This is part 3 of the ongoing series.
11. Do you believe the Bible speaks to real-life struggles and problems? — The Bible is the very Word of the living God who knows human beings and can relate to their struggles. Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses for He was tempted in all ways just as we are. The Bible provides the all-sufficient help, as the all-sufficient guide, for believers to put off sinful ways and habits of life and to replace those bad habits with godly patterns and lifestyles. With the power of prayer, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the fellowship and accountability of the local church, a Christian can walk in a way that is pleasing to Christ. The Bible does not promise that Christians will live without pain and hardship. But the Bible does promise that when those times of pain and seasons of hardship do come, God remains faithful, good, sovereign, and near to His people. Even if the Bible does not address a particular issue in our day directly, it will provide principles and guardrails so that the child of God can honor God, walk in holiness, and keep in step with the Spirit.
12. Why do you practice biblical counseling? — Biblical counseling, simply defined, is the belief in and application of the all-sufficient Word of God to every-day issues. This is distinct from secular psychology or Christian, integrative counseling. Secular and worldly philosophies cannot be mixed with biblical truth to help believers navigate through the struggles of life. Rather, the Bible teaches that every believer is filled with all goodness and knowledge and is able to admonish one another (Rom 15.14). We are called to counsel one another so that every man may be complete in Christ (Col 1:28-29). Biblical counseling can happen within the context of the local church as believers encourage others believers in the Word and minister truth to each other (Heb 3:13). This is not an overly simplistic way of viewing real-life issues and very complex sin cases; rather, this affirms and upholds the divine nature of and the infinite wisdom found in the written revelation that God has given in His Word. Thus, we practice biblical counseling because the power to change comes from the Spirit working in and through His Word as our hearts are transformed and as we are conformed more into the image of Jesus Christ. The focus of biblical counseling is not, ultimately, for life to get better or for a problem to go away. The preeminent goal is to be pleasing to God and to walk in a manner that is obedient, Christlike, humble, and biblical. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit that guides us with everything we need for life and godliness (2 Pet 1.3-4).
13. Why do you hand out gospel tracts? — We love to hand out gospel tracts — or, as we call them “paper missionaries — because tracts can go places that we can’t. Sometimes we pass someone quickly at a gas station, a restaurant, on a park bench, or at a crosswalk in the city. Placing a gospel tract in someone’s hand is one way of presenting the biblical gospel and calling that person to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as they read the tract. It also provides an opportunity for that person to go back to the tract and read and re-read it at a later point. Perhaps, the Lord may, in His kind and infinite providence, allow someone else to find or read that gospel tract. Handing out a gospel tract can also provide helpful follow-up information if a church address and website is on the back if the person has any questions. Tracts are helpful because good ones are simple, well-worded and faithful to present the biblical gospel and summon a response from the reader to turn away from sin and submit to Jesus Christ as Lord. So, handing out gospel tracts is a way to proclaim the gospel to many people even if they’re isn’t time at that particular moment to engage in lengthy dialogue about eternal matters.
14. Why do you offer a 4PM Family Bible Hour class? — We have a “Family Bible Hour” class because we want to equip our church family with solid doctrine, biblical truth, and helpful instruction to cultivate biblical discernment and deepen their knowledge of Christ and of His gospel. In fact, for our Bible hour class, we have gone through our entire 14-page What We Teach doctrine statement (on two occasions we’ve taught through it entirely paragraph by paragraph). We have gone through biblical counseling, the attributes of God, Bible survey (both Old and New Testaments) and biblical home-life topics.
15. How do you expect the church to prepare before coming to Church on Sunday? — It is the earnest desire of the elders of CFBC for every member to diligently prepare and expectantly come to corporate worship with the mindset of coming to meet with God and coming to serve one another. Often we hear people say: “I didn’t get anything out of that sermon” or “that place isn’t very friendly” or “no one reached out to me.” We long for the church family to take the weekly preparation for worship email that goes out (on Thursday/Friday) and utilize it in (1) reading the text that will be preached, (2) familiarizing themselves with the songs/hymns, (3) praying for visitors, the members, the leadership, and the preacher. We get out of worship what we put into it. If we come cold of heart, distracted in our minds, and rushing through the door just as service is beginning, it’s no wonder that someone may not ‘get much out of worship’; their heart is not engaged nor was it prepared. But if the person were to take the preparation email and diligently pray and read, study and plan ahead, the oven of the heart would be warmed when the Christian arrives on Sunday. Our goal is to view Sunday’s gathering as a meeting with the living God of the universe! He calls us to worship Him! He invites us to worship Him! We get to worship Him with other believers! Come and let’s rejoice and bow low before the King who is altogether deserving of all worship!
More questions and answers will come in the future.