Equipping the Saints

594 Pages·2006·3.11 MB·English

The Old Gray Dog Ponders . . .
(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)

(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)
Equipping the Saints

Daily Devotions Designed
To provoke Spiritual thinking
(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)
(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)(cid:1)

James E. Tuckett

1
This book is dedicated to the memory of
my dear friend and mentor,
The Rev. Charles D’Arcy:
The man who introduced me
to the sound doctrines of
TULIP.

2
Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in
Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and
prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself;
that where I am, there you may be also.
John 14: 1-3

Every Christian deserves to know that this promise is for him. The
doctrines of TULIP are the only logical, Biblical explanation of how lost
sinners become eternally secure saints.

These devotions are not meant to be read at one sitting, which will
explain the many redundancies you will find.

Hopefully, these devotions will provoke your thinking about what it is
you believe. But more importantly, they will equip you with the Good News
that Jesus' promise is for everyone who believes that He is the Christ, the
Son of the Living God..

Calvinists won't be the only ones in Heaven . . . just the only ones who
understand why we are there!

The Old Gray Dog

James E. Tuckett, Ph.D.

(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
(cid:1)
3
(cid:2)(cid:3)(cid:4)(cid:5)(cid:6)(cid:6)(cid:5)(cid:7)(cid:8)(cid:1)(cid:9)(cid:10)(cid:11)(cid:1)(cid:12)(cid:13)(cid:5)(cid:7)(cid:9)(cid:14)

Contents

The Church Confronts the World

A Heroic Example, 8
The Basics, 13
THE NEED OF DECISION FOR THE TRUTH. By Charles H. Spurgeon, 19
Kissing Frogs, 22
The Church As It Might Have Become (or is?), 24
A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith, By B.B.
Warfield, 31
The Purpose of the Church is to Equip Saints, 37
The Church as Jesus Meant it to be, 40
The Poor in Spirit, 45
How Hungry Are You?, 52
The Merciful, 55
The Pure Heart, 58
The Peace Makers, 64
Persecuted for Christ’s Sake, 68
The Church As It Quickly Became and Still Is, 75
Ephesus, 76
Smyrna, 84
Pergamum, 90
Thyatira, 96
Sardis, 106
Christ’s Imperatives, 113
Philadelphia, 118
Laodicea, 127
The Word of God, 137
The Bible, 141
The Church’s Work, Pt 1, 152
The Church’s Work, Pt 11, 157
Worship, 163
Prayer, 179
Leadership, 183

4
Christ’s Church in America

John Calvin's America, 187
The Lesson of Two Schisms, 190
The Loose-leaf Bible, 197
The Living Word, 202
It’s About HOPE, 208
The Theology of Accommodation, 219
More About the Theology of Accommodation, 224
The Reason for the Rule Is . . . ?, 231
Apostasy Among the Evangelicals, 235

TULIP

Jesus Teaches TULIP, 254
Paul Teaches TULIP, 259
Total Depravity, 271
Equipping the Saints with Confidence for the Judgment Day, 279
Unconditional Election, 285
Limited Atonement, 296
Atonement, 302
“Limited Atonement,” A sermon by Charles Spurgeon, 309
Irresistible Grace, 311
The Untrustworthiness of Human Will, 316
Perseverance of the Saints, a sermon by Dan Reuter, 321
Eternal Security, 325

The Road to Restoration

Hands, 328
Why "Renewal" Has Been Ineffective, 338
A Modern Prophet, 342
The Salt of the Earth, 347
Trust me! This time it will work, 357
God’s Priorities, 360
The People Have Lost Their Sense of Call, 368
A Leadership Crisis, 370
Sterile Leaders, 382
The Kind of Leaders Christ’s Church Needs, 397
Models for Ministry, 406
A Remarkable Insight, by Nathan Leaman, 410
Theology for Dummies, 416
5
The Price of Leadership, 422
The Wrong Answer, 425
Playing, Pandering or Serving?, 430
The Message We Are Giving Our Children, 435
Four Roads to Sanctification, 444
Apostasy from What?, 456

Becoming An Effective Church

Caring Enough to Separate, 462
The Doctrine of Separation, 466
Part II, 472
Part II, 477
Receive The Gift of Salvation, 484
Repentance, 488
What Game is Your Church Playing?, 494
Redemption and/or Unity, 500
Christian Financial Stewardship, 508
Excommunication, 512
Injelititis: How apostasy takes root in a church, 518
Recruiting Members or Making Disciples?, 532
Bible Teachers or Gospel Preachers?, 537
The Church: Hospice Care or Equipping Station?, 554

Appendix:
TULIP in the Bible, 562
An Exchange on The Importance of TULIP, 592

6
I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as
preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what
nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it
Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else. I do
not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach
justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach
the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor
unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal,
immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we
can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special
and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people
which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I
comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they
are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in
the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus.
Such a gospel I abhor.
"If ever it should come to pass,
That sheep of Christ might fall away,
My fickle, feeble soul, alas!
Would fall a thousand times a day."
Charles H. Spurgeon

7
The Church Confronts the World

A Heroic Example

"But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on
coming to Antioch spoke to the Greeks also, preaching the Lord
Jesus."
Acts 11:20

God uses ordinary people who are obedient to Him to do extraordinary
things.
John Maxwell

The Gospel was preached and the culture was changed.

This passage tells of one of the greatest events in history. For the first
time the Gospel was deliberately preached to the Gentiles. Reaching this
point had come in three steps:

1. Philip preached to Samaritans. But they were half Jewish.
2. Peter preached to Cornelius and his family. But Cornelius
took the initiative.
3. Now, in Antioch, the Gospel was deliberately preached to
Gentiles.

With this outreach, Antioch took center stage in the life of the Church.
At this time, Antioch was the third greatest city in the Western world, after
Rome and Alexandria. It was a beautiful and cosmopolitan city. But it was
a city whose name had become synonymous with decadent immorality.
Antioch was known for the worship of Daphne. The legend was that
Daphne was a mortal maid with whom Apollo fell in love. He pursued her
and for her safety Daphne was changed into a laurel bush. The
priestesses of the Temple of Daphne were sacred prostitutes, and nightly
in the laurel groves outside Antioch, the romance of Daphne and Apollo
was reenacted by the worshippers and the priestesses. "The morals of
Daphne" was a phrase the entire world knew for loose living.
In Antioch, believers were first called Christians.
"News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they
sent Barnabas to Antioch."
Acts 11:22
8
It would take very special leadership to equip new believers for the work
of ministry in a place like Antioch. For the saints in Jerusalem the choice of
whom to send was not a difficult one: Barnabas. He had a compassionate
and generous heart; to help the needy, he sold a field and gave the
proceeds to the Church (Acts 4:36). He had a wise and discerning mind;
Barnabas was the first to believe in Saul's conversion and sponsor him
when others were suspicious of his motives (Acts 9:27). Truly, he was well
named Barnabas, which means "son of encouragement."
Barnabas knew he would need a helper in Antioch.
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many
witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach
others.
II Tim. 2: 2
He must be solidly rooted in his faith in Jesus Christ, or else he would
not be able to meet the challenges from both Jews and Gentiles. He would
have to be qualified to teach others.
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman
who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the
word of truth.
II Tim. 2: 15
This person would have to understand Jewish tradition and be
comfortable with Gentiles.

Barnabas knew just the person he needed. For over nine years no
one had heard anything about Saul, who now called himself, Paul. Now
the task for which Paul had been destined was ready for him. Paul
would be the Apostle to the Gentiles.

This story of courageous men of faith boldly reaching out to
decadent, immoral Gentiles with the Gospel of Jesus Christ paints a
stark contrast to today's mainline denominations.
*In the first century, the Church preached the Gospel to pagan
cultures, and the cultures were transformed.
*Today our culture preaches "political correctness" to the Church,
and the Church changes to accommodate it.

9
The Reformed faith, Calvinism exemplified by the doctrines of Total
depravity (Original Sin), Unconditional election (God's Election), Limited
atonement (Particular Redemption), Irresistible grace (Effectual
Calling), Perseverance of the Saints (TULIP), systematized Protestant
theology, tamed Europe, reformed England, established the principles
upon which America was founded, and has given spiritual confidence to
millions of Christians. . . What happened to it; and how did our
denominations get so far off course?

Two reasons:
1. The mainline denominations do not have reliable men who will also
be qualified to teach others.
Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince,
rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will
come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to
their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up
for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the
truth, and be turned aside to fables.
II Tim. 4: 2-4
2. Members today have turned aside to fables. They have itching
ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers who preach pop
psychology, provide day-care, offer social services, but avoid the sound
doctrines of Scripture.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor
and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD
your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your
daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your
cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the
LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in
them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed it.
Ex. 20: 8-11

10