30 Days to Solid Theology
Thursday, May 27, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
Visit the new addition to Pastor Fred Wolfe Ministries-
You'll be glad you did!
My Daughter's Heart
Sunday, May 23, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
My daughter, Cee Cee and I had a great conversation today. We discussed the importance of who she trusts with her heart. We talked about the heart as the "seat of the emotions", and that giving your heart to the wrong people or at the wrong time can lead to devastating effects. Right now, Cee Cee is six years old. She doesn't really understand all of what we talked about, but she did understand a couple of pivotal teachings that will go a long way toward our family health. She learned that first and foremost, she is to give her heart to Christ. Her salvation and relationship with her creator is prerequisite to becoming a Godly woman. Second, she is to give her heart to her daddy, and help him fulfill his vision for the family. To some people, this point sounds kind of strange. But since I have an apologetic streak, I'd like to give some reasons why we teach such a thing.
First of all, as her father, it is my responsibility to raise my daughter to love her future husband and help him fulfill his vision for their family. She can begin to experience how that works by helping her daddy in his efforts to fulfill his calling. This should begin at a young age and continue until she gets married.
Some might question this. All the way until she gets married? Are you kidding me?
What about moving out? Going away to College? Dating? What about her career?
Tell me. Tell me how these things will help prepare her for her Biblical calling. If you are asking the above questions, you have been effected by secular feminism, and the twisting of the Biblical roles of men and women according to the Word of God. Unfortunately, many of us have. You see, moving out will take her heart away from her father and open it up to all sorts of worldliness. Think about how much evil there is in the world. Why would I shelter my daughter all these years and then just release her to "make it" all on her own? College is not all it's cracked up to be, especially in today's society. That might make a lot of people mad, but I'm not here to impress the world, I'm here to take the scriptures seriously. There are plenty of college programs that can be completed from home should that be what she decides to do. What about dating? Dating is just divorce practice. With someone today, separated tomorrow- then just start the process over again. It's sad that this has become the norm. It won't be for my family.
Secondly, giving her heart to her father strengthens the family while she is young. With her help in supporting her father, inspiring him and helping him, he will be more bold in his leadership, and successful in casting the vision given him by God.
Under the umbrella of protection and teaching of her father, little Cee Cee will have a wonderful opportunity to keep herself faithful to her husband before they ever meet, and ready herself to be the helper God created her to be. She is learning how to be truly feminine.
Olympic Mascot FAIL
Thursday, May 20, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
Introducing the London-born 2012 Olympic Mascots
The last time I checked, the Olympics were about competition. Meeting out in the field of battle. To battle. To fight. To win. The torch beckons, "Come all who dare. Step foot in this arena and you will duel the best in the world- and if you emerge victorious, you will live on in infamy forever" ...as teletubbies?
London just unveiled their newly created mascots for the 2012 Olympic games. I can just see Perez Hilton squealing with glee.
This is yet another sign that the dough-boy culture has taken hold in our world. While it may seem like a jump to criticize culture because of a couple of mascots, if you take the world as a whole, and see how they have broken down EVERYTHING that has been historically masculine, you might see it the way I do. Turning the Olympic games mascots into toddler toys...I can't believe it. I'm sure you can come up with a few examples too.
I think the only proper thing to do with these little mascots is to let King Leonidas kick them down a deep hole whilst yelling, "This is the OLYMPICS!"
The Sovereignty of God
Saturday, May 15, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
The Lord, our God, is clothed with might,
The winds and waves obey His will;
He speaks, and in the shining height
The sun and rolling worlds stand still.
Rebel ye waves, and o’er the land
With threatening aspect foam and roar,
The Lord hath spoken His command
That breaks your rage upon the shore.
Ye winds of night, your force combine—
Without His holy high behest
You shall not in a mountain pine
Disturb the little swallow’s nest.
His voice sublime is heard afar;
In distant peals it fades and dies;
He binds the cyclone to His car
And sweeps the howling murky skies.
Great God! how infinite art Thou,
What weak and worthless worms are we,
Let all the race of creatures bow
And seek salvation now from Thee.
Eternity, with all its years
Stands ever-present to Thy view,
To Thee there’s nothing old appears
Great God! There can be nothing new.
Our lives through varied scenes are drawn,
And vexed with mean and trifling cares;
While Thine eternal thought moves on
Thy fixed and undisturbed affairs.
It Will Always Be Too Soon
Thursday, May 13, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
"Fred. I've got some really bad news. Ed Wahlbeck is dead." She still has the phone open in her hand.
There is a kind of panic feeling that ran through me, and a part of me thought that I had misheard her. It couldn't have been him. We had unfinished business. He was too young to die. He was a rock.
"Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."
Glorified through it? That does not fit into my tight little ideas of who God is.
I walked into the hospital. A hug here, a glance there. The huddle parts, and there he is. His wife is holding his hand. It must be getting cold by now. I kneel down, we hold hands and pray. My head bowed to the God of all creation, who gives and takes away. I stare at the white floor.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
I believe. It's the only thing that makes this bearable.
My head lifts. Wet eyes, red, stare at random points. Someone makes a joke, and we smile. Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?
Yes.
But he didn't.
"Jesus wept."
We wept. We tried to think of him smiling and dancing. He is smiling. He might be dancing too.
"And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
Ed, it's time to live-not like you have been. It's time to live like you never knew you wanted to. It's time to run through the fields, further up and further in. It's time to cling to the lion's mane. It's time to bask in the glory of God and enjoy Him forever. It's time to join with the angels in their praises. It's time for the pain to be over, the tears to be gone, and the troubles of this world to be relieved. For me, it would have always been too soon. You would have always been too young. So, for now, we will cry your tears and feel your pain. We will bear the burden of this world a little longer until we can also glorify our Lord in our deaths.
The best moment of a Christian's life is his last one, because it is the one that is nearest heaven. And then it is that he begins to strike the keynote of the song which he shall sing to all eternity. -CH Spurgeon
How to reform your church and not be a coward
Tuesday, May 11, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
(Trouble viewing the video? Lower the resolution to 360p)
Take up the scriptures as the only a sufficient authority in life, and it will not fail you!
"A preacher must be both soldier and shepherd. He must nourish, defend, and teach; he must have teeth in his mouth, and be able to bite and fight." -Martin Luther
Motherhood, a Collection of Wisdom
Sunday, May 09, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
If you are recieving this in email form, please visit: www.pastorfredwolfe.com to enjoy these resources. May you continue to grow in the richness of the grace of God as we honor the mothers in our lives.
The High Calling Of Motherhood, by Lance Quinn
Motherhood With A Purpose, by Lance Quinn
Honoring The Biblical Call To Motherhood, by John Piper
Raising Feminine Daughters, by Susan Hunt
Portrait Of A Foolish Woman, by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
A Wife's Responsibility To Help Her Husband, by Barbara Hughes
Rediscovering Femininity And Modesty, by Carolyn Mahaney
Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People?
Monday, May 03, 2010 Posted by Pastor Fred Wolfe
A child dies.
Homes swept away.
A father ripped from home.
Mommy drinks to death.
I form light and create darkness,I make well-being and create calamity,I am the Lord, who does all these things.Isaiah 45:7
Do you ever stare into the heavens and ask, "Why? Why, oh Lord, do you let bad things happen to good people?" This is the bad way to ask this question. This question, of course to those who have the proper view of God and mankind, is erroneous. As we were knit together into our mothers womb, though in a fearful and wonderful way, we were born into depravity. From conception to birth, right up to the time of our deaths, we all live in a depraved world, wading through it with depraved flesh. In all reality, there are no good people. In light of a God who is ever constant and faithful, holy and pure, we are ever insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, and approving of darkness. So this question we ask, as RC Sproul would say, treads a fine line between a legitimate question and a blasphemous accusation. There are no good people. Not one.
“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
a pot among earthen pots!
Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
or ‘Your work has no handles’?
Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
Isaiah 45: 9-10
Some come back and say, "But I know people who are generous and kind. They are some of the best people I know! They just aren't Christians." Here's the problem with that-they are not giving glory to the one true God. They get the credit, and that makes it evil. The Bible teaches us in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is impossible to please God. Without being a Christian, therefore it is impossible to do anything good in the eyes of the ultimate judge.
Is there a good way to ask God, "Why?"
The important thing to remember is that in all things, God is working out his ultimate will. He is God. God does not have to answer to you, nor is he obligated reveal what His will is in your situation. He is utterly in control.
Thus says the Lord,the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:“Ask me of things to come;will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?I made the earthand created man on it;it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,and I commanded all their host.Isaiah 45:11-12When you ask God why there is chaos or calamity befalling you, ask Him what He is trying to show you-ask Him how you can bring Him glory through it. When you seek with a heart and spirit that recognizes God as who He is, you won't waste your suffering. Sometimes he is using your suffering to effect the consciences of the Church, sometimes he is calling you to repent, sometimes he is effecting the future situations of unborn generations, sometimes he is disciplining whom He loves. Ultimately the reasons are His, and if he lets us in on them, it is by His grace. Keep praying, keep seeking, and most of all, don't waste your suffering!“I am the Lord, and there is no other.I did not speak in secret,in a land of darkness;I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,‘Seek me in vain.’I the Lord speak the truth;I declare what is right.
