...Yea, But I Can Lose My Salvation.

...Yea But, I Can Lose My Salvation.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Can it be that a true believer can lose his salvation? Could one whom God regenerates find himself in an unregenerate state thereafter? Could a saved person become unsaved? Is it possible? There are some who may affirm that God begins a good work and God will perfect that good work, but at the same time, they may claim that some may “fall from grace” or they may “fall away and it’s impossible for them to be renewed to repentance again.” Or, does God save someone once and for all with an eternal salvation? Many may answer: “Yea, ... but…” Let’s examine a few reasons why the Bible makes overwhelmingly clear that every true Christian will persevere until the end and he will most emphatically and certainly make it to heaven.

No believer could ever lose his salvation for the following reasons:

1. If keeping your salvation depended on you, you would most certainly lose it. Our sin nature and propensity to sin is just that real. And if you could lose it, you would.
2. If keeping your salvation depended on you, then you would have the power to undo what Christ did at the Cross. Christ died for His people (Mark 10:45). For Christ to die for you and for you to lose your salvation would necessitate that you can override what Christ did.
3. If you could lose your salvation, then the Father lied to the Son. For the Father gave to the Son a particular number for eternal life (John 17:2, 9). All that God gave to the Son will be saved.
4. If you could lose your salvation, then Jesus’ death on the cross was a good attempt but it didn’t actually save anyone. You couldn’t speak of Christ’s death as saving anyone. It merely made salvation possible and provided a potential atonement. But Christ said: “it is finished!” (John 19:30)
5. If you could lose your salvation, then God the Holy Spirit is a liar and cannot really keep you or give you an eternal inheritance. The Holy Spirit is given to believers and dwells in our hearts as a “pledge” (2 Cor 1:22). If someone can lose his salvation then the Spirit is weak, He is a liar, and the written Word in the Bible is untrue. But the Spirit keeps us till glory (Eph 1:13-14).
6. If you could lose your salvation, then God is weak and man would be horrifyingly plagued without lack of assurance through life. A most marvelous assurance that God gives to every believer is the objective promise that all who believe in the name of the Son of God know that they have eternal life (1 John 5:13). To claim that one could lose his salvation means that God can attempt to save but isn’t powerful enough to certify salvation. Consequently, every person would tragically be horrified in wondering if he’s saved or not each day. But praise God that all who are called and beloved in God the Father are kept for Jesus Christ (Jude 1:1).
7. If you could lose your salvation, then the golden chain of God’s work in salvation can be disrupted and thwarted by man’s sinfulness and waywardness. Thus, a weak God and impotent God is presented in this false gospel. The glory of God’s gospel is the divine, initiating, perfect, unbreakable work of foreknowledge, predestination, effectual calling, justification and then glorification (Rom 8:28-30)! Not one link in this golden chain could ever break (Rom 8:31-39).

For these seven reasons, let every child of God rejoice in the words of Christ that none of His sheep will ever perish and that no one will snatch them out of His hand (John 10:28-29)!

Read More

Resolutions of a Pastor Shepherding Christ's Church.

Resolutions of a Pastor Shepherding Christ’s Church.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

With the bustling duties of constant ministerial work, I must frequently remind and reorient my focus time and time again on the essential priorities of God’s calling upon my life as an undershepherd of Christ’s church. So then, as a pastor of a local church, I’m committed to the following resolutions as a minister of the gospel.

1. RESOLVED: to prioritize personal holiness. A priority that I am committed to is the self-discipline for personal godliness. My joy and steadfast satisfaction comes from focusing on Christ and on the pursuit of His pleasure. Pleasing Him and my personal holiness must be the constant priority in my life. I must master the Word of God and know the God of the Word intimately. I must walk in the truth, not stray into error and glory in my Redeemer. By God’s grace, I’m resolved, that I will prioritize my own personal holiness.

2. RESOLVED: to feed God's flock through the regular preaching of the Word. God’s sheep must be fed God’s truth from the Scriptures. My duty as a shepherd is to feed the flock, to tend the lambs, to minister God’s Word to them through the teaching and preaching of His Word. If all else is neglected, I cannot ignore the regular study of the Word and the heralding of His saving and sanctifying Truth. Resolved: I will preach the Word of God.

3. RESOLVED: to intercede for God's people in fervent, believing prayer. A great blessing of pastoral ministry is praying for the flock of God that He has graciously called me to serve. I must persist in praying for their spiritual welfare, their daily growth, their protection from the Devil, and for their evangelistic pursuits. Perhaps nothing is as difficult as joyful, specific, constant intercession. But I’m resolved to pray for the flock of God.

4. RESOLVED: to develop, to the best of my ability, godly, male leadership. Godly leaders reproduce themselves and strive to the utmost to disciple and raise up godly, male, qualified, servant leaders. As I grow in grace, I want to develop and invest in other men in the church. Resolved, I’m committed to praying for, investing in, serving with, and rejoicing in leadership development. May God appoint many servant leaders!

5. RESOLVED: to go after and pursue the lost in fervent calls to repentance & faith. To be a fool for Christ’s sake is the highest privilege in the universe. The Word of the Cross is foolishness to the perishing, but it’s God’s power for salvation. To go after the lost, to pursue them, to summon them to repentance and faith, and to proclaim the unspeakable glories of Christ, the unsurpassed offer of this gospel, and the unrivaled mercy available to sinners through the propitiatory work of Christ is a happy and holy duty and blessing of pastoral ministry. Resolved, to be a gospel-preaching minister and a evangelistically minded preacher to equip believers and evangelize the lost.

6. RESOLVED: to model a godly home life & a Christ-exalting marriage. Living in a world drowning in confusion and rebellion, God has given such clarity in His Word for a happy, holy, and Christ-exalting marriage. I must prioritize my marriage above all else as my primary ministry. My pastoring of my wife (and of my family) is my first and foremost duty as it is this which qualifies me to serve as an overseer in the local church. So I’m resolved, by God’s sufficient and empowering grace, to nurture and cherish my wife, to wash her in the Word, to pray with and for her, and to serve her, and to prepare her for glory by striving to love her as Christ has loved and given Himself for her. 

May God, by His sufficient and incessant grace, enable and equip me with everything needed to walk in His ways and to pursue Him diligently for the glory of His name, for the welfare of His flock that He’s called me to shepherd, and for the joy of my soul.

Read More

Maintaining a Biblical Anthropology in Biblical Evangelism.

Maintaining a Biblical Anthropology in Biblical Evangelism.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Our glorious Lord clearly calls all of His followers to go and proclaim repentance (Luke 24:47) and to speak of the wonderful deeds of the Lord (Psalm 96:3). Preachers of the gospel, fathers and mothers, Christians who share the gospel with co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family members all have a passion, to see souls saved from God’s wrath and Christ magnified in sovereign grace. And as Christians, we understand that God saves (Titus 3:5) by the regenerating work of the Spirit (John 3:3, 8) as the faithful gospel is proclaimed (Rom 10:9-15) and the sinner repents of sin and believes in the gospel (Mark 1:15). This gospel that we preach is summed up in the wonderful truth that Christ Jesus came to save sinners (1 Tim 1:15) by being the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:10). But how does all of this affect us when we evangelize? In other words, how does our doctrine drive our evangelism? How does our biblical fidelity to truth guide us in our presentation of the truth to lost souls?

Many Christians who share their faith zealously and faithfully will often hear professing Christians say things like this: “you’re doing it all wrong!” or, “you’re driving them away!” or, “you need to befriend people first before they’ll listen to you & open up!” or “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar” or, “what kind of results will your speaking of judgment and hell produce?”

I believe there are three key doctrines that need to be underscored to Christians time and again as we live for the glory of Christ and spend ourselves for the souls of others. First, we must understand the biblical doctrine of man (anthropology). Second, we must grasp the doctrine of salvation (soteriology). And finally, we must understand the importance of biblical evangelism. I’ll look at each of these in turn.

1. Man Is Dead.
God declares that those who are “in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:8). This is so because all sinners are dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of the flesh until God makes a man alive in Christ (Col 2:13). Paul elsewhere writes that all unbelievers were “dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked...we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph 2:1-3). Jesus tells us that every who commits sin is a “slave of sin” (John 8:34). Man is in darkness and is accustomed to doing evil (Jer 13:23). That is to say, every person born in this world, a child of Adam, is spiritually “dead” in relation to God. There’s no life, no reconciliation, no union, no salvation until God gives life. Lazarus was dead and decaying in the grave until Christ sovereignly called him forth (John 11). The young man in Nain was dead laying on a coffin until Christ came and sovereignly called him to rise up and live (Luke 7:14). So it is with every person in the world that we talk with about the gospel of Christ. Every person is dead in sin. They may be a churchgoer who is dead in sin. They may go to their Catholic church and be dead in sin. They may be an adherent to Mormonism who remains dead in sin. Whoever the person is and wherever they may be found, if someone is born from above and is not a follower of Christ, then that person is dead, cold, lifeless and unable to come to God (John 6:44).

This theological reality will radically revolutionize contemporary evangelism. Rather than thinking that the “method” can contribute to someone’s salvation, we must remember that Christ calls His people to go and make disciples of all nations and to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins and call men to be reconciled to God! Those who are dead in sin can’t be driven further away. They’re already dead! Fervent open air preaching, loving admonitions and warnings of eternal condemnation at a Starbucks table with a friend, and patient gospel presentations to unbelieving children cannot make a nonbeliever more distant than he already is from God. True Christians must understand the utter impossibility of any sinner coming to God on his own initiative. Indeed, no Christian can do anything to make a dead sinner more receptive to the gospel. After all, the dead sinner is … dead.

2. God Alone Saves.
Here is the great confidence that we as believers have in evangelism. God saves! Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2:9). It is by God’s doing that you are in Christ Jesus (1 Cor 1:30). God saves the lost and the rebels (1 Tim 1:12-16). It is God who is rich in mercy because of His sovereign love who makes sinners alive in Christ (Eph 2:5). It is God who makes dead sinners alive and forgives us of all our transgressions (Col 2:13). In an absolute, unrepeatable, supernatural miracle, God is the One who shines in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor 4:6). So great is this act of salvation and of regeneration that the Apostle Paul compares it with the spoken, sovereign work of God creating light from darkness by His very breath (2 Cor 4:6). God saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).

These truths are gloriously comforting for the Christian who goes out to the lost and preaches the gospel to them and summons them to repentance and faith in Christ. No sinner can ever hear and respond to the gospel call unless God alone sovereignly, gloriously, irresistibly and mercifully saves them and grants them life. This motivates evangelism! This puts zeal and fervency in our soul-winning. We go fishing for men trusting that God uses His Word to save His people for His glory through His ambassadors who bring the gospel to perishing souls. Do we know who the elect are? Do we know who will repent and believe? Of course not! But we go with confidence in God, in obedience to His command, and out of love for His glory and praiseworthiness and beg sinners to be reconciled to God through faith alone in Christ alone! That means that no “relationship-forming” can contribute to saving people. Friendships with people are not necessary for God to save men. Building bridges is not essential for soul-winning. Christ said go and tell! Plead and persuade! Call all men to repent and believe in the gospel! Let us go confidently and courageously.

3. We Proclaim Christ.
The content of our gospel proclamation must be Christ and Him crucified. We don’t tell people about God’s wonderful plan for their life and ask them to accept it. We don’t just tell men they’re sinners. We proclaim the incarnation of Christ, the deity of Christ, the splendor of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the atonement of Christ, the propitiation of Christ, the free offer of the gospel of Christ, the willingness of Christ, the invitation of Christ, the summons to follow Christ, and the wondrous benefits of knowing Christ and rejoicing in Him! Far from a method, our message is the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for all, the testimony given at a proper time (1 Tim 2:5-6). So when we preach from the pulpits in churches, we proclaim Christ (Col 1:28). When we preach on the streets to the masses passing by, we call and compel men to come to Christ’s feast (Luke 14:23) and beg men to be “reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). When we speak to our children, we speak of the great Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). When we speak with our neighbors, we boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Gal 6:14) -- even though it’s absolute folly to the world (1 Cor 1:18). Our mission is clear. Our message is simple. Our duty is set. Our passion is urgent. Our burden is great. Our God is worthy. Our Christ is willing. Our Spirit is the Life-giver. Our time is short. So we go and proclaim Christ and speak as God’s ambassadors that God is commanding all men everywhere to repent because He has fixed a day when He will judge the world in righteousness (Acts 17:30-31).

In conclusion, when you share the gospel with someone -- friend, child, neighbor, coworker, stranger or family member -- remember that the unbeliever is dead in sin till God, by His Spirit, quickens them to new life through the going forth of His Word (James 1:18; 1 Peter 1:23). Then, once God has sovereignly given life to that deadened, cold, spiritually lifeless soul, that sinner will repent and believe in the gospel! So let us go forth with confidence, with zeal, with passion, with urgency! Let us know that the lost are blinded, dead, in darkness, and unable to please God regardless of how loving or earnest or marvelous our evangelistic efforts may be. And let that give us a foremost passion to pray for and plead with God for the salvation of the lost. Let us call on our God who is mighty to save. And as we pray, we go! As we trust Christ, we proclaim Christ! As we believe His Word, we declare His Word to the lost and we believe that our sovereign God uses faithful messengers to declare His gospel so that He -- and He alone -- awakens dead and enslaved sinners to new life by His resurrecting power and marvelous grace. And let us go forth with joy, with gladness, with earnestness, and with persuasiveness!

Psalm 98:2-9—
The LORD has made known His salvation;
He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;
Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.
Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
With the lyre and the sound of melody.
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
Shout joyfully before the King, the LORD.
Let the sea roar and all it contains,
The world and those who dwell in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
Let the mountains sing together for joy
Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth;
He will judge the world with righteousness
And the peoples with equity.

Read More

...Yea But, Christ Died for Everyone.

... Yea But, Christ Died For Everyone.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

[I'm doing an ongoing blog-series on "...yea but" where I'll answer common objections biblically. This first part answers the common statement that Jesus died for the whole world.]

Many hold to the belief that Jesus died for everyone and that when He shed His blood at Calvary, His blood covers all the sins of all people everywhere. Thus, Christ died for every single person.

If this were true, that Christ died for every person without exception, then Christ’s death did not actually save anyone but it merely made salvation possible for everyone. It also would require that the Father’s plan would be at odds with the Son’s cross-work and the Spirit’s regenerating work. It would also mean that sinners who are wholly dead, defiled, and unable to come to God spiritually would have to initiate the first step of coming to Christ. Still more, if Christ’s death actually saved people, and if Christ died for all, then it would only mean that Christ’s death procures the salvation for all humanity and thus no one would go to hell. There are problems with all of these statements and none of which finds biblical support.

A few assertions of what the Bible does teach regarding Christ’s death on the cross:

1. Jesus died for ALL men without distinction, that is, all kinds of people. In other words, Jesus died for both Jew and Gentile. He died for those from different races, cultures, nations and languages. He died for all kinds of people; He didn’t die for every person without exception.
2. Jesus died and His cross-work was limited -- not in scope but in extent. His work was not limited in the effect that it accomplished but it was limited in the extent to which it reaches. It perfectly saves those for whom God elected. It does not make salvation possible for every single person in the world.
3. Jesus died and actually “finished” the work of atonement by bearing the Father’s wrath in full, for His people.
4. Jesus died for those whom the Father had given Him from eternity past.
5. Jesus intercedes and pleads His righteousness and work on behalf of His people before the Father’s throne. He does not pray for the whole world, but only for His people. He did not die for, nor does He intercede for everyone; rather, He died for His elect and intercedes only for them.
6. Jesus’ death perfectly accomplished the glorious, God-magnifying plan of the Trinity — the Father predestines, the Son purchases, and the Spirit regenerates. Any other kind of atonement makes the Persons of the Godhead at odds with each other.
7. Jesus died and fully received and satisfied everlasting wrath as the divine Substitute, the Passover Lamb, the propitiatory sacrifice, for His people. This is the good news of the cross.

Yea but, doesn’t the Bible say that Jesus died for “the whole world” (1 John 2.2)? Yes, it does, and in context of John’s writings, the world may refer to both Jewish and non-Jewish -- all kinds of people in the world. Yea but, doesn’t 2 Peter 2.1 imply that Jesus bought the “false prophets”? This text, rightly interpreted, means that the heresy of these false teachers is the denying that Christ bought the believers (“them”). Yea but, doesn’t 2 Cor 5.14 say that one died for “all”? The next verse (5:15) clarifies that He died for those whom He will change, conform to His image, that is, those who surrender to Christ. The intent defines the extent. Christ did not come to die for humanity but He came to die for those whom the Father had given Him. All whom the Father predestined, the Son purchased. And all whom the Son purchased, the Spirit Himself regenerates.


Part 2 is forthcoming: "...yea but the bible doesn't address my mental disorder."

Read More

Advice from a Pastor on Talking to Your Pastor Right After He Preaches.

Advice from a Pastor on Talking to Your Pastor After He Preaches
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

We find it very easy in our culture to meet and greet folks with simple introductory lines: “What’s up?” or “How’s it going?” or “How are you doing today?” I would like to humbly and yet honestly suggest to you a pastoral word of counsel.  When the corporate worship service has concluded and your pastor has finished preaching, rather than seeing him and saying: "So how are you doing?" or "How's it going?" or “What’s going on?” I’d like to proffer some reasons why this is not helpful communication to your minister right then and there and then offer three practical suggestions to consider.

After he preaches, every faithful minister is emotionally drained and physically exhausted and mentally wiped. A pastor may feel like he has just birthed something that has resided with grown in him all week. He’s tired. He has just spoken for the Lord. He has just spoken the utterances of God. If a well-intentioned Christian approaches their pastor and says: “What’s up pastor, how are you?” a faithful minister would be tempted to say (even though he may not verbalize it): “I’m utterly exhausted. I’ve just spoken the Word of God for the last hour. My mind is tired. My energy is gone. I wonder if I said what I needed to say the way it needed to be said. I’m both encouraged by the power of the Word and discouraged at my inadequacy of handling God’ sacred Word. So, I’m worn out!”

So, as a pastor, let me speak for pastors and provide 3 helpful and humble suggestions for believers when addressing him right after he preaches.

1) Speak specifically of one thing the pastor guided you to see about God and His gospel from the word.
As those who are called to be hearers and doers of God’s Word and as those who desire God’s Word to sink deeply into our ears, let’s engage in gospel-focused, sermon-applying conversations right after the preached Word. How did your shepherd guide you into the pastures of God’s truth? What did you see today, this day in this sermon, about God, His gospel, Christ’s glory, salvation’s intricacies, or your duties to walk in God’s Word? Surely there was something that the Spirit used in the Word that just went forth to exhort your will, encourage your heart, edify your soul, and enflame your affections. So instead of trivial, mindless talk, consider speaking specifically of how God taught you!

2) Thoughtfully share a way that you have applied God's Word from a past sermon that has been preached.
Pastors can often find themselves discouraged wondering how the preached Word is affecting the congregation. How do they hear the Word? Are they practicing it? Are they obeying God’s truths? Are they loving Christ more? Consider sharing a specific point from a past sermon, or a particular area of growth and development in your Christian life, or a story of how God used a specific sermon at a specific time in your life to minister particularly to your soul. Those can encourage your pastor in ways that it’s hard to express with words. The greatest way to encourage your pastor is to live out the Word of God as he preaches it, and as he shows you Christ, and illumines the text weekly to you.

3) Simply pray right then and there for the Word as it just went forth. Pray for fruit, humble hearts, and Spirit-wrought work.
So there you are, you’re walking out of the worship center and you see your pastor and you shake his hand. Instead of saying: “Hey, how’s it going?” consider something a bit different. Shake his hand, genuinely thank him for preaching God’s Word to you that day, thank him for his love for you by guiding you into God’s eternal truth, and then ask him if you can pray for him and for the Word as it just went forth to do the supernatural work in the hearts and lives of the hearers. Yes! You pray for your minister, right there, right then, with him. It can be brief. It can be short. But let it be full of love, genuineness and desperation that God would watch over His Word to perform it for His glory!

Read More

God Reigns! [How the Reign of God Affects Every Dimension of Your Life!]

God Reigns.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The most comforting reality in all the world that gives solid consolations to my soul is this unshakeable truth that the Lord reigns. “The Lord reigns” (Psalm 93:1) is a repeated refrain that should comfort, gladden and uplift our hearts!

How does God reign? This brief writeup will explore 3 dimensions of God’s kingship.

1. God reigns over the past.
Go far back, as back as your human mind can possibly travel, and survey human history. Still more, go back even before God’s creative work in Genesis 1 and try to survey how the Triune God reigned sovereignly as the only, gloriously sufficient and everlastingly happy Being in and of Himself. But then consider history. God has ruled over every empire, king, nation, revival, calamity, rebellion, and conversion. Indeed, God has reigned over every moment of the past — including every moment of your past. Whatever God has wisely brought and allowed into your life in your upbringing, in family relationships (or, discord), in your sins, in your hurts and pains, and even in the many saddening memories of the past, plant your roots deep in this one solid reality: the sovereign God of the universe has reigned perfectly, wisely, immovably over it all. Let this reality console your anxieties and let it ease the floods of guilt and shame as you reflect on “your past.” Rather than dwelling on the sins of the past and remaining there in the swamps of guilt and shame, let Scripture direct you to the Sovereign over your past so you remain there in the ocean of His wisdom.

2. God reigns in the present.
Right now, in your life, at this very present moment, God is working most powerfully, wisely, and providentially for His renown and for His pleasure. He is always doing a thousand huge things in every small event in our lives. Right now, it’s raining somewhere in the world. Right now, insects make their God-given sounds in some rainforest. Right now, the massive sun shines brightly giving warmth to many millions of people. Right now, planet earth (and other planets) orbit around the sun at God’s specific direction. And in your life. Consider how God, right now, this day rules over all that happens. Your conversions. Your meetings (or cancellations). Your rush-hour traffic (that may be a bit extra-long). Your hearing of some good news of a friend’s achievements. Your opportunity to gather with God’s people to hear your pastor preach a text from God’s Word. Your family worship time. Your moment of evangelizing your children when they’ve sinned and are in need of reproof from the Word. Your urging a man you meet to repent and believe. Do not underestimate the glorious reign of God in the everyday, even the small and seemingly insignificant moments in your life. God is at work. This is providence whereby God perfectly works out His eternal decrees in everyday moments.

3. God reigns over the future.
Do you fear something that may (or, may not) happen? Is your soul anxious today because of news that you’ve heard? Do you wonder at your job security? Your children’s welfare? Your adult child’s salvation? Your baby’s health in these early stages of development in your womb? Your financial provision? Whether you’ll ever get married? Let us establish our hearts upon this bedrock truth that the one God who is wise and powerful over all is the God who reigns over the future -- indeed, over every single (individual) moment and event. From the movement of the largest star in our galaxy to each raindrop that falls from clouds, to every circumstance in your life to the unknown ‘possibilities’ of the future, plant your tentpegs deep in this marvelously comforting truth: the Lord reigns. Let your soul rest in Him!

Read More

Diagnosing & Mortifying the Sin of Complaining.

Diagnosing & Mortifying the Sin of Complaining
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Philippians 2:14 — “Do all things without grumbling or disputing…”
James 5:9 — “Do not complain, brethren, against one another…”

THE CORRUPTION OF COMPLAINING
Everyone does it. It’s all around us. In fact, it’s so normalized and pervasive that we hardly even recognize when it actually occurs. The sin of complaining is one of those “respectable sins.” That is, it’s one that’s hardly spoken about, seldom preached against, and still less frequent, a sin with which Christians persistently wage violent war. Complaining is ugly. Complaining is one of the most commonest and frequent sins that’s almost as easy to find and common as the air we breathe.

Complaining isn’t, however, the real issue. Complaining is the outward manifestation of other heart-sins taking place in that moment. Let’s diagnose complaining. When we complain, we manifest three heart-sins that are all taking place together.

First, complaining manifests an attitude of “deservedness.” It’s like saying: “I’m not getting what I feel like I deserve!” Or, to state the opposite: “I am getting what I don’t think I deserve.” And in that moment of a complaint, we soar to the realms of deservedness, specifically, that we deserve something good or better than what we’re actually experiencing.

Second, complaining manifests an attitude of “disbelief.” In the moment of a complaint, the mumbler’s saying something like this: “God, I don’t think you’re doing what’s good, or what’s best, or what’s right, or what’s wisest at this moment.” It’s almost as if the complainer is craftily suggesting to the Omniscient God: “Lord, I feel as though you’ve made a mistake and that you should do things my way as that would have a better outcome.”

Third, complaining manifests -- or, leads to -- an attitude of “ingratitude.” Obviously, in the moment of a pity party or whining, a person isn’t thinking about the majesty and dominion of God nor of the overflowing waves of grace that has swept over him. Rather, in complaining-times, we don’t thank God because we, frankly, don’t think we’re getting what we deserve. And this self-centered, self-focused, self-exalted, self-idolatrous mindset never leads one to praise and thank God in that moment.

The corruption of complaining is that it is a very sly assault and it is a frontal attack on the goodness of God. Complaining is a sin where the sinful heart of man rises up against God and draws the weapon and aims it at the goodness of His Person and at the wisdom of His plan and at the sovereignty of His rule. O may God deliver us from this monster of complaining!


THE KILLING OF COMPLAINING
Can this monster be killed? Is it possible to slay the dragon? Like all sin, there’s no pill to take to ensure a once-for-all removal of this sin -- especially, the heart-rooted, subtle monster -- but the good news is that by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, with the sufficient and heart-transforming power of the Word of God, in the context of the local church, and with diligent effort, by God’s enabling grace, every true child of God can -- and must! -- constantly be vigilant to kill this monster of complaining.

We can think of complaining as being synonymous with grumbling, whining, making a fuss, criticizing, happily finding fault with something/someone, griping, moaning, objecting, and even protesting. The Word of God is not silent about this and provides much help to weed out the roots of this sin.

Jude 16 provides a very illustrative and well-rounded portrait of the complainer (who, in this context is a false teacher in the context of professing Christianity). Grumblers are those who “find fault, follow after their own lusts; and they speak arrogantly, flatter people all for the sake of gaining an advantage” (Jude 16).

We must dig far deeper than just pulling the visible leaves off the weed of complaining. We must dig deep, we must excavate far down, we must pull the underground, unseen roots out of this sin of complaining. But how?

THE CULTIVATING OF CONTENTMENT
Even in the Psalms when David finds himself in terribly hard and distressing seasons (where he pours out his soul to God in fervent, honest, desperate prayer) he finds himself resting, relying, re-focusing, even re-orienting one’s perspective on the immutable character of God amidst the uncontrollable and shakeable circumstances of life. Only this gives contentment to one’s soul.

If complaining is the manifestation of heart-mumblings and frustrations at what is happening to me at a certain point, then contentment may be defined as a heart-rooted and solid satisfaction in God that does not shift with external circumstances. Jeremiah Burroughs once said: “Christian happiness, or contentment, is the exact opposite of a complaining spirit.”

So in uprooting the monster-sin of complaining and cultivating contentment, what is to be done? How can we, enabled and empowered by God who so mightily and powerfully works within us, cultivate this blessed, satisfying, and necessary trait of contentment?

First, let us study God’s character. Nothing can so uproot discontentment and complaining than a deep, biblical, thorough, and heart-enthralling study of the majesty, awesomeness, infinite nature of the one, true and Living God.

Second, let us rely on God’s sovereignty. Whatever happens in life, or to state it more precisely, whatever God brings into your day-to-day life, actively choose to trust in God’s glorious kingship, His good dominion, and His wise sovereignty. He not only has a decreed and immutable plan but He also providentially, powerfully, and lovingly brings that plan to pass through every single instant and event that ever occurs. Rely on Him. Rest in His unfrustrated kingship.

Third, trust in God’s bigger plan. Always remember that what God brings into your life (or, what God keeps from you at a certain time) is one part of a much, much bigger plan that God is outworking for His glory and for the good of all of His saints. This helps keep our focus God-centered rather than me-centered.

Fourth, gladly receive pains and trials from God’s loving hand. Gladly? Pains? Trials? Loving? Those words go together? For every child of God who is in union with Christ, he can rejoice in remembering that no good thing does God withhold from those who walk uprightly (Ps 84.11). Whatever God brings into our lives -- even the unplanned and unpleasant experiences -- let us gladly receive them as personally given by God’s fatherly hand of love.

Fifth, make it a point to thank God specifically, daily, and worshipfully. In a simple and summarizing word, the way to keep killing the sin of complaining is to keep cultivating the daily habit of thanking God. Praise strangles grumbling. Gratitude starves disputings. Constant thankfulness to God is the best way to constantly mortify complaining. May God help us to specifically, daily, and worshipfully thank Him for all that He gives or withholds from us, for His glory.

Download the pdf article here.

Read More

Why Do So Many Promote LGBT/Pride? How Can We Respond?

June is sometimes pronounced to be 'PRIDE' month. Often, 4 reasons are given by those embrace this worldview.

I provide the 4 reasons that they give and then answer each of the 4 reasons biblically by helping evangelical Christians with an understandable, gospel-driven, loving, and courageous response to each of the reasons.

4 reasons why many promote LGBT/Pride...

1. history

2. community

3. identity

4. future (much work yet to be done re: discrimination)

*How must we respond? What can we say? I seek to provide biblical clarity and gospel-saturated responses to each of these 4 reasons that LGBT adherents give.

Listen to the podcast HERE.

More on homosexuality and sexual issues found at Pastor Geoff's site here.

Read More

Preaching the Attributes of God in the Open Air (Street Preaching)

Today on the streets of St Louis, MO I will complete my open air preaching thru the attributes of God (2nd time doing so in the last 5 years).

[I have compiled a philosophy of open air preaching that guides & guards me in this area of evangelism.]

 

In the public & open air, I've preached on...

• existence of God
• sovereignty of God
• aseity of God (Self-existence)
• eternality of God
• personhood of God
• tri-unity of God
• infinitude of God
• holiness of God
• righteousness of God
• justice of God
• goodness of God
• omniscience of God
• omnipresence of God
• omnipotence of God
• wisdom of God
• patience of God
• faithfulness of God
• wrath of God
• love of God
• mercy of God
• grace of God
• glory of God
• immutability of God (unchangeableness)
• transcendence of God
• compassion of God

Today I complete the study with 2 more...

• the fatherhood of God (I'll preach Jude 1)
• the praiseworthiness of God (I'll preach Psalm 117)

May God use His Word to awaken many masses who have heard about the ONLY, TRUE GOD in St Louis -- that they would flee from their false gods and self-created gods and flee to the one true God in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ the LORD!

Please pray for fruit.

All the audios can be found here.

More podcasts on the topic of evangelism can be found here.

Many other sermons in the open air are found here. 

 

Read More

A Primer for Parents to Discipline Their Children with Godlike, Gospel-Grace

A Primer for Parents to Discipline Their Children With Gospel-Grace
Bringing the hope of the Gospel to your child’s heart
Geoffrey R. Kirkland  |  Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Proverbs 22.15 — Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;  The rod of discipline will remove it far from him.
Proverbs 23:13-14 — Do not hold back discipline from the child,  Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol.

So your child has sinned. They have disobeyed God, defied you, transgressed God’s Word, and you’ve now taken your child into the discipline room. Then what? What do you do? What do you say? How do you discipline & point to Christ? How can you be firm with truth & tender with compassion?

1. Gather the facts. —  Ask questions of the child (as much as you’re able with the younger ones) such as: "what happened?" or “tell me what’s going on.” This way you seek to understand the situation (even if you saw it) and you’re allowing them to speak and give their account of the event.

2. Reach the heart. — Then, whatever happened to them, you ask "how did you respond?” or “how did that make you feel?”  “what did you choose to do in that moment when it happened?” Then you can ask: “Why?” All of these questions intentionally target the heart. We want to reach the heart.

3. Expose the sin. — At this point, regardless of what’s happened, it’s vital to specify the sin. Perhaps the child manifested a heart of selfishness, a desire for control, an outburst of anger, not considering others as more important than themselves, etc. The goal is to clearly expose the sin.

4. Prove it biblically. — Ideally, we as Christian parents should have an open a Bible and show the child where in the Scriptures they have sinned against God. This is crucial so the child knows he didn’t ultimately sin against mom or dad but first and foremost against God. This is where godly parents need to constantly study the Word and hide it in our hearts so that we can bring biblical truth to the child’s heart regularly & specifically.

5. Give the discipline. — The sin has been committed. The facts have been gathered. The heart has been exposed (as much as possible). The sin has been clearly stated and biblically proven. The child is guilty and has disobeyed God. Now the parent must use the rod. The goal is to bring enough pain for the child to see the error in what he’s done but, of course, the discipline is not to bring harm or bruising to the child. Using the rod must be done in a private location and it must be firm. Whether it’s one swat or two or three on the rear-end (an area that’s not exposed but easily covered up), the parent must choose to obey God and use the rod when the child has sinned. Parents must choose to obey God rather than follow culture on spanking. Culture calls it “harming/abusing the child.” God calls it: “saving your child’s soul from death!” Choose to follow God! Use the rod.

6. Express tender love. — Immediately when the discipline has occurred and the child is saddened by the pain, hold the child, hug the child, affectionately place the child on your lap, and verbally tell them: "I love you!” This tender love and physical and verbal reassurance is important.

7. Give the gospel. — Now is the glorious opportunity to say: “do you know why I did this? You've sinned. And our God is holy. You're a sinner, just like daddy (mommy)…” The Law has exposed the sin. The child has received a discipline for the offense. Now bring the balm of the gospel and the hope of Christ. The glorious benefit of this consists in parents having many opportunities (even daily, at times!) to present the gospel to their children who have sinned. Yes, our God hates sin and sees our sinful hearts! But God sent His Son to take the “eternal discipline” that we deserve. Compel your children to trust in Jesus! Sinners are saved by faith — childlike faith — in Jesus as Lord & Savior! Show them Christ’s glory, worth, work, and hope! Never underestimate the power of a faithful father who disciplines when he’s home and able and a faithful mother who disciplines in the home and how many gospel occasions this presents with the child. O may God use Christian homes to save children at young ages for His glory and renown.

8. Pray with them. — When all has been done and said, don’t forget to pray for them and with them. Still keeping the child on your lap and embracing him in your arms, pray for God to save them. Then, move on tenderly, lovingly, caringly, affectionately, and prayerfully.

More articles on parenting can be found at Pastor Geoff's website.

Read More

Preaching & Equipping Class with the CFBC Men (St Louis) — "Prophesyings"

How can we continue to grow at, equip, work together, and excel as men of God who want to know the Word and be skilled in preaching God's Word faithfully.

It was in the Puritan era that the "Prophesying meetings" gained steam and notoriety.  These were simply "preaching services."  A text would be given to numerous preachers who would then ALL prepare and preach a brief message on that particular text.  Then, after a few of the men preached, the rest present would analyze, respond to, & provide encouragements and helps for improvements.

So, I was thinking of how we could train/equip and grow together as men of Christ Fellowship Bible Church (and others who may be interested).  Why don't we plan to do something like this over the course of the summer:

We'll plan to meet on Saturday mornings at CHRIST FELLOWSHIP BIBLE CHURCH SANCTUARY from 7:00AM - 8:30AM.

DATES *Tentatively Scheduled*            TEXTS                       
Saturday, May 27                                     Psalm 1
Saturday, June 24                                     Revelation 20:11-15
Saturday, July 8                                       Ezekiel 2
Saturday, August 5                                  Colossians 1:15-20
Saturday, September 2                            Mark 8:34-38


*FORMAT: each preacher will deliver a 20-minute message. We will hear 3 men preach each Saturday (=totaling 60 minutes) and then we'll have about 30 mins to debrief together and help each other grow as teachers/preachers of the Word.
7:00AM      opening prayer
7:00-7:20    sermon #1
7:20-7:40    sermon #2
7:40-8:00    sermon #3
8:00-8:30    debrief & evaluation
8:30             closing prayer


This is *building on the Expository Preaching class* that we had LAST SUMMER (download the PDF here & the AUDIO here). 

===========
**PLEASE RESPOND IF YOU'D SO DESIRE TO BE ON THE PREACHING ROTATION. You are most welcome to come & join in the conversation even if you don't *want* to preach. But this is a venue for men who want to preach and improve their skills and see if they have the gift of teaching/preaching. 
===========

Read More

The Privilege and Blessings of Motherhood.

The Privilege and Blessings of Godly Motherhood.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

No higher calling exists for mothers than to teach the glories of God and the gospel of Christ. 

This essay provides 5 specific privileges and blessings of godly motherhood.

1) Intentional.
The wonderful grace of motherhood calls upon mothers to be intentional. Mothers must be intention in how they live, how they communicate, how they model, how they probe deep to the heart, and how they point to Calvary. Coasting cannot occur in the calling of motherhood. Mothers must find themselves regularly calling upon God for mercy and wisdom so as to intentionally live for Christ and point the souls of their children to His gospel.

2) Instructional.
Motherhood requires instruction. No one should underestimate the high importance of instructing the children in the word of God and in the ways of the Lord. No greater privilege exists for a woman of God than to lead the children to the Lord so constantly through the faithful and deliberate instruction of God’s truth. Motherhood requires instruction and the wonderful gift that every mother has is the sufficient word of God.

3) Invitational.
Motherhood is a vocation of invitations. Godly mothers interact with the children regularly and call the children to learn about God and follow Him with their whole hearts. Godly women invite the children to trust in the Lord Jesus and to surrender to Him as Lord. Godly mothers take on the role of ambassador, yes, even missionary, in the context of the home as they find themselves regularly ministering to the children (however young they may be) and constantly presenting Christ as a glorious Savior to them and beseeching the children to draw near to Christ through repentance and faith.

4) Intercessory.
A mother must pray. There’s no calling so impossible as that of motherhood. To instruct and discipline and lead and live as a godly example before children is absolutely crucial and yet the godly woman understands that her efforts prove to be futile and vain unless the power of the Holy Spirit awakens the precious hearts of the children to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Thus, this gloriously impossible calling drives the mother to her knees to intercede for her children, by name, each day, with passion. Let no mother underestimate the power of intercessory prayer and persistent supplications before the Throne of Grace.

5) Incessant.
Every godly mother knows that her labors must continually go on. There is a constancy and a longevity about the mother’s labors that particularly crown her work. She must daily rely on God’s grace, fervently plead for His power, and supplicate for God’s blessing. She mothers in such a way that she knows her instruction is not to cease, nor is her love to wane, nor is her example to falter. And for this reason, she relies upon the Lord’s Word and walks in His grace each day. The high privilege of motherhood rests in the incessant calling to serve Christ and love her children.

Read More

Thank God for Your Trials.

Thank God for your trials.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Trials. We talk about them. To varying degrees and with various intensities, we all go through them. The Lord instructs His people to rejoice at all times. Furthermore, believers are told to give thanks in all circumstances. But to the natural mind, and even to the converted mind while undergoing the trial, thanking God and suffering in trials just don’t seem to belong together. They seem opposite. It often feels better to say, “when I come out alright on the other side of this suffering, then I’ll give thanks to God.” But it’s hard for me to thank God during the trial. And harder still, how am I supposed to thank God for the particular trial that He has put in my life?

Why should you thank God for your trials? I’ll provide 5 reasons.

1. Because trials humble you.
The genesis of all sins is pride. Pride is that monster, that mad and baseless thing that exists in every single heart of men. And God most graciously provides trials of various kinds and sufferings in various degrees to wean us off of ourselves and to cause us to go elsewhere for hope. Even still, the problem is that even when these trials come, our pride leads us not to trusting in God alone for His grace through the trial but it leads us to find our strength and hope in something — anything! — else. Trials humble us. They unfasten our grip on our control on a situation. They loosen our fixation with self and drive us to be lowly at heart and in mind.

2. Because trials grow you.
God most mercifully gives trials out of the Fatherly hand of love to grow us as His blood-bought children. Let no Christian wrongly receive a trial as God frowning with anger or gleefully punishing His people. Rather, let Christians realize that God graces us with trials to grow us, to refine us, to chisel away remnants of pride, selfishness, self-centeredness, and self-inflation. God loves His people too much to not bring trials as boons for their growth. As a man who works out exercises and stretches his muscles to increase strength and endurance, so God stretches His people to gloriously increase their strength and endurance -- not in themselves but deepening in their trust in the good Hand of the One who orchestrated and brings the trials.

3. Because trials refocus you.
Our minds succumb to distractions easily. Without even trying, we are a distracted people and we find ourselves dazzled and gripped by trivialities in this world with no eternal significance. O we are eternal souls! We are citizens of the heavenly kingdom! O the living God calls us “friends” and has secured our eternal inheritance. And yet we can be distracted by earthly items that tug our hearts and woo our hearts away from God. And out of His oceanlike love, God brings trials to refocus His people. Going in the fire of trials can refocus us on the power of God, the sovereignty of God, the goodness of God, the soon-coming reality of heaven, and the sweetness of Christ’s promises. O let us, like Paul, receive the thorns that are ordered by heaven’s throne as opportunities to manifest God’s grace in us and to keep us from exalting ourselves so that our boasting would be in God and in Him alone. Trials refocus us toward dependence on God and pressing close to Christ in ways that trial-less days are unable to do.

4. Because trials form you.
To bend metal, it requires intense heat. To bend us away from ourselves and to form us more into the blessed likeness of Jesus Christ, intense heat comes. And the intense heat may come from innumerable sources and in countless ways (and intensities) and yet the invisible and sovereign Hand behind it all has one ultimate end: to conform us more into the likeness of Christ. The glory of heaven is that Jesus Christ receives the eternal praise from sinners that have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and who have been fully conformed into the image of the Blessed Hero of heaven, the Captain of their salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. God brings trials to form us into Christ’s image. Trials cannot, then, drive Christians more into themselves and away from the body of Christ. On the contrary, God’s design for trials is for Christians to be weaned off of themselves and to tirelessly devote themselves to the body of Christ.

5. Because trials encourage you.
Maybe the greatest promise in all the Bible can be read from Matthew 28 when Jesus assures His disciples that he is with them always -- even to the end of the age (Matt 28:20). Just after this, the Lord ascended in a cloud to heaven no longer to see them again. Then, the unstoppable gospel came with power in Jerusalem as the word was heralded and God saved many sinners through repentance and faith. And when the hardships, the persecutions, the threats, the scatterings, and the injustices came, God’s people found great encouragement in these times. The church was strengthened, built up, ignited, driven to prayer, and standing solidly on the sovereignty and promises of God. So when the times of suffering come, remember that God is with you. As David prayed in Psalm 46 that God is an ever-present help in trouble. O let this so encourage the soul of every child of God no matter how intense or life-threatening the moment may be.

Read More

How a Pastor Loves His Flock.

How a Pastor Loves His Flock.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The measure of a pastor’s love for God is directly linked to his deliberate care for Christ’s sheep. That’s what the Lord told Peter after Peter affirmed his love for Christ. The Lord said: “shepherd my sheep” (John 21.16). So, how can a pastor love Christ? By loving Christ’s church. How, then, can a pastor love his flock well? In this essay, I’ll provide 8 helpful ways.

1. By preaching Christ to them.
A pastor’s preeminent duty in the ministry consists in the regular feeding of God’s people with the Word. A steady diet of biblical truth must exude from the pulpit of a healthy church. The pastor loves his flock well when he preaches Christ to them and constantly, prayerfully, and tirelessly points them away from themselves and this world to Christ Jesus, the Lord. No Christian should ever underestimate the divine power that attends the faithful heralding of the Word of God. If a pastor does all else but fails to feed his sheep, they’ll die. So every faithful pastor must preach Christ -- the sum and substance and sweetness of Christ -- to His people relentlessly.

2. By praying constantly for them.
A pastor must give himself to the hard and holy duty of prayer. He must long to be alone when others are content to live without it. He must desperately plead the mercies of God, the power of the Spirit, and the illumination into the word of Christ not only for his own soul but also for each of his sheep. Let no Christian belittle the wondrous power of intercessory prayer. The providence and sovereignty of God propels the man of God to fervent and believing prayer.

3. By caring affectionately for them.
A pastor must have a shepherd’s rod to fiercely ward off the dangerous wolves and he must at the same time care for Christ’s people with a tender staff of guidance, love, care, and protection. Indeed, the pastor’s heart should soar with affection for his people tantamount to that of a nursing mother for her children. O the heart-warming affection! O the constant attention! O the longing for their maturity and growth! He cares for them by communicating to them, ministering to their needs, speaking truth to them in love, encouraging them in Christ, reminding them of their union with Christ and the future hope of the coming and immediate presence of Christ.

4. By developing leaders within them.
A faithful pastor loves his people when he reduplicates himself. Wise is the man who replicates and replaces himself. The serving soldier seeks to find faithful men to whom he can invest himself and disciple them. With a towering trust in God’s timing and sovereignty, he looks for faithful men who desire to grow and he holds nothing back in sharing his heart with them, ministering the Word to them, holding one another accountable, and equipping in practical godliness, family-worship, and church-related matters. He knows that the church of Christ will never rise above the spiritual maturity of the male leadership, so he gives himself happily and regularly to the training and shepherding of other men through instruction, example, and prayer.

5. By modeling holiness among them.
A pastor understands the power of example. He has read and understands why the Apostle Paul urges the believers to imitate him and follow his example. A minister realizes that verbal instruction is one (important) matter but his holy conduct is just as vital. He cannot preach one thing in the pulpit and unpreach what he has just said through his sinful conduct. A shepherd says to the sheep: follow me as I follow Christ. There must be a model of godliness and an example of the pursuit of Christ that the flock can find in their pastor. This above-reproach lifestyle is unquestionably necessary in every man of God.

6. By urgently man-fishing with them.
A pastor loves his flock well by teaching, leading, bringing, and going out with his people in evangelizing. Proclaiming Christ in the pulpit is undeniably crucial (and no faithful pastor would deny that) but urging sinners to repent of sin and flee to Christ before they die and go to hell is also important. Jesus said: “go!” Indeed, he said: go to the “highways and the hedges.” One way a pastor can love the flock well is by teaching them to evangelize and taking them out to evangelize. He can proclaim the gospel with his people and go man-fishing together with them to equip them and energize them to do the same. A church rarely rises higher than the church-leadership in the area of evangelism. If the leadership isn’t doing it, seldom is the congregation doing it. But Jesus said: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men!” Go man-fishing! Soul-winning is one of the chiefest tasks of the minister of the gospel.

7. By bringing scripture to them.
A pastor knows that as newborn babies mature and grow healthily through a regular intake of milk so the people of God mature and grow through the living Word that is brought home to their hearts. Pastors bring Scripture to the people knowing that it is the food by which the people of God live. Speaking the truth in love constantly defines his daily ministry. He speaks the Word. He encourages in the Word. He guides and counsels from the Word. He prays the Word. He reproves and exhorts with the Word. He directs the people of God to the Scripture so they rest upon the unchanging and unfailing truth of God.

8. By magnifying God with them.
A pastor directs the hearts and affections of the people of God to the grandeur and glory of God. He makes it his ambition to say with the psalmist: “glorify the Lord with me and let us exalt His name together” (Ps 34.3). He leads the congregation of worshipers to say: “Let God be magnified” (Ps 70.4). He knows that herein lies the path of true gladness and joy when the people redeemed by the blood of Christ have one aim to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ.

Read More

Are You Prepared to Suffer?

Are you prepared to lose your job, social relationships, and comforts for your identification with Christ & His gospel?
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The Apostle Paul provides a wonderful example of God’s grace working in a man even while going through hardships. Paul stated that believer can be sorrowful, yet always rejoicing (2 Cor 6.10). Suffering and hardship is not something Christians can opt out of or choose to steer clear of. Rather, the Bible portrays believers as being destined for afflictions of various kinds and sorts.

Child of God, are you prepared to lose your job, social relationships, and manifold comforts because of your identification with Jesus Christ and your commitment to His gospel?

1. The COST of following Christ.
Let us not forget that Christ demands everything. Every person must count the cost because following Christ requires everything a person has. If one does not love Christ supremely, he cannot be His disciple. If one does not willingly give up all his possessions, he cannot be Christ’s disciple. If one does not carry his own cross and come after Christ, he cannot be Christ’s disciple. Let us never forget the high calling and the demanding calling of Christ. The cost is high. The demands are ultimate. The reward is worth it. Christ Himself is infinitely worth it all!

2. The REJECTION of following Christ.
God’s people receive much hostility from those who reject Christ and hate His free gospel. Many are the enemies of the godly and they hate God’s people with a violent hatred (Psalm 25.19). Believers must readily understand and willingly embrace the call to be rejected by the world and labeled a fool by the lips of nonbelievers for the sake of Christ. Let an adopted child of God rehearse these words without end: “the word of the cross is foolishness [moronic folly] to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor 1.18).

3. The BLESSEDNESSES of following Christ.
Living as an alien in a hostile world, every Christian must remember and rehearse the happy privileges and hopes of following Christ. Indeed, a believer can say with Paul that he’s suffered the loss of all things and counts them but rubbish so that he can gain Christ (Phil 3.8). The ultimate blessedness of being a Christian and following Christ is not the blessings that it brings but the Possession that the believer enjoys, namely, Christ Jesus. The blessedness of following Christ finds its climax in gaining the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Thess 2.14). With the swarming sins, and the violent hostilities, and the worldly temptations, and the manifold mockings, let every child of the risen King remember that following Christ is the greatest sacrifice but it always comes with the greatest blessedness of gaining Him in His glory!

4. The ALIENATION of following Christ.
One can survey the Book of Acts and quickly ascertain that the church of Jesus Christ spread rapidly. And at the same time, believers spoke of Christ, followed Christ, suffered for Christ, and found themselves alienated from the world. They lived more and more with the undeniable understanding that this world is not their home. You speak of Christ and you’ll find yourself being treated the way Christ was. He loved sinners and found himself the object of their scorn. He was intriguing to sinners and yet the masses refused to submit to his summons to repent and believe for the eternal welfare of their souls. So Christians should prepare that as they speak of Christ — which every believer will do, for we always speak of that which we love — they will find themselves alienated because of their pursuit of Christ. The direction of the Christian’s life is gapingly different than that of the world. The pursuits of the believer’s heart are not those of society. Therefore, let believers pay attention to the precious promises of Christ that comfort and console Christians during seasons (lengthy and harsh, though they may be) of affliction. All the while, let the child of God remember that it’s worth it! Only eternity will show the infinite and unspeakable worth and happiness of following Christ with our all.

More articles can be found at Pastor Geoff's page.

Read More

Some Helps for "Family Worship" — Every Family as it Were a 'Little Church'

Recently, we concluded going through the Book of Joshua with the men from Christ Fellowship Bible Church. We spent an additional week working slowly through Joshua 24:15 and talking about Joshua's resolve: "As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." What is family worship? What does it look like? How does one get started? Is it really doable in our 'fast-paced society'? This is the outline that I provided our men to guide us in our discussion through this important topic.


FAMILY WORSHIP — an outline
And verily there is one spring and cause of the decay of religion in our day, which we cannot but touch upon and earnestly urge a redress of; and that is the neglect of the worship of God in families by those to whom the charge and conduct of them is committed. (Preface to the Second London Baptist Confession, 1689)

Joshua 24:15 —
Breaking it down for study: [see also: Deut 6:4-9; Ps 78:1-8; Gen 18:19; Prov 2:1; Eph 6:4; 1 Tim 3:4-5]
1. The Father's own spiritual growth (but as for me...)
2. The Father's own responsibility (and MY...)
3. The Father's own leadership (and my house...)
4. The Father's own determination (we will...)
5. The Father's own worship (we will serve...)
6. The Father's own theology (serve the LORD...)

The Church of Scotland took “Family Worship” seriously, as can be shown in what follows:
Men were strongly admonished if they did not lead in family worship. An elder reproved them and if the fathers persisted in this neglect, they were barred from taking the Lord’s Supper!

Jason Helopoulos strongly encourages us:
As a Christian father and husband, I am to continually put God and the testimony of His mighty works before my wife and children. And there is no better way to do this than regular, consistent, and intentional family worship. No matter how spontaneous I may be, sharing the truth of God and His mighty works "off the cuff" could never equal what we do in regular daily family worship. It is the best means for effectual evangelism and discipleship in the home. By practicing daily worship in the home, my family is continually put in the way of God's grace. The great accounts and truths of the Scriptures are set before us every night. We are daily seeking the Lord's throne of grace in united prayer. And we are offering thanksgiving and praise to God as we join our voices in song. Each of these elements of family worship convey to the minds and hearts of those gathered the truth of God and His mighty works in a full, regular, and consistent way that no other practice in the home can rival...Christian families practicing family worship will also find that it centers their home upon Christ. Our home is always centered upon something, but often it isn't Christ. It's not that we intentionally center it upon something else, we just unknowingly do so. Other things begin to dominate our common life together. It could be things outside the home as we venture out to attend soccer games and ballet lessons. Equally, it can be things within the home like television, video games, or even laundry. These can all be good things and they can serve a good and right purpose. However, they must all remain in their appropriate place: secondary and tertiary status. As a Christian father, husband, mother, or wife, our desire is that our homes are dominated by Christ above all else. Our hope is that our family and its activities will center upon Him. He is our Lord, Savior, and Friend. We have been secured in His grip by grace. And that grace welling up within us leads us to want to worship Him and see our loved ones worship Him as well.

This commendable resolution of Joshua, is absolutely necessary for every true son of Joshua, that is entrusted with the care and direction of a family in our day: and, if it was ever appropriate for ministers to preach, or for people to put family-religion into practice, it is never more so than in the present age; since it is greatly to be feared, that out of those many households that call themselves Christians, there are only a few that serve God in their respective families as they should. (George Whitefield)

“Praise is certainly not at all so common in family prayer as other forms of worship...I agree with Matthew Henry when he says, “They that pray in the family do well; they that pray and read the Scriptures do better; but they that pray, and read, and sing do best of all.” There is a completeness in that kind of Family Worship which is much to be desired.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Where to start & how to get it going?
How do you begin? Begin simply. Grab a Bible, read a short Psalm, pray a brief prayer, sing the doxology. Don't wait until you prepared or no longer apprehensive. Begin tonight. Many of us have already waited too long. And then gather again tomorrow night and the night after that. When you miss a day or even a week, don't beat yourself up, just pick it right back up again. Over the course of weeks and months, you will find it to be one of the great joys of your life together as a family. A joy that carries in its practice blessing upon blessing to the praise and glory of God. (Jason Helopoulos)

“It is here, in family worship, that the reformation must begin” (Matthew Henry).


More resources on "Family Worship"  |  Articles |  Sermons

Read More

Praying for Families in Your Local Church. Some Helps.

Praying for families in your local church.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The Lord calls all believers to pray at all times in the Spirit … and to be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints (Eph 6.18). What a privilege. But it may appear to be daunting and a bit impossible to pray for everyone in your local church. Where do you begin? How do you start? What could be a helpful guide to aid you in praying for your local church?

In what follows, I provide some ways to pray for the families in your local church.  Pray for...

1. For marriages to be holy.  Consider praying for the marriages to be holy. This refers to the husbands and wives fulfilling and pursuing their God-given roles as laid out in Scripture. Pray for marriages in your church to be godly representations of the gospel of Christ. Pray for set-apart, other-worldly, heavenly-minded marriages at church.

2. For singles to be faithful.  Earnestly seek God in intercessory prayer for the singles in your local church to obey what Paul says of them in 1 Corinthians 7: to have undistracted devotion to the Lord (v.35). Pray that they would utilize their singleness for Christ’s glory, to pursue the saints with selfless zeal and with relentless passion.

3. For widows to be disciples.  Pray for the widows in your church to pursue good works, to show hospitality, to serve the saints by selfless, foot-washing service, to assist those in need, and devote herself to every good work.

4. For retired to be disciplined.  Ask God on behalf of the retired men and women to live like Caleb with full strength and vigor for God, to take on great tasks and duties for Christ’s sake, and to emulate Anna who worshiped constantly, fasted, prayed, and lived a life of gratitude (not grumbling and complaining!) to God. Pray for them to be busily disciplined and continually strengthened by God to do His work, with untiring energy, out of love for Christ.

5. For women to be submissive.  Seek God on behalf of the wives and young women to be submissive to their husbands, to be quiet (as opposed to boisterous and self-focused), gentle, obedient to authority, and to be sensible, pure, workers at home and to not dishonor the Lord but to adorn the doctrine of Christ in all respects.

6. For men to be humble leaders.  Plead boldly and persistently with God to raise men and cultivate in men a Christlike emulation so as to be humble, gentle and sacrificial leaders. Ask God for men to not be self-willed but self-effacing and others-focused.

7. For children to be obedient.  Pray for the young children to obey their parents in all things. Pray for the children to receive God’s blessing and follow God’s Word as they grow in godly homes and hear God’s Word taught.

8. For teens to be Spirit empowered.  Appeal to God for young people to be Davids, young men devoted to God with hearts that follow Him and set God before them continually. Pray for more Josephs, young people fleeing from immorality (literally!) and living with paramount integrity, trustworthiness and love. Pray for young people to be like Jesus, totally about the “Father’s business” in this present evil age in which we live.

9. For babies to become missionaries.  Seek the Lord boldly and open your mouth wide to the God who is able to do far more abundantly beyond what you think or imagine to raise up and grow the smallest of nursing babies in your church to be missionaries for Christ’s work and service. O pray for men with an open map and an open Bible who believe God’s sovereignty and go with Spirit-empowered and evangelistic zeal to preach the gospel to the rough, the savages, the unreached, and unengaged peoples of the world. O God, amaze us for your glory!

10. For shut-ins to rest in Christ. Come to the throne of grace for those who are homebound in your church. Maybe there are the elderly who aren’t able to leave their homes, maybe people in the final stages of cancer or a terminal illness. Seek the Lord on their behalf that they would rest in Christ and not be bitter, or angry, or resentful or pessimistic. Pray that those who find themselves confined to the home would rest in Christ and bathe in Scripture and reflect on and proclaim God’s faithfulness.

11. For families to be little churches of worship.  Plead earnestly that every home would be, as it were, a little church, earnestly and consistently about the worship of God in the home, led by the father, with the families gathered together to read the Word, sing God’s praises, and pray together -- all for God’s glory. Pray for the homes to be worship gatherings where God’s blessing would rest upon those homes and where families would prepare in the homes for worship corporately with God’s people.


More resources at CFBC's website & at Pastor Geoff's articles page.

Read More