Thursday, November 30, 2017

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. God told Ezekiel that he was appointed as a watchman for His people so that when he hears a message from God he is to give the people a warning from God. If he receives God’s message but chooses to not warn the people, then he will be guilty as an unfaithful watchman. But if he receives God’s message and does warn the people, then has delivered himself. When danger comes, the watchmen must sound the alarm to protect the citizens. The watchman cannot sleep or be careless; nor can be be indifferent or lazy. He must stay awake, be vigilant, be watchful, and be alert at all times because danger can loom from all fronts -- from both far away and from near (even from within at times!). So a pastor must also watch the flock to guard from encroaching danger from the outside and the inside.

2. Workman (2 Tim 2:15)
Workmen exert all their energy to do the required duties to the best of their abilities. Paul commands young, pastor Timothy to be diligent to present himself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. Consider a soldier who is faithful to please his commanding officer. Consider an athlete who works hard and competes according to the rules. Consider a farmer who works hard to receive his share of the crops. Just as a soldier, an athlete, and a farmer distinguish themselves by their zealous effort and tireless work-ethic, so ministers of the gospel must similarly be workers in the exegesis and expositing of God’s word. All who desire the privilege of shepherd-leadership desire a fine work.

3. Shepherd (John 21:15-17)
No one really desired to be a shepherd. It was hard, lonely, dirty, and lowly work. Shepherds had no fanfare and received no accolades from the masses. But shepherds had one driving duty: to care for the sheep that were entrusted to their care. Predators could lurk and swiftly attack so shepherds had to be vigilant to be with and watch over the helpless sheep. Shepherds had to provide still, quiet waters for the sheep to drink without harm from without or conflict from within the fold. Sometimes the sheep could tangle themselves in thorn briars and the shepherd would use his staff to free them. Or even a sheep may have wandered off and as he counted his sheep, one by one, one may be missing. He would never just let it die and move on with one less sheep, but he would leave the flock protected in a spot while he would go and diligently search till he found the lost and helpless sheep. Then he would pick it up and carry it home. May ministers of the gospel tend Christ’s lambs, shepherd Christ’s sheep, and tend His sheep (John 21:15, 16, 17) in following the Master’s steps who Himself is the good Shepherd!

4. Servant  (John 13:15; Matt 20.28)
Our glorious Savior, on the night before He would be crucified, had the Passover meal with His disciples and he washed their feet. And on this occasion, he said that he has given an ‘example’ so that we also should do as He has done (John 13:15). Previously in his ministry, He told the disciples that it is the pagan leaders who lord it over their people and exercise authority over their people. But it must not be this way among Christ’s people, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave! Let every minister of the gospel remember that we are not to lord authority over our people but rather we are to serve them as slaves. Indeed, whoever wishes to be first must be slave of all! No task is too lowly, no people are too dirty, no chore is too messy.

5. Farmer  (1 Cor 3:5-9 & Mark 4:1-20)
In writing to a church that he loved, and yet a church laden with many problems, the Apostle Paul affirmed that he and Apollos are servants of the Lord and servants of the Corinthian believers (1 Cor 3:5). He talked about how he planted, and Apollos watered, but God causes the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything but God who causes the growth (1 Cor 3:6-8). We are simply planting seed, watering the seed and tilling the ground. Our Lord taught in a parable that a man sows the seed (which is the word of God). The seed falls on different kinds of soil -- on the road, on the rocky places, in the thorns, and on the good soil. The point? Be faithful to sow and scatter the seed of the Word faithfully and God does the heart-work in the hearer through the word which the preacher faithfully sowed. Sow the seed. Be faithful. Work hard. Don’t give up. Keep tilling! Keep sowing! Keep casting the seed!

6. Mother (1 Thess 2:7-8)
Everyone has a vivid picture in their minds of a nursing mother caring for a helpless, precious little baby. The Apostle Paul employed this imagery when he told the beloved Thessalonians that they proved to be gentle among them, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children (1 Thess 2:7). Consider the heartfelt love a mother has for the baby. The baby can’t reciprocate the love, vocalize gratitude, or do anything that’s affectionate. And yet the mother constantly thinks of her baby, cares for her baby, nurtures her baby, feeds her baby, protects her baby, watches her baby, and gives thanks for her baby! Ministers are to have such a fond, mother-like, affection for their congregations that they are pleased to impart not only the gospel of God but even their own very lives because the people become so dear to the man of God!

7. Herald (2 Tim 4:2)
In writing to young, pastor Timothy, the Apostle Paul gives him a strict charge from God almighty and the glorious and sovereign Christ. The simple charge is clear, decisive, necessary, urgent, and mandatory: preach the Word! The verb that Paul uses employs the language of a herald that a superior commissions with a message to impart to a group of recipients. Imagine an Emperor in the ancient world who could send an ambassador with a message to a city where the Emperor was soon to visit, the ambassador would take the message from the King and deliver it just as he received it to the intended recipients. The herald is to stand in the public, cup his hands, lift up his voice, and boldly proclaim the King’s message! It’s not the herald’s duty to ensure that people obey or respond accordingly. The herald simply proclaims the message that ha been delivered to him by his superior. As long as he faithfully imparts the message without adding or subtracting anything to it, or making it more palatable or less offensive, he has done his job faithfully. Every minister of the gospel is a herald. We are to herald forth the King’s message from the Word of God to the people that God brings to hear the truth. After all, Paul said: we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us! That’s what a herald is! It is the King addressing his people through the mouth of the messenger, the herald, the ambassador. May God instill in us a passion to herald His Word faithfully!

More at Pastor Geoff's articles page.

Tuesday, November 28, 2017

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 magnificently and supremely. We want His fame to spread across communities, and cities and countries! We long for nations to worship the one, true and living God! We long for revival so that God receives the glory in reviving His people and regenerating the wayward.

2. For the sake of the CHURCH.
Second, we need a revival for the sake of Christ’s church. To revive something, by definition, means that there is some measure of life that existed previously. For God to revive us means that we are alive spiritually. Thus, a true revival is when God promotes holiness and a zeal for His glory that permeates the hearts of God’s people and propels them to live in holiness and fervent prayer married together with fervent evangelism. We long for God’s Spirit to rekindle the love for Christ and revive us by His Word!

3. For the sake of the LOST.
Third, we desperately need revival for the sake of the lost. Millions around us are perishing! Unless God sovereignly saves sinners, they are all headed to everlasting burnings in hellfire under the almighty and unresting wrath of God. We need revival and we beg for revival so that the mighty working of God may shine forth and that the unstoppable power of God may be manifested in the saving of souls! We hunger for revival because we have an intolerable burden for perishing sinners all around us!

4. For the sake of the GOSPEL.
Fourth, we need revival and we pray earnestly for it for the sake of the gospel. God has so put it in our hearts to see the the power of the gospel’s message demonstrated! Indeed, it is the gospel message that is the power of God! It is the power of this message to save. And we want this good news to travel far and wide and to convict men of sin and to bring them to deep repentance. And we long for this good news to show them Christ’s remedy and the absolute freeness of divine grace through repentance and faith.

5. For the sake of ETERNITY.
Finally, we desperately need revival because eternity is right around the corner. It’s near! Eternity is soon coming! We thirst for souls to be won to the kingdom in droves and to escape hellfire! Every living person will live eternally in either the bliss of heaven enjoying the beauty of Christ forevermore or the punishment of hell suffering under the unbridled wrath of God! May the Lord stir us to pray much and tirelessly, persistently and biblically, trusting that God will save His elect. So may we evangelize and pursue the lost so they may be won to Christ for all eternity!

More resources on revival can be found here.

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

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, the Father recorded their names in the book of Life (Rev 13.8; 17.8), and pledged them to His Son as a gift of His love.  Thus, Jesus could pray: "Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested Your name to the men whom you gave me out of the world; they were yours and you gave them to me (17:5-6). A few verses later, Jesus again underscored that believers are a gift from the Father, given out of His love and for the purpose of His Son's glory: "Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world!"

According to God's sovereign design, the Father draws to the Son those whom He has chosen to redeem, in keeping with His eternal promise. The Son, in return, receives and protects all those whom the Father draws. Because they are a gift to Him from the Father, he would never refuse them or allow them to be lost. He will raise them all to eternal glory."

SO Sinners are saved NOT because they are inherently worthy of salvation, or wise enough on their own to choose it (Eph 2.1-10), but because the Father lovingly draws them for the purpose of giving them as a gift to the Son. In response to the Father's love, the Son eagerly receives all those who are drawn because they are a gift from His beloved Father. The Son opens his arms to sinners, not because they either deserve to be embraced or seek such, but because He is exceedingly glad to receive the gift His Father prepared for him from before time began, and then sought and saved!"

When the Father, in eternity past, decided to redeem sinners, He did so with the ultimate intent of conforming them into the image of His Son (Phil 3.20-21; 1 John 3.2; Rom 8.29). Because they will be like Christ in their glorified state, the redeemed will forever be a supreme tribute to the Son -- reflecting His perfect goodness and proclaiming His eternal greatness!"

--from John MacArthur, John 12-22, MNTC, p.247-48.
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 understand the high honor and wonderful privilege of meeting with the living God of the universe! One way we help in this is to model it for our children. That’s why we strive to have an open Bible before us while the Word is being preached. When the songs are being sung, we endeavor to stand and read the Words and sing together with our kids. When the pastor opens the Word and has the congregation stand for the public reading of Scripture followed by the pastoral prayer, it is our goal for our children to pay attention and participate in this. All in all, we desire our children to not tune out, but to actively engage in the meeting with the living God!

2) Notes/Picture!
We have 5 children. Their ages range from 8 down to 2. We provide one notebook and one pen for our children during the worship service and we encourage the older ones to draw during the sermon. We encourage them to listen for a few key words that will be said (from the text) and a few of the illustrations or Christians in history that will be mentioned. The goal here is for them to listen for these particular key words/concepts that I’ll mention in my sermon. We ask the kids to draw pictures of something that is said in the sermon. As they write notes or draw pictures, we seek to ask about it afterwards.

3) Apply!
Once the pastor has closed the sermon in prayer, it has been well said by someone of old, that the sermon has really just ‘begun.’ For now it rests upon the listener to be a doer of the Word that he has just heard. So we want to shepherd our children through the simple questions of what was just preached and how it affects them in their lives. Sometimes this may happen on the way home. Other times it may happen when we’re putting the kids to bed. It could even happen Monday morning when they wake up. But we strive to be faithful to instill in our children’s minds that the sermon is not just a data dump to sit through and endure, but rather it’s an opportunity to hear from God and to respond accordingly and to be changed for God’s glory!

4) Pray!
Another item that we try to model for our children is prayer before, during, and after the time of corporate worship. When our family gathers for family worship before the worship gathering with the saints, we pray for the preacher, for the Word to go forth with power, for the congregation, for the nursery workers, for all the teachers (of various age groups), for the lost to come to be saved, and for visitors. It’s also helpful to pray after church and thank God for the wonderful gift of sitting under His precious Word faithfully expounded and asking for His enabling grace to implement specifically what was said from the pulpit.

Our family is far from perfect. We don’t even incorporate these four principles perfectly, all the time. But we do, by God’s grace, strive to be intentional and faithful to God to instruct our children in the glory and majesty of God, and to model for and instruct them in the joyous privilege of meeting with God’s people and hearing the Word boldly preached! May God help us!

Friday, November 17, 2017


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.

  1. pray for God's glory to permeate your church
  2. pray for unity in the church
  3. pray for almighty power in the preaching of the Word
  4. pray for the administration of the ordinances -- baptism & Lord's supper
  5. pray for biblical discipline and restoration
  6. pray for repentance in the flock
  7. pray for biblical forgiveness to be lavished to one another
  8. pray for Christ-centered fellowship
  9. pray for spiritual growth and maturation
  10. pray for the conversion of the lost
  11. pray for revival in our hearts and among us
  12. pray for the suffering, persecuted, and those who are mourning
  13. pray for the church leaders -- elders/deacons
  14. pray for Christ's soon return & our readiness & waiting for him
  15. pray for submission to Christ's leaders in the church
  16. pray for a thankful spirit to reside among us
  17. pray for workers to go out in Christ's harvest and labor for souls
  18. pray for increased evangelistic efforts
  19. pray for more people to serve God as missionaries globally
  20. pray for reverence in the house of God
  21. pray for more praying in and among God's people
  22. pray for the marriages
  23. pray for the parents
  24. pray for the students
  25. pray for the singles
  26. pray for the widows
  27. pray for the afflicted
  28. pray for dependency on the Spirit of God
  29. pray for commitment to the sufficiency of the Word in all things
  30. pray for the musicians to be holy, pure and to serve without distracting
  31. pray for the nursery workers and teachers to be patient and proclaim the gospel
  32. pray for the true conversions of our youth
  33. pray for fathers to lead in family worship at home with the children
  34. pray for the flock to sacrificially practice the 'one anothers'
  35. pray for generous, financial giving as a worshipful act in the church
  36. pray for spiritual strength and protection from the evil one and his schemes
  37. pray for the catechizing of our young people resulting in their conversions
  38. pray for the exaltation of God's Word and Christ's gospel in your church
  39. pray for the next generation that rises up to cling to Christ & follow Him
  40. pray for those without work and in need of employment
  41. pray for those who strive with wayward, unbelieving, godless children
  42. pray for a greater longing for heaven
  43. pray for a greater understanding of hell that would prompt urgent evangelism
  44. pray for the Lord's soon coming to catch-up believers and take us to heaven
  45. pray for enough suffering and hardship to keep us humble and dependent
  46. pray for sexual purity among all of God's people at the church
  47. pray for God's people to mortify sin quickly, decisively, violently & willingly
  48. pray for increased love for Christ and an increased ravishing by His love
  49. pray for more exposure to the gospel and more love for this message of redemption
  50. pray for more filling and power of the Holy Spirit in and among God's people
  51. pray for the Spirit to quicken souls during the preaching of God's Word
  52. pray for believers to biblically counsel one another with God's sufficient Word
  53. pray for the marriages of your elders to be strong, healthy, pure, and priority.
  54. pray for God's people to wrestle with God in fervent prayer daily
  55. pray for God to use the open-air proclamation of the gospel to quicken dead souls to life
  56. pray for the Word to go forth without distraction and pray for earnest focus during corporate worship
  57. pray for God’s people to all prepare diligently ahead of time for corporate worship and to be ready to worship God
  58. pray for intimacy, power, fellowship, and rejuvenation to come from the corporate prayer meeting of the church
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