The POWER of God.

THE POWER OF GOD. 

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church 

The power of God proves to be one of God’s most distinctive character qualities. His power is perfect, precise, good and unlimited. Theologians call it the “Omnipotence of God.” This speaks of the all-powerful and unlimited ability of God (and God alone) to do all His holy and perfect will. David affirmed that “in God’s hand are power and might” (1 Chronicles 29:12). Also: it is true that power and might are in God’s hand so that *no one can stand against God* (2 Chronicles 20:6).  Nothing is too difficult for the Lord (Jeremiah 32:17). 

God’s amazing and unrivaled power exists perfectly and has existed perfectly from all eternity as He had no beginning. He has never, ever increased in power or grown in ability. God has never had an energetic burst or a day of limited power. He always and ever exercises unlimited, unrivaled, undiminishing ability to perform and execute all His eternal decrees. 

God manifested His power in the everlasting decrees within the Triune Godhead when He foreknew, elected and predestined particular individuals to be saved in Christ. Then, in a perfect intra-trinitarian pact, the Father gave to the Son these elect souls for the Son of God to come and redeem forevermore. What amazing power on display in the unified Godhead. 

Additionally, God manifested His power in creating the world and all things in it in 6 literal, 24-hour days. He spoke and it happened. He commanded and the world stood fast (Ps 33:9).  Even Job said that God is ‘exalted in power’ (Job 37:23). Jeremiah 10:12 affirms that God made the earth by His power. The great fiery Sun, the innumerable stars, every single leaf, all humanity, every cloud, sunrise and sunset, and every atom and proton and neutron and every single cell made, designed, carefully crafted by God and upheld to function according to God’s perfect wisdom all display the praiseworthy power of our beautiful God. 

For the child of God, this blessed omnipotence comforts the heart, assures of heaven, guarantees everlasting bliss, and promises security from Satan and his hosts. Our powerful Christ alone could bear God's wrath and triumphantly shout: "It is finished!" To know that God stands as a mighty Rock and an immoveable Fortress always and ever available to give shelter, shade and stability to us in our weaknesses can give moment by moment help in difficulties of life. When circumstances seem way out of our control, we run to Christ our seated and exalted Lord to help us, guide us, protect us and remain faithful to us. 

For the unbeliever, Moses’ words ring true: “Who can understand the power of God’s anger” (Ps 90:11)?  Who has the power to stand before the fury of God’s wrath and bear in full His righteous anger? No one can stand before Him (Ps 130:3). But Hallelujah, Christ alone, in His infinite power as God and His tender mercy as Man, suffered and bled and died to absorb in full and powerfully extinguish and exhaust infinite wrath and punishment that you and I deserve. Run to this powerful Savior and be safe in His mighty hand!  Bless God today, and every day, for His unstoppable power that always accomplishes His will - in heaven, on earth, in the seas, and in all the deeps (Ps 115:3; 135:6)!

 

 

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The PATIENCE of God.

The PATIENCE of God.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland, Pastor

God is patient and slow to anger. God preached His own character and nature and said to Moses: “the Lord…slow to anger” (Ex 34:6). One of the repeated qualities of God all throughout the Bible is that God is “slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Ps 103:8; Neh. 9:17; Num 14:18). For God to be patient means that He is marvelously long-tempered. He delays His wrath and His judgment. He doesn’t have to and nor does He always choose to do this the same way, but God wonderfully chooses to withhold wrath. History shows and demonstrates God’s profound patience with humanity. 

The patience of God consists in a deliberate, perfect, gracious forbearance. He can do this because “the LORD is slow to anger and great in power” (Nahum 1.3). All sinners are called and summoned (by God Himself!) to repent and return to this God genuinely with a true heart because God is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger (Joel 2.13).  

It has rightly been called the “the majestic restraint of the Almighty.” In the face of human sin, rebellion, transgression, and great evil, God has marvelously delayed His wrath. God surely has all power to bring judgment on sin but He chooses, according to His wise and perfect designs, to delay and withhold His wrath for a time.  Don’t mistake it: God does not overlook sin; rather, He delays His wrath. God is not apathetic toward sin; He simply delays the punishment. 

God is a patient God not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3.9). We cannot think lightly (trivialize it, take advantage of it) of his patience (Rom 2.4) because it is meant to lead sinners to repentance! Sometimes, in the amazingly mysterious decrees and infinite sovereignty of God, He bears long with sinners and endures patiently with them as vessels of wrath who are prepared for destruction (Rom 9.22).  But, the patience of God must serve as a mighty catalyst to run quickly, immediately, unhesitatingly, and humbly to Jesus Christ for salvation! Delay not! God’s patience may not continue till tomorrow. Repent, return to Him, and be saved now, while God has given you time.

Ah, but for the child of God, for the believer, the patience of God is so humbling because we remember how manifoldly we have slighted Him, and sinned against Him, and broken His Law, and dishonored His wondrous Name and yet He has so patiently delayed His wrath and rather He has summoned us to His own dear Son. Our blessed Christ took infinite and holy wrath in our place and in our room. The patience of God cannot ever lead us to presumption but to humiliation and obedience!  God is patient with us because the Savior, Jesus, pleads in Heaven for us right now. Even when we sin, God remains patient because Christ has most wondrously paid for our sin and pleads for us in heaven to His Father.  

Oh, let the patience of God toward you prompt you to be patient with others! Patience is a Spirit-given fruit to every believer. Patience is what fosters and nurtures unity (Ephesians 4:2). Every day, believers are to put on patience (Col. 3.12). Follow Jesus patiently, perseveringly, continually as one who will inherit the promises soon (Hebrews 6.12). 

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The UNCHANGEABLENESS of God.

The UNCHANGEABLENESS of God.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland, pastor

 

Theologians call the unchangeableness of God the immutability of God. This means that God cannot and does not change. If God alone is perfect then He cannot change or he would then cease being perfect and become something else. But God everlastingly remains the same — yesterday, today, and forever. He says: “I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3.6).  His being does not change. His essence and character never alters. His attributes never fluctuate. God never has a bad day. God never has a mood-swing. God never is frustrated because things don’t go His way. 

Men change and rise and fall. Animals are born and then die. All creation changes and shifts and is altered over time. But God, God alone, from the very beginning of time, indeed from all infinite eternities past, has never ever changed even in the slightest. He is the towering Rock, the eternal Lord, the unchanging God, and the mighty fortress. 

Kingdoms have come and gone. Rulers, Kings, princes, monarchs, Pharaohs, Prime Ministers and Presidents have taken office and then passed away. But God’s royal rulership and steady Kingship have not changed — ever!  This also means that God cannot learn anything. He never forgets anything. He never grows in wisdom. He can’t improve. He shall not enhance his knowledge of a circumstance or a possibility. All things are perfectly known and governed and ruled over by God alone. 

The unchangeableness of God means that everything God has purposed and decreed shall be accomplished. The unchangeableness of God also requires that God fulfill all His promises. Here is a solid footing for you to rest your weary, tired, fatigued, uncertain, and anxious heart. Come to the immutability of your God and gaze on His unchanging love for you. And bow low and worship Him! 

This attribute of God should instill absolute fear and dreadful horror in the hearts of all the unsaved. The God who has promised to repay the wicked to their faces (Deut 7.11) and that God’s soul abhors the covenant-breakers (Lev.26.30) and that God will punish the evildoers (Luke 13.27) and that the day of reckoning is coming with Christ the Judge when He will cast all unbelievers into the Lake of Fire (Rev 20:15). Oh, this should compel unbelieving sinners to run quickly and decisively to Christ Jesus the Rock, the Substitute, the Lamb of God. 

For the believer, the unchangeableness provides immeasurable comfort and hope. The God who has made promise after promise shall fulfill them all! Our God has set sovereign, wondrous love upon us from eternity past and shall save all of them and bring them to His heavenly dwelling to worship Him forevermore. Christ’s crosswork shall always succeed and save. Not one sheep will ever be lost. Worship and bow low and consider deeply the unchangeableness of your mighty God!

 

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The FOREKNOWLEDGE of God.

The FOREKNOWLEDGE of God.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland, Pastor

 *This is part 5 in the ongoing series on the attributes of God!

For God to foreknow something means more than just God knowing an event *before it takes place*. The foreknowledge of God is a personal, relational, loving, intimate reality.  it is an attribute of God that speaks of His sovereign choosing to set his love upon an object. For those whom God foreknew, these He predestined (Romans 8:28-29).  

In the Scriptures, to know someone often speaks of more than just knowledge about some facts. It speaks of relational nearness and closeness.  Adam knew Eve his wife (Genesis 4.1). Jesus knows His own sheep by name (John 10:14). Jesus will say to the unbelievers: “Depart from me… I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23).  These verses speak of more than just informational facts, but a real nearness and intimacy (or lack thereof for the unbelievers) with Jesus Christ. 

Jesus was foreknown before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). That means that the Father had a perfect plan with Jesus in perfect, relational, intimate love for Him to come and suffer and die for us. Jesus was delivered over by the foreknowledge of God (Acts 2.23). This is more than just God *knowing* something ahead of time. He had a real, close, perfect, intimate plan with the Son to come and save sinners. 

Why is someone a Christian? It’s because God sovereignly, lovingly, tenderly, and particularly foreknew us.  Why is someone converted and a child of God? Because God relationally set his intimate care and watchful love upon a particular few. This is the foreknowledge of God. What peace of heart this brings.  What comfort to doubting souls!  What hope this provides for wandering hearts. You, as a foreknown child of God can say: I am eternally loved, eternally kept, eternally His, eternally united to God through Jesus Christ.  This is the sweet and saving foreknowledge of God.  Let this calm your heart, comfort your soul, compel you to godly obedience, and cast away every fear. Your security of entering heaven is not about your strong hold on Christ but on His sovereign foreknowledge and intimate love for you — a love that He set upon you infinite eternities ago.  And he did it by love!  Rejoice!

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The KNOWLEDGE of God.

The KNOWLEDGE of God.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

*This is part 4 of the ongoing summer series on the ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. 

 

God is knowable. The highest study that man can pursue is the knowledge of God. It is the queen of all the sciences. All studies of all topics of all areas of life and existence should lead to the worship of God and the greater knowledge of God!  God is the knowable God.  We cannot know everything there is to know about God (for He is exhaustive and infinite) but we can really and truly know this God. He cannot be exhaustively known but He can be genuinely known. 

The knowledge of God begins with the self-revelation of God. No one can possibly know God unless God first reveals Himself. And this He has done in three ways:  (1) in creation as He reveals His power, glory, order, stability and attributes;  (2) in special revelation of Scripture as we learn of this God sufficiently and perfect through the pages of the Bible;  and (3) in the Person of Jesus Christ the Son as He is the exact radiance of the Father and the perfect representation of His nature.  Thus, it is possible and dutiful to study and know God. 

It must be that we derive of our knowledge of God accurately — from the Scriptures. No one can contrive His own way to learn of God. No one can add to or fabricate his own idea of God independently of Scripture. We must go to the all-sufficient revelation of God, the Scriptures alone, to reveal who God is truly, gloriously, majestically, and sovereignly. 

God declares of His people: “they will all know me” (Jeremiah 31:34). Jesus the Good Shepherd says: “I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14). All believers are to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).  And we must pray for ourselves and for one another that we would increase in the knowledge of God (Colossians 1:10). And, true believers who have been known by God savingly can say with Paul: “I want to know Him…” (Philippians 3:10).  

The fact that God, this perfect and infinite God, is knowable compels all of us to study Him daily, to contemplate Him deeply, to ponder and mediate on Him humbly, to obey Him unquestionably, to proclaim and declare Him happily, and to thank and praise Him consistently.  Oh let the knowledge of this great God take you deeper into the infinite glories of divine beauty so that you will go deeper in knowledge of Him which will fuel your lofty worship of Him and your heartfelt fear and obedience to him! 

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The SOVEREIGNTY of God.

The SOVEREIGNTY of God.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland, pastor (Christ Fellowship Bible Church)

*This is part 3 of a blog series on the Attributes of God

 

The sovereignty of God fills the pages of Scripture from beginning to end. This marvelous & towering doctrine means that God is King.  As King, He has perfect decrees, plans, wisdom, protection, provisions and guarantees to ensure all His purposes are accomplished.  For God to be sovereign means that God is God. It means that He is in control — of everything.  Every single thing. This blows our minds. 

God is in control of the bird weaving a nest together.  God has ordained the laws of nature (all of them). God has created the world with His own effortless spoken Word (instantly without delay). God rules over heaven, over hell, over the righteous, over the unrighteous, over all angels, and over all circumstance in all the universe. 

God reigns as King sovereignly in a WISE and perfect manner. Everything he does is full of powerful wisdom. God reigns as King sovereignly in a GOOD manner. It would be tragic to have a powerful but corrupt king. It would be a pity to have a merciful but powerless King. But we have a Good King who is infinitely wise and powerful.  

Furthermore, this God is sovereign over the salvation of sinners. None can be saved apart from His merciful and compassionate mercy. God alone can raise the dead! He alone can give life to hell-bound and God-hating sinners (which we all were born that way). God alone can conquer sin, death, Satan, and the grave because Christ has died for sin (as King) and was buried and was raised (as King) and is now seated at the right of God in heaven at the highest place of honor and worship (as King).  Hallelujah!

Jesus will return again as the Lion-like King to righteously judge and slay all His enemies. He’ll cast them into hell. He will establish His kingdom on earth and rule over all nations as glorious, righteous King!  And this King is with you! This King is for you. This King has died for His elect. Why worry?  Why be afraid?  Why dabble in sin?  Why indulge in evil?  Our Sovereign King is wise and good and supreme and satisfying. He is in control of everything. Let God be God. Trust His Kingly and Wise goodness in every area of your life. Knowing God’s sovereignty comforts your heart when you’re unsure of the future, worried about a situation, fearful about a meeting, and confused about events out of your control. The Lord reigns!  Let your heart rest behind the mighty shield of God’s sovereignty!

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The EXCLUSIVITY of God

The Exclusivity of God

Geoffrey R. Kirkland, Pastor

 

The exclusivity of God means that God is God alone.  There is none like Him, none comparable to Him, none equal to Him, and none besides Him. 

 

Our God, the God of the Bible is the only God. He is the only True God.  He is the only Living God. That means there is no other created thing or being in all the universe that is comparable to our God. He is the infinite One, robed with perfect Majesty, triumphant and splendid over all other things.  King David said: There is none like you and no one besides you!   Jeremiah prayed and said: there is none like you O LORD for you are great and great is your Name in might. 

 

For God to be exclusive means that He alone reigns as supreme. It demands our sole and exclusive allegiance, praise, thanksgiving, worship and honor for Him. It means that we should live our days, with all our might and exerting all our energies for His supremacy. 

 

The exclusivity of God means that we are not God. But He alone is God.  It means we are under Him, accountable to Him, servants belonging to Him, and entirely at His bidding. He alone — as God — decrees and determines what is best for us and how and when our lives will begin and end.  God Himself decrees: “I am the LORD and there is none else.”

 

The exclusivity of God calls you to humility before His majesty.  It beckons your highest praise because He alone is perfectly, constantly and marvelously good and wise.  It summons you to heartfelt worship and thanksgiving.  It also means you and I should open our mouths and speak of our God for He alone is always and ever the great one, the perfect one, the unrivaled one.  Satan is not God’s arch-rival. God has no arch-rivals. God is entirely exclusive with none to stay his hand and resist God’s bidding and decrees.  So let the exclusivity of God propel you to worship Him for there is none like Him. And He gives Himself fully, personally, relationally, constantly to you. He says: I am YOUR God and You are My people!  Marvel! Worship! And praise the exclusivity of your God!

 

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The HOLINESS of God.

THE HOLINESS OF GOD.

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

The holiness of God describes and defines God as different than His creation. Holy is the only attribute and description of God that is mentioned three times for superlative emphasis. He is Holy! Holy! Holy! The holiness of God is not just an attribute (or, a description) of God. It is the very beauty of Who God is. It is the perfect sum total of all that God is and how He deals with all His creation. For God to be holy means that He is set-apart and different.  He is holy MAJESTICALLY — because he is different than his creation in his essence, in his being, in his perfections, in his God-hood.  He is holy MORALLY — because is he totally set-apart and distinct from everything that is profane, sinful, and corrupt. He is holy DELIGHTFULLY — because God is infinitely happy and perfectly delighted in Himself and in His perfections. 

When you begin to understand the holiness of God, you will necessarily come to realize your own vileness and sinfulness and despicableness before this perfectly pure God. Isaiah saw God’s holiness (in Isaiah 6) and immediately cried out: “Woe is me, for I am undone!” The great problem of the world today — and of many professing ‘Christians’ nowadays — is a loss of the magnitude and wonder of the Holiness of God. This Holy God is not to be joked about, trifled with, toyed with, bargained with, or ignored. To behold God’s holiness is to see His beauty, and then to realize our fallenness and depravity. And all of this then leads us to God’s Majestic Son, the Holy Lord of Glory, who clothes us with His own pure righteousness so we can not only stand before God’s holiness, and behold God’s holiness, but actually delight in God’s holiness.  The only way that sinners like us can draw near to this purely holy God is to come to Christ by faith, and be clothed in His holy righteousness (2 Cor.5:21) and then we begin to behold His glory, enjoy His delights, and reflect His holiness.  Without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). 

Because your God is holy, worship Him with trembling and with humility.  Walk with purity, devotion, and intentionality. Hate every stain of sin, every temptation that assaults your soul, and every corruption of this world.  Consider your Holy God! The angels in heaven cry Holy Holy Holy! The saints on earth must reflect His holiness! How can you grow today in enjoying God’s holiness and reflecting God’s holiness?

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Ideas for the Lord's Day: To Sanctify the Lord's Day

 Ideas for Lord’s Day Worship: To Sanctify the Lord’s Day
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church


The Lord’s Day is not to be “Boring-Day” or “Do-Nothing-Day.”  It is a special day, the high day, the holy day, the celebration day when we cheerfully triumph because Christ our Champion has died for our sins and He has risen for us! He lives for us, intercedes for us, protects us, and shall come again for us!  He is just as longing for and anticipating the meeting of the saints as we are. He walks among the lampstands and is eager to gather where two or three in His name assemble.

The Sunday heart of worship actually begins Saturday night. Get rest. Go to bed early. Fill your heart with Truth. Don’t go to bed intoxicated with worldly music, movies, words and shows. Prepare yourself and your heart Saturday night and you’ll rise Sunday morning with a heart ready  and alert and eager to glorify Christ. Go to bed with a heart full of Christ and His Word and you will find yourself rising with an eager and anticipating heart for corporate worship.

SOME PASTORAL SUGGESTIONS TO CONSIDER AND ADAPT TO YOUR PARTICULAR CONTEXT:

1. Have high and lofty thoughts of the Lord’s Day. Remember this is God’s Gift-Day to you to prioritize Him and His worth. On this day, God’s people worship with the Saints and affirm and confess and unify together with like-minded gospel-saints and an opportunity to serve others. Perhaps one of the greatest ways to elevate your thoughts of the Lord’s Day is to believe what God says about it: it is to be a day of joy and celebration, a delight (Isa 58.12-14).

2. Do a study on the Attributes of God. You could watch the Ligonier videos on the Attributes of God, grab one of the Systematic Theologies and work through God’s attributes. You would benefit greatly from reading the Blessed and Boundless God by George Swinnock, or JI Packer’s Knowing God. Even if you selected one chapter to carefully read through on the Lord’s Day morning, your heart will well up with wonder and praise for the God who chose you in salvation, redeemed you with His blood, and invites you to worship Him in the Spirit!

3. Pray through the Membership List Carefully, Specifically, Individually. Grab the membership list and pray through it. Or, perhaps you could pray through a portion of that membership list. Pray by name. Pray specifically. Pray for their children. Pray for their marriages, their places of ministry and their growth in grace.

4. Pray through area Churches that faithfully preach the gospel  (and consider praying thru area false-churches that have left gospel preaching & pray for God to grant repentance to them, leadership teams and people). Spend time praying for the power of the Word to fill pulpits and bless hearers as Christ’s honor and gospel thunders forth. Pray for divine power, the unction, the empowerment of the Spirit to assist and attend the reading and preaching of the Word.

5. Pray through the missionaries — a country, a people group. You may consider selecting a particular country or people group (JoshuaProject.net) and learn a bit of it, pray specifically for it, and let your heart be drawn to the people who live in desperate need of the gospel of grace. Pray for God to raise up missionaries. Pray for the Lord to raise up workers to go out to this harvest field.

6. Consider hospitality / a brunch, a lunch. Maybe you could plan and prepare to have someone over for a meal. It doesn’t have to be flashy or expensive or super formal. Keep it simple, warm, inviting, and intentional! Focus on good conversations, share testimonies, speak of Christ and His Word, share your favorite hymn and doctrine. Then have a time of Scripture reading and prayer — and even preparation for worship together!

7. Consider the Sunday morning CARE GROUP.  We have a CARE group that meets Sunday mornings to prepare for the worship in the afternoon.  Consider jumping in and joining that group.

8. Come early for the 1:00PM Prayer meeting for the worship service & for divine power. All that we do, if God does not attend with spiritual power, is a mere human event and void of spiritual efficacy. Therefore, we pray, and we must pray. A group gathers in the church building to seek the Lord’s face in prayer and beg for His power and working in our midst during the worship service. Come to this prayer meeting!

9. Weather and season permitting, go for a walk, enjoy an outdoor activity by yourself, with your family & kids, or with others. God has given endless opportunities to enjoy Him and bathe in His creation. He puts His power, attributes, glory and wisdom on display outdoors. Go for a walk. Go to a park. Take a hike. Take another along with you. Ponder, meditate, memorize, talk about, reflect on Christ and His Word together.

10. Have extended time of preparation for worship.  Read the Scripture, think on it, do a brief study of the text. Grasp the outline, the meaning, the ideas, the application points.  Sing the songs. Read the portion that’ll be read during the pastoral reading & prayer. Pray through all the elements of the worship service.  

11. Work through the catechism on your own that’ll be taught in the 2pm classes for the Young People.  Read it, memorize it (go over it repeatedly till you have it down word for word verbatim). Then study the footnote that gives the fuller, theological explanation and support for the catechism answer. If you do this carefully, systematically and deliberately, you will work through a full systematic theology through all the doctrines so as to sharpen your knowledge of God and His Truth.

12. Plan and pray for a way you can serve another in your church family on this day.  Think of an adult and a child.  Find them. Make a beeline for them. Encourage them. Pray with them. To do this well, plan early, pray for wisdom, be specific and thoughtful and engage with different people so as to encourage the Church family — younger and older — as you see them in the corporate assembly.

 

More resources can be found here.

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My Goals as a Preacher of the Word of God.

 MY GOALS AS A PREACHER OF THE WORD OF GOD.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church

As I preach God’s Word, I have goals that help me as I study and pray over the Word, and craft and outline the sermon, and prepare and deliver the message. Here are some goals that I have as a preacher of the Word of God.
 

1. Understandable.  I desire to be an understandable preacher.  I want people to understand God’s Word from the text that lays before us. Whatever passage, or chapter, or verse I herald, my ultimate goal is this: did it help God’s people? Did they understand it? Did the text become clearer to them?  I want them to understand God and His Word better after the sermon is complete.
 

2. Exegetical.  I must labor hard and labor long in my study in the text of Scripture.  The exegesis process demands much time, care, patience, prayerfulness, humility, and submission. To exegete the text means to go deep into the text of Scripture (in the original languages) so as to draw out — that is, to bring out — the meaning of the text.  My exegesis always drives my sermon preparation. I must arrive at the meaning of the text before anything else can come together. I must know what the A/author intended to convey by the words of the text. 

3. Faithful.  In my preaching, I must be faithful to Christ and to His Truth. I want to be powerful and authoritative as an instrument of God for the good of souls. But to be useful to my Master, I must be faithful to Him in studying and interpreting His revealed Word. It is not my goal to be clever, or relevant, or funny, or entertaining. My goal is simple: am I being faithful to God and to His Word? Faithfulness demands truthfulness and trustworthiness. Whatever the text says should carry the sermon along. I would be unfaithful if I imposed my interpretation or meaning upon a text of Scripture. I must humbly submit to God’s Word and allow the text to speak for itself. I want to be a ‘faithful servant.’
 

4. Practical. In my preaching, I must be practical. I want people to know how the passage of Scripture, rightly interpreted and understood, must affect their lives, their conversations, their heart-attitudes, and their thoughts of God and about life. I never want to stand up and give a commentary or merely a lecture on a text. I must explain the meaning and give the truth of the text. But faithful preaching drives it home powerfully, forcefully, clearly, specifically, individually, and inescapably so that all the hearers (both saved and unsaved) know that it calls for a verdict and demands that they do something in light of what they heard.
 

5. Powerful.  When I stand to herald the oracles of God from His Word, I have no intention of being a talking head or another oratorical speaker. I long for power. I want power. I crave for spiritual unction. This, I believe, only comes through lingering long in God’s presence in desperate prayer and calling upon God for His Spirit to fill me, take control of me, and be the authoritative divine voice, working through my mouth, to change and transform my hearers. My goal is to preach with Almighty power. Thus, I resolve to make God’s Word the center of my message.

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Why I Preach The Word of God.

 Why I Preach The Word
Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Why am I resolved and resolutely focused on expositing God’s Word faithfully, powerfully, authoritatively and prayerfully?  What drives my thinking, my praying, my studying, my heralding?   

Here are a handful of reasons why I preach the Word.

1. to submit to the Word.   I preach the Word because the Word of God is my authority. I have nothing to say apart from the Word. Without God’s Word as my authority & object of heralding, I stand as nothing more than a clanging cymbal or a dumb animal. I herald the Word because I stand under authority, and on commission, and in burning affection for the Bible, the very Word of God.
 

2. to hear from the Father.  I preach and minister the Word because God speaks to His people through His Word. Every word of Scripture is God-breathed and therefore wholly inspired and totally sufficient. People gather each week, throughout the week, not to hear man’s quips and thoughts and jokes, but they assemble to hear a word from the Almighty who has revealed Himself savingly in the Word of God. This is why Scripture is my source and message of preaching.
 

3. to exalt the Son of God.  I preach the Word to exalt and extol Jesus Christ, the only substitute for ruined sinners. He alone can reconcile guilty man with the Holy God. No other mediator exists. God provides no other redeemer or atonement or propitiation to save wretches from eternal wrath. Christ alone! Proclaiming Christ and Him crucified is needed for the converted the unconverted. All need to hear of Christ regularly. He is glorified as He is heralded.
 

4. to employ the means the Spirit uses.  The Spirit of God ministers and speaks through the Word He inspired to both bring salvation to dead sinners and to sanctify believers as they grow in Christlikeness.  The Spirit of God does not work apart from His Word. In the teaching and expounding of the Word, the Spirit powerfully works to convict and to convert those whom He shall draw to Christ.
 

5. to instruct the believer’s mind.  The ministry of preaching instructs the minds of believers. God’s people must remember that Christian living does not consist of a feeling-oriented life, but a Truth-driven and a Truth-governed life. Feelings and emotions and circumstances change. God’s Truth in His Word never does. Thus, I must relentlessly preach the Word to instruct believers on the nature and character of God, the glory of Christ, the duty and specifics of repentance and faith, humility, love, and Christian virtues.
 

6. to save the unconverted.  The Word of God must go forth because this alone is the means by which God saves the unconverted soul. No man can be saved apart from the truth of the gospel. Though the unbelievers cannot hear and believe on their own, being dead in sin and haters of God, the Word of God that goes forth has irresistible power to humble the proud, save the lost, deliver the enslaved, and wash the filthy.

7. to model biblical hermeneutics.  I am devoted to preaching the Word to provide an example for God’s people in how to read, study, interpret and apply Scripture. I preach through books of the Bible consecutively, remembering context, doing word studies, comparing Scripture with Scripture, arriving at the meaning and authorial intent with the aim of applying and implementing the Word in my life and the lives of my hearers. This process, week by week, models how to do Bible study.
 

8. to obey God. I preach the Word because God commands it. The timeless, ultimate prescription in the Word, as demonstrated by His faithful mouthpieces in both Old and New Testaments is the clear, bold proclamation of the Word. The heavenly Lord commands that preaching be the main driving power in the local church, so I obey my Master’s orders and preach the Word.


More podcasts on the topic of PREACHING.

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[Re-Post] Why I Preach With An Open Bible

 

WHY I PREACH WITH AN OPEN BIBLE.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Blogs and articles abound in promoting myriads of ideas relating to preaching and of being relevant to the audience and clever in the delivery. My commitment has been and will continue to be simple: to open the Bible, to read a biblical text, to explain that biblical text, to press home its application to the hearer’s heart, and to proclaim the saving gospel and call sinners to repent and believe. In doing this, I preach with an open Bible -- always. I’ve compiled a few reasons why I preach with an open Bible.

1. it conveys my only authority.
When the preacher speaks, he has only one authority -- the voice of God that goes forth in the declaring of divine truth as it is sourced in the written Word. Other than that, the man has nothing to say. When I open my Bible and preach from it, it conveys to the congregation that my only authority to stand before them and speak is simply and solely is the written and sufficient Word of God. I want it to be seen. I want the audience to understand I’m a man under divine authority as I speak God’s truth to His people.

2. it models biblical hermeneutics.
Preaching is hermeneutics publicly spoken. To preach the Word means that a man has prayed and studied and done all the hard work so as to present biblical truth in a clear, compelling, and understandable way. I preach with an open Bible because I want to model biblical interpretation -- good hermeneutical principles and practices -- even in the act of heralding God’s Word. I don’t want people to ever come away and say “I believe this because Pastor Geoff said it!” Rather, I want people to leave convinced of theological truths because they say: “I see this in the Bible!” I want to model for them the art and discipline and proper methods of arriving at the proper meaning of the biblical text. And preaching with my open Bible aids me in this endeavor.

3. it prevents self-contrived ideologies.
Preaching with an open Bible prevents me from inventing self-contrived ideas and self-promoting messages. How easy it would become to start tickling the ears of the audience and fall into the cunning trap of people-pleasing. But to preach with an open Bible prevents me from creating and crafting my own fabricated ideologies and sermonettes and it causes me to preach what God wants me to preach in the following paragraph as I preach expositionally and sequentially through entire books of the Bible. I don’t want to be in charge of what I say or preach; I want God to dictate what and how I preach. And to prevent my own ideas infiltrating in, I believe that having an open Bible on the pulpit before me and constantly referencing verses in the Bible helps prevent self-contrived ideologies.

4. it visualizes the Headship of Christ
Jesus rules His church. I don’t think very many people would argue with that. But when you observe much of American Christianity you see something vastly different. One way, I believe, to emphatically show that Jesus rules this church is to preach from an open Bible on the pulpit so that all the congregation knows and hears and understands that Jesus Christ speaks to us now through the exposition of sacred Scripture as it is read and expounded through God’s appointed messenger. I don’t want to neglect anything that would downplay the headship of Christ. I don’t want to pick and choose verses and paste them on a screen. I want people to see the truth in their own Bibles. I want people to see me hold my Bible. I want the congregation to see me point to my text of Scripture. I want them to see my authority comes from Christ as it is codified and revealed in the inerrant Scriptures.

5. it proclaims its own sufficiency
Preaching with an open Bible in front of me is a simple proclamation in and of itself. It declares the sufficiency of the Bible. I don’t need gimmicks, or dramas, or entertaining techniques. I don’t need visual aids or clever anecdotes or humorous stories to catch people’s attention. God does that. So in opening my Bible, reading it, explaining and applying it, and pressing it home to people’s hearts and consciences, I believe that this testifies to the Bible’s own power and sufficiency.

6. it enhances frequent cross-referencing
One key principle of rightly interpreting the Bible is the analogy of Scripture -- comparing Scripture with Scripture and interpreting texts in light of other biblical texts that speak to the same truths. When I preach, I want the congregation to all know that the Bible -- though containing 66 uniquely inspired books -- comprises a glorious unity of divine wisdom. Nothing ever contradicts itself. No part of Scripture will ever diminish or negate or eliminate another. So in my preaching, I want my Bible to be open so that I can readily tell the congregation: “turn to…”, or, “let’s see this further in another portion of Scripture…” So in the open Bible before me as I herald, I want the freedom and readiness of turning to many Scriptures throughout the entirety of the message to aid and serve the message going forth. An open Bible helps with this.

7. it reminds me of my grave responsibility.
Quite simply, preaching is a sober calling and a majestic task. In a sense, the preacher always fails when he preaches because he can’t due justice to the beauty and glory of the God that is being presented, nor can human words adequately convey the splendor of Christ and the efficacy of His atonement. Nevertheless, all biblical preachers fearfully and joyfully take up the divinely-given call to preach. No greater joy exists in the world than to open God’s clear word and explain its meaning to the people God has brought to hear it. Preaching with an open Bible serves as an ongoing reminder that my responsibility is great and my duty is lofty. I am a mouthpiece, a messenger, an ambassador, a prophet-like man, to take God’s given revelation and speak it faithfully, unchangeably, and powerfully to all who have assembled. Having an open Bible serves to continually bring the weight of sobriety on my soul that I am a man under obligation, a man devoted to God, a man enslaved to Christ, a man in love with souls. Thus, I preach God’s Word to God’s people with an open Bible with joyful trembling and sober expectation that God will work in and through the going forth of His word to accomplish His perfect will. 

** More podcasts on Preaching / Exposition can be found HERE.

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[RE-POST] Practical Ways to Listen to a Sermon

 

How Should You Hear the Word of God Preached?
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church


Q. 160. What is required of those that hear the Word preached? [From the Westminster Confession, 1647]
A. It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer; examine what they hear by the Scriptures; receive the truth with faith, love, meekness, and readiness of mind, as the Word of God; meditate, and confer of it; hide it in their hearts, and bring forth the fruit of it in their lives.

1. You should attend to it with diligence.
It is as if you were going to meet with the king of the land himself, one would most certainly plan accordingly, come with punctuality and listen with diligence. So it must be for the children of God who listen to the preacher herald God’s Word. God’s people must diligently come to be fed divine truth. An earnestness must be exuded from God’s people as they have one primary object on their minds on the Lord’s Day — God. Nothing else captivates the believer’s mind like Christ does. Nothing ravishes the believer’s heart like Christ does. Nothing wins the affections and nothing woos the saint’s love more than the saving gospel of God’s grace freely bestowed in Christ’s death on behalf of repentant sinners. So come! Come with diligence! Come with Christ-centeredness! Come with eagerness! Come with expectancy! Come with frequency! Come with sobriety and expectation to meet with, commune with, and hear from the Living God.

2. You should attend to it with preparation.
As one would prepare for an important business meeting, so God’s people should also prepare to meet with the God of all creation. To prepare is to make oneself ready to meet with, come before, and stand in the presence of God Almighty. Preparation must begin with prayer. It must continue with sufficient sleep. Preparation includes the reading of the scripture text that will be preached on the following day. Preparation demands arriving to corporate worship early to meditate, pray, expect, and adore God. Without preparation, one cannot worship properly. One gets out of worship what one puts into worship. Without preparation, little heart warming and soul feeding will occur. As one would prepare equipment, leave early and take diligence to arrive on time to a sporting or entertainment event, how much more should God’s child prepare his heart, his Bible, his wife, his children and leave early and arrive promptly to worship God. A prepared heart is a ready heart. A prepared heart is a humble and willing heart. A prepared heart is a moldable and shapeable heart.

3. You should attend to it with prayer.
To pray is to take hold of God’s power and beseech God to rend the heavens, come down, descend powerfully, and with supernatural power. Only God can convert. God’s people must pray for the conversion of sinners, the edification of God’s people, and the magnification of God’s Triune name and work in salvation. God’s people must pray in repentance to rid themselves of all known sin before the Word comes. God’s people must pray that the minister of the Word would speak with supernatural power. Indeed, the mouth is that of a man but the voice is that of God. Pray for unction — the sovereign, effectual power of the Spirit in and through the preached Word — as the man of God preaches the Word of God to the people of God. All God’s people should pray for God’s help on the way to hear the sermon preached. Believers must pray and ask the Lord to grant assistance while the Word is heard. And saints must pray for a soft, humble, and willing heart to specifically apply and implement the sermon throughout the course of the week. O the danger of not hearing sermons well! O the danger of distractions while the sermon is going forth! O the danger of hearing the Word and allowing Satan, like a pecking bird, to snatch the seed of the Word so that it bears no fruit. Nothing prepares a man of God for worship more than earnest wrestling with God in prayer. Expect God to work. Pray for God to revive. Adore God as preeminently worthy! Confess! Rejoice! Pray!

Just as people of old would bake bread on Saturday evenings so it would be warm on Sunday morning, so the people of God should read, pray, and study the Scriptures on Saturday nights so that their hearts are warmed and prepared for worship on Sunday.

 

** Many more resources/podcasts can be found HERE on the topic of "Expository Listening".

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Why Is The Church Important? Why Do You Need A Church Congregation?

WHY IS THE CHURCH IMPORTANT?

Geoffrey R. Kirkland

In this brief article, I will explain why the local church is important. Someone recently said to me: I know Christ, but I don’t need the Church. Or maybe you’ve heard: I like Christ but I’ve been burnt by the Church. I’m all for Jesus but not for the “organized religion”.  

The Word of God addresses all of these statements in plenteous ways, but for the purpose here I wish to answer the question as to why the church is important. If you claim to be a believer, then why do you need the Church? That is to say, if you are a professing Christian, you need a local congregation of converted, Christ-honoring worshipers to gather with regularly. 

In what follows, I will provide a handful of reasons why the church is vitally and unarguably important for you.

FOR YOUR SOUL’S SAKE 

God has given His children a family to meet with and gather with and grow with for many reasons, one of which is your own spiritual good.  You need a local congregation of believers for your eternal, soul’s good. You cannot be saved by going to church but a sinner saved by God’s grace thru Christ knows he cannot live without nor thrive healthily apart from a gathered assembly of saints.

FOR YOUR LEADERS’ SAKE

You need the church for the sake of the shepherd-leaders. God has given elder-pastors to lead and oversee local church assemblies and to care for the people of God. You really need a local congregation for the leaders to know who they must shepherd and who they will give account for on that final day. Without meaningful and deliberate membership and accountability in a particular, local congregation, your soul is like a sheep wandering without an under-shepherd to feed, lead, guide, pursue, and nurture. 

FOR YOUR CONGREGATION’S SAKE 

Every local church is comprised of believers. By definition, the church comprises the assembly of called-out ones. You must see the importance of the local church so that a congregation will know whom to reach out to, whom they’re accountable for, and whom is on the inside (that is, not on the ‘outside’). You need the gathered assembly for the sake of the church so that the church knows who to care for, minister to, devote energy, resources, time, and service to.

FOR YOUR SPIRITUAL-GIFTEDNESS’S SAKE 

The Christian must have a local assembly they have plugged into for the purpose of spiritual service and Christian ministry. You need the church for you to have a place to utilize and grow in and employ your spiritual good, for the benefit of others. You cannot use your spiritual gift individually or privately and for your own sake or benefit because a spiritual gift, by definition, is a God-bestowed grace-gift for you to use with other believers for the purpose of edification and building up of the body of Christ.

FOR YOUR MATURATION’S SAKE 

Quite simply, you cannot grow without the church, a local church, a gathered assembly of worshipers. You could study theology and have an online-preacher you frequent, but you will not grow in both ascribing worship to God and in ministering to the saints, and in obeying the one another’s if you do not invest yourself in a local assembly. 

FOR YOUR HEAVENLY-PREPAREDNESS’S SAKE

Amazingly and to the bewilderment of the world around us, Christians do not live merely for this world, but for the next. And let’s face it, heaven is quite a large gathering! If you wish to be well-prepared for the corporate worship, the assembled gathering, the loud singing, the Christocentric worship in endless bliss, then you shall certainly want to prepare now in gathering with like-minded worshipers who long for that eternal shore!

FOR YOUR PROFESSION’S SAKE

You claim to be a Christian, a member of the body of Christ.  How can you profess to be part of the body while living disassociated to the body you claim to be part of? Your human body does not even function like that. How much more important is your undying soul! You make a profession to know Jesus and be connected to Him by faith, but you choose to not join yourself to a congregation? That is senseless and harmful. You profess to know Christ, then possess the love that Christ has for His church in your own heart as you join yourself deliberately to a local congregation of believers. 

Philippians 1:7 — For it is only right for me to feel this way about you all, because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are partakers of grace with me.

Additional resources and podcasts on the local church.

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