vassal of the King

Preaching. Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church The highest calling that God has placed upon mankind is when God takes a regenerated man, empowers Him with the Word of God and Spirit-endowed courage, and calls, commissions, and consecrates him to impart God’s truth to people. Preaching changes lives! God uses preaching as the ordinary means by which He quickens dead souls to new life. The Spirit uses the man of God as he delivers the Word of God in proclaiming the saving gospel of Jesus Christ so that all of God’s elect will hear, repent, and trust in Christ. To preach is to faithfully and powerfully deliver God's message to God's people and to show them how God's truth should change the way they live. This writing briefly summarizes biblical preaching.   In a word, ‘what is it that God demands that all His ministers do?’ 1. Preach BIBLICALLY All preaching must derive out of the Bible. Any message that does not come from the Bible cannot be a sermon. A t

A Short, Biblical Overview of Future Events Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church A hermeneutical & presuppositional note When studying Bible prophecy, one must remember that God progressively revealed Himself in Scripture over the course of time. This is codified in the Scriptures -- both in the Old and New Testaments. When God made eternal covenants with the ethnic nation of Israel in the Old Testament, these covenants must still remain in tact with the people that God originally made the covenant with because of God’s faithful and trustworthy character. When we interpret prophecy, then, we must begin the study with the Old Testament and then move to the New Testament rather than reading the Old Testament through the lens of the fuller revelation of the New Testament. This means that Israel always refers to ethnic Israel (both in the OT and NT, in every instance). The Old Testament prophets revealed much about the future kingdom where there would be great blessing

Yea but, I’ve Asked Jesus Into My Heart. This continues the "...Yea But" eBook series where I take common objections that many raise regarding the Bible and I seek to answer them biblically.  The New Testament no where exhorts people to look to a past decision to confirm a present condition. The Word of God has no commands to pray a certain prayer in order to be saved. Nowhere does Jesus lead a person in a prayer so they may be saved. Nowhere does the Bible command people to “ask Jesus into your heart.” As common as it is today, it’s totally devoid of biblical support. In fact, asking Jesus into one’s heart, or as it’s commonly termed: “the sinner’s prayer” has done more to promote easily believism, a sort of ‘Carnal (unChristian) Christianity’, and thus has deceived countless souls into thinking that they’re actually saved because of something that they did when in fact they still are lost, dead in sin, and headed for hell. Praying a prayer can satisfy many in thinking t

In the last few weeks, we at Christ Fellowship Bible Church have been actively working at putting together podcasts where we deal with one of the most common realities of our day — "Depression". THE GOAL: to persevere through the reality of life's pains with true, lasting, biblical HOPE. This is an 8-part audio podcast series that works through the 8 most common types of depression. We define the type of depression, provide the symptoms that the medical community provides, and then we give counsel from God's sufficient Word for Christians so as to persevere through the real struggles of life with Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered, God-glorifying HOPE. 1. Major clinical depression  |  link 2. Persistent depressive disorder  |  link 3. Bipolar disorder  |  link 4. Seasonal depression  |  link 5. Psychotic depression  |  link 6. Postpartum depression  |  link 7. Situational depression  |  link 8. A-typical depression  |  link The link to the entire se

Pray for Your Church Leaders! Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church Unspeakable weight rests on the shoulders of every under-shepherd who has the gloriously heavy duty of caring for the souls of God’s blood-bought sheep. It is a duty and a call where the watchman cannot clock out or say he’s uninvolved. It is a tireless work. It is a wonderful work. It is a busy work. It is a consuming work! And every minister of the gospel, called by God to such a high and holy calling, would not ultimately want to do anything else. How can we pray for our church leaders? How can we hold up their arms as they engage in relentless ministry? 1. To Pursue Christ Supremely.   (The pursuit of his life.) Make it your aim to consistently pray for your pastor-elders to “take up their cross and follow Christ” daily (Luke 9:23). As Jesus put it, he who does not take his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me (Matt 10:38). Pray for your leaders to follow after Christ, that is, to pursue

...Yea But, I Can Lose My Salvation. Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church Can it be that a true believer can lose his salvation? Could one whom God regenerates find himself in an unregenerate state thereafter? Could a saved person become unsaved? Is it possible? There are some who may affirm that God begins a good work and God will perfect that good work, but at the same time, they may claim that some may “fall from grace” or they may “fall away and it’s impossible for them to be renewed to repentance again.” Or, does God save someone once and for all with an eternal salvation? Many may answer: “Yea, ... but…” Let’s examine a few reasons why the Bible makes overwhelmingly clear that every true Christian will persevere until the end and he will most emphatically and certainly make it to heaven. No believer could ever lose his salvation for the following reasons: If keeping your salvation depended on you, you would most certainly lose it. Our sin nature and propen

Resolutions of a Pastor Shepherding Christ’s Church. Geoffrey R. Kirkland Christ Fellowship Bible Church With the bustling duties of constant ministerial work, I must frequently remind and reorient my focus time and time again on the essential priorities of God’s calling upon my life as an undershepherd of Christ’s church. So then, as a pastor of a local church, I’m committed to the following resolutions as a minister of the gospel. 1. RESOLVED: to prioritize personal holiness. A priority that I am committed to is the self-discipline for personal godliness. My joy and steadfast satisfaction comes from focusing on Christ and on the pursuit of His pleasure. Pleasing Him and my personal holiness must be the constant priority in my life. I must master the Word of God and know the God of the Word intimately. I must walk in the truth, not stray into error and glory in my Redeemer. By God’s grace, I’m resolved, that I will prioritize my own personal holiness. 2. RESOLVED: to feed Go