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THEFAIRHAVENFUNDAMENTALISTPublished by

FAIRHAVEN BAPTIST CHURCH2013, Volume 1

86 East Oak Hill Road Chesterton, IN 46304 219.926.6636fundamentalist@fairhavenbaptist.org

When I sit on the platform during the preliminary portion of a service, it gives me great joy to see many regular members who at one time were controlled by hard drugs or booze. It is wonderful to realize what God has done in their lives as they gave themselves over to Him. Added to them, I love to see others who have been saved through our bus ministry growing in the Lord. Many Baptist leaders discourage this ministry; however, I cannot believe a church can win and disciple its com-munity without this vibrant work for God. Our people not only work at convincing people to attend church

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but also go out during the week training and discipling them. Our church would be deprived of much of its op-portunity to obey the Great Commission without it.

As exciting as this is, though, watching hundreds of our children growing up for God is my greatest thrill after pastoring Fairhaven Baptist Church for 42 years.

Not all of our parents follow the Bible and our preach-ing concerning the family, but it is wonderful to realize that dozens and dozens will be joining our ranks in God’s army over the next ten years. There are over fifty “twenty-somethings” in our services who grew up here. As we watch our country and the independent Baptist movement as a whole weakening and leaving its principles, it is great to be in an independent Baptist church that can look forward to the strongest crop of young adults in its history.

I daydream about people who grew up here and are already scattered across our land and even around the world touching our globe for God; yet, if the Lord tarries, He will have a stream of young recruits for years

to come who I believe will stand for Him no matter what pressure comes. I see an actual resistance to producing strong young people who will fight for what is right, but that is still the number one goal of Fairhaven Baptist Church.

christmas programsAs with most Baptist churches, we try to use the

Christmas season to evangelize the community. We had a large float in the Chesterton Christmas parade, trying to spread the true meaning of this holiday. Then our 3rd-6th graders put on a Christmas program with hundreds

of parents and visitors coming and hearing the gospel preached. Fairhaven’s annual Ch r i s tmas Mus i c Night drew hundreds again who would nor-mally never enter our doors. We try to do anything that is right in order to bring people to Christ.

preaching conference april 21-25, 2013

As spring draws closer, we are looking forward to Fairhaven Baptist College’s annual Preaching Confer-ence April 21-25. Every year the preaching is chal-lenging and many decisions are made. This year Gary Gilmore, Don Strange, Rodger Bottrell, Wilbert Unger, Courtney Lewis, and Don Whitecar are speaking. Plan to join us. The music is uplifting, and the fellowship with like believers is needed more than ever. We negotiate special rates in area motels, and our people open their homes to those who would like to stay in them.

—Dr. Roger Voegtlin

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Dealing With Sinby Pastor Steve Damron

Recently, I was asked if sometimes we are harsh and lack compassion when we deal with sin. Parents approach us with this question when their son or daughter has been in trouble. I was pondering this thought recently when a speaker pointed out a couple of verses that I thought were interesting.

James 4:6-10, “But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”

Most of us have read these passages and have heard messages on the subject of drawing close to God, but what interested me was to whom God desires to give grace. He doesn’t give grace and extend His compassion to a haughty sinner. He says He resists them. Resisting arrogant and haughty sin in the church is actually Christ-likeness.

Most people do not study the Scriptures with an attitude of finding God’s meaning. Rather, we study and interpret Scriptures to fit our personal agenda. God does not expect a pastor or a church to accept sin. He wants a clean and pure church. So, over the next few paragraphs, I would like to review how a person and church should deal with sin by looking at Scripture.

What is our responsibility as a church when sin comes in our congregation? The Bible is very clear in the New Testament as to what we are to do. Let’s consider some passages.

Romans 16:17-18, “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.”

I Corinthians 5:1, “It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so

It was a joy to have Eli and Mari-lyn Schrock and their children here for a year of furlough. They are faithfully serving God at Victory Baptist Church in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father’s wife.”

I Corinthians 5:7-11, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.”

We could also go to Philippians 3:17-19, II Thessalo-nians 3:6-15, and also II and III John.

The Bible is very clear. If someone does not agree with our doctrine and the manner of life that we believe the Bible has commanded us to keep, we should let others know and be warned to stay away from them. We then should mark those who are going against this and have no com-pany with them. In dealing with some people in regards to these Scriptures, the only verse that they seem to know is II Thessalonians 3:15, where the Bible says to treat them not as an enemy but as a brother. I understand this concept, but treating someone as a brother means I will pray for him to repent of his sin.

Most do not have a clear understanding of the Scrip-ture, and then they quote Matthew 18 all the time to keep anyone from saying anything. What they don’t understand is that Matthew 18 is not where I go to as a church leader to understand how to deal with sin. Instead, I go to Romans, I Corinthians, Philippians, and II Thessalonians that were all written to the churches of those specific regions. This helps us understand the duty of a church. Matthew 18 es-tablishes that if two church members have a squabble, the church has the authority to deal with the matter. The other passages tell the church leadership to deal harshly with sin when it raises its head in the congregation.

I am saddened that in our country so many pastors and leaders do not seem to want to go to the Bible to get clarification on how to handle problems or issues in their church. We prefer to call others and see what they are do-ing or we go to a bookstore to get some insight from some author of which we know nothing concerning their affiliation or biblical beliefs. We must get back to the place that the Bible is our sole authority in faith and practice.

Another area where we do not want to deal with sin is in our homes. I was studying recently for a message and was reminded of Eli and his sons. Please pay attention closely as you read the texts in I Samuel 2 and 3.

I Samuel 2:11-17, “And Elkanah went to Ramah to his house. And the child did minister unto the LORD before Eli the priest. Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD. And the priests’ custom with the people was, that, when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a fleshhook of three teeth in his hand; And he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or

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AnnualPreaching

Conference

April 21-25, 2013

If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him

that believeth.

Mark 9:23b

Gary GillmoreSouth Bend, Indiana

Don StrangeFort Myers, Florida

Wilbert UngerLondon, Ontario

Canada

Roger VoegtlinHost Pastor

Don WhitecarBelize, Central America

Courtney LewisChicago, Illinois

Rodger BottrellLyons, New York

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faIThDr. Roger Voegtlin

This morning I would like to preach on faith. I want to make a statement for you to digest. Faith is the key to a victo-rious Christian life. Without it you have nothing. I fought the call to preach and didn’t want to be a preacher. I was afraid, but do you know what kicked me into gear? When I really realized what faith was. Turn to Hebrews 11, the Bible “Hall

of Fame.” We read the word faith 23 times in this chapter alone. Fifteen great Bible characters are named here, and all had one thing in common—faith. Now, listen closely and believe what I’m going to say here. Every one of us must have a practical working faith that gets things from God, or we will fail or have a cold “works” salvation.

Look at verses 1 through 3. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Now notice three words in verse four—“By faith Abel…” Verse five—“By faith Enoch…” Seven—“By faith Noah…” Eight—“By faith Abraham…” Eleven—“Through faith Sara…” Everything that has been accomplished for God—whether it was in the Old Testament, New Testament, or in present times—has been through faith.

Every person sitting here needs faith to see results. We need faith to have a productive life. We all need to get to the place in our Christian lives where we have to see God work, see God perform. We’re having family classes on Thursday nights, and if you recall, I gave one verse after another, all on how we need to discipline our children. Now, if you just read these, close your Bible, and go on, your chil-dren won’t be any different than the world’s. You must have faith to say, “God said this.” Whether or not it seems harsh compared to the teachings of today, God says to spank your kids. I went to jail because I believed the Bible when it said to spank your kids. I didn’t think I could raise my children without doing it the Bible way. That’s not anything special, that’s just faith.

Faith is a very practical thing. I don’t want a life without faith. I don’t want a marriage that doesn’t go according to the Bible, and that means without faith. I’ve got to see some things in my life that can only be explained by the supernatu-ral. In other words, I want to see God work through my life, but it only happens when I take the Bible, apply it to my life, do what He says to do, and by faith accept that He’s going to do something. I’ve got to see faith in my home. I’ve got to see faith moving in our church, or I can’t be satisfied. We all need to see faith at work. We should not be satisfied with “maneuvering” to make ourselves look like a good Christian but not seeing faith in action.

Look at Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him.” Now, could it be clearer? It’s impossible to please God without faith. What does that mean? It’s impossible to live the life of the Bible without faith. It’s im-

possible to have the marriage you should have without faith. It’s impossible to give as the Bible teaches to give without faith. It’s a practical thing. The world hears that Christians believe in tithing and giving to God. The world says, “How can you do that? You can’t do that.” But you do it by faith, and it’s not just a blind faith. “But without faith it is impos-sible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…” Now again, I always suggest that you take the passages from the messages and have them for your devotions. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is…”

It’s not just a formality or a tradition. You believe there is a God, and you believe this is God’s Word. “…and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” God says you are to dress modestly. You don’t say, “I dress modestly because Pastor Voegtlin preaches it.” You dress modestly because the Bible says it and because you have faith, and you know that is the only way to really succeed as a Chris-tian. Hebrews 11:6 doesn’t say it is hard to please Him, does it? It doesn’t say it’s difficult to please Him, does it? It’s impossible. We ought to have a faith that gets things from God. I don’t mean that in a selfish way, but so that we can see God work through our life.

In Luke 18 Jesus asked, “When the Son of man co-meth, shall he find faith on the earth?” Ask yourself, if Jesus came today, would He find a vibrant, well-exercised, strong faith in your life? Does He see faith working in our lives now? And, oh, we need it, don’t we? We’ve been at war in the Middle East for over ten years, and we’ve got a Com-mander in Chief who really doesn’t believe in what’s going on. I would not like to be in the military at this time. It’s a scary, scary thing. Think about sodomites. Sodomites in America are protected by law, and Christians are shown as being weird. Think about the day we live in. Abortionists are protected by law, and Christians, those who really founded the country, are thought of as being weird. Let it sink in. Maybe you’re here and you think abortion is okay, that it’s okay to take a little defenseless baby and kill it. Think about the Holocaust. Everybody feels that was the most horrible time when Hitler and Germany killed millions of Jews. Read about it. I’ve been to their death camps, and it’s horrifying to think about it. But I think what we’re doing in America in killing defenseless babies is worse. What kind of day do we live in that we can, as a country, see this happen and our leadership defend it?

Now, you might be saying, “Well, where is God?” He’s on the throne. He taught in His Word that this would happen. He blessed our country when we followed His Word. I’m not saying the majority were Christians, but our laws were according to His Word, and He blessed our country more mightily than any country in the history of the world. But now, He can’t bless us. Look at the public schools. They kicked God out of them. Today people say, “Oh, there should be separation of church and state.” Don’t you understand what that means in our history? It means we’re not to have a Church of England. It means that we’re not supposed to

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have some denomination run the country. But if you read our history and our forefathers—Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln—they didn’t feel that we shouldn’t have Christianity in our life. We were formed as a Christian nation, and in our schools, students learned to read in the Bible. The Bible was taught. But not only has God been kicked out of the public schools, but everything in the public schools is being done to make God look bad.

The same thing can be said about television. Show me a Christian family on television. Show me anything Christian on television. And if perchance you could find little tidbits somewhere, I’ll show you a thousand things that are anti-Christian. Forty percent of the internet is pornography. God said that this would happen. Don’t sit there and say, “Where is God? What’s wrong with God?” We are reaping as a country what we have sown. But this morning, what about you? What about me? We need a real, vibrant, working faith if we are going to do something in this country, if we’re going to survive in this country. We need to see miracles. If something is going to be done in America, we need to see miracles.

Now, I want to ask, “Are you part of the miracle or part of the problem?” Do you have the kind of faith that will assure victory? In Matthew 9:29, Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you.” I want to stop and emphasize every one of these verses. “According to your faith.” That’s the kind of Christian life you’re going to have. That’s the kind of marriage you’re going to have. That’s the kind of children you’re going to have. That’s the kind of church you’re going to have. Your life will be successful or you will fail according to the amount of faith that you have. You’ll never see anything greater than what your faith brings—your finances, your ministry, souls saved. It’s not, “Well, God will take care of things.” I don’t find that in the Bible. It’s according to your faith.

Again, go back to the family. If you don’t spank your kids, you’re not going to have good kids. It’s according to your faith. If you don’t give and take care of your money the way God teaches, then you’re not going to have right finances. You’ll go no further than your faith goes. You’re going to witness to somebody, and the devil says, “Well, he’ll never get saved,” and you back off. Faith says, “I’ll trust God.” As far as money is concerned, you say, “Well, I can’t give.” So you sit around and feel sorry for yourself.

As far as children are concerned, you allow them to sit and play on the computer. I got rid of my television at least 40 years ago because it was time consuming. Back then, they didn’t have the filth there is today. I didn’t sit and watch it a lot, either. It was just that I couldn’t totally control it. Every couple of weeks I would turn it on, and I’d see a good John Wayne movie. I would sit and watch the John Wayne movie, and it might be midnight and he’d come on again. So I’d watch the second John Wayne movie. That’s why I got rid of our television—because it’s a waste of time. Now it’s much worse than a waste of time. I’m not saying that the computer is sin, but my kids would not have the internet, and they surely wouldn’t be on Facebook. They would have nothing to do with it. I think you sin against them if you allow them to have these things. They are not just a waste of time, they are wicked.

Romans 1:17 says, “The just shall live by faith.” That means you don’t say, “Well, what are the repercussions go-ing to be?” No, you say, “I’m going to do what God wants me to do by faith.” Now most of you know the name Lester Roloff. I knew him well. He preached in our church many times. Now why do people know the name Lester Roloff? Only one thing—the word faith. He was willing to stand up against the “powers that be” and say, “Bless God, you do whatever you want to do to me, I’m not changing.” That’s what made him.

Romans 14:23 says, “…whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” If you’re not handling your money by faith, you’re in sin. If you’re not handling your marriage by faith, you’re in sin. If your ministry isn’t accomplished by faith, you’re in sin. You can’t get around it. The Bible couldn’t be any more clear. We can’t live without faith. We cannot make it in life without it. If we don’t have faith, we will sin. If we don’t have faith, we’ll let our kids slide and have the wrong friends and do the wrong things, and we’ll just be one of those zombies. I see people who used to attend this church, whose lives are ruined, because they didn’t have faith. If we don’t have faith, we won’t be a bold witness. If we don’t have faith, we’ll just miss church. “…whatsoever is not of faith is sin.” Let it sink in. Don’t give excuses. Everything we do ought to be an outflow of our faith.

Successful Christian living is living by faith. II Corinthi-ans 5:7, “…we walk by faith, not by sight.” I John 5:4, “…this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith.” How many times does God have to say it? When was the last time you exercised your faith and you saw something happen that never would have happened without your faith? The Bible teaches that as a Christian you’ll succeed or fail according to your faith. “According to your faith be it unto you.” That means, you get up in the morning and you read some Bible. People say, “How much should you read?” Read enough until you get something out of it. A new Christian asked me recently, “Where should I start? In Genesis?” No. Get in the New Testament. You’re not going to understand Genesis too much. Get in the New Testament. Get in John, get in Romans. Read the Bible. Read until you get something out of it, and then pray. Pray specifically, pray for wisdom, pray for faith, pray for your family. Pray for things that you need. And just live your life. Be in church when the doors are opened, give what God lays upon your heart, witness to people whom God lays upon your heart.

Let me ask you, are you satisfied? I’m not, but those who see the least from God seem to be the most satisfied. I think it’s because they’re dead. Now we don’t know who wrote Hebrews, but, again, faith is mentioned 23 times in this chapter. What we’re being taught is that we must have faith today just as the Christians did from the beginning of time. The chapter starts with Abel and Enoch. That was before the flood, then he talks about Noah after the flood, then Abraham, Isaac, and Joseph. Then he gets into the age of the Israelites, starting with Moses, and by the end he might be talking about the apostolic era. The point be-ing that they all not only survived but succeeded and were victorious—they conquered by faith. It doesn’t matter where or when you live, the only thing that brings victory is faith.

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In verse one, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” They knew what faith was. They lived by faith. Look at verse 13, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them, and embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

If you really stand for God in the home, in your fam-ily, in your ministry, you’ll learn what faith is. You’ll learn it day by day. Now, don’t wait until a crisis comes. Don’t wait until your marriage is ruined. Don’t wait until there is a crisis with your child or you lose your health, and you say, “What happened? What can I do?” The problem with many Christians, and I might even say most Christians today, is they have no more faith than the unsaved. Why don’t you cry out for it in your life now, so that when the lion comes you’ll have victory? You’ll be strong.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is not blind optimism. It’s not the power of positive thinking. “Look for the best, keep your mind under control, and everything will be fine.” That’s not faith. Faith is not wishing, throwing pennies into a wishing well, or making a wish before you blow out candles on the cake. Some think that faith is having a strong will. That might work in politics or on the job, but it’s not faith. Real faith must be in God—a faith that finds the promises in the Bible. Find the promises about your marriage, about raising kids, about having wisdom, about finances. The Bible is full of them. Find the promises in the Bible, and then have a faith that walks with God in prayer, and a faith that can find God’s will and believe that He’ll bring it to pass. Once you know what God’s will is, you’ve got to believe. Quit dream-ing about what you want in life, stop wishing about what you want—joy and peace, or a miracle. Get a vital faith built on something—built on the Word of God.

Faith is a substance. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” That is substance, the Word of God. The things we need cannot be seen, they are not in our hands, but faith can put those things in our hands. Your children are not right, and you’re afraid. Pray for wisdom, pray for knowledge, pray for understanding. Listen to the preaching, get into the Word, see the needs, get them right, understand? Don’t reason in a human way. Pray, “Open my eyes.” Spank consistently. Talk to them in wisdom, make right decisions, and by faith He can give you the Bible kids that you want. The same thing can be said about marriage, but you must have faith. If you’re the man, you must have faith to love your wife as the Bible says to. You’ve got to have faith to lead, men. That’s what men are afraid of today. They’re afraid of their wives. Some of you “he-men,” if you could just see yourself from the outside. It’s written on your forehead—you follow your wife. “Yes, ma’am.” Have faith. Love, lead, be strong.

Again, you think you can’t give what God would have you to give. Look at God’s Word on the subject, pray for His will, and just give. What I’ve found is that most people, especially younger Christians, don’t have a budget. If you

just make a budget, there will be extra money you won’t know what to do with. Just stop drinking, just stop smok-ing, stop gambling, whatever it is that God doesn’t want you to do. Faith, it takes faith to “seek ye first the kingdom of God,” and then trust Him to give the rest—not the other way around. That’s faith. It makes the unseen seen. It makes the intangible tangible. It makes the desire a reality. If your faith is not doing this, you have an inactive faith. You need to kick it. You need to get it started.

When was the last time you came to a huge wall, and it seemed to be impossible? What do most Christians do when they get there? They weasel around and try to make themselves look good. When was the last time God got you over or through it? You see, that’s faith. Not “weaseling,” not looking good, but saying, “God, what do you want me to do in this matter?” Maybe it seems impossible to have a right marriage. Women, what does God say your place is? Be in submission. “Well, you don’t know my husband.” I don’t have to. But most Christian women don’t have the faith to be in submission. They’re going to do it their way.

Practical faith. Verse 2, “For by it the elders obtained a good report.” This is talking about those listed here in chapter 11. Abel, Noah, Abraham, the author is saying that at the end of their lives God could see that they made the right decisions and gained the right results through living by faith. They saw miracles. You see, in most cases, we would have just changed course and never seen the miracle. I’m convinced most Christians never see miracles in their life because they don’t have the faith to see the miracles. Now, how about it? How is your marriage? How are your children? How about souls? What about a crisis? I’d like to see more souls saved. I’d like to see people healed, I’d like to see families turned to God.

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Through faith we believe this. Through faith we believe Genesis chapter one. Now, I’m sure there are plenty of public school people here who believe evolution is a fact. Evolution teaches pre-existent matter. Now what they teach, basically, is that there was an amœba in some slime pit, and some way, through the forces of nature it became a tadpole. I don’t know how, but it became a tadpole. And after a while, it crawled out onto land. And then it became a monkey, and then it became a man, and he’s teaching at the University of Indiana. That takes a lot of faith.

I was just gaining my faith when I went to Iowa State University, and I fought with those professors. They do not have the answers. According to them it all started with pre-existing matter, but by faith we believe verse three. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” We’ve got to believe this, and we’ve got to believe Genesis. We believe that all things we see now were created by Almighty God. Years ago I set up a debate between some Bible professors and the professors from Valparaiso University, supposedly a Christian university, on evolution and creationism. We had it all set up, but they didn’t show up. They were afraid to

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show up because they didn’t have the answers. Our faith here is based on a miracle.

Real present day faith is when we don’t have any hope—nothing we can hang onto. But through faith in God’s Word, faith in prayer we see an answer. I’ve seen that more than once. We obtain what we need. That’s faith, and we can all have it. In this chapter, we see what faith did with these people. Look at verse four, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice.” Verse five, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death.” Verse seven, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house.” Eight, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” You will be successful in your life, in your mar-riage, in your child rearing, in your ministry, in your finances according to your faith. That’s it.

Now I want to end this message by looking at Sarah. Sarah believed that God was able to change nature for her. Mary was an offspring of Sarah, and she did the same thing, but verse 11 says, “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” Now what does that mean? She was 90, and Abraham was 99. Now some of you 90-year-old women, 99-year-old husbands, how would you like to have a baby? You say, “It’s impossible.” But by faith it happened. An angel came and announced that Abraham and Sarah would have a son. Abraham said, “I have no seed.” Sarah laughed. Isaac means “laughter.” And in verse 12 we read, “Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.” He was the father of the Jews, and for thousands of years they have come and gone.

Missionary Clint Rardin translated Pastor Voegtlin’s evening message on the Eighth anniversary Sunday of Liberty Baptist Church. almost 200 people came to the morning service with three trusting Christ as Savior. Clint and Rhonda work diligently and tirelessly for the Lord in Mexico City and have seen God working in their family, church, and fledgling Christian school.

God took a woman past child-bearing age and over-shadowed her by His power and gave her a baby at 90 years old. Sarah believed that God was bigger than nature itself. She had faith, and Jesus asked, “Where is your faith?” You say, I don’t believe that stuff. Then you’re probably on your way to hell. But if you’re a Christian, you believe. It doesn’t matter what’s happening around you. If you believe, you put it into action. You do what the Bible says. Matthew 9:29 says, “According to your faith be it unto you.” Now have you tried putting it into action? What do you need? Is your marriage what it ought to be? Stop making excuses, and stop living in the flesh. What do you need? Are your children all that they ought to be? Then put it into action. Don’t just say it can’t be. Finances? Put it into action. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Get into the Word of God, believe it, try it, and see it happen.

Rob Oetman grew up in Michigan. When he was a teen, a fam-ily from his church re-turned from a vacation at the Indiana Dunes State Park, during which they had attended nearby Fairhaven Baptist Church and picked up information about Fairhaven’s annual Preaching Conference and College Days. Rob’s pastor was interested and organized a group of teens to attend. That is

graDuateS arounD the WorlD

how Rob first learned of Fairhaven.Eventually, Rob enrolled at Fairhaven Baptist College,

where he met his wife. She was a former “bus kid” from Minnesota. After graduation, Rob was involved in church planting in Madison, Wisconsin; and several years later, God directed Rob to the mission field of Korea, where he has labored for the past fourteen years.

While in Korea, Rob has worked as an assistant to Pastor Eum of the Seoul First Baptist Church. This church is committed to training Korean nationals through the Seoul Baptist Bible College and Seminary, a ministry of their church. Rob serves as the academic dean.

This year will be a transition time for the Oetman family. Recently, Rob was voted in as the next pastor of Yongsan Baptist Church, also in Seoul. For years, Missionary Dave Lewis has pastored this church ministering primarily to U.S. servicemen. Now that the military is moving south out of Seoul, Yongsan will transition to a Korean-speaking congre-gation with Rob as pastor.

Rob and Brenda have three children: Robby, Amanda, and Matthew. They are anticipating wonderful days ahead in their work for God in Korea.

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meet a fairhaven StuDent genetic entropy by Jeremiah Mitchell

ConclusionOne final discussion—how did Noah fit all the animals

into the ark? And, what does that have to do with genetic entropy? There are thousands of species today and many exclaim, “There wouldn’t have been room for Noah to bring along all the animals that are represented in the world to-day.” A biblical understanding of genetic entropy actually solves that mystery, too. DNA is breaking down in various species within a kind. Noah only had to take two of each “kind.” God created a number of different types of animals with much capacity for variation within limits.

For example, horses, zebras, and donkeys probably descended from an equine kind. Dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals probably descended from a canine kind. All domestic cattle probably descended from the aurochs. Nar-rowing down the species into kinds would allow for plenty of room on the ark, the genetic information being present within the parent kind. There is a great deal of human diversity today but all of that genetic information was present in the three sons of Noah and their wives. It is the same for the animal world.

How does a new species develop? Well, let’s say a bird loses genetic information in such a way that its plum-age changes colors slightly. Other birds of the same spe-cies wouldn’t recognize it in order to mate and, therefore, it would either die off or find another bird which had similarly lost information. They would recognize each other and their offspring would resemble them. Over time a new species is born. Someone once said, “I believe Adam named the cocker spaniel because the Bible says he named all the animals and I believe the Bible.” While I appreciate loyalty to Scripture, the simple fact is that the DNA of the canine kind didn’t break down into the breed we know as the “cocker spaniel” until thousands of years later. Adam would have named the canine kind.

The various species that develop from a kind are not an advanced form of that kind but a variation of that kind drawing more heavily on a certain portion of the DNA. The fact to consider is that information is never added to the DNA. Information is only ever drawn from existing information in the parents. The information itself is never passed along in its entirety, and, therefore, there is a loss of information. This is what we are discussing, genetic entropy.

Something is, however, being added to our DNA—mu-tations. While mutations might, in a strange way, help the person, they are never an improvement in the quality of the DNA. An example would be the house dog. It survives much better in cities than the wolf. Is this because the wolf evolved into the house dog? No. As information was lost, some of the wolf canine became weaker and weaker, and humans preferred the weak species to live with them in their home.

What about flu season? I am always hearing about some new evolved “bug” that is threatening to devastate portions of the population. Someone dug up an animal that had been frozen for many years. The bacteria in that animal was found to have antibiotic resistance well before the evolu-

In 2010, at the age of forty-one, John Kuhn returned to school. He and his eldest daughter, eighteen-year-old Cassandra, enrolled together as freshmen at Fairhaven Baptist College.

John grew up in Baltimore in a Catholic home. He joined the Army at 17 years old, just out of high school. His twenty years of military service took him to Virginia, Italy, New Jersey, Germany, Maryland, Korea, North Carolina, and New York. Also, he spent part of the summer of 2002 in Afghanistan, serving in Operation Enduring Freedom.

As a 24-year-old, while stationed at Fort Dix, New Jer-sey, an elderly Christian neighbor couple befriended John and his wife, Tracey. In December, John asked the man to do a Bible study with him about the real story of Christmas. The neighbor began by explaining the Biblical account of Christmas, and then proceeded to take John to the book of Romans, showing him the plan of salvation. John was saved that night.

John heard of Fairhaven at several churches he at-tended during his military years. Among them were Freder-ick Baptist Church in Maryland and Younsan Baptist Church in Seoul, South Korea, pastored by missionary David Lewis. John’s last assignment in the Army took him to New York, where he joined Heritage Baptist Church of Endicott. Cas-well Reeves pastors this church known for strong families and an emphasis on the local church.

When John retired at the age of 37 after twenty years of service, God burdened him with a call to preach. When he surrendered, he chose Fairhaven Baptist College because of its high standards and local church stance.

Both John and his daughter, Cassandra, are now in their junior years of college. His other children, Miranda, Rebekah, and Jacob, are students in Fairhaven Baptist Academy. John knew that moving with his family to attend Bible college would have its challenges, yet he saw it as an opportunity to exercise his faith.

His work on an area bus route and a nursing home has enabled him to see actual lives affected through hands-on ministry. He loves the practical aspect of Fairhaven Baptist College, which he sees as not simply talking about the things of God, but participating in the life-changing work of God. He plans to apply the same philosophy to his future ministry.

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tion that was thought necessary would have had a chance to take place. What does this mean? Bacteria is breaking down, too. The doctor always tells you to take your whole dose of antibiotics, right? This is because of the various species (if you will) of bacteria making you sick. If you kill off 90% of the bacteria but stop there, the bacteria that are left will be more dangerous. The remaining 10% would have genetic information that allows them to be more resistant; and if given the chance to populate, the characteristics of the overall bacteria type will be different. New “species” of bacteria are being formed just like in the animal world, and new drugs are necessary to combat them. Evolution is not taking place.

Instead of evolving, we are losing genetic information and gaining genetic mutations. This information taken by itself is depressing, but there are always various ways to look at facts. Upon Biblical analysis—God is wonderful! Instead of breaking down quickly into genetic sludge, He made our DNA with seemingly infinite variety. Our DNA has been breaking down for thousands of years and yet we can look around and see a wonderful, diverse race with such potential. God is also merciful! He controls how fast our DNA deteriorates. Our Bible is certain and accurate. Instead of feeling ashamed that our Bible doesn’t seem to agree with science, we need to proclaim boldly that when science doesn’t submit to Scripture, it is science “falsely so-called.” Science, seen through the eyes of Biblical faith, makes sense. It is the unbelieving scientist who deserves the acting award for pretending to find certainty in his laws without acknowledging the Great Legislator of the true laws of the universe.

caldron, or pot; all that the fleshhook brought up the priest took for himself. So they did in Shiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also before they burnt the fat, the priest’s servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, Give flesh to roast for the priest; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw. And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer him, Nay; but thou shalt give it me now: and if not, I will take it by force. Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.”

I Samuel 3:11-13, “And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will per-form against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.”

The idea of restraint was not foreign to me, but the word intrigued me so I looked up some of the other uses and it really helped me in understanding my duty as a father.

Deuteronomy 34:7, “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.”

Ezekiel 21:6-7, “Sigh therefore, thou son of man, with the breaking of thy loins; and with bitterness sigh before their eyes. And it shall be, when they say unto thee, Wherefore sighest thou? that thou shalt answer, For the tidings; be-cause it cometh: and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be feeble, and every spirit shall faint, and all knees shall be weak as water: behold, it cometh, and shall be brought to pass, saith the Lord GOD.”

Zechariah 11:17, “Woe to the idol shepherd that lea-veth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.”

What do these verses have to do with restraint? The idea was that the eye was darkened or that the vision was dimmed. The thought was clear to me as I studied. God intended for me in my home to have my eyes open to the sins of my children and not to turn a blind eye to them. In so many homes today, parents do not want to take respon-sibility for the restraining of their children. They want the school or the church or the youth pastor to do the work. When something goes haywire, they can always blame somebody else because they themselves could not have been responsible.

We can get mad at our nation and the lack of re-sponsibility that seems to be growing astronomically at the same rate that our national debt seems to be growing, but as Christians we must not make the same mistake in our homes. Our prayer should be that our lives would emulate Moses, who was at the end of his life and his vision was not darkened. We must as fathers learn to seek God’s wisdom and clarity of sight so that sin will not be tolerated in our homes.

Dealing with Sin...from page 2

Liberty Baptist Church in Mexico City has outgrown its auditorium. Two of our church members, Dean Leslie and Bruce Leake, recently returned from Mexico, having helped to remodel a larger room for their services, move the baptistery, build changing rooms, and construct a new kitchen and storage area. Work is still underway to complete the project, and we are thrilled with the way God is blessing the ministry there.

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home-makingby Rev. J. R. Miller, D. D.(Originally published in 1882)

The Wedded LifeThe benediction that falls upon the homes of a country

is like the gentle rain that descends among the hills. A thou-sand springs are fuller afterward, and along the banks of a thousand streamlets flowing through the valleys the grass is greener and the flowers pour out richer fragrance.

Homes are the springs among the hills, whose many streamlets, uniting, form, like great rivers, society, the com-munity, the nation, the Church. If the springs run low the rivers waste; if they pour out bounteous currents the rivers are full. If the springs are pure the rivers are clear like crystal; if they are foul the rivers are defiled. A curse upon the homes sends a poisoning blight everywhere; a blessing sends healing and new life into every channel.

Homes are the divinely ordained fountains of life. It is not by accident that men live in families rather than solitarily. The human race began in a family, and Eden was a home. The divine blessing has ever rested upon nations and com-munities just in the measure in which they have adhered to these original institutions and have kept marriage and the home pure and holy; and blight and curse have come just in the measure in which they have departed from these divine models, dishonoring marriage and tearing down the sacred walls of home.

Back of the home lies marriage. The wedding day throws its shadow far down the future; it may be, ought to be, a shadow of healing and benediction. In a tale of me-dieval English life a maiden goes before the bridal party on their way to church, strewing flowers in their path. This was meant to signify that their wedded life should be one of joy and prosperity. Almost universally wedding ceremonies and festivities have some feature of similar significance, imply-ing that the occasion is one of gladness. In some countries flowers are worn as bridal wreaths. In some they are woven into garlands for the waist, the tying of the ends being a part of the ritual. In others they are carried in the hand or worn in the hair or on the bosom. Music comes in also, always joyous music, implying that the ceremony is one of peculiar gladness. In some places, too, wedding bells are rung, their peals being merry and gladsome.

All these and similar bridal customs indicate that the world regards the wedding as the crowning day of life, and marriage as an event of the highest felicity, an occasion for the most enthusiastic congratulations. Yet not always are these happy prophecies fulfilled. Sometimes the flowers wither and the music grows discordant and the wedding peals die away into a memory only of gladness. It ought not to be so. It is not so when the marriage has been true, and when the wedded life is ruled by love. Then the bridal wreath remains fresh and fragrant till it is laid upon the coffin by the loving hands of the one who survives to close the eyes of the other; and the wedding music and the peals of the bells continue to echo in tones of gladness and peace until hushed in the sobbings of sorrow when the singers sing in dirges and the bells toll out the number of the finished years.

Marriage is intended to bring joy. The married life is meant to be the happiest, fullest, purest, richest life. It is God’s own ideal of completeness. It was when he saw that it was not good for man to be alone that woman was made and brought to him to supply what was lacking. The divine intention, therefore, is that marriage shall yield happiness, and that it shall add to the fullness of the life of both husband and wife; that neither shall lose, but that both shall gain. If in any case it fails to be a blessing and to yield joy, and a richer, fuller life, the fault cannot be with the institution itself, but with those who under its shadow fail to fulfill its conditions.

The cause of failure may lie back of the marriage altar, for many are united in matrimony who never should have entered upon such a union; or they may lie in the life after marriage, for many who might attain to the very highest happiness in wedded life, fail to do so because they have not learned the secret of living happily together.

To guard against the former mistake the sacred char-acter and the solemn responsibilities of marriage should be well understood and thoughtfully considered by all who would enter upon it. Marriage is a divine ordinance. It was part of God’s original intention when he made man. It is not a mere human arrangement, something that sprang up in the race as a convenience along the history of the ages. It was not devised by any earthly lawgiver. It is not a habit into which men fell in the early days. The stamp of divine intention and ordination is upon it.

As a relationship it is the closest and most sacred on earth. The relation of parent and child is very close. Chil-dren are taught in all the Scriptures to honor their parents, to revere them, to cleave to them, to brighten and bless their lives in every possible way. Yet the marriage relation is put above the filial, for a man is to leave his father and his mother, give up his old home with all its sacred ties and memories, and cleave to his wife. After marriage a husband’s first and highest duties are to his wife, and a wife’s to her husband. The two are to live for each other. Life is to be lost for life. Every other interest is thenceforward secondary to the home interest.

Then the marriage relation is indissoluble. The two become in the fullest, truest sense one. Each is incomplete before; marriage is the uniting of two halves in one complete whole. It is the knitting together of two lives in a union so close and real that they are no more twain, but one; so close that nothing save death or the one crime of infidelity to the marriage bond itself can disunite them. Marriage, therefore, is not a contract which can be annulled at the will of one or both of the parties. It may be discovered after the marriage has been formed that the parties are ill mated; one may find in the other traits or habits unsuspected before which seem to render happiness in union impossible; the husband may be cruel and abusive or the wife ill tempered, thriftless or a burden; yet the Scriptures are very explicit in their teach-ings, that the tie once formed is indissoluble. There is one crime, said the pure and holy Jesus, which committed by either, leaves the guilty one as dead, the other free. But besides this the teaching of Christ recognizes no other lawful sundering of the marriage tie. When two persons stand at the marriage altar and with clasped hands promise before God and in the presence of human witnesses to take each

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other as wife and husband, to keep and to cherish each the other, only death can unclasp their hands. Each takes into sacred keeping the happiness and the highest good of the other to the end of life.

In view of the sacredness and indissolubleness of this relation, and the many tender and far reaching interest that inhere in it, it is but the simplest commonplace to say that the greatest care should be taken before marriage to make sure that the union will be a true one, that the two lives will sweetly blend together, and that each will be able to make the other at least measurable happy. Yet obvious as is the fact, none the less is it profoundly important that it should be heeded. If there were more wise and honest forethought with regard to marriage, there would be less afterthought of regret and repenting.

A word may fitly be spoken here concerning the mar-riage formalities. The wedding day is one that should ever be remembered and held sacred among life’s anniversaries. It is the day whose benediction should fall on all other days to the end of life. It should stand out in the calendar bright with all the brightness of love and gratitude. The memory of the wedding hour in a happy married life should shine like a star, even in old age. It is surely worth while, therefore, to make the occasion itself just as delightful as possible, to gather about it and into it whatever will help to make it memorable, so that it shall stand out bright and sacred among all life’s days and hours. This is not done when the marriage is secret; there are no associations about the event in that case to make its memory a source of pleasure in after years. Nor is it done when, on the other hand, the occasion is made one of great levity or of revelry; the joy of marriage is not hilarious, but deep and quiet.

On the wedding day the happy pair should have about them their true friends, those whom they desire to hold in close relations in their after life. It is not time for insincerity; it is no place for empty professions of friendship. Everything about the circumstances, the festivities, the formalities, the marriage ceremony itself, the congratulation, should be so ordered as to cause no jar, no confusion, nothing to mar the perfect pleasure of the occasion, and so as to leave only the pleasantest memory behind. These may seem too insignificant matters for mention here, yet it is surely worth while to make the occasion of one’s wedding such that it shall always be remembered with a thrill of delight, with only happy associations and without one smallest incident or feature to mar the perfectness of its memory.

But it is when the wedding ceremony is over, and the two are one, that the life begins which has so many pos-sibilities of happiness, of growth, of nobleness of character, of heroism in living, of tender romance in loving. Angels hover about the marriage altar and hush their songs while hands are clasped and holy vows are plighted, and then spread their sheltering wings over the happy pair as they start out together on the voyage of life. The greatest bless-edness, the highest development of character, the noblest manhood and womanhood, the most perfect attainments in Christian life, are to be reached in the marriage relation, if it is made what God meant it to be. It will be the fault of those who wed, of one or of both, if marriage proves aught but a blessing, and if the happiness of either is wrecked in the voyage together.

Yet it must not be concluded that the bridal gate opens essentially into a Garden of Eden. Marriage is not the pana-cea for all life’s ills. It does not of itself lead invariably and necessarily to all that is noble and beautiful in life. While its possibilities of happiness and blessings are so great, its possibilities of failure must not be ignored. Only a true and wise, only the truest and wisest, wedded life will realize the blessings of the ideal marriage relation.

The first lesson to be learned and practiced is loving patience. It requires some time to bring any two lives into perfect unison, so that they shall blend in every chord and tone. No matter how intimate the relations may have been before, neither knows much of the real life of the other until they meet with every separating wall and every thinnest veil removed. —To be continued

Pastor Phil Clark was a blessing as he preached our Christmas Banquet. We enjoyed fellowshipping with him during that week along with Dr. David Cloud, who was here at the same time for a weeklong apologetics course on Biblical archaeology in our college.

Fairhaven Baptist College Master’s Programs

2013 Summer Course OfferingsMaster of Bible Courses

May 20-24 ApologeticsJune 10-14 Daniel August 19-23 Revelation August 19-23 I Corinthians

Master of Education Courses

June 3-7, 17-21 Philosophy of Education June 24-28, July 1-5 Teaching Reading Strategies Note: • The cost per course is $525. • Registration form and reservation fee ($100) is due

by Thursday, May 16.• Each summer course must be paid in its entirety

by the last day of class. • The Apologetics and I Corinthians courses can be

either undergraduate or Master’s level.

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OUR SChEDULE

SUNDAY SCHOOL .................. 9:45 a.m.PREACHING SERVICE ........ 10:45 a.m.EVENING SERVICE ................ 5:30 p.m.THURSDAY SERVICE ............ 7:00 p.m.

from fairhaven’s pulpitMany old-time warriors of the faith have passed on

and gone to heaven; and in many cases, there was not a man to pick up the baton and keep running the race. Our nation desperately needs young men to stand for old-fash-ioned Bible values, but sadly, most are comfortable in the world, enamored with the internet and social media, and cold to the will of God. In Ezekiel’s day, the Lord “sought for a man” to “stand in the gap,” but He found none. Will you pray, work, and strive with us to “stand in the gap” and “fight the good fight of faith”?

“Do You Bother the Devil?”“What Is Hidden in Your House?”“Two Legs or a Piece of an Ear”“Help for the Heart” — Pastor C. M. Mosley

“How To Have a Great Life” — Mr. Eric Ramos

“The Need for a Nazarite” — Pastor Courtney Lewis

“Why Most Independent Baptist Churches Will Be Emerging Within 20 Years”

— Dr. David Cloud

86 EaST OaK hILL ROaDChESTERTON, INDIaNa 46304-1399

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

These sermons are available on CD for $3 each through our bookstore. Some are also available through sermonaudio.com.

“Why Jesus Came” — Pastor Phil Clark

“Getting Close to God” — Mr. Dave Olson

“Let’s Get To Know the Office of the Pastor”“Faith” — Pastor Roger Voegtlin

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