Matt Postiff's Blog

We learned a couple of days ago that our dear friend Mal Borden went to heaven. He is highly esteemed in our assembly although he only ministered among us for about a year. His obit can be found at Christiansen Funeral Home and some of it is reproduced here:

Rev. Malcolm J. Borden, age 87, of Carson City, passed away Thursday, August 8, 2019 at The Laurels of Carson City. The son of Arthur Clifford & Anna Ruth (Courdre) Borden, he was born on December 24, 1931 in Pemberton, New Jersey.

After briefly serving in the U.S. Army as a Chaplain, he earned his Master's degree in Theology from the Dallas Theological Seminary and was a life long pastor and missionary, retiring from the American Missionary Fellowship. He most recently was a member of the First Baptist Church of St. Johns where he taught Sunday School.

On April 2, 1955, in Valley Stream, New York, he married Beverly Ann Williams and together they raised one son and enjoyed 58 years of marriage until Beverly passed away on September 5, 2013.

A loving husband, father and grandfather, Mal loved his Heavenly Father and enjoyed studying God's Word more than anything. He also enjoyed sharing his knowledge of God's Word through teaching and preaching for over 60 years and taught Sunday School until the age of 87. He shared God's love and God's Word with others right up until the point where he physically could not teach any further.

The family wishes to thank all the friends and relatives that have been a part of Mal's ministry these many years. Through your love and support Pastor Mal was able to have an impact on the lives of so many.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Beverly Borden; his parents; a brother, David; and a sister, Miriam.

Surviving are his son and daughter-in-law, Mark J. & Susan K. Borden of Carson City; two grandsons, Matthew Jay Borden and Timothy James Borden; two brothers, Arthur Borden and Paul Borden; and several nieces and nephews.

I found at the church nearly complete sets of 1981-86 typewritten bulletins. They will be of interest particularly to our church family because that was from the first six year of the church. It shows attendance, some information on finances, and gives insight into the church life at that time.

• 1981 Bulletins, missing early weeks in July from the start of FBC.
• 1982 Bulletins, missing several weeks
• 1983 Bulletins, missing several weeks
• 1984 Bulletins, missing April 15
• 1985 Bulletins, missing August
• 1986 Bulletins

Along with the bulletins came 81 typewritten sermon notes that Pastor Raymond Saxe gave as bulletin inserts and from which he preached. Here they are:

• Genesis 17:16
• Leviticus 1:1-17
• Psalm 32:8-11
• 1 Samuel 21:1-15
• Isaiah 53:8
• Isaiah 53:10
• Hosea 6:4-11
• Hosea 10:1-15
• Hosea 12:1-14
• Hosea 14:1-9
• Micah 7:1-13
• Matthew 5:1-9
• Matthew 19:13-15
• Matthew 21:1-17
• Mark 10:35-45
• Mark 10:35-45 Part 2
• Mark 14:3-9
• Luke 2:24-35
• Luke 4:38-44
• John 1:6
• John 1:29
• John 11:38-46
• John 17:1
• John 17:2-3
• John 17:18-19
• John 17:20-21
• John 20:19-23
• Acts 6:1-14
• Acts 9:31
• Romans 1:21-24
• Romans 2:4-5
• Romans 2:13and16
• Romans 2:17-29
• Romans 3:9-10
• Romans 3:10-11
• Romans 3:10-11 Part2
• Romans 3:12
• Romans 3:15-18
• Romans 3:19-20
• Romans 3:22
• Romans 3:23
• Romans 3:24
• Romans 3:24 Part2
• Romans 3:25
• Romans 3:25 Part2
• Romans 4:13-17
• Romans 4:1-3
• Romans 4:1y-19
• Romans 4:22-25
• Romans 4:4-5
• Romans 4:6-8
• Romans 4:9-12
• Romans 5:1
• Romans 5:2
• Romans 5:2 Part2
• Romans 5:12-21
• Romans 5:12-21 Part2
• Romans 6:11-14
• Romans 6:1-6
• Romans 7:14-25
• Romans 7:7-13
• Romans 8:12-17a
• Romans 8:1-4
• Romans 8:26-28
• Romans 8:31
• Romans 8:32
• Romans 8:33-34
• Romans 8:35-37
• Romans 8:38-39
• Romans 8:5-11
• Romans 9:14-18
• Romans 9:19-29
• Romans 9:30-33
• Ephesians 4:1-3
• Ephesians 4:4-6
• Ephesians 4:21-24
• Ephesians 5:1
• Ephesians 5:15-21
• Ephesians 5:22
• 2 Thessalonians 1:5-8
• 2 Peter 3:18

The Truth Trackers program will be starting on September 2, and we thought we would give you a sampling of what the children do for the year by looking back to the 2014/15 school year. One of our 6-year-olds, Daniel, will recite the memory work that he learned in the Tiny Trackers program, which is the youngest age group of our Truth Trackers club.

There is no sleight of hand here. What happened was that during the school year, the children would learn a key word and a verse to go with it. They would have a story lesson about that word and verse, and then they would be responsible to learn the verse. Parental involvement at home is a very important part of this, as the parents review the verse with the child several times in the following week, and review the previous weeks' verses as well. By repetition, Daniel remembers all thirty weeks of verses, and still retains them now, months later.

Your child can do this too in our Truth Trackers program!

I extolled the value of Bible reading during the Sunday morning service, encouraging our flock to read Scripture diligently. You can listen in at our audio page.

Someone emailed me a helpful reminder after the sermon about a Bible app that not only allows you to read, but also to LISTEN to the Bible as it is read. I should have emphasized in my sermon the great value of this method of getting into the Bible. After all, many early Christians had no other option but to listen as the Scriptures were read to them. We have the benefit of having inexpensive printed copies of the Bible available to us everywhere, and now we have the benefit of inexpensive audio copies of the Scripture as well. Besides being able to use time you otherwise cannot use to read (say, as you drive), an audio Bible is a good way to learn through the Scripture through another "learning channel." Learning through reading is complemented well by listening. You can also learn by writing it out and reading it out loud yourself.

There are many Bible apps available, but here are a few key ones:

• Bible.is is the app that I was reminded of after the sermon yesterday. It reads the Bible to you, among other things.
• Bible.com, aka "YouVersion". It seems everywhere I turn, people are using this version to read the Bible, and especially on phones. The great thing about reading on a phone is that it is easy to hold and doesn't tire out your hand and arm so much as a larger and much heavier tablet.
• OliveTree Bible Study software. This app offers lots of translations and Bible resource books, commentaries, etc. It has been a pleasant experience to use this app to read a good portion of the Old Testament with my wife Naomi in the evenings this past year.

The 2014 Bible reading schedules are available as PDF files (below) and soon will also be available on the front page of our site, in left menu bar under the Bible Guide.

Why should you regularly read the Bible? Because you are not supposed to live by bread alone, but by every word of God (Matthew 4:4, Luke 4:4, Deuteronomy 8:3).

• Read the New Testament once in 2014
• Read the New Testament twice in 2014
• Read the New Testament four times in 2014
• Read the Old Testament once 2014
• Key chapters for young readers

Tri-Lakes Baptist Church has invited our church family to participate in a marriage seminary taught by Dr. Greg Mazak of Greer, South Carolina. For the flyer, click the image below.

Our church website is updated to show the 2013 Bible reading schedule each day. Look at the lower left side of the page and you will see it. It changes every day to keep pace with the printed reading schedules (available below).

• Read the New Testament once in 2013
• Read the New Testament twice in 2013
• Read the New Testament four times in 2013
• Read the Old Testament once 2013
• Key chapters for young readers

Have a happy new year! May God's Word change you entirely, from inside out.

The Bible reading plans for 2013 are now available. There are five of them depending on where you are in age and how much time you want to invest in your spiritual growth.

• Read the New Testament once in 2013
• Read the New Testament twice in 2013
• Read the New Testament four times in 2013
• Read the Old Testament once 2013
• Key chapters for young readers

I hope you will read along with us. Repeating this program over the years is a very good way to hide God's Word in your heart. --MAP

Wednesday evening we had a combined meeting at Faithway Baptist Church in Ypsilanti. We sang some hymns, listened to a men's trio and ladies quartet sing, shared testimonies of salvation and of God's goodness in many other ways, and heard preaching from Ephesians 5:20 on "An Exhortation to Thanksgiving." The service concluded with the baptism of two young people who gave testimonies and shared a verse regarding their salvation. It was the first time that I remember when our two churches got together for a meeting. It was great to meet the folks of Faithway Baptist and to let them know personally that we are praying for their ministry. Thank God for others of like faith and practice.

In yesterday's entry, I mentioned the issue of the cross as a decoration in our church. We do not have a cross upon the front wall or on the outside of the building. There are some historical reasons why this was the case up to the time I started the pastorate at Fellowship Bible. So what is wrong with putting a cross up in the front now?

The way some folks have talked, they might be surprised to hear my answer. NOTHING!

There have been some pragmatic concerns that have led me to ignore putting up a cross. Some of them include preparation for preaching, counseling, teaching, transitional work from the previous pastor, managing all the infrastructure projects around the church, spending large amounts of money to install major new HVAC systems in our building, and many other small details. In short, there have been many more important issues with which to concern myself. Further, those folks to whom the task could be delegated are also busy with other things around the church or just don't have time for other reasons. But at this point there is a far more important reason that the cross-decoration is not high on my priority list.

And that reason is that we have a great "teachable moment" going on here. What might also be surprising is that the push for a cross tells me more about the theology and heart desires of the folks doing the pushing than they might at first realize. It demonstrates a misunderstanding of the doctrine of Ecclesiology, the Church. It also demonstrates a focus on the external, the visible, the unimportant. Some have said that people don't come to our church because it doesn't "look like" a church. To which I respond, "What is a church, anyway? And what does a church look like? Did they have crosses in the churches in the first century? Did they even have church buildings?" I have tried to remind folks that the church is not the building, it is the believers. Further, it is there, among the believers, where the Bible is preached. People still come to our church, not because we have a cross as decoration, but because we preach the cross as the way of salvation. Unfortunately, there are many well-decorated churches that are not well in their doctrine. And as far as decoration goes, I'm far more concerned that our lives make the gospel attractive (Titus 2:10), not that we first make the church attractive!

So, maybe I should modify my answer to the question, "What is wrong with putting up a cross?" The answer is "NOTHING--as long as we understand decoration does not make a church, and decoration is not important when set over against how we decorate our lives with the practice of the gospel."

Lately I was reminded that some folks that have left Fellowship Bible Church have spread the word that we are a "cult." I wondered what that meant. When I inquired of the best source I could find for information on what these folks are saying, I found that the we are a cult because:

1. We believe the Bible teaches that divorce is displeasing to God and should not happen.
2. We believe the Bible prohibits women from teaching men or being pastors.
3. We have not decorated our auditorium or outside of our building with a cross.

I would hope it is obvious that among any community of believers, including ours, there is not complete agreement on all details of theology. For instance, my position on divorce is "No divorce, but if there is divorce, no remarriage (Mark 10:1-12, 1 Cor. 7:10-11)." But there are divorced folks in our church; there are divorced-and-remarried people in our church; there are folks who disagree with me who have stated their disagreement; and there are probably folks who disagree who have remained silent. And I'm glad they are in our church. But everyone in the church knows that I am going to do the best job I can to show them from the Scriptures why they should not be divorced, and not get themselves into a situation where it becomes an issue. Same goes for the issue of women preachers. I believe 1 Tim. 2:12 is unequivocal on this issue. Others may disagree, but they know I'm not going to invite a woman to preach! I'll leave the issue of the cross decoration for another blog entry, since I don't have any Bible verses to appeal to on that one.

Well, that list still did not satisfy me that I understood why we are a cult. So, I looked up a definition of the term "cult" that is consistent with our fundamental Christian position. From the Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry, I found this helpful definition:

"A religious group that follows a particular theological system. In the context of Christianity...it is a group that uses the Bible but distorts the doctrines that affect salvation sufficiently to cause salvation to be unattainable. A few examples of cults are Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses, Christian Science, Christadelphians, Unity, Religious Science, The Way International, and the Moonies."

That did not help me either, because we are very plainly teaching the gospel of God's grace alone, through the Lord Jesus Christ alone, received by faith alone--the Biblical way of salvation and the only way that it can be attained. I suspect the term "legalism" may have some bearing on the issue (i.e. we are a cult because we are legalistic, that is, hold to some standards of Christian behavior), but I'm not sure. Maybe those folks who are spreading the word that we are a cult could communicate with me directly via email and share some more reasons why they think we are a cult. I will report in this venue if I learn anything more.

In July four new babies were born to families in our church. The baby brigade, with proud parents, is shown below. "Goliath" on the left was born at the end of March; the rest were born in July. We rejoice that God has gifted these little lives into their families and into our care as a local church.