October 23, 2009, Fourth Fridays will be held at:

Manna Bible Baptist Church
3043 W. Belvedere Ave
Baltimore Md 21215
(410) 664-0743
(Its across the street from Pimlico Raceway.)

Please come out and support. Also, please continue to pray for Believer’s Chapel (our home spot) while they continue to tend to necessities of their building.

Theme: Marks of a Believer
Artist: Evangel

Due to circumstances beyond our control, FFF for September has been cancelled. We are sorry for any inconvenience and the last minute notice.

What is Fourth Friday Fundamentals? Well it’s an amalgamation of a number of things: coffee shop tone, part concert, part workshop, part concert, part Q&A with visiting HHH emcee, part worship service, part sermon presentation.

 The Holiness of God,

The sinfulness of man,

Man’s dilemma secondary to God’s Holiness, &

God’s Remedy to Man’s Exigency (redemptive work of Christ).

The Topic This Month is…PROVIDENCE

It’s the doctrine that speaks to us of how the Triune God, the Creator and Sustainer of all things exercises absolute control over the activities of His creatures and the natural order of things according to the execution of
His fixed eternal plan to the praise of His glory (Whew!).

4th Friday Fundamentals is a parachurch didactic ministry geared towards taking a multi-modal approach to unpacking Biblical Doctrine to facilitate a Triune God entranced vision of life and spark a modern day Reformation & Revival with the underlined help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Join us May 22, 2009 @ 8:00 PM

at Believer’s Chapel
12 West 22nd Street
Baltimore, MD 21218

Probably the longest FFF Title we’ve ever had.

Our first FFF of 2009! Join us as Pastor Leake gives us a tour through the nature and purposes of the church. Why does the body of Christ exist ? Are you a lone-ranger Christian or connected with a local body ? Pastor Leake challenges and encourages us with this powerful message.

Date: February 27, 2009
Topic: The Church, Fellowship and Community
Speaker: Pastor Tom Leake, Hope Bible Church in Columbia, MD

Download |  Streaming

In addition, photos from the event are now available here:

http://fourthfridayfundamentals.com/fff/photos/thumbnails.php?album=19

Attention! Attention! Believers’ Chapel is still under construction, so this month’s FFF will be moved to a new location.

Hey folks

Due to circumstances beyond the scope of our control FFF has been cancelled this month.

Grace & Peace

Derek

The situation was a heated one, and if we are to understand the tension of the moment we must understand the cultural significance of Jewish dining habits.  Jewish law provided a prescription for what was acceptable dining [Leviticus 3:17; 7:26-27; 17:10-14].  Jews were not to eat pork, meat offered to idols, and meat that had not been sufficiently drained of blood.  Historical accounts of saints like Daniel taking a stand against violating the dietary law made Jewish hearts swell with cultural pride.  Such faithfulness to the Torah definitively demonstrated what it meant to be Jewish.  During the Intertestamental period [Maccabean Revolt 164 – 167 BC] Pharisees went as far as forbidding Jews to eat at the same table with Gentiles.  In their old tradition they wrote, “Eat not with them…for their works are unclean.”  Faithfulness to these sentiments still found a place in Peter’s heart up until God spoke to him in a vision [Acts 10].  While praying over his meal, brought a vision to him of sheet of animals that the Mosaic law forbid him to eat.  God then commanded him to eat, in order to prepare him to take the Gospel to a Gentile.  Immediately after his vision, Peter was summoned to a Roman named Cornelius which taught him a vital lesson [Acts 10:34-35; 11:17].

So God had taken Peter to school and freed him of some problematic thinking which would have otherwise hindered the Gospel.  With a renewed outlook on the practical question of fellowshipping with Gentiles, Peter was in Antioch eating pork sandwiches and enjoying table fellowship with Gentiles.  Well enjoyed table fellowship until “James boys” rolled into town.  Some have labeled them as Judaizers, but they were probably Christians who were former Pharisees that remained very traditional in their faith [Acts 15:5].  The first thing these traditionalists noticed coming into town was Peter conducting himself like a pagan!

His failure to uphold the dietary laws disturbed them to no end.  They were offended and they didn’t mind putting the pressure on Peter to make him aware of their displeasure.  What would Peter do?  God had revealed to him that Gentile fellowship would not make him unclean.  But Peter was burdened by the tension of the moment.  To state it more clearly, he was afraid.  He knew how traditional they were and he didn’t want to offend them.  So to avoid offending the traditionalist, Peter started turning down dinner dates with the Gentiles.  All of a sudden he became less and less accessible to them to the point of being aloof.  The Greek word translated “withdrew” is a term used for a military disengagement.  The imperfect tense indicates a continual and gradual withdrawal.  The idea is that Peter made a subtle and sneaky retreat.  Peter’s actions were reminiscent of his cowardly denial of Christ [Matthew 26:69-74].  There he was all over again, weak and inconsistent in his stand for Christ.  His failure is not unlike most Christians who allow fear to enslave so that they fail to obediently represent Christ before the world [Proverbs 29:25; 18:20; 30:5; II Timothy 1:7].

The worst part about his weak example is that it led others into hypocrisy.  Their conviction or theological position had not changed.  They still believed that Gentiles like Jews were by trusting in the solely in the Christ of the cross and the empty tomb.  They just caved in under the pressure of living out their faith.  It was too uncomfortable, so modeled behavior that contradicted their confession.  To add insult to injury, even Barnabas played the role of a hypocrite [fear was at the heart of their hypocrisy; Luke 12:1-4].   

14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

As Paul caught wind of their lives which were out of step with the Gospel, he realized the implication of their sinful behavior.  The issue was not doctrinal error.  Peter, Barnabas, and the others that were drawn along had not shifted their doctrinal position.  They were on point with their doctrine, but their living was shoddy.  And their shoddy living was such a contradiction to the truth of the Gospel that it amounted to an attack on the Gospel.  They had placed themselves in the position of enemies of truth.  Despite embracing the pure Gospel of free grace apart from works, Peter had demonstrated a duplicity which suggested that he took a detour off the Gospel path and modeled legalism.

Paul charged him with compelling the Gentiles to embrace the tenets of legalism in to be acceptable.  No doubt Peter could fire back in this very public dispute, “I never at anytime opened my mouth and instructed them to do anything of the sort”.  But to that response Paul would explain to him that his actions spoke much louder than his words.

We must hold in mind the ever present need to pray for our spiritual leadership.  The continued admonition to pray for pastors and other spiritual leaders is a very real and vital one.  Those who stand in spiritual leadership have lives that are lived figuratively speaking “out loud”.  They stand in a very visible and pivotal place.  If they give in to fear and hypocrisy the effects will send shockwaves through those who stand within the orbit of their influence.

We must also remember that the fear of man is a snare.  Scripture instructs us to trust whole heartedly in God for He will keep us secure.  Romans 8:31b If God be for us, who can be against us? [Romans 8:31-39].

Hypocritical living is more recognizable and shouts a louder message than anything you may say or teach.  Be certain that your living models sound doctrine.  Hold firm and treasure the glorious Gospel of free grace.  Let your heart swell with: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:[Ephesians 2:8]

Grace & Peace