Multiply

Join us Friday, November 9th at 7 pm at Rockport Baptist Church for The Multiply Event

Two Great Responses to the "Statement"

I have really wanted to respond to the so-called "Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist View of Salvation" that was issued recently (and which ought to be called, "A Statement of the Neo-Traditionalist Arminian View of Salvation"), but frankly I have not had the stomach or the time to do so.   Fortunately, several faithful brothers have done what I could not do.  Let me commend to you the following.


First, a dear brother named Scott Weldon has issues this excellent response, which he calls 

My Two Cents re: "A Statement of Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God's Plan of Salvation".  I highly recommend it.

Second, Brother Tom Ascol is doing an excellent point by point analysis.   It also is highly recommended and you can find it at the Founder's Blog here. 

My many thanks, brothers, for taking the time to declare truth.

Ephesians: A Celebration of Salvation

I have, for years, had a desire to lead our church through a study of the Book of Ephesians.  With that study finally beginning this Sunday, I've written the following as a sort of "introduction" for our congregation.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

 To the saints who are at Ephesus and who are faithful in Christ Jesus: 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Ephesians 1:1-2 

With these words we begin what I believe will be an exciting and faith-building journey through this book of Ephesians.  It’s been called many things.  William Barclay called it “the queen of the epistles”  Another man likened it to “the Grand Canyon of Scripture”.  It’s “pure music!” says another.

But what is it about this letter that has drawn such high praise?  For surely “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” as 2 Tim 3:16 declares.  So it can’t be that this book is ”more God’s word” than some other portion of Scripture.   Yet it is here that we have, distilled into it’s purest essence, the very heart of the Gospel itself.  So let me give you three things that have been noticed about this book of Ephesians before we begin our study

(1) Someone has noted that Ephesians is intercession!  

More than any other book in the New Testament, it has the feel and quality of an extended
prayer.  As you read it, it takes hold of you and lifts you up into the very presence of God Himself in the “heavenly places” (1:3)

(2) Ephesians is exaltation

There’s a celebration going on here! This is not just some dry tome giving us our doctrine as it instructs us about the grace of God.  This is a riotous explosion of grace that brings great joy in Christ!

(3) Ephesians is evangelism

Here, in the clearest possible terms we will see again and again the great lengths and heights to which God has gone to rescue us from our sin and to bring us home safely in Christ.

That’s why I’m calling this study,   A Celebration of Salvation!  Here is something that is meant to make you rejoice as you see just how extravagant the grace of God is, that has been poured out for us sinners in Christ Jesus!!

May God give us eyes to see!  
Pastor S. Scott Lee

Camp Meeting Messages

What a great time God gave us at this year's Grace Camp Meeting! Here is a link to all the messages from this three day conference at Rockport Baptist Church.

Rockport Systematic Theology Class Downloads

Why Study Theology? Bottom line: Because God is worthy to be known. Indeed, Jesus said that this, in and of itself, is what eternal life is really all about -- "that they may know You, the One True God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). And so that is our goal at Rockport Baptist Church: to know God as fully as possible (as we make Him known to the world).

And when we say "to know God, we don't just mean to know him in a merely intellectual way. As Puritan Pastor William Ames once put it, "Theology is the doctrine or teaching of living unto God." That is what we want: real knowledge of God that is more than just knowing about God. It is knowing God as a Person who is real and who has revealed Himself clearly in the Scriptures (and most fully in His Son) so that we may delight "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" as the old catechism says.

That is our aim. And so we are meeting each week at Rockport to study God's wonderful revelation of Himself! We are using Dr. Wayne Grudem's excellent book, "Systematic Theology" as one of our guides. But of course, the Scriptures are our main and surest guide of all!

These studies are available for download here -- both the mp3 audio files as well as the Powerpoint slides that I use each week.

Our hope is that these may be a help to other travelers who desire to know God even more.

To the Praise of the Glory of His grace.

S. Scott Lee

The 180 Challenge

If you have not done so yet, please take time the watch this video.

Grace Camp Meeting!

Looking forward to our Grace Camp Meeting this year at Rockport Baptist Church.

Frank Jenner - George Street Evangelist

After I posted the story below, my fellow elder Bob Schembre sent me a link to this video which gives even more details about this amazing story.

The Little White-Haired Man on George Street -- An encouragement to persevere in planting good Gospel Seed

This true story has been told many times by my seminary professor Dr. Roy Fish who knew some of the persons involved. It has always been a great encouragement to me to be faithful sowing Gospel seed, knowing that it is God who can and will ultimately bring fruit.

There was a Baptist preacher in England named Francis Dickson. He had a man in his church named Peter. Now they don't have church staff in English Baptist Churches, but Peter was the closest thing Francis had. One Sunday they asked Peter to give his testimony in church.Peter stood to share and said,

"Folks, let me tell you how I was saved. I was stationed with the Royal Navy in Sydney Australia." And he said, "I was walking down George Street in Sydney one day when out of nowhere came a little white-haired man. He stopped me on the street and said, 'Excuse me sir, but I want to ask you a question. I hope you won't be offended, but tell me, sir, if you were to die today, where would you be in eternity? The Bible says it will be either heaven or hell. Think about it wouldn't you sir? That's all, God bless you. Tudelu.' And he was gone." Peter said, "Those words cut like an arrow shot out of heaven to my heart. I was deeply disturbed. But I didn't know what to do. For six months I was under conviction. Finally we sailed back to England. I had one Christian friend. I sought him out, and he helped me to Christ."

They had what we would call a revival meeting in that church where Francis Dickson was pastor.And part of the revival team was a young man whose name was Noel. They asked Noel to share his testimony.

He said, "Folks, I'd like to tell you how I was saved. I lived for a while in the beautiful Australian city of Sydney. I was walking one day down George Street and out of nowhere came a little white-haired man who stopped me on the street and said, 'Excuse me sir, I want to ask you a question. I hope you won't be offended, but tell me, sir, if you were to die today, where would you be in eternity? The Bible says it will be either heaven or hell. Think about it wouldn't you sir? That's all, God bless you. Tudelu.' And he was gone. I knew enough gospel to get saved. So I went to the house where I was living and that afternoon I got down on my knees and trusted Jesus as my Savior.

When that service was over, Peter went up to Noel and said, "Noel, you've got my testimony. It happened to me just like that. The little old man on George Street." And the pastor overheard them.

Francis Dickson was preaching not too long afterwards in the city of Adelaide, Australia, some 500 to 1000 miles from Sydney, way down in the southern part of the country. And he felt impressed to tell the story about the two men in his church and the little man on George Street.When he started telling the story, a man toward the back of the church stood up and started waving his hand like this. Now we don't do that in Baptist churches, and so Dickson tried to ignore him. But he kept waving until he got his attention.

Dickson asked him, "Hey mister, you want to say something?" "Yes I do! I want to tell you how I got saved. You see, I was walking down George Street in Sydney, Australia. And out of nowhere came this little white-haired man..." And the story was the same!

When Francis Dickson got to Perth, Australia, the largest city on the western coast, he knew he had a story. So he told the story there in Perth. When the service was over, a Baptist deacon came up to him and said, "Sir, I'm another. I was walking down George Street in Sydney, when out of nowhere came this little white-haired man..." That's how I became a Christian.

When Francis Dickson got back to his church in England, he knew he had a story. He told his own congregation. When the service was over, a young woman came up to him and said, "Sir, I'm another. I was walking down George Street in Sydney, when out of nowhere came this little white-haired man..." That's what led me to Jesus

Francis Dickson preached at Keswick, England in the north part of the British Isles. He told this same story. Afterwards an aged man came up to him. "Sir, I'm another. I was walking down George Street in Sydney when out of nowhere came a little white-haired man." That got me started to Christ.

Francis Dickson preached all over the world. He told this story to a group of missionaries in India on one occasion. They said, "Would you talk to us about personal evangelism." After he told this story, a woman missionary came up to him and said, "Sir, I'm another. I was walking down George Street in Sydney, Australia..., It happened to me like that.

He told that story on the island of Jamaica, and an eighth person came up to him and said, "Sir, I'm another. That little white-haired man on George Street helped me to Christ."

A godly layman named Gene War in Oklahoma City is a friend of Dr. Fish. He was telling this story to a gathering of chaplains at Fort Benning, Ga. And as he told the story one of them raised his hand. "Mr. War, you're not gonna believe this. But let me tell you how I became a Christian. I was walking down George Street in Sydney, Australia when out of nowhere..."

Well, Francis Dickson made sure that Sydney was on his itinerary the next time he was in Australia. He wanted to meet this little old man. He got there, but didn't really know what to do.So he called a Christian friend of his and said,

"You'll probably think I'm crazy, but have you ever heard about a little old man who stands out on George Street and asks people when they die, if they know where their going to spend eternity?"

"Sure," he said, "That's Mr. Jenner!"

"Mr. Jenner? Do you know him?"

"All of us know him. He doesn't get out very much any more. He's a bit infirm, doesn'tsee very well. He's getting on in years."

"Do you know where he lives?"

"I can take you right to his house."

They went to his house. Knocked on the door. A frail little old man welcomed them in. And after introductions were made, Francis Dickson, that pastor from Great Britain, told that little old man about all those people who'd come to Christ through his winsome word of warning and witness. And that dear little old man broke down and copiously wept. He said,

"I've shared with literally thousands of people on George Street in Sydney, and this is the first time in my life that I've ever heard of any who came to Christ through my testimony!"

So, faithful friends, be faithful in sowing. You never know what God may do with the smallest seed planted and watered with tears. He is faithful.

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