Older Men -- We Younger Men Need You!

Older Men, We Younger Men Need You!
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Pity the church that has droves of young, hip, trendy dudes and few gray-haired men of wisdom who have been around for a handful of decades. Young men desperately need older men. Just say it: being old isn’t bad. Older people have wisdom from experience. Older men who have walked with God for longer than most young men have even been alive know what God’s faithfulness is all about and how God’s faithfulness really, actively, gloriously proves itself even in the toughest of trials. Some old men have lost their wives of 50+ years. And they know God is faithful. Others have lost children, grandchildren, even great-grandchildren. And the indomitable confidence in the good sovereignty of God gladdens their souls. Far from being grumpy old men and crusty old complainers, they are strong, gentle, humble, and courageous men who stand on Christ and His Word. With that, older men, we younger men need you!

1. Your Wisdom
A gray head is a crown of glory (Prov 16.31). Those who have stood the test of time have wisdom from God, wisdom from the Word, wisdom from meditating on the Truth, wisdom from hearing years and years of sermons, and wisdom from practical life application and experience. The honor of old men is their gray hair (Prov 20.29). Those who are older are to be temperate and respectable and should invest sacrificially and intentionally into the younger men (Titus 2.2, 6-8). Those who have walked with God and have seen God answer prayers after decades of faithfully and believingly calling upon God can impart wisdom that a textbook just can’t merely provide. Older men who have walked with God, impart your wisdom to the younger men.

2. Your Testimony
The Scriptures speak of the old and gray-headed people who long to declare God’s strength to the next generation and God’s power to all who will come (Ps 71.18). The next generation must hear the older folks testify to God’s power, His faithfulness, His provisions, and His unswerving love for His own. Younger people must hear the older men and women verbally pronounce that the God of ancient Israel is the same God of the present day and that He has proven Himself to be faithful to them every day, without fail.

3. Your Prayers
Nothing can so move mountains as can fervent, relentless, believing prayer. What is it that God uses to work out His sovereignly decreed will but the prayers of His own! Pray for the next generation. Tirelessly travail for the integrity and purity of the next generation. Bend to your knees and beg God to save, sanctify, fortify, and strengthen the coming generations of Christ-followers. Pray for the purity of the young people. Pray for the integrity of their hearts. Pray for the resoluteness of their affections. Pray for the selflessness of their desires. Pray for the godliness of their conduct. Pray for them to shake the dark world with the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for them and pray with them. Encourage them by telling them you have spent time bringing them before the Throne of God. And grab them and pray with them. Teach them to pray in and through your praying.

4. Your Faithfulness
Endurance. Everyone needs it. God requires it. Scripture calls believers to it. Persevere! Be faithful! Remain steadfast! Cling to Christ! Older folks drawing nearer and nearer to heaven each day, you must show and model to the next generation of younger people what it looks like for men and women of God to live faithful lives. Faithfulness proves to be a mark that God looks for today and yet it remains a mark at which the world balks. O gray-headed people who have experienced God’s faithfulness, manifest your faithfulness each day as you continue to walk with Christ through pain, through persecutions, through loss, through tragedy, and through deterioration. Live faithfully to the Lord. Live faithfully toward Christ’s church. Live faithfully in prayer. Show us what it is to be a faithful man or woman of God!

5. Your Example
Much can be taught, of course! But more is caught than taught. Let the young people see you walk with Christ. Let the teenagers see you focus resolutely on Christ, delight supremely in the gospel, meditate daily on the cross, repent passionately of sin, pray fervently with zeal, endure triumphantly through suffering. Let the young marrieds behold you love your spouse with exclusive love and communicate with your spouse with Christlike tenderness. Let the parents observe you relate to your grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) with a preeminent desire to see them repent of their sin and come to Christ at a young age. Model evangelism to the young children. Show what it looks like to live as a Christfollower through all seasons of life as the day draws ever so nearer when you will behold the face of God in glory!

6. Your God
Young people need to observe aging men and women growing closer to the body of Christ, not distancing themselves from it. Rather than feeling neglected, unwanted, useless and impotent, gray-headed Christians must increasingly involve themselves in the work of the Lord and travail in service for Christ, for His body, and for the young people. Older men and women, show us your God! Christ endured relentlessly to the end in prayer, in love, in sacrifice, in service, and in piety, so the coming generations must behold you modeling for us this character of God! Show us your God! Tell us your God! Boast in your God! Bless your God! Older saints must remember that far from being useless in the Body of Christ, you play an integral role in serving, praying, helping, laboring, testifying, and modeling before all believers — especially before the younger, moldable, next generation. Paint a portrait of the unspeakable beauty of the Triune God so that He captivates their minds, wins their hearts, and delights their lives.

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A Method for Discipling

A Method for Discipling
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

A helpful Scripture that provides a guide for a ‘method for discipleship’ comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This method for discipleship is quite simple. It is easy to memorize and every Christian can do it! Here are four helpful aspects to this method for discipleship.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

1. KNOW!
Discipleship begins with your own convictions. You cannot give to others what you yourself do not have. In the context of Deuteronomy 6, Moses exhorts the Israelites to know their God so that they can pass on truth about Israel’s God to their children. When Christians seek to disciple, they must know God. They must know who He is, what He does, how He works, how He has worked, and what He promises! Discipleship necessitates a proper foundation: the right knowledge of God. As you grow in your walk with Christ, strive to know Him more!

2. GROW!
Moses tells the Israelites to love the LORD with all their heart, soul and might. Indeed, all the words from God that Moses spoke to Israel should rest on their heart and should guide them, guard them, and prompt their growth. To be a healthy disciple is to be a growing disciple. It is impossible to live the Christian life in neutral and in a perpetual state of being stagnant. Either people are growing closer to Christ or drifting further from Christ. God’s plea to Israel of old and to His people today is to love Him with their hearts, their soul, and their being/might. Indeed, the man of God allows the Spirit of God to impress the Word of God upon his heart so that he can grow stronger.

3. SOW!
To neglect discipling one’s immediate family in order to disciple others in the body of Christ is to have misplaced priorities. Every Christian should take diligent effort to disciple those that God has allotted to his care in the home by sowing the Word into them perpetually. God told the people of Israel to teach all the commands diligently to their children and even to talk of them at all seasons of the day. It is always fitting to talk about the Word of God and the God of the Word. Parents must take diligent measures to sow the Word into their children’s hearts. They must read the Word with them, instruct them in theology, teach them the character of God, explain the wonders of the gospel, and model for them the pursuit of holiness. Learn about God, grow with Him, and then sow it in your kids.

4. GO!
When a person knows God, is growing with God, is training his own family in the Word of God, then he should go and train others in the body of Christ in the Scriptures. Jesus commanded His disciples to go and make disciples. He told them to actively, intentionally, boldly, courageously go! He did not ask them to go; He instructed them to go! He did not negotiate with them or compromise with an easier strategy; rather, he commanded that they go and make disciples. O that every Christian viewed himself as a disciple of Christ (learner/follower) and also and at the same time a disciplemaker for Christ (a replicator/leader). Disciplers do not live perfect lives; they obediently and humbly go!


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6 Attributes of Scripture to Guide You into a Theologically Robust Bibliology

SIX ATTRIBUTES OF SCRIPTURE TO GUIDE THE CHILD OF GOD INTO A THEOLOGICALLY ROBUST BIBLIOLOGY.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Scripture testifies about itself that it is God’s Word. It does not merely contain God’s truth nor does it just speak about God’s truth. Every word comes from the mouth of God and thus every word of Scripture is holy, perfect and true. To elaborate more on these truths, this essay will provide six attributes of Scripture to guide the child of God into a theologically robust bibliology [=doctrine of the Bible].

1. INSPIRED
Scripture constantly speaks of itself as the Word of the Lord or the Word of God. This means that it is God’s Word. It is the Word that has God as its source. Thus, the Word comes from God and thus it is God breathing His perfect breath so that every word of all of Scripture is exactly and fully what God desires. Every single word in the original autographs [=manuscripts] are perfectly God-breathed truth. He did not breathe into the finished product and thus ‘make it inspired’ but rather as the author penned every word, yea, even every letter/stroke, God Himself breathed out the perfect revelation of Himself to His creatures.

2. INERRANT
The Word of the Lord is tried (Ps 18.30). It is refined and cannot err. The Law of God is perfect (Ps 19.7) and thus it itself is whole, perfect, blameless and true. Man is susceptible to error and deceit, but not God. He cannot err and cannot falter. His Word thus is dependable, true and always perfect. When the biblical authors wrote down every word it was in fact the inerrant Word of God since God Himself guided every stroke that the author made since God the Spirit carried the authors along in the act of writing/inscripturation.

3. INFALLIBLE
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail (Luke 16.17). Indeed, the testimony of the Lord is sure, that is, confirmed (Ps 19.7). It cannot fail. Nor can it lead astray. It cannot come up short from fulfilling its promises. God’s truth is infallible and thus it always can and it always will be trusted. It cannot fulfill its word differently than how it was originally given. God is infallible, trustworthy, dependable and so it follows that His Word must also be infallible.

4. AUTHORITATIVE
If the Word of God really comes from God then it carries all the authority that God Himself has. Since God has spoken and has given His Word to His people through the sufficient and clear writings of old, then God’s creatures must bow the knee to the inherent authority of Scripture. Scripture has authority over man; man does not sit in judgment over the Word. It is the Word that judges. Indeed, Christ’s Word is what will condemn and judge men on the last day (John 12.48). Thus, men owe to Scripture the save reverence and honor that God deserves since the words of the Bible are in fact God’s Words. To dishonor Scripture is to dishonor God. To bow in humble submission to the authority of Scripture is to bow in humble submission to the authority of God Himself since it is His Word revealed in Scripture.

5. CLEAR
The commandment of the Lord is clear (Ps 19.8). This means that the Word of God is clear in what it says. The clarity of Scripture speaks to its lucid nature. Men can understand Scripture. When God’s people open the Word, because they have the Spirit of God in them, they can in fact understand it and it becomes clear to them. And the Lord gives understanding to His people in everything (2 Tim 2.7). This is why the people of God read the Word, interpret the Word, desire to accurately handle the Word of Truth, and constantly pray for more light from the Lord so that the Word gives understanding to the simple (Ps 119.130). Because Scripture is clear, believers can read the Word and interpret it rightly. That is to say, God’s people can ascertain the meaning of the text as they read and interpret it rightly. No need exists for the so-called hermeneutic of suspicion or, as some wrongly assert, to call everything into question and never come to any dogmatic conclusions. God’s people must interpret the clear Word so that they know God’s meaning of His Word so that they know how God wants them to think, speak, and live.

6. SUFFICIENT
Perhaps no doctrine of Scripture has come under attack as much as the doctrine of the Bible’s sufficiency. The question that this doctrine answers is this: is the Bible really enough for all that Christians need for all of life and for all of godliness. And the sufficiency of Scripture answers this question with an emphatic “yes”! Does the Bible claim to give all the exhaustive information about every subject under the sun? No, it never claims to be such a source (only God has this knowledge). Rather, the Bible is enough for every man of God so that he may be adequate, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3.17). The Scripture teaches, reproves, corrects, and trains the people of God how to live. Nothing in addition to Scripture is needed to show the child of God how to live. Manmade methods and sociological, psychological, psychiatric, and secular methods of information are not needed to save a person nor to sanctify a person. The Word of God sufficiently can address directly or indirectly every single issue that a child of God may face in all of life. Thus, theories and hypotheses come and go. Various manmade methods will pass. Books will fade. But the Word of God will live forever. And the Word of the Lord is perfect, whole, complete, blameless and it endures forever (Ps 19.7). Thus, the child of God should believe the Word, know it, read it, set it upon their hearts, and apply it diligently and daily to their lives!

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Ministers of God: Be Serious! Don't Trifle! Labor on with All Your Might!

Great words from David Bostwick as he addresses ministers of the gospel...

"O! Why do not these important realities swallow up our whole attention? Why do not we make more haste in plucking sinners as brands from everlasting burning? Why do not we pray more fervently, and preach more zealously, and lay out our whole life, and soul, and strength in this great work? What! is the interest and happiness of deathless immortal souls worth no more pains? Can we do no more for the honour and interest of our glorious Master than this comes too? -- Shall the men of this world be more painful and industrious in seeking themselves, than we in seeking the glory of Christ, and the salvation of souls?  God forbid!   We are on matters of life and death, we pray, and preach, and labour for eternity; sure it becomes us then to do it with all our might. Shall we not be solemn and serious, when so near that state and place where all are serious?  Believe it, Sirs, there is no trifling in the eternal world, there are none in jest either in heaven or hell.  God forbid, then, that we should jest and trifle with immortal souls, that are just at the door and upon the borders of an eternal state!

In: The Christian Pastor's Manual: A Selection of Tracts on the Duties, Difficulties, and Encouragements of the Christian Ministry, ed. by John Brown, 366-67.

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Corporate Worship!

CORPORATE WORSHIP
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

In his abounding grace, God has given His blood-bought sons and daughters one predominant glimpse and purview of heaven, the corporate gathering of true Christians on a regular basis. Heaven is the world where believers will forever live together worshiping God, praising God, serving God, fellowshipping with one another, and abounding with joy! Corporate worship here on earth should reflect, albeit in a small way, these joys that all believers will fully realize in glory! To accomplish this, a handful of elements should describe the weekly corporate worship gatherings in a local church.

1. BIBLE-SATURATED
Every local church gathering should be guided by and saturated with the Bible. The Scripture must govern all that takes place in the local assembly. All that occurs in the local church should radiate from the Scriptures and should directly tie in to the Word of God. The Word of God should permeate the sermon, the music and singing, the fellowship and conversations, the public prayers, and of course, the parking of the two ordinances (baptism and Lord’s Supper). One must gather to worship to hear from God. God speaks in and through His Word. Thus, the more that the worship service is Bible-saturated, the more that God speaks to His people. In a word, everything that happens when the family of God is gathered together should be Bible-saturated.

2. CHRIST-EXALTING
Christ is the sum and substance of all theology. Every verse of the Bible leads to Christ and thus every element of Christ’s church should exalt His great name! The goal of corporate worship should never elevate the worth of man and the abilities of man. Rather, the goal of worship should always be to exalt Christ and Him alone. The preeminence of Christ should permeate the entire public gathering of worshipers. The prayers should be Christ-centered and Christ-exalting. The fellowship should be centered on Christ. The ordinances should remind believers of the gospel of Christ and His saving work. The sermon should present a full Christ and a full gospel so that God’s people can be conformed to the image of Christ. The music should focus on Christ, His person, His work, His grace, His sovereignty. Let everything elevate the glory of Christ!

3. SPIRIT-EMPOWERED
Nothing has any lasting value if it is devoid of the Spirit of God. Worship accomplishes nothing if the Spirit of God does not attend with power, grace, and life. This is why believers should ready their hearts before coming to corporate worship so that they are humble, ready to receive what the Spirit of God has for them, and eager to receive the Word preached and apply it to their lives. The centerpoint of corporate worship is the preaching of the Word of God. Preaching accomplishes nothing lest the Spirit empowers the preacher and goes forth with His Word with unction. No worship can please the Lord unless the worshiper offers sacrifices of praise in the power of the Spirit. Thus, every element of corporate worship should be done in the power of the Spirit, by the will of the Spirit, in the truthfulness of the Spirit, and for the glory of God in the Spirit. Believers should pray before, during, and after corporate worship for God to bless every aspect of worship (singing, Scripture reading, prayers, ordinances, fellowship, testimonies, sermon) and for the Spirit of God to attend every facet of worship with divine power and to bring about regeneration to the lost and sanctification to the saved.

4. JOY-FILLED
The height of happiness resides in the heart of the believer who praises His Lord. The praise of God brings joy to the soul. The worship of God instills unfading joy in the worshiper. Worship should never be dry, dull, boring, lifeless, stoic or hopeless. Rather, corporate worship should permeate with joy, with life, with vigor, with passion, with zeal! Joy should define worship because God has joy in Himself and so when His people take joy in Him they receive abundant joy. The greatest joy that a true worshiper has is the elevation of the Triune God. Even the conviction of sin produces joy since it drives the sinner to the cross to behold the glory of Christ in His atoning and sufficient cross-work. The worship of ancient Israel captured the joyousness of worship. Sing for joy to the Lord, the psalmists declare repeatedly! Let all corporate worship gatherings permeate with joy in Christ and in His gospel and in His salvation!

5. GOD-GLORIFYING
Why does the church exist? Tragically, many contemporary ministries and so-called church gatherings on Sundays have as their goal to elevate the worth of man, to provide self-esteem, self-help, and self-praising principles to help people cope through the busy week at work. Thus, man becomes the center of corporate worship. Consequently, church serves to glorify man rather than God. But this is never the biblical purpose of corporate worship. Christ is the center of worship and God must reside as the King in every worship gathering. Worship should never strive to elevate man but it should elevate God! Gatherings should never seek to make man feel good about himself; rather, doing things biblically should drive man to despise himself seeing who he really is as a despicable and wicked worm in God’s holy eyes and yet drive man to God through Christ for the glory of Christ so that all praise would be rendered unto Him alone. Let all elements of corporate worship seek to glorify God, that is, make much of God by focusing all thoughts, all minds, and driving all affections to God and His glorious Name.

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Worship God!

Worship God.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

David commands the people of God to worship the LORD with reverence (Ps 2.11) and all God’s people are summoned to worship at His footstool (Ps 132.7). The heavenly worshipers fall down before the throne and worship God who lives forever and ever (Rev 4.10) exclaim His worthiness to receive glory, honor and power (Rev 4.11). God must be worshiped! He will be worshiped! In this brief essay, some brief phrases elaborating on worship will be expounded.

1. God deserves worship!
None is so worthy to receive worship than infinite Creator of the universe and the Almighty King over every moment. God created time and yet works within time. He made all things and has sovereign authority over all His creation. He knows everything and indeed nothing can be hidden from His omniscient, watchful, perfect, scrutinizing eye. He made all and he shows mercy to all! He created and He calls! He predestined and He pardons sinners. He crafted the plan of all time, He executes the plan according to His decree, and He will consummate every detail of that plan to ensure that all will come to pass just as He wills. None deserves worship besides the one, true and living God. Many make the claim to be a god; but only one possesses the exclusive prerogative of God. Many wish they would be god; but only one rules over heaven and earth as God. Thus, God deserves worship. Not so much for what He has done but supremely and gloriously for who He is. He is infinitely worthy of and deserving of worship!

2. God demands worship!
God commands all men everywhere to repent and trust in Christ since God will judge the world through Jesus Christ (Acts 17.30-31). Speaking to wayward Israel, Yahweh speaks to His people through the mouthpiece of His prophet Ezekiel and demands that they repent and turn away from their idols (Ezek 14.6). Another prophet in line with the heralds of the Old Testament was John the Baptist who cried and commanded for all to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt 3.2). Jesus came preaching that very same demand for all to repent (Matt 4.17). God tells those given to sin to repent (Rev 2.16) and even to be zealous and repent  (Rev 3.19). He demands that all people turn from sin and come to Him in saving faith and by turning from idols. He does not ask people to worship Him. He demands that all worship Him. For He alone deserves it and He alone will receive it gloriously and happily. He requires that His people do not worship any other God for the LORD, whose Name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Ex 34.14). Thus, God mightily and mercifully demands worship from all creatures.

3. God delights in worship!
God delights in the people of God who worship Him (Ps 22.8). God delights in the man whose way is in accord with His Word (Ps 37.23). The servant of the LORD who obediently did the will of the Lord delighted in the Lord and the LORD delighted in Him (Isa 42.1). Nothing so delights the heart of God than making much of His own name, fame and renown. He is supremely glorious, infinitely marvelous, eternally full of holiness, and always exacting perfect righteousness. He delights perfectly and purely in Himself. All who delight in Him and in His character enjoin themselves in the perfect delight of God: in Himself. God takes great delight when His people worship Him. He is enthroned upon the praises of Israel (Ps 22.3). He sits enthroned above the cherubim (Ps 99.1) and thus all must fall and worship at His footstool (Ps 99.5). Thus, that which brings the greatest and purest delight to God is when His people take joy in that which makes Him the most joyous, namely, making much of Himself and delighting in Himself.

4. God delivers to worship!
Jesus called Levi out of his life of sin and summoned him to leave everything and Levi submitted, surrendered everything, and obeyed by following Christ (Luke 5.27-28). God predestines men from before the beginning of time so that they would praise Him throughout all eternity. He secures the salvation of sinners so that they would become singers of His redemption. When He saves a sinner and when He grants them a new nature at the moment of the new-birth, that newly regenerated sinner with his new nature granted to him by God has a driving desire to worship God, praise God, speak of God, proclaim his God, and disseminate the truth of God. God delivers His people not for them to contain it and hold the message in but for them to cast themselves forth and proclaim the message from the housetops. Saved sinners sing loudly! Let the redeemed of the Lord say that the lovingkindness of the LORD is everlasting and that the LORD Himself is good (Ps 107.1-2). God calls His people out of darkness into His marvelous light so that they would proclaim the glories of Him (1 Pet 2.9). The world of heaven is populated by sinners who have been delivered by the blood of Christ and who have worshiped Christ on earth and who join with countless multitudes in heaven to perfectly worship the Lamb in glory!

5. God defies false worship!
God adores true worship because He alone deserves true worship. When any of God’s creatures worship anything or anyone other than Him alone, it is idolatry. When people adore creation or other creatures more than the Creator, God declares that it is abominable sin. God will destroy all false worshipers. All those who refuse to bow the knee to Christ and acclaim Him as sole Savior and trust in Him alone as the perfect atonement will receive His just judgment in hell. God deserves perfect worship so He thus defies all false worship! But false worship does not include merely the bowing down to a wooden carving. The act of idolatry may also entail the worship of the one true God but thinking of him wrongly, viewing him incorrectly, or seeing him insufficiently. If one sees the God of the Bible (that is, the one and only true God) as a God merely of love rather than a God of perfect justice and righteousness, that is idolatry. It is the worship of the one true God yet God is worshiped improperly because He is viewed incorrectly. This is why the Word of God must inform the minds of believers so that the worship of God is Word-filled, Christ-exalting, and God-magnifying. All idolaters will be judged by God and all rebels will be cast into hell to receive God’s eternal sentence of divine justice. The reason that God hates all false worship is because He passionately enjoys and supremely deserves pure worship. Therefore, since He deserves all true worship, He hates all false worship just as much as he loves all true worship!

6. God decrees eternal worship!
Heaven is a world of worship! That which will saturate heaven for millions of ages to come is the endless, loud, triumphant, and happy worship of the Triune God. God Himself speaks of heaven as a place of joy and it is a world of worship (Matt 25.21; Rev 22.3). God’s slaves will serve Him forever and ever in the New Heavens and the New Earth (Rev 7.15; 22.3). God decrees that worship will take place forevermore in glory. Worship will take many forms. Heaven will include singing to God, serving the Lord, remembering His worth, beholding the very face of God, adoring the work of Christ the Lamb at Calvary, marveling at the eternal decrees of God, enjoying nearness and sweet fellowship with other believers, and serving the Lord and working for Him. Indeed, heaven is a world of sinless worship! God decrees that heaven will be a world of whole worship; that is, worship will not fade away, it will not be partial, nor will the worshiper be plagued with distractions like often occurs here in this age. God gloriously wills that heaven will be a place where blood-bought worshipers stand before the Throne and live with saturated minds focused on Christ, enflamed hearts in love with God, and happy lives serving the Lord doing His will. Believers must continually and resolutely set their hearts on this future day which will certainly come to pass. Neglecting to remember this future certainty opens the door to discouragement, depression, and a sort of myoptic-focus — that is, a near sightedness. Live with an eye on heaven. Remember that God’s worth should prompt our worship. As it will take place in heaven, so believers should engage in and delight in that eternal praise even now!


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Because of the Nearness of the End...

Because of the Nearness of the End...
Living in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ for His people.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Time is short! The judge is at the door! Christ said that He comes quickly! The Lord is near! Let everyone who has an ear listen! Time is running out! The day of reckoning and the day of divine disaster quickly dawns. Let men and women care for their souls enough to consider eternity, examine their souls, and trust in Christ for their eternal welfare! Because of the nearness of the end, God’s people must live in light of the imminent — any moment — return of Jesus Christ for His people.

1. Be preaching!
Because Christ could return at any moment, God’s men must lift up the voice with urgency, with immediacy, with courage, and with boldness! God’s men must preach with lionlike boldness and with Christlike truthfulness and plead with sinners to repent of sin and trust in Christ! This is the only message that saves! Supernatural power flows out when the Word of God goes forth. Nothing can stop the Christian from verbalizing the gospel of Christ! He must preach the gospel in season and out of season. Regardless of what people feel or ask for that may tickle the ears and be attractive to the unregenerate, the biblical Christian knows that he must herald the full counsel of God and all the doctrines of Scripture so that the saved would be sanctified and so that the godless would be converted. Nothing can shake the world like a sermon preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. Urgently preach the full counsel of God from the Scriptures! If the head of the household would know what time the thief were coming, he would ready and prepare himself. How terrible it will be for the masses who live in such a way that they do not expect the soon-coming of Jesus Christ. He will in fact come as a thief in the night and will destroy all His enemies. Because of the imminent danger that looms over every unbelieving soul, preachers must lift up the voice now and herald! Ministers of God must not trifle or downplay God’s truth. They must not neglect the calling of God and forfeit their ministry by being faithless and destructive shepherds. Rather, God’s men must cry out, like John the Baptist, and preach with God’s power, with God’s Spirit, with God’s Word, for the Glory of Christ that all men would turn from their sins and trust in Christ alone to escape the soon-dawning wrath of Almighty God.

2. Be praying!
Nothing in all the world is as powerful as God’s people praying to God. There is no other activity that so moves God and so rocks the world than prayer — hidden, private, fervent, believing prayer. Satan trembles when the weakest believer calls upon Almighty God in prayer. Believers pray to God the Father in the Name and through the work of Jesus Christ by the enabling power and divine intercession of the Spirit. An amazing concert of four-persons coming together in prayer occurs when every believer cries out to God! The Christian prays to the Father. And he prays only through the mediatorial work of and glorious access made available by Jesus Christ. And he prays in the power of the Spirit and as the Spirit of God intercedes with silent groans that He brings to the Father. Thus, the Triune God is actively at work in the prayers of God’s people. Because the time is short, God’s people must pray! They must pray hard! They must pray for revival! They must pray for God’s power to use the preached Word and the gospel proclaimed to quicken hearts and save many from the eternal fires! God’s people must intercede for missionaries, for evangelists, for pastors, for teachers, for counselors, and for one another. Because Christ promises to come soon, God’s people must urgently & intently pray!

3. Be persuading!
The gospel is the message that saves! There is only one message in all the planet that saves souls from eternal wrath and that is the good news of God’s grace revealed in the perfect life of Christ and substitutionary atonement of Christ at Calvary. This message is received as a gift from God by grace alone through faith alone! God’s people should present the gospel to the lost and persuade them to respond to the gospel in repentance and faith. Presenting the gospel is good, but the example of Christ and that of the early Apostles demonstrates an important element of evangelism: persuading sinners to come to Christ! Even the Old Testament prophets model the passion in persuading rebellious sinners to turn from sin and come to God! God’s people have nothing to lose. The lost have everything to lose! The saints of God should slaughter the fear of man — that is, caring more about what people think than what God thinks — and present the gospel and passionately plead with sinners to count the cost and trust in Christ! To befriend people and not to present the gospel to them is not real friendship nor is it evangelism. Evangelism consists of the verbal presentation of the gospel news that saves. Deepening friendships without presenting the full gospel and calling people to repent from their sin and embrace Christ is not a real friendship; nor is it true love for their soul. Eternity hangs in the balance. Time is short! The Judge is soon-coming. Eternity draws near! God’s people must urgently and passionately and compassionately and seriously persuade sinners to leave their life of sin for the greater joy of receiving Christ’s forgiveness and His righteousness through faith alone.

4. Be prioritizing!
God lovingly tells His children to make the most of the time because the days are evil. God calls His people to come out of the midst from the evil ones and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Believers must redeem the time. They must live for eternity. Many options exist for the people of God as to how they can spend their time. And not all are necessarily evil. But readers must remember the warning from Christ Himself that there will be those who hear the Word but they are the ‘thorns’ as the Word falls upon them and yet they are distracted with the desires for other things (Mark 4.18) and the Word is choked out and they remain unconverted. O the people of God must prioritize their time. Hours are quickly passing by! The Lord is soon returning! Judgment day looms. All men who live and walk on this earth will meet their Maker. Ask yourself: does your calendar reflect a heart that is set on eternity? Does the way you spend your money reveal a purpose of life fixed and focused and anchored in eternity? Who do you spend time with? How much time do you spend with social media? On TV? Watching movies? Shopping? Surfing the web? Trifling? Sleeping? Now ask yourself in comparison, how much time do you spend reading and studying the Word of God? Memorizing the Scriptures and hiding it in your heart? Praying and meeting with God in fervent and worshipful prayer? Proclaiming the gospel to the lost? Intentionally meeting with other believers with the Word open and engaging in Christ-centered conversations and accountability relationships? Does the worship of God with the people of God take the highest priority in your week? What do you love the most? O people of God, prioritize your time to live for eternity and to think toward eternity! Live with one eye on earth and with one eye in heaven! Live with one ear hearing the singing of heaven and with the other hearing the shrieks of hell. Remember eternity! Don’t trifle! Be serious! Be in earnest! Win souls! Be wise! Serve Christ! Be faithful! Endure till the end! Prioritize your life!

5. Be pure!
Unholy men are more fit for hell than for heaven. Living a life of sin and walking in patterns of sin makes one more of a son of the devil than a son of the Living and Holy God. God is holy and He is pure. He is upright and He is blameless. He is righteous and He is glorious. He is majestic and He is sovereign. God’s people, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, have hearts that have supernaturally changed by the working of God at the moment of regeneration and thus they want to live for God, they long to worship Christ, and they live in the power of the Spirit. They pant for purity and they hunger for holiness! This is the heart of the child of God — not perfection, but sanctification. God’s people have not achieved perfection; but the trajectory of their life is one of continuous growth in godliness and a focused pursuit of God Himself as He is gloriously revealed in Christ. The goal of the Christian life is Christ. The Christian longs for heaven and yearns to behold Christ and to see the face of God! But none who are unconverted, who live in ongoing sin, who live without concern for sin, and who demonstrate their unconverted state by a lack of mortifying — slaughtering! — sin will enter the glorious bliss and eternal perfection of heaven. This is not a works salvation; it is a salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that demonstrates itself in a relentless and joyous pursuit of purity and holiness of life because the newly changed heart longs to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. A saved heart sweetly sings of the salvation of Christ! A changed heart craves conformity to Christ! A redeemed heart runs swiftly and persistently to the Righteous God who imputed the righteousness of Christ to him by faith. A living heart longs for the oceans of love that will ever-flow from the lavishly flow from God, his Father. Christian, for the sake of the gospel and because of the dire urgency of the times, be pure! Be holy! Be Christlike! Be a glorious picture of the power of God displayed in the gospel that saves and the gospel that sanctifies!


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