Theology Thursday

Word of the day:
Propitiation in its barest sense means appeasement. For the Christian however, it goes beyond that. Christ is the propitiation for our sins. Christ as our Mediator endures the just wrath of God in our stead. God's justice is vindicated and our guilt is atoned for.

One of the attributes of God that I appreciate today is His immutability (unchangeable). He is perfectly holy and just. He doesn't compromise that in his dealings with us. Our sin must be punished or He would fail to be just. Thanks be to God we have Christ to bear our guilty shame and our sentence of death. The Mediator dies in place of His people satisfying God's holy demand for justice and in so doing procures our salvation.

Praise His Holy Name!

Teaching schedule/texts now through Sunday

Lord willing, this evening we will be having our prayer meeting and I will be discussing Psalm 94. Tomorrow morning, I will be teaching Exodus 24 to the "Senior" Bible Study. Thursday evening, I will be teaching Ephesians 4 at the ABIDE (students of Reformation Bible College) Bible study in Sanford. Saturday morning, I will not be leading but participating in the men's Bible study on Philippians 1. On the Lord's Day I will continue the series in Romans 1 in the a.m. service and teach Matthew 6 on Sunday night. For family devotions we will be in Mark 5. Please pray that I will be faithful to preach Christ through the texts and that the saints will be edified and mobilized for ministry service.

True greatness is revealed by offering Christ worship and obedience in the power of the Holy Spirit.

An Idea For A Regular Feature

How about a theological word of the day? This could be helpful in your theological reading.

Today the word is:
ecclesial (pronounced ekk-leez-ial)
It means of or pertaining to the church, or its organization, the institution of, teaching or doctrine of the Church.
This word is increasingly being used in place of "ecclesiastical" in theological writings. The root word is from the Koine (biblical) Greek word transliterated "ekklesia"(which means assembly/church). This is often pronounced ekk-la-see-a which is fine. But if you want to say it more accurately, say ekk-lay-see-a. Pronunciation is of little importance so don't become an elocution Pharisee.

I am taking requests for article and content ideas. Please send your requeststo:
reformedbaptistpastor@yahoo.com

I will blog

I have been a bad blogger. I don't have much to say but I am going to try again to do it 5-6 times a week.

I will be writing short articles on biblical/theological subjects. Please put me on probation for a couple of weeks. If I pass the test, please invite others.

Christopher Brenyo, V.D.M.

Who are your Jews and Gentiles?

A Godly Legacy

My mother and I have a renewed interest in our family tree. This was again sparked by my visit to our family cemetery in western PA last summer. The critical piece for me was my spiritual heritage. As a pastor who wants to see generational faithfulness I hoped that my family line would reflect a legacy of faithfulness. I was blown away by two of my forefathers, Rev. Moses and Elijah Embree. I just learned that Elijah wrote and published the first anti-slavery periodical dedicated to the abolition of the practice (entitled the Manumission Intelligencer "Emancipator") on American soil in the 1700's while living in East Tennessee. The exciting part was this was done before it was popular to be against slavery. They were bold and courageous for Christ. This wasn't so much a political ideology, it was a theological one. They believed man-stealing and trading were violations of God's Law. These Calvinists had a legacy of defending the Truth of Scripture. I am proud of them and hope some of that spirit lives within me. One of the funny revelations was they left the PA/OH frontier because of the ongoing problem with the Abenaki Indians.

This week I am studying the last chapter of Acts and Galatians 5 for Sunday night. As our Acts study comes to a close I am beginning to think I will miss my constant companion for these last 2 years. I am entertaining the idea of preaching through Romans next after a short series elsewhere. It took 2 years for John, 2 yrs. for Hebrews and 2 yrs. for Acts. Romans will be longer...

My devotional reading is again in the minor prophets. I am certain the Church has under-appreciated these inspired books. If you haven't read your Bible today, turn off your computer and don't come back to it until you have...

Monthly post (haha)

I am continuing to study the minor prophets. I also picked up my new book, Christ Of The Prophets by OP Robertson today. This is the follow up to Christ Of The Covenants. Tracing the redemptive story line is extremely rewarding.

Mark S. and I enjoyed lunch with 3 national pastor's discussing what God is doing in China. It was remarkable to consider God's global redemption in Christ. The nations believe!

The church is about to enter a transformative period. I expect we will see many conversions and disciple-making opportunities as the Lord expands our reach. We must pray that He will use us for His Glory and namesake.

Radicalize your devotion to Christ. Leave nothing in reserve. We have only one life to give in service to Him.