Summit Ministries

Last week, one of the most important points of the "12-Point Plan to Help Your Children Overcome the Educational System" was to teach them to "fear the Lord."
But what exactly does fearing the Lord mean and why is it important?

Does it mean that we tremble with fear every time we think of God or does it mean, as one Bible commentator puts it, that we view God with "reverential trust"? Or is it both or neither?

And by the way, how often do you even hear the "fear of the Lord" being taught in your church. I'm sure you hear much about loving God and God loving us but even a quick search of Scripture for "fear of the Lord", "fear the Lord", "fear God", and "fear of God" yields 122 matches versus just 49 for exchanging the word "love" in the identical phrases.

Consider just two passages from Proverbs:

• "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom..."
• "...And by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil."

Growing in wisdom and staying away from sin are two of God's top priorities for us...and they both start with fearing the Lord. Apparently, learning to fear the Lord is quite important to God.

This weekend on The Christian Worldview, we'll discuss what it means to "fear of the Lord", a highly important quality for your Christian walk and one that will literally revolutionize your life.

In our current March-May Book Club selection, Culture Shift, the author, Dr. Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, says in chapter nine that Christian parents need to develop an "exit strategy" from the tax-payer funded public school system.

Why? Whether it's the "Welcoming Schools" pro-homosexual curriculum taught at the earliest grades, or the Darwinian evolution and the atheism and moral relativism that results from it, or the blatantly anti-Christian values of pre-marital sexual exploration ("and here's a condom and the phone number for Planned Parenthood--your parents don't need to know about it"), the educational system has it's own set of "doctrines" that it wants your kids to believe.

Your kids, the ones that God has given to you, the ones that you are responsible for raising in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, are facing all this and more in the public school system on a daily basis.

And they haven't even gone to the real "Christian killing fields" yet, otherwise known as college.

Depending on which study you read, as many or more than 50% of incoming freshmen who profess to be "born again" will not profess that four years later. What are they facing that brings them to this denial of their faith and the values that you instilled in them, and most important, what can you do as parents or grandparents to help them avoid the "University of Destruction"?

Join me Saturday on The Christian Worldview for our annual graduation-time program on overcoming the humanistic educational system. You'll hear lessons parents have learned and my 12-point plan for parents that will help your son or daughter be an Overcomer in high school and college.

Ten days ago, a notable and large group of Evangelical leaders released "An Evangelical Manifesto: A Declaration of Evangelical Identity and Public Commitment." (Click here to watch the video of the National Press Club announcement.)

The following are excerpts from the introduction to the Manifesto: "An Evangelical Manifesto is an open declaration of who Evangelicals are and what they stand for ... to help clarify what Evangelical means in light of "confusions within and the consternation without" the movement.

As an open declaration, An Evangelical Manifesto addresses not only Evangelicals and other Christians but other American citizens and people of all other faiths in America, including those who say they have no faith. It therefore stands as an example of how different faith communities may address each other in public life, without any compromise of their own faith but with a clear commitment to the common good of the societies in which we all live together."

What is this Manifesto all about? Why is it being released now? What is there to discern in the document positively and/or negatively for Christians? And finally, what now seems to be the highest virtue in modern Evangelicalism?

Nathan Busenitz, Associate Pastor of Grace Community Church, author, frequent writer on Pulpit Magazine, and personal assistant to John MacArthur will join me to provide some clarity and answers.

Three years in the making, "An Evangelical Manifesto" provides great insight into the direction the drafters and signers desire to see Evangelicalism move. Be ahead of the curve. Know where Evangelicalism is headed. Tune into The Christian Worldview this weekend!

In the opening segment, John Stonestreet, executive director of Summit Ministries, will be with us discussing a disturbing "non-bullying" agenda targeting kids in school.

Expository preaching. In the vast majority of churches today, "exposi-what?" would be the response to the mention of this biblical preaching method.

If you're looking for reasons why America is beset by weak churches and weak Christians, look no further than the type of preaching emanating from the pulpit. What the Bible terms "pastor/teachers," churches now call "speakers" who are just as likely to tell a good story as they are to use clips from popular movies to make their point. A verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter treatment of Scripture, reading and explaining and applying the text is just "so not relevant."

The truth is: Sermonettes for Christianettes do not strong Christians make.

It's a good thing there are still men in the pulpit like Pastor Steven Lawson, one of this country's most well-known expositors of Scripture and author of many books, including The Expository Genius of John Calvin. Considered the "clean up hitter" at Pastor John MacArthur's Shepherds' Conference, Lawson brings an old school, Reformation-era preaching style and method to the pulpit that is not soon forgotten. (For an example of expository preaching, you can download sermons from Pastor Lawson at the Shepherds' Conference.)

Pastor Lawson joins me on the program on Saturday to define what expository preaching is, how Christ and the disciples modeled it, and why those entrusted with leadership of the flock need to get back to it.

Not often do we get an inside glimpse into the mind and learn the secrets of a great expository preacher. You will Saturday on The Christian Worldview.