12.30.2011

Some words about evangelism

Evangelism is preaching the Gospel to the people. The Gospel is a historical fact, that Jesus came to us, died for our sins, resurrected and now He is king over all creation. The Gospel is proclamation of Kingdom of God and Jesus as King of Kings. It is Good News! The Gospel is not what WE do, it is not our response, it is what GOD did for us. Our response to the Gospel should be living faith.

We believe that all people are sinners in Adam and they need salvation. We also recognize that 95% Polish men are baptized in Roman Catholic Church We treat this baptism as valid and we begin our preaching with recognizing it. It means that: “God requires obedience from you because you are in Covenant with Him. You are in danger of being covenant breaker if you break covenant by unbelieving. The Bible says about bigger punishment for Covenant breakers than for mere atheists outside Covenant. You have to repent and convert to Jesus.” Of course we believe in God’s sovereignty in salvation, we believe in predestination but it is God’s perspective and we don’t inspect who is individually elected from eternity.

One of the best method of growing the church are godly families. God gave us the children as his seed and it is natural way of growing the church. We began evangelism from our family, friends and neighborhood. We treat our children as His children, small disciples of Christ. Healthy families are the beginning of growth of a healthy church.

Of course we go farther and we preach publicly the Gospel at the Old Town of our City (sketchboard, we print our tracts, we make public lectures in bookstore, we use our website, we joined international action “Samaritan Purse” and we gave gift for poor children etc,).

12.29.2011

From our family

Sketchboard at the Old Town in Gdansk

Covenant is like marriage

Covenant is like marriage. It is a real bondage with promises, responsibilities and curses. God works with his creation by covenant. Covenant is God’s initiation and we respond to this by faith.

In OT we read that God made the Covenant with Israel, from the time of Christ’s ascension and Pentecostal we have inauguration of NC. Covenant is something real and visible. We can count members of Covenant because of sign of initiation in NC which is baptism. All baptized persons in Christian Church are members of the New Covenant.

The Bible teaches us that the bondage of husband and wife is also Covenant. We have ceremony of inauguration of this (wedding), blessings, promises, responsibilities and curses. Husband is the Covenant Head of his family. By this he represents Christ as the head of His family (The Church). So Husband is responsible for his wife and children. Of course the man could be faithful and lovely husband – then he and his family are under God’s blessings. Or he can be unfaithful, covenant-breaking husband. Then he is under curse. If there was no divorce, husband is still husband. If there was no excommunication, the member of the Church is still a member of the Covenant. His obligation as husband makes his sin more terrible. He is under God’s curse. The same situation is when we look at the members of the NC. They objectively are in covenantal relationship with God. They are Christians. But their hypocrisy, unfaithfulness, are reasons why they are under bigger judgment than people outside the Covenant (Hbr 6:4-6, Hbr 10:29).

12.27.2011

Pictures from CREC Council in Minneapolis

You can see the pictures from CREC Council in Minneapolis, Minnesota at my Facebook profile.
It was very refresh and great time!

Choir "Chorale Gaudete" at our Sunday Service

What is our view on sacraments?

Sometimes people ask me about our view on sacraments, including the modes and recipients. Here is my response.

We believe in 2 sacraments: Baptism and Lord’s Supper. Baptism is rite which replaced circumcision as a sign of initiation in Covenant. Lord’s Supper replaced Passover as the sign of continuation in Covenant.

Both sacraments are more than only signs. They are God’s gifts, blessings and benefits for His People, the Church. Baptism marks baptized person as the disciple of Christ, it unites us (in covenantal meaning) with Christ in His death (Rom 6:3, Gal 3:27). All baptized people (in the name of the Father, and Son and Holy Spirit) are members of New Covenant, baptized in One Body (1 Kor 12:13) and are under obligations of faith and life for the Lord Jesus. We don’t believe that we should hold any special mode. We don’t believe that only one “sanctified” form of baptism is for example immersion. We usually pour the water over head of the baptized person and we baptize in the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit – which marks this person as participant of the Covenant, Body of Christ. Because God’s promises are for us and our seed – we baptize infants. Christ showed the faith of little ones as the pattern for adults (not inversely).

Lord’s Supper is feast of God with is people (Church). It is feats of joy because God assurances us in His promises and gives us bread and wine. During the eating of the bread and drinking wine we sit because Jesus is active during Lord’s Supper. He serves us with good gifts. HE gives us sacraments.

Our children participate with us in Lord’s Table because sacraments are not only for adults and mature Christians. It is not a reward for conscious and intelligent faith. It is food for all who need God’s encouragement. It is fellowship of Christ’s Body with Jesus. Baptized children are part of the Church and they have right and privilege (the same as adults) to participate in communion. All who are in Christ can participate in Lord’s Table. Christ died for his body – the church - including our children. We practice padeocommunion and we practice communion each Sunday (weekly). It is not just adding to our Service but necessary and main meal during the week. Because we eat this with God and body of Christ. He gives us Himself in Sacraments.