Finding a good church is a lot like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get--especially in the Ashland, Wooster, and Mansfield areas of Ohio!

Mid Ohio has churches on ever corner, but you want a church that is biblical, evangelical, and zealous for promoting the kingdom of Christ, right?  

You might like to know that we at Providence seek to embody those ideals.  

One of the main ways you can see how our biblical foundation may be witnessed by our weekly teaching.  We take the view that the best way to preach is simple verse by verse exposition.  This allows us the opportunity to be exposed to the whole counsel of God and "suck the marrow" out of each and ever verse of God's word.

We are eager to promote the kingdom of Christ in the broader community of Ashland and Richland too.  We are always ready to take social action when it comes to the rights of the family.  The most vivid example of this is our zeal for supporting the Ashland Care Center, the local crisis pregnancy center.  If you visit, you will no doubt see how much we value children (we have kids everywhere!).  But saving the unborn from the horror of abortion is a top priority for us.

Are we Evangelical?  Absolutely!  We glory in the good news of the gospel (Greek = evangel).  As a matter of fact, we love it so much that we will help you find a gospel centered church if you can't make it to Providence!

In sum, we want to help you sort through the box of chocolates.  We want to make sure you assimilate into a church where you will learn solid truth and be under the leadership of God fearing men.

For the last several weeks we at Providence have been attempting to disciple and help a young man gain a means of income.  We don't believe in giving handouts (unless, of course, the need is of an immediate & desperate nature).  We believe a man should work as God commands, using his gifts and graces to serve those around him.  

One of the things this person has demonstrated skill in is washing, waxing, and detailing cars.  We have been encouraging him to pursue this as a business venture.  

We would like to invite you to join us in helping in this venture. If you would like to have your car spiffed up, please visit the website we set up for him:  Elite Finish Car Wash & Detail.  

Protecting pre-born children is perhaps Providence Church's number one concern.  To that end we are thankful for those in our congregation who are attempting to gather signatures for the Ohio Personhood Amendment.  
In sum, the amendment would give pre-born children equal status with other people, and thus protect them from death through abortion.  You can learn more about it at the Ohio Personhood Amendment website.

There are a number of events over the next few months that will be venues for gathering these signatures.  If you would like to participate by taking a time slot at a booth or accompany others as they collect signatures, we would greatly appreciate your help.  The opportunities that are currently slated are as follows:

July 13             Yaves Ellis concert (Columbus, OH)
August 15-18   Blueberry Festival (Lexington, OH)

We are also hoping to pinpoint some other events in September, and visit other churches in the area for the purpose of gathering signatures.

As we wrap up our series on preaching, we want to make sure we conclude on a high note.  What better way to do that than by talking about the gospel!

Over the years I've experienced two different extremes when it comes to the gospel and how it fits into a sermon.  In my early days I attended a church that never really mentioned the gospel.  Christ was pretty much absent from every sermon that was ever preached.  So the messages were mainly moralistic.

Later, I attended a series of churches where the gospel was preached every Sunday.  It was good at first because I had been deprived of it for so long at my other church.  However, I came to find that the gospel presentation was ordinarily tacked on to the end of the message and really didn't have anything to do with the message that was just preached.  

What's more, in these churches I found that the gospel was not really even for me!  It was typically directed towards the unbeliever as a call was issued to him to embrace the Savior.

Our aim at Providence Church is to preach the gospel every Sunday because we know it is important for everyone's spiritual development, even the Christian's.  As a matter of fact, we believe that if Christ is not preached, then we have not preached a truly Christian sermon!

But how do you do that without tacking the gospel on at the end of the message?  The answer lies in the expository method.  We believe that the gospel should rise naturally from the text itself.

Jesus said that the whole of the Scripture bears witness to him (John 5:39).  At another time he took time to interpret the things concerning himself in the law and the prophets (Luke 24:27).  

This means that every text of Scripture finds its culmination in Christ.  It doesn't matter if it is the deep recesses of Leviticus or the heavy arguments of an epistle, every line finds its fulfillment in Christ.  

So as you come to Providence you will not just hear sermons that are practical.  You will hear sermons that are guided and shaped by the gospel.  Better yet, you will find how the gospel should guide and shape your own life.

A couple people expressed interest in the two men I mentioned in the sermon this past week, Thomas Cranmer and Hugh Latimer.  Because of the interest, I wanted to post some resources that will further your understanding about them and their context.

First, I would recommend Foxe's Book of Martyrs (You can google it and/or probably get a free edition for your kindle/ereader).  The language will likely take some getting used to, but the stories contained in it will certainly open your eyes to the lives & sufferings of many of the great saints.

If you are looking for something more condensed and to the point... This webpage provides Foxe's account of Cranmer's life & death (he's the guy who put his hand to the fire).  This is good in that it gives you a solid digest of those events.  If you'd like something shorter (and something that reveals perhaps some of his more controversial acts) you might try this one.

Hugh Latimer is also found in Foxe's work.  However, Foxe's account of Latimer does not give you a real feel for his wit and character.  You might try these two articles:  This one is very short and is sure to give you a couple chuckles along with impressing you with Latimer's boldness.  This article is a bit more bland account of the main events of his life.  However, I'd recommend you read the last 15 or so lines of the article to see the intrigue that accompanied his martyrdom.

If the whole Reformation thing is something new and obscure to you, we do encourage you to become as familiar as you can.  Perhaps a good place to start would be with this book:  "The Reformation for Armchair Theologins"  Raylene found this book last week and forwarded it to me.  It is supposed to be a brief and witty introduction to this period & the major characters.  It comes in paperback and audio versions.

Lastly, I might suggest this little series by Steve Lawson.  These books are only 100 pages long and  provide a solid introduction to some of the major Reformers.  They might even serve well for children's reading.

Of course, we can suggest other good reads if you'd like to pursue greater study.  I hope this note serves to help you "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." (Heb. 13:4).

A new audio series is out, and you will definitely want to get your hands on this one!

This series is sure to be a great asset because it highlights Covenant Theology, which is one of our key doctrines here at Providence Church. 

Pastor/teacher Gregg Bahnsen does a superb job of showing unfolding the subject.  You can't help but be interested in what he has to say simply by a few of the subjects covered:  Covenant Theology and Dispensationalism, Covenant Children: Cleansed and Concecrated, A Covenant Meal, The Rapture, The Future of Israel, and The Great Tribulation.

What are the parameters of Scripture?  One of Providence's brothers sums it up well with these words...

Over the last few weeks we've been seeking to introduce you to the kind of preaching you will hear at Providence Church (i.e. expository preaching).  

In our previous post we said that the word exposit simply means "to explain," and that expository preaching seeks to explain the meaning of a Bible passage.  

But that needs to be fleshed out a little more.  

The Bible tells us that the Word of God was given "for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16-17).  That means that the Bible was meant to be applied practically.  It is not simply for the purpose of packing your brain full of useless knowledge.  It is given for the purpose of molding and shaping one's life.

That is why the exposition of Scripture must have application as its ultimate aim.  It is not enough for a preacher to simply explain what the passage means.  It is imperative that he explain what it means for your life!

Unfortunately, a lot of pulpits that tout "expository preaching" are not practical in the least.   We will be honest: much of what goes under the banner of expository preaching is nothing more than a boring lecture.  And truthfully, this may be why a lot of people prefer topical preaching.  Topical sermons can be much more practical than your average expository sermon.

However, at Providence Church we know that a text of Scripture does not simply present facts that are to be known.  It contains truth which is to be embraced, lived, and/or believed.  Our belief is that a text is not rightly explained until it is applied.  

For us, expository preaching typically consists of three parts:  explanation, illustration, and application.  We begin by telling you what the passage is trying to communicate (explanation).  Then we try to solidify it in your mind with a story, analogy, or some other helpful color (illustration).  Having thus helped you to comprehend it sufficiently, we then attempt to show how it should affect your life (application).  

It is this last step in the process that really makes expository preaching what it is.  For the aim of the Scripture--and the preaching of it--is the change of one's heart and life.