vassal of the King

Here is my beautiful wife. Enough said. Four generations together in this shot! Praise God! My beautiful wife and my handsome son together in my parent's front yard! My grandma together with her great grandson, Kiah! Elizabeth and I with one of our most favorite couples--Jarett and Jaime! Here we are again in St. Louis! This is a shot of the beautiful land of Missouri! This is where the summer retreat was last week. We did have a great time rock-climbing too! We had an evening and a morning chapel every day learning about " radical discipleship ." Here is the Kirkland family! Daddy and son hanging out before Daddy goes to preach! This is what we woke up to each morning! Here is the fabulous retreat center dining hall where we were! Absolutely beautiful!

The Privilege of Being with Jesus It is an amazing thought to consider that people can be with Jesus and live life with Jesus! This is precisely the call that Mark gives in chapter 3 of his gospel when speaking of Jesus’ call of the Twelve as His appointed apostles. He writes: Mark 3:14-15 14 And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, 15 and to have authority to cast out the demons. The three noteworthy points to mention in these verses consist of: 1. The apostles of Jesus Christ were with Jesus . What an amazing thought! They were appointed to live with Him, to be with Him, to watch Him, to learn from Him, to be His ambassadors and His witnesses. By way of application, how imperative it is for us—His servants—to be those who are with Jesus on a daily basis as we spend time in the Christian disciplines of Bible reading and prayer. 2. The apostles of Jesus Christ were preachers of the Gos

This morning in my quiet time I came across these magnificent verses in the Psalms: Psalm 50:10-12, 21 "For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. "I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. "If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. . . . You thought that I was just like you. The notion of God controlling absolutely everything fills the Scriptures! Specifically, here God speaks and says that every beast of the forest is His . The cattle--every single one of them--on a thousand hills also belongs to God. God finally notes that the world is His and all it contains. This all-inclusive statement brings everything together under the sovereign reign and dominion of Yahweh! To state it negatively, there is nothing that is not under the sovereign reign of God. His sovereign and determined will is unchanging and cannot be thwarted. And lest believers think that Go

Pray for me this week. I'm preaching the following sermons: Tuesday - the Sovereignty of God (selected Scriptures) Wednesday - Psalm 30 - Thankful Worship Friday - Ephesians 5:1-5 - Live like Christ! Saturday - Acts 4:32-5:16 - Church Ministry! Saturday - 2 Chronicles 24 - Christian Accountability Sunday - Psalm 27 - Confident Trust in God! Monday - Psalm 24 - How to Respond to the Sovereign King! God is good and He gives strength to those who are weary (Isa 40:28). I'd covet your prayers this week.

The security of the believer’s salvation—part 5. Paul continues to lay forth the dazzling pearls in the discourse chain arguing in favor for the believer’s eternal security. Quite simply, the security of the believer’s salvation means that a person, dead in sin and totally helpless and lost, who believes in Jesus Christ and confesses Him as LORD is justified (Rom 5:1) and is totally safe and secure for that final day when the individual is glorified (=made perfect) in heaven beholding Jesus Christ face to face (1 John 3:2-3). To review briefly, we have observed Paul’s argument in Romans 5 proving without a shadow of a doubt that the believer in Jesus Christ who has been justified will most definitely be glorified and can never lose that salvation. In a word, a true Christian will not—indeed, he can not —lose his salvation! To the matter at hand, the fifth proof that the believer cannot lose his salvation is because of the clear statement Paul makes in Romans 5:9:

The security of the believer’s salvation. part 4 The one who recognizes his sinfulness and utter depravity, who thrusts himself at the mercy and grace of God for forgiveness, and proves his genuineness by a radical life-change is, in the language of the New Testament, a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). This defines what it means to be a Christian—a Christ-follower. The question Paul raises in Romans 5, which logically follows after the lengthy discourse of Romans 3:21 continuing through the end of chapter 4 is this: “If a person receives such a glorious salvation, can it ever be lost?” And to his question, Paul now turns to answer. He upholds the thematic thread which winds all the soteriological (“salvation”) Scriptures together by affirming that the believer in Jesus Christ will never (yea— he can never ) lose his salvation! In Romans 5 Paul states that the believer cannot lose his salvation because the new, regenerate person has peace with God (v.1), stands withi

the security of the believer’s salvation, part 3. Continuing our study on the security of the believer’s salvation leads us to the third proof that the sinner who has been saved is absolutely secure is that the believer has the hope of glory. Note Romans 5:2b-5a “and we exult in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint…” These verses declare in no uncertain terms that the believer who has been justified by faith (5:1), and who has peace with God (v.2), now exults in the hope of the glory of God. The believer can—and should!—exult in the hope of seeing the glory of God fully revealed in the beatific vision in heaven (1 John 3:2). The verb “we exult” in 5:2b signifies an ongoing and emphatic exulting or boasting in that future day of beholding the glory of

The Security of the believer’s salvation—part 2. We saw last week that from Paul’s glorious epistle to the Romans that the believer in Jesus Christ is absolutely secure and safe after having been justified (5:1). The first proof that we saw which guarantees the believer’s salvation is that the justified sinner now has peace with God. There is no longer enmity. God is no longer at odds with the person. The person is no longer under God’s wrath. He has transferred from being under the wrath of God to under his loving mercy. Therefore, all enmity, war, anger, and hatred has been removed in Jesus Christ. The second proof that shows why the believer’s salvation is secure is because the believer stands in grace . Hear what Paul says: Romans 5:2 2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; Romans 5:2 simply states that the believer, who has been justified and who now has peace with God, has obtained an “intr