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New Book: The Missing Gospel of Modern Christianity

The Missing Gospel of Modern Christianity

Would you like to know and understand the doctrine of salvation better? Do you desire to communicate the gospel clearly, correctly, and without confusion? Do you have questions about your salvation or the salvation of others? Would you like to be able to witness to your friends, co-workers, and family members with confidence that you are sharing your faith the right way? If so, this handbook on evangelism, The Missing Gospel of Modern Christianity, is for you!
 
The details of the gospel have become less known by professing Christians and have been replaced with gospel distortions which are powerless to save. Professing Christians have added, subtracted, softened, and twisted the gospel to the point that creative license with the gospel is now the norm. However, false gospels only produce false Christians who have a false assurance of salvation. What is the solution? We need Christians who know, believe, and share the true gospel of God.
 
Stylistically similar to Dr. R. C. Sproul, Dr. Trey Talley, a church planter, elder, and doctoral graduate of Ligonier Academy, takes on this task with theological precision, yet with a teaching style that is simple and straight forward.
 

About the Author

Trey Talley traveled the world for 15 years as an evangelist working with local churches to bring the gospel to their communities. These experiences lead him to realize that there are many professing Christians who do not know the gospel. There appeared to be something missing in many of the churches and people that he worked with, and that something was the knowledge of God’s word. After witnessing such Biblical anemia among professing Christians, a zeal was fostered. Trey was led to start a church in his town where believers could be equipped with the knowledge of God’s word through expository preaching and teaching. Soon he planted The Church At Pecan Creek of Denton, TX, where he serves as pastor and elder.
 
Trey has been dramatically impacted by the teaching of Dr. R.C. Sproul and Ligonier Ministries. So much so, that he received his Doctor of Ministry from Ligonier Academy.
 
Trey lives in Denton, TX, with his wonderful wife, who homeschools their three children.

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God Does Not Believe in Atheists

God Does Not Believe in Atheists

God Does Not Believe in Atheists

God Does Not Believe in Atheists

Atheism is the supposed belief that there is no God. This is a belief that seems to be growing in popularity. Many contribute such growth to the thirteen years of teaching that children receive in our public school system. An institution that teaches that there is no God and that everything, literally everything, came about by time and chance from absolutely nothing. What is the result? At the end of their education, if all has gone according to plan, the teenager will have a good understanding of somehow the universe came into being from absolutely nothing, that life came from non-life, and that humans are just cosmic accidents with no purpose, worth, or moral obligations. Such institutionalized atheism, left unchecked by Christian homes, is, of course, resulting in a higher number of people who profess to be atheist. 

Have you ever had interactions with someone who professes to be an atheist? How did it go? Was he or she kind? Considerate? Patient? Maybe you have met such an atheist. Most of the time, however, the atheist whom I have spoken to about God tend to become quite angry. Early on, I found their anger puzzling. Why would someone who doesn’t believe in God get so mad just because I believe in God? However, over the years, I have come to understand more about the source of their anger. They might appear to be mad at me for believing in God, but in reality, their hatred is rooted in the fact that they are in an extreme state of denial, so much so that it becomes maddening. By reminding them about God, we bring to the surface what they are trying to suppress.

Even though atheists claim to not believe in God, God’s word reveals otherwise. According to the opening chapter of Romans, all people, even those professing to be atheist, know that God exists.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Rom. 1:18-20)

Paul makes it abundantly clear that God has plainly made Himself known to people so that no one can honestly claim that he or she does not believe in God. Many people will profess with their mouths that they do not believe that God exists, but according to God’s Word, they are lying not only to you but to themselves as well. 

God’s existence and power have been so clearly revealed by His creation that no one can logically say, “God does not exist.” All of creation stands as a witness to the fact it has been created by a Creator. No matter where you look in creation, it all screams that there is a Maker. Where do the stars come from? The earth? Water? Plants? Animals? As the Psalmist writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1). This is a truth that all people know, yet some, atheists, try to suppress.

So, the question is, “If people know God exists, then why do some people profess to be atheist?” The answer is that their love of sin causes them to suppress the truth. Even though the creation reveals the eternality of God, His power, and His righteousness, they strive to live as though there is no Creator. For the atheist, they believe that if they can get rid of God as the Creator, they will have also gotten rid of the God who is their Judge; thus, freeing them to live however they choose and to engage in any and all sin with no consequences.

However, such thinking is absurd. To deny the existence of God is such an absolute rejection of proper reasoning, that the Bible even says that such a person is a fool. “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.” (Psalm 14:1). Even though God has made His existence abundantly clear to humanity, the love of sin causes some to deny the truth that is in plain sight. This foolish thinking is also what we find in Romans 1:21. 

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:21)

Rejecting God is far more than a poor mental decision, it is also a heart issue. Suppressing the truth that they know about God only brings more darkness, more ungodliness, more unrighteousness, and increased sinful behavior.

So, are there true atheists? According to God’s Word, the answer is “No.” So the next time you meet a person who claims to be an atheist, you can safely assume that he or she actually knows that God exists, but is involved in foolish suppression of the truth. 

In the end, God doesn’t believe in atheists, and neither should you. 
 
~ Trey Talley

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A Cup Full of Hell?

A Cup Full of Hell?

A Cup Full of Hell?

A Cup Full of Hell?

 
On the night before Jesus’ crucifixion, we find Him in tremendous sorrow and greatly troubled about a cup. The thought of having to drink from this particular cup even had Him sweating drops of blood. 1
 
Notice how Matthew records the night and draws much attention to cup:
 
“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me. And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
 
Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” (Matt. 26:38-39,42)
 
Even as Jesus is being arrested, He is still talking about the cup:
 
So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 17:11)
 
What was this cup that Jesus was so concerned about? Was it the fear of His imminent arrest, abandonment, beatings, torture, mockery, and execution that was now only hours away? 
 
As horrible as the anguish of crucifixion may have been, it does not appear to be the cup to which Jesus was referring. If it were, this would be contrary to His previous teaching.“
 
“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:4-5)
 
Jesus told the disciples not to fear man, so we can safely assume that He did not either. Why? Because, torment and death, as horrific as it may be, is nothing compared to the eternal punishment that sinners face after death from the hand of God. 
 
From the passage, we begin to get a right understanding of Jesus’ anguish. He was fearful, not of mankind, but of the cup of wrath that He was about to receive; a cup of hell. 
 
To understand this analogy even better, it is good to see how the cup was used to describe God’s wrath even in the Old Testament. Take these examples for example:
 
Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. These two things have happened to you—who will console you? —devastation and destruction, famine and sword; who will comfort you?  (Isaiah 51:17,19)
 
Thus the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. They shall drink and stagger and be crazed because of the sword that I am sending among them.’
So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the Lord sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day…” (Jeremiah 25:15-18)
 
Though Isaiah and Jeremiah speak of the cup of God’s wrath that unrepentant Israel was to drink, it was only a foreshadowing of the supreme cup of wrath that the enemies of God will drink from for all eternity. For this, we look to John’s description of the cup found in the book of Revelation.
 
He also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name (Rev. 14:10-11)
 
Just from a few passages we begin to see why Jesus was in agony over drinking from this cup. The cup was full of divine wrath that sinners deserved.
 
But why was Jesus, who had not sinned, going to receive this wrath? 
 
He was drinking from the cup that was poured for you and I. All sin deserves the full wrath of God. All sinners must drink of the cup of God’s wrath, or as we have seen, have Jesus drink of it for them. This is what Jesus does for all who trust in Him for salvation. Jesus saves us from the wrath of God, by becoming the object of God’s wrath in our place. What no human can ever drink of exhaustively, Jesus, while on the cross, drank every last drop of the wrath of God for all believers.  As Paul said, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”2
 
As Jesus died on the cross, to fulfill prophecy, and to add one more exclamation point to what He had accomplished, He returns to the drinking analogy. As John records, “When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished’. With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”3 Jesus drank the cup of God’s Wrath for us. The cup is now empty, God’s wrath has been poured out fully. It is finished.
 

Comfort:

 
All people who trust in Jesus Christ for their salvation will never have to drink of the Wrath of God because the cup is empty! Every drop of judgment and wrath was received by Jesus Christ on the cross. We will not face the wrath of God. We will not drink of that cup. We will not experience hell or eternal punishment for our sin, because Jesus Christ drank of God’s wrath in our place
 

Warning:

 
If Jesus is not your Savior, then you will drink and continue to drink from the never-ending cup of God’s wrath for all eternity. Repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation today.
 
~ Trey Talley

Footnotes:

1. Luke 22:44
2. 2 Corinthians 5:21
3. John 19:30

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Denton, Texas 76205
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