March 2006 - Vol 1, Issue 11

In this issue...
-- "Proclaim the Word!" - Part III in a series
-- Hear Dr. Whitcomb speak this month
-- Dr. Whitcomb to speak at History of the World Mega-Conference
-- Spanish translator brightens the holidays with Dr. Whitcomb's words
-- 60,000-sermon milestone passed on SermonAudio
-- Plans being made for the Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries

"Proclaim the Word!" - Part III in a series
By Dr. John C. Whitcomb

By obeying Christ's command to proclaim the Word of God, Peter's faith was greatly strengthened. On the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Christ's resurrection, and only 10 days after His ascension to heaven, Peter stood before a vast multitude of Jews in the Temple area (Acts 1:6) and proclaimed the Word of God. With what result? "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls" (Acts 2:41).

Even after this "mountain-top experience," Peter failed the Lord (cf. Acts 10:14: "Not so, Lord...;" and Galatians 2:11: "I [Paul] withstood him [Peter] to the face, because he was to be blamed"). But the appearance and words of his resurrected Lord made a permanent difference.

Let us consider, then, Peter's own perspective (under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – 2 Peter 1:20, 21) on how to be effective in winning unbelievers to a saving faith in Christ the Lord.

First, we must never be afraid or intimidated by the threats of God's enemies: "Be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled." (1 Peter 3:14). As the psalmist wrote: "The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he see his desire upon his enemies" (Psalm 112:6-8).

Then comes the emphatic positive: "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts" (1 Peter 3:15). So powerful is this formula that it will remove fear from the heart of the believer as he confronts a brilliant doubter, even a great teacher: "O how I love Thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Thou through Thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies... I have more understanding than all my teachers... I understand more than the ancients" (Psalm 119:97- 100).

But what did Peter mean when he wrote, "sanctify the Lord God?" Peter was a fisherman, not a rabbi-teacher-theologian (cf. Acts 4:13). But as a godly Jew, he understood this powerful concept. God had sanctified (i.e., set apart for Himself) Israel from among all the nations (Exodus 19:5, 6). He sanctified the tribe of Levi to be teachers of the Word of God (Numbers 3:12-13; Malachi 2:4-7), and the family of Aaron to minister in the Tabernacle and Temple (Numbers 18:1-20).

Not only were certain people set apart for God, but also were certain days (i.e., the Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Atonement, Tabernacles – Leviticus 23) and years (Sabbatical and Jubilee – Leviticus 25), and even certain animals (Leviticus 11)!

This Old Covenant principle is difficult for Christians to appreciate, for during this post-Pentecost, pre-Tribulation Church Age, the only legitimate object of sanctification is God, with special focus on Christ our Lord, resurrected and glorified, at the right hand of the Father (Colossians 2:9-10; 3:1).

Does anyone need our help in understanding the ways of God in times of tragedy and turmoil? Is there a purpose or goal for mankind that can give us hope and joy? Yes! We may have "the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:2-3).

Unless we know something of what it means to "sanctify the Lord God" in our hearts, we can be of no help to anyone in the eternal issue of saving faith.

To Be Continued...

Hear Dr. Whitcomb speak this month
Please pray for Dr. Whitcomb as he prepares for a very busy spring and summer. Here are his next upcoming speaking engagements.

From Friday, April 21, to Sunday, April 23, Dr. Whitcomb will speak at the Harvest Bible Church of Lancaster, Penn. For more information, call Pastor John Lutz at 717-397-4371, or visit www.harvestbiblechurch.org.

From Monday, April 24, to Thursday, April 27, Dr. Whitcomb will speak at the Independent Fundamental Bible Conference at Middletown Bible Church in Middletown, Conn. His topic will be Acts 8-12. For more information on this conference, call Pastor George Zeller at 860-346-0907, or visit the conference's Web page at www.middletownbiblechurch.org/confe ren/406nbc.htm.

For additional details about these events, please visit our web pages at www.whitcombministries.org and www.sermonaudio.com/whitcomb.

Dr. Whitcomb to speak at History of the World Mega-Conference
Dr. John Whitcomb will join a host of distinguished speakers at the History of the World Mega-Conference, to be held from July 11 to 15, at the Hampton Roads Convention Center in Hampton, Va.

This conference will be sponsored by Vision Forum Ministries.

For much more information on this Mega-Conference, or to register to attend, visit www.visionforumministries.org/sections/events/hwmc/.

Spanish translator brightens the holidays with Dr. Whitcomb's words
Dante Rosso, director of the Spanish Translations Ministry in Beverly, Mass., got a bright idea after reading Dr. Whitcomb’s Christmas message that was contained in the December edition of the Monthly Monograph. He offers the following first-hand testimony:

"After reading Dr. Whitcomb's Christmas greetings, I translated them into Spanish, and made about 100 copies. I passed them out to people in Peabody, Mass. Once I noticed persons speaking Spanish, I approached them, saying, in Spanish, 'I congratulate you because you speak the best language in the world!'

"They immediately look at me and begin to smile and say, 'Español!' Then I asked them, 'Do you celebrate Christmas?' Very few said yes. Then I asked them, 'Do you know how Christmas started?' Most of them didn’t know. I told them, 'Do you know that 40 percent of the people in this country don't know why we celebrate Christmas?'

Some of them said, 'Because of Jesus!' I asked them, 'Where did Jesus come from?' And, as you can imagine, very, very few have the right answer. Then I said, 'I want to give you this article which explains how Christmas started and why we celebrate it every year, and the real meaning of Christmas.' And most of the time, they began to read it right then and there as they walked away.

Every night when I return home I pray that the Lord will help them understand the message. Most of them have never heard the real message. Even though the Christmas season is over, I continue to pass out the Christmas greetings to some people as the Lord leads. We have a wonderful heavenly Father who can open the eyes of the spiritually blind at any time regardless of the season! The message from His Word is the eye opener. Thank God for such an unspeakable gift."

Dante’s bright idea brightened the Christmas season for Spanish-speaking people in spiritual darkness – and it gave Whitcomb Ministries a very bright idea as well, which we will announce to you, Lord willing, in the April Monograph!

60,000-sermon milestone passed on SermonAudio
Another major milestone was recently passed on the Whitcomb Ministries pages on SermonAudio.com – 60,000 sermons listened to since July of 2003! How grateful we are to God for allowing us the privilege of sharing His eternal Word – the only guide for life, both here and hereafter – to people around the world on the Internet. In the short month of February, we had an average of about 112 sermons listened to every day through SermonAudio.com. That means that, on average, once every 13 minutes someone began listening to a message from Whitcomb Ministries over the Internet!

We hope that you will continue to make use of the nearly 250 messages by Dr. Whitcomb and others that we now have available there, free, for your use.

Plans being made for the Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries
You will want to save the date of Saturday, Nov. 11, for the Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries. We are again planning this major fall Bible conference for the Greater Milwaukee Area.

Whitcomb Ministries is delighted to announce that we will be partnering in this event with Answers in Genesis again this year. Dr. Whitcomb will be joined by Carl Kerby of AiG in addressing the theme, "A Young Earth: The Christian’s Absolute Beginning." Sherry Trainer will also come back to join us and provide vocal solos, and we hope that you will make plans now to set aside Veterans Day and be with us on Nov. 11.

Promotional meetings for this special conference are already being scheduled. If you would like a multi- media presentation on it for your church, school or home school group, please e-mail conference@whitcombministries.org.

More details on the Third Annual Day with Whitcomb Ministries will be announced as they become available. As always, for the very latest information, please check our web pages.