Monday, February 20, 2012

a healthy fear of the LORD

Numbers 17:12-13 12 Then the sons of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, we perish, we are dying, we are all dying! 13 "Everyone who comes near, who comes near to the tabernacle of the LORD, must die. Are we to perish completely?"

In God's Word, the people of Israel were in the wilderness and as they journeyed through the arid desert, a group led by Korah assembled together "against Moses and Aaron" (Num 16:3) and accused them of "exalting themselves above the assembly of the LORD" (16:3b).

Saturday, February 11, 2012

the seriousness of idolatry — false worship.

From Leviticus 20:

Leviticus 20:4-5 4 'If the people of the land, however, should ever disregard that man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death, 5 then I Myself will set My face against that man and against his family, and I will cut off from among their people both him and all those who play the harlot after him, by playing the harlot after Molech.

Leviticus 20:4-5
4 וְאִם הַעְלֵם יַעְלִימוּ עַם הָאָרֶץ אֶת־עֵינֵיהֶם מִן־הָאִישׁ הַהוּא בְּתִתּוֹ מִזַּרְעוֹ לַמֹּלֶךְ לְבִלְתִּי הָמִית אֹתוֹ
5 וְשַׂמְתִּי אֲנִי אֶת־פָּנַי בָּאִישׁ הַהוּא וּבְמִשְׁפַּחְתּוֹ וְהִכְרַתִּי אֹתוֹ וְאֵת כָּל־הַזֹּנִים אַחֲרָיו לִזְנוֹת אַחֲרֵי הַמֹּלֶךְ מִקֶּרֶב עַמָּם

In the Mosaic, Old Testament Law, God said that if His covenant people, Israel, should ever disregard a man when he gives any of his offspring to Molech — the Phoenecian & Canaanite god — so as to not put him to death, then God Himself will set his face against that man & his family and cut him off from the covenant people.

From these verses we can see a number of helpful thoughts to bear in mind:

Friday, February 10, 2012

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Spurgeon on Family Worship

"To neglect the instruction of our offspring is worse than brutish. Family religion is necessary for the nation, for the family itself, and for the church of God. . .. Would that parents would awaken to a sense of the importance of this matter. It is a pleasant duty to talk of Jesus to our sons and daughters, and the more so because it has often proved to be an accepted work, for God has saved the children through the parents' prayers and admonitions. May every house into which this volume shall come honor the Lord and receive his smile."
Quoted in Voddie Bauckham, Family Shepherds, 19.

So HOW do you do family worship, you ask?

The Pastor's Primary Responsibilities in a Church Plant

The Pastor’s Primary Responsibilities in a Church Plant
By Geoffrey R. Kirkland

These are not exhaustive nor are they unchanging. These five principles serve to keep the pastor’s focus on keeping the main thing the main thing and not becoming sidetracked with the many—innumerable—responsibilities that may arise. At the outset of a church plant with one man on staff and a small church, the focus must be very narrow and clear.

1. Preach the Word of God.

The pastor must study the Word of God so that he is adequately prepared to preach the Word of God in an expository way weekly.

2. Shepherd the People of God.

The pastor must tend his sheep. He must know them, learn them, love them, care for them, pray for them, counsel them, rebuke them, correct them, and train them. The best way to be an effective shepherd is to know the sheep.

3. Pray for the Unction of God.

The pastor must learn to be alone with God. He must love isolated times of communion with God. The pastor must pray for and depend on the unction—the power—of God the Holy Spirit in every aspect of the ministry. Prayer is not secondary or tertiary; it must be primary.

4. Train Men in the Word of God.

The pastor must make it his goal to train up “faithful men who will be able to train others” for the furthering of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The pastor can meet weekly with the men of the Church to preach, teach, exhort, and pour into the men so that the church will be full of masculine men who are biblically-grounded and theocentrically focused.

5. Focus on the Glory of God.

The pastor must anchor his mind and heart on the glory of God in all things. That God is glorified in everything that happens is clear from Scripture. Therefore, the pastor should bear in mind that when the good and the hard times come in church planting, the magnificent glory of God must fill the pastor’s heart and soul.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

how the sovereignty of God is necessary for Christ's substitutionary death to have any meaning.

“It is a part of sovereignty to transfer the penalty due to the crime of one upon another, and substitute a sufferer, with the sufferer’s own consent, in the place o a criminal, whom he had a mind to deliver from a deserved punishment.

God transferred the sins of men upon Christ, and inflicted on him a punishment for them. He summed up the debts of man, charged them upon the score of Christ, imputing to him the guilt and inflicting upon him the penalty: 'the Lord hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all;' he made them all to meet upon his back: 'He hath made him to be sin for us' (2 Cor 5:21).

He was made so by the sovereign pleasure of God; a punishment for sin, as most understand it, which could not be righteously inflicted had not sin been first righteously imputed, by the consent of Christ, and the order of the Judge of the world.

Without this act of sovereignty in God, we had forever perished: for if we could suppose Christ laying down his life for us without the pleasure and order of God, he could not have been said to have borne our punishment

It was an act of Divine sovereignty to account Him that was righteous a sinner in our stead, and to account us, who were sinners, righteous upon the merit of his death."


Stephen Charnock, The Existence & Attributes of God, 1:424-25.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

a helpful plan for BIBLE READING and EVANGELIZING.

So a fellow pastor may ask: "how do I get out on the street and start open-air preaching?"

I would reply by saying that an option would be to take what you read this morning in God's Word and go out and proclaim that text, exposit it, apply it, enlighten it, and show how that text fits into the greater redemptive plan of God.

For instance, this morning if you read Exodus 13-14 you could go on the streets and proclaim the Exodus account and how God demanded the blood of an innocent animal in order to pass over His people. But those who were not covered with blood were destroyed by the angel of death.

Furthermore, if you studied Matthew 26 and examined the betrayal of Jesus Christ by Judas, the heartfelt prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the evil plotting of the Jews to put Christ on the cross, one could go on the streets and talk about the wretchedness of sinners and the pervasiveness and extremities of our sins. Indeed, Christ died for our sins. One could preach on how Christ prayed to the Father in the Garden because He knew that the infinite wrath of God Almighty was about to be poured out upon Him on Calvary's tree. Preach propitiation! Preach justification! Preach Christ's substitutionary death in the place of god-hating rebels.


Ah, but you say that you're not a preacher. Then I would beseech you to take what you read in the mornings and try to bring those texts or topics up in daily conversation with people (lunch break, coworkers, on the streets, on the subway, etc.).

If we are in God's Word every day and God's Word speaks to our own hearts, we can also try to bring these texts, chapters, themes, and gospel-truths to bear as we interact with others throughout each day.

Try it. Pray about it. See how God begins to open opportunities for you to share the gospel & what you read that morning with folks who desperately need the gospel.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

premillennialism in the early church

Here are some early Christian writers who held to premillennialism:

Clement of Rome (c. 30-95AD)
Of a truth, soon and suddenly shall His will be accomplished, as the Scriptures also bear witness, saying, 'Speedily will He come, and will not tarry,' and the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, even the Holy one, for whom ye look (First Letter to the Corinthians, 23).

Let us then wait for the kingdom of God from hour to hour in love and righteousness, seeing that we know not the day of the appearing of God (Second Letter to the Corinthians, 12).

Didache (c.100AD)
And then shall appear the signs of the truth; first, the sign of an outspreading in heaven; then the sign of the sound of the trumpet; and the third, the resurrection of the dead; yet not of all (16:6-7).

Shepherd of Hermas (c.140-150AD)
You have escaped from great tribulation on account of your faith, and because you did not doubt the presence of such a beast. Go, therefore, and tell the elect of the Lord His mighty deeds, an say to them that this beast is a type of the great tribulation that is coming (Visions, 1.4.2).

Polycarp (c.70-155AD)
If we please Him in this present age, we shall receive also the age to come, according as He promised to us that He will raise us from the dead, and that if we live worthily of Him, 'we shall also reign with Him.'

Adapted from Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation, 233.

the rampant nature of PORN and the urgency of teaching & educating our children (and churchgoers) of the heineousness of this sin.

From some research on Teens and Porn, mark the following startling (!) statistics:

  • 93% of boys and 62% of girls are exposed to internet porn before the age of 18.
  • 70% of boys have spent more than 30 consecutive minutes looking at porn.
  • 35% of boys have done this on more than ten occasions.
  • 23% of girls have spent more than 30 consecutive minutes looking at porn.
  • 14% of girls have done this on more than one occasion.
  • 83% of boys and 57% of girls have seen group sex on the internet.
  • 69% of boys and 55% of girls have seen porn showing same-sex intercourse.
  • 39% of boys and 23% of girls have seen online sex acts involving bondage.
  • 32% of boys and 18% of girls have seen beastiality on the internet.
  • 18% of boys and 10% of girls have seen rape or sexual violence online.
  • 15% of boys and and 9% of girls have seen child pornography online.
NOTE: That means that only 3% and 17% of girls have never seen internet pornography.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:18-20 18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

go and MAKE DISCIPLES — the great commission.

Here's an interesting point to remember regarding the Great Commission & our evangelism:

Matthew 28:18-20 18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Matthew 28:18-20 18 καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐλάλησεν αὐτοῖς λέγων· ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. 19 πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, 20 διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.

Last week I heard a sermon from Kevin DeYoung on the Mission of the Church & he argued that the mission of the Church is the great commission. That should be our foremost focus. I agree with him in this regard. But he made a passing statement that caught my ear & I think it is worthy of mention.

The importance of this commission given by Jesus to His followers cannot be overestimated. He calls His followers to go into all the world and make disciples (μαθητεύσατε). Isn’t it interesting that Jesus used that word for the mission of His followers? Speaking to this, Kevin DeYoung note that “Jesus said ‘Go and make disciples!’ He did not say ‘Go and get decisions!’” I think there is something to this.

Often Christianity in today’s culture seeks to get decisions for Christ and count the number of people that at a camp, a service, a retreat, or a public rally make a “decision” for Jesus Christ. And yes, becoming a Christian does—and it must!—include an intellectual knowledge of Christ and His work on the cross and a determined effort to follow Him as Lord and Savior. But at the same time, a “decision” for Christ does not make someone saved. A one-time choice does not validate someone’s conversion. Search the Bible. Search the New Testament. You won’t find it.

What is it, then, that shows or validates whether someone is truly saved? If someone is walking in holiness, obeying Jesus Christ, and bearing Godly fruit, then his election is sure (cf. 2 Pet 1; 1 Thess 1:4). And this is precisely what our Lord states in the Great Commission. Go and make disciples. And this mission to make disciples involves teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. A true disciple is one who obeys Jesus Christ. A true follower of Jesus Christ is one who determines to follow Christ and it is one who is evidencing the sovereign regeneration in his heart by walking in purity, holiness, godliness, and the enjoyment of God.

Would it be that in our church ministries and as you evangelize with others that we would be less concerned with “decisions” and much more concerned with ongoing, life-on-life, honest discipleship where the sinner who repents of sin and believes in Christ then grows in Christ, matures in Christ, and increases in sanctification thus being conformed more and more to the image of Jesus Christ.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

the importance of family worship & how to do it.

January is FAMILY WORSHIP month and I want to piggy-back on that and express my heartfelt commitment to this biblical & historical means of grace. I believe that family worship is eminently important.

We are told in God's Word that the husband IS the head of the home (Eph 5:22-25) and that he is to shepherd and wash his wife with God's Word (Eph 5:25ff). He is to instruct and teach his children in the truth (Eph 6:4). This practice of teaching, instructing, and even catechizing children goes back in history to God's people, Israel (cf. Deut 6:5ff).

On our church website, I posted a brief video as to the importance of FAMILY WORSHIP and how we as a family do family worship in our home. It must be deliberate or the business of life will crowd it out. But when it becomes a habit it becomes part and parcel of who you are as a family & it is well worth the effort, time, & diligence!

I have posted on this topic earlier here and here. See this also and my brief article here.

Monday, January 16, 2012

your duty is to proclaim the JESUS of the bible. no other Jesus will do.

From John Stott:
Our responsibility in evangelism is neither to create a Christ of our own who is not in Scripture, nor to embroider or manipulate the Christ who is in Scripture, but to bear faithful witness to the one and only Christ there is as God has presented him to the world in the remarkably unified testimony of both the Old and the New Testament Scriptures.

FROM: John Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World, p.74.

Friday, January 13, 2012

i'm overwhelmed by this. and you should be too.

This following excerpt is amazing.
The purpose of God is "absolute and unconditional, independent of the whole finite creation, and as originating solely in the eternal counsel of His will. God is seen as the great and mighty King who has appointed the course of nature and who directs the course of history even down to its minutest details. His decree is eternal, unchangeable, holy, wise, and sovereign.

It extends not merely to the course of the physical world but to every event in human history from the creation to the judgment, and includes all the activities of saints and angels in heaven and of reprobates and demons in hell. It embraces the whole scope of creaturely existence, through time and eternity, comprehending at once all things that ever were or will be in their causes, conditions, successions, and relations.

Everything outside of God Himself is included in this all-embracing decree, and that very naturally since all other being owe their existence and continuance in existence to His creative and sustaining power.

It provides a providential control under which all things are hastening to the end of God's determining . . . . Since the finite creation through its whole range exists as a medium through which God manifests His glory, and since it is absolutely dependent on Him, it of itself could originate no conditions which would limit or defeat the manifestation of that glory. From all eternity God has purposed to do just exactly what He is doing.

He is the sovereign Ruler of the universe and 'does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?' Dan 4.35. Since the universe had its origin in God and depends on Him for its continued existence it must be, in all its parts and at all times, subject to His control so that nothing can come to pass contrary to what He expressly decrees or permits. Thus the eternal purpose is represented as an act of sovereign predestination or foreordination, and unconditioned by any subsequent fact or change in time."
(From: Loraine Boettner, The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination, 13-14). Man, I had to read that a few times yesterday and again today & my heart is uplifted in worship.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

talk about a distraction while you're preaching!!!

Gideon Ouseley, an open-air preacher in Ireland in the 18th century was preaching one day in the open fields and then the account is told:
"He closed his [opening] prayer, and began to preach; but evidently his audience were not disposed to hear him. Before many sentences had been uttered, missiles began to fly--at first not of a very destructive character, being refuse--vegetables, potatoes, turnips, etc., but before long harder materials were being thrown--brickbats and stones, some of which reached him and inflicted slight wounds. He stopped, and, after a pause, cried out, 'Boys dear, what's the matter with you to-day? Won't you let an old man talk to you a little?'
Quoted in Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p.248.

I must admit — I've never had that happen while I was preaching. Maybe I'm not preaching hard enough or out in the 'open-air' enough, then.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

the prerequisite for seeing the glory of the gospel

There is an obviously universal thrust of condemnation found in Rom 1:18 and 32.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

Romans 1:32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

Thus, these verses make clear:
"that this foolish and culpable rejection of the knowledge of God is repeated in every generation, by every individual. Every person is 'without excuse' because every person—whether a first-century pagan or a twentieth-century materialist—has been given a knowledge of God and has spurned that knowledge in favor of idolatry, in all its varied manifestations. All therefore stand under the awful reality of the wrath of God, and all are in desperate need of the justifying power of the gospel of Christ.

We will never come to grips with the importance of the gospel, or be motivated as we should be to proclaim it, until this sad truth has been fully integrated into our worldview."
From: Douglas Moo, Romans, NICNT, p.98.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

the book of REVELATION in a few words...

From John Phillips:
"One day, however, [Jesus] is coming back with His glory unveiled to smash the opposition of the world and to wield a scepter of iron. He is coming back in pomp and power to reign backed by the hosts of heaven. His deity, manifest even now to the eye of faith, will blaze forth like flaming lightning then. In the book of Revelation, the Person of Christ is unveiled, and we are given view after view of that glorious Man who fills all heaven with His praise" (from Exploring Revelation, 12).

Sunday, January 8, 2012

RESOLVED 2012

If you have not been to the RESOLVED conference, I strongly encourage you to check it out — and then do whatever possible to get out there! — as it is a highlight of the year for me & my wife, Elizabeth.

Solid preaching, gospel-centered truth, deep conversations, awesome music, great fellowship, and lots of fun all describe the RESOLVED conference weekend.

Here are a few highlight videos:


Resolved 2011, Day 1 from Resolved on Vimeo.







Friday, January 6, 2012

And Can It Be . . .

From Charles Wesley:

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!
Alive in Him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Amazing love how can it be?
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

That is filled with remarkable and endless truth to ponder as you live today. See a video of Enfield singing "And Can It Be" at RESOLVED here.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Prayer & Fellowship THIS Friday

Hey CFBC family,

Let's meet at the Kirkland's Home at 7:00pm this Friday for a time of prayer & fellowship. We'll have a time to prayer for our unsaved friends & family, for the church, for each other, & a time of focused fellowship as we enjoy gospel-centered conversation together.

If you have any questions, check out the church website.

See you there!

the preaching of john the baptist.

Have you ever realized what kind of message John the Baptist preached? If you read the biblical account of how John preached and what he said, I doubt many churches nowadays would welcome him to fill the pulpit — much less be their pastor!

The very first words we have of him comes in Matt 3:2 where he calls all the people who come to hi in the wilderness of Judea to "repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near" (μετανοεῖτε· ἤγγικεν γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν). Not only was he a little funny looking (Matt 3:4) but he was a prophet of the Lord. He was called to prepare the way for the Lord (Matt 3:3).

Meanwhile, "many" of the Pharisees and Sadducees came to him and he initiates conversation with them and says the following:

1. You men are a "brood of vipers" (γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν)
2. Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath (φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς)?
3. Bear fruit worthy of repentance (ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας)!
4. Do not think to say to yourselves: "we have Abraham as our father." (That is, they would pride themselves and find comfort knowing they are reconciled to God simply because they are Jews.)
5. The axe is already laid at the root of the tree & every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (ἤδη δὲ ἡ ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται· πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται).
7. The one who comes after me will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
8. The winnowing fork is in His hand and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the storehouse but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire (συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ)!

NOTE: in John the Baptist's message of proclamation in preparation for the Messiah, a number of key elements are found:

1. The call to repent!

2. The acknowledgement that there is only One Savior & Deliverer — Jesus, the Coming One.

3. There is such a thing as "coming wrath" — and it's harsh and just!

4. It does no good to try and come to God on your own terms (social identity, religious identity, morality, etc.).

5. The evidence of true salvation is "bearing good fruit." And if NO good fruit is borne, then that person is thrown into the unquenchable fire.

6. The hope for true believers, however, is that those who do bear "good fruit" evidencing that true regeneration and change has taken place are surely to receive the blessing of being gathered into the storehouse of the Lord — eternal bliss & blessing.


This is the gospel. I wonder how many of these elements are absent in much preaching in our culture? Let's be faithful to proclaim the truth as we learn from John the Baptist.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

CFBC SUPER STUDY — Fri, Dec 30th

Join us for CFBC's Super Study.

Friday, Dec 30th @ Pastor Geoff's house | 7-9pm.
Our topic is: Is the Bible Really Sufficient for All of Life?

Bring your questions for a time of discussion & examining God's Word to see how God's Word speaks to various issues.

Five particular areas of how God's Word is currently being attacked will be the primary focus of the time. Join us; bring your friends; and your questions.

It will be recorded and you'll be able to listen to & download it from our church website.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

what things does GOD hate?

Let's take heed to this text of Scripture which God gives to His people:

Zechariah 8:16-17 16 'These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. 17 'Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I HATE,' declares the LORD."

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Monday, December 26, 2011

the duty of the parents to shepherd & teach their children.

Hear this exhortation from the 18th century but it is certainly just as relevant now as it was then:

"It is to parents that the injunction is delivered, "thou shalt teach these words to thy children diligently, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house," and, "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." No pastoral attention should be intended, nor can be adapted, to supersede or interfere with this solemn parental obligation. But the pastor should labour to the uttermost to urge and keep the parents of his flock up to the right discharge of their duty.

There are few of us who are not sorrowfully convinced that little is too be expected from our sermons in the pulpit, or our instructions in the class-room, while all our endeavours are so miserably counteracted by the neglect of domestic instruction, and the want of parental solicitude. It is not intended to justify pastoral neglect by advancing the obligations of parental duty, for perhaps we all have been, and are, guilty of a criminal defect of duty, in not giving more of our time and attention to the children of our congregations; but even the time and attention we do give, is likely to be lost, through the low state of religion in the homes and some of our people.

We might very naturally expect that our churches would be chiefly built up from the families of our members; whereas the greater number of accessions are from those who were once the people of the world. There is a great mistake on this subject, into which both parents and ministers have fallen; and that is, that the conversion of the children of the professor is to be looked for more from the sermons of the minister, than from the instructions of the parent; whereas the contrary is the true order of things; and if domestic piety and teaching were what they ought to be, it is the order which would be found to exist. There is unquestionable truth in the proverb: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Were the nature and design of the domestic constitution thoroughly understood, and its religious duties early, judiciously, affectionately, and perseveringly discharged, the greater number of our young people would be converted to God at home. Were all religious professors who are parents, real and eminent Christians; were they, from the time they became parents, to set their hearts upon being the instruments of their children's conversion; were they to do all that prayer, instruction, discipline, and example could do, for the formation of the religious character of their offspring; and were they carefully to abstain from every thing which would obstruct that end, it might be confidently expected that it would be within the hallowed precincts of such homes, and not in the sanctuary, that the children of the godly would usually become godly themselves. It should then be, and will be, an object with every truly earnest pastor, to bring up the parents in his church to a right sense and faithful discharge of their functions."

So convicting & it drips with biblical authority, truth, and persuasiveness! Let us be faithful parents to train up our children in the ways of the LORD with all vigilance and earnestness!

From John James, An Earnest Ministry, 154-56.

the PERFECT husband (men--brace yourselves)

From James Smith (mid 19th. century):

Jesus loved, labored, suffered, bled, died, rose, ascended, and intercedes--to save His people from their sins! He is the perfect husband who . . .
brings us into marriage-union with Himself,
provides for all our necessities, and
assures us of His unalterable love!
He gives us . . .
His arm to support us,
His fullness to supply us,
His name to entitle us,
His robe to cover us,
His angels to guard us,
His Word to assure us, and
His Heaven to be our habitation at last!

Now this must launch us to Ephesians 5:25ff where we learn that, as husbands, we must strive to love our wives just as Christ loves His own.

How are YOU doing with this kind of shepherding, kind, selfless, protective, God-centered husbanding?

Friday, December 23, 2011

go to church on CHRISTMAS morn. THIS is the way to show your priority to Christ & worshipping Him!

From a pastor to the men of his congregation. I think it is absolutely right on.

====================

Men,

I can’t believe how ridiculous this is, but I am writing tonight to urge you to take your families to church on Sunday, December 25th. Before it is a holiday, before it is a family gathering, before it is anything else it is a Sunday: a day set aside by God himself to worship. It is a day that your elders have called the church together to worship. It is a day that you should be actively planning to take your family to church.

There is no excuse, not one, for not taking your family to church on Sunday. There may be some of you who will be out of town; find a church and take your family there. There will be some of you who are in town; you know where and when we meet. There is no reason for missing church on Christmas Day. In fact, a good argument can be made that of all the days to worship God, we should worship on Christmas Day. If we do not you are telling your family, your wives, your children, and your neighbors that Christmas isn’t really about Jesus at all. It will instead be about you, your family, your traditions, gifts, parties–everything that you will spend the next 12 months complaining about.

Some of you are part of extended families who have already made plans. Let me offer this piece of advice: be a man. Man up and tell your extended family that you are looking forward to seeing them and spending time with them but first you will take your family to church. It is your duty as a husband and father; it your responsibility; it is also your privilege.

This morning we read of King Ahaz in Isaiah 7 who despised the promise of the presence of God. It is easy for us to sit in judgment of the stupidity and hubris of Ahaz. But are you in danger of doing much the same thing? God promises to meet you and your family when you worship him. What possible reason can you have for turning away from that promise? What message does that send to your children?

I didn’t think I would have to write this email, but after several different conversations with people who could go to church on Christmas but are not going to, I felt I had no choice. It is my divine duty to call you out. This is not the life of discipleship that you are called to; this is not the obedience that you are obliged to; this is not what I want the men and potential leaders of _______ to be known for.

Go to church.

Pastor _____

HT: Out of the Horse's Mouth

Monday, December 19, 2011

preach the word in & out of season illustrated by the prophet AMOS.

2 Timothy 4:2 — preach the word; be ready in season and out of season (κήρυξον τὸν λόγον, ἐπίστηθι εὐκαίρως ἀκαίρως)

Amos, the prophet from Tekoa in Southern Israel, was called by God to prophesy doom and judgment upon the people of Northern Israel because of their social injustice, false & idolatrous worship, and wickedness.

He just warned Israel through visions (ch.7) that God would come and severely judge His people. Then in 7:9 Amos said that the high places will be desolated, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste, and God will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.

A prophet named Amaziah then went to King Jeroboam II and said that Amos has conspired against him (7:10, 11). Then Amaziah the prophet responded to Amos and said:

Amos 7:12-13 — Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying! "But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence."

Amos was not wanted in Bethel. The rich, the famous, the powerful, & the royal wanted nothing to do with Amos nor the Word from the LORD. This is the example of preaching "out of season" — when the Word of God is not wanted.

But Amos replied saying that he is not a prophet, nor a son of prophet (not from a prophetic lineage) but rather the Lord sovereignly took Amos from shepherding the flock & God commanded him to go prophesy to the people Israel (7:15).

I love the contrast in the following verses:

v.16 - Amaziah the prophet says that you shall not prophesy or speak against the house of Israel.

v.17 - But the Word of the Lord says that: (1) Amaziah's wife will become a harlot; (2) his sons & daughters will die; (3) the land will be parceled up by a measuring line & you will die on unclean soil; and (4) Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.

Amos faithfully preached God's Word even when it was not wanted — he preached the Word when it was "out of season." May we so learn from Amos & do the same!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

new chapter; new ministry; new location; same GOSPEL.

As of yesterday afternoon, our family made a transition in our life & ministry. After a decade of being in LA, a new ministry opportunity opened up to serve as pastor of Christ Fellowship Bible Church in St. Louis.

After packing the moving truck, getting our car shipped, renting a car, and a two-day R&R at a beach-house, we all finally arrived in St. Louis last night where my parents happily met us & drove us to their house.

Today we go to our rental house which, in God's providence, is very close to the church we'll be meeting at so that we can have a walk through with our property manager. Then the moving truck arrives so we can unload everything.

I'm still working on my sermon for this Sunday but the text is on 2 Timothy 3:16-17—one of the most important texts in all of the Bible.

Elizabeth and I are excited to church-plant, ready to see God's power at work in ways that we never anticipated, expectant of many trials and hardships, and an overwhelming commitment to biblical, gospel-centered, Christ-exalting ministry at CFBC.

If you're in the STL area, come join us for the following upcoming events:

Sunday, December 18th @ 9:30am (STL Marriott West Hotel)
Sunday, December 25th @ 10:00am (Kirkland House)
Friday, December 30th @ 7:00pm for our Super Study (Location TBD).

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, 21 to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

(I will also post it in the Greek because of the emphatic wording: Τῷ δὲ δυναμένῳ ὑπὲρ πάντα ποιῆσαι ὑπερεκπερισσοῦ ὧν αἰτούμεθα ἢ νοοῦμεν κατὰ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν ἐνεργουμένην ἐν ἡμῖν, 21 αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ καὶ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ εἰς πάσας τὰς γενεὰς τοῦ αἰῶνος τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν.)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

yes — the Bible says that God not only hates SIN but the SINNER.

"You hate all workers of iniquity!" Psalm 5:5

"It is not a little dislike--but a thorough hatred which God bears to workers of iniquity. To be hated by God is an awful thing. O let us be very faithful in warning the wicked around us, for it will be a terrible thing for them to fall into the hands of an angry God!" Charles Spurgeon

"What a vile thing is sin, which makes the God of love and Father of mercies--into an enemy to His creatures; and which could only be purged by the blood of the Son of God!" Thomas Adams

"Not only the work--but worker of iniquity also becomes the object of His hatred." William Gurnall

"Those whom the Lord hates, must perish. What is more due to such impenitent sinners, than hatred? What is more proper than wrath--since they treasure up wrath? Will He entertain those in the bosom of His love--those whom His soul hates? No! Destruction is their portion. What is that which Christ hates? As Christ hates iniquity, so also the "workers of iniquity." David Clarkson

"If God's hatred is against the workers of iniquity--then how great is it against iniquity itself! If a man hates a poisonous creature--he hates poison much more. The strength of God's hatred is against sin--and so should we hate sin, and hate it with all our strength! Sin is an abomination unto God--let it be so unto us!" William Greenhill

This is a hard text to conceive of because it goes totally against everything that our culture blasts in our face about our self-worth and self-worship. Nevertheless, it is in the Bible. There is no way around it.

It is only when that sinner — who once was hated by God — is saved by God regenerating him & by repenting of his sin that he is transferred from being an enemy of God (=being hated by God) to being a friend of God (=being sovereignly loved by God).

Oh what a motivation for evangelism, prayer, & earnest pleading with sinners to repent & believe the gospel!

Monday, December 5, 2011

a theological prayer from daniel — do we pray like this?


You know the story. Daniel 2 recounts the historical situation where King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon requested that the "wise" men of his empire reveal the dream and the interpretation that was troubling him. Obviously, they couldn't do it. So the King's order remained. All the wise men are to be killed because of their inadequacy to fulfill the King's command.

But Daniel heard about this and went before the King and asked for some time so that he may make known the interpretation of the King's dream.

Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision (2:19). *NOTE* the very first thing Daniel did was to pray to the Lord and acknowledge God's utter sovereignty.

He did not (first!) run and tell the king so as to save his life. He could have (and, perhaps, many of us would have done that). But he rather took the time to pray and acknowledge that it was God who revealed the dream and its interpretation.

In Daniel's prayer (2:20-23), some amazing theological truths are mentioned:

1. God and His "Name" (=character, being, attributes) are to be praised forever (2:20a).

Not Nebuchadnezzar and his "power", but the God of Israel and His intrinsic and sovereign power is to be praised!

2. Wisdom and power belongs only to the God of Israel (2:20b).

Nebuchadnezzar thought he was quite strong & impenetrable but true wisdom and power resides only with the one, true God of heaven!

3. God and God alone is the one who can change seasons, kings, and empires according to His prerogative (2:21a).

As God will reveal to Nebuchadnezzar, it is God who sets up kings and tears them down. It is God who raises empires and destroys them. All according to His will.

4. God gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding (2:21b).

Nebuchadnezzar's servants couldn't reveal the dream and its interpretation to the King. In fact, they acknowledged this when they said: "there is not a man on earth who could declare the matter to the king (2:10).

5. It is God who can reveal the profound and hidden things. Even darkness cannot be hidden from Him; only light dwells with Him (2:22).

Even the inner thoughts of Nebuchadnezzar cannot be hidden from God. Even that which he didn't even understand was understood plainly and comprehensively by God. Nothing is darkness to God.

6. God is worthy of all thanks and praise (2:23a).

Nebuchadnezzar certainly is not worthy of worship or adoration (as he so desires; cf. Dan 2 and 3). But the God of heaven is worthy of all thanks, praise, and worship!

7. God answers the requests of His people according to His will (2:23b).

God was well-pleased to answer Daniel's request in this matter in the affirmative. God would have been good *if* he had not revealed the dream and its interpretation, but God so chose to reveal it to Daniel to show that God is the one, true God who can in fact reveal mysteries that are not only within human beings (=Nebuchadnezzar) but also regarding the future of human history (2:36ff).

What a theologically loaded prayer. What a sovereign God! What a great lesson that the first thing that Daniel did was to pray and acknowledge thanks and praise to God. Then he went to Nebuchadnezzar and revealed his dream and its interpretation.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

how did GOD appease His own anger toward sinners?

From John Stott:

It is God himself who in holy wrath needs to be propitiated, God himself who in holy love undertook to do the propitiating, and God himself who in the person of his Son died for the propitiation of our sins. Thus, God took his own loving initiative to appease his own righteous anger by bearing it his own self in his own Son when he took our place and died for us. There is no crudity here to evoke our ridicule, only the profundity of holy love to evoke our worship.

(John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 175).

What infinite mystery to the grace & mercy of God upon such sinners like you and me!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

KNOWLEDGE must lead to GODLINESS.

Titus 1:1 - "...the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness"
(Titus 1:1 - ἐπίγνωσιν ἀληθείας τῆς κατ᾽ εὐσέβειαν)

Isn't it amazing that Paul reminds the believers in Crete that the knowledge of the truth is not an end in and of itself. Knowledge about God is good — and commendable. But this is only a step to the ongoing life of godliness. In other words: what you learn must affect the way you live. What you hear preached in church must affect how you live during the week. What you meditate on every day in God's Word must affect the way you live during the day.

Does your knowledge of the truth affect the godliness of your life?

Sunday, November 27, 2011

the pastor's duty & the people's responsibility.

Amazing and totally relevant truth can be found in Ezekiel 33.

THE CONTEXT
Jerusalem has just been ransacked by Nebuchadnezzar & the Babylonians (Ezek 33:21-29). Ezekiel and others are already in exile and they have received news from a messenger that the city has been taken (33:21).

THE PREACHER
God told Ezekiel, the son of man, to continue preaching even when the people of Israel come before Ezekiel and listen to his message (33:30). They come as God's people come, they sit before him as he delivers God's message which comes from the mouth of the LORD (33:31).

But when the people come, they sit and listen to God's Word, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain (33:31). What a picture of people who are totally religious outwardly, they sit in church regularly, yet they sin blatantly and rebel against God (33:31).

So bad is it that Ezekiel has become to these people like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument for they hear your words (which he speaks for YHWH) but they do not practice them (33:32).

So when the judgment finally happens, as surely as it will declares the LORD, that the people will know that a prophet has been in their midst!

THE RESPONSIBILITY
From this text we see that the preacher, the watchman and spokesman for the Lord, must be faithful to deliver faithfully the Word of the LORD. He must not fear man nor skimp on the tough doctrines. But he must be faithful to the commission of God His Master.

The responsibility of the people is to sit and hear the Word from the Lord spoken through the preacher (God's mouthpiece). BUT, the people must listen to and apply the Word of God rather than continually rejecting the Word of the Lord so that they can walk in the lusts of their flesh and in the idolatries of their heart.

THE CONCLUSION
Preacher - do people know that "a prophet has been in their midst" when you preach?

Christian - do you hear the Word of the Lord regularly and apply what you hear specifically, deliberately, and carefully so that your life changes where it needs to change and so you don't leave 'church' to then enter again into the idolatries, sins, and lusts of life?

How relevant & clear God's Word is!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

what do you do when you DON'T delight in god?

Some very helpful words from John Piper:

When you don't delight in God, what can you do to change?

1. Realize that authentic joy and delight in God is a gift (Gal 5:22; Ps 51:12).

2. Realize that joy must fought for relentlessly (2 Cor 1:24; Phil 1:25; 2 Tim 4:7; 1 Tim 6:12).

3. Resolve to attack all known sin in your life (however big or small they are!) (Rom 6:11-13).

4. Realize that the battle for joy and delight in God is fundamentally a fight to see God for Who He really is (Ps 34:8; 2 Cor 4:4-6; 1 John 3:2; Ps 9:10)!

5. Meditate on God's Word day and night (Ps 23:3; Ps 19:7,8; John 15:11; Ps 1:2-3; Rom 15:13).

6. Pray earnestly and relentlessly for open heart-eyes and a genuine delight in God (John 16:24; Ps 90:14; Ps 85:6).

7. Learn to preach to yourself rather than listen to yourself (Ps 42:5).

8. Be patient in the night of 'God's seeming absence' and continue to trust in Him (Ps 40:1-3).

(adapted from John Piper, Desiring God, 352-64)

Friday, November 25, 2011

preparing to preach on paradise.

What a fabulous opportunity the preacher has to delve into God's Word and studies the profound glories of it. One such doctrine the Bible teaches is that all true believers will go to heaven and be with the Lord.

Tomorrow night I'm preaching on how we as believers will relate to God in heaven. My topic is lofty. The Scriptures are sufficient. My notes are long. And my heart is full. Just think, we as redeemed sinners will have unobstructed vision of God, unhindered fellowship with God, and unending delight in God! What a profound gift of God's grace!

At the conclusion of my sermon, I've got the words to Fanny Crosby's hymn My Savior First of All (wrote in 1891):

When my life work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide,
When the bright and glorious morning I shall see;
I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side,
And His smile will be the first to welcome me.

I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
And redeemed by His side I shall stand,
I shall know Him, I shall know Him,
By the print of the nails in His hand.

Oh, the soul thrilling rapture when I view His blessèd face,
And the luster of His kindly beaming eye;
How my full heart will praise Him for the mercy, love and grace,
That prepare for me a mansion in the sky.

Oh, the dear ones in glory, how they beckon me to come,
And our parting at the river I recall;
To the sweet vales of Eden they will sing my welcome home;
But I long to meet my Savior first of all.

Through the gates to the city in a robe of spotless white,
He will lead me where no tears will ever fall;
In the glad song of ages I shall mingle with delight;
But I long to meet my Savior first of all.

Amazingly, Crosby wrote those words as a blind woman. When she died, the first person she saw was Jesus!

So then:
"Let your souls delight in communion with God while you are on earth, since you look for your happiness in communion with Him in heaven. Let your speech and actions savor heaven; and in your manner of life, look like the country to which you are going! . . . In heaven, you will have peace and plenty, profit and pleasure, and everything desirable; full satisfaction of your most enlarged desires. Let the expectations of heaven, then, lift up your heads with joy! Gird up your loins and so run that you may obtain, trampling on everything that may hinder you on your way to the kingdom. Never regard any duty too hard, nor any cross too heavy, nor any pains too great, so that you may attain the crown of glory" (Thomas Boston)!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

thanksgiving is ALWAYS in season.

Thanksgiving is never out of season, for we have always much to be grateful for.

We must view ALL THINGS as . . .
  • arranged by His wisdom,
  • dependent on His will,
  • sanctified by His blessing,
  • according with His promises,
  • and flowing from His love!

"In everything give thanks!" 1 Thess 5.17

HT: James Smith

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

what happens when a sinner believes in CHRIST?

Martin Luther was right in the 16th century in answering the question: what happens at the moment of salvation?

Though faith in Jesus Christ alone and by God's matchless grace alone, God forgives the sinner.

And...

God imputes (=credits, reckons) Christ's perfect righteousness to the sinner as if it were the sinner's own.

Thus, when the sinner recognizes his own sin and his own need of divine grace to rescue him from eternal judgment and he places his faith in Jesus Christ alone recognizing that He took the Father's wrath on the cross in the place of the deserving sinner. Thus, God forgives the sinner. At the same time, God doesn't just forgive the sinner and leave him "neutral." He imputes to that sinner all of Christ's perfect righteousness as if it were the sinner's very own perfection. Thus, the sinner receives an "alien righteousness."

This is the gift of God in salvation. "Salvation is of the LORD" (Jonah 2:9).

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

the history of Israel even up to her kingdom.

I rejoice greatly in the faithfulness of God to His covenant with His people, Israel. What God started and promised, He will fulfill perfectly and completely.

My study in God's Word this morning led me to Ezekiel 20 which is where Ezekiel recounts God's dealings with Israel in her past when God chose Israel and revealed Himself to her (20:5) and promised them a better land in which to dwell (20:6). Yet they rebelled and worshiped false idols (20:8).

So God thrust them into the wilderness (20:10) to test them and show His sovereign power, love, and provision for them — even in the midst of disciplining them. Yet they still rebelled against God and walked after their idols (20:13, 16).

So God promised them in the wilderness that they would be scattered among the nations and dispersed among all the lands if they did not obey and follow Yahweh (20:23; cf. Lev 26 and Deut 28). Yet when they entered the land of promise, they worshiped idols and followed their detestable and wicked practices (20:27-29).

Yet God sovereignly determines in v.33 that He will be their King (20:33). There will come a point when Israel knows that He is the LORD (20:38).

THEN Ezekiel tells them that "later" Israel will listen to God, and His holy name will not be profaned any longer. For on God's holy mountain (=Jerusalem), on the high mountain of Israel there will be Israel—all of them—serving the Lord in the land of Israel (20:40). There God will accept them and God will seek their worship. Israel will know that He is the LORD (20:41-42). Israel will remember her past and "loathe herself" for all the evil that she has done in Yahweh's sight (20:43).

I am quite confident that this passage (just one of a myriad) teaches the history of Israel beginning with God's election of her, to her time in Egypt, to her wanderings in the wilderness, to her entering into the Land of Promise, to her exile and restoration, leading and culminating in the kingdom in Israel where God is her King and where they recognize their past sin and acknowledge God for who He really is. (*note: this has yet to happen, read Rom 9 and esp. 11*).

God is a faithful God and keeps His promises — even when Israel continues to reject Him. But thanks be to God for His unconditional faithfulness to His own promises. He will most certainly restore Israel in the future and bring her back into the land of Israel for her kingdom where He will receive her worship & be glorified in her.

Saturday, November 19, 2011

how should the sufficiency of Scripture affect YOU?

Wayne Mack helps by offering three insights:

1. The inerrant Bible to which Christians are committed as an authority in life teaches that God has provided for us in His Word whatever is true and necessary for successful living. It declares that God has given us, in the Bible, everything we need for being in right relationship with God, ourselves, and other people.

2. Because this is true, professing Christians have two options: either they must yield to its teaching on this matter or they must abandon the idea that the Bible is inerrant and authoritative. It is either inerrant and authoritative and also sufficient or it is none of these things. If the Bible claims to be sufficient in the ways and for the purposes previously delineated and it is not, then you cannot say it is inerrant and authoritative. Given what the Bible teaches about itself, you simply cannot have it both ways.

3. This final conclusion is a natural concomitant of accepting the truthfulness of the first conclusion: Because the Bible asserts its own sufficiency for counseling-related issues, secular psychology has nothing to offer for understanding or providing solutions to the non-physical problems of people. When it comes to counseling people, we have no reason for depending on the insights of finite and fallen men. Rather, we have every reason to place our confidence in the sure, dependable, and entirely trustworthy revelation of God given to us in Holy Scripture. That is because it contains a God-ordained, sufficient, comprehensive system of theoretical commitments, principles, insights, goals, and appropriate methods for understanding and resolving the non-physical problems of people. It provides for us a model that needs no supplement. God, the expert on helping people, has given us in Scripture counseling perspectives and methodology that are wholly adequate for resolving our sin- related problems.

(from Wayne Mack, "Sufficiency of Scripture in Counseling," TMSJ 9, no. 1 [Spring 1981]: 82).

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

if JESUS is the Head & Builder of His church, then...

If Christ is the Head and if He builds his church,

Then we must trust in Him that His purposes and plans for the church will be accomplished.

Then we must acknowledge that He will build His church, not programs, people, entertainment, or anything else.

Then we must remember that everything we do must exalt Him as the Head and Sovereign over His Church.

Then we must content with all our might holding firm to the great confession that Jesus Christ is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.

Then we must accept any way that He supports the church.

Then we must allow Him to speak in and through the regular reading and the faithful proclamation of His Word.

Then the church growth movements and strategies that are culturally driven are doomed to failure since Christ’s headship and sovereignty are not culturally bound.

Then we must make certain that we are holy, pure, undefiled, and useful to the Master to accomplish this work of serving Him in the building of His church.

Then we should regularly repent of our sin when we often strive to build Christ’s church according to our methods, desires, ego-centric passions, and self-styled sovereignty.

Then we must have flexibility in humbly and joyfully accepting change because not all of our plans may be in direct harmony with God’s sovereign prerogative.

Then we must be exuberant and unending with our joy because Christ’s church is His body and it shall never fail.

Monday, November 14, 2011

hey preacher — do you preach with passion? evangelistic zeal?

Timely, good, and heart-penetrating words concerning Richard Baxter:

Baxter's preaching was characterized by a passionate evangelistic appeal. The great reality which moulded his ministry was the fact that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Extreme bodily weakness increased his awareness that there was but a step between him and death, whom he called his 'neighbour'. Every duty was to be carried out, every sermon preached, in the light of the great day. 'I daily know and think of that approaching hour', he says. His congregation is described as 'a company of ignorant, carnal, miserable sinners... who must be changed or damned. Methinks I even see them entering upon their final woe! Methinks I hear them crying out for help, for speediest help!'

This awareness of eternity made Baxter an emotional preacher. 'If you want to know the art of pleading' said Spurgeon, 'read Baxter.' Yet his emotion was not undisciplined, but fuelled by his comprehension of truth, for he had no time for 'an affected fervency.' 'Light first, then heat' was his motto — first the exposition of the truth, then the words of piercing appeal springing from that truth. At the close of 'A Call to the Unconverted to turn and live' he appeals to his hearers with such tender earnestness that we can almost see the tears upon his cheeks. 'My heart is troubled to think how I shall leave you, lest... I should leave you as I found you, till you awake in hell... I am as hearty a beggar with you this day, for the saving of your souls, as I would be for my own supply, if I were forced to come a begging to your doors. And therefore if you would hear me then, hear me now. If you would pity me then, be entreated now to pity yourselves... 0 sirs, believe it, death and judgment, heaven and hell, are other matters when you come near them, than they seem to carnal eyes afar off. Then you will hear such a message as I bring you with more awakened, regardful hearts.'

The focus of his preaching was an urgent invitation to receive Christ. Baxter preached for a verdict, he sought to 'drive sinners to a stand and make them see... that they must unavoidably be either converted or condemned.' His words at the close of 'Making Light of Christ and Salvation' are powerful and pointed: 'When God hath shaken those careless souls out of their bodies, and you must answer for all your sins in your own name; Oh then what would you give for a saviour!...When you see the world hath left you, and your companions in sin have deceived themselves and you, and all your merry days are gone; then what would you give for that Christ and salvation that now you account not worth your labour!... You that cannot make light of a little sickness, or of want, or of natural death, no, not of a toothache, but groan as if you were undone; how will you then make light of the fury of the Lord, which will burn against the condenmers of His grace? I come now to know your resolution for the time to come. What say you? Do you mean to set as light by Christ and salvation as hitherto you have done and to be the same men after all this? I hope not.' The sharp edge was always present - a choice had to be made, a verdict given, an offer of mercy accepted or rejected.

Amen!

So preacher, I ask you: do you preach with evangelistic appeal? Emotions? Urgently invite sinners to repent and believe in Christ?

prayer needed for preaching & ordination.

This upcoming week will be quite busy for me and thus I come to you asking for prayer.

1. Tonight I'm preaching one of the toughest texts in the Bible to herald—Revelation 14:9-12—in a sermon I've titled: "The horrors of hell unveiled before your heart."

A growing number of churches and leaders are diminishing the importance of this doctrine. Fewer churches and pastors are really preaching on the doctrine of hell. So tonight, my responsibility is to lay before my hearers 9 descriptions of hell from Revelation 14. Pray for me (I'll post the mp3 link here tomorrow).
2. This upcoming Sunday I have my first (of two) ordination oral exams. This Sunday, my two examiners will grill me on bible knowledge and biblical counseling for two hours. Pray for great wisdom, insight, & time to continue my study this week in preparation for that exam.

I feel so honored to be examined by elders and pastors from Grace Community Church and from a professor at The Master's College. I pray that this may encourage me as I embark upon the new ministry of Christ Fellowship Bible Church—a church plant in the Brentwood, MO area starting mid-December.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

the apostle paul's prayer for believers.

Ephesians 1:18-19 — I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.

(Ephesians 1:18-19 — πεφωτισμένους τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς καρδίας [ὑμῶν] εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι ὑμᾶς τίς ἐστιν ἡ ἐλπὶς τῆς κλήσεως αὐτοῦ, τίς ὁ πλοῦτος τῆς δόξης τῆς κληρονομίας αὐτοῦ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις, καὶ τί τὸ ὑπερβάλλον μέγεθος τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ εἰς ἡμᾶς τοὺς πιστεύοντας κατὰ τὴν ἐνέργειαν τοῦ κράτους τῆς ἰσχύος αὐτοῦ.)

This section of Scripture divides into three phrases that define what it is that Paul wants the Ephesians to know (εἰς τὸ εἰδέναι ὑμᾶς). All of the clauses begin with "what is" (τίς):

1. Know the hope of God's calling.

2. Know the riches of God's glorious inheritance in the saints.

3. Know the surpassing greatness of God's power toward us who believe.

As believers, have you recently considered what is the hope of God's calling of you? Have you marveled at the utter riches of God's glorious inheritance in the saints (mind-baffling thought!)? And have you understood the surpassing greatness of God's power that is at work in us who believe? (And if you're not sure just how powerful God's power really is, then just read verses 20-23 to get an idea.)

Let's be believers who know God's hope, his glorious inheritance, and his divine power at work in us.

Friday, November 11, 2011

Tikvah Update — HOME!

So many of you have prayed for Tikvah and for our family and we give thanks for that. The doctors allowed us to come home from the hospital late Tuesday afternoon. The last few days have been busy getting her on a schedule, getting her to feed, and attending to Kiah as well.

God has been so good to us & we praise Him for His immense and undeserved goodness to us during this time. Elizabeth and I have learned new areas where we need to grow spiritually and have learned to trust the Lord and rely on Him in other areas where we've never been tested before.

Praise be to God for his unending, unfailing, and unmatched grace.

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

the core of BIBLICAL COUNSELING.

Great words from Jay Adams:

The goal of all counseling, whether biblical or secular, is to change people. However, all unbiblical systems, even when they speak of doing “depth” counseling, change people only at a surface level. (Jer.6:14; Mk.7:14-23).

“The only person who can really operate at a level of depth is the person who knows how to go to the heart of a man’s problem. And the only way to go to the heart of a man’s problem is through the Gospel of Jesus Christ ministered in the power of the Holy Spirit, who transforms the heart of man and thus transforms his life patterns.”

Tikvah UPDATE — great progress!

Thanks again for praying, dear friends. After a number of attempts, Tikvah finally gave in and is breathing on her own without the ventilator! She is recovering very well & in the next day or two will be transferred out of the CTICU to another unit for recovery till she goes home.

Also, last night we were able to take Hezekiah back to see her & he had a huge smile & immediately went to kiss her on the head (let's just hope that kind of tenderness continues...).Please keep praying for her that she would eat orally. She ate quite well yesterday afternoon but last night was a bit stubborn again. Pray that she'd get the hang of this thing swiftly.

Thanks so much!

Monday, November 7, 2011

UPDATE: Tikvah

Thanks so much for praying for Tikvah. She has done remarkably well through the surgery, the closing of the chest, and her recovery.

She has still refused to breathe on her own. She enjoys the ventilator breathing for her so the goal is, Lord willing, for her to be able to breathe on her own either today or tomorrow.

The next major step (and the one that takes the most time) is learning to feed orally.

We're hoping that God continues to glorify Himself as she recovers and as we strive to be a witness for Christ at the hospital. Thanks so much for your prayers. We treasure the family of Christ who together has come alongside of us in lifting our daughter up in prayer. Thank you.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)