We care, Because God Cares…

 

Because God Cares… is an apologetic ministry seeking to help people to live according to a biblical worldview and covenant faithfulness to God. In ACCORDANCE WITH ROMANS 12:2, we encourage people to stop being conformed to the pattern of this world’s culture and worldview, and to be transformed into the image of the Lord of all, Jesus Christ. Our message is that God really cares for all human beings and desires everybody to enjoy eternal life with him (2 Pet. 3:9). However, that eternal life can only be attained through repentance from a self-ruled life to faith in Christ’s provision, accepting him as ruler and Lord of all. It is our desire to do our part to accomplish the Great Commission of Christ (Matt 28:18-20) in conjunction with Christian communities by:

 

 

Salvation can only be attained through faith in God’s gracious provision, Jesus Christ.  In short, the way to make peace with God is through repentance, from your sinful, self-ruled way of life, to faith in God, through the means of Jesus’s sacrificial work.  However, this is not always as clear to people as one may think.

 

We must first be clear; salvation is solely the work of God. God is a God of justice (Isa. 6:3; Rev. 4:8). In order for a person to be declared right before God, the legal conditions for sin must be satisfied. Since all humans are sinners (Rom. 3:23), no human can satisfy the legal obligation that God’s holiness requires.  Hence, if left to themselves, all humans would spend eternity separated from God’s presence (i.e., in hell).  Yet, God is also a God of love.  Since he knew that no human could satisfy the legal requirement, he himself paid the debt to satisfy his justice. When Jesus, who was both fully God and fully human, died on the cross, he experienced the wrath of God that you and I should have experienced. Hence, he satisfied God’s legal requirement so every human who wills can pursue a relationship with God. Those who accept Jesus’ sacrifice as their own are declared righteous by God.

 

How do we accept God’s provision?  Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing: it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (ESV). Thus, it is by faith that we accept God’s gracious provision. Faith is more than head-faith: it is a heart-faith that produces a covenant-relationship of faithfulness to God (James 2:14-18).  Your good works can add nothing to secure a proper relationship with God, but they are the necessary products of a genuine faith in God (Eph. 2:10).

 

As said earlier, all humans are sinners and therefore deserve eternal separation from God. However, God made provision so any human who wills can be made right with him. There are only two options for the sinner: he or she must either be judged (and receive eternal damnation) or forgiven (and receive eternal life). God will never overlook sin.  If you break someone’s window, they can do one of three things. The first option is to judge you and make you pay for the window. The second option is to overlook the broken window, but the window would cease being what it was designed to be (a barrier from the outside).  But the third option is to forgive you. This means that you will not have to pay for the window, but they will. Forgiveness for sin was very costly, but God paid that debt for you. He now offers salvation freely to whoever wills. Will you accept his provision, or reject him?

 

 

 

1)   We believe that the sixty-six books of the Bible, in the original autographs, are the only God-inspired, inerrant Scriptures (2 Tim.           3:16; 2 Pet. 1:20-21). They are fully and verbally inspired by God.

 

2)   We believe in one God (Deut. 6:4), eternally existent in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Gen.1:1; Matt. 28:19; Jn.                10:30), who created everything that exists other than himself, who is eternal and immutable. Within the being of the one God are          three distinct, not separate, persons (centers of consciousness). All three persons are co-equal in subsistence and co-eternal, but        submission is practiced within the Godhead for operational effectiveness.

 

3)   We believe that man is the only creature made in the image of God (Gen.1:26) and was created for the good-pleasure of the                Creator (Rev. 4:11). Hence, we believe in the dignity of all humans, from the time of conception until its natural end (Psa. 139:13;          Isa. 49:1; Jer. 1:5; Matt. 22:37-39; Rom.12:20-21; Gal. 6:10). However, all humans are sinners and are in need of God’s graceful          provision through Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:23-26).

 

4)  We believe that salvation is totally the work of God and it can only be attained through faith in God through the salvific work of             Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:8-9). Jesus the Christ is both fully God and fully man (Luke 1:35; 1 Tim. 2:5). He was born of a virgin (Isa.             9:6-7; Matt. 1:23), lived a perfect life (2 Cor. 5:21: 1 Pet. 2:22), was crucified on a cross (Matt. 27:32-38), gave up his life (Matt.             27:50; Jn. 10:18), was buried (Matt. 27:57-61), and rose from the dead in victory (1 Cor. 15:4).

 

5)  We believe that all sexual intimacy outside of a legal marriage between one man and one woman is sin. The marriage covenant           between one man and one woman is the foundation of the God ordained family which, in turn, should be the foundation of society       (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:3-6; Rom. 1:24-27; 1 Cor. 6:9).

 

6)  We believe that the church is a continuation of the Old Covenant people of God. People of both covenants are saved by grace             through faith. New Testament Gentile believers are grafted in with the people of God (Rom. 11:17-24). Each person who is a part         of the church shares spiritual unity through the presence of the Holy Spirit and through his regenerative work and the individual’s         faith in God through Christ (Titus 3:4-5). Jesus reigns as Lord of the church and it is the church’s duty to glorify God and make             disciples of all humans (Matt. 28:26-28). The Holy Spirit is active in convicting unbelievers of their need for salvation and                       empowering believers for God-honoring living, as well as for works of service (Jn. 16:8-11; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:4-8).

 

7)  We believe that human government and all authority is ordained by God (Rom. 13:1-7). Government officials and authority

     figures should be obeyed, unless they direct us to disobey a higher law of God (Acts 4:19). Hence, we believe in the separation of       church and state in accordance with the U.S. Constitution, but not the separation from God and State. Christians are to be vocal           and visible in the world (Matt. 5:13-16).

 

8)  We believe in the eschatological coming of the Lord Chris Jesus in bodily form to judge humans and angels and to make a new           heaven and earth where believers will dwell with God for eternity (Rev. 19:11-21;  20:11-15;  22:12-15).

 

 

J.M. Sparrow serves as Director and President of Because God Cares…, an apologetics ministry seeking to help believers live according to a Christian worldview. He earned both his Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degrees from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was formally an adjunct professor of Old Testament and Urban Ministry at Southwestern Assemblies of God University and has recently become a published author, Rebels with Insufficient Cause: Americans of African Descent, the Victim Mentality, and Value Formation through the Family. He has been married to Carla Sparrow since 1987 with whom he shares two children.

 

Out of his desire and passion for the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20), He planted an Urban City Church in Louisiana, Koinonia Evangelistic Center and hosted a radio broadcast called “No Compromise”.  Other ministry experience includes street evangelism, youth prison ministry, ministry to the under privileged under the direction of Beautiful Feet, organized and participated in coat and shoe drives geared toward helping the homeless, training ministers, teaching in various churches and events, theological study, along with research and writing. He planted and pastored a second church in North Texas where he fulfilled pastoral duties until 2018. 

BGCApologetics@gmail.com