Election

Good note on sovereign election/effectual calling by Tom Schreiner:

"[Election] is not merely an invitation that human beings can reject, but it is a summons that overcomes human resistance & effectually persuades them to say yes to God."

SOURCE: Tom Schreiner, Romans, BECNT, 451.

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Halt Your Immorality Before It Begins!

HALT YOUR IMMORALITY BEFORE IT BEGINS...
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

What I endeavor to promote in this essay is God-glorifying and Christ-satisfying sexual purity. In writing this, I hope to show that adultery (=immorality) does not begin when the act occurs. That final act may be the last — and public — sin in a long, unattended to, unconfessed pattern of sins where repentance has not occurred.

Here are some "E's" so  you don't 'ease' your way into immorality...
[Much of this essay was stimulated by a recent message by Tommy Nelson and recent articles by Denny Burk and Tim Challies. This brief article has slightly altered and added to their original thoughts.]

I will attack it negatively. Here is what to not to do. In other words: these are the steps to fall into adultery. But to refrain from adultery and sexual promiscuity, one should desire the utmost holiness from the core, the root, the beginning, so that other occasions of sin will not build with a snowball-like effect.

So then, here are a number of “E’s” whereby one may ‘ease’ his way into immorality.

1. Estrangement -- grow distant and discontent with your wife. This naturally and necessarily includes estrangement from the Lord as well. You cannot grow distant with your wife while keeping close intimacy with the LORD. And when blessed nearness to the Lord fades, it necessarily follows that the marriage intimacy, joy, delight, and harmony will quickly fade as well. To grow distant from your spouse can provide the beginning step to easing your way into immorality.

2. Encounter -- you 'come across' someone else. Perhaps the connection comes about online, at work, texting, even at church, a grocery store, the gym, or any other place. There he is. Or, there she is. One with whom you strike up a brief encounter. It may be brief. It may be superficial. It may be momentary. But this encounter is the beginning of deadly poison that will destroy a life.

3. Enjoy -- you have a conversation -- which may lead to more conversations -- and you like it. The key thought here is that you like it. This conversation seems different than those you have at home — with your spouse. This is actually enjoyable. They are funny. He makes you laugh. She laughs at your jokes and your unique perks. You actually finding yourself enjoying the conversation, the chat, the dialogue, or the social communication with the person who is not your spouse.

4. Entertainment -- you begin to tickle the idea in your heart and entertain your mind with thoughts of this person: they are nice, they have what you've always wanted, they do what your spouse doesn't do, they have what your spouse doesn't have. You find enjoyment and entertainment in pondering this person and how they seem to have what your spouse doesn’t offer you. After all, this self-focused thinking causes you to focus more on yourself and what you think you deserve, what your spouse doesn’t give you, and you sprinkle your mind with happy thoughts of this person — and how they have what you want.

5. Expedite -- you then begin to create opportunities to be where they are. Yes, you make sure you meet them, you run into them, you communicate with them. You learn their schedule: where they go, when they arrive, when they depart, what time they meet their train, when they take their lunch break, etc. At this point, the lion has already dug his claws into your flesh and the wound is inflicted. The chain of sins has been going on for some time and true repentance is nowhere in sight. In fact, repentance has not even been considered. How could it, you have been too busy forming and fashioning ways and opportunities to meet up with this person. Oh, it’s not to do anything ‘sexual’ or ‘immoral’ with them; it’s simply to be with them.

6. Experience -- you then hang out together and experience each other; and you enjoy the experience. it's enjoyable, it's experiential, it's delighting, it's captivating, and it's trapping. When those opportunities come about where you go out together, meet together, talk together, sit together, eat together, you really enjoy the experience. Yet, it must be noted, your spouse does not know about this. It may be that the spouse is under the impression you are at work, out with friends, on a business trip, etc. But this experience — though not sexual and intimate — hammers yet more nails in your own coffin.

7. Exhilaration -- this last step surely follows close behind the experience that you continue to have with this person. It is sure to happen. It’s not a matter of if but when. When will the exhilarating intoxication of lust-indulgence happen? This step happens when you are captivated, enamored and bonded with one another's lust and have committed the act of adultery -- which is actually the last bead in the whole necklace of immorality leading up to this point. This is not the only act of sin. Every step up to this point has been sinful; this just may be the only public act (if even that!). Guard from the entrapping exhilaration and self-focused idolatry of this kind of sensuality.

And, yet, one should also note that

• church attendance has minimized, and
• your bible reading times are less frequent as days and weeks continue, and
• you don't have time to pray; you're too busy, and
• you have little desire to talk to your wife (and children), and
• you have abandoned leading in family worship long ago, and 
• you ignore phone calls from others in the church who love you, notice your absence, and sense that something is wrong --- but you ignore the calls, refrain from calling them back, and propagate excuses when they do confront you.

Yet there is, in a sense, one final step in this process. One final “e” remains.

8. Endangerment -- your soul is at stake; if you persist in rebellion and abide in an ongoing life of unrepentance you show you do not know the Lord & that the kingdom of heaven is not your future. Adulterers God will judge. The Lord says in no uncertain terms that the sexually immoral and adulterers will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. In fact, the very next verse in one text warns against being deceived (into thinking that one could live this lifestyle and still enter God’s eternal kingdom). The wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience for such sins. Those who persist in this sin — regardless of their background, knowledge, degree, job, position in the church, or family — shall not enter heaven. Thus, one who takes no steps to halt his immorality before it begins and follows the path leading to the slaughter will surely find God’s judgment awaiting him.

Yet for those who humbly confess, repent and cling to Christ, they will find God’s free and full forgiveness.

Download the full PDF here.

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A Preacher's Monday: Hard, Heavy & Heavenly

A Preacher’s Monday: Hard, Heavy & Heavenly
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

He woke up and found that he feels a bit tired — more tired than usual. Last night he had an ‘event’ take place. Truly it was more than an event — it was a supernatural experience. God spoke through him as he opened the Word, explained the context, explained the meaning of the text, applied the text, and poured out his life and soul into that sermon. Sundays are at the same time unspeakably beautiful and undeniably draining. But a man of God must expect nothing less in the service of the great King.

For every faithful, expository preacher of God’s Word, every Monday is hard, heavy and heavenly. Let me explain.

1. Monday is a Day of Recovery.
The preaching on Sundays can be compared to the birthing process. Early on in the week, the man of God began the work of building, creating, and forming a sermon akin to the conception of a baby in the womb. Just as a baby grows in the womb of the mother, so the sermon grew in the heart of the man of God all week long. It grew in his heart, it grew in his soul, it grew in his mind, it grew in his emotions, and it grew in his affections. When Saturday night rolls around, like a mother at full-term ready to just ‘give birth’ to that large creature, the biblical preacher can’t wait to deliver the message that God has worked in his soul, through His Word as it has shaped him in his heart all week long. Jeremiah could relate to this when he said that “in my heart [the Word of God] becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it” (Jer 20:9). Every faithful preacher can relate to Jeremiah at this point. Thus, just as mothers must recover from the birthing process, so the man of God on Mondays must recover from the process of delivering divine truth to God’s flock. Mondays can be quite heavy.

2. Monday is a Hard Day Since the Preacher Recalls Many Things He Didn’t Say that He Wished He Would Have Said (and Vice-Versa).
Every preacher knows it. Every preacher has been there. After the sermon — and even at points during the preaching event — the man of God recalls what he just said and wishes he would have said it differently, better, more clearly, more persuasively. That night he recalls the perfect verse that he should have used to drive home the point, but he didn’t. God shows him an application point that would have perfectly mended with the sermon and yet the preacher failed to proclaim it. Verses, application points, illustrations, and other theological doctrines all come to mind after the event. After all, speaking for God, through God’s Word, to God’s people, in the power of God’s strength, with joy as a minister of God’s gospel proves itself to be the greatest joy and privilege a human could ever undertake. So to reflect on what he should have said or could have said can be quite draining — and hard.

3. Monday is a Day Where the Man of God Must Totally and Triumphantly Rely on the Sovereignty of God.
He arises early on Monday mornings to meet with God. Even while it is still dark outside and many others in their trades are still sleeping, he arises to commune with God in prayer. Just as Jesus, after a very long day of ministry in Galilee, arose early in the morning to find a secluded place to meet with the Father in prayer, so the man of God joyfully arises early to seek the face of God and take hold of his Father in prayer. Yet there is a special tone of trust in his prayers. He  totally realizes that Sunday’s preaching event has ended. He knows that he has said what he has said and nothing can be changed from that sermon that was already heralded. He knows that God’s sheep took notes as he explained the text. He remembers how people tracked with him as traveled from text to text to drive home various points during the sermon. He affirms that God’s flock eagerly longs for the food of the Word and the ministry of the Spirit during the proclamation of Gospel. And yet the man of God clings to the total and triumphant sovereignty of God during this time. God takes the spoken Word, as upon the wings of a bird, and flies the spoken truth to the precise spot of every believer’s heart and soul just as He sovereignly decrees. Nothing can change God’s sovereign ways. The preacher clings ever so tightly to the text that God’s Word shall never return to Him void — empty. He confidently believes that God takes all that he said as a man of God appointed by God Himself and that God uses His Word, His truth, His gospel, His Son, His grace to comfort, convict, convert and conform the people who heard what he spoke. The preacher cannot change anything on Monday mornings; but God can. The preacher cannot indelibly write God’s truths upon the hearts of all who heard (if he could, he would); but God can. So Mondays prove to be a day of savoring, resting, and enjoying the sovereignty of God. No doctrine so gloriously comforts the preacher as does the total and triumphant sovereignty of God. So Mondays are heavenly days.

4. Monday is a Day of Great Anticipation for the Next Text That He Must Study, Internalize, Apply, Pray Over, and Love as He Prepares to Preach Next Sunday.
A minister of the gospel knows that Sunday is always comin’. How true it is. No preacher can cancel church if he feels bad. He can’t call in sick, he crawls in sick. And he preaches in the power of the Spirit and finds God’s strength and power come upon him to equip and enable him for the task at hand. And every preacher knows this — and he loves it! He would not change this in the slightest. But on Monday morning, when the preacher knows that he just delivered (or, birthed) a carefully-crafted divine message to God’s people on Sunday, he fully recognizes one dangling thought swinging in the forefront of his mind: next Sunday is coming (the clock is already ticking). So he opens his Bible and calls upon the Lord. He worships the Lord. He warms his own heart with love for the Savior from the truth of Scripture. He fellowships with the triune-God and prays over and through and in every verse of the text from which he will preach. He knows that the sermon has been conceived already within him. Now it has to grow, and build, and strengthen, and be fortified as God’s Word in God’s man through God’s Spirit forms and fashions this sermon in preparation for the next Lord’s Day when he will stand up in front of God’s flock and proclaim with all authority: “Thus says the LORD.” The anticipation, the expectation, the jubilation, and the exultation in the man of God drives him to this heavenly sense of longing to commune with God all week long as he prays over, reads through, applies diligently, and knows intently the Word that he must herald next Sunday. And so the process begins again. It is a cycle. The man prays, prepares, studies & applies to his own soul that which he must preach, herald, and apply to his hearers. When all is said and done, Mondays are gloriously heavenly and unspeakably joyful and triumphantly God-centered.

Download the PDF article here.

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The great benefit of open-air preaching.

The great benefit of open-air preaching...

The great benefit of open-air preaching is that we get so many newcomers to hear the gospel who otherwise would never hear it. The gospel command is, "Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature," but it is so little obeyed that one would imagine that it ran thus, "Go into your own place of worship and preach the gospel to the few creatures who will come inside."

--Charles Spurgeon

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The Conclusion to a Sermon: Pleading for a Decision!

Excellent model of pleading, exhorting, compelling & persuading by the great Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon:

I fear that some of you, seeing ye have never come and put your trust in Christ, will have to say, when your time comes to die, what Wolsey is said to have declared, with only one word of alteration:—

"O Cromwell, Cromwell!
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served the world, he would not, in mine age,
Have left me naked to mine enemies."
Oh, before those days fully come, quit the service of the master who never can reward you except with death! Cast your arms around the cross of Christ, and give up your heart to God, and then, come what may, I am persuaded that "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." While you shall for awhile sigh for more of heaven, you shall soon come to the abodes of blessedness where sighing and sorrow shall flee away.

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Pursue Hospitality! A Christian Virtue for All Believers.

Pursue Hospitality!
A Christian Virtue for All Believers.

BOOK:
Alexander Strauch, The Hospitality Commands: Building Loving Christian Community, Building Bridges to Friends and Neighbors. Littleton, CO: Lewis & Roth, 1993.

SELECTED QUOTES FROM THE BOOK:
To understand Christian love, we must look to its divine source--Jesus Christ (12)

Christianity’s teaching on love is unparalleled in the history of religion. One of the key factors that helps explain the rapid expansion of early Christianity is the love displayed among the first Christians (14).

The pagans were forced to say, “See how they love one another ... And how ready they are to die for each other” (14).

I don’t think most Christians today understand how essential hospitality is to fanning the flames of love and strengthening the Christian family. Hospitality fleshes out love in a uniquely personal and sacrificial way (17).

Through the ministry of hospitality, we share our most prized possessions. We share our family, home, finances, food, privacy, and time. Indeed, we share our very lives. So, hospitality is always costly (17).

A cold, unfriendly church contradicts the gospel message (17)

The home is the ideal place in which to build relationships and closeness (18).

I often hear people say, “Oh, we just don’t know anyone; we can’t make any friends at church.” I have a suggestion that might solve the problem. It comes from a couple who had a hard time feeling as if they belonged in their congregation. Instead of leaving, as so many people do, they decided to invite every person in the church to their home for dinner during the next year. By the end of the year, they knew everyone in the church and had made a number of close friendships! (18)

Perhaps you, like many Christians, want to know what you can do for the Lord or how to use your spiritual gift(s). Your home is the ideal place in which to start serving. You can invite people into your home for prayer. You can reach out to new people at church or in your neighborhood. You can help believers get to know one another better. You can provide lodging for divided families. You can show appreciation to teachers and youth leaders by inviting them into your home. You can be the ‘home’ away from home for singles living on college campuses or serving in the military who may not have eaten a home-cooked meal in weeks or months (18-19).

New Christians especially need the loving care and instruction you can provide through your home (18).

If you and/or your local church are looking for ways to evangelize, opening your home is one of the best methods for reaching the lost. Most of us, however, are not using our homes as we should to reach our neighbors, friends, and relatives (22).

Sharing our homes is one of the most loving, memorable things we can do to help communicate the message of Christ’s love (24).

In practical terms today, Christian hospitality for traveling evangelists and teachers means providing food, washing and caring for their clothes, supplying financial help for future travel expenses, giving directions, and caring for their car if that is their means of transportation (29).

Children will especially profit when you invite God’s servants into your home. I believe our children are more mature and experienced because they have had to meet and relate to all kinds of people from all over the world. Having Godly men and women stay in your home will be a unique educational experience for your children. They will learn more than you realize from adult conversation, particularly when it is about the Lord’s work. They will log precious, indelible memories that will stay with them for a lifetime. They will also learn many valuable lessons about serving others as they watch you minister to God’s servants and minister Christ’s love to needy people (30).

Only the power of the Word and the SPirit can convince us that hospitality is to be an essential part of healthy Christian living and can move us to act (33).

As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to be a close-knit family. We are to be together, love one another, and care for one another. We cannot do this when our doors are closed. Hospitality, then, is a beautiful expression of our transformed lives being offered wholly to God (34).

Hospitality, therefore, is a concrete, down-to-earth test of our fervent love for God and His people (38).

Love can be an abstract, indistinct idea; hospitality is specific and tangible. We seldom complain about loving others too much, but we do complain about the inconveniences of hospitality. Hospitality is love in action. Hospitality is the flesh and muscle on the bones of love. Through caring acts of hospitality, the reality of our love is tested (38).

If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, we will want to invite them into our homes. We will want them to fill our homes. The presence of Christian brothers and sisters in our homes is a foretaste of our glorious, heavenly dwelling place that will be filled with people, angels, and the perfect host -- our Lord Jesus Christ (40).

Entertaining angels? The writer of Hebrews is not suggesting that we should expect supernatural agents to visit us incognito if we practice hospitality. Rather, the writer means that hospitality often results in unexpected blessing and reward. In the guest-host relationship, the guest often blesses the host (41).

We must also remember that our Lord taught that hospitality shown to His people is hospitality offered to Himself (42).

You would find few Christians who would list hospitality as a requirement for church office. Yet that is precisely what the New Testament requires (43).

Many Christians are unaware that spiritual leaders are, according to Scripture, required to be hospitable (43).

The biblical shepherd is a shepherd of people -- God’s precious, blood-bought people. And like Christ, the Chief Shepherd, the church shepherd must give himself lovingly and sacrificially for the care of God’s people (1 Thess 2:8). This cannot be done from a distance, with a smile and a handshake on Sunday mornings or through a superficial visit. Giving oneself to the care of God’s people means sharing one’s life and home with others. An open home is a sign of an open heart and a loving, sacrificial, serving spirit (43).

If the local church’s shepherds are inhospitable, the local church will be inhospitable. So we must never underestimate the power of hospitality in ministering to people’s needs. Those who love hospitality love people and are concerned about them (44).



HELPFUL HINTS IN PRACTICING HOSPITALITY
1. I realize that some people can easily invite guests over on the spur of the moment, but most people need to plan ahead and invite people to their table. Set a regular time each week or month to invite people to your home. Unless you plan this into your schedule, you may never get past the good-intention level to the implementation level. You’ll say: “This is important. The Bible instructs us to do this, and it will help our church; it will make our congregation a closer, more loving place.” But unless you plan ahead, you’ll be busy next week, and the next week, and the week after that (49).

2. Let me suggest that Sunday noon is an excellent time to invite the Lord’s people to your home (50). [CFBC meets in the evening, but if we invited folks over for a late lunch, then family worship, then prayer for the evening worship & then left early to arrive early at church, this could be a very profitable way of showing hospitality & preparing for worship.]

3. Make a list of people who would be encouraged by your offer of hospitality. For example, your hospitality could be a crucial step in helping new church members feel that they are a part of the body. Others in your congregation are lonely and need your love. Those who are going through deep trials may be greatly encouraged by your simple invitation. In effect, you can be a ministering angel to hurting people (50).

4. Remember to invite people to your home during the holiday seasons. These are especially good times for inviting needy saints of God, non-Christian friends, and neighbors. Try to include those who need the acceptance and comfort of your family’s love and closeness (51)

5. Collect and file simple, inexpensive recipes for meals. Many people don’t practice hospitality because of the expense. You don’t, however, have to impress people with sumptuous meals or be the best entertainer in your church. Hospitality is to be a service to others, not an ego inflater (51).

6. Volunteer to house missionaries or traveling servants of the Lord (51).

7. Be interested in people’s lives. Learn which key questions make our time with other people more meaningful. Ask your guests how they met the Lord. If they are married, ask about their courtship and marriage. You will be amazed to find out how little we all know about each other (52).

8. Be creative in your activities with your guests. Have a time of prayer together, read Scripture together, or sing together. After the meal, take a walk together. All of these activities will draw you and other people closer together (52).

9. Pray that God will give you joy in this service for Him. Confess your selfishness, pride, and disobedience that have hindered you from opening your home to others. Ask the Lord to show you in His Word why hospitality is important. Remember, the Lord knows what is best for us (53).

Download the pdf here.

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The greatness of God's mercy.

Charles Spurgeon comments on Psalm 57:10:

Psalm 57:10 For Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens And Your truth to the clouds.

It is not said merely that it is high as heaven, but great unto the heavens. It is high as the heavens, over-topping the greatest sin, and highest thought of man. It is wide as the far-reaching sky, compassing men of all ages, countries, classes, etc. It is deep. Everything of God is proportionate; this, therefore, is deep in abiding foundation, and infinite wisdom.

(Spurgeon, Treasury of David, 1/2:487).

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The Mission, Pillars & Vision of Christ Fellowship Bible Church

In December, during the 4:00pm Family Bible Hour, we plan to have a 5-part series reviewing, remembering, and exhorting us as to our duties and mission at Christ Fellowship Bible Church.

DECEMBER 1 - The Mission of CFBC (who are we & what are we to do)

DECEMBER 8 - The Vision of CFBC (where are we going & how do we get there)

DECEMBER 15 - The God-given duties of Shepherds (what are godly leaders & what are their roles)

DECEMBER 22 - The God-given duties of all the Sheep (what is every single Christian called to do)

DECEMBER 29 - A Church that Glorifies God (creating, maintaining, cultivating & excelling at being a church that 'loves one another')

Join us at 4:00pm on Sundays.  All the sermons will be recorded & placed on CFBC's media page.

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A missing doctrine in the church today: the sufficiency of Scripture.

From a recent article I wrote on a missing doctrine in the church today: the sufficiency of Scripture:

The Word of God makes the man of God adequate — thoroughly equipped — for every good work (2 Tim 3.17). The Bible makes the radical yet undeniably accurate claim that it sanctifies the man of God. Man does not need anything in addition to Scripture. The Bible is perfect (Ps 19.7) and the great and precious promises given by God (2 Pet 1.4) are able to become partakers of the divine nature. The doctrine that must thunder out from every pulpit is the sufficiency of the Word of God. The truth that must resonate in every discipling relationship is the sufficiency of the Word of God. The essential ingredient that must gloriously grant hope to every biblical counseling meeting is the sufficiency of the Word of God. The sufficiency of the Word of God affirms that the Bible, and it alone, is enough both to save the sinner and to sanctify the man of God so as to grow him in Christlikeness.


Read the rest of the article here.

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The Christian's Duty in Life. Be Working!

Sleep not in harvest-time; do not trifle away your golden seasons; you have much work to do in a short time. You have a God to honor, a Christ to rest on, a race to run, a crown to win, a hell to escape, a heaven to obtain. You have weak graces to strengthen, strong corruptions to weaken; you have many temptations to withstand, and afflictions to bear; you have many mercies to improve, and many services to perform, etc. Therefore take hold on all opportunities and advantages, whereby you may be strengthened and bettered in your noble part. Take heed of crying, 'Tomorrow, tomorrow!' when God says: "Today, if you will hear my voice, harden not your hearts," Heb 3:7-8.

--Thomas Brooks

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Why the man of God in the ministry of the Word must be sexually pure.

Why the man of God in the ministry of the Word must be sexually pure
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

1. To represent Jesus Christ—the Chief Shepherd—faithfully.
A minister of the Word recognizes that he serves first of all as a sheep in need of the Great Shepherd and is, by God’s sovereign directive, an undershepherd to serve God’s flock faithfully. To serve the flock of God as a shepherd is to minister in a way that faithfully pictures the shepherd leadership of Christ. Christ purely leads His flock. To represent Christ faithfully is to serve as a man of God, with full integrity, demonstrating the utmost purity, zealous for holiness and Christlikeness in all things. This is the man of God who represents Christ faithfully. Indeed, Jesus Christ faithfully loves His own bride, the Church. He never lusts after another or longs for another or flirts with another! No! Jesus Christ faithfully loves, cherishes, and passionately has affection for His bride, the Church, and her alone.

2. To obey Scripture's clear commands.
Scripture contains many such commands to be sexually pure. All believers must flee sexual immorality. The epistles speak of those who live in immorality as those who will be excluded from the kingdom of God. Thus, for a man of God serving in the capacity of preaching & teaching the Word of God, he must be pure so as to be obedient himself to the truth that he proclaims to others.

3. To fulfill his God-given blessing & duty to be a One Woman Man with his wife.
The first qualification that the Scriptures provide for an overseer — one who handles the Word and leads in the local church — after being above reproach is that he must be a one-woman-man. This construction simply refers to a man who leads in the church who is fully, totally, and entirely devoted to the one woman that God has given him. He has no wandering eye for other women. He has no secret relationship with anyone else besides his wife. The wife is the one who captivates his heart, his mind, his eyes, his body, and his affections. He longs for her and her alone.

4. To live in an exemplary way so that all can see and examine him and see him a one who is above reproach.
To be a pastor is to be an example. To be a shepherd leader is to be one who emulates Christ and lives a life worthy of emulation. The man who handles God’s Word must be sexually pure so that the flock can see his life — and his purity — and the example that he sets so as to affirm that he is above reproach and qualified for the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

5. To ferociously fight against succumbing to the first instance of lust so that no sexual sin will follow.
A man’s attitude toward the initial temptations of sexual lust speaks volumes as to his overall commitment to piety. A man who minimizes small, hidden sexual temptations is one who will fall prey to the larger, public sexual scandals later on down the road. A man must fight to be sexually pure at the first instance of lust so as to ensure that no sexual sins — and most certainly no ongoing patterns of sexual sin — transpire. This necessitates a ferocious fight.

6. To enjoy and retain a completely clean conscience.
When God calls a man to the ministry of the Word of God, his duty is to pray and study, to meditate and herald. For him to live a life of sexual sin (in any of its various forms) is to drown himself with a guilty conscience. His conscience will deafen him if he entertains, permits, and toys with sexual sin. A man of God must be sexually pure so as to be entirely free in his conscience. After all, God tests the heart, the mind, and the life. God is the one who examines all people. Living sexually free clears and appeases the conscience.

7. To instruct his children on sexual purity from the Word of God while living by those same principles himself in the home.
A man who allows ongoing bits of sexual sin in his life cannot instruct his children in the path of sexual purity with integrity. He is a hypocrite. Only a life of purity is the way of life that can faithfully instruct children to flee sexual temptations. To instruct children to be sexually pure while a minister himself lives in sexual sin is the height of hypocrisy and deception. To truly teach the children to live purely to God’s glory necessitates the man of God practice what he preaches even in the private recesses of his home.

8. To preach and teach on the issues of sexual purity without any hypocrisy.
The minister must always apply to his own heart that which he will command his hearers to apply. He must speak to his own heart that which he will speak to the hearts of his hearers. A minister of the Word who preaches through the Word of God will regularly come to Scriptures on sexual temptation, sexual sin, and sexual lust. A man must endeavor to live in such a Godly way, and in such a way that is blameless and above reproach, that he manifests full integrity. In other words, he must preach to his own heart to be sexually pure that which he proclaims to others.

9. To protect from him being disqualified from the ministry of The Lord Jesus Christ.
When a man stumbles into sexual sin — especially public, ongoing, habitual — he disqualifies himself from the service of the Lord’s church. The man of God must strive with lionlike passion to flee sexual thoughts, pornographic views, extra-marital relationships, and flirtatious movements and statements. Christ’s servant must be holy and above reproach. He must be faithful to his own wife so that she knows that he is faithful and that she has full confidence in him. A shepherd in the local church must be sexually pure so as to remain qualified in the ministry. No one is automatically qualified for life in Christ’s church. Everyone is subject to disqualification if sin persists. May Christ’s servants who preach His Word kill sin, annihilate lust, fight for purity and remain qualified by the grace of God and by the enabling strength of the Spirit.

10. To certify and validate that he himself is born again and to make his calling and election sure.
Those who live ongoing lives of sexual immorality will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who live in sexual sin resemble the Gentiles (=non-believers) who do not know God. Sexual purity is a mark of a child of God. To desire chastity and fidelity to one’s spouse is a mark of grace in one’s soul. To indulge in immorality and to plunge into sexual promiscuity is to show that one does not know God, is not satisfied with God, has not tasted the goodness of the Lord, and has not the life of God in him.

11. To model for the other men (young & old alike) in that flock what true godliness, purity, integrity, & marital fidelity looks like.
The shepherd is a model. To pastor is to serve as an example. To be an elder is to be one with an exemplary life, that is, one worth emulating. The preacher must model sexual purity so that all others (men and women; young and old) will see what godliness, purity, integrity, and marital fidelity looks like. If people in the flock cannot look at the shepherd and see one who models sexual purity and how to live a life of sexual purity, that man ought not to be in the Master’s service. Pastors must speak frankly, openly, clearly, and unashamedly about these issues of sexual purity and the right place and time for sexual relations (within the marriage covenant alone between one man and one woman) because the Bible does so. And pastors must model — that is, provide a template to follow — what purity is like, why purity is important, how to pursue purity, and how to run when temptation lurks.

12. To glorify God and put the pure beauty of His gospel on display in the church.
Marriage pictures the gospel of Jesus Christ. The God-ordained meaning of marriage is and always has been to be a walking, living, breathing portrait of Christ’s passionate love for His bride, the Church. When a man of God rightly pictures this in his own life by faithfully loving his wife (or, if he’s single, waiting for the wife who is to come), he glorifies God and puts the pure beauty of the gospel on display since he is not going to other lovers but is demonstrating accurately the gospel of Christ by the pure, single-minded, sole-focused love for one bride alone.

13. To demonstrate that the supremacy of Jesus Christ & the enjoyment of Him is infinitely more satisfying than any sexual lust.
To sin is to reject the satisfying supremacy of Jesus Christ in that particular moment. When a believer sins, he actually elevates something — anything — to the rightful position of Jesus Christ as the supreme, preeminent, worthy One. The man who holds the Word of God to preach and teach it week after week must be sexually pure to unashamedly demonstrate that Jesus Christ and His glory far surpasses the temporary treasures of sexual lust. Like a poisonous snake, sexual lust may linger dormant for a few moments and then it will lift its poisonous head, strike, inject the poison, and bring quick death. Sexual lust functions the same way. The enjoyment of all sexual lust may be for a moment but the man of God realizes that enjoying Christ, treasuring Him, cherishing His glory, reveling in His satisfying person, work, and nature far outweighs the happinesses of any indulging in sexual immorality.

  Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.
— 1 Timothy 4:12

Download the pdf article here.

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Why I Love CFBC Part 10 — A Church That Upholds the Headship of Jesus Christ.

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 10]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. This continues the series as to why I love the flock of God at CFBC.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.
3. CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.
4. CFBC zealously pursues holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things.
5. CFBC seeks to apply the vision statement of the church, namely, to be a disciple-making church.
6. CFBC evidences a passion for evangelism, soul-willing, open-air preaching & gospel proclamation.
7. CFBC weekly comes together for two corporate prayer services to pray for the church, revival, one another & the purity of the Church.
8. CFBC loves one another and willingly sacrifices time, resources, money, and effort to serve others in the flock.
9. CFBC endeavors to glorify God and magnify His supremacy each and every time the assembly gathers!

10. CFBC exalts Jesus Christ and His sovereign Lordship over His church, over His sheep, and over all things in the universe.

One preeminent truth that must reign supremely in the church of Jesus Christ is that He alone is the sovereign Lord over His church. There is One who occupies the title of Head over the church and it belongs to none other than Jesus Christ. The Father has given all things to Jesus Christ since all things reside under His feet. He is the sovereign Head — authority — over His church. Notably, the Apostle Paul affirms that He is the Head over all things and God gave this One who is Head over all to the church. A church that exalts Jesus Christ and His supreme worth, eternal power, sovereign Lordship, and exclusive headship is an assembly of believers that glorifies God. Anything less diminishes from God’s glory. Jesus Christ is the sovereign One over all — over His Church when it gathers, over His sheep in redemption and in their lives, and over all things in the entire universe. In fact, Jesus Christ actively and continuously holds all things together.

God has so given CFBC a passionate commitment to uphold the sovereign headship of Jesus Christ. This manifests itself in a number of ways. The flock expects that Jesus Christ alone — as it is revealed in the written Word — guides and governs His church. He must speak to His people. The flock has a craving for the preaching of the Word and the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified. To speak of Christ’s sovereign headship is to worship Him for His divine power, His eternal nature, His sovereign position, His redemptive work, His triumphant resurrection, and His clear revelation. The flock upholds and exalts Christ over all things. All things must fall under Christ’s authority. Anything that opposes Christ must be rejected. Anything that sets itself up to vie for authority with Christ must be adamantly rejected. And CFBC faithfully upholds and clings to the preeminence of Jesus Christ.

One of the great joys of being a shepherd in the service of God’s flock is to see Him gather likeminded believers together who love to speak of Christ’s sovereign Lordship. His great power in creation, His great work in redemption, and His awesome grace in sanctification worthily demands worship and praise. Indeed, this means that Jesus Christ must be the head over His sheep as they live their lives. All whom He saves He sanctifies as He is the head over their lives. Those whom He saves He changes. What He says governs the way that His sheep live. And furthermore, Jesus Christ by His active, continuous, and omnipotent power  upholds all things in the entire universe. Nothing exists apart from Him. And God has so brought believers together at CFBC who love to lift high Jesus Christ and proclaim His utter headship, preeminence and glory.

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The beauty of God's adoption.

Adoption is an act of God, whereby he takes sinners, who were enemies to him and rebels against him—and constitutes them his children. It is an act of grace—of free and sovereign grace; for there was nothing in them, done by them, or expected from them, that could form a reason why this favor should be conferred upon them. It was in the mind of God from eternity!

—James Smith

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Why I Love CFBC Part 9 — A Church That Endeavors to Glorify God.

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 9]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. This continues the series as to why I love the flock of God at CFBC.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.
3. CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.
4. CFBC zealously pursues holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things.
5. CFBC seeks to apply the vision statement of the church, namely, to be a disciple-making church.
6. CFBC evidences a passion for evangelism, soul-willing, open-air preaching & gospel proclamation.
7. CFBC weekly comes together for two corporate prayer services to pray for the church, revival, one another & the purity of the Church.
8. CFBC loves one another and willingly sacrifices time, resources, money, and effort to serve others in the flock.

9. CFBC endeavors to glorify God and magnify His supremacy each and every time the assembly gathers!

Moses called the people of Israel to ascribe greatness to God! The people of God desire and rejoice in telling of God’s salvation from day to day. To God is the glory, the power, the glory, and the victory. He is worthy of fame, of worship, of magnification. True believers who understand the Word of God and the message have a supreme delight and sole desire to elevate God and His gospel not only individually but corporately as well.

God’s people who are saved and being sanctified at CFBC endeavor to glorify God. To magnify God and His supremacy is to make His work, Word, and fame known. It is to declare how sufficient is His grace, how supreme is His atonement, His supernatural is His Word, and how steadfast is His faithfulness to His elect.

When CFBC gathers, a number of vital elements take place in the worship gatherings. Worship is hearing from God through His Word, receiving the truth of His Word, and then responding to God’s revelation from his Word. This happens through the reading of the Word of God, praying together, the preaching and teaching of the Word of God, and the singing of hymns to God. Also included should be the ordinances of baptism and communion that Christ ordained for His church to remember Him and to picture His atoning work. When CFBC gathers as an assembly of converted sinners, the flock desires to magnify God’s supremacy. This deliberately lowers man and deliberately elevates God. It intentionally diminishes man and his abilities and intentionally exalts God and His sovereignty. It intentionally proclaims man’s sin, helplessness, need, and inability in and of himself and it constantly proclaims God’s mercy offered to sinners, His full salvation that washes their sins away, and Christ’s sacrifice whereby He became a curse for His people, and His resurrection whereby He victoriously crushed death, defeated sin, and conquered Satan.

I thank the Lord for His abundant grace in bringing regenerated sinners unto Himself and gathering them to CFBC to worship the Lord with a likeminded passion of exalting God and glorifying His great Name. To elevate the Name of God — that is, His work, His Word, and His worth — is the noblest activity any man could ever enjoy in this world. CFBC not only does this but glories in this. CFBC has an indomitable commitment to exalting the Word of God, to glory in the grace of the Living Word, and to yield to the Spirit of God who points us to Christ by means of the Scriptures. I thank the Lord for the church that is God-centered and not man-centered. CFBC gathers to worship God and make much of God and learn how to obey God more fully. This is a healthy church!

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Why I Love CFBC Part 8 — A Church that Sacrificially Serves One Another

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 8]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. This continues the series as to why I love the flock of God at CFBC.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.
3. CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.
4. CFBC zealously pursues holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things.
5. CFBC seeks to apply the vision statement of the church, namely, to be a disciple-making church.
6. CFBC evidences a passion for evangelism, soul-willing, open-air preaching & gospel proclamation.
7. CFBC weekly comes together for two corporate prayer services to pray for the church, revival, one another & the purity of the Church.

8. CFBC loves one another and willingly sacrifices time, resources, money, and effort to serve others in the flock.

Jesus set the perfect example of what it is to serve one another. He humbled Himself so that deity clothed itself with humanity and gave Himself as a ransom for men. Also, just before His death, Jesus took a towel and a bowl of water and washed the feet of all His disciples — including Judas. True love is demonstrated in one sacrificing time to serve others in the body of Christ.

I give thanks to the Lord that CFBC is a church that demonstrates this. Albeit not a perfect church (far from it; I am there!), CFBC evidences a genuine love for one another and a constant desire to sacrificially serve one another. Serving others can take many forms — sacrificing time to help others in need, to meet with others in weekly discipleship, to come early to set up/clean up on Sundays, to provide resources (financial or material) for those in need, and to expend effort in equipping and edifying the flock of God which He purchased with His own blood.

God has gathered a group of saved sinners, bought with the blood of Christ, depending solely on Christ’s substitutionary work at Calvary, who have a heartfelt desire to fellowship, serve, care for, and edify one another. To give sacrificially is a very God-like thing to do. After all, Jesus came not to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for all. He did not come to be an example; He came to die for sinners. For blood-bought saints who have been captivated by & in love with Christ’s atoning work, the serving of other believers is not a burden, but it is a joy! One way that Christlikeness takes shape at CFBC is when the flock joins together to pray for one another, to do gospel proclamation and outreach downtown, to give financially to assist CFBC members in need, to willingly and joyfully give time each week to meet with believers for discipleship, prayer, Bible study, and accountability. To serve other believers in the flock sacrificially is one proof that Jesus Christ is the Lord over this local flock. To serve sacrificially is not to ask what can I get out of this but rather it is to ask who needs help and how can I come alongside a brother to serve him/her to point them to the gospel & to the Savior? That is what Christian service is all about. And I praise the Lord that CFBC does endeavor to be a flock that sacrificially cares for one another as needs arise — with joy! — so as to demonstrate the gospel tangibly in the body of Christ.

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Why I Love CFBC Part 7 — A Church That Takes Hold of God in Prayer

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 7]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. This continues the series as to why I love the flock of God at CFBC.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.
3.CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.
4. CFBC zealously pursues holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things.
5. CFBC seeks to apply the vision statement of the church, namely, to be a disciple-making church.
6. CFBC evidences a passion for evangelism, soul-willing, open-air preaching & gospel proclamation.

7. CFBC weekly comes together for two corporate prayer services to pray for the church, revival, one another & the purity of the Church.

God’s people take hold of Him in prayer. They storm the throne of grace with the introduction granted by Christ. They enter the glorious holy of holies solely through the atoning and effectual work of Jesus Christ accomplished at Calvary. God’s people pray. A praying church is a vibrant church. A prayerless church is dead.

Believers must strive in prayer. Christians have received a clarion call to corporate, fervent, ongoing, and consistent prayer in the life of the church. Believers ought to pray for one another, for the hurting, for the lost, for the disobedient, for their pastors and elders, for the children, for the teenagers, for the widows, and for all the marriages. Prayer should be central to the corporate meetings times in the local congregation. There should be times of corporate calling out to the Lord even in the corporate service as the pastor intercedes on behalf of the flock to God.

The prayer meeting marks the spiritual barometer of a local church. A prayerless church is a church in need of repentance and change. A church with little excitement for prayer and little commitment to prayer and little time devoted to prayer is a church living on the limited and ever-so-short resources of human strength.

I thank God that CFBC loves prayer. I praise the LORD that many of His people gather both on Sundays at 4pm for corporate prayer and on Wednesdays after the Psalms Bible study to pray corporately for one another and for the flock. And in these meetings, many of God’s people pray — the older men, the younger men, the older women, the younger women, the marrieds, the widows, the retired, and the divorced. It is a glorious picture of the body of Christ when His people take hold of God in prayer as we praise Him, thank Him, confess sins to Him, worship Him, remember the gospel, present supplications to Him, and pray for the ministry of CFBC.

The greatest encouragement I as a shepherd receive is when a member of the flock tells me that they have been praying for me. There is little that encourages me more than this. And I give thanks to our great God that He has so given a prayerful flock, devoted to one another, and to the urgent necessity of corporate prayer. God’s hand is evident at CFBC. The prayer meetings reflect, in my honest estimation, a healthy church. I praise God for His faithfulness.

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Why I Love CFBC — A Love for Gospel Proclamation

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 6]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. This continues the series as to why I love the flock of God at CFBC.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.
3. CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.
4. CFBC zealously pursues holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things.
5. CFBC seeks to apply the vision statement of the church, namely, to be a disciple-making church.

6. CFBC evidences a passion for evangelism, soul-willing, open-air preaching & gospel proclamation.

The greatest news in the entire universe is that God has made one way that hopeless and helpless sinners can be reconciled with Him; and this one way is found through Jesus Christ. The message of Christ and Him crucified, resurrected, ascended, interceding, and coming back in judgment is the glorious message that must be heralded with power and fervency.

CFBC demonstrates a passion for evangelism and gospel proclamation. The flock at CFBC evidences a passion for evangelism because many believers do it consistently. It does not take one form only. Not all of the evangelistic ‘methods’ look the same. But the message is the same; that does not change, regardless of the method. The timeless message must be faithfully proclaimed by believers so that the lost can see their sin and their desperate need for a Savior.

Evangelism takes many forms at CFBC. Door to door evangelism, sitting with a co-worker and sharing Christ with them, evangelizing family members and children in the home, handing out tracts at various venues, open air preaching at Metro stations, open air preaching and tract distribution at sporting events and festivals all are some ways that CFBC gets the gospel out to the community and the city. Again, there is not only one way of evangelism. But there must be only one message of evangelism. The biblical gospel must not be ‘shared’ as if someone is sharing an opinion about a new restaurant. The gospel is the only message whereby hellbound sinners can be ransomed by God’s sovereign grace and adopted into His eternal and loving family by faith alone in Christ’s work alone. The gospel must be proclaimed! Believers must urge the nonbelievers to repent and believe! It’s not a sharing of ideas, worldviews, or opinions. We endeavor to persuade the lost to turn from their sin and flee to Christ! CFBC demonstrates this passion amongst its members and for that, I praise God! God has so blessed CFBC with a love for evangelism which springs from a love for the gospel. And a love for the gospel results in a love for the lost in proclaiming boldly, unflinchingly, unashamedly, and courageously speaking of man’s total depravity and radical inability, God’s holy, righteous, and just character, Christ’s perfect life, substitutionary death, victorious resurrection and second coming, the faith whereby a sinner must cling to Christ, trust wholly in Him, surrender and bow and follow Him entirely, and count the cost to be a disciple of Christ. It is real love when someone loves the unbeliever so much to tell him this truth so that he may repent. To refuse to share the gospel is the most unloving thing that could ever be done. But to proclaim the gospel, to plead with sinners, and to beg them to be reconciled to God is the greatest privilege an ambassador of the risen King could have!

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Why I Love CFBC Part 5 — A Disciple-Making Church

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 5]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. This continues the series as to why I love the flock of God at CFBC.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.
3. CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.
4. CFBC zealously pursues holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things.

5. CFBC seeks to apply the vision statement of the church, namely, to be a disciple-making church.

The mission of CFBC is quite clear. CFBC exists to glorify God by preaching the Word, evangelizing the lost, discipling the saved, and obeying Jesus Christ — all by the power of the Spirit. And furthermore, the vision of CFBC is to be a disciple-making church. CFBC has the conviction that every Christian — every single one! — is a disciple of Christ and thus is called by Christ to be a disciple maker. Every Christian whom God has called to Himself must make it his ambition to proclaim the gospel to others so that the lost are saved and so that the saved are growing.

Amazing realities that stem from the mission and vision statements are that people are concerned about people. There is person-to-person relationships that have begun, that continue, that endure, that will remain because of a commitment to grow one with another in the Word of God and in prayer.

Rather than exerting much, or all, of our energy in building great trellises, or programs, CFBC makes it its goal to build great vines. That is, ministry is people work. It’s pouring into people. It’s pouring into their lives. It’s ministering to them. It’s shepherding Christ’s Word to their own hearts. After all, all Christians, since they have the Spirit of God, can admonish one another in the Word of God. All are competent to counsel each other.

This kind of person to person, life on life ministry at CFBC looks different in the various relationships. But we encourage people to be actively involved in a discipling relationship with another person during the week. We encourage the flock to work progressively through a book of the Bible together. Both are speaking the Word into each other’s lives. Both are praying together. Both are growing together as Spirit-indwelt, sanctified people. Both strive to bear each other’s burdens and minister Christ to each other through speaking truth to one another. This is practical shepherding!

God has so blessed CFBC with folks who hunger for discipleship. The people enjoy meeting together. They are growing in meeting one with another. The relationships, the friendships, and the spiritual growth that happens is encouraging!

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Why I Love CFBC Part 4 — The Pursuit of Holiness & Conformity to Christlikeness

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 4]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. This continues the series as to why I love the flock of God at CFBC.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.
3. CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.

4. CFBC zealously pursues holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things.

The Apostle Paul said that he labors and strives because he has fixed his hope on the living God who is the Savior of all men — especially of believers. He agonized for godliness. He took pains in his spiritual progress. People who have received God’s salvation, who have been set free from sin’s dominating grip, have become slaves of God which leads to sanctification and the outcome is eternal life. God’s people know this because the Word of God reveals this. A justified sinner will become a sanctified person. He will increasingly hate his sin, more zealously love Christ, more tenaciously cherish the gospel, and more fervently walk in the Spirit. Without holiness, the Bible declares, no one will see the Lord. 

God has glorified His name in bringing families to CFBC who zealously pursue holiness and conformity to Christlikeness in all things. An undergirding tenor guides what happens at CFBC, namely, ‘will this make me more like Christ?’ Paul commanded Timothy to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith and love. I praise God for the likemindedness of the believers at CFBC.

The flock knows and understands that coasting through life does not produce holiness. Following step with cultural practices cannot produce godliness. Gliding in neutral will not lead to heaven. A believer must actively, intentionally, aggressively, and daily commit himself to the most glorious pursuit that a man could ever have — ‘practicing his position.’ A regenerated sinner is saved; clothed in the righteousness of Christ. He is washed, cleansed, purified, holy, and blameless — because he is in Christ. Yet this is the position that the believer has before God in Christ. Yet the practical and daily outworkings of the Christian’s duty is to manifest that position in his conduct as he increases in holiness, lives for God’s glory, and serves the Savior. CFBC does pursue holiness and for that I glorify Christ and magnify His name.

Additionally, the purpose of all things is for God’s glory to be supremely displayed. All that happens in a believer’s life works together for good and is thus intended by God to conform the Christian more to the image of Christ. Conformity to Christ is the goal of the Christian’s life. God desires to make His children holy; that is, to fit them for heaven. I praise God that biblical counseling has taken firm grounding at CFBC and that the flock recognizes that the Word of God must be brought to bear in the believer’s life as they speak biblical truth one to another, in discipling relationships, so that through the Spirit-indwelling power, fervent prayer, and daily effort, a child of God resembles the glorious likeness of Jesus Christ on earth.

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Why I Love CFBC Part 3 — A Diverse Body of Believers.

Why I Love Christ Fellowship Bible Church [part 3]
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

There are many reasons why I love CFBC. I hope to elaborate on just a few over the next few days.

1. CFBC Has a Love for the Truth of Scripture.
2. CFBC Loves, Cares for, Prays for, & Encourages Me as Their Teaching Shepherd.

3. CFBC comprises people from different races, nationalities, cultures, backgrounds & ages.

Another reason why CFBC has so become so dear to me is that many different people have come together for one common reason — to worship and magnify Jesus Christ. Any body of believers can relate to this. All peoples, of all ages, of all backgrounds, of all nationalities join together in a mutual agreement of edification  to submit together under the authority of the Word of God and under the sovereign Lordship of Jesus Christ over His church. The unity amidst the diversity is glorious.

The church has drawn folks from different races to worship Jesus Christ together. The differences in color has no bearing on the unity in worshiping Jesus Christ since all are “one body” in Christ. Another encouraging feature of CFBC is that God has placed folks to serve one another from many different nationalities and cultures. There are folks in CFBC from various countries on various continents who gather together joyfully, eagerly, expectantly and with a singular focus — to hear from God through His written Word as it is heralded.

Furthermore, the vast array of cultural backgrounds at CFBC reveals that worship can happen amidst differences in culture and background. Regardless of the background, God has so knit together a group of like-minded saints to meet together regularly under the preaching of the Word of God for the magnification of God’s great name.

And finally, CFBC looks like a church. There are all ages represented at CFBC. There are senior saints and there are small children. There are teenagers and there are families with middle-aged children. There are young families with infants and there are empty nesters. A cursory look at CFBC clearly evidences that the church has not particularly targeted one specific age group nor has it specifically drawn from one age group in particular. Rather, God has glorified His name by gathering many people, of all ages and backgrounds, to CFBC to worship the Lord Jesus Christ together. Praise God for His supreme power mightily put on display by gathering people who hunger for the Word to worship the Savior, to hear the Word preached, to disciple one another intentionally, personally, and lovingly, and to scatter to evangelize and proclaim Christ’s saving gospel to the lost so that Christ’s church may be expanded & His name may be magnified.

There is one body and one Spirit- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
                                                                                   — Ephesians 4:4-6

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