Posts by Tim Stephens (Page 4)
Trinity Survey Results
I want to say thank you to everyone who filled out the survey. Roughly 1/3 of our congregation completed the survey. This has been helpful to me to pick an area of focus for a research project and sermon series that I’ll be preaching in March, 2024. We’ll be considering the person of the Son from John 1 and John 5 and how that helps us see the triune nature of our God. I wanted to share the survey results…
Emergencies Act Abuse
In a landmark decision, a federal court determined that the Canadian government’s use of the Emergencies Act (formerly known as the War Measures Act) was unconstitutional. The Act gives the federal government extraordinary power to handle national emergencies. The judge determined the use of the Act to end the trucker convoy was ultra vires (“beyond the powers”), or quite simply, illegal.[1] The truckers were protesting the government’s abuse of power, and now a federal judge has ruled that the government…
Natural Law and Sexual Ethics
We live in a time of sexual “freedom.” It seems that anything—or almost anything—goes. Christian ethics regarding sexuality is seen as archaic, joy-killing, and harmful. What is most putrid to this sexualized culture is when someone attempts to use Bible verses to justify a sexual ethic or a vision of marriage. The Bible is dismissed as unauthoritative and irrelevant. Some people, well-meaning I’m sure, have taken the bait and seek to argue for sexual ethics in society and in marriage…
The Cult of the Expert
Penned in 375 BC, Plato’s Republic argues for the ideal state. This state would be one of bliss and prosperity. His idea? A ruling class of philosophers serving as Guardians to order life in the city. The ruling elite or philosopher king would rely on a lifetime of special education which will enable him to “be the savior of his country, as well as himself” (Republic, 6.497). Ideas have a way of reappearing again and again in history—including bad ideas.…
Principles of Service
Christian service has been on my mind the last month or so. A few of us have been discussing cleaning and maintenance needs in and around the building and the advantages and disadvantages of having a paid caretaker. Coupled with this is the weekly Fellowship Lunch with its demands of a weekly setup and cleanup. Throughout this discussion there has been a burden among the elders to treat all areas of need as an opportunity for discipleship. The elders wish…
A Case for Church Membership
Church membership could be considered a relic of a bygone age. Many churches today have abandoned the idea and opted for a more informal association where those who attend a fellowship for any length of time are considered part of the church. This article seeks to demonstrate the case for membership from the Scripture. It is true that the way we do membership—membership class, elder interview, etc—is not explicit in Scripture but these are ways in which we seek to…
Requirements for Membership at Fairview: A Brief Statement on Open Communion
For a biblical presentation of church membership, click here. The True Church When a person believes the gospel—entrusting to Christ their life and death—they become part of the church. The church is the gospel made visible. The church consists of “the called-out ones” (this is the meaning of the Greek word ecclesia which is translated “church”). The members of a church are also called saints, meaning holy or set apart to the Lord. The church is Christ’s body, all its…
Remember
This Sunday marks the last Sunday that we will be worshiping as a church at 230 – 78 Ave SE. For the last 63 years Christians have gathered in that location to worship Jesus Christ. Starting Sunday, May 28th, we will move to a larger facility at 3311 Centre St N which has also been the home of Christian worship in the past. As we look forward and give thanks to God we take time to remember his faithfulness in…
A New Testament Case for the Christian Magistrate to Enforce Biblical Law in Accordance With the Gospel
Summary: In 1 Timothy Paul urges the church to pray for kings and rulers so that they would be converted, legislate according to the law of God, thus bringing peace to the church and serving the advance of the gospel. In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, he opens his letter by addressing teachers who do not understand the proper use of God’s law (vv. 3–7). In response, Paul argues, not for antinomianism, but for the proper use of the law.…
Gratitude: 5 Ways to Thank God for His Provision
On November 16, 2022 we sent out an email with a call to give generously. A few days prior we had voted as a congregation to approve the conditional sale of a new church facility at 3311 Centre Street N. This marked a milestone as it had been more than a year in which we had been earnestly praying and seeking a new location that would contain the growing family at Fairview. As I mentioned in that email, we were…
Gospel Primer
The following is the afterword to our recently published outreach booklet, “The Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Mark.” The gospel of Mark ends abruptly. The women who came to anoint Jesus’ body were met by heavenly angels showing them an empty tomb. The tomb was empty because Jesus had risen from the dead. The women were stunned and astonished—a natural response when seeing an angel and evidence of Jesus’ resurrection! The rest of the New Testament records how the…
Hard Work: A Needed Christian Virtue
In 2020, headlines concerning COVID-19 were replaced with stories about George Floyd, riots (aka, fiery but mostly-peaceful protests), and Black Lives Matter. Just as technocracy boomed in the COVID era, cultural Marxism had a similar surge. With the battle against “whiteness” going mainstream, efforts continue to decolonize—or more accurately, de-Christianize—western culture. One example of this was in 2020, when the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture produced an online guide to expose the aspects and assumptions of…