FALL/WINTER 2017

GRACE FELLOWSHIP INTERNATIONAL

GRACE FELLOWSHIP INTERNATIONAL3914 Nellie Street | P. O. Box 368 | Pigeon Forge, TN 37868 | (865) 429-0450

www.GraceFellowshipInternational.com

ON-GOING REFORMATION Andrew Murray building had left the true foundation. Instead of justification by faith in Jesus Christ being the foundation of Christian life, the Church itself claimed power to forgive sin. Forgiveness could be obtained only through a priest; indeed it might be bought from a priest for money. The great work of Luther and Calvin was to lay anew the foundation of Jesus Christ, to the comfort of thousands of anxious souls. We can never thank God enough for the Reforma tion, when Jesus was proclaimed anew our righteousness—our peace with God.

That great work of Reformation was not accomplished in a day or a year. It took fifty years to establish the Reformation, and even after that time there were many priests whose conversion did not include the power of a holy life. Calvin himself said the Reformation was more in doctrine than in the lives of the people, and he felt deeply the need of the people to be taught and trained in the paths of righteousness. It was no wonder that so long as the foundation had to be relaid in the full truth of conversion and faith, there was delay in the building itself on the true foundation—a life of sanctification.

The Reformation is sometimes thought of as a return to Pentecost, but it was by no means that. Instead of brotherly love, separation from the world, and earnestness in preaching Christ by all who loved Him, there was much controversy among the Reformers. They trusted too much

[October 31st marked the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. On that day in 1517, Martin Luther posted the Ninety-Five Theses in Wittenberg, Germany. Five Latin phrases (or slogans) summarize the Reformers’ basic theological principles in contrast to certain teachings of the Roman Catholic Church of the day. Sola is Latin meaning “alone” or “only” and the corresponding phrases are:

• Sola Fide by faith alone• Sola Scriptura by Scripture alone• Solus Christus through Christ

alone• Sola Gratia by grace alone• Soli Deo Gloria glory to God alone

In the following article, South African pastor and author Andrew Murray (1828–1917) mentions the need for a continued Reformation in Christ’s church. — JBW]

The apostle Paul declared, “According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 3:10, 11).

“Not laying again the foundation…” These words of Hebrews 6:1 were certainly not applicable to the Reformation. In the course of centuries, the Church of Rome in

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Rob Clogg—British Columbia, Canada

Rob and Dottie Clogg continue serving in Vancouver, Canada. Rob counsels, mentors, and connects with leaders, inviting them to a new perspective on life and leading. Rob has taken on a new writing project for GFI and, together with Dottie, are excited about the launch of a breakfast fellowship model for those wanting a place to encourage one another and share experiences on their death and ‘new life’ in Christ.

Joe and Cherri Freeman—New Jersey

In July, Cherri and Joe had a wonderful opportunity to share their ministry on radio, being interviewed by Deb Moore for her program on LiftFM. In August, Joe gave his testimony at the Wildwood Boardwalk Chapel and, in September, at America’s Keswick. Joe has recently spoken at meetings at Bayside Chapel in Barnegat, NJ; other meetings this fall included Bethesda Mission in Harrisburg, PA, and West Davenport Free Baptist Church in Oneonta, NY. Please keep Joe in prayer as his health has continued to deteriorate. Hospice

care has been provided for him, yet Joe still keeps as active in ministry as possible. Love Them To Life continues to grow. All the LTTL group leaders met through a phone conference and talked about ministry ideas and the challenges they face. There are currently nine support groups that are either LTTL groups or are using Cherri’s book, Beside Still Waters, in their own support meetings.

Cross to Life Discipleship Ministries—Minnesota

The team of disciplers there has continued to provide their personalized twelve week process with men and women at their Edina office. This fall, two women from Arizona visited the ministry for an overview of CTLDM’s process, materials, and training. Cross to Life also facilitated a webinar taught by John Woodward on Thursday nights, September 14-October 12: Growing in Grace in Difficult Days. The ministry team is also preparing an “Advanced Discipleship Training” for local outreach, in the near future. This would be a comprehensive, nine month teaching, and your prayers would be appreciated.

AFFILIATES

ON-GOING REFORMATION (Continued) to the patronage of statesmen where these were kindly disposed towards them, and preaching was the work of ordained priests only, in contrast to the Pentecostal witnessing for Christ by all those who were constrained by His love.

“As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6,7)… As the roots of a tree receive life uninterruptedly from the soil, so the Christian receives his life and power moment by moment from abiding in Christ.

In the confessions of Faith drawn up by the Reformers, prominence is given to conversion, acceptance of Christ. ‘Justification’ and ‘justified’ are words in frequent use. But the word ‘sanctification’ is rarely found. Emphasis is laid on the doctrine of forgiveness of sin, of faith in

Christ as our righteous ness before God, but we find little about Christ living in us, and our life being rooted in Him. The Heidelberg Catechism gives the explanation of the Ten Commandments, but Christ’s commands in Matthew chapter 5 and John 13-16 are hardly mentioned.

Let us thank God for the Reformation as a time when the foundation truth of a crucified Savior was laid, but at the same time let us go on to perfection, to a daily uninterrupted walk in Christ wherein we may abound in faith, experiencing the abundance of grace from the fulness there is in Christ for us to enjoy daily. The earliest description of true godliness is in the words: “Enoch walked with God” (Gen. 5:24). So Christians must learn to walk in Christ daily, established in the faith and abounding in it.

—God’s Best Secrets (Nov. 18,19)

this article includes additional aspects about the impartation of righteousness. As wonderful as legal justification is, there is still more.

Being placed into God’s family at conversion is so miraculous, that no single theological term can describe all that is involved. For example, believers in Christ are spiritually made alive (regeneration), set apart for God (sanctification), sealed by the Holy Spirit, baptized into the Body of Christ, and transferred from the Kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son (Eph. 2:1; Heb. 10:10; Eph. 1:13; 1 Cor. 12:13; Col. 1:13)!

God not only imputes His righteousness legally, He also imparts His righteousness spiritually… and both come by grace through faith!

The legal and spiritual aspects of justification both occur at conversion. In spiritual justification, the believer’s spirit is given a righteous nature. When God declared you righteous, He also made you a new creation in Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). This creative work was not in the body (that will take place at Christ’s return), nor in the soul, but in the human spirit (1 Thess. 5:23).

Through the seed of the Word of God (1 Pet. 1:23) and the life-giving ministry of God’s Spirit (Titus 3:5), the believer’s spirit is re-created a new man. So, the old man (the unregenerate human spirit) was put off through identification with Christ’s death on the cross (Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:9; Gal. 2:20).

Because of this radical change in our essential nature, we are to “put on [behavior appropriate to] the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24). Paul testified that the believer’s recreated spirit now has a righteous nature: “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man [the regenerated human spirit]” (Rom. 7:22).

Although the flesh still is present to hinder the manifestation of righteousness in the believer’s character and conduct, the flesh is not considered the believer’s essential nature any longer (Gal. 5:16). Paul put it this way: “Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that

DIMENSIONS OF JUSTIFICATION John Woodward

Glimpses of Grace Page 3

The central theme of the Protestant Reformation was justification by faith. This biblical doctrine was (and is) contrary to the grace-plus-works plan of salvation decreed by the Roman Catholic Church.

Legal Justification: A New Standing

The good news of the gospel reveals the way of gaining righteousness: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe...being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:21-26).

This passage is the theological center point of the Bible. Here we learn that justification is based on what Jesus Christ accomplished once for all on the Cross. At Calvary, He set us free from the penalty of sin (redemption), by satisfying justice, thus averting divine wrath (propitiation). Christ’s resurrection demonstrated that His atonement was successful (Rom. 4:25)!

Christ’s atonement also paid for the sins of people who lived prior to His coming. These Old Testament believers had demonstrated their faith through the sacrificial system that God established to prefigure the substitutionary death of the Lord Jesus (Lev. 17:11; Isaiah 53:6).

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). This salvation is accomplished when a person repents and places true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Justification: A New Spiritual Nature

Although theological textbooks usually use the term ‘justification’ only for legal justification,

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dwells in me” (Rom. 7:20). While this does not exempt the child of God from responsibility in personal behavior, it is liberating to notice that the believer’s essential nature is fully on God’s side! No wonder Scripture speaks of God’s people as being partakers of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).

When someone is truly justified before God, this new standing and nature will be noticeable. The Lord Jesus declared that a tree is known by its fruit. Even so, the true believer is recognized (confirmed) by good fruit in his or her life (Matt. 7:16-20; James 2:14-26).

In summary, legal justification is what God does for us, spiritual justification is what God does in us, and practical righteousness is what God does through us.

Much of the New Testament calls God’s people to cultivate practical righteousness in their character and conduct (their soul and bodily actions). “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6).

The hymn writer, John Newton, lived a wretched life in his younger years, spending a decade involved in the African slave trade. After he was converted in 1748, he was filled with gratitude for the miracle of his justification. He eventually

DIMENSIONS OF JUSTIFICATION (Continued)

became a preacher and writer of beloved hymns such as Amazing Grace and How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds. In the London church where he served as pastor, there was placed an epitaph that Newton wrote for himself. It read, “Sacred to the memory of John Newton, once a libertine and blasphemer and slave of slaves in Africa, but renewed, purified, pardoned, and appointed to preach that Gospel which he had labored to destroy!”

If you have been justified legally and spiritually, will you—like John Newton—devote yourself to cooperate with God in righteous living and faithful ministry?

The more we appreciate the blessings of our justification, the more inclined we will be to live consistently with our new standing, nature, and calling. The apostle Peter links this motive with our redemption by Christ, “who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness...” (1 Peter 2:24).

Abridged from a three part series on GraceNotebook.com: Made Right to Live Right: A Study of Justification

Tyndale House has engaged a professional to review Handbook to Happiness after 46 years in print! It is scheduled to be released at the end of October to coincide with the 500 year anniversary of the Reformation, which will also mark 50 years of GFI ministry. There will be two reviews:

1. a short one for Tyndale House, and 2. an academic review for consumption by

the Church via internet.

This can alert the Church to the necessity and simplicity of the crucified or exchanged life as the harbinger of revival—the desperate need of the Church. Pray that this preparation and distribution will be orchestrated and driven home by the Holy Spirit.

HANDBOOK TO HAPPINESSIs the victorious life really practical, or is it just

an attractive subject for conference gatherings and an interesting topic for discussion? Is it merely a pet theme for extremists and fanatics, or is there actually a sane, Biblical experience of practical triumph within the reach of every believer, irrespective of temperament, circumstances, environment, or changing times and conditions? This book summarizes profound and timeless answers to these soul-searching questions. Reginald Wallis’ teaching ministry was greatly used of the Lord in his own city, Dublin, in Great Britain, and America’s Keswick. Originally published in 1932 and long out of print, this GFI publication has been edited and supplemented. Discussion questions conclude each chapter and a glossary of key Biblical terms unlocks the deeper truths of practical sanctification. A DVD video album is also available to facilitate the use of this study in small groups. (Available in KJV or NKJV Bible quotation editions.)

THE NEW LIFE

Glimpses of Grace Page 5

MISSIONS

Romania—Peter Mihent

“This year I have had the opportunity to organize five conferences: three of them in Romania, one in Seattle, United States, and the other one in Great Britain where there are Romanian communities. We still continue training Christian leaders and pastors in Romania to do counseling for their communities. One of these centers is in Brasov were we have 12 students, and one in Suceava where are 20 students.”

India—Grace Counseling India, John Zachariah

GCI Alumnus, Immanuel Theodore from Bangalore, is a new Board member with the specific intention of establishing a counseling and training ministry there. Captain Cherian Thottathil from Chennai hopes to join full time with GCI by May to be based at GCI Centre, Kottayam.

Mr. Presty Thomas and his wife, Neeta Sweety, were appointed as new Staff of GCI. He plans to take M.A. in counseling in Singapore from January, 2018. Sweety has earned B.Th., M.Div., M.A. (Psychology) from three Universities in India. They have been invited and sponsored to attend the Grace Fellowship training in Tennessee.

Kenya—Charles Ambaka

“I have concentrated on dealing with premarital, marital, single, and church minister’s counseling. The Lord has done amazing work in many lives... Many Church ministers are going through so much hurt and abuse. As I sit and talk with them, I am forever grateful to the Lord for the revelation of depending on our Indwelling Christ and drawing our resources from Him. As I have shared these truths, many of them have been amazed at the transformation that follows. Kindly pray with me as I have been approached by the leadership of our Church to speak at the Sunday Evening Services in all the Sundays of November and two Sundays of December. This is an awesome opportunity to share in depth the Exchanged Life Message. The Leader has indicated that hopefully I will also do the same in January, 2018.”

South Africa—Hendrik and Nehlsie deBruto

We have been involved with Grace Fellowship International since 1995. Our focus more and more has shifted to discipleship, but never losing sight of training Christ-centered counselors. As a result of focusing on making true disciples (Luke 14:26,27,33; John 8:32,33), we established bases all over South Africa, continuously visiting our friends in Christ. On-going training has become quite challenging, taking into consideration time, rising fuel prices, distances, and overall costs. But God has provided an amazing solution: sound recorded emails. This system has become simple to operate. We even improvised and set up a WhatsAp discipleship group which enables us to simultaneously reach about 30 people all over the country on a daily basis for 5-12 minutes at a time. God is good.

Pakistan—Simon Kamran

Simon Kamran has translated and distributed 3,000 copies of Handbook to Happiness in Urdu with revival having begun in some churches. More recently, he has translated The Ins and Out of Rejection which is due to be released at Christmas.

He has invited us to do a two day seminar concomitant with the release so that both books can be used in training. They are willing to bear part of the expense; as of this writing, the GFI Board has not yet addressed this recent development. Please pray that we would know the Spirit’s leading. Simon is convinced that great numbers can be impacted by the second book and our training which utilizes both.

Since this is just two months away, a decision regarding God’s leading is needed soon so that preparation here and there might be accomplished.

You, or your church group, can help sponsor one of the GFI missionaries by designating your contribution(s) accordngly.

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If you are one of the multitudes who order products through the Amazon.com family of online stores, there is now a creative way to invisibly donate to GFI. Just visit smile.amazon.com and select Grace Fellowship International as your charity. After signing up, shop by starting at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will donate .5% of the transaction (from their profit) automatically! That does sound like something to smile about!

UPCOMING EVENTSExchanged Life Conference November 3-4, 2017

Pigeon Forge, TNMarch 2-3, 2018

Pigeon Forge, TNAugust 3-4, 2018

Pigeon Forge, TN

Spirituotherapy® Workshop November 6-9, 2017Pigeon Forge, TN

March 5-8, 2018Pigeon Forge, TNAugust 6-9, 2018

Pigeon Forge, TN

SUPPORTGFI has a unique role in pioneering, developing,

and defending a Cross-oriented model of Discipleship Counseling. Those who include GFI in their giving are, indirectly, also supporting ministries of the leaders whom we counsel, mentor, and coach year-by-year. Contributors can use our online Donate Page, monthly auto-withdrawal from checking/savings account, PayPal recurring payments, or the enclosed offering envelope.

But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work (2 Cor. 9:6-8).

John Woodward, Chuck Solomon, Pastor Jeff Barbieri, and Pastor Tony Saxton—

Exchanged Life Workshop, August 2017