Homosexuality, Same Sex Attraction and the Power of the Gospel.

This article originally appeared at the ParkingSpace23 blog.

Homosexuality, Same Sex Attraction and the Power of the Gospel.


The greatest demonstration of the love of God is when He justly punished the wrath of all of His own upon His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and made Him a “curse”. The best visible illustration of this gospel message is the marriage covenant. The Apostle Paul speaks of marriage   as a “mystery” which refers to Christ and the Church (Eph 5:31-32). Christians must fight for, stand on, and speak up for biblical truth and for the God-designed plan for marriage which illustrates the gospel.

Understanding God’s Design
At the beginning of human history, when only two people existed on the planet, Adam and Eve, God brought them together in marriage and instituted that a man must leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife thus making the two one flesh. From the very origination of the marriage covenant itself, one sees that the design of God for marriage involves only one man and only one woman in a relationship that lasts for life.

Affirming Sin’s Pervasiveness
God made mankind in His image and yet sin has pervaded every faculty of man. Sin has blackened every part of man so that every part of his being is infected by sin. That is to say, there is no part of man that is untouched by the monstrous and hellish nature of sin. This radical corruption does not mean that all men are as bad as they possibly could be. But it affirms that the perfect sinlessness of man, as God originally created Adam and Eve, has been darkened by the despicable nature of sin, the devilish defilement of sin. That includes man’s thoughts, feelings, emotions, and nature even when he is born into the world. This does not excuse the man; in fact, it exonerates his guiltiness before a holy God not only because of what he’s done but also because of who he is -- a naturally born human being with a fallen and cursed nature.

The Heart and Its Desires
The wisest man who has ever lived told his son to watch over his heart with all diligence (Prov 4:24). In saying this, Solomon affirmed that the springs of life flow from the heart. Everything that a person says originates in the heart. All that a person does has its source in the human heart. Jesus states that evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness all proceed from within a man -- from his heart (Mark 7:20-23). For a person, then, to affirm that he has not acted out homosexual tendencies but that he merely struggles with or desires or thinks about homosexual acts is faulty and out of accord with Scripture. Jesus shows that before adultery takes place, the root of adultery already took place in the heart. The instigation of sexual immorality is not the act itself but it came from the heart.

The Power of God to Deliver
The current day is clouded with extreme sexual confusion, gross immorality, rampant pornography, and many grappling with their self-identity. The ultimate need for all sinners, homosexual or heterosexual, is the gospel of God’s grace and the power of God to deliver sinners from the curse of sin and clothe them with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And God has this power to save! He is able to take wicked hearts, corrupt minds, and hellish pasts and take turn the shameful ashes into a beautifully, gorgeous demonstration of God’s love, power, and saving grace! Only the power of God and the gospel of God can perform such a miracle! The ultimate need for a person battling with homosexuality or with same-sex attraction is not to become heterosexual with proper desires. Rather, the ultimate need is for his sins to be forgiven, for him to repent of his sins and turn to Christ. For a Christian who has trusted in Christ alone and who has surrendered everything to follow Christ and submit to His Lordship, he can never make the claim that he can’t fight sin or overcome a certain sin. Such statements deny the power of God by suggesting that sin is too powerful for God and that He can’t even help His own children cope through life in a Christ-exalting and God-fearing way. This means that God has all power to deliver savingly from His wrath and He has all power to deliver continuously from the ongoing battle with sin. Though Christians will never be ultimately sinless in this life, all believers walk on the path of progressive sanctification and endeavor to slay sin in his life beginning with the roots in his heart and replacing those sin patterns with holy desires and Godly habits. The power of God is so mighty that it has broken sin’s hold upon a sinner so that the believer can in fact please God!

The Grace of God to Transform
When God saves a man, the Scriptures describe him as a “new creation” (2 Cor 5:17). He has an entirely new nature. The old man, the old flesh, the old passions, cravings, desires, and affections have been gone and replaced — by God’s initiative, working, and grace — with holy aspirations, Christ-exalting affections, and longings for holiness. The child of God, newly created by the working of the Spirit of God, now can live a life to the glory of God. The believer can follow Christ; indeed, he wants to. The grace of God is so powerful that it can transform a murderer with self-righteous, self-serving, damning desires into a humble, gentle, sacrificial, and loving servant of others (e.g., the Apostle Paul). The grace of God is so powerful that it can transform a political activist, a radically violent, unabashed zealot and transform him into a disciple (e.g., Simon the Zealot, Matt 10:4; Luke 6:15). The grace of God is so powerful that it can take a hard-hearted, hated, lying, cheating tax collector and turn him into a soul-winner who follows Christ and gives up his life to serve his Savior (Matt 5:27-39). So it is with every person that God saves. He provides the grace necessary to carry them triumphantly through temptations (1 Cor 10:13) and to provide the necessary strength while going through tremendous afflictions (2 Cor 12:9). God not only saves a man from hell but he changes the man’s affections so that he no longer craves evil but he hungers and thirsts after righteousness (Matt 5:6). Those who have lived lives of sexual immorality — heterosexual or homosexual — must turn from the pattern of sinful conduct and sinful thoughts and put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom 13:14). Many who assert that they battle with same-sex attractions (even against their will) need to remember the power of God to save sinners from hell but also the power of God to transform sinners (heart, mind, will, and affections) into the image of Christ. He does not save a man to leave a man wallowing in that sin (outward conduct, inner desires, or ungodly longings). The words of Paul speak directly to this point:

 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14)

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How a Pastor Leads.

How A Pastor Leads.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

A pastor leads. A shepherd guides. A leader models. People follow leaders. Instructors teach much, but they also lead by example. If a leader contradicts by his conduct what he instructs verbally then all his teaching is for naught. Be on guard lest you unteach with your life what you speak with your lips.

How must a pastor1 lead? This article describes six ways a pastor leads.

1. Loving his wife well.
Christ calls His shepherds to lead in the local church in the same way that He led His own while on earth. He served them, loved them, died for them, ministered to them, ministered to them, cared for them. The ultimate example of sacrificial love comes to light when one gazes at Calvary when Christ died for His bride. The greatest illustration to show what this love is like comes from the marriage relationship. Paul says that husbands must love their wives just as Christ loved the church. A man is qualified or disqualified based upon how well, how exemplary, how sacrificial, how shepherding, how strong his marriage relationship is like. If a man has a horrible marriage, he is a horrible shepherd. If a man has a mediocre marriage, then he has a mediocre ministry. If a man serves as a pastor and has a sour marriage at home, then he has disqualified himself for ministry. A man must shepherd his wife well, he must be a one-woman man, and he must manage his own household well. He must love her daily and deliberately. He must strive to know her and continue to explore her wishes, desires, fears, wants, and joys. He must put her before the church, before the needs of the flock, and even before the children and their needs. All must see and unquestionably know that the pastor loves his wife well. This is one of the best ways to lead as a shepherd. Let people see Christ’s love in the gospel visibly portrayed in the life and conduct of their pastor as he daily, joyfully, and delightfully serves the apple of his eye and his companion from his youth, his precious wife.

2. Studying his bible often.
Shepherds teach. They feed. They impart truth. God calls elders to be able to teach and to do so clearly, persuasively, humbly, powerfully. Just as a shepherd feeds his sheep good food so the shepherd over Christ’s flock must study to present himself approved to God, as a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed. He must accurately handle the Word of Truth. He must know one book very well: the Bible. Many men have hobbies. The man of God in ministry has one driving passion that consumes him: studying His Bible. Many fans know the roster of the sports team in the area but the man of God must be a relentless student who feeds upon and finds sustenance from the Word. Just as a bird returns again and again to a birdbath so the man of God must turn again and again to Scripture for joy, comfort, encouragement, hope, and gospel-reminders. Many people know many things but the pastor must busy himself to know the Word thoroughly. He has one relentless hunger and that is to feed on the bread of the Word constantly. He thirsts for Christ and he knows he finds Him in the Word! He thirsts for righteousness and he knows that he knows how to live by learning the precepts. He thirsts for the Spirit’s enablement and he longs to keep in step with the Spirit as he reads the Spirit-inspired Scripture. He does not have to study, he delights in laboring over the Word! The shepherd must study his Bible often to care for his own soul, to shepherd the souls of those entrusted to his flock at home, and to minister to the souls of those in the local church. O ministers of God, study hard! Labor in the text! Apply the Word to your soul before you seek to dispense it to others! Comfort your soul and enflame your heart with the truths you’ll give to others.

3. Pastoring His children diligently.
Many preachers become pastors of churches without search-committees or church leaders ever interviewing the prospective candidate’s children. God demands that a shepherd over the church at large must demonstrate himself by shepherding his flock at home diligently. If a man can not take care of his own children how can he take care of the church of God? If he has forfeited his own family whom he loves most, what makes a church think that he will love them and care for them in the Word if he has forfeited his primary love at home? Pastors must pastor their children diligently. They must evangelize them faithfully. They must instruct them incessantly. They must warn them repeatedly. They must disciple them regularly. They must pray with and for them relentlessly. They must read the Word to and with them frequently. A pastor leads well when he pastors his own family well. This sets the example for the rest of the families in the church. If they see their pastor diligently shepherding his own children, evangelizing them, calling them to believe, entreating them to repent, warning them of unbelief, and reproving their rebellion, other dads and moms will see his example and strive to emulate it in their homes. This is discipleship and pastoral ministry! Ministers of God should have a plan for discipling the children that God has entrusted to his care. Pastors should prioritize the evangelism and nurturing of his children before he disciples everyone else in the flock. He must warn his own children of superficial faith and of hypocritical, external religiosity. He must plead with them to repent, turn from sin, embrace Christ, and follow Him with all their heart and soul! The man of God must teach them theology, he must instruct them on practical living, he must model how to pray, and he must exemplify a man of repentance. He must show them the profit of knowing and singing good hymns. He must radiate the bright rays of a man who rises early like the sun to awaken the dawn with his worship as he bows before His creator! Dads must not unpreach in the home what they preach forth in the pulpit. They must live what they herald. Pastors care for souls, how much more must the man of God care for the souls of those who live with him at home.

4. Laboring in prayer worshipfully.
Much of what the pastor does happens behind closed doors. Many people do not know nor do they understand what he spends much of his time doing. He is a man who is alone because he must be alone — with his God. The pastor leads well who prioritizes prayer. Like Elijah, the pastor prays earnestly (or, prays in his praying). He, like Christ, must pray and spends much time in prayer. He prays not only through lists of items that need to be brought before God’s throne, but he worships his God. He communes with the Trinity. He begs for revival. He pleads with God and presents His case from Scripture. He prays through the gospel. He warms his soul with the grand truths that he studies and he prays them back to God. He intercedes for his wife, his children, himself, and for the flock. He prays for his fellow-shepherds. He earnestly entreats God to raise up more leaders. He specifically prays for peace, unity, and harmony in the flock. He prays against division, pride, worldliness, public sin, scandals, and gossip. He longs for and prays for the kingdom of God to spread and desirously prays that God would use his ministry to work to that end. The pastor leads by praying for the flock: individually, by name, regularly, and thankfully. Like the Apostle Paul, the pastor prays for the flock and thanks God as he remembers them. His heart goes out to his flock and he loves them passionately, he longs for their growth preeminently, and he guards them tenaciously. All the while the pastor knows he cannot do all this adequately, so he beseeches God to impart strength, grace, and help so he can accomplish the humanly-impossible task of successfully and faithfully caring for God’s people. He prays for people and they know it. The flock know that their shepherd brings them to God just as Aaron of old brought the people of Israel before God. The people know that they are on the pastor’s heart just as the priests would have the names of the tribes etched on their garments. The pastor leads by example. He leads by prayer. He leads by modeling a man who gets alone to be with his God. He prioritizes prayer. He wakes up early to pray. He does pray because he must pray.

5. Caring for souls skillfully.
Like a masterful surgeon wields his tools to cut precisely and accurately to extract the cause of the illness, so the pastor must wield the Word in such a way that he uses it precisely and accurately to reach the root cause of the wickedness and to apply the proper remedy for the ailment. Pastoring is caring. To care for souls is to nurture souls. Pastoring demands that one deal with the brokenhearted, the bruised, the beat down, the dejected and the fainthearted. The pastor must constantly be going to the Word of God as His only divinely trusted and perfectly sufficient source for soul-care. The pastor does not need worldly methods or humanistic ideologies. He must skillfully wield the only tool that can cut to the root cause of a sin and apply the healing balm of the gospel of Jesus Christ to any and all illness and hardship. The pastor must counsel. He does not take individuals and pass them off by referring them to secular, or integrated, or ‘Christian’, professionals or psychologists. Rather, the pastor is in fact the ultimate one and the only one who can deal with people’s problems adequately because he knows what the ultimate root cause is to problems, namely sin. The most professional, licensed, medically trained psychiatrist cannot adequately deal with people’s sins and distresses because they fail to understand the most important and fundamental realities in the world: the existence and glory of God, the horrors and pervasiveness of sin, the selfishness and radical corruption of all people, and the gospel of grace whereby God regenerates a person’s soul and makes them a new creature, and then the empowering grace that the Spirit of God has in empowering the believer to obey Him, submit to His Word, mortify sin, and walk in Christlikeness. Pastors must take up the sword of the Word, know it, memorize it, use it, wield it with skill, with care, with precision, with deliberateness, with compassion, and seek to walk with the hurting through the problems, pains, and paths of life so as to replace old, sinful habits with new, godly patterns. Or, the pastor must willingly walk with the struggling so that they endure a physical ailment and triumph through it with a Godly attitude, with holiness, with joy, and with a patient, yet expectant hope of heaven. All of this happens, most gloriously, by God’s blessed design within the context of the local church. As Christians bear one another’s burdens, so pastors must care for souls diligently.

6. Preaching the gospel courageously.
Confronting error is very unpopular these days. Destroying fortresses and worldly speculations, however, is the divine mandate that God gives to His people. The man of God must know the gospel, believe the gospel, live the gospel, and be willing to die for the gospel. But till he dies, he must preach the gospel courageously. He must unflinchingly give the whole counsel of God. He must unashamedly preach on all portions of Scripture. He must unhesitatingly herald the vast spectrum of doctrines. He must warn sinners of hell and he must comfort believers with the sureness of heaven. He must reprove evil and he must encourage Christlikeness. He must expose the evils of this age and he must call believers to live ‘otherworldly’ lives with hearts and minds fixed on glory. Nothing stands in the way of this pastor as he preaches the gospel to those who are before him. He fears no man because he fears his God too much. Laws could be put in place that would forbid him to speak certain truths yet he remains resolved and strong like a granite mountain in that he will not shrink from declaring God’s Word to all people.A pastor leads his flock by preaching the full gospel. He must speak of the existence and nature of God. He must show the flock the attributes of God so the people of God gaze upon God and meditate on His grandeur, glory, and Godhood. He must set before them the deplorable, horrid, offensive, hellish, monstrous and blasphemous nature of mankind. He must show the pervasive nature of sin and the devastating effects of sin. He must speak, however, of God’s action in sending His Son into the world to redeem rebels by His grace and turn wretches into sons and make them heirs of His kingdom rather by snatching them from the grasp of the devil. He must preach on the work of redemption and all its related facets — propitiation, atonement, reconciliation, adoption, justification, regeneration, effectual calling, faith alone, repentance. He must show how Christ satisfied the just demands of God because His law was transgressed and how God punished His Son at Calvary in the place of deserving sinners. The guiltless One died for the guilty ones. The perfect One died in the stead of imperfect ones. The pastor must boldly call for a response and beg sinners to be reconciled to God. He must demand, like Christ did, that sinners repent and believe in the gospel. He must call, with God, and command sinners to repent because God has fixed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness! He must tell sinners that salvation is a free gift and that one must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and he will be saved! The door of mercy still stands open and the drawbridge of divine grace has not gone up yet! “Flee to Christ now!” he heralds! All of this models for the flock the importance of the gospel and the courage needed to live and verbally proclaim the gospel to the lost. A man must model this for the flock. He must do the work of the evangelist and fulfill his ministry.

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Older Men -- We Younger Men Need You!

Older Men, We Younger Men Need You!
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Pity the church that has droves of young, hip, trendy dudes and few gray-haired men of wisdom who have been around for a handful of decades. Young men desperately need older men. Just say it: being old isn’t bad. Older people have wisdom from experience. Older men who have walked with God for longer than most young men have even been alive know what God’s faithfulness is all about and how God’s faithfulness really, actively, gloriously proves itself even in the toughest of trials. Some old men have lost their wives of 50+ years. And they know God is faithful. Others have lost children, grandchildren, even great-grandchildren. And the indomitable confidence in the good sovereignty of God gladdens their souls. Far from being grumpy old men and crusty old complainers, they are strong, gentle, humble, and courageous men who stand on Christ and His Word. With that, older men, we younger men need you!

1. Your Wisdom
A gray head is a crown of glory (Prov 16.31). Those who have stood the test of time have wisdom from God, wisdom from the Word, wisdom from meditating on the Truth, wisdom from hearing years and years of sermons, and wisdom from practical life application and experience. The honor of old men is their gray hair (Prov 20.29). Those who are older are to be temperate and respectable and should invest sacrificially and intentionally into the younger men (Titus 2.2, 6-8). Those who have walked with God and have seen God answer prayers after decades of faithfully and believingly calling upon God can impart wisdom that a textbook just can’t merely provide. Older men who have walked with God, impart your wisdom to the younger men.

2. Your Testimony
The Scriptures speak of the old and gray-headed people who long to declare God’s strength to the next generation and God’s power to all who will come (Ps 71.18). The next generation must hear the older folks testify to God’s power, His faithfulness, His provisions, and His unswerving love for His own. Younger people must hear the older men and women verbally pronounce that the God of ancient Israel is the same God of the present day and that He has proven Himself to be faithful to them every day, without fail.

3. Your Prayers
Nothing can so move mountains as can fervent, relentless, believing prayer. What is it that God uses to work out His sovereignly decreed will but the prayers of His own! Pray for the next generation. Tirelessly travail for the integrity and purity of the next generation. Bend to your knees and beg God to save, sanctify, fortify, and strengthen the coming generations of Christ-followers. Pray for the purity of the young people. Pray for the integrity of their hearts. Pray for the resoluteness of their affections. Pray for the selflessness of their desires. Pray for the godliness of their conduct. Pray for them to shake the dark world with the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray for them and pray with them. Encourage them by telling them you have spent time bringing them before the Throne of God. And grab them and pray with them. Teach them to pray in and through your praying.

4. Your Faithfulness
Endurance. Everyone needs it. God requires it. Scripture calls believers to it. Persevere! Be faithful! Remain steadfast! Cling to Christ! Older folks drawing nearer and nearer to heaven each day, you must show and model to the next generation of younger people what it looks like for men and women of God to live faithful lives. Faithfulness proves to be a mark that God looks for today and yet it remains a mark at which the world balks. O gray-headed people who have experienced God’s faithfulness, manifest your faithfulness each day as you continue to walk with Christ through pain, through persecutions, through loss, through tragedy, and through deterioration. Live faithfully to the Lord. Live faithfully toward Christ’s church. Live faithfully in prayer. Show us what it is to be a faithful man or woman of God!

5. Your Example
Much can be taught, of course! But more is caught than taught. Let the young people see you walk with Christ. Let the teenagers see you focus resolutely on Christ, delight supremely in the gospel, meditate daily on the cross, repent passionately of sin, pray fervently with zeal, endure triumphantly through suffering. Let the young marrieds behold you love your spouse with exclusive love and communicate with your spouse with Christlike tenderness. Let the parents observe you relate to your grandchildren (and great-grandchildren) with a preeminent desire to see them repent of their sin and come to Christ at a young age. Model evangelism to the young children. Show what it looks like to live as a Christfollower through all seasons of life as the day draws ever so nearer when you will behold the face of God in glory!

6. Your God
Young people need to observe aging men and women growing closer to the body of Christ, not distancing themselves from it. Rather than feeling neglected, unwanted, useless and impotent, gray-headed Christians must increasingly involve themselves in the work of the Lord and travail in service for Christ, for His body, and for the young people. Older men and women, show us your God! Christ endured relentlessly to the end in prayer, in love, in sacrifice, in service, and in piety, so the coming generations must behold you modeling for us this character of God! Show us your God! Tell us your God! Boast in your God! Bless your God! Older saints must remember that far from being useless in the Body of Christ, you play an integral role in serving, praying, helping, laboring, testifying, and modeling before all believers — especially before the younger, moldable, next generation. Paint a portrait of the unspeakable beauty of the Triune God so that He captivates their minds, wins their hearts, and delights their lives.

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A Method for Discipling

A Method for Discipling
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

A helpful Scripture that provides a guide for a ‘method for discipleship’ comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This method for discipleship is quite simple. It is easy to memorize and every Christian can do it! Here are four helpful aspects to this method for discipleship.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 — "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  "These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.  "You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

1. KNOW!
Discipleship begins with your own convictions. You cannot give to others what you yourself do not have. In the context of Deuteronomy 6, Moses exhorts the Israelites to know their God so that they can pass on truth about Israel’s God to their children. When Christians seek to disciple, they must know God. They must know who He is, what He does, how He works, how He has worked, and what He promises! Discipleship necessitates a proper foundation: the right knowledge of God. As you grow in your walk with Christ, strive to know Him more!

2. GROW!
Moses tells the Israelites to love the LORD with all their heart, soul and might. Indeed, all the words from God that Moses spoke to Israel should rest on their heart and should guide them, guard them, and prompt their growth. To be a healthy disciple is to be a growing disciple. It is impossible to live the Christian life in neutral and in a perpetual state of being stagnant. Either people are growing closer to Christ or drifting further from Christ. God’s plea to Israel of old and to His people today is to love Him with their hearts, their soul, and their being/might. Indeed, the man of God allows the Spirit of God to impress the Word of God upon his heart so that he can grow stronger.

3. SOW!
To neglect discipling one’s immediate family in order to disciple others in the body of Christ is to have misplaced priorities. Every Christian should take diligent effort to disciple those that God has allotted to his care in the home by sowing the Word into them perpetually. God told the people of Israel to teach all the commands diligently to their children and even to talk of them at all seasons of the day. It is always fitting to talk about the Word of God and the God of the Word. Parents must take diligent measures to sow the Word into their children’s hearts. They must read the Word with them, instruct them in theology, teach them the character of God, explain the wonders of the gospel, and model for them the pursuit of holiness. Learn about God, grow with Him, and then sow it in your kids.

4. GO!
When a person knows God, is growing with God, is training his own family in the Word of God, then he should go and train others in the body of Christ in the Scriptures. Jesus commanded His disciples to go and make disciples. He told them to actively, intentionally, boldly, courageously go! He did not ask them to go; He instructed them to go! He did not negotiate with them or compromise with an easier strategy; rather, he commanded that they go and make disciples. O that every Christian viewed himself as a disciple of Christ (learner/follower) and also and at the same time a disciplemaker for Christ (a replicator/leader). Disciplers do not live perfect lives; they obediently and humbly go!


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6 Attributes of Scripture to Guide You into a Theologically Robust Bibliology

SIX ATTRIBUTES OF SCRIPTURE TO GUIDE THE CHILD OF GOD INTO A THEOLOGICALLY ROBUST BIBLIOLOGY.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Scripture testifies about itself that it is God’s Word. It does not merely contain God’s truth nor does it just speak about God’s truth. Every word comes from the mouth of God and thus every word of Scripture is holy, perfect and true. To elaborate more on these truths, this essay will provide six attributes of Scripture to guide the child of God into a theologically robust bibliology [=doctrine of the Bible].

1. INSPIRED
Scripture constantly speaks of itself as the Word of the Lord or the Word of God. This means that it is God’s Word. It is the Word that has God as its source. Thus, the Word comes from God and thus it is God breathing His perfect breath so that every word of all of Scripture is exactly and fully what God desires. Every single word in the original autographs [=manuscripts] are perfectly God-breathed truth. He did not breathe into the finished product and thus ‘make it inspired’ but rather as the author penned every word, yea, even every letter/stroke, God Himself breathed out the perfect revelation of Himself to His creatures.

2. INERRANT
The Word of the Lord is tried (Ps 18.30). It is refined and cannot err. The Law of God is perfect (Ps 19.7) and thus it itself is whole, perfect, blameless and true. Man is susceptible to error and deceit, but not God. He cannot err and cannot falter. His Word thus is dependable, true and always perfect. When the biblical authors wrote down every word it was in fact the inerrant Word of God since God Himself guided every stroke that the author made since God the Spirit carried the authors along in the act of writing/inscripturation.

3. INFALLIBLE
It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail (Luke 16.17). Indeed, the testimony of the Lord is sure, that is, confirmed (Ps 19.7). It cannot fail. Nor can it lead astray. It cannot come up short from fulfilling its promises. God’s truth is infallible and thus it always can and it always will be trusted. It cannot fulfill its word differently than how it was originally given. God is infallible, trustworthy, dependable and so it follows that His Word must also be infallible.

4. AUTHORITATIVE
If the Word of God really comes from God then it carries all the authority that God Himself has. Since God has spoken and has given His Word to His people through the sufficient and clear writings of old, then God’s creatures must bow the knee to the inherent authority of Scripture. Scripture has authority over man; man does not sit in judgment over the Word. It is the Word that judges. Indeed, Christ’s Word is what will condemn and judge men on the last day (John 12.48). Thus, men owe to Scripture the save reverence and honor that God deserves since the words of the Bible are in fact God’s Words. To dishonor Scripture is to dishonor God. To bow in humble submission to the authority of Scripture is to bow in humble submission to the authority of God Himself since it is His Word revealed in Scripture.

5. CLEAR
The commandment of the Lord is clear (Ps 19.8). This means that the Word of God is clear in what it says. The clarity of Scripture speaks to its lucid nature. Men can understand Scripture. When God’s people open the Word, because they have the Spirit of God in them, they can in fact understand it and it becomes clear to them. And the Lord gives understanding to His people in everything (2 Tim 2.7). This is why the people of God read the Word, interpret the Word, desire to accurately handle the Word of Truth, and constantly pray for more light from the Lord so that the Word gives understanding to the simple (Ps 119.130). Because Scripture is clear, believers can read the Word and interpret it rightly. That is to say, God’s people can ascertain the meaning of the text as they read and interpret it rightly. No need exists for the so-called hermeneutic of suspicion or, as some wrongly assert, to call everything into question and never come to any dogmatic conclusions. God’s people must interpret the clear Word so that they know God’s meaning of His Word so that they know how God wants them to think, speak, and live.

6. SUFFICIENT
Perhaps no doctrine of Scripture has come under attack as much as the doctrine of the Bible’s sufficiency. The question that this doctrine answers is this: is the Bible really enough for all that Christians need for all of life and for all of godliness. And the sufficiency of Scripture answers this question with an emphatic “yes”! Does the Bible claim to give all the exhaustive information about every subject under the sun? No, it never claims to be such a source (only God has this knowledge). Rather, the Bible is enough for every man of God so that he may be adequate, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3.17). The Scripture teaches, reproves, corrects, and trains the people of God how to live. Nothing in addition to Scripture is needed to show the child of God how to live. Manmade methods and sociological, psychological, psychiatric, and secular methods of information are not needed to save a person nor to sanctify a person. The Word of God sufficiently can address directly or indirectly every single issue that a child of God may face in all of life. Thus, theories and hypotheses come and go. Various manmade methods will pass. Books will fade. But the Word of God will live forever. And the Word of the Lord is perfect, whole, complete, blameless and it endures forever (Ps 19.7). Thus, the child of God should believe the Word, know it, read it, set it upon their hearts, and apply it diligently and daily to their lives!

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Ministers of God: Be Serious! Don't Trifle! Labor on with All Your Might!

Great words from David Bostwick as he addresses ministers of the gospel...

"O! Why do not these important realities swallow up our whole attention? Why do not we make more haste in plucking sinners as brands from everlasting burning? Why do not we pray more fervently, and preach more zealously, and lay out our whole life, and soul, and strength in this great work? What! is the interest and happiness of deathless immortal souls worth no more pains? Can we do no more for the honour and interest of our glorious Master than this comes too? -- Shall the men of this world be more painful and industrious in seeking themselves, than we in seeking the glory of Christ, and the salvation of souls?  God forbid!   We are on matters of life and death, we pray, and preach, and labour for eternity; sure it becomes us then to do it with all our might. Shall we not be solemn and serious, when so near that state and place where all are serious?  Believe it, Sirs, there is no trifling in the eternal world, there are none in jest either in heaven or hell.  God forbid, then, that we should jest and trifle with immortal souls, that are just at the door and upon the borders of an eternal state!

In: The Christian Pastor's Manual: A Selection of Tracts on the Duties, Difficulties, and Encouragements of the Christian Ministry, ed. by John Brown, 366-67.

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Corporate Worship!

CORPORATE WORSHIP
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

In his abounding grace, God has given His blood-bought sons and daughters one predominant glimpse and purview of heaven, the corporate gathering of true Christians on a regular basis. Heaven is the world where believers will forever live together worshiping God, praising God, serving God, fellowshipping with one another, and abounding with joy! Corporate worship here on earth should reflect, albeit in a small way, these joys that all believers will fully realize in glory! To accomplish this, a handful of elements should describe the weekly corporate worship gatherings in a local church.

1. BIBLE-SATURATED
Every local church gathering should be guided by and saturated with the Bible. The Scripture must govern all that takes place in the local assembly. All that occurs in the local church should radiate from the Scriptures and should directly tie in to the Word of God. The Word of God should permeate the sermon, the music and singing, the fellowship and conversations, the public prayers, and of course, the parking of the two ordinances (baptism and Lord’s Supper). One must gather to worship to hear from God. God speaks in and through His Word. Thus, the more that the worship service is Bible-saturated, the more that God speaks to His people. In a word, everything that happens when the family of God is gathered together should be Bible-saturated.

2. CHRIST-EXALTING
Christ is the sum and substance of all theology. Every verse of the Bible leads to Christ and thus every element of Christ’s church should exalt His great name! The goal of corporate worship should never elevate the worth of man and the abilities of man. Rather, the goal of worship should always be to exalt Christ and Him alone. The preeminence of Christ should permeate the entire public gathering of worshipers. The prayers should be Christ-centered and Christ-exalting. The fellowship should be centered on Christ. The ordinances should remind believers of the gospel of Christ and His saving work. The sermon should present a full Christ and a full gospel so that God’s people can be conformed to the image of Christ. The music should focus on Christ, His person, His work, His grace, His sovereignty. Let everything elevate the glory of Christ!

3. SPIRIT-EMPOWERED
Nothing has any lasting value if it is devoid of the Spirit of God. Worship accomplishes nothing if the Spirit of God does not attend with power, grace, and life. This is why believers should ready their hearts before coming to corporate worship so that they are humble, ready to receive what the Spirit of God has for them, and eager to receive the Word preached and apply it to their lives. The centerpoint of corporate worship is the preaching of the Word of God. Preaching accomplishes nothing lest the Spirit empowers the preacher and goes forth with His Word with unction. No worship can please the Lord unless the worshiper offers sacrifices of praise in the power of the Spirit. Thus, every element of corporate worship should be done in the power of the Spirit, by the will of the Spirit, in the truthfulness of the Spirit, and for the glory of God in the Spirit. Believers should pray before, during, and after corporate worship for God to bless every aspect of worship (singing, Scripture reading, prayers, ordinances, fellowship, testimonies, sermon) and for the Spirit of God to attend every facet of worship with divine power and to bring about regeneration to the lost and sanctification to the saved.

4. JOY-FILLED
The height of happiness resides in the heart of the believer who praises His Lord. The praise of God brings joy to the soul. The worship of God instills unfading joy in the worshiper. Worship should never be dry, dull, boring, lifeless, stoic or hopeless. Rather, corporate worship should permeate with joy, with life, with vigor, with passion, with zeal! Joy should define worship because God has joy in Himself and so when His people take joy in Him they receive abundant joy. The greatest joy that a true worshiper has is the elevation of the Triune God. Even the conviction of sin produces joy since it drives the sinner to the cross to behold the glory of Christ in His atoning and sufficient cross-work. The worship of ancient Israel captured the joyousness of worship. Sing for joy to the Lord, the psalmists declare repeatedly! Let all corporate worship gatherings permeate with joy in Christ and in His gospel and in His salvation!

5. GOD-GLORIFYING
Why does the church exist? Tragically, many contemporary ministries and so-called church gatherings on Sundays have as their goal to elevate the worth of man, to provide self-esteem, self-help, and self-praising principles to help people cope through the busy week at work. Thus, man becomes the center of corporate worship. Consequently, church serves to glorify man rather than God. But this is never the biblical purpose of corporate worship. Christ is the center of worship and God must reside as the King in every worship gathering. Worship should never strive to elevate man but it should elevate God! Gatherings should never seek to make man feel good about himself; rather, doing things biblically should drive man to despise himself seeing who he really is as a despicable and wicked worm in God’s holy eyes and yet drive man to God through Christ for the glory of Christ so that all praise would be rendered unto Him alone. Let all elements of corporate worship seek to glorify God, that is, make much of God by focusing all thoughts, all minds, and driving all affections to God and His glorious Name.

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Worship God!

Worship God.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

David commands the people of God to worship the LORD with reverence (Ps 2.11) and all God’s people are summoned to worship at His footstool (Ps 132.7). The heavenly worshipers fall down before the throne and worship God who lives forever and ever (Rev 4.10) exclaim His worthiness to receive glory, honor and power (Rev 4.11). God must be worshiped! He will be worshiped! In this brief essay, some brief phrases elaborating on worship will be expounded.

1. God deserves worship!
None is so worthy to receive worship than infinite Creator of the universe and the Almighty King over every moment. God created time and yet works within time. He made all things and has sovereign authority over all His creation. He knows everything and indeed nothing can be hidden from His omniscient, watchful, perfect, scrutinizing eye. He made all and he shows mercy to all! He created and He calls! He predestined and He pardons sinners. He crafted the plan of all time, He executes the plan according to His decree, and He will consummate every detail of that plan to ensure that all will come to pass just as He wills. None deserves worship besides the one, true and living God. Many make the claim to be a god; but only one possesses the exclusive prerogative of God. Many wish they would be god; but only one rules over heaven and earth as God. Thus, God deserves worship. Not so much for what He has done but supremely and gloriously for who He is. He is infinitely worthy of and deserving of worship!

2. God demands worship!
God commands all men everywhere to repent and trust in Christ since God will judge the world through Jesus Christ (Acts 17.30-31). Speaking to wayward Israel, Yahweh speaks to His people through the mouthpiece of His prophet Ezekiel and demands that they repent and turn away from their idols (Ezek 14.6). Another prophet in line with the heralds of the Old Testament was John the Baptist who cried and commanded for all to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt 3.2). Jesus came preaching that very same demand for all to repent (Matt 4.17). God tells those given to sin to repent (Rev 2.16) and even to be zealous and repent  (Rev 3.19). He demands that all people turn from sin and come to Him in saving faith and by turning from idols. He does not ask people to worship Him. He demands that all worship Him. For He alone deserves it and He alone will receive it gloriously and happily. He requires that His people do not worship any other God for the LORD, whose Name is Jealous, is a jealous God (Ex 34.14). Thus, God mightily and mercifully demands worship from all creatures.

3. God delights in worship!
God delights in the people of God who worship Him (Ps 22.8). God delights in the man whose way is in accord with His Word (Ps 37.23). The servant of the LORD who obediently did the will of the Lord delighted in the Lord and the LORD delighted in Him (Isa 42.1). Nothing so delights the heart of God than making much of His own name, fame and renown. He is supremely glorious, infinitely marvelous, eternally full of holiness, and always exacting perfect righteousness. He delights perfectly and purely in Himself. All who delight in Him and in His character enjoin themselves in the perfect delight of God: in Himself. God takes great delight when His people worship Him. He is enthroned upon the praises of Israel (Ps 22.3). He sits enthroned above the cherubim (Ps 99.1) and thus all must fall and worship at His footstool (Ps 99.5). Thus, that which brings the greatest and purest delight to God is when His people take joy in that which makes Him the most joyous, namely, making much of Himself and delighting in Himself.

4. God delivers to worship!
Jesus called Levi out of his life of sin and summoned him to leave everything and Levi submitted, surrendered everything, and obeyed by following Christ (Luke 5.27-28). God predestines men from before the beginning of time so that they would praise Him throughout all eternity. He secures the salvation of sinners so that they would become singers of His redemption. When He saves a sinner and when He grants them a new nature at the moment of the new-birth, that newly regenerated sinner with his new nature granted to him by God has a driving desire to worship God, praise God, speak of God, proclaim his God, and disseminate the truth of God. God delivers His people not for them to contain it and hold the message in but for them to cast themselves forth and proclaim the message from the housetops. Saved sinners sing loudly! Let the redeemed of the Lord say that the lovingkindness of the LORD is everlasting and that the LORD Himself is good (Ps 107.1-2). God calls His people out of darkness into His marvelous light so that they would proclaim the glories of Him (1 Pet 2.9). The world of heaven is populated by sinners who have been delivered by the blood of Christ and who have worshiped Christ on earth and who join with countless multitudes in heaven to perfectly worship the Lamb in glory!

5. God defies false worship!
God adores true worship because He alone deserves true worship. When any of God’s creatures worship anything or anyone other than Him alone, it is idolatry. When people adore creation or other creatures more than the Creator, God declares that it is abominable sin. God will destroy all false worshipers. All those who refuse to bow the knee to Christ and acclaim Him as sole Savior and trust in Him alone as the perfect atonement will receive His just judgment in hell. God deserves perfect worship so He thus defies all false worship! But false worship does not include merely the bowing down to a wooden carving. The act of idolatry may also entail the worship of the one true God but thinking of him wrongly, viewing him incorrectly, or seeing him insufficiently. If one sees the God of the Bible (that is, the one and only true God) as a God merely of love rather than a God of perfect justice and righteousness, that is idolatry. It is the worship of the one true God yet God is worshiped improperly because He is viewed incorrectly. This is why the Word of God must inform the minds of believers so that the worship of God is Word-filled, Christ-exalting, and God-magnifying. All idolaters will be judged by God and all rebels will be cast into hell to receive God’s eternal sentence of divine justice. The reason that God hates all false worship is because He passionately enjoys and supremely deserves pure worship. Therefore, since He deserves all true worship, He hates all false worship just as much as he loves all true worship!

6. God decrees eternal worship!
Heaven is a world of worship! That which will saturate heaven for millions of ages to come is the endless, loud, triumphant, and happy worship of the Triune God. God Himself speaks of heaven as a place of joy and it is a world of worship (Matt 25.21; Rev 22.3). God’s slaves will serve Him forever and ever in the New Heavens and the New Earth (Rev 7.15; 22.3). God decrees that worship will take place forevermore in glory. Worship will take many forms. Heaven will include singing to God, serving the Lord, remembering His worth, beholding the very face of God, adoring the work of Christ the Lamb at Calvary, marveling at the eternal decrees of God, enjoying nearness and sweet fellowship with other believers, and serving the Lord and working for Him. Indeed, heaven is a world of sinless worship! God decrees that heaven will be a world of whole worship; that is, worship will not fade away, it will not be partial, nor will the worshiper be plagued with distractions like often occurs here in this age. God gloriously wills that heaven will be a place where blood-bought worshipers stand before the Throne and live with saturated minds focused on Christ, enflamed hearts in love with God, and happy lives serving the Lord doing His will. Believers must continually and resolutely set their hearts on this future day which will certainly come to pass. Neglecting to remember this future certainty opens the door to discouragement, depression, and a sort of myoptic-focus — that is, a near sightedness. Live with an eye on heaven. Remember that God’s worth should prompt our worship. As it will take place in heaven, so believers should engage in and delight in that eternal praise even now!


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Because of the Nearness of the End...

Because of the Nearness of the End...
Living in light of the imminent return of Jesus Christ for His people.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Time is short! The judge is at the door! Christ said that He comes quickly! The Lord is near! Let everyone who has an ear listen! Time is running out! The day of reckoning and the day of divine disaster quickly dawns. Let men and women care for their souls enough to consider eternity, examine their souls, and trust in Christ for their eternal welfare! Because of the nearness of the end, God’s people must live in light of the imminent — any moment — return of Jesus Christ for His people.

1. Be preaching!
Because Christ could return at any moment, God’s men must lift up the voice with urgency, with immediacy, with courage, and with boldness! God’s men must preach with lionlike boldness and with Christlike truthfulness and plead with sinners to repent of sin and trust in Christ! This is the only message that saves! Supernatural power flows out when the Word of God goes forth. Nothing can stop the Christian from verbalizing the gospel of Christ! He must preach the gospel in season and out of season. Regardless of what people feel or ask for that may tickle the ears and be attractive to the unregenerate, the biblical Christian knows that he must herald the full counsel of God and all the doctrines of Scripture so that the saved would be sanctified and so that the godless would be converted. Nothing can shake the world like a sermon preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. Urgently preach the full counsel of God from the Scriptures! If the head of the household would know what time the thief were coming, he would ready and prepare himself. How terrible it will be for the masses who live in such a way that they do not expect the soon-coming of Jesus Christ. He will in fact come as a thief in the night and will destroy all His enemies. Because of the imminent danger that looms over every unbelieving soul, preachers must lift up the voice now and herald! Ministers of God must not trifle or downplay God’s truth. They must not neglect the calling of God and forfeit their ministry by being faithless and destructive shepherds. Rather, God’s men must cry out, like John the Baptist, and preach with God’s power, with God’s Spirit, with God’s Word, for the Glory of Christ that all men would turn from their sins and trust in Christ alone to escape the soon-dawning wrath of Almighty God.

2. Be praying!
Nothing in all the world is as powerful as God’s people praying to God. There is no other activity that so moves God and so rocks the world than prayer — hidden, private, fervent, believing prayer. Satan trembles when the weakest believer calls upon Almighty God in prayer. Believers pray to God the Father in the Name and through the work of Jesus Christ by the enabling power and divine intercession of the Spirit. An amazing concert of four-persons coming together in prayer occurs when every believer cries out to God! The Christian prays to the Father. And he prays only through the mediatorial work of and glorious access made available by Jesus Christ. And he prays in the power of the Spirit and as the Spirit of God intercedes with silent groans that He brings to the Father. Thus, the Triune God is actively at work in the prayers of God’s people. Because the time is short, God’s people must pray! They must pray hard! They must pray for revival! They must pray for God’s power to use the preached Word and the gospel proclaimed to quicken hearts and save many from the eternal fires! God’s people must intercede for missionaries, for evangelists, for pastors, for teachers, for counselors, and for one another. Because Christ promises to come soon, God’s people must urgently & intently pray!

3. Be persuading!
The gospel is the message that saves! There is only one message in all the planet that saves souls from eternal wrath and that is the good news of God’s grace revealed in the perfect life of Christ and substitutionary atonement of Christ at Calvary. This message is received as a gift from God by grace alone through faith alone! God’s people should present the gospel to the lost and persuade them to respond to the gospel in repentance and faith. Presenting the gospel is good, but the example of Christ and that of the early Apostles demonstrates an important element of evangelism: persuading sinners to come to Christ! Even the Old Testament prophets model the passion in persuading rebellious sinners to turn from sin and come to God! God’s people have nothing to lose. The lost have everything to lose! The saints of God should slaughter the fear of man — that is, caring more about what people think than what God thinks — and present the gospel and passionately plead with sinners to count the cost and trust in Christ! To befriend people and not to present the gospel to them is not real friendship nor is it evangelism. Evangelism consists of the verbal presentation of the gospel news that saves. Deepening friendships without presenting the full gospel and calling people to repent from their sin and embrace Christ is not a real friendship; nor is it true love for their soul. Eternity hangs in the balance. Time is short! The Judge is soon-coming. Eternity draws near! God’s people must urgently and passionately and compassionately and seriously persuade sinners to leave their life of sin for the greater joy of receiving Christ’s forgiveness and His righteousness through faith alone.

4. Be prioritizing!
God lovingly tells His children to make the most of the time because the days are evil. God calls His people to come out of the midst from the evil ones and perfect holiness in the fear of God. Believers must redeem the time. They must live for eternity. Many options exist for the people of God as to how they can spend their time. And not all are necessarily evil. But readers must remember the warning from Christ Himself that there will be those who hear the Word but they are the ‘thorns’ as the Word falls upon them and yet they are distracted with the desires for other things (Mark 4.18) and the Word is choked out and they remain unconverted. O the people of God must prioritize their time. Hours are quickly passing by! The Lord is soon returning! Judgment day looms. All men who live and walk on this earth will meet their Maker. Ask yourself: does your calendar reflect a heart that is set on eternity? Does the way you spend your money reveal a purpose of life fixed and focused and anchored in eternity? Who do you spend time with? How much time do you spend with social media? On TV? Watching movies? Shopping? Surfing the web? Trifling? Sleeping? Now ask yourself in comparison, how much time do you spend reading and studying the Word of God? Memorizing the Scriptures and hiding it in your heart? Praying and meeting with God in fervent and worshipful prayer? Proclaiming the gospel to the lost? Intentionally meeting with other believers with the Word open and engaging in Christ-centered conversations and accountability relationships? Does the worship of God with the people of God take the highest priority in your week? What do you love the most? O people of God, prioritize your time to live for eternity and to think toward eternity! Live with one eye on earth and with one eye in heaven! Live with one ear hearing the singing of heaven and with the other hearing the shrieks of hell. Remember eternity! Don’t trifle! Be serious! Be in earnest! Win souls! Be wise! Serve Christ! Be faithful! Endure till the end! Prioritize your life!

5. Be pure!
Unholy men are more fit for hell than for heaven. Living a life of sin and walking in patterns of sin makes one more of a son of the devil than a son of the Living and Holy God. God is holy and He is pure. He is upright and He is blameless. He is righteous and He is glorious. He is majestic and He is sovereign. God’s people, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, have hearts that have supernaturally changed by the working of God at the moment of regeneration and thus they want to live for God, they long to worship Christ, and they live in the power of the Spirit. They pant for purity and they hunger for holiness! This is the heart of the child of God — not perfection, but sanctification. God’s people have not achieved perfection; but the trajectory of their life is one of continuous growth in godliness and a focused pursuit of God Himself as He is gloriously revealed in Christ. The goal of the Christian life is Christ. The Christian longs for heaven and yearns to behold Christ and to see the face of God! But none who are unconverted, who live in ongoing sin, who live without concern for sin, and who demonstrate their unconverted state by a lack of mortifying — slaughtering! — sin will enter the glorious bliss and eternal perfection of heaven. This is not a works salvation; it is a salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone that demonstrates itself in a relentless and joyous pursuit of purity and holiness of life because the newly changed heart longs to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. A saved heart sweetly sings of the salvation of Christ! A changed heart craves conformity to Christ! A redeemed heart runs swiftly and persistently to the Righteous God who imputed the righteousness of Christ to him by faith. A living heart longs for the oceans of love that will ever-flow from the lavishly flow from God, his Father. Christian, for the sake of the gospel and because of the dire urgency of the times, be pure! Be holy! Be Christlike! Be a glorious picture of the power of God displayed in the gospel that saves and the gospel that sanctifies!


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The Art of Preaching

THE ART OF PREACHING.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

To preach is to lift one’s voice and cry out with an urgent message. Preaching is not synonymous with teaching although true preaching must always include teaching truth. The act of preaching is when a man is called and commissioned by God to take God’s message and lift up the voice, cry out, and urge men and women to hear the meaning of God’s message and how it must affect their lives. Christ commissioned men to preach. The art of preaching should always include a number of key characteristics.

1. BIBLICAL.
To preach a biblical sermon, a man must have plunged into the Word of God and prayed over it during the week. Preaching must be biblical if it will have any effect whatsoever. To preach without a Bible is to eat without food. To preach a sermon void of biblical truth is to indulge in a meal without substantive food. Cotton candy will not sustain a person for long. He needs solid food, healthy food, good food, and a steady diet of it. The sermon that pleases God is one that points back to the biblical text constantly. As it were, one finger is always pointed down to his text before him and the other finger is pointing at the audience to heed God’s message!

2. EXEGETICAL.
Preaching must not only be biblical in the act of preaching but it must also be exegetical. To preach exegetically means that the preacher has done the work privately of poring over the Word of God so as to ascertain the meaning of the original author. This includes a careful study of the original languages, the grammatical structure and syntax of words and phrases, and the various background studies that enhance the understanding of the pericope. Not only must the preacher must preach from the Bible but it must be an accurate sermon from it.

3. PRACTICAL.
To teach truth without applying it to the lives of the hearers is in fact a lecture. To preach is not to lecture. To preach includes teaching and instructing. But it also conveys the idea of urgency, the tone of immediacy, the art of persuasion, and the goal of change. Heralding God’s Word must include the imparting of God’s truth accurately revealed from the study of the Word and it must also have the applying of the text to the heart and life of the hearers. Preaching is not only instructing the mind but it is persuading the will and wooing the affections. Every biblical preacher has preached his message to his own heart first and after it has affected and changed him, he longs for it to affect and change all of his hearers also. This must be included in preaching. Preaching changes lives. It tells people how God’s truth must change them and how they must now live in light of the doctrines they’ve heard.

4. CHRIST-CENTERED.
Every text leads to Christ. Every verse in the Word of God may not directly speak of Christ but every text in every book always points to and leads to God’s redemptive plan in Christ. Every sermon must be a Christ-centered sermon. A sermon without Christ is like the sun without heat. A sermon without Christ is like a family without people. To truly preach the Word of God, the man of God must show how every text in every sermon he preaches points to man’s need for a Savior and God’s provision in Christ and in His substitutionary work at Calvary. Preach with Christ in every sermon. Never apologize for preaching Christ. Men must hear of Christ! Believers must keep hearing of Christ. The lost must be exhorted to trust in Christ! Preach a glorious and irresistible Christ!

5. SPIRIT-EMPOWERED.
Preaching is not mere speaking. To preach the Word of God, the man of God is filled with the Spirit of God and powerfully heralds divine truth as it thunders forth to the hearers carried on the invisible and irresistible wings of the Spirit’s Almighty power. A sermon without unction is a mere pep-talk. A sermon without the Spirit’s empowering is like trying to drive a car without the engine. It will go nowhere and accomplishing nothing of any eternal profit without the divine quickening and enabling. To receive the unction of the Spirit, the man of God must earnestly beg God and regularly beseech the Spirit for help in the preaching act. The people of God must intercede regularly on behalf of their preachers so that God might infuse him with power from on high so that he would speak God’s Word with God’s power. True preaching always is Spirit-empowered. True preaching rejects entertainment and it refuses manipulative, emotional ploys. Rather, God’s men take the Word of God and preach in the thunderous, unstoppable, irresistible, and consuming power of the Spirit. Men, pray for such an anointing of the Spirit to fall upon you!

6. URGENT.
Preach for eternity! Souls live on forever. Nothing is as important in all the planet as a person who finds himself sitting under the proclamation of the Word of God. The preacher knows this and preaches urgently as if the hearers must all make decisions at the immediate moment. No preacher desires his hearers to procrastinate. Rather, he preaches God’s truth with heart-fueled urgency because he knows that souls hang in the balances. Eternity is at stake. Heaven and hell are future realities. Men of God take God’s message and preach with a sense and tone of urgency so that all men would see the man who has received a message from God and who preaches with fire! Men will come to watch the man burn! Preach for change! Preach as if men would die the very hour they depart from hearing the Word preached. Urge men to be converted!

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Paul’s Use of Psalm 112:9 in 2 Corinthians 9:9 — A Brief Exegetical & Theological Study.

Paul’s Use of Psalm 112:9 in 2 Corinthians 9:9
— A Brief Exegetical and Theological Study
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Context of Psalm 112:9
Psalm 112 provides a glorious portrait of the man of God. The man of God primarily is known because he fears His God (v.1). And this God-fearer lives his life with a consuming love for God’s Word (v.1b). Some of the blessings that God brings into this godly man’s life are spelled out in vv.2-9. He will have godly, mighty (גִּבּוֹר) descendants on the earth. This is the parabolic, general principle that godly parents who diligently live holy lives and train up their children will see them also fear God. They God-fearers also have a God-like character—righteous, gracious, compassionate (vv.3-5). God has saved them and so they endeavor to emulate their Savior (cf. Eph 5.1). Furthermore, they live with the spiritual eyes of faith and thus a light arises for them in the darkness as they live upright lives and follow Christ (v.4). Indeed, this godly man who fears His God will never be shaken since he has an unconquerable courage in God (v.6). Even when evil reports and bad news crosses his path, the man of God does not fear since his heart is steadfast, firm and fixed (נָכוֹן לִבּוֹ). His heart is upheld and supported by God Almighty so he does not fear anything that comes his way. God has so instilled a godly fear in the man of God that he gives freely to the poor and his righteous conduct endures forever. He has received so much from God (grace, salvation, love, even God Himself) that this godly man gives — indeed, he scatters (פִּזַּר נָתַן) — freely and generously to the poor and afflicted (לָאֶבְיוֹנִים) (v.9). The stark contrast is heightened by the description of the wicked man (v.10) who sees the godly and is angry, he gnashes his teeth and even melts away in his fury. He will be destroyed forevermore. Thus, the man of God who fears His God (v.1) is described by his righteous character in his heart, his godly conduct in his life, and his generous care towards others (vv.2-9).

Context of 2 Corinthians 9:9
In 2 Corinthians, Paul defends his apostleship by affirming that he lived with integrity, a clear conscience, and faithfully preached the gospel to them. And in the middle of this letter to the Corinthian church, Paul reminds them of the great opportunity of giving sacrificially to the Lord (chapters 8-9). In fact, the churches of Macedonia even in their affliction gave liberally with abundance of joy (8:2) even far beyond their ability (8:3). Paul exhorts the Corinthian church to abound in this gracious work of financial giving also (8:7). The ultimate model, of course, is the Lord Jesus who though He was rich, yet for the sake of His people became poor, so that His people through His poverty might become rich (spiritually) (8:9). A bit later, Paul draws the connection between sowing and reaping and giving and sharing. He affirms that the one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly (9:6). Give a little and you’ll reap a little. But if one gives bountifully he will reap bountifully so that he can give even more in the future (9:6-11). But, one must not be compelled to give; it must come from the heart, not grudgingly for God loves a cheerful giver (9:7). And Paul supports this argument by quoting (καθὼς γέγραπται; “as it is written”) Psalm 112:9: “He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor; his righteousness (ἡ δικαιοσύνη αὐτοῦ) endures forever.” Paul incorporates Psalm 112 in his argumentation in 2 Corinthians 9. The godly man who fears his God is in fact the man of integrity, whose character is upright, who receives blessings from God, and who thus responds to God by giving sacrificially and generously to others (especially, the poor; τοῖς πένησιν).

How Paul Quotes Psalm 112 in 2 Corinthians 9: Some Theological & Practical Observations
In a brilliant way, Paul incorporates not only Psalm 112:9 in his argument in 2 Corinthians 9:9 but he draws in the entire context and theme of the psalm into 2 Corinthians. That is to say, Paul substantiates his argument with the Corinthians in desiring to see them give to the Lord and to others by affirming that those who fear God (Ps 112:1) are those who have such godly lives and God-like characteristics about them that they cannot help but to give to the poor (Ps 112:2-9). The believer has become spiritually rich through Christ’s spiritual poverty and they then who have received God’s grace turn and graciously sow bountifully so that God will increase the harvest of their righteousness which all results in further thanksgiving and blessing to God (2 Cor 9:10-11). Paul believes the inerrancy of the Scriptures. He does not quote a random Scripture and proof-text it for his ‘Apostolic hermeneutic.’ He knows His Bible and substantiates his point of pleading with the Corinthians to generously give of their resources to others since this is in fact what the godly man who fears God wants to do. Indeed, he must give! He has received so lavishly from His God. And in response to this gift of God, he fears his God and loves his God and so he turns and supplies the needs of others saints which altogether results in the abounding thanksgivings to God (2 Cor 9:12). As if that wasn’t enough, this generous financial giving proves their God-like and God-fearing ministry which glorifies God as it flows from their obedience (2 Cor 9:13-15). So then, let all of God’s people who fear God (Ps 112:1), imitate God’s character (Ps 112:2-8), and as they have received so much from the Lord, let them in turn scatter and give to others in need as their righteous, God-fearing character demonstrates itself through their sacrificial and financial giving to others in need. The Apostle John says: “but whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 Jn 3:17-18).

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Delight in & Feed upon the Word of God.

Great words by J.C. Ryle:

“Read [the Scriptures] reverently, as the Word of God, not of man, believing implicitly that what it approves is right, and what it condemns is wrong. Be very sure that every doctrine which will not stand the test of Scripture is false. This will keep you from being tossed to and fro, and carried about by the dangerous opinions of these latter days.

And read it regularly. This is the only way to become "mighty in the Scriptures." A quick glance at the Bible now and then does little good. At that rate you will never become familiar with its treasures, or feel the sword of the Spirit fitted to your hand in the hour of conflict. But store up your mind with Scripture, by diligent reading, and you will soon discover its value and power. Texts will rise up in your hearts in the moment of temptation. Commands will suggest themselves in times of doubt. Promises will come across your thoughts in the time of discouragement. And thus you will experience the truth of David's words, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11); and of Solomon's words, "When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you" (Proverbs 6:22).”

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4 Priorities of Christ Fellowship Bible Church.

Four Priorities of Christ Fellowship Bible Church
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

With the unending list of duties, counseling sessions, sermon preparation, meetings, and whatever else can crowd out a leader’s time in the ministry, I find it often both helpful and practical to remind myself of some of the main priorities that I as a shepherd-leader must have as I minister to my flock. This keeps me on track. It is a regular checklist. It guards my heart and my time so that I give the time I have to the right things.

1. Pray Fervently
I firmly believe that the most important work of a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to pray. A man who ministers the Gospel must be a man who is a prayerful man because of the Gospel’s impact on his heart and soul. A prayerless man should never lead Christ’s church. A man who cannot be alone with God cannot lead the people of God publicly. The minister’s most productive time each week are those moments when no one is with him; when no one sees what he is doing; when no one is looking over his shoulder; he is simply alone with his God. He must bear his flock up individually in prayer. He must pray for purity of doctrine and purity of life. He must pray for his own family — his wife and children. He must pray for his leadership team. He must be a red-hot man of fervent prayer so that the heat of his prayerfulness is felt at a distance.

2. Preach Boldly
The man of God must be a courageous preacher of the Word of God. The pulpit is no place for chameleons. The man of God cannot shift and change at every wind of teaching and every cultural preference that wafts by him. He must take the true Word of God and preach all the Word of God with the authority of God as a servant of God to the end of the glory of God. He must preach biblically, boldly, passionately, urgently, fiery, practically, and zealously. A minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ is one who says: I would rather die than to be withheld from preaching. He is one who preaches regardless of how people respond and what people think. He is a messenger of God told by the Sovereign King to deliver the goods. He doesn’t change, alter, or fabricate the goods. He simply preaches the message with boldness as a man captive to the truth of Scripture.

3. Shepherd Personally
The man who is called by God’s grace to lead a group of saved sinners is repeatedly called a “shepherd” in the Scriptures. He is one who is to lead, guide, serve, support, feed, tend, rebuke, correct, carry, love, know, protect, and oversee. He is to know his flock. He is to care for them, feed them, protect them from enemies (from without and from within). The pastor is a shepherd.

4. Train Intentionally
God reveals in His Word that ministers of the gospel are to pass on truth to other faithful men who can then turn and entrust that truth to others. This is the pattern of discipleship, mentoring, investing, and intentional training. This does not simply happen. There is no magical formula. It takes time, intentionality, deliberateness, sacrifice, and at times, wounds received by those who received such intentional training who falter from the faith. Nevertheless, our privileged and merciful calling given by the great God of heaven and earth is to make disciples. Yes this involves missions. Yes this involves baptism. Yes this involves teaching. But it also involves a very intentional and ongoing discipling relationship where the believer learns to “obey all that Christ commanded” (cf. Matt 28:18-20). This sort of training is essential for godly leadership. Sadly, this element of pastoral leadership is neglected by many. But may shepherds rise up who disciple other disciples who will in turn disciple other disciples.

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Why I believe part of fulfilling my role as a pastor is to do the work of an evangelist.

Why I believe part of fulfilling my role as a pastor is to do the work of an evangelist.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

God instructs all ministers of the gospel to preach the Word and part of fulfilling this calling is to ‘do the work of an evangelist’ [ἔργον ποίησον εὐαγγελιστοῦ] (2 Tim 4.5). Every shepherd preaches the gospel because apart from the gospel of God revealed in Christ and His substitutionary work through the enlightening work of the Spirit he has nothing whatsoever to say. He must proclaim Christ and Him crucified. Regardless of what people want and what the itching hears long for the faithful minister has but one glorious message of salvation that all men must hear if they are to be saved. He preaches both in season and out of season. So, part of the work of the shepherd-pastor is to do the work of an evangelist. Here are some reasons I’ve compiled as to why I commit to doing the work of an evangelist.

1. Because I believe the Bible.
The Bible clearly presents the work of the pastor-shepherd as that of a gospel-preacher. He proclaims Christ and Him crucified, resurrected, ascended, and Lord. The Bible is God’s instruction manual for God’s heralds. The message of the gospel must flow from his lips as he calls men and women to be reconciled to God, to be clinging to their Savior, and to be following Him through the power of the Spirit in holiness. The Bible commands shepherds to do the work of an evangelist. Faithful men fill the pages of Scripture who proclaimed the Word of God to the lost — from Noah, to Enoch, to Moses, to Joshua, to Samuel, to David, to Jeremiah, to Ezekiel, to Amos, to John the Baptist, to Paul, to Peter, and, of course, to Jesus. And because I believe the Bible, I must therefore be an evangelist.

2. Because I love God.
Out of love for God and out of a driving passion for His glory, I must do the work of an evangelist because I want God’s fame to be known. A passionate love for God’s glory must compel the Christian to proclaim the gospel. Anything less is insufficient. When persecution comes and when hardship slams, a love for the glory of God and for His magnificent beauties will propel the man of God to proclaim Him and His gospel of grace to the lost. Consequently, I go and herald!

3. Because I want Christ to receive the full reward of His sufferings.
The Lamb of God came into the world to die for sinners. He came not to be served but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many. He was slain and He purchased for God with His blood men from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Christ has died for His own. We want the Lamb to be glorified on that final day surrounded by all those whom He purchased, all those for whom He died, and all those for whom He bore their wrath. Thus, out of a zealous love for the glory of Christ and His sovereign reign in glory, we want the Lamb to receive the full reward for His sufferings. For this reason, the minister must go and preach the Word!

4. Because I believe in the Spirit's power to regenerate
The Bible speaks of the third member of the Trinity as the Spirit of Life. He produces life. He quickens dead souls and alone is able to impart life. No man can come to God unless he is sovereignly drawn by God Himself. No man can pick God, choose God. Indeed, no natural man would ever choose God; the unregenerate man hates God, despises God, and rages in his heart against God. But the Spirit of God, by sovereign grace, uses the gospel of Christ as servants of God present the gospel, to awaken dead souls to new spiritual life. For this reason, I evangelize.

5. Because I cling to the absolute sovereignty of God.
There is no other God besides the LORD. There is none other. No other god exists. There are not other gods of other religions or other manmade gods that individuals have fabricated that exist side by side the One, True and Living God. There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we all exist for Him and there is one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him. God reigns supremely. He reigns exclusively. All events in all of time are under His sovereign control. He is never out of control and everything that takes place is the outworking of His preordained, sovereign plan. And as a royal King, he executes all of His decrees perfectly, wisely, sovereignly, and actively. God is actively involved in all the affairs of life — including salvation. So then, because I believe that God alone is the one who is worthy of praise and because God alone is the one who imparts eternal life to radically corrupt sinners, I preach the gospel with full confidence, great comfort, and heartfelt joy submitting to God’s sovereign will in and through the faithful presentation of the gospel of grace.

6. Because I believe in hell.
Hell is real. And countless millions now scream in the painful, eternal agonies of hellfire because they never trusted in Christ alone for salvation. Hell is the immediate home of all those who attempt to get to God by their works (=every religion in the world). The pains of hell begin at the moment of death. The torments of hell endure throughout endless eternities in the future. The ferocious wrath of God never lets up for all the everlasting ages to come. I believe in hell — a literal, real, hell where God actively, personally, violently, and fairly sentences all sinners who have broken His law forevermore. Because I know hell exists and countless thousands enter there daily around the world, I’m compelled to present the gospel of grace to lost souls so they may be spared from everlasting agonies under God’s just fury.

7. Because I care for people.
Souls are made in the image of God. Souls will thus live on forever. Since God is an eternal being and all men are made in the image of God, they are, then, eternal beings. People will live on forever. None who reject Christ now would ever embrace him in eternity. All who refuse Christ in this life will remain in unbelief for all of eternity. But those who see the weight of their sin, the wonder of God’s grace, and the sufficient, substitutionary atonement of Jesus Christ, and who have responded to this message by repenting, that is, turning, from sin and by trusting in Christ alone will pass to heaven and worship the Lamb forevermore! A shepherd cares for sheep. God made all people and, in a sense, loves all the creation that He made. And souls will live on forevermore. I care for people and long for them to think about eternity and consider their souls. Many do not ponder their souls and their eternal destiny. This is the reason why we must go to the lost — indeed, go to them! — and awaken their souls to the reality of eternity. If you care for people, proclaim the gospel to them!

8. Because I'm convinced of the Truth.
God is truth and His Word is truth. God’s Word is the sufficient, complete, perfect, inerrant truth. Never has a man found an error in the Bible. And because the Truth exists in the written Word and is most perfectly manifested in the Living Word who is full of “grace and truth,” we must do the work of an evangelist. Christ came and proclaimed that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life and no one comes to the Father except through Him. Thus, the evangelist is not engaging with the lost to try and win arguments about the validity of the Bible or the existence of God. God calls us to proclaim the gospel to them so that the Spirit of God awakens their conscience to the Truth and the God that they already know exists. So then, for the sake of the truth, the minister ought to labor for souls and seek to win them to the Savior. The truth is found in Jesus Christ. Every other religion, every other god, every other worldview is a lie and leads to hell. Thus, for the sake of the truth, share this, impart this, declare this, and plead with sinners to hear the best news that can save their souls from hell and take them to glory. Doing this is the most loving thing to do. Knowing the truth and refusing to impart it to others is not love; it’s selfishness and hatred. So then, let us go and do the work of an evangelist! Let us keep on keeping on knowing that our labor is not in vain. Go and win souls!

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