Follow-Up Friday

As described by pastor Mike Plewniak himself, last night’s message was a “sobering subject.”  He began by commenting on society’s stigma against “offending” people.  He related his point to an incident where a school banned the book “The Friendly Dolphin” because it was intolerant of kids who did not live by the sea.  He then went on to ask the pertinent question, “Is there a dividing line that says some go to hell, and others to heaven?”

To answer this question, Mike dove into the gospel of Matthew quoting:

“The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

- Matthew 13:41-42

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

- Matthew 25:46

Earlier in the service VFC showed an interview video that revolved around many questions about hell.   Some said it didn’t exist, others that it was made up much like the boogey man to scare people, and even others admitted it was a real place, just not as bad as the Bible depicts.  Mike explained Jesus’ view on hell as being a real place set aside for those who rebelled against God. Read the rest of this entry »

Pastor Mike Plewniak continued VFC’s “Questioning God” series Thursday night with a sermon on the source of suffering and evil.  

Before his message, Mike played a video of interviews from UT students talking about why they believe suffering and evil exist.  The problem with these views, he said, was that they never took sin into account.

“You have experienced something from the fall,” Mike said.  ”The whole assumption is that suffering is unjust.”

Mike addressed two main issues that people have with God: the notion that suffering is something bad and that bad things happen to good people.  

First, the pastor reminded the audience that there is no such thing as a good person, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23)”.  If any suffering or grief should come to anyone, it is not unjust because many times of suffering are results of the fall of man.

“Where did evil come into this creation?” Mike asked. “You don’t have to go far to know that.  As soon as sin enters into the world, suffering follows.” Read the rest of this entry »

Mike Plewniak gave an crucial message on Thursday, and it challenged the core of our culture’s belief in the relativism of truth. Mike opened up with a simple question: “Is there only one way to God?”

In a culture that preaches tolerance and relativism, many people say that it doesn’t matter what you believe just as long as you are sincere in what you personally believe.  There are people that will say that not every way is equally true.  But is this the message of Christianity, and what about the other prominent religions?

Mike gave a short overview of three religions: Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.
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Last night began with a video clip of multiple students’ responses to the question “is the Bible true?” Some called the Bible a reference, a book of fables with moral lessons. Some said the Bible was “old and outdated,” that it had undergone too many translations. Some viewed the Bible as no truer than any other ancient piece of literature.

Mike began his message by communicating the fact that, amazingly, many people would say they believe there is a God. But the question is, do these people know who God is? God speaks and makes Himself known (Rom 1:20), and through creation He has made His “divine nature” clear to all who have eyes to see. And in His Word, He reveals His character, His person, His love, His grace, His wrath, His justice, His mercy, and His holiness. The interesting thing about many people saying they believe there is a God, is that if you believe in God, you have to ask yourself “what is He like?” And the answer to that question is the essence of the treasure that is Scripture. Read the rest of this entry »

Ah, yes. The age old question, “Does God exist?” It would seem that everybody blossoms into an adept theologian upon hearing these words. Yet, no matter what answer man conjures up to battle the impending truth that is behind this statement, if it’s the right to rule his own life that he is fighting for, then he has already lost the war. How is this? There are a few truths that have been manifested to all. Simply stated, man’s existence, as well as the entirety of creation, testifies to a higher being that has created. Additionally, as created beings, we experience intense longings and deep desires that are unquenchable by anything on earth. Finally, whether we admit in light of the evidence that there is a God or foolishly continue to suppress His existence, one thing is for certain– He has ultimately laid claim to our lives. Proverbs 16:4 states “The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” Therefore, while man may believe he rules his own life, he cannot avoid answering to Jesus Christ after death. Read the rest of this entry »

For VFC, we had Bruce Landis come in speak on a number of different issues of importance to the Christian life.  For part of the message, Bruce spoke on Ephesians 2:1-5, which is the same text Tony Carter used to deliver his message on sin at Anthem this past weekend.  I don’t think it was by chance that these two great speakers chose the same verses.  Despite hearing the same text, God used the two speakers to affect me in different ways.  That is the great thing to me about hearing the same message twice in a row.  Some people might think it is redundant, but I think it is a great chance for God to reveal different aspects of His character.

Tony’s message on sin convicted me of the root of my sin, and that it comes from a lack of trust in the Lord,  while Bruce’s message just helped me to reflect on my previously dead state before salvation.  As a person who was saved at a very young age, it is sometimes hard for me to grasp my once dead state.  However, I clearly see dead people  in my day-to-day interactions and I know that those people could very well be me without God’s grace.  The Bible makes it clear that there is no difference between us without the Word of God. Read the rest of this entry »

Pastor Mike Plewniak concluded VFC’s “J-series” Thursday night with a sermon on the cost of being Christ’s disciple. The message focused on Luke 14:25-33:

If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters–yes, and even his own life–he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple (v. 26-27).

“Don’t cling to the things of this world and give up Jesus Christ,” Mike said. “That would be the greatest tragedy.”

Mike began his message with a review of the “J”-series, recalling the messianic prophecies, Jesus’ life, Jesus’ claims about Himself, His death and His resurrection.  When he moved on to the core of his message, Mike seasoned it with careful questions for each person to consider. Read the rest of this entry »

“The resurrection of Jesus Christ is either one of the most wicked, vicious, heartless hoaxes ever foisted on the minds of human beings–or it is the most remarkable fact of history.” -Josh McDowell in ”Evidence for the Resurrection.”

I love this quote. However, the question is how do we show to non-believers that the resurrection of Christ was not a hoax?  Truly that can only be done through the work of the Holy Spirit, but Caleb raised some great points last night about the validity and importance of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The first thing I want to mention is that you cannot reject the resurrection as a Christian. As Caleb mentioned, the entire New Testament points to the importance of the resurrection.  In his book Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem stresses that through the resurrection Jesus earned for us a new life.  Also, we know that God had approved the sacrifice that Christ made for our sins through the resurrection and because of that we no longer have to worry about the bondage of sin!

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“There were thousands who died on a cross and many have had more painful deaths than that of Christ.  But only one person has ever received the full measure of the curse of God while on a cross.  I doubt Jesus was even aware of the nails and the spear- He was so overwhelmed by outer darkness.  On the cross Jesus was in the reality of hell.”–R.C. Sproul, Saved from What? 

It is always good to focus on the cross.  When I was younger I used to struggle with one of the questions Mike mentioned tonight: “Why did Christ have to die?”  I did not understand why a God that is so powerful, timeless, holy and loving would not be able to forgive sins without all of this.  I did not understand why God had to be just.  More importantly, I did not understand the many things God accomplished through the cross. 
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