(Interview) Celso C. Namuco

I have to admit, that the theological error that almost duped me in my early days of being a Calvinist, has a specific name, thanks to the title of the book. I was so pumped with the doctrine of grace. However, I stumbled upon Curtis Hudson’s sermon refuting this biblical doctrine. The Sword of the Lord folks (from the IFB group) are debunking Lordship Salvation, by responding with a variant of hyper-grace. By God’s grace and through his faithful teachers like John MacArthur, I found some counter points and didn’t abandoned the doctrine of sovereign grace. Free-grace or hyper grace is the false answer to Lordship Salvation. That happened years ago and it came from the IFB camp. I never knew I would encounter it again through this new book from Pastor Namuco and according to him, it’s alive and well in our place, Batangas City. So I reached out to him and even in his busy schedule, he gave me a very brief interview. If you want more, you can reach him and buy his book, Truth and Grace at the of this article.

Hello Pastor Celso. Kindly tell something about yourself.
I was born and raised in Batangas. I am happily married to my better half, Hanny Namuco, and we are blessed to have four children: JC, Eu-La, SJ, and EJ. I am the senior founding pastor and teacher of Christ Stewards Fellowship in Libjo, Batangas City. I also do pioneering church planting work at Taguig City for our Church, CSF.

What is hyper-grace?
Like in a movie review, I don’t want to spoil the reader’s desire to study my first published book, Truth and Grace. I can only provide a blurb of the book or a movie teaser so it won’t lose their curiosity about what hyper-grace is.
This is the modern term for the old heresy of antinomianism. It simply means anti-law. It lessens the importance of God’s law in a Christian’s life. It is the opposite of its twin heresy, legalism. These two erroneous gospels are two sides of the same coin. They are both enemies of sanctification.

(Interview) Sharmaine Saraspi of Guilt, Grace, Gratitude

You know the T-shirts, hoodies and the mugs. Now let’s get to know the person behind these merchs. Sharmaine Saraspi of Guilt, Grace, Gratitude talks about her recent merch booth over Pilgrim Theological Conference, how she started GGG, and being creative for God’s glory.

Hi Sharmaine. Saw some photos of you and your booth at the Pilgrim Theological Conference. So how was the experience being there with your merchs?

It is actually refreshing and I am truly grateful to finally set up a merch booth again after 3 years of the pandemic.

There are lots of Reformed brethren there and I think they like what you put out through Guilt, Grace, Gratitude. What’s the feeling of being recognized and being able to see folks wearing your t-shirts?

I’m actually shy because I’ve been trying to sell the merch while keeping a low profile since I started back in 2018, but I eventually made friends on social media (got exposed hahaha)  and was referred to by them, so eventually I got used to it.

(Interview) March Vargas of Cherish Christ

This new year, I’ll start with March. Yes, March. March Vargas that is. This Christian content creator has videos on YouTube and Facebook that teaches biblical topics. But it’s done (sometimes) in a funny and entertaining way. If you want to know more about her, check this interview out.

Hi March. Please kindly tell us something about yourself and how you got saved?

Hi! Thanks for having me. 🙂 I was raised in a Roman Catholic family. When one of my sisters became a Christian, she shared the gospel with me and started bringing me to her local church. I was in 1st year high school back then. As I was learning more about the Bible, I was realizing more and more how I have fallen short from the standards of God. But although I was eager to start following Christ, the desires of my flesh prevailed. I loved my sins more and I couldn’t get myself to surrender my life to Him.

(Interview) Norton Hall Band on Hymns

Photo from Youtube

What did your church sang this Lord’s Day? Did it lift both your soul to worship and your voice to praise the goodness of Christ? Does it prepare your spirit for the weekly servings of God’s Word through the sermon? Does it convey words that you can’t express on how to be thankful for God’s providence? Does it bring you to tears knowing the truth of God through the lyrics of the song? I hope and pray that it’s a blessing to you as you sang either a contemporary worship song or hymns.

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) has this group called Norton Hall Band that plays a fresh take on hymns. They have a new album, Still Our Refuge which is the third album they released this year. I reach out with Evan Sams, guitarist of Norton Halls Band to talk about hymns, their band and their new album.

For those who are not familiar with hymns, can you define what a hymn is?

(Interview) Jerrel Pilarta on Rap Music and Doctrines of Grace

When you hear the word “rap”, what comes to your mind? Probably you’ll think about popular rappers like Francis M. or Gloc 9. You might also think of the message of their songs that you hear on the radio like nationalism, peace and unity.

But do you know there is a Christian artist who raps about the gospel? In fact, he raps about the Doctrines of Grace or Calvinism in his latest EP. I connected with Jerrel Pilarta, an indie gospel rap artist and we talk about Calvinism, rap music and his new release titled TULIP.

How did you came to know Christ?

I grew up in a Christian household, so ever since bata pa ako lagi ko ng naririnig ang Gospel. Pero for me, I believe last 2016 ko lang na fully grasp ang Gospel at natanggap ng buong puso. Nung na realize ko na kahit sobrang makasalan ako, papatawarin pa rin ako ni Jesus if I will repent and accept Him as my Lord and Savior. Dun nag-sink in sakin ang ibig sabihin ng grace.

Who introduced you to the doctrine of grace?

(Interview) Wolves At The Gate on Church Support for Creatives

Believers are bestowed by God with talents. Each Christians has these gifts that, out of the abundant grace of God, are to be use to further the Kingdom of God. That can be found in the preaching of the gospel for unbelievers and to us, who repented and trusted Christ, as a means to be edify.

So now the question is: how do the body of Christ nurture these Christians who are given talents that resonates and influence others? What kind of support should the church give to believers to help them know utilize it to advance the message of the gospel?

I reach out to Steve Cobucci, guitarist and vocalist of the post hardcore band, Wolves at the Gate to know how their church gives them support as creatives.

Please tell us about your band and how did you came to know the Lord.

Our band has been around since 2008 when we started it in college. We started off playing house shows in town and then eventually got the opportunities to play venues in Ohio & the surrounding states. Eventually we put out our first EP “We Are The Ones” thinking it would be the last thing we would do, but it turned out to be the thing that got us a record deal.

Interview: Andy Le Peau on Being a Longtime Editor of InterVarsity Press

Writing is not easy. It is hard work even for a book blogger like me. I don’t have to list it down here all the things a blogger do for just one article. Good thing there lots of resources out there help writer’s like. Write Better by Andrew Le Peau is a solid one for bloggers and authors. So this blog reached out to Andy to tell us about being an editor, working for IV Press and his new book, Write Better.

Hi Andy!  Please tell us what is an editor and the work he does?

In book publishing, there are typically three kinds of editors. Acquisition editors are responsible to sign contracts between authors and the publishing house. They will meet with authors and agents, review proposals, read manuscripts, and sample chapters, all with the purpose of finding the best books that fit their program best.

8 Favorite Quotes From the Book “Progress” by Adrian Reynolds

Are you carving some spiritual habits while quarantined at home? If you want to pursue to be a good reader, you need to find good materials that you can read on. I have articles about creating a digital library full of books and also setting up a rack of digital magazines. All of these resources are free.

Here’s some quotes from the book, Progress by Adrian Reynolds published by 10 of Those. If you like these quotes, please get the book by clicking here.

“Most of those going into ministry set themselves the goal of making early academic progress, predominantly measured through exams or supervision. Fewer apply the same rigor to their godliness, but even supposing some do, this desire to progress is quickly lost in the maelstrom of ministry.”

“The godliness of a gospel worker is therefore worked out in how he or she relates to others alongside relating to God himself. We must not ignore one at the expense of the other. This also means that active participation in the life of the church is implied.”

“It is not enough, then, to make some progress, although that is a really good start. Our aim is to grow more and more into the likeness of our Saviour, so – depending on his grace and strengthening – we want to keep progressing in those areas where we are weak.”

“The man or woman who hides himself away, investing everything in loving God but giving nothing to love others is, ultimately, a fraud (as is, so it happens, the pastor who claims to love others but is cold towards the Lord).”

“The stakes could not be higher. Gospel ministry is a high calling which demands much. But it is also a glorious calling with the great privilege of seeing men and women bow the knee before Christ Jesus.”

“Our identity as gospel workers is very often wrapped up in our teaching ministry. An admission that we need to keep making progress, therefore, seems remarkably close to an admission of failure.”

“supernatural appointment and human endeavour are natural companions. In fact, they are both necessary if progress is going to happen.”

“Progress also means cultivating and seeking opportunities to demonstrate love to others and doing so more and more. “

Arts and Works: Delighting Grace Interviews Quits Sabio

While searching for pastors with sermons online for my blog series, a friend recommended me to consider Quits Sabio. Although he has no audio or video sermons online, a pastor having a blog is a plus for me. As I check him out, look at his blog and his websites, I’m impress with his bi-vocation career. And I think many will consider it a cool job. Also, he and his wife is into painting. So an interview must happen :-). And here it is.   We ask Quits about being a game developer, the industry, him being bi-vocation and the biblical view of creativity and arts.

Delighting Grace: Hello pastor. Can you tell us something about yourself?

Quits Sabio: I’m Enriqueto Sabio, but you may call me Quits. A husband to Malou and a father to our only princess, Amara. I’m bi-vocational; an elder at Sovereign Mercy Evangelical Church (SMEC) for almost 5 years now, and the current Technical Director of Funguy Studio. My wife and I love music and arts. In our spare time, we paint and play some music together.

Delighting Grace: How is the game developers industry here in the Philippines? How did you get into the job? It seems to be a dream job for some.

Quits Sabio: Game development industry in the Philippines is booming. Partly because of the height of mobile market here, and we have a lot of creative minds who worked on popular international titles in the recent decade. Not only that, most of our development companies offer diverse services. Spanning from games and onto enterprise applications, and multiple platforms such as mobile (ios, android, windows), console, pc/mac, vr/ar and many more.

How did I get into the job? I just posted some of my prototypes online after graduation, then one day I received a phone call from them. That’s how it happened and It is all grace. This is my first job and I haven’t left ever since.

Delighting Grace: What are the ups and down in your secular career?

Quits Sabio: The downside in my profession as a game developer is the constant need to meet the demands of our clients. Sometimes they’ll call you even on weekends or holidays just because there’s a bug in the game that needs fixing. But the upside is high pay grade. Definitely worth the effort. That is why by God’s grace I’m able to provide a little help in lifting some of the burden from our local church financially. Having said that, I still find some time to minister to God’s flock and be with my family. The other downside though is that sometimes I missed important company meetings and outings, because weekend is non negotiable for me.

Delighting Grace: So you’re a pastor and has secular work. And you manage to blog too. How do you manage being bi-vocational?

Quits Sabio: Currently, I only work three times a week in the office, and twice I have to work from home. With that setup, by God’s grace, I can still lead a bible study every Monday, prayer meeting on a Friday, a monthly visitation for each family, and corporate worship on a Sunday. For sermon preparation, I allocate an hour or so each day to read and be familiarized with the text and then I’ll work on my manuscript for the whole day of Friday and Saturday. That’s what my week looks like regularly. Of course that’s not always the case when I was just starting out on both of my vocations. I struggled a lot because I had to work at the office five times a week. But through God’s providence, eventually I got promoted, and so now I have the luxury of time.

I think the best way to manage your time is to prioritize what’s most important, namely God, then everything will fall into its right places.

Delighting Grace: Wow that’s indeed God’s providence. Pastor, your work requires being creative as well as artistic.  So what’s the biblical view of creativity and arts?

Quits Sabio: A biblical view of creativity and arts is not that far from how we view objective reality around us. Just like how nature reveals the glory of God and His invisible attributes, a true art must reflect the  Author of the good, the true and the beautiful. In other words, there really is such a thing as beautiful artwork and an ugly artwork, good music and bad music. I don’t buy the secular mentality that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. That it’s all subjective. Yes, we may respond to it subjectively, but the criteria for good art is not subjective. There are some criteria for beauty such as form, symmetry and asymmetry, color harmony, contrast and values(light and shadows). It must represent truth even though what you’re portraying is a fiction. Meaning, behind the imagery are objective realities. And if it is to be good, it must either explicitly or implicitly reflect God’s holy character. So just as there’s a standard for morality, there’s also a standard for beauty, namely God.

Delighting Grace: What are the common misconceptions of arts & creativity held by Christians?

Quits Sabio: One common misconception that comes to my mind is the idea that for an artwork to be considered as “Christian Art”, the subject must be biblical figures and events. That is not the case though. Art can be considered a “Christian Art” as long as the Christian artist did it to glorify God. To quote R.C. Sproul; “art is its own justification.” If it attest to God’s beauty and majesty, then it is a Christian art.

Second, as I mentioned earlier, is the notion that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. God himself declared that his creation was good only after he brought order to the void of Genesis 1:2. Also when God commissioned the construction of the temple, He gave precise materials, measurements, colors and form.

Thirdly, and probably the most controversial one, is the issue of portraying the Son of God in paintings, sculptures and even in movies. To understand the issue better, I would encourage you to read the article “Graven Images” from Ligonier.

In the article Robert Letham said;

“Where We Agree. Reformed theology believes in icons too. The idea of image (eikôn) is a biblical category — man made in the image of God, Christ the image of the invisible God. However, beyond this, everything is iconic for the Reformed. God has imprinted evidence of His own beauty and glory throughout creation. “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Ps. 19:1–2). What Calvinism did was to enable a this-worldly appreciation of beauty. By eliminating art and sculpture from church worship, it drove it into the world, placing the aesthetic in the context of general revelation, as the witness to God in the world rather than as the focus of the worship of God in the church.”

Basically, what he’s saying is that creating icons or images of any sort is not evil in itself, as long as it’s meant to point us to God within the realm of general revelation. Like how the natural world points us to His glory, and not to replace Him as the object of adoration within the context of church worship. Having said that, the debate rages on even within the Reformed camp to this day. So one must be careful when handling this issue. I for one, don’t paint images of Christ and don’t own one. But when I’m watching movies that does portray Jesus, or when I expressed admiration to the artistry involved in Da Vinci’s Last Supper, I know that I’m not worshipping those images. I know that it’s just an image pointing me to the real one, just like how the heavens declare the glory of God. If that image drives me to God’s word where I’ll find the accurate portrayal of Christ, then that’s fine with me.

Delighting Grace: Now let’s bring those we have talked about in one bag. How do we nurture believers in pursuing a diverse vocation say game developer?

Quits Sabio: Create an environment where they will discover their giftedness. If it is creative arts and music, expose your people to art history. The remarkable thing is, much of the good artworks and music ever composed, or created were from periods and eras where Christian worldview flourished.

For computer programming, just as in biblical exegesis, it requires much thinking. I know this could be a stretch for others, but for me, my training in exegesis and hermeneutics helped me on how to understand programming languages and vice versa. Attention to details is necessary if you really want to have a career on game development.

So we should promote high level of thinking, and at the same time appreciation for good music and arts.

Delighting Grace:  If a young believer seek counsel to you in the matters of which career path he will take, he is choosing either what he is passionate about like graphic design or practical like being a nurse or engineer, what will you advise to him? Will it change if he is a family man?

Quits Sabio: It doesn’t have to be either or. Choose what is practical and you’re passionate about. For me, being a game programmer is very practical and yet is very close to what I’m passionate about, namely creative arts. I think that answers the second question too. It doesn’t have to change if you’re a family man.

Delighting Grace: Thank you pastor for your time. Please invite us check you out and some of your works

Quits Sabio: Thank you for this opportunity, Delighting Grace! You can check out some of my articles through our church’s website at Sovereign Mercy and through Reformed Exegetes Society. For my artworks, just visit MMS Music and Arts.

8 Free Must-See Christian Films During Community Quarantine

Since we have all the time in the world at home we should spend it wisely. I got inspired with an article from Reformed Prespectives which listed down Christian films that are fantastic and free. So I listed some of my own favorite films online that never made it to their list. It’s a mix bag of 8 free films nevertheless it’s worth binge watching during the pandemic. All of them are available for free on Youtube as of this posting.

Unpopular – Hosted by Emilio Ramos and produced by Red Grace Media, this 30 minute film explores the message of Christianity that is the gospel. With interviews with the likes of James White and Paul Washer, the film unravels the the unpopular message of the gospel to the world. Unpopular is a great tool to inspire and equip Christians to proclaim the offensive but much needed gospel to this sin filled world.

How to Answer The Fool – Thanks to Jeff Durbin and Sye Ten Bruggencate, they took presuppositional apologetics to street level. This film will explain the method and apply it practically on the real people down the street. The film ends with a heated conversation. How to Answer The Fool is your first dip to presuppositional apologetics and will drive you to find more about it.

Through the Eyes of Spurgeon – A real treat for Christians is this documentary that is now available online. Directed by Stephen McCaskell, documentary filmaker with works like Luther and the upcoming Puritan and Epic, this is his debut film. This film explores the man who eventually became the Prince of Preachers. Through the Eyes of Spurgeon presents Spurgeon as you never have seen before.

Leonard Ravenhill Biography: In Light of Eternity – If I ask you who are, in your opinion, the most influential preachers in the 20th century, will Ravenhill make the cut?  This 9 year old documentary produced by I’ll Be Honest shows the life and ministry of Ravenhill . In Light of Eternity‘s running time is 15 minutes but it’s filled to the brim with interviews and sermon clips from Ravenhill that it will stir your soul.

Don’t Waste Your Life…Sentence – John Piper’s book, Don’t Waste Your Life created a big stir to a new generation of Reformed believers. That book sprang T-shirts, ballers, sermon jam videos, and a rap song from Lecrae promoting the message not to succumb to the American dream but to live for Christ. And this documentary, Dont Waste Your Life…Sentence, inspired by the book, is about inmates of Angola prison who were changed by the gospel. Get a glimpse of how they strive to live according to the gospel in this eye opening film with clips  of John Piper preaching  at that prison.

Yembi Yembi: Unto the Nations – Journey along with these ordinary missionaries as they reach out an isolated tribe called Yembi Yembi. Watch as these men of God live, survive, teach, and translate the Bible for a tribe that haven’t heard of the gospel on Papua New Guinea. The finale of Unto the Nations will tug your heart but I won’t give any spoilers.

Robber of the Cruel Streets – George Muller’s name is synonymous with the word “prayer”. He is an inspiration to countless Christians who wants to depend on the Lord’s provision. This bio film produced by Christian History Institute, presents this man of prayer as he fully surrender his life and ministry to God. Robber of the Cruel Streets captures Muller’s heart for God and the orphans of the streets of London.

George Whitefield Documentary – What better way to introduce an influential 18th century preacher than by another influential Christian from  the 20th century, Martyn Lloyd-Jones. In this vintage, 15 minute film produced by MLJ Trust, Lloyd Jones explores the life and times of George Whitefield and how he became instrumental to God by preaching the gospel to his generation.

So that’s my list. What’s your favorite film? Please comment below and let us discuss it.