Tuesday, January 13, 2015

A Husband's Love for His Wife

A HUSBAND'S LOVE FOR HIS WIFE.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.
— Ephesians 5:25

What was Christ's love like?

1. Initiating Love
The love that came to us was initiated by God Himself. There is nothing inherently appealing or attractive in a sinful human that prompted God to love him. The love of Christ came solely from His sovereign initiative and from His free choice. God did not wait for humans to become lovely and respond to His love, but Christ Himself proved that His was a supreme, initiating love.

2. Sacrificial Love
Jesus Christ came into the world to give His life a ransom for many. He came to die. His was a life of obedience so that He might die a death of obedience to the Father and as a substitute for men. The love of Christ showed itself in that He gave Himself for others. He sacrificed Himself. He did not wait for convenience, and even when it was totally inconvenient, Christ still sacrificed for His bride, the church.

3. Unconditional Love
Christ loves with no conditional promises. He never says: “I will love you if….” His is always an unconditional love towards His elect and He loves perfectly, fully, entirely, everlastingly, and supremely with no qualifiers, with no stipulations, with no conditions. He loves His own unilaterally and even when the Bride sins and fails and stumbles, He remains loving toward her.

4. Delightful Love
The love of Christ delights His bride. No love can compare with the love from this Bridegroom! Just as Christ delights His bride and ravishes her with His glory, beauty and dazzling charms, so the husband should love his wife with a delightful love. His love delights the heart, it wins the affections, it woos the heart, it engages the person. The love of Christ satisfies His people!

5. Eternal Love
Jesus never loves temporarily. His love shall never grow cold. He never loves partially or merely for an occasion. The love of Christ cannot be manipulated or coerced. His love for His own lasts forever. It will endure as long as the everlasting ages will exist. His love is so strong and mighty that even the duration of this age cannot exhaust the glories of Christ’s love. His goes on throughout all eternity as it never diminishes, lessens, weakens, grows cold, or fades. It exists eternally!

6. Providing Love
Jesus provides everything that His church needs. He came to live a life in her stead. He came to die a death in her stead. He came to rise from the dead for her justification. He ascended to heaven to intercede for her. Christ’s love provides all that could ever be needed to procure the Bride’s redemption. He provides for His church in all that she could ever need — both spiritually and physically. So the husband must love his wife with this kind of providing love.

7. Protecting Love
Christ Jesus promises to guard His people till heaven dawns. Nothing and no one could ever pluck a child of God out of the hand of Christ! His love protects. His love keeps. His love preserves. His love procures and secures. The love that Christ has for each of His blood-bought sheep is a jealous, protecting, preserving, and secure love. None can break in and loosen His grip on His people. His grip never loosens, it never grows weak, he never gives up on His people.

8. Complete Love
The love that Jesus displayed is one that endures ‘to the max’ or ‘to the end.’ The love of Christ is defined by completeness. It lacks nothing. It is full, whole, entire, and it lacks nothing good. Christ’s love completely engulfs His Bride leaving no part of her unexposed to His perfect and full love. Christ’s unbounded, unrestrained and unlimited love pours down upon His Bride fully!

9. Promising Love
Promises abound in the Scriptures from the lips of Christ to His Bride regarding her future glory. Christ verbally communicates with His Bride and He manifoldly vows to guard her, to keep her, to sanctify her, to feed her, to gladden her, to glorify her, to empower her, and to use her! One strains to even count the abundance of promises in Scripture that Christ makes to His Bride. The love of Christ is a promising, hopeful, guaranteeing, communicating and sure love!

10. Sanctifying Love
Christ builds His church. He strengthens the building as His people mature and grow in Christ. He cherishes His bride and washes her in the Word. He calls upon His people to feed upon Him; yes, to even eat Him! He provides daily sustenance for His people in Himself. Man does not live on bread alone but on every word from God’s mouth. He surely builds and sanctifies His Bride!

11. Cherishing Love
Jesus Christ cherishes His Bride. He passionately loves Her. He tenderly loves her. He zealously loves her. He jealously loves her. Christ has such a profound and preeminent love for His Bride that He will protect her from any and all foes. He loves to manifest Himself in and through His Bride. He cherishes her and she knows it. Christ speaks of her frequently. He tells her how much He loves her repeatedly. And Christ lavishes her with ample promises of future hope!

12. Intimate Love
No relationship ever comes close to the intimacy that Jesus Christ has with His Bride, the Church. The union that believers enjoy with their Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, is unspeakably close, intimate, and loving. No other lovers ever come between the love that Christ has for His Bride. No rivals exist. There is no plan B. There is no option of leaving the Bride, the Church, and going after another. The love of Christ for His elect-people is an intimate love. They are so close that the relationship can be viewed as them being ‘one.’ Christ loves nothing more than His Church. There are no programs, no others, indeed nothing in all creation, that He loves more than the Church.

13. Preeminent Love
The best love that one could ever experience is the perfect, supreme, preeminent love from Christ. His love is preeminent. Other human relationships pale in comparison to this relationship with Christ. Other lovers cannot begin to match the perfect love Christ has for His Bride. His love towers in height over all over loves. His love spans the breadth of all the universe and far surpasses any other love one could give. It goes deeper than any other love one has ever dreamed of. The love of Christ cannot be measured. It is preeminent, perfect, lavish, abundant, ever-flowing, rich, and divine. And this is the love Christ willingly and perfectly gives to His own.

14. Deliberate Love
To love is to sacrificially give oneself for another. Christ does not just ‘happen’ to love some people. His love is not an accidental, occasional, situational, or happenstance love. His love doesn’t just happen. Christ deliberately loves His own and He intentionally loves them. No one ever crafted such an amazing picture of true love more than Christ did. He thought of how he could love His Bride. He went after her willingly, passionately, zealously. He sought her, He bought her, and He got her for Himself! He deliberately loved her even when He was tired, betrayed, lonely, feeling the approaching trials and troubles. Yet love won and His intentional and willful love gave Himself on behalf of His bride for her good, for her benefit, for her joy and her glory.

15. Singular Love
Fickle man pursues other lovers. The heart of men runs after other lovers that appear to satisfy and provide pleasure. But Christ’s love is singular. He loves His Bride savingly, perfectly, supremely, and singularly. There are no other lovers in this relationship between Christ and His Bride. No one even comes close to winning His attention, His affection, His delights, His time, and His affection. His love for the Bride whom He sought and bought is a singular love. No rivals exist. No other lovers can be found. No one doubts this. His love for His Church is profoundly faithful and supremely singular. Husbands must see Christ’s love and emulate this love for their wives.

16. Public Love
Christ publicly displayed His love for His people. He died for her publicly, outside the gate. He was even mocked in so doing. Many despised Him and ridiculed Him. Many reviled Him and spoke evil of Him in this perfect, divine act of supreme, self-giving love (at Calvary). Yet His love for His Bride was public, perfect, verifiable, undeniable, and lavish. Christ showed the perfect kind of love — a self-giving of oneself to another regardless of how the recipient receives, recognizes, reciprocates, or expresses gratitude — toward His elect when He died for her at the hands of ruthless blasphemers. No one could deter Christ from His love. He loved His bride publicly so all could see the willful commitment He had for His Bride. He loves publicly and unashamedly.

17. Forgiving Love
God promises to never remember the sins of His people and never to call them to account. He never keeps a list of wrongs and never — ever! — says: “Yes, but remember when you just did that last week….” His love is a forgiving love. He takes all the offenses of those whom He redeemed and casts them into the depths of the sea because He paid the price for it. He holds no grudges. He is never bitter or resentful over her sin. He never keeps the record of wrongs and piles them up to use against us in a ‘blowup moment.’ He forgives. He chooses to not think on it anymore. He promises to never hold His Bride accountable for her offenses. Why? Because she is forgiven. He took her sins, her burden, her iniquities, her wrath, her punishment, her hell. His love forgives. Unquestionable forgiveness, unending forgiveness is what Christ gives. He never retaliates nor does He ever strive to get even. He forgives and actively chooses to not bring it up again to Himself, to her, or to others. This is a perfect, forgiving, supreme and divine love.

18. Relentless Love
Christ’s love chases after His sweet Bride. Like a marathon runner, the love of Christ swiftly and purposefully runs after the prize. And what is that prize? That Christ would have the full harvest of those whom He redeemed in glory one day who surround His throne and worship Him forevermore. His love is relentless. Like an ever-flowing fountain, Christ’s love is ever-flowing. Like a massive waterfall, so the love of Christ bursts down upon the heads of His elect. His love never runs dry, it never runs thin, it never stops pursuing, it never wanes dry, nor does it ever become cold. His love hotly and passionately pursues one lover: His Bride, the Church.

Concluding Exhortation:
The love of Christ is described by all of the above phrases. The way that He has loved you, O Christian man, is the same kind of love that God calls you to lavishly demonstrate to your wives. God does not call you receive this love from Him only. He calls and commands and commissions and strengthens you to receive the love that He has shown you so that you can love your wife in this same way. So husbands, examine the kind of love that you should have for your wives. What is your love for her currently like? What would she say if she were to describe your love toward her? Where can you grow? Where can you change? Where must you repent: first to God, then to your spouse? The delightfulness of looking at the husband’s duty of loving the wife is that it absolutely and powerfully drives you to the gospel constantly. When you thank God for the gospel of grace and how God lavished love and mercy upon you, you should consider how you should turn around and demonstrate this same kind of love toward your precious gift from God, your wife. Love her! Lavish affection on her! Singularly pursue her as your supreme lover! Passionately and deliberately love her. Sanctify her in Christ! Seek God’s help, then love your wife! Feed on Christ each day and preach the gospel to your soul. And then love your bride!

Download the pdf article here.

Equipping the Men to be Shepherds at Home.

EQUIPPING THE MEN TO BE SHEPHERDS AT HOME
Taking the Friday morning study & turning it into a marital discipleship-relationship.
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

How can we encourage, equip & exhort the CFBC men to shepherd, nurture, instruct & pastor their wives at home? How can we as men follow the command of our Savior and give ourselves up for our wives and sanctify them by washing them in the Word? After all, this is what Jesus our Savior does for us? So how can we emulate our Savior and practically implement this in our own marriages? Here are some super practical suggestions.

1. PAY ATTENTION CAREFULLY. (LISTEN!)
You cannot give to your wife what you don’t possess. You cannot impart knowledge to her that you do not have. So, men, as you come on Friday mornings, pay attention, focus, fight distractions and listen carefully so as to understand the teaching and meaning of God’s Word. Let it sink into your mind, heart, affections, and indeed, your whole being.

2. TAKE NOTES AS NEEDED. (REMEMBER!)
Some people benefit from taking notes and jotting down memorable points. Others find great help by taking copious notes so they can review them later on and rehearse the entire study to themselves. Whatever way is best for you, the goal is to remember what you studied, what you learned, and what God used to teach and convict you so you can disseminate that to your wife.

3. THINK IMPLEMENTATION. (APPLY!)
As the men’s study progresses, always be thinking and asking yourself, ‘how must I apply what I’m learning/reading from the Word of God?’ Never be happy in hearing the Word only; always be a doer. If God’s Word doesn’t make you better, then it’s all for naught. So when you attend and listen, be humble, be willing to be convicted, broken, exposed, and molded into Christ’s image by God’s Spirit through the study of the Word of God. Apply to your heart first.

4. PRIORITIZE THE DISCUSSION. (SCHEDULE!)
Every man lives a busy life. We must schedule and prioritize appointments. If men don’t schedule certain activities, it’ll get crowded out or forgotten altogether. So, men, schedule a discussion with your wife. It must be priority. We are called by God to sanctify our wives and wash them in the Word. It’s not optional! We must prioritize this discussion. Make it happen. It’s as important as a meeting with your top client. There, you may have a follow-up review with a boss; but remember, on the final day, you’ll stand before God Himself and give account to your faithfulness. So prioritize this. Schedule this. Make it happen. Yes, it is really that important.

5. SHARE PERSONAL TRUTHS LEARNED. (HONESTY!)
When you have that precious time talking with your wife, honestly share with her what you’ve learned. Tell her what the discussion was about. Inform her of the Scriptures you covered (even read the verses with her!). Share what you learned, doctrines that God reminded you of, insights that other men shared, and ways in which the Spirit of God convicted and challenged you. Not only is this helpful to wash your God-graced companion and help-mate in the Word and apply the Word to her heart and life, but it builds an emotional bond as you honestly and humbly share what you are learning. What a model of leadership! What exemplary husbanding!

TRUST THE POWER OF THE WORD. (CONFIDENCE!)
In pastoring a congregation at large or pastoring one’s family at home, the shepherd must trust the power of the Word to do its work. The Word works in those who believe. So men must have confidence in God’s power to work through His word to sanctify your wife as you shepherd her in the Truth. Trust God’s Word to work in her life, in your marriage, in your relationship, and in her love for, respect for, submission to and affection for you. Men, lead and trust!

Download the pdf article here.

Husbands & Wives Should Discuss Sermons Together.

From Richard Steele (17th c.) who alludes to the teachings of John Chrysostom (AD347-407):

"Let them [husband & wife] both go to church and then discuss the sermon together. If both are Christians already, then they should do what they can to help each other to become thorough saints. Speak often of God and spiritual things. Be fellow pilgrims to the Celestial City!"

From Charles Spurgeon:

"What is the way to become an efficient preacher? "Young man," says one, "go to college." "Young man," says Christ, "follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men." How is a person to be useful? "Attend a training-class," says one. Quite right; but there is a surer answer than that—Follow Jesus, and he will make you fishers of men."

The Need for Open Air Preaching & The Opposition that Comes With It.

Spurgeon talks of the perseverence of one open air preacher, John Furz, who encountered a bit of opposition when he preached.

“Once recommenced, the fruitful agency of field-preaching was not allowed to cease… The preachers needed to have faces set like flints, and so indeed they had. John Furz says: ‘As soon as I began to preach, a man came straight forward, and presented a gun at my face; swearing that he would blow my brains out, if I spake another word.

However, I continued speaking, and he continued swearing, sometimes putting the muzzle of the gun to my mouth, sometimes against my ear. While we were singing the last hymn, he got behind me, fired the gun, and burned off part of my hair.’

“After this, my brethren, we ought never to speak of petty interruptions or annoyances.”

—From Charles Spurgeon’s sermon: Open-Air Preaching—A Sketch of its History and Remarks Hereon

A Godly Man.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

1. Know the Word
As an explorer journeys through the vast forests and the uninhabited territories with expectation and delight, so the man of God endeavors to journey through the Word of God so as to know the Truth. A man of God not just wants to know the truths of the Word of God but he wants to commune with the God of the Word. Every man of God longs for more of God and He is found in the Word. To commune with God, one reads the Word. Every godly man must pursue the diligent and daily priority of being in the Word of God.

2. Meditate on the Word
As a child gathers all of his toys at the early part of the day so he can have plenty of items to play with throughout the day, so the man of God wants to be in the Word and impress the Word upon his heart and mind so that it will stick with him and affect his heart throughout the entirety of the day. As an animal chews the cud, so the man of God chews on the Word. As someone puts gasoline in the automobile, so the believer must fill himself with the Scriptures. To meditate means that one fills and consumes himself with truth. It permeates and saturates him.

3. Obey the Word
A godly man zealously pursues the Word but it is far more than just intellectual knowledge or rote memorization. Every man of God yearns to apply the Word; that is, to be a doer of the Word. Knowledge without obedience is but more logs to make hell hotter. More exposure to truth without repentance, faith, and obedience is like a businessman knowing all that he must do while standing at the door of his office and refusing to put any of it to practice. He will quickly be cast out, terminated, and gone. So it is with the wicked. But every man of God says with the psalmist that he will keep the righteous ordinances from God (Ps 119.106).

4. Prioritize the Word
A godly man prioritizes the Word more than anything else. Before conversing with men, the Godly man consumes his heart with God and His Word. Before working in the fields, the man of God will worship as he fellowships with the Triune God. Nothing so satisfies the heart of a godly man than opening the Book, reading it, seeing God in Christ, and being drawn and invited to worship! Like a delightful fruit tree, the man of God must quickly approach it to get the fruits so as to enjoy the sweetness and delightfulness in partaking of it. A man of God daily prioritizes the Word. Indeed, man cannot live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deut 8.3).

5. Confide in the Word
In a life full of troubles and in a world pummeled by sorrows, the man of God applies the balm of the Word to the wounds of his heart. There is nothing that so comforts the godly man than the precious ointment and beauty of Christ and His gospel. The man of God confides himself in the Word. He hides in it. He trusts in it. He stands fully and constantly upon it. The only foundation that he has to stand upon in the shaky ground of this world is the solid Rock of Christ as revealed in the Word of God. The godly man receives comfort, joy and solace even in the most torrential of times when he comes to the Word and rests in the arms of the Great Comforter.

Spend Time With God.

From George Whitefield's Journals:

"I give to Him my soul and body to be disposed and worn out in His labours as He shall think meet. I do hence resolve, by His assistance…to lead a stricter life than ever, to give my self to prayer and the study of the Scriptures…. God give me my health, if it be His blessed will…. I give myself wholly to Him."

I give to Him my soul and body to be disposed and worn out in His labours as He shall think meet. I do hence resolve, by His assistance…to lead a stricter life than ever, to give my self to prayer and the study of the Scriptures…. God give me my health, if it be His blessed will…. I give myself wholly to Him.² - See more at: http://deliveredbygrace.com/lessons-from-whitefield-for-2015/#sthash.33zXqgu1.Xrqn5v2W.dpuf

I give to Him my soul and body to be disposed and worn out in His labours as He shall think meet. I do hence resolve, by His assistance…to lead a stricter life than ever, to give my self to prayer and the study of the Scriptures…. God give me my health, if it be His blessed will…. I give myself wholly to Him. - See more at: http://deliveredbygrace.com/lessons-from-whitefield-for-2015/#sthash.33zXqgu1.Xrqn5v2W.dpuf

Warmly Involving All Age Groups Into the Body of Christ

WARMLY INVOLVING ALL AGE GROUPS INTO THE BODY OF CHRIST
Geoffrey R. Kirkland

Every pastor hears it. Every shepherd receives that phone call. Every minister faces the same question. Someone comes to the elder and says that he doesn’t feel plugged in because the church doesn’t ‘have what I need.’ Or, to phrase it slightly differently, a churchgoer may quibble: ‘I don’t feel as though I can relate all that well to others in your church. There’s not that many people my age’ (or, my season of life, etc.). Every man of God serving in leadership in Christ’s church has been there. He’s faced it. He’s dealt with it. So, how do you involve various and all age groups into the beautiful and unified body of Christ in a local assembly?

A local church will have lots of groups, from twenty-somethings, to high school students, to the divorced, to the widowed/widowers, to the middle-aged singles who have never been married, to the teenagers, to the empty nesters, to the hurting ones who have been divorced, to families with young children, to the young children themselves, and to senior saints.

What follows does not attempt to exhaust ideas as to how to incorporate various age groups but it does seek to provide some ideas as to how a local assembly can corporately worship together and consciously, deliberately, compassionately, and patiently extend the arms of Christian love to any and all ages in the body of Christ.

1. Teach on the BEAUTY OF THE CHURCH.
Jesus does not define the body of Christ by class, race, age, gender, cultural background, likes, hobbies, or interests. Rather, the church consists of all those whom Christ redeemed with His own blood. The church serves as a mosaic of God’s glorious power, majesty, and creativity. The church comprises both Jews and Gentiles who have come together in Christ to worship Christ! Teaching this, and reinforcing this with regularity, is necessary in reminding everyone of the church’s beauty, diversity, glory, and vastness.

2. Plead for the ATTENTIVENESS OF THE MIND.
Whether the instructions are directed to the five year old boys, or the teenagers, or the emotionally crushed divorcees, or the senior saints, all must hear the important reality that they must listen attentively to the Word of God. They must engage their minds. Jesus calls for it and demands it. Let him who has an ear, let him hear! Church leaders must call for young and old, regardless of the season of life, to pay attention to the Word preached as a precious jewel that was cast forth.

3. Instruct to show MERCY TOWARD ONE ANOTHER.
Ministers should patiently and tenderly instruct all ages to demonstrate supreme mercy toward one another. Older saints should have mercy toward younger families with toddlers. And teenagers and twenty-somethings must exude overwhelming honor and grace toward senior saints who move slowly down the aisle in the sanctuary. The body of Christ must live with mercy and compassion toward one another. A church that encourages all ages to be present in corporate worship must remember this with frequency and strive to confess failures and implement change where needed.

4. Show the UNIVERSALITY OF THE GOSPEL.
The same gospel that the stay at home mother of four needs is the same gospel that her one year old, three year-old, six year old, and eight year old need. This gospel is the same gospel for the eldest saints who grow ever closer to graduating to heaven and for the teenagers battling with the cultural onslaught of pressures, sins, and temptations. It’s the same gospel for the businessman as it is for the middle-aged single woman who has never been married. The gospel that saves is a gospel that far surpasses the entire universe of background, age, and past histories. The gospel is not bound to an age group. The gospel must never be changed, manipulated, altered, or more palatable for various age groups. The little ones learning to walk need to hear of God’s glory, His justice, Christ’s righteousness, His atonement, repentance and faith, and their full surrender to Christ for life in the same way as the empty nester couple remembers the glory of the gospel.

5. Reinforce the NECESSITY OF BIBLICAL DISCIPLESHIP.
So how does one really plug into the church? Is church involvement really dependent upon one’s age? What a church has to offer? What programs the church presents? Are these really the issues that get people plugged in and keep them involved? Or is there something deeper — and more biblical — that can shed light on this? One should recall that Moses discipled Joshua. Paul discipled young Timothy. Godly men are to take spiritual truths and pass it on to other faithful men who can teach others also. Titus 2 commands older women to take younger women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, submissive to their own husbands — all so that the Word of God will not be dishonored. Imagine a church where older men (empty nesters, senior saints, fathers and husbands) came alongside of younger men (new believers, teenagers, young dads, new husbands, twenty-somethings) and walked with them weekly in the Word of God and in prayer. Consider the beautiful portrait of women meeting with other women for regular prayer, fellowship, discipleship, comfort, encouragement, and stimulation to love and good deeds. Singles could meet with young moms at their home while the kids are napping. Senior saints could reach out to the hurting divorcees. A culture of discipleship should repeatedly be reinforced in the local body. Indeed, the dads have the responsibility of shepherding and discipling their own children first and foremost. God instructs fathers particularly to instruct, discipline, disciple and pass on God’s Word, God’s works, and God’s ways to the children in the home throughout the week. In a church culture like this, not one person is left out. There is a place for everyone since the heartbeat of this kind of ministry is people-work, discipleship work, intentional life-on-life growth.

6. Pray for the UNCTION OF THE SPIRIT.
The only way true godliness can pervade the local church is when the Holy Spirit effectually implants His Word into people’s souls. Thus, the power to bring about change and growth in a local church resides in the Spirit of power. Believers must pray in the Spirit for godliness. Christians should cultivate holiness and prayerfulness in seeking to honor God and magnify Christ, all by the power of the Spirit through the reading and application of the written Word. The ultimate need of every soul irregardless of age, season of life, background, or status is the same. All men need the gospel of Jesus Christ. All must hear of their pervasive sin, God’s unbending righteousness, His supreme mercy, Christ’s once-for-all atonement, and the demand for repentance and faith in counting the cost to follow Him. The Holy Spirit raises the dead. He opens blind eyes. He unlooses mute mouths. He gives a heartbeat to the lifeless corpse. He makes men twice-born, that is, born-again. In the fabric of the local church, all believers must remember that the ultimate need that everyone has is the hearing, receiving, applying, delighting in, and submitting to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is made effective through the preaching of the Word and its application all by the effectual power (=unction) of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, instead of suggesting that a local church does not have the demographic preferences that one may hope to find and thus allowing that to serve as an excuse to leave a good, Bible-teaching local church, one should reconsider the importance of diligent and deliberate discipleship that biblically should come through the ongoing ministering of the Scriptures to one another. Indeed, every single Christian has the responsibility to warmly accept other believers into the fellowship regardless of these cultural (preferential) issues and strive to incorporate all people into the discipling web of interpersonal relationships built on Christ, Scripture, prayer and holiness. Amen.

Download the pdf essay here.

Holy to the LORD: The Mark of the Minister

“Holy to the LORD” [קֹדֶשׁ לַיהוָה]
The Mark of the Minister
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

In Exodus 28:36, God instructs Moses that he should make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal: ‘Holy to the LORD’. And this plate of pure gold shall rest upon Aaron’s forehead (v.38). In reflecting on a similar parallel for the minister of the gospel today, he should also have a sort of engraving that sets him apart as a man wholly devoted to the LORD.

In pondering this very phrase, I see a few marks that every minister of the gospel should have this engraved on him that distinguishes as singularly minded man with a God-given mission and a God-driven passion. In a word, the mark of the minister should be that he is a holy man entirely devoted to the LORD.

1. Holy in his SOUL
The man who serves as the minister of the Lord must be holy in his soul. This means that this man must be soundly converted; that is, set apart in his soul. He must be a new creation. The old things have passed. Old desires, wishes, ambitions, pursuits and interests are all delightfully superseded by a ravishing new nature that loves Christ Jesus.

2. Holy in his HEART
God requires that those who approach Him in worship must have clean hands and a pure heart. This no less applies to the ministers of God who have His Word, preach His Word, and call sinners to repent and follow Christ. This man must be set apart for Christ in the innermost recesses of his heart. His passions and affections long for Christ alone.

3. Holy in his THOUGHTS
That which permeates the minister’s mind are ravishing thoughts of Christ, mind-boggling realities of the gospel, supreme enjoyments of God’s character, and relentless compassions to urge the hellbound to be converted. This man is set apart in his thoughts. He has nothing else that consumes his mind save the holiness of his heart and life.

4. Holy in his MOTIVATIONS
The minister of the gospel lives for One. He fears no one but the LORD. His motives are for the glory of Christ. He always lives and thinks in the immediate presence of God. Thus, every motive, every intention, every purpose of his life should be set apart for Christ, for His glory, for His renown; not for self-promotion or self-aggrandizement.

5. Holy in his CONDUCT
If God has called a man out of darkness to Himself and has set him apart for the Master’s use, then the true minister manifestly and aggressively pursues holiness. He zealously fights for holiness. He must be holy in his life. He must be set apart from the world. He never strives to be like the culture; He must, by God’s divine mandate, be different, set apart, and entirely devoted to God’s work, in God’s way, in God’s likeness, for God’s glory. This demands his holiness.

6. Holy in his WORSHIP
The main worship leader in corporate worship is the preacher. He sets the tone for everything. He sets the key and carries the tune. He must be wholly given to adoration and praise as he response to God’s revelation in His Word. He occupies himself with God. He worships throughout the day. Worship describes him. And, worship delights him.

Download the pdf article here.

The Day of Judgment

JC Ryle describes the day of judgment:

Believers and unbelievers, holy and unholy, converted and unconverted, are now mingled in every congregation, and often sit side by side. It passes the power of man to separate them. False profession is often so like true, and grace is often so weak and feeble, that, in many cases, the right discernment of character is an impossibility. The wheat and the chaff will continue together until the Lord returns. But there will be an awful separation at the last day. The unerring judgment of the King of kings shall at length divide the wheat from the chaff, and divide them for evermore. The righteous shall be gathered into a place of happiness and safety. The wicked shall be cast down to shame and everlasting contempt. In the great sifting day, every one shall go to his own place.

--Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Luke (p.97-98).

How to ensure sexual purity in the ministry.

HOW TO ENSURE SEXUAL PURITY IN THE MINISTRY!
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

This brief essay serves to ask heart-probing questions so as to gauge my heart and my love for Christ. May I rehearse these questions frequently so as to ensure sexual purity in the ministry for God’s glory and for the good of my soul.

1. Do I love Christ passionately?
I will always pursue what I love most. Do I love Christ or do I love sex? Do I love temporal, immediate, sexual pleasure more than I enjoy the lasting, eternal, full pleasures of Christ? If I am loving Christ passionately, fully, diligently, daily and savoringly then I will not live a life pursuing sexual immorality in any of its forms.

2. Do I really meet with God in prayer daily?
Not do I ‘say my prayers’; but, do I really meet with, commune with, fellowship with and enjoy intimacy with the Living God? Meeting with God and speaking to Him (prayer) and hearing from Him (Scripture) can safeguard us from the wily and seductive lures of immorality.

3. Do I spend too much time online simply 'browsing' blogs/sites?
With all the bad that exists online, there are tremendous and abundant resources for biblical study, theological dialogue and counseling tools. But even though I may not be looking for porn, it may come looking for me while I’m harmlessly browsing a blog or a site when a pop-up appears. Get online, study, then get off. Don’t browse aimlessly.

4. Do I enjoy marital intimacy frequently with my beautiful bride?
One of the God-given safeguards for immorality (physical or cyber) is the full, intoxicating lovemaking between a husband and his wife. Do I enjoy my wife? Do I serve her? Do I please her? Often? Regularly? Diligently? Passionately? If not, I’m already heading down a dangerous path. Begin now to invest all my efforts and passions toward my wife!

5. Do I have any relationships, occasions, or appointments where I may be alone with a woman other than my wife?
As I look at my calendar, my phone, my texting conversations, my Facebook messages, the pictures I peek at, is there anything where I may be alone with a women who is not my wife and I’m hiding it? If so, cut it off immediately! Flee and forsake it!

6. Do I have anything in my heart/life/mind/ministry that I'm unwilling to disclose to my wife?
A shepherd deals with sin constantly. Of course, his own sin first and then the sins of the flock that he shepherds. But is there any issue, relationship, conversation, woman that I’m afraid to disclose to my wife? Am I honest with her?

7. Do I welcome other godly men specifically asking me about my own sexual purity?
Not the simple question: “Are you pure?” Everyone could subjectively answer affirmatively to that. But are there men who really love me and men that I ask (and beg!) to probe into my heart, my desires, my internet searches, my internet usage, my relationship with my wife? Men, probe into my life! Men, ask me anything! Dig and dig and help me!

8. Do I hate it when I do sin sexually & do I repent of it seeking to mortify that hellish dragon?
What is my attitude when I do lust after a woman? How do I respond after I’ve fallen? Do I hate it? Do I despise it? Or am I ‘that guy’ with a ‘beloved/cherished/pet sin’ that I’m unwilling to slay with the death blow? To repent is to hate, forsake, confess and replace it zealously!

9. Do I earnestly pursue & diligently pray for aggressive holiness?
The greatest weapon is the Word and prayer! Hear from God (Scripture) and then speak to Him (prayer). Do I passionately, urgently, frequently, intentionally pray and beg God to make me pure, holy, above-reproach entirely? Do I pray this before I give in to lust? Pray before you begin the day for God to grant abundant purity in heart, mind and body.

10. Do I rehearse in my mind the devastating effects that falling sexually would have on my marriage, family, and ministry?
Countless consequences would crush me if I were to fall sexually! Rehearse them frequently! Remember them often! Fear lest you give into sin! Remember that I would dishonor Christ, I would lose the pastoral ministry, I would be disqualified, I would use the trust of my wife and my children. I would disappoint those whom I’ve discipled, led to Christ. People would see me as a hypocrite and as man unwilling to mortify sin. Satan would gleefully rejoice and the world would have yet another bit of ammo to shoot at the hypocrisy of ‘Christians’. O flee! Flee hard! Flee fast! And fear Christ and His discipline enough to passionately pursue holiness!

Download the pdf article here.

The Book of Revelation | 4PM Family Bible Hour Sermon Series

Beginning Sunday, December 7th, Christ Fellowship Bible Church will launch a verse-by-verse expositional preaching series through the Book of Revelation.

This study will help you understand the glory of Christ & His triumphant victory over the forces of evil.

CFBC takes a futuristic premillennial position regarding the hermeneutic (='how to interpret') the book.

Revelation 1:19 provides its own outline of the book:
Revelation 1:19 – "Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things.

Christ tells the Apostle John to write the things...
1. Which you have seen (PAST) — chapter 1
2. Which are (PRESENT) — chapters 2-3
3. Which will take place after these things (FUTURE) — chapters 4-22

Join us at 4:00PM every Sunday at CFBC. Or, if you can't join us, the sermons will be online at the media page.

9 Motivations for You to Repent Now!

9 Motivations for You to Repent Now!
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The Bible teaches that today is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time for sinners to repent. God always promises to forgive when sinners repent of sin but God never promises the sinner tomorrow so that he can repent of his sin then. So, this brief writeup lists nine compelling motivations for sinners to repent now. Come to Christ today! Turn from your sins now and live!

1. The shortness of time!
You must number yours days. Time on earth will not go on forever. People are not immortal. Humans are eternal beings but not immortal beings. You will live on forever. Your life, dear friends, is but a candle, for it’ll soon go out. Your life is but a shadow that quickly passes by. One’s existence is but a sunset that begins and after but a few passing moments it is gone. Your life is like steam on a hot cup as it goes up and then it’s gone forever. God lovingly beckons you to come now when he says: Today if you hear his voice: do not harden your hearts (Heb 3.7-8)!

2. The concern for your soul!
Thomas Watson helps us imagine this: O horrible day, when Jesus Christ clothed in his judge's robe shall say to the sinner, “Stand forth; answer to the indictment brought against you.” Have you forgotten that your soul will live on forevermore? You will everlastingly live in either eternal glory in heaven or eternal torments in hellfire. Do you live careless about your own soul? Do you apathetically live as to the future punishments that really, literally, and immediately await you at death? Death is sure. Your soul will live on. Hell is real. Out of care for your soul, repent today.

3. The evil of sin!
Sin is the ultimate treason against God. The vileness of sin manifests itself as it transgresses the Word of God, it incites the holy anger of God, and it fuels the fires of hell. Do you see your sin as treason against God? Do you view your sin — all of your sins and your sin nature — as rising up in protest against God’s sovereignty? Until your sin be bitter, Christ will not be sweet to you(Thomas Watson).

4. The awfulness of hell!
The rich man died and immediately entered hellfire. He lifted up his eyes while being in torment. He was in flames, in agony, and in eternal conscious punishment. He remembered his family, his brothers, the opportunities he had to repent, and he felt the flames of fire that engulfed him then and would be his pillows forevermore. All who die impenitent (=without repenting) will enter hell. All who hope to repent and die in that state will enter hellfire. All who plan to repent but never genuinely repent will die and perish forevermore. Hell is real and it is awful. It is dreadful and it is punishment from the Almighty hand of God upon every individual sinner without rest, without relenting, without ceasing, without mercy forevermore. O repent now!

5. The mercy of God!
God tenderly says that now is the acceptable time and today is the day of salvation (2 Cor 6.2). God’s mercy awaits penitents to come before Him with broken and contrite hearts. And God’s mercy engulfs the sinner and casts all his iniquities into the depths of the sea since He punished the sin upon Christ, the Lamb of God who offered an eternal redemption. You should repent today because God’s mercy is available! God graciously, tenderly, patiently commands you to repent! God’s mercy will not remain forever. The door will shut one day. The opportunity to reconcile with God will end one day. The gate will be closed and locked and will shut out forever all the impenitent. Do not refuse to repent! God’s mercy is available! Turn to Him now.

6. The love of Christ!
The heart of compassion that Jesus has ought to motivate you to repent today. Jesus told the paralytic: “Son, your sins are forgiven” (Matt 9.2). Jesus said to Simon regarding a great sinner in the city: “her sins, which are many have been forgiven” (Luke 7.47). The Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins (Matt 9.6). Christ calls on men and women to come to Him! All who are weary and heavy laden, He beckons to come! All who thirst can drink bountifully in Him! The love of Christ which is sweeter than the most pleasant delight on earth should compel a sinner to come to Christ now. The love of Christ now calls you to come. The same Christ will one day bring a sword to slay all His enemies with unrelenting fury and justice and sentence them to eternal hellfire under His wrath. Now, the love of Christ calls you! Come to Him at once!

7. The joy in life!
An infinite bounty of perfect delights reside in God Himself. All joy is directly related to God and His glorious perfections! One cannot ever be happy till He finds happiness in Christ! One will never set his heart upon true joy until he leaves sin, forsakes it at once, hates it and all of its manifestations, and clings to Christ Jesus in true faith. J.C. Ryle stated that you’ll never be happy till “God is upon the throne, and sin cast down and put out of doors.” Do not linger in your unrepentant sin. Do not dally in your course of hidden sin. Do not suppress the cherished sins you refuse to mortify. Slay them for the greater joy of knowing Christ! Come to the Risen and Living and wondrous Savior immediately.

8. The hope of heaven!
The Word of God informs that there joy in heaven over a sinner to repents. As praise is the music of heaven, so repentance is the joy of heaven (Thomas Watson). May the joy of heaven abound as sinners come to the Savior today. This joy of heaven will eternally be enjoyed by every blood-washed sinner. This permits him to live with an enduring, steadfast, confident hope of heaven. All who repent from sin and trust in Christ have the sure destiny of heaven. You can live with expectancy. You can live with God-centered perspective and heavenly-minded ambitions. Repent now and have the hope of heaven! Repent today and have an unshakeable hope.

9. The stupidity of procrastination!
Many now reside in the flames of hell who once had hoped to repent and come to God. Lots of moral churchgoers have experienced the righteous justice of God because they procrastinated and thought they could repent and turn to Christ later in life. But that ‘later day’ never came. Indeed, a hard heart is the worst heart (Thomas Watson). Procrastinating is the vice that sends many ethical citizens and moral teenagers to hell. Many are now in hell—who purposed and intended to repent! (Watson). God tells sinners not to harden their hearts and not to refuse God who speaks to them. God spoke to the people in the wilderness but they refused to repent. They were stubborn and stiff-necked. They were obstinate people who died in the wilderness and perished forevermore. Christ came down from heaven so that men would look upon Him as the Bread of Life and feed upon Him now! God never promises tomorrow. He graciously grants you this moment! Look to your sinful condition and see your helplessness and hopelessness! Look to Jesus Christ and see His righteousness and His satisfactory atonement. Turn from your sins and live! Refuse to plan for this at a later time. Be diligent to come to God today! Leave everything and come now!

Download the pdf article here.

Repentance — what to repent of.

REPENTANCE:
What To Repent Of?
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

1. Repent of your public, known sins.
Make it your ambition to come before the Lord and ask for His mercy for your public and known sins. That is, make known the sins that you’ve committed in public, that you know about, that others know about.

2. Repent of your hidden, private sins.
Uncover the hidden, deep, dark recesses of your private sins to the Lord. He sees it all and knows them all anyway. Uncover the deep blackness in the well of your heart. Bring it to light. Let the blackness of sin be cleansed by the crimson blood of Christ. Uncover and repent of these.

3. Repent of that ‘pet/darling/favorite’ sin that you won’t let go of.
Come to the Lord and earnestly beseech God’s mercy for that one sin that you repent of often. That ‘darling’ (pet, cherished) sin that you have, that you fight against, that you repent of often, and that you are most afraid of — or unwilling — to give up. Repent and surrender that to Christ.

4. Repent of your lack of serving family members at home.
True religion is lived at home. What you really are is evidenced by the pattern of conduct that you have with the family. Repent of the friction, the impatience, the lack of serving others, the selfishness, and the lack of compassion that you have demonstrated toward others.

5. Repent of your coldness of love toward the Father, Son & the Spirit.
God yearns that His elect Bride would passionately love Him with a blazing hot zeal. Sadly, many things distract us and cool our passion for God. Confess and turn from the coldness of your love to each of the members of the Trinity — the Father for His sovereign love, the Son for His glorious redemption and sufficient righteousness, and the Spirit for His regenerative power and His transforming work.

6. Repent of the littleness of your faith in fervent, ongoing, daily prayer.
Pray and repent of the littleness of your prayer. O that God’s people would increase in fervent prayer. Repent of the infrequency of your outbursts of prayer. Confess the redundancy and tendency of your prayers to become rote and heartless. Repent of this and seek to bring about change.

7. Repent of your laziness in bible-reading, bible-memorization, and bible-meditation each day.
To feast upon the Word of God is the greatest duty in which a Christian can engage. Repent of and expose to the Lord the laziness in Bible reading. Confess that there have been other entertainments, other distractions, and other circumstances that have crowded out and taken priority over your time communing with God in His precious Book.

8. Repent of failing to redeem the time because the days of evil.
Come to the Lord on your knees and beg for His grace and mercy because of the frequent ways in which time is wasted each day. Repent and ask for God’s help to manage your time better, to be more evangelistic at heart, to be more eternal in focus, and to live more Christocentrically in life.

9. Repent of your missed opportunities to call sinners to repent & escape hellfire.
Come to the Lord and loathe the many missed opportunities that God has granted you to proclaim Christ and His saving gospel to the lost. Whether it be at a park, with a neighbor, to a complete stranger, to a homeless man on a corner, or to a coworker in the next cubicle, repent to the Lord and seek for his grace to forgive and for His power to equip you to make changes.

10. Repent of your complaining, mumbling & grumbling.
Christians battle the ongoing desire in our hearts to rule sovereignly. And when we do not get what we want, what we think we deserve, or how things suit our preferences, we tend to complain, mumble and grumble — verbally or silently. It may be a loud bewailing to others or a silent mumbling in the innermost sector of your heart. Repent of this sin and turn from it.

11. Repent of your frustrations, selfishness and lofty thoughts of self.
The sinful heart is an idol factory. Repeatedly, the Lord commands His people to humble themselves and to abstain from all pride. Come before the Lord with humility and carefully and specifically expose the selfishness, pride, and exalted thoughts of self. Seek God’s grace and forgiveness.

12. Repent of your refusal to stand up for truth when others mock your Savior.
In the cultural context that now prevails, many blaspheme God, take His name in vain, and speak ill of God’s Word and of God’s truth. Repent and bemoan the times that you stood silently and remained unwilling to boldly open your mouth to proclaim the truth of Christ and His gospel to the nonbelievers. Seek God’s grace and endeavor to turn from this sin from here on out.

13. Repent of your shallow repentance.
Come before the Lord and repent of your repentance. Repent of the shallowness of lip service. Repent of the mediocrity of heart-sorrow. Repent of the fear of consequences rather than a healthy fear of God. Repent of the littleness and infrequency of genuine, fervent, committed repentance. Seek God’s grace and His empowering to change.

14. Repent of the infrequent meditations on Christ, His beauty, His worth & His atonement on your behalf.
Come to God in shame at the infrequency of your meditations upon Christ. See the glory of Christ and the sufficiency of His death. Claim the righteousness of Christ and the propitiation that He won. Cling to the atonement of Christ and His spotless blood that was shed. Trust in the redemption that He accomplished and the eternal victory in His bodily resurrection. Repent that Christ has consumed so little of your thoughts, affections, delights, passions, and longings. Come to Him in repentance and plead for His mercy, grace, and help to change!

Concluding Note:
In coming to God through Christ by the enabling grace of the Spirit, when you repent you will find God as a loving Father passionately tender in His forgiveness, incessantly flowing in his compassions, and ever-embracing with his mercies. Repent of your sins and resolve to put them to death by trusting in Christ more, seeking His glory more, and feeling the all-surpassing worth and splendor of His person and cross-work. God lavishly forgives. He generously pardons. He tenderly embraces. He loves to drown penitent sinners in the ocean of His cleansing and in the fountain of His delights. Come to God in repentance and faith and turn from your sins resolvedly, decisively and diligently and look to Christ in faith to put sin to death, to gaze upon His warm delights and strive to be holy for His glory!

Download the pdf article here.

Believe in the Absolute Sovereignty of God.

Believe in the Absolute Sovereignty of God!
A Most Comforting Doctrine to the Christian
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The Lord has given a number of psalms that focus on the theme of the LORD’s Kingship. These “Kingship Psalms” consist of Psalms 93-100. The psalms highlight, repeat, and underscore various features of the Lord’s reign, His character, His deeds, and His praiseworthiness.

This brief write-up will provide eleven adverbs describing how the LORD reigns.

1. Exclusively
The Lord alone reigns. He shares His throne with no one else. No enemy or foe or fate could ever share the throne with the LORD. He reigns exclusively over all things in all creation.

2. Absolutely
The Lord reigns absolutely. His kingship is absolute. He rules as king independently and depends upon no one or nothing else for existence. He reigns with all control and with no co-dependence upon another.

3. Exhaustively
The Lord reigns over everything — every single proton and every galaxy. Every leaf and every mountain range. Every molecule, atom and dust mote as well as every sun, planet and person rests under His control. He rules over it all.

4. Intimately
The Lord reigns intimately. Unlike the Ancient Near Eastern deities of old who were cold, lifeless and uninvolved gods, the LORD God of Israel rules intimately in and amongst His people. He is involved in everything that happens.

5. Globally
The Lord reigns over every plot of ground and over every unknown corner of the endless universe. The Lord reigns over the cosmos and over the creatures. He rules over everything in the heavens, on the earth & under the earth.

6. Perfectly
The Lord reigns with meticulous care and with impeccable perfection. He rules without blemish and without injustice. His Kingship is the perfect kingship and can never be improved since He Himself is infinitely perfect.

7. Victoriously
The Lord reigns victoriously. No enemy can defeat the God of Israel. No god, enemy, nation, king, or fate could ever rise up in triumph over the Lord. He rules with might and He always has the victory. He rules supremely!

8. Wisely
The Lord reigns with inscrutable wisdom. None can plummet the unfathomable wisdom of God and none could ever counsel the Lord. He reigns perfectly, actively, knowledgeably and always and ever demonstrating perfect wisdom.

9. Providentially
The Lord reigns and works all things together to accomplish His decreed purposes that can never be — and have never been — thwarted. He works His sovereignly decreed will by seeing that all things work together to that end.

10. Compassionately
The Lord reigns as a loving King. He rules with love, with care, with concern, and with abounding compassions for His own. He loves His own. He died for His own, and He protects them. His heart affectionately yearns for His own.

11. Eternally
The Lord reigns without beginning or end. The Lord never began to reign nor shall he ever cease reigning. He always and ever reigns as King. He sits upon His throne as the ever-ruling Monarch. He is the eternal Sovereign.

Download the pdf article here.

The Pastor's Primary Responsibilities

The Pastor’s Primary Responsibilities
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

In this brief essay, I will set before you three primary responsibilities of every pastor.

1. Intercede for God’s Flock
Pray
To neglect to pray is to neglect the power source in a pastor’s ministry. For a minister to engage in many duties in his church and yet omit the regular practice of prayer demonstrates that he has no understanding of nor does he have any conviction of the importance of the ministry, his helplessless in the ministry, his humility in the ministry and God’s sovereignty over his ministry. A pastor must pray. A shepherd must intercede for God’s flock. Every Christian is a sheep that belongs to God and God has stated that every sheep in the fold belongs to Him. And God has entrusted His own blood-bought sheep to the care of His undershepherds — pastors. To lead is to model. And there is no greater way that a pastor can model Christlikeness for his flock than to show them how to pray; that is, to model a life of prayer for them. It is insufficient for a pastor to say his ‘prayers’. The common statistic that the average pastor prays less than 10 minutes a day cannot describe a man who is radically in love with Christ, desperately in need of His power, and singularly awed by the gospel of sovereign grace. No one must coerce the pastor to pray. No one must check in to certify that the minister is on his knees. The godly minister has callouses on his knees that no one ever sees. He spends time with his God alone in the early morning when many people lay still on their beds. The minister has an overwhelming amount of items for which he can pray. He certainly longs to worship God in prayer: to adore Him, to bless Him, to ascribe glory and power to Him. The minister confesses his own sin to God. He repents of his sin to God. He begs for God to examine him and show him in the inner recesses of his heart and mind and motivations so that he will be spotless, blameless, and above reproach. The shepherd must pray for his flock by name. He must know them. He must bring them before the throne of God. Jesus prayed for His flock, so should every godly minister. The exemplary leader must take hold of God in prayer, giving him no rest, until God blesses the ministry, the preaching, the shepherding, the counseling, the discipling, the evangelizing, and the fellowship. Indeed, a teaching pastor must pray throughout the week and wrestle with God in prayer to come with power upon the preached Word. He must pray for the anointing of the Spirit. He must pray for the unction of the Spirit. He must seek the face of God throughout his days of studying, discipling, mentoring, resting. The godly pastor communes with God regularly. He prays urgently, passionately, warmly, daily, and believingly. Christ modeled a prayer life, so should pastors.

2. Feed God’s Flock
Preach
The Lord Jesus told Peter no less than three times to shepherd and tend His flock. A primary responsibility of a shepherd is to feed the sheep. If he has everything in the world and yet he fails to feed the sheep, eventually they will starve and die. The pastor is called to tend God’s flock. The sheep do not belong to the pastor; they’re God’s. And God demands that the man of God ‘preach the Word’ in season and out of season. Even when masses turn away to what their itching ears desire and turn aside from the truth, the man of God must be faithful to fulfill his calling and teach with all authority. To feed is to provide sustenance. A shepherd can feed the sheep poisonous food but the sheep will most certainly die. The shepherd can feed the flock food lacking nutrition and the sheep will be malnourished, unhealthy and they soon will become sick and eventually they will die. So it is with a pastor. A pastor is to teach and preach. He must feed God’s flock. He must feed them the Word of God, the full counsel of God, biblical theology, and the unashamed, unflinching, unrestrained truth of Scripture. He must preach the Bible. This is what expository preaching means. The man of God expounds the meaning of the Word of God so that the people of God understand what God says in God’s Word and how their lives must be affected because of it. The pastor must study to show himself approved so he feeds the flock of God with the food of God as it rightly comes out of the Word of God so they can live lives to the glory of God.

3. Tend God’s Flock
Pastor
The man of God must care for souls. To pastor is to conduct soul-care. To care rightly for God’s people, one must tend the flock with regularity and with compassion. The pastor is just called to do that, pastor the flock. Shepherds live with the flock, they care for the flock, they nurture the flock, they love the flock, they live with the flock, they ward off predators who could harm the flock, they know the flock by name and see them frequently. The pastor should live similarly among God’s people. He should live and conduct himself among and with the flock. He must know the flock. He must enter their homes to visit the flock. He must avail himself to the flock for counseling, for wisdom, for prayer, and for guidance. To feed is essential, but it’s not enough. Shepherds can feed the sheep, but good shepherds care for, protect, instruct in the way they should go, warn in the way they must avoid, and see how they walk. Shepherds must attend to those who are bruised and wounded. They must give must attention to the cast-down and the broken-hearted. Pastors cannot conduct this kind of soul-care only by preaching on Sunday with the flock. He must know them throughout the week. He must open the Word with the people with regularity. He must enter their homes and counsel them in the Word and he must open up his own home so as to model hospitality, godly living in the home, and family worship. This cuts to the core of the contemporary celebrity, traveling preacher who more often than not is away from the home, away from his flock, unable to meet with his people and thus unable to personally point them to Christ. May God’s pastors shepherd the flock of God among them. May God’s ministers teach God’s people God’s Word publicly and from house to house. If a pastor neglects this ministry, then he no longer is qualified to be called a ‘pastor.’ He may be a teacher, and he may be an expositor, but if he is not with his people then he cannot honestly be called a pastor of souls. He is to model for the flock Christlikeness. He is to point them to incessant and specific lives of prayer and communion with God. He is to instruct them in family worship, in godly living in the home, in marital unity, in parental duties, in the mortification of sin, and in the zealous pursuit of holiness. He should strive to win souls through fervent evangelism and model for the flock a compassionate heart for the lost. May God equip such men to fulfill their duties as pastors so as to glorify God by caring for His flock and serving them with God’s strength.

Download the pdf essay here.

The Lord's Supper: A Glorious Communion Feast With the Risen Savior

Christ Fellowship Bible Church (St Louis, MO) has just completed a three-part teaching series on the Lord's Supper.

MEDIA
Part 1 - The MEANING of the Lord's Supper (listen | download)
Part 2 - The PREPARATION for the Lord's Supper (listen | download)
Part 3 - The SUBJECTS/PARTICIPANTS of the Lord's Supper (listen | download)

ARTICLES
1. The Lord's Supper | A Philosophy of Ministry Paper of Christ Fellowship Bible Church

2. Children & the Lord's Supper | A Position Paper at Christ Fellowship Bible Church

3. Some Blessed Understandings When the Christian Participates in the Lord's Supper

FURTHER RESOURCES
More articles & write-ups

Counsel to Those Looking for a New Church

Counsel to Those Looking for a New Church
Geoffrey R. Kirkland

It seems to be commonplace for people to be looking for new churches these days. With job transfers, moves, students heading away to college, and others who are looking for a new church for any host of reasons, people often find themselves on the hunt for a new church.

But how should one undertake this journey? Are there some helps that can guide folks in this search for a biblical church?

This brief write-up will provide some counsel for those looking for a new church.

1. PRAY MUCH, PRAY BIBLICALLY, PRAY FERVENTLY, AND PRAY SPECIFICALLY.
Dealing with the precious and beloved Bride of Christ is no trivial matter. Christ died for His Bride and He jealously loves her, longs for her love and devotion in return, and promises to guard and keep her from the evil one. Since this is the case, in looking for a church, don’t treat your search for a church like a ‘buffet line’ where you pick and choose some things that suit your taste and don’t return there if something doesn’t meet your preferences. The church is glorious, beautiful, blood-bought, and set-apart. Therefore, as you embark upon the search for a new family to serve and join, you should pray much, pray biblically (saturating your mind with Scriptures) and pray fervently for the Spirit’s wisdom & guidance.

2. FIND A SOLID CHURCH ONLINE AND READ THE ‘WHAT WE TEACH’ OR ‘DOCTRINAL’ STATEMENT IN FULL.
Some people relocate to a new city, state or area and must find a new church. Others, move to college and need to find a fellowship in that area. Still others leave a church for any myriad of reasons and seek to find a biblical church where they can sacrificially serve. If this is the case for you, one of the blessings of living in the ‘online era’ is that you can find churches online and weed out many of those that appear to be unsound. But when you find one (or a few) churches that seem biblical, find the ‘what we teach’ statement or the doctrinal statement on the website and read it prayerfully, carefully, diligently, and thoughtfully. This process cannot be overemphasized. Look for a church with much content online. More information is always better. Don’t find a church with three bullet points in the doctrine statement. Find a church that takes a clear stance on biblical truth and current issues. In this process, resolve to be a Berean and search the Scriptures with diligence to see if what a church’s doctrinal statement teaches is in fact faithful to the Word.

3. LISTEN TO SELECTED SERMONS FROM THE LAST TWO YEARS ON THE WEBSITE (if possible).
Another great blessing in this modern era is that you can go to the church’s website (after you’ve read the doctrine, pillars, distinctives, etc.) and listen to sermons at their media/audio page. Nearly every church has this. Do the hard work. Take the time. Be diligent and vigilant in this step. You should listen to at least a few sermons from the recent weeks/months as well as a few sermons from a year ago (that is, the previous sermon series) and then a few sermons from a few years ago. This will allow you to gauge the kind of preaching, the caliber of preaching, the seriousness of the preaching, the faithfulness of the preaching, and the expository nature of the preaching in that particular church. Don’t skim through one sermon; due diligence and devote yourself to this step. Ensure that a church you are looking at faithfully preaches God’s Word and pulls the meaning of the text out of the Scriptures. And, after explaining the text, see whether the teacher applies the text to the lives and hearts of the listeners. Make sure the biblical gospel goes forth with each exposition.

4. ON THE WEBSITE, FIND THE LEADERSHIP/PASTORS/ELDERS PAGE AND RESEARCH ALL OF THE MEN TO GAIN AN UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR THOUGHTS, PASSIONS, HOBBIES, WRITINGS (FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, BLOGS).
You can learn a lot about a person by perusing their Facebook page, their Tweets, the pictures they post online, and various blogs and articles they’ve written. You can ascertain much about a person’s hobbies, interests, thoughts, books they’re reading, and how they devote their time by doing this step of seeking to know the leaders and shepherds in that particular church. Research them all. Do diligence. Find out what they do online. Find out what they read, what they post to their wall, what they tweet, how they blog, and what they think about. This step is often sorely overlooked in our current day. But this step, when diligently taken and faithfully pursued, might in fact protect you (and your family) from being in a church where the shepherds aren’t really holy, above-reproach, godly, biblical men. Brethren, do the work. Follow this step.

5. VISIT THE CHURCH FOR AT LEAST TWO MONTHS (EIGHT SUNDAYS).
How sad it is when a visitor comes to a church, meets the pastor and a few families, sits down for the service, shakes a few hands on the way out, and then never comes back again. In their mind, the music was not very good. The sermon was too long. They did not have a baptism. They did things a bit differently. But then again, you were only there for one Sunday. It would greatly profit you to visit a particular church for at least two months (that is, eight Sundays). Why? This way you can experience the rhythm of corporate church-life. You can see how and when they take communion (typically, if it is once a month, you’d see this done twice during the eight weeks you visit). You can know how the preacher exposits through various texts of Scripture. You will understand the church’s philosophy of music over these weeks. You will know the church’s view of God and how lofty their understanding of God really is. But it’s nearly impossible to gather all this information in just one visit.

6. GET INVOLVED IN THE MINISTRIES, ACTIVITIES, EVENTS, OUTINGS, OUTREACHES.
Don’t just be a ‘Sunday-attender-visitor’. Plug yourself in. Go to the men’s breakfasts. Involve yourself in the ladies’ tea fellowships. Go to the mid-week prayer meeting. If the church offers home groups/care groups, find one and attend the group. Even stay around after church for a bit and chat with families, individuals, pastors, young people. You take the initiative and talk to people. So often we think that if no one reaches out to us that they are an ‘unfriendly church’. But this is simply selfish thinking. You take the initiative and go up to folks, shake their hand, ask how long they’ve been at the church, what they enjoy about it, how they’ve grown, how their love for Christ has deepened, and how their zeal for holiness has been enflamed while serving in the church. In a word, dear friends, when you go visit, involve yourself in the ministry. This is the only way to really get to know the ‘life of the Body’.

7. INITIATE A MEETING WITH THE PASTOR AND AT LEAST TWO OTHER ELDERS TO KNOW THEM BETTER.
If you don’t receive three phone calls, two texts, four emails, and five Facebook friend requests, don’t think the church is cold, unspiritual, dead, and mean. Hopefully the church sends you a kind greeting and thanks you for visiting them. But the responsibility still rests on you to reach out to the pastor and elders to initiate a meeting with them (individually, or with their wives, if this is appropriate). You offer to take them out. You offer to buy them coffee/a meal. You offer to serve them. Ask them how Christ saved them. Ask them what they are currently reading in the Word of God and in other Christian literature. Ask them what their home-life is like. Seek to know what their prayer life is like. Ask them what their goal, vision, purpose for the church is. Get to know them better as shepherds; not their hobbies, but their heart. Do some diligence before the meeting and write out some important questions to ask them. Then, attentively listen, be slow to speak and even take notes if this helps.

8. KEEP COMMUNICATION OPEN WITH THE PASTOR/ELDERS SO THEY ARE REGULARLY AND SPECIFICALLY INFORMED OF YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS AND HOW YOU SENSE GOD IS LEADING YOU (EVEN IF YOU DECIDE TO LOOK ELSEWHERE). COMMUNICATION IS BENEFICIAL.
Since you have taken the pastor and some elders out already to get to know them, you have already opened the door for communication. Keep this up. Don’t stop visiting after a month, never respond to their emails, and cease all communication. Remember, you are, after all, part of the larger body of Christ! Communicate! Speak truth to your neighbor, for you are members of one another. Even if, after the eight Sundays of attending that particular church, you feel that God is leading you elsewhere, be honest, be open, be clear, and be up front and communicate. This is not only polite; it’s just simply helpful for the shepherds of that church to know how to best care and pray for you.

9. AFTER MUCH PRAYER AND SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES, BECOME A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH AND RESOLVE IN YOUR HEART TO SERVE CHRIST AND HIS FLOCK SACRIFICIALLY, DILIGENTLY, REGULARLY, AND JOYFULLY.
After visiting a particular church and you sense that it is a biblical church — though not a perfect one! — you should inquire about their process for membership and seek to begin the process of joining the church. This not only is most beneficial for your own accountability and shepherd oversight but also for the local church to know who its sheep are. If you plan to make that your ‘home’ church and serve alongside of those Christians, then you should pursue membership because it’s biblical, it’s the best way to welcome accountability and pastoral oversight, and it’s a profitable way for the church leadership to know who ‘their flock’ is among them that they are to shepherd and care for. Meanwhile, resolve in your heart to serve faithfully in the local church. Recommit yourself, by God’s power and through the Spirit’s enabling, to faithful obedience in the body of Christ and promote unity, grace, joy, and gospel-centeredness in all that you do and say. Never gossip, slander or backbite. Always support your shepherds. Care for Christ’s precious Bride with heartfelt love, tangible sacrifice, diligent service and fervent hospitality. Then, watch as you grow.

Download the pdf article here.

A few months ago, Christ Fellowship Bible Church (St Louis) conducted a 5-part series on Roman Catholic Doctrine.

This series shows how many of the cardinal Catholic doctrines attack the biblical gospel.

1. Roman Catholic Doctrine Attacks the Sufficiency of Scripture (listen | download)

2. Roman Catholic Doctrine Attacks the Sufficiency of Jesus' Death (listen | download)

3. Roman Catholic Doctrine Attacks the Singularity of God's Gospel (listen | download)

4. Roman Catholic Doctrine Attacks the Sanctity of Christ's Church (listen | download)

5. Roman Catholic Doctrine Attacks the Severity of God's Judgment (listen | download)

The Posture of Worship — It May Not Be Everything; But It Is Something.

The Posture of Worship —
It May Not Be Everything; But It Is Something
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

New Testament believers quickly assert that worship of the one, true God no longer is limited to a particular location as it was in the days of Old Testament Israel. In former times, God required that His people worshiped Him in the place He so chose. Jewish men had to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem three times a year for the Jewish feasts. Christians today boldly and rightly assert that that those who worship God must worship Him in “spirit and in truth”. Christ has come and has died so that His people, Spirit-indwelt believers, may approach the Father at any time and at any place.

Nevertheless, though God does not required a certain place or posture of worship as He spoke to ancient Israel, is there still benefit in worshiping God in various biblical postures? One would be unable to point to one verse in the Scriptures to command all believers to worship in a certain posture at all times. God does command worship, praise, thanksgiving, confession, adoration, petitions; yet God provides various expressions concerning the posture of worship. So, though the posture of worship may not be everything; we must remember that it is still something.

In Psalm 95, David commands believers to come and sing to the Lord, to shout joyfully, to come before His mighty presence with thanksgiving, and to sing joyfully to him with songs (vv.1-2). Jehovah is the mighty God and the great King over and above all other gods (v.3). He proves His supreme power and matchless sovereignty in that he holds the unsearchable depths of the earth in His hand as well as the mountain peaks. The sea and the dry land belong to Him for He made them all (vv.4-5).

In verse 6, the Holy Spirit commands believers to come, to lie prostrate, to bow down, and to kneel before the Lord. The outward act is only indicative of the inward heart. Any outward form or expression of worship without the inward heart and passion is cold rituals which God hates and rejects. But a heart that is aflame with love for God, for Christ, and for the Spirit, will manifest itself and express itself physically at times through certain postures of worship. Does the psalmist command that believers must always and only pray in this posture? By no means. For instance, Christ prayed standing, walking, looking upwards, hands raised and hanging from a cross. Yet Christ did, on occasion, fall down in fervent, heartfelt, passionate prayer while in Gethsemane.

Psalm 95:6 incorporates three words that can be beneficial and expressive postures of worship.

“Worship” [NASB] — The Hebrew word speaks of lying prostrate on the ground before a Superior as an expression of surrender and obedience.
“Bow Down” [NASB] — The Hebrew word here indicates one who has bowed low from the waist. It can speak of those who bow down to the ground just as Gideon’s men bowed to lap water (Judg 7.5).
“Kneel” [NASB] — Here the Hebrew word speaks of kneeling down as a camel would fall to his knees for rest (Gen 24.11).

To come before God’s mighty presence prostrate, or bowing down, or kneeling can benefit the believer in the following ways:

It reminds the worshiper of his humility and surrender before the Almighty sovereignty of the King.
It expresses the internal heart-attitude of the worshiper who falls down in full obedience to the Master’s bidding.
It pictures one’s utter helplessness, impotency, and desperate dependence on God for His mercy, grace & power.
It physically speaks to the believer’s heart that God’s sovereign will and decrees are good, just, right and true.
It powerfully expresses gratitude and gladness as the humble worshiper thanks God for redemption and propitiation.

Again, it is crucial to re-emphasize again that the posture of worship without the penitence in the heart is worthless worship. And God does not require a particular form or posture of worship every time a believer prays. Let us learn from the psalmist and come, bow down and kneel before the sovereign King. And though the posture of worship may not be everything; it is still something.

Download the pdf article here.

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