Craig Blomberg wrote in his Corinthians commentary (I am studying I Corinthians 3):

As one of my students once put it, much conservative Christianity reminded him of an exclusive country club trying to attract a broader clientele.  The club, therefore, advertised that membership for the first year would be absolutely free.  But after that, you paid through the nose!

This morning, my little third grade boy was telling me while on the way to school about one of his discussions with one of his buddies.  He said,

Daddy, my friend explained it to me this way.  If you are really, really good, you get to hang out with God the Father some day in the highest place.  If you are pretty good, you get to hang out with Jesus in a second place.  If you really don’t do anything good, you get to be with the Holy Spirit.  And if you are really bad, you are stuck with the devil.

Important Gospel heart issues, eh?

First of all, let me emphatically state that it is folly for our Southeastern Idaho religious culture to assign different chunks of heavenly real estate to the Trinity. 

Secondly, as John B. Polhill aptly puts it, “Rewards are difficult to square with a doctrine of salvation by grace and can easily become the back door for a theology of works.”  For those of you who are immersing yourselves in the Americanized Christianity of the day, get back to the gospel of grace.  The gospel set me free.

You all know the answer.

He is doing way better than any American evangelical televangelist.

He is the most favored, contemporary religious “preacher” in our country.

He is the “Billy Graham” of America, today.

Among all the LDS General Authorities, there has risen one outside their hierarchical ranks – the country’s new, mega-revivalist.

Hold on to your seats everyone.  The altar-call is coming.

It is all very interesting to see how the American religious culture is unfolding right in front of our eyes.

Are evangelicals and latter-day saints able to make the same claim?

Which group is psychikos?  Which group is pneumatikos?

Bill’s post has caused me to pause for thought, today.

A recent quote in The Baptist Voice (July 2010) . . .

The spiritual beliefs of Americans are best described as confused.  When Americans were asked in 2002 if ‘the Bible, the Koran, and the Book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same spiritual truths,’ 44% of adults said yes.  Yet when the same research group in 2008 asked Americans to identify which books were sacred, the results were far different.  Of those surveyed, 84% said the Bible is a holy book, while the Koran and the Book of Mormon were called sacred by less than 5% of the population.

*Barna Group. “Americans Draw Theological Beliefs From Diverse Points of View”. October 8, 2002

*Barna Group.  “American’s Identify What They Consider ‘Holy’ Books.”  July 7, 2008.

My family just got back from a vacation trip to Canada.  My sister and brother-in-law live in a beautiful mountain hamlet named Exshaw, very near Canmore in Alberta.

LDS church meeting houses  are visible all along the Interstate 15 Corridor.  You see this in Utah and Idaho.  And when you first enter the Canadian province of Alberta, one of the first churches that you see is an LDS meeting house.

But Montana is a gap.  I can’t remember seeing any visible LDS cultural presence.

That is interesting.

(By the way, it is good to be back home.  Southeastern Idaho is my earthly abode – a choice place for gospel advancement.)

Questions for Hebrews 13

Observation

1.  List the exhortations in this chapter
2. Where does the chapter 13 quote the Old Testament?
3. We are to be strengthened by what?
4. Who did the God of peace bring from the dead?
5. Whose reproach are we to bear?
6. What is the last “let us” exhortation in the book of Hebrews?
7. We are equipped through the blood of what?
8. What are we to bear with?
9. What are the key words in this chapter?
10. What is the theme of this chapter?

Interpretation

1. How have some entertained angels without knowing it?
2.  What were some of the “varied and strange teachings”?

Application

1. How can we continue in love?
2. How can we show hospitality?
3. Do we know the names of at least five brothers and sisters in prison?
4. How can we remember “the prisoners”? 
5. Who can you imitate?

Questions for Hebrews 12

Observation

1.  Locate the “therefore” words in chapter 12 and list the central commands connected with each one.
2. What is the key word in the first paragraph (vv. 1-13)?
3. What is Jesus for us in verse 2?
4. Why did Jesus endure the cross?
5. What is your status if you receive no discipline in your life?
6. Why does God discipline us?
7. No one will see the Lord unless they have what?
8. What can defile many?
9. In verse 22, Mount Zion is contrasted with what?
10. What is the theme of the chapter?

Interpretation

1. What is “the sin” (singular) in verse 1?
2. What does this mean, “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin;”
3. Why could Esau find no place for repentance?
4. What is the “church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven”?
5. What attributes of God do you see in “a consuming fire”?

Application

1.  In a practical way, how do you fix your eyes on Jesus?
2. If we pattern our lives after Christ, what enables us to endure?
3. What is the continual key in not becoming weary?
4. When was the last time that you were disciplined?
5. If you see others discouraged, how can you help them?
6. Will America be included in the shaking of God?  And in the shaking what will be left?

Don’t make the Son subordinate to the essence of the Father.

But please make water baptism subordinate to hearing and believing the Gospel.

This is the apostolic tradition of St. Paul.

The front page of today’s Post Register states,

A date at the Idaho Falls Civic Auditorium in March sold out in four minutes after tickets went on sale.

David Archuleta sings this Saturday night, 7:30 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium at Brigham Young University-Idaho.  It is $35 for a ticket.

He’s probably the biggest pop headliner to claim membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since prime time for the various Osmond family acts in the 1970s.

The newspaper jokes,

It seems his Idaho fans have really gone gaga.