Friday, March 30, 2012

Sermons online

Here are some links to all where all the sermons are stored for Harvest Community Church.

Harvest Sermons

Sermons 2013

Sermons 2014

My will be there, which are the majority, but guest speakers will be there as well.

In Christ,

Mike

Thursday, March 15, 2012

New video on Morality

I have just made a new video on morality. I listen to this clip from Greg Koukl this morning on morality and decided to make a little post about it.

Koukl on Morality

If you have ever been questioned by an atheist about how good God could allow evil, you might respond with the question, "What is good?" Now this does not necessarily get a Christian out of answering the dilemma, but it does point out that everyone has to answer the question as well.

I hope you enjoy.

Pastor Mike

Saturday, March 3, 2012

How to identify bad teaching / teachers?

Here are a couple of articles recommended by John Piper that deal with a couple of well known pastors who both frequently come under attack (especially on the internet) for their teachings. How can we determine whether a teacher is godly and trustworthy or not?

In these 2 cases of Rick Warren and T.D. Jakes, we can see an interesting case study. For me the critical elements are whether or not the person affirms plain biblical and essential Christian doctrine. If so and if their ministry shows fruit, I count them as a brother or sister in the Lord, and hope that their ministries are blessed because I assume God is using them to further his Kingdom. If they do not affirm solid biblical doctrine then I do no recommend using their material and I am unsure of them. Sometimes people proclaim outright false and dangerous doctrine, and those teachers I warn against.

Here is a link to a Rick Warren interview about a recent controversy brought about by an article in a local LA paper.

Warren interview by Ed Stetzer


Here you can see that Warren strongly affirms the historical doctrines of the Trinity and that Christ is the only way. Having personal met Warren, and heard him speak, I can strongly commend him to you. Also, other strong Bible teachers (like John Piper) have good fellowship with Warren.

On the other hand, I have also been following the controversy surrounding T.D. Jakes who recently appeared at "The Elephant Room," which is a roundtable discussion put on by James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll. Having read what he said in the discussion, and then having read this post by 2 scholars that I really trust, I have some questions. He is not clear about what he believes. Is he preaching the same gospel? Does he believe in the same God? Maybe, but maybe not. While I cannot completely condemn him, I would certainly recommend being careful, and not taking Jakes as a primary trusted source of teaching.

DA Carson and Tim Keller comment on TD Jakes at the Elephant Room

Any thoughts on these matters?