Who Decides?
Thursday, July 10th, 2008 : By Eric Farr
This week’s GraceTalk featured the following question…
Why are matters such as leasing\buying a building put to vote by the whole church? Specifically what issues are to be decided by the church members? Why is it biblical?
All of these questions fall under the broad topic of Church Government (or, if you like the technical terms ecclesiastical polity). This is a tough topic because the Bible gives virtually no direct instructions for how local churches should organize themselves. So, we have to look at examples and apply wisdom in how we think we can most faithfully represent what Christ had in in mind for His church. Because of this, we need to recognize
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If God told you to…
Monday, July 7th, 2008 : By Eric Farr
This week’s graceTALK featured the following question…
Here is one I hear all the time…”If God told you to sacrifice your son, would you?”
How would you respond?
I am going to assume that the question here is in reference to Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22 where Abraham is called by God to sacrifice his son.
In order to put Genesis 22 into proper perspective, we need to look at Abraham’s complete relationship with God leading up to that incident.
Genesis 12, God tells Abram to move and promises offspring and land.
Genesis 13, God repeats the promise.
Genesis 15, Abram is told to gather and split animals, which he does. He then sees a vision of fire going between …
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graceTALK, July 2008
Monday, July 7th, 2008 : By Leadership Team
The Leadership Team answers your questions.
Q1 (1:50): Why are matters such as leasing\buying a building put to vote by the whole church? Specifically, what issues are to be decided by the church members? Why is it biblical?
Q2 (13:30): Hi and thank you for reading this: I recently heard Andy Stanley tell a story about how they had lost one of their pastoral staff to cancer. It was a terribly sad story. The man who lost the fight to cancer was a man of God in his early 30’s and was a father of two. Mr. Stanley said, shortly before he passed away, that the church elders gathered and anointed him with oil and prayed over him. Obviously the …
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How did two people fill the Earth?
Saturday, June 7th, 2008 : By Eric Farr
A recent GraceTalk question reads…
How did people populate with the children of Adam and Eve? Did they marry brother/sister? If so, how is it explained that God would never tolerate inter-family relationships? Also, If God knows everything before it happens, did He not know Adam and Eve were going to sin?
We have two different questions here; so, I will tackle the first one here and the second one in a follow-up post within the next week or two. I apologize in advance for the length of this post, but this question defies a quick, simple answer.
The question starts with a premise that God would never tolerate inter-family relationships [I'll assume that the questioner means "intra-family"]. As we
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graceTALK: How Will “The End” Happen?
Friday, May 16th, 2008 : By Dan Miller
Please know I really dislike long blog posts. However, the nature of the question demands a long reply. If you have complaints please post those to Hugh’s blog on this same site since he would have something pithy to say in reply. 
In our May GraceTalk session the following question was submitted:
Question
“Do you teach a pre-tribulation rapture view? Allot of the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine confuses me, because it doesn’t Jesus teach the disciples in Matthew 24 to be not deceived and lets us know of the events leading up to his second coming. Also, Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 2:3 that that day (second coming) wouldn’t come until a falling away happened first and the son of perdition be
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graceTALK, May 2008
Sunday, May 4th, 2008 : By Leadership Team
The Leadership Team answers your questions.
Q1 (2:29): Several years ago, I had an argument with my sister-in-law in which she accused me and my husband of all sorts of transgressions against members of the family. The big problem was that not a single one of those offenses was against her. After the argument, we received calls from the remaining siblings who were present at my toungue lashing telling me that they held nothing against my husband and me and didn’t even know what offenses the sister-in-law was talking about. I wrote an open letter of apology to our family members and asked them to come to us in the future if they held something against us. …
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graceTALK, February 2008
Sunday, February 17th, 2008 : By Leadership Team
The Leadership Team answers your questions.
Q1 (1:31): I struggle to share my faith. I know I should and really do want to, but what are some first steps in making this hope a reality? Also, if a person never shares their faith, how would you get them to share their faith?
Q2 (10:57): Scripture teaches of the Trinity that God is three persons. It also says God is one essence. Further, Scripture teaches that God is unchanging. Finally, Christ took upon himself all our sin becoming sin for us and dying. What then happened to the unchanging Trinity of the cross? Was there a separation of the Son from the Father and the Spirit? Or was his separation on the …
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graceTALK, December 2007
Sunday, December 30th, 2007 : By Leadership Team
The Leadership Team answers your questions.
Q1 (1:43): Why did Jesus tell Mary not to touch him because “I have not yet returned to my Father”? Does that mean he had not been in heaven? Why was it so important that Mary not touch him, but then he told the disciples later to place his hands on his wounds?
Q2 (6:05): In discussing the fact that we are all sinners and need to repent I run into the following argument that I get stumped trying to answer. In John 8:1-11, Jesus is confronted with a clear situation of sin in relation to a woman caught in adultery. Yet, Christ refused to condemn her actions as wrong. Jesus …
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graceTALK, October 2007
Sunday, October 21st, 2007 : By Leadership Team
The Leadership Team answers your questions.
Question 1 (0:00): How does the Leadership Team deal with political issues? I mean do you intend to hand out voter cards or information showing the candidates and the issues they support?
Question 2 (5:31): I have a hard time realizing that God does love me and forgive me for all of my sins. I almost feel like I am cheapening God’s grace when I quickly realize my sin and move on to the rest of my day. Am I wrong for not suffering more for my sin? How much personal grief should I have if I am serious about sin?
Question 3 (14:08): I have friends who say that feeling like you have …
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graceTALK, August 2007
Sunday, September 2nd, 2007 : By Leadership Team
