vassal of the King

A Few Considerations as a New Year Begins Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church As we come to the close of one year and anticipate a new year of God’s providences, how can we discipline ourselves for godliness in a greater way? How can we fervently love Christ more and gaze upon His gospel with more frequency? As a new year begins, I’d like to offer a few considerations. 1. Consider lessening your time on social media & with various entertainments & proactively devote more time to reading Your Bible. I have no idea the amount of time you spend on social media but whatever the quantity of time you devote to it may be, consider lessening your time on these platforms and devoting more time to reading your Bible. Perhaps you’re a movie person or you’ve got that favorite show on TV you watch. Consider lessening the time you devote to such things and devote time to reading systematically, methodically, devotionally, joyfully, expectantly and faithfully through Scrip

Personal Philosophy of Open Air Preaching Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church I am a minister of the gospel. By His grace, God has called me to be a herald of the unfathomable riches of Christ. My ambition in life is to please God by magnifying His Son and proclaiming His gospel to the local congregation that He has called me to pastor and by pleading with sinners to repent of sin and turn to God in Christ by faith alone. I am not a full time evangelist. My calling in life is not to travel and be an itinerant preacher from city to city and from town to town. God has wisely and wondrously chosen me to serve His people of Christ Fellowship Bible Church in St Louis, Missouri. My foremost mission that God has entrusted to me consists in the faithful prayer and study of Scripture so that I can faithfully preach and teach His Word weekly. One of the duties of pastoral ministry that I firmly embrace is the evangelization of the lost. This can happen many ways and there a

Philosophy of Preaching the Word in Corporate Worship Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church God has called me to preach. He has placed upon my soul the weighty and blessed privilege of studying His Word and feeding His people with the truth of Scripture. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. It is a consuming calling that I’m bound to and one that I must stick to His prescriptions for how I am to serve, what I am to say, and in what manner I must preach. God has not left it up to me to figure out how to preach His Word. He has clearly presented how His Word is to be taught to His people. In thinking through my philosophy of preaching the Word of God in the corporate worship of God’s people, I want to present some fundamentals that govern me and my ministry of the Word. Here are 4 features drive me and my philosophy of preaching in the corporate gathering of the worship of the saints. Philosophy Simply Stated: *I'm committed to the exposition of truth, from God&#

HOW TO GREET THE SAINTS Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church At the conclusion of Paul’s letters, he greets believers and exhorts believers to greet one another. Seemingly tagged on at the end of some theologically-rich epistles, readers can easily skim past these verses. But could it be that here in these final words, God instructs us through the pen of the Apostle Paul as to how to greet the saints (that is, every person who is in Christ Jesus). So, how should believers greet one another? How should we greet every single saint? Here are 5 pastoral encouragements. 1. With INTENTIONALITY. At the end of his epistle to the Philippian church, Paul says to greet ‘every saint’ in Christ. I think it’s fairly understood that we don’t naturally greet every single person we see on Sundays in our local churches. In fact, if we were honest, we probably would say that we would rather sit down, enjoy a moment or two to ourselves when we arrive moments before the opening of the serv

Why Invest in the Men? Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church Every Friday morning I meet with about 6-8 men from the local church where I serve. From the very first week that I moved to St. Louis, I have endeavored to meet faithfully with these band of brothers. I remember the very first Sunday I was on site serving as the pastor of Christ Fellowship Bible Church , I called all the men to the front after the worship service and told them of my passion to meet with them, invest in them, pour all that I am and have into them, and disciple them. After a brief discussion, we chose 6:00-7:30AM every Friday morning for our study time. And to this day, six years later, we still meet to pray, talk church ministry, and study the Word together. A typical format of our Friday morning meetings is fairly simple and straightforward. From 6-6:30AM I often will pour out my heart and work through practical church-related items and ask some thought-provoking questions to generate discuss

METAPHORS FOR A MINISTER OF THE WORD. Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church The noblest of all callings that God could give to a man is to be a carer of the souls whom Christ has purchased with His own blood. To feed God’s people the Word, to shepherd God’s people through the journeys and trials of life, to counsel God’s people through unforeseen and painful heartaches, to protect God’s people from dangerous doctrines and teachers, to remind God’s people of the unchanging gospel and the sure-reality of heaven are just a few of the immense privileges that God places upon a pastor. But how does the Bible describe a pastor? What are some of the figures of speech that the Spirit of God employs to describe this calling? This essay will bring forth seven metaphors that speak of the minister of the gospel and his work. 1. Watchman (Ezekiel 33:1-9) Watchmen are workers. They busy themselves by vigilantly keeping guard to protect the population that they are called to oversee. G

WHY DO WE NEED REVIVAL? Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church We must have revival or we will perish! One only needs to survey the Old Testament to find out what God does when God gives revelation to people and they reject Him, despise His Word, scoff at His messengers, and refuse to repent. The inevitable result is divine doom and devastating destruction. We must have revival. And yet, we fully embrace the biblical theme that pervades all of Scripture, namely, the absolute sovereignty of God. God alone revives His people. God alone regenerates the rebellious. Revival is primarily a work of God the Spirit. So, as we look around us in our 21st century society, we know that God alone is the One who can bring revival and yet we still must ask, ‘why do we need revival?’ To answer this, I’ll provide a handful of reasons. 1. For the sake of GOD. We earnestly seek a revival first and foremost for the sake of our God. That means we long for God’s name to be displayed most magni

Consider the High Priestly prayer of Jesus to the Father in John 17:2 - "Even as you gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom you have given Him, He may give eternal life..." John MacArthur elaborates on the glory of this marvelous reality that God gave a particular group of people to His Son: "Having chosen to redeem them, the Father gave them to the Son as gifts of His love. Thus ... the disciples were infinitely precious to the SOn, not because of anything intrinsically valuable in them, but because they were promised to Him by His Father before time began (2 Tim 1.9; Titus 1.1)." "Jesus' beautiful prayer in John 17 indicates, this divine promise was made from one member of the Trinity to another -- from the Father to the Son. As a tangible expression of His infinite love for the Son, the Father promised Him a bride (cf. Rev 19.7-8), a company of redeemed sinners who would honor and glorify the Son forever.  In eternity past,

Helping Our Children Prepare for Worship, Engage in Worship, & Respond Accordingly. Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church Like every Christian parent, I want to teach my children to sit still and to engage in the corporate worship gathering of the saints! But it’s hard! It’s a battle! It’s sanctifying! But it’s a God-given privilege for me and my wife to endeavor to intentionally strive, to the best of our abilities with God’s help, to equip and train our children to prepare for corporate worship, to engage while in corporate worship, and to respond accordingly when the worship service has finished. In this brief write-up, I’ll provide four ways that we seek to help our children in this. 1) Attention! Each Sunday when we’re in family worship prior to arriving for corporate worship, we tell our children to “pay attention” in the meeting of the people of God! Pay attention! Sounds simple! But this is intentional and we want to not only tell but help our children under

SPECIFIC ELEMENTS TO PRAY FOR IN THE LOCAL CHURCH Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church This is a list that provides many ways that you can pray for your local church. pray for God's glory to permeate your church pray for unity in the church pray for almighty power in the preaching of the Word pray for the administration of the ordinances -- baptism & Lord's supper pray for biblical discipline and restoration pray for repentance in the flock pray for biblical forgiveness to be lavished to one another pray for Christ-centered fellowship pray for spiritual growth and maturation pray for the conversion of the lost pray for revival in our hearts and among us pray for the suffering, persecuted, and those who are mourning pray for the church leaders -- elders/deacons pray for Christ's soon return & our readiness & waiting for him pray for submission to Christ's leaders in the church pray for a thankful spirit to reside among

A Duty of Christian Wives: Praying! Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church Prayer is the mightiest weapon that God has given to us as children of God. Christian wife, whatever marriage situation you find yourself in, remember that God’s glory is on display and He never withholds anything good from those who walk uprightly. So keep walking in holiness. Keep it your ambition to be pleasing to Christ in all respects. And resolve to walk in God’s ways and to obey His Word rather than to succumb to feelings and emotionalism. You may be married to Haman-like man or you may have a Holy Gentleman, Christian wife, resolve to be a woman of prayer. Mighty prayer prevails. Fervent prayer prevails. Honest prayer prevails. Hannah was a woman who knew this by experience. How can you be a Christian wife who glorifies Christ in a maximal way? Remember to give prayer a priority place and maintain it as a daily duty. 1. Pray Early. You may be a working woman with a full-time job. You

A Duty of Christian Wives: Discipling Others. Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church As a Christian wife, God blesses you with the privilege of investing in other souls as others have invested in you.  As you receive God’s Word in your daily study of Scripture, as you hear God’s Word preached from the pulpit week after week, and as you hear God’s Word read in the context of your home in family devotions or in bible reading with your husband, now God graces you with the joy of pouring what you’ve received into others. So, be discipled and mentored. Be instructed and taught. Be submissive to your husband and allow him to read with you, read to you, teach you, and engage in dialogue about God and His Word together. But do not forget that you also have the wonderful, God-given opportunity to disciple others as well. How can you disciple others? Here are five pastoral suggestions for Christian wives to consider. 1) Disciple in the home. A disciple means that one is a fol

Some Benefits to Having a Paper Bible on Your Lap Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church I have the mobile and electronic devices. I have a computer. I have an iPhone. And I use them daily. They benefit me tremendously in my work, in my writing, in my communication, and in my research. So I have no problem with the electronic devices and tablets and gadgets per se. But I'd like to share a few pastoral thoughts about why it may be beneficial and prudent to go to church with a paper bible in hand rather than a tablet, or an iPad, or an iPhone. In fact, I would suggest that it would be worth your serious consideration whether you should leave your cell phone (or tablet, etc) in the car while you’re in church. I suggest that this is especially true for parents with young and teenage children. In what follows, I’ll provide what I believe to be some benefits of having a paper Bible with you and open before you when you gather with God’s people to worship. 1. it aids

A Duty of Christian Wives: Teaching Children [& Grandchildren] Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church [ This is part of a forthcoming eBook on "The duties of Christian wives." ] Timothy’s mother and grandmother had sincere faith and undoubtedly instructed him in godliness from a very early age. In fact, 2 Timothy 3:15 says that from his nursing days he knew the sacred writings which were able to give him the wisdom that led to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. That is to say, Timothy’s mother and grandmother taught him biblical truth even from the nursing years. Remember King Lemuel who was taught by his mother (Prov 31:1). Let godly wives never underestimate the power of teaching God’s Word to their children. And let grandparents never underestimate the power of the Scripture when pressing it home upon the hearts of the grandchildren.  The Bible clearly presents a pattern of godly parents teaching biblical truth and instructing truth