The Trumpet

The Trumpet is a monthly paper offered to the good folks of Faith Bible Baptist, Toledo Ohio, and is the work of the pastor.  He assembles the articles and edits them as a ministry to his church.  We offer it to those who read our Web Site but in a different format than is presented to the Church.  The purpose is simple, to generate spiritual thought, and to encourage spiritual discussion within the body.  Where credit can be given, it is, but there is no claim of originality.  Further, the Trumpet is an avenue of current and future events scheduled for The Faith Bible Baptist Church of Toledo.

May the Lord bless you as you read this month’s issue of The Trumpet.

Pastor Tim Goodman

February 2023

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The Evidence of Godly Love

Christopher R. Benfield

*Shady Grove Baptist Church

North Carolina.

Text:  1 John 4:17-21

There are three words we never tire of hearing: I love you.  No doubt we all have spoken those words many times in our lives, and I am sure we have been sincere, hopefully most of the time.  I do fear there are times when words are empty though.  We may have spoken the words “I love you,” and not really meant them from the heart.  Speaking of our love is one thing, actually showing that love through our actions is quite another.

There can be no doubt concerning the love God has for us.  His great love was displayed for the world to see as Christ hung on the cross of Calvary.  We have discussed God being the source of our love and the need for a right relationship with Christ to experience genuine love.

Our text deals with how love affects our lives and the way it is expressed toward others.  Those who possess God’s great love will reveal that love through the life they live.  I want to consider the attributes of this great love as we think on: The Evidence of Godly Love.

The Confidence in Love (1 John 4:17).

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”

Experiencing and possessing the love of God has a positive impact on our lives. One such way is in the confidence love provides.  Notice:

Love’s Maturity (1 John 4:17a).  We experience the love of God the moment we are saved, but as we grow in Him our love matures; it is made perfect.  The believer better understands the great love God has for us.  We know that He is love and we dwell within His great love. Through His love we enjoy peace and rest in this life. His love enables us to rise above many of the struggles we face.

Love’s Motivation (1 John 4:17b). In Christ we realize we are no longer accountable for our sin.  We have been pardoned in Christ, forgiven of our sin, our debt being paid in full.  As God views us, He sees us as He sees His Son.  We have not yet made it to heaven, but we are viewed as righteous as Christ our Lord is righteous.

There is an aspect of John’s teaching we must not miss. As Christ was in the world, so are we expected to be in the world.  Our lives are to be a representation of Christ in every way, including our love for one another!  We are here to maintain a consistent witness for Christ our Lord.

The Courage in Love (1 John 4:18).

“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

Along with great confidence, we also can enjoy courage in the love of God. Consider:

The Principle (1 John 4:18a). God’s love conquerors all fear.  While living in sin, apart from God, our lives were dominated by fear. We were unsure of our future, concerned with our health, and even worried about ensuring financial stability. Genuine love allows us to rest from our fears. The love of God has removed such fear from my life. I do not claim to never worry, but I have no reason to. If He decides to call for me in death, I will simply enter His eternal presence. He has always met my needs and I have no reason to fear He will ever fail.

The Power (1 John 4:18b). The love of God is a powerful force. It rises above fear and enables us to cast such fear aside. We no longer live in fear of the future.

Our lives should not be dictated by situations and circumstances, but by the love of God. Many live their lives driven by emotion and circumstance. They tend to respond to others relative to how they were treated. God’s love provides the courage to open up and love and He loves, regardless of circumstance.

John declares that fear brings torment. One cannot enjoy peace and rest while living in fear. Fear creates anxiety, doubt, panic, and worry. These are signs of weakness in mature love. God’s love allows us to rest solely in Him, loving others as He loves, and leaving the situations and conclusions in God’s hands. Mature love brings abundant peace and courage. If you are in Christ, you are secure in Him. There is no reason for fear or dread.

The Prognosis (1 John 4:18c). This brings conviction, but it bears truth. Where fear exists, love is lacking. There could be application for those who made a profession of faith and yet lacked genuine saving faith in Christ. Many today are religious, but not confident of their salvation. Those who belong to Christ do not fear His coming or standing before Him in judgment. I’m sure we all will discover how feeble our efforts were and that we could have, and should have, done much more for Christ, but believers do not fear the Lord’s return.

I will admit as well that we often allow fear to affect our lives. In reality fear reveals a lack of faith and mature love. When we are settled in the love of God as He would have us, we are fully trusting in Him, not lacking faith and fearful of what life brings. The Lord is still working in my life as I struggle with worry from time to time. I desire to walk closer to the Lord and fully trust in Him!

Conclusion:  None can doubt the love God has for us.  Christ loved us enough to bear our sin and die in our place.  The world needs to see and experience the love of God lived out through His people.  Surely you would agree that more love would benefit all.

Is our love all it should be?  Do we love as God would have us too?  Are we as concerned about the condition of others as He was about ours?

Have you experienced the love of God that casts out fear?  Are you ready for the return of Christ the Lord?  If not, I urge you to seek Him as He deals with your heart.

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Parson to Person

February is the month for expressing love.  I am glad there is one day set aside on our calendar to let others know how much they mean to us; yet does expressing our love have to be a “one day” event?  The quality of our relationships is certainly not defined by the events of a single day!  Valentine’s Day should just be one of the many special days of the year that we focus on communicating Christ’s love to others.

So this year instead of expressing our love to our family and friends on just Valentine’s Day, lets commit to expressing our love on a more consistent basis.  I recently read a touching story of one man’s daily expression of love:

Some of you probably remember the comedian, Jack Kublesky.  He was from Waukegan, Illinois and passed away years ago.  His professional name was Jack Benny.  When Jack was a young man, he was working in the same studio as a young lady he wanted to date.  He thought she was beautiful, but he was too shy and embarrassed to ask her out.  He couldn’t get up the courage or the nerve, so he started sending a single, red rose to her desk with no note attached to the rose.

Every day she received the red rose.  Finally, one day, she asked the delivery man who was sending her the roses.  He said a guy named Jack who worked in the same studio.  She found out who he was. Finally, they began talking and Jack asked her out for a date.  She thought that after they started dating the roses would stop.  But they didn’t.  They kept coming…a single rose every day.

They were engaged and she thought the roses would stop.  But they didn’t stop.  They even kept coming after they were married.  Every day a single rose would show up for Mrs. Benny.

After five years, and ten years, and decades later a single red rose continued to show up.  Then Jack Benny died.  The day after the funeral, a single rose showed up for Mrs. Benny.  After several days Mrs. Benny went to the florist and said, “I don’t know if you realize this or not, but Mr. Benny passed away.  I know it is kind of you, but you don’t need to do this any longer.”  The florist responded, “Mrs. Benny, you don’t understand.  Jack made provisions years ago to provide you a single red rose every day you are alive.”

This story challenged me to communicate my love more consistently!  Perhaps you, too, need to express your love more often.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”—1 John 4:7

As I close I just want to acknowledge our trip to the Annual Men’s Meeting in Racine, Wisconsin.  This year’s theme was “Run your race with patience.”  We had a great time. This year our Valentine’s Day Banquet is on the 18^th. – An Evening in Paris.  I believe it is going to be a wonderful evening.

The last week of the month Miss Linda and I are going to the February IFB Meeting in Louisville, KY.  You know how much I love visiting the “holy land.”  Keep us in your prayers as we travel.

Let me close by saying thank you for your faithfulness.  This year has all the earmarks of a great year.  Let’s get to work for the Lord.

Pastor Tim Goodman

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We Went to Wednesdays

Reviving Your Children’s Ministry

By Dr. Al Stone

Senior Pastor of Bible

Bible Baptist Church, St. Thomas

Our children’s ministry was dying. We were averaging just over fifty children on Sunday morning in our city of 36,000 people. An average two riders were dropping off our bus ministry every year and soon would dwindle to nothing. I begged the Lord to help us change. My staff and I dug to find the source of our falling attendance. We had a great program, excited workers, and aggressive soul winning and visitation, but nothing seemed to help.

Other ministries were struggling also. Just fifteen years ago we saw over 600 attend our week long evangelistic campaign we call H.E.L.P. (Help Evangelize Lost People). Every year since we have seen a steady decline.

Then God gave the answer to our problem through a pastor friend. They had just concluded their Vacation Bible School and had a great turn out, much better than our church or any of the Ontario churches have seen recently. What was the difference? They moved their VBS to the evenings.

Our staff went to work talking to church members, bus families, and Sunday school children both current and former to see if an evening schedule would help. We found that a large percentage of our Sunday school children were at a different parents’ home every other week. They were staying up late on Saturday night watching television or playing video games then sleeping in Sunday morning. Some parents would take out their children all day Sunday. We discovered that social dilemmas were keeping many children out of church.

Then the Lord gave me this thought, “What if we went Wednesdays for our children’s programs?”  Our church family is already here, we had a kids program available. The kids would be at the same home every week, they would be up, they would be fed, and their parents would be ready for the break.

After much prayer and planning we launched out into uncharted waters. We began Kids for Christ with a large group of dedicated volunteers. It requires a sacrifice of time—workers leave to pick up kids at 6 pm and won’t return from the drop-off until 9 pm. In the first month we heavily promoted the program by knocking on doors and passing out flyers, then we watched God bless.

In a year, our attendance more than doubled on Wednesday evenings. God has added to every department from kindergarten to adult. Children and young adults are saved nearly every week, and many parents of the bus children have started coming. Parents frequently stop our church vehicles in parking lots and ask if their kids can come to our program. Today we have to rent additional buses for pick-up and use two public school gymnasiums for our youth program. It took a lot of work, but it has electrified our church.

With God’s blessing on the Wednesday evening program, we changed our H.E.L.P. program to an evening program also. We have found that parents aren’t home during the day and babysitters are leery about bringing the children to a “religious” program. Many kids are already involved in city run programs during the day. Again we have seen more people reached through the evening program than our former day time program.

In a day when many churches are struggling just to maintain we are seeing growth across the board. Only what God has done through our Wednesday night programs can explain it. In a changing day, we need to hold our doctrine, but inspect our strategies for outreach and programs.

If you would like more of the details of how we organized, launched, and maintain the program, we would love to send you a complimentary booklet we have compiled.

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Why I am Not a Calvinist

A Biblical Look At The Calvinist’s Position

By Dr. R. B. Ouellette

Pastor Emeritus of

First Baptist Church – Bridgeport

I personally know men who hold a Calvinistic view of Theology, yet have accepted the Biblical command to “preach the Gospel to every creature.” These men are faithful, fervent soulwinners. They have not used their commitment to a theological system as an excuse to rationalize away their responsibility to win people to Christ. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case. Five-point Calvinism has, in our generation, been a disincentive to soulwinning, a hindrance to evangelism, and sadly, a source of intellectual pride.

The five points of Calvinism are an acrostic spelling the word “TULIP:”

T—Total Depravity

What Calvinists believe: While all of us would agree that man is depraved—and is depraved in every area of his nature, the Calvinists would say that man is so depraved that he is incapable of accepting God’s gift of eternal life. Unless God first does a work in his heart, no man can accept God’s offer of salvation. “Because of human depravity, there is nothing in a fallen, reprobate sinner that desires God or is capable of responding in faith.” (John MacArthur, Faith Works, p. 62)

It is this point that will cause a Calvinist to believe that a person must in fact be saved before they can believe. MacArthur, while acknowledging that “the saving transaction is all a single instantaneous event”, nonetheless says “from the viewpoint of reason, regeneration logically must initiate faith and repentance.”

Why I must disagree: Jesus says in John 5:40, “And ye will not come to me that ye might have life.” And in Matthew 23:37, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!” Note that in both verses the Lord Jesus indicates that salvation is rejected because of the choice of the sinner. It is not a matter of the sinners’ inability; it is a matter of his unwillingness.

U—Unconditional Election.

What Calvinists believe: “If man is unable to save himself on account of the fall in Adam being a total fall, and if God alone can save, and if all are not saved, then the conclusion must be that God has not chosen to save all.” (W. J. Seton, The Five Points of Salvation, Edinburgh Banner of Truth Press, 1970, pp. 7, 8)

“Those of mankind who are predestinated unto life, God before the foundation of the world was laid, according to his eternal and immutable purpose and the secret counsels and good pleasure of His will has chosen in Christ and to everlasting glory out of His mere free grace and love without any other thing in the creature as a condition or cause moving him thereunto.”  (Westminster Confession of Faith, Ch. 3, Art. 5)

Why I must disagree: Romans 8:29 says, “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.” Romans 10:13 says, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

The Bible clearly teaches that God’s predestination is 1) based on His foreknowledge and 2) is not to salvation, but rather to conformity to the image of Christ. In fact, a careful study of the Word of God will demonstrate that when such terms as “predestination” and such phrases as “chosen before the foundation of the world” are used, they invariably refer not to our becoming children of God, but to how we live and what we are given after we become children of God. Romans 10:13 very clearly says that “whosoever will” may come.

A Calvinist once said to a preacher, “I would like to explain why I believe as I do. Suppose a man went to an orphanage. He had predetermined by his grace that he would adopt a certain boy and certain girl and take them into his family. Can anyone reasonably accuse the man of being unjust or unfair because he chose those two and left the others?”

The preacher replied to the Calvinist, “Certainly not! As you have explained the situation, I would find no problem of any kind with the man’s purpose and his choice.” Then the preacher said, “But suppose the man went to the orphanage and sent word to all the children saying, ‘WHOSOEVER WILL may come!’ and then refused to take any but the two he had originally intended to take. With that I have a problem which Calvinism cannot resolve.” (Kent Kelly quoting Harold McKay, Inside the Tulip, Calvary Press)

L—Limited Atonement

What Calvinists Believe: “Christ died positively and effectually to save a certain number of hell-deserving sinners on whom the Father had already set his free-electing love. The overriding question must always be the Divine intention: Did God intend to save all men, or did He not? If He did not intend to save all men without exception but only the elect, then the work of Christ on the Cross is a glorious success. If on the other hand, it was God’s intention to save the world, then the atonement of Christ has been a great failure for vast numbers of mankind have not been saved.”—Seton

Why I must disagree: John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish; but have everlasting life.” 1 John 2:2 says, “And He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” You can color it any way you want to. You can qualify it with all the theological terminology you wish, but when you get it all done, the Bible most clearly and plainly says that Jesus Christ died for the world.

Recently our church had a special attendance day. We called it “Open House Sunday.” We passed out 35,000 flyers inviting people to attend our Open House Sunday. Our total attendance was slightly less than 10% of the number of flyers passed out. As a matter of fact, if all 35,000 people to whom we gave a flyer had come we would not have had room for them. We could not have parked the cars. Was our invitation then insincere? No, there was not a single person to whom we gave the flyer that we were not willing to have attend. There was not one we would not have included in our dinner on the grounds. However, our experience with past special attendance days made us aware that most people receiving the invitation would not accept it. This does not make the invitation invalid, insincere, or unavailable. Likewise, God’s offer of salvation is a legitimate, sincere offer to the entire world. God in His foreknowledge is aware that not all will accept His offer. Their unwillingness to accept His offer in no way invalidates His sincerity in offering the Gospel to all.

I—Irresistible Grace

What Calvinists Believe: “There is not only an outward call (to salvation), there is also an inward call. The outward call may be described as the ‘words of the preacher’, and this call when it goes forth may work a score of different ways in a score of different hearts producing a score of different results. One thing it will not do however is this: it will not work a work of salvation in a sinner’s soul. For a work of salvation to be wrought, the outward call must be accompanied by the inward call of God’s Holy Spirit, for it is He who ‘convinces of sin and righteousness and judgment’. When the Holy Spirit calls a man or a woman or a young person by His grace, that call is irresistible: it cannot be frustrated; it is the manifestation of God’s irresistible grace.” –Seton, p.14

Why I must disagree: Matthew 23:37 and John 5:40 as quoted above clearly contradict this position.

P—Perseverance of the Saints

What Calvinists believe: “A false security of salvation commonly rests on the ground of our belonging to a privileged body: the church, or to a privileged class: the elect. Both are equally fallacious. Neither members of the church nor the elect can be saved unless they persevere in holiness. They cannot persevere in holiness without continual watchfulness and effort.” (Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, Baker Book House, 1980. p.181)

Why I must disagree: Before I studied this issue carefully, I would have said I agree with the Calvinists. I believe in what is commonly referred to as eternal security. A person who is truly saved can never become lost. However, Calvinists understand this doctrine somewhat differently.

Note again the words “…nor can the elect be saved unless they persevere in holiness. They cannot persevere in holiness without continual watchfulness and effort.” This philosophy is strangely close to works salvation. How ironic that both the Calvinists and the Arminians should come so near each other in the final analysis—at least on this point. This doctrine would put Noah, his wife, their sons, and their wives hanging on hooks attached to the outside of the ark and “persevering” until the flood was over!

1 Peter 1:5 says, “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last time.” Noah and his family were not hanging on outside the ark. They were secure inside after God had shut the door. No effort was required on their part to secure their safe passage through the flood. The faith which took them into the ark sustained them throughout the entire flood. Those of us who have trusted Jesus Christ as our Saviour are not persevering; we are preserved. We are kept by the power of God unto salvation. It is not our effort, it is His.

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How to Become a

Member of

Faith Bible Baptist Church

By Profession of Faith and Baptism

If you will receive Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour and follow Him in baptism by immersion, we welcome you into our fellowship.

By Letter

As a Baptist whose church membership is elsewhere, if God directs you here, we will be pleased to welcome you into our church family.  We will happily take care of appropriate details for transferring your membership.

By Baptism

If you know in your heart that you have been saved and want to become a member of Faith Bible Baptist Church, we invite you to join us by baptism.  This gives testimony of your salvation and your obedience to His direction.

By Statement of Faith

In the event church membership records are not available for a transfer of membership, or if you were once a Baptist church member, we will accept you upon your statement of faith.

You may express your desire to fulfill any of the above by presenting yourself during the invitation at the close of each worship service.  Of course, any decision assumes your commitment to being faithful in prayer, church attendance, tithing and participation in our Lord’s work at Faith Bible Baptist Church.

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