Posted on 10/03/2013 9:16:25 AM PDT by javie
(CHRISTIANITY TODAY) Chuck Smith, the evangelical pastor whose outreach to hippies in the 1960s helped transform worship styles in American Christianity and fueled the rise of the Calvary Chapel movement, died Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013, after a battle with lung cancer. He was 86.
Diagnosed in 2011, Smith continued to preach and oversee administration at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa (California), where hed been pastor since 1965. In 2012, he established a 21-member leadership council to oversee the Calvary Church Association, a fellowship of some 1,600 like-minded congregations in the United States and abroad.
Smith was known for expository preaching as he worked his way through the entire Bible, unpacking texts from Genesis through Revelation and offering commentary along the way.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2013/10/pastor-chuck-smith-86-dies-after-cancer-battle/#PgkYVMmm0zYdBMfr.99
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
My brother-in-law and his wife, were married there about 1972.
His wife worked at the church school, for many years. Their kids went through elementary school, at the church.
Wow. He was a giant. Few people grasp the impact this guy really had on America.
A giant and a truly humble, gracious man. He has taught me what it means to be a Christian and I have a long way to go. He’s now with the Lord and both are smiling. Thank you Pastor Chuck.
Ping!
While there was much I disagreed with in Chuck's teaching, I did learn a lot listening to him on my drives home. I am sure he heard those words all of us year to hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant!"
I’m with you. I didn’t agree with his dispensational teaching, nevertheless I am thankful for him. I have a California wing in my family who were saved under his ministry. I’m sure my aunt is really sad today.
“Thank you Pastor Chuck.”
Orange County is home to several big congregations and media ops.
TBL Hq. Costa Mesa (I think Tammy FAye Bakker used to cry there)
Benny Hinn lives in South County
Rick Warren church in Mission Viejo
Crystal Cathedral, Garden Grove
Chuck’s Calvary Chapel movement
The first two I hold in very low regard.
The latter three always seemed okay to me. Never been a member of any. Relatives involved with Calvary Chapel School.
My friend was in line at the supermarket when he had to step aside to allow someone to pass. In doing so, the bottom of his shoe inadvertently scraped across the top of the shoe of the man behind him; he saw at once that he had just put a deep scar into the top of a brand-new leather shoe, obviously ruining it. Realizing his error, he turned around apologetically and came face-to-face with Chuck Smith. Chuck could not have been more gracious, smilingly assuring him that it had been accidental and to think nothing more of it.
My friend was impressed enough by Chuck's obvious sincerity in reassuring him that he felt obliged to tell me and others. I never actually met Chuck, but through this incident I've always felt that I have and that I know something important about him.
I’ll pass.
“What men, then, according to these definitions, should be classed as dispensationalists? The answer to this question might be stated in a variety of ways.
Three of these may suffice: (1) Any person is a dispensationalist who trusts the blood of Christ rather than bringing an animal sacrifice. (2) Any person is a dispensationalist who disclaims any right or title to the land which God covenanted to Israel for an everlasting inheritance. And (3), any person is a dispensationalist who observes the first day of the week rather than the seventh. To all this it will be replied that every Christian does these things, which is obviously true; and it is equally true that, to a very considerable degree, all Christians are dispensationalists. However, not all Christians, though sincere, are as well instructed in the spiritual content of the Scriptures as others, nor have they seen the necessity of recognizing other and deeper distinctions which do confront the careful student of the Word of God.”
http://arielcanada.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Lewis-Sperry-Chafer-Dispensationalism.pdf
RIP.
I returned to Christ at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa in the early 90s.
I’m a Baptist in the mold of early Southern Baptists like James P. Boyce and John L. Dagg or traditional Baptists like Charles Spurgeon, John Gill, William Carey, or A.W. Pink. I understand dispensationalism very well. That’s all I heard or read for almost 40 years. That’s what my pastors preached, my parents discussed, my baptist professors taught. I no longer agree with it.
what parts do you no longer agree with?
After I first became a Christian in 1972, a Calvary Chapel member who’d joined the military bumped into me at a coffee house in Germany where I, too, was assigned. He shared tapes of Chuck Smith’s teaching and for the rest of that tour Chuck Smith was my teacher. I’ve never met the man, I’ve never been to a Calvary Chapel, but his is the style that I strive for in my own preaching, and his gift was so great.
Enter thou into the joy of your Lord.
The Church has lost one of its great Bible teachers. His influence will go on as nearly all his sermons were recorded for posterity. He dutifully taught through the entire Bible every five years. He preached his last sermon last Sunday.
While we mourn his departure, Heaven has welcomed a good and faithful servant.
Maranatha.
Last sermon last Sunday. Amazing.
Any idea the scripture?
I could write a whole book on the topic, so it’s difficult to give a quick answer. However, the hub of the matter is this: I no longer agree with the dispensational understanding of the Israel of God and the implications thereof.
It was very hard to change my thinking and I must admit it was something I didn’t want to happen, which is why it was a process that took several years. My pastor for 30 years was Adrian Rogers. My father was a highly-educated godly man and a leader in the church who was dispensational. My grandfather was also a respected church leader who was dispensational. I was taught by dispensational Bible professors in college and most all of my friends were dispensational. So, when I first began to have real doubts it felt like I was betraying people I loved and respected.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.