Both humanists and religionists have thus made the fateful choice to coronate themselves in God’s stead and the world will continue to reap the whirlwind of their folly until Jesus returns to settle all argument.

by Edward Thal Church Administrator

Bluegrass Baptist Church

Bluegrass Baptist Church is a daughter church of FBT

Academy EventsOur academy is growing every year with

events like Grandparents’ Day, pump-kin patch field trips, new elementary science classes, music classes, and an all-school Patriot Pace Walk-a-thon to raise funds for the academy’s technology department.

If you want to keep up with the latest news, please check out our online newspa-pers at fbtministries.org/newspaper.

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Merry Christmas from all of us at Fairfax Baptist TempleWe invite you to join us for our Christmas service Sunday, December 25, at 10:00 a.m.

Temple Trumpet StaffTodd L. Abbey, PublisherDeanna Dyck, Editor/DesignerEdward Thal, Copy EditorRebecca Abbey, Proofreader

December2-4 - Iron Man Conference

7 - Missionaries Chris and Erika Cicler, Uruquay

8 - FBTA Christmas Concert

9 - Foundations Class Fellowship

10 - Gospel Blitz

11 - Master’s Kids Choir Christmas Program

13 - Men’s Shooting Activity

14 - Teen Caroling

17 - Men’s Prayer Breakfast

18 - Christmas Musical

21 - Christmas Candlelight Service

25 - Christmas Service

27 - Preacher Boys’ Forum

Calendar Events 2 0 1 7

Jan

Know your sins are forgiven and you’re going to Heaven

Realize God loves you “... God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son ....” John 3:16

Everyone is a sinner “All have sinned ....” Rom. 3:23

Sin must be paid for “For the wages of sin is death ...” Rom 6:23

Christ paid for your sin “... while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Rom. 5:8

Repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ “... none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6

Pray and receive Christ by faith “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Rom. 10:13

A T F A I R F A X B A P T I S T T E M P L E

January3 - Nursing Home Service

7 - Missionaries Bradley and Ashley Kubik, Mongolia

10 - Men’s Shooting Activity

12 - Church-Wide Visitation

14 - Gospel Blitz

21 - Men’s Prayer Breakfast

24 - FBTA Open House/Pre-registration

25 - Teen Visitation

26 - Women for Christ Fellowship

28 - Teen Activity

29-31 - Winter Revival with Evangelist Dave Young

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If you are ever in the Washington, D.C., area, please stop by for one of our services or events. We would love the opportunity to meet you and encourage you in the Lord! If you do not yet have the assurance of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we would be happy to show you how you can be saved and find new life in Christ.

Pastor & Rebecca Abbey

Watch live services each week at FBTministries.org

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SundaysBible Study Fellowship ............. 9:00 a.m.Morning Service ........................ 10:00 a.m.Evening Service ............................ 5:00 p.m.

Wednesdaysawana (Sept – May) ..................... 6:45 p.m.Prayer Meeting ............................. 7:00 p.m.

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