Explanation & Commentary on Christ Fellowship Bible Church's Order of Worship

Explanation & Commentary on CFBC’s Order of Worship
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

INTRODUCTION:
At Christ Fellowship Bible Church [CFBC] we deliberately format the worship service so that all that takes place serves to exalt God, engage the mind, point to Jesus Christ, and edify the saints with the gospel of God’s sovereign grace. All that happens serves to enhance the revelation of God from His Word and then the believers’ response in worship.

EXPLANATION:
Though not every corporate worship gathering follows the exact same format, the following elements are included in the worship time. We spend time in prayer as we thoughtfully put this together so as to exalt God and edify His people.
Announcements — This is placed at the beginning so the people can immediately hear what’s going on this upcoming week and if there are any practical needs that they need to be aware of. People need to arrive on time to hear the announcements. We have found this to be best at the beginning when we can especially greet visitors as well.
Public Scripture Reading + Pastoral Prayer — In obedience to 1 Timothy 4:13 we give attention to the public reading of Scripture. Often it supplements the text that will be preached. Other times it comes from a psalm and functions as a call to worship. Still other times we work through books of the Bible and read section by section each week. The pastoral prayer is the time when the man who reads the Word intercedes on behalf of the flock to God and prays the Word back to God. He models a God-exalting, Triune, gospel-centered prayer. He confesses sin. He reminds the congregation of God’s love and forgiveness in Christ. He prays interceding on behalf of the flock in bringing everyone before the Throne of Grace at the outset of corporate worship.
Songs — We carefully and intentionally pick songs that thread together around a common theme. That theme could be the sermon’s main point, the gospel, the Triune God, heaven, grace, repentance, holiness, or something of the like. We include both hymns and worship songs. We carefully look at the content of each song so that the words and the theology is lofty, biblical, mind-engaging, and accurate because we know that songs ‘teach’ and we want our people to be engaged with a majestic God.
Prayer before the Sermon — One of the elders leads the congregation in a time of silent prayer before the message begins and then he himself prays for the unction of the Spirit and the power of God to go forth with the heralding of His Word.
Sermon — The messages are expository as they all are sourced in the Word of God, derive the meaning of the text and make that the main point of the sermon. The sermon provides the meaning of the text, proves it with cross-references, instructs the mind with sound theology, and engages the heart and will with specific, clear, powerful application points. The sermon has as its goal to glorify Christ in the declaring of His Word so that the lost would repent and the saved would be changed as the Spirit works the Word deep into their souls so that they are formed more into the likeness of Christ. The expositions predominantly work verse-by-verse through books of the Bible and last for at least an hour.
Songs — Often we respond to the preached Word with music. Worship is defined as a response to God’s revelation with all that we are. So when we hear from God (=preaching) we are to respond to Him in adoration or consecration (=song). If there is a hymn that has been written to that particular text/theme, it may be appropriate to sing it as a song of response to re-engage the heart and re-commit the heart to obedience.
Prayer after the Sermon — After the preaching has happened, an elder leads the congregation in a time of silent application of the sermon and then he concludes with a prayer reminding the people of the duty to be hearers and doers of the Word. True blessing comes to those who read, hear, and obey the Word of God. This concludes the worship time so that all people have had time to consider the preached Word and so that they can leave with specific points to implement in their lives.


OTHER ELEMENTS OFTEN INCLUDED:
It is not every week that these important elements are included in the times of worship, but we want to speak to the following important elements of worship. We believe that the two ordinances that Christ gave to His church (baptism and communion) are vitally important and we take them very seriously at CFBC. They are reserved exclusively for true believers.
Baptism — At CFBC, we believe that baptism is only for believers who have made a profession of faith in Christ and want to obediently speak of God’s working in their lives and how they’ve been buried with Christ and have been raised to new life in Christ. We baptize by immersion and happily lead those interested in a baptism class and we baptize during a corporate worship service and allow each person to share the testimony as to how God saved them. What a picture of the gospel this is!
Lord's Supper — We see the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper as vitally important to CFBC. We have taken communion twice a month and at other seasons of the church we have partaken one time a month. The Lord’s Supper is that fellowship meal reserved exclusively for believers to remember the body (life) and blood (death) of Christ who died in the place of His elect. It is a supper where believers fellowship together with the risen and interceding Christ as the gospel is proclaimed to the others who may be present that this is a sharing meal with Christ, with believers, and by it believers are strengthened and edified in this essential ordinance that Christ gave to His church. We spend a considerable amount of time fencing the table by explaining the meaning of the supper and warning those of partaking in an unworthy manner. We instruct nonbelievers not to partake of this meal as they would be eating and drinking divine judgment upon themselves in so doing but at the same time we invite the lost to repent of their sin, trust in Christ, and embrace the Savior freely and savingly!
Testimonies — From time to time we love hearing testimonies of people in the flock as to how God has saved them and also how we can come alongside of and pray for those in our local church.
Missionary Updates/Letters/Video — With some regularity, we mention missionaries who serve locally and globally and explain to the congregation what is going on in that particular ministry and some needs that they have. It is a delight to share with the flock how God is working cross-culturally through the glorious gospel and through the preaching of the Word for His glory. Our people love hearing about missionaries and praying together for them on Sundays and in the mid-week prayer meetings.
Corporate Prayers for Revival  — From time to time we will invite the entire congregation to come to the front and we will kneel together in corporate prayer and beseech God. We have done so and pleaded with God to abolish abortion and to have mercy on our ministry at the abortion mills. We have earnestly called on God and begged for revival in our nation. We have pleaded with God before large evangelistic outings (Gay/Pride, Mardi Gras, 4th of July, etc.). We count it a joy to kneel together, humbly, boldly, corporately, and believingly as we pray to God and ask Him to hear and answer our prayers as a local church.
Open Sharing/Testimonies  — Periodically an elder will come forward and lead the congregation in a time of open-sharing. This is carefully led so that the congregation is aware of what to share. Often there a number of opening statements that prompt the discussion time so that folks can share how God is working in their lives, people that they’re evangelizing that the flock can be praying for, what people are learning in Scripture, and how we can be praying for one another. These have been very fruitful and encouraging times when we have done them at CFBC.

CONCLUSION:
In all that we do, we want the Word of God to drive our worship so that God is the dominating focus, Christ is the exalted theme, and the Word of God is constantly engaging our minds and hearts throughout. We want the gospel of Jesus Christ to permeate the entire time so that the lost who may be present are confronted repeatedly with the saving gospel of redemption and so that the believers may be built up and strengthened by these magnificent truths. We want believers to be edified and the lost to hear the gospel so that the Spirit can work in their souls and regenerate them. We never cater to the lost or water down the message or seek to make it a comfortable environment for the nonbeliever. We seek preeminently to exalt Christ and proclaim the gospel of salvation in all that we do. Herein lies the power of the gospel, the power of the church, and the effectiveness in edifying the converted and in saving the lost. May God use the otherworldly, transcendent, biblical, God-centered, Christ-exalting, Spirit-empowered worship of CFBC for His glory! We worship Him in spirit and in truth. To Him be the glory!

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A Call to Pastors: Keep the Hymns!

From James Montgomery Boice in his commentary on Psalm 136:

"One of the saddest features of contemporary worship is that the great hymns of the church are on the way out.  They are not gone entirely, but they are going.  In their place have come trite jingles that have more in common with contemporary advertising ditties than the psalms. 

The problem here is not so much the style of the music, though trite words fit best with trite tunes and harmonies; rather it is with the content of the songs.

The old hymns expressed the theology of the Bible in profound and perceptive ways and with winsome, memorable language.  Today's songs are focused on ourselves.  They reflect our shallow or nonexistent theology and do almost nothing to elevate our thoughts about God.

Worse of all are songs that merely repeat a trite idea, word, or phrase over and over again.  Songs like this are not worship, though they may give the church-goer a religious feeling; they are mantras, which belong more in a gathering of New Agers than among the worshiping people of God!"

(Commentary on Psalms, volume 3, p.1184)

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Discipling Children: Some Practical Thoughts.

Discipling Children
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

This brief write-up includes the 5 predominant features that we seek to incorporate in our family’s discipling and training of our children. We want them to know God, to behold Christ, to embrace the gospel, to forsake the things of this world, to live supremely for His glory -- regardless of the cost!

I take each of our children out individually each week so I can instruct them in the Word of God & shepherd them toward God-glorifying conduct. So when we take each of our children out individually for ‘discipleship’, we incorporate the following elements.

Prayer
Every time we go out together for discipleship, I want my children to know one thing: we will pray. Indeed, we must pray! I want my children -- many years down the road -- to look back and remember one thing even if they’ve forgotten all else, that we prayed together every week. I teach them how to pray. Sometimes with the little ones, I’ll pray a phrase and have them repeat it verbatim after me. Sometimes we’ll hold hands. Oftentimes, I’ll have them sit on my lap. I want them to feel the tenderness, warmth, love, and care that I have for them and the similar intimacy that believers enjoy with our heavenly Father. So we pray and thank God, we’ll pray through the truth we just learned from the catechism or books of the Bible. We’ll pray for each member of the family, or the church, or confess sin, or adore God’s attributes.

Books of Bible
Another element that I believe is very important in training of children is an understanding of the books of the Bible -- by name and in order, and to know them well. So we memorize the books of the Bible and I’ll have them repeat it to me frequently. I want them to know their Bibles and where books are in the Bibles. Furthermore, we have a document that has a one-phrase, simplified summary of every book of the Bible. I want my children to all know the basic gist, the big picture, the summary of every book of the Bible -- from Malachi to Matthew, from 1 Kings to 1 Corinthians, from Ruth to Romans.

Catechism
We have a church catechism which simply functions as a way of teaching biblical theology through question and answer format. The catechism is 14-pages in length and has 146 questions. I want my children to master this document. I want them to know this theological truth even as young children as their minds are so competent to memorize truth word-for-word. So we go through the document till they’ve memorized it well. Then, once we’ve finished that and they have memorized it, we go back through it a second time, a bit slower, and for each answer they give, I give them one supporting verse to memorize as a proof of that answer. This way they are learning theology, they’re hiding God’s Word in their hearts, and they’re downloading into the minds and hearts why we believe what we believe. This is the foundation that I work hard to lay. I want them to know God, to know Scripture, to know Christ, to know theology, and to know themselves and their desperate need for the gospel.

Theology
We have an additional document that we’ve compiled that works through systematic theology. We begin with bibliology, then move to theology proper, then on to Christology, anthropology, soteriology, pneumatology, angelology/demonoloy, Satanology, ecclesiology, Israeolology, eschatology. I want my children to know biblical-theological truth. I want them to know God, to know the gospel, and to know biblical, objective, unchanging truth. I want this to be the foundation for their lives. As they grow and mature in their minds, I want to lay the foundation that will guide them in their thinking, their worldview, their actions, and their life.

Practical life issues
We have a document that we have compiled where we instruct our children in practical life issues. The document contains topics such as the urgency to examine your soul, personal holiness, service and church ministry, guidance and knowing the will of God, dealing with various aspects of daily life (the opposite sex, alcohol, drugs, etc.), and other practical topics of instruction (e.g., hygiene, gentlemanly conduct, protection of women, table-manners, church-conduct, family worship conduct, sexual purity, sports, etc.). This provides ways for me as the father to shepherd my children in the ways of God, in the Word of God, and in thinking biblically about real life issues.


*A CONCLUDING REMARK
I fully understand that I am discipling children who from the youngest of ages are desperately in need of God’s regeneration. I get that. I fully acknowledge that I could instruct them in ‘good conduct’ and yet if I neglect the gospel I would raise Pharisees that are full of knowledge but devoid of the Spirit. I fully acknowledge that. So my goal is to reach the hearts of my children. From the youngest of ages, as they even can begin to communicate, I want to download biblical truth into their minds. I think of it like this: I want to gather the wood of instruction constantly. I want to gather, and then gather more, and then pile it on top of each other so that when the Spirit of God comes with the supernatural fire of regeneration there’s much wood with which to burn. I teach and instruct my children and I fully acknowledge that all is vain unless God supernaturally, sovereignly, mercifully, graciously saves my children. And this drives me to earnest, frequent, daily, desperate prayer. O how we must pray our children into heaven. Let us pray frequently, fervently, tirelessly bring them before God and ask for His saving mercy to impart divine life to their dead souls. May God, through His sovereign grace and through the means of the proclamation of the gospel to their hearts, bring our children to saving faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

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The Sovereign King: Soul-Ravishing Truths for Christians.

The Sovereign King
soul-ravishing truths for Christians.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The most comforting doctrine to my own heart is the sovereignty of God. That God reigns as the sovereign King over all stirs my heart to worship, humbles my soul with trembling, and comforts my being with assurance. The God of Scripture is absolutely sovereign over everything. And for that, He deserves all glory, honor, and praise. And for that, we must worship Him, trust Him, adore Him, enjoy Him, delight in Him, and live for His glory!


1. The Lord is the ETERNAL King. 
God’s kingship never began nor shall it ever end. God rules as King as human leaders come and go. As the earth rotates and totters and as nations rise and fall, He remains constantly eternal, never changing, and never ending.

2. The Lord is the UNRIVALED King.
God shares His kingship with no one. No one can rival Him for He alone rules over the infinite galaxies and over all gods. He is Lord over the nations and God over all creation. None can rival Him, compete with Him, or triumph over Him.

3. The Lord is the POWERFUL King.
To be the sovereign King over all, the Lord must have power. And this He does! He is all powerful. Every ocean wave comes and goes at His direct decree. Every star remains in its place at His perfect command. Every person lives and moves and dies in God’s unchanging plan. Every molecule in all of existence is owned, formed, carried, and directed by the active power of God.

4. The Lord is the MERCIFUL King.
Many kings in history were ruthless and arrogantly violent. Our God, however, is a King of mercy. Full of mercy, full of tenderness, full of kindness, full of love, and full of undeserved, unabashed, unlimited, undiminishing mercy!

5. The Lord is the UNCHANGING King.
Human kings change. They are born, they age, they change, they die, they’re forgotten. But not the Lord! He rules as the always-ruling King. The Lord ‘reigns’, the psalmists say. He never began to reign. Nor shall He ever cease reigning. Indeed, He cannot change His kingship. He always reigns since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is unchanging in His sovereign rulership.

6. The Lord is the EXCLUSIVE King.
When the Apostle John was carried to heaven in Revelation, he was gripped by a throne. And the throne in heaven had one who was seated upon it -- God. He shares His throne with no one. No rivals, no rulers, no rich leaders, no renegades can share the sovereign throne with Christ. He is the Lord, there is none other. He is the Lord alone. He reigns alone as the exclusive King!

7. The Lord is the PERFECT King.
Human kings make foolish decisions, act foolishly, and many may die because of the. Not God! He is absolutely perfect in His ways because He governs all His ways by His perfect character. He is perfectly good in His nature, in His essence, in His joy, and in His actions -- all of them. His Kingship is governed by his perfect goodness. This comforts the believer’s heart. Our King is perfect in His character and in His dealings with the affairs of men.

8. The Lord is the ABSOLUTE King.
God reigns absolutely in that His kingship is total; it’s not qualified or diminished in any way. He reigns absolutely over every thing that has ever happened. He has entire, absolute, pure, perfect, supreme authority over all things! He reigns always and ever as the absolute King over everything!

9. The Lord is the PROTECTIVE King.
A king is to protect his subjects. And so it is with God. Our God, the sovereign King,protects all His own. What glorious, soul-ravishing comfort to know that this sovereign King over all creation protects me since I’m hidden in Christ and united to Him inseparably and eternally. Every moment of my existence is under His sovereign protection and fatherly care.

10. The Lord is the SAVING King.
The Lord is the King who saves. This King stooped in humility to save selfish, vile sinners by His own sovereign love. He saves -- not just from an invading army. He saves His people from Himself -- from His own future wrath. What a God! What a King! This King deserves worship who saves sinners for His glory!

11. The Lord is the HEAVENLY King.
Every other king who has lived was confined to this world -- to space, time, and one location. The Lord has fixed His throne in the heavens and His sovereignly rules over all. He, as the heavenly and sovereign King, does whatever He pleases in the heavens, on the earth, in the seas, and in all deeps!

12. The Lord is the CONDESCENDING King.
What human king would ever humble himself to associate with the lowest of the low and then die for that humble, low, unattractive rebel? None! Yet our God, the King of the ages, humbled Himself by taking the form of a man and became obedient to death, even death on the cross to take divine punishment in the stead of His own people. What overwhelming and condescending love!

13. The Lord is the INTIMATE King.
Few people could have such intimacy with a mighty King. And every child of God enjoys the everlasting intimacy with God Almighty -- the one, only, true King of heaven and earth. We can approach this King with confidence, speak to Him with boldness, address Him as our Father, and find comfort, provision, and love from Him as precious Savior. He is our infinite and intimate King.

14. The Lord is the ACTIVE King.
God reigns actively. He never stopped reigning. He never ceased His active, perfect governing of the affairs of the universe. Every situation falls under His direct and sovereign decree for His glory. None can bump God off the throne or occupy His thought so as to distract Him. His eye always rests upon His precious ones whom He loved and died for. He actively rules over all!

15. The Lord is the FAITHFUL King.
How many kings and rules of this world made promises but never kept them and lied to get their agenda to succeed. But not God. He is the God of truth and always is a God of truth, of faithfulness, of trueness. Every promise He makes to His people, as the perfect and able King, He faithfully keeps them.

16. The Lord is the GLOBAL King.
It would be little comfort to a person if the king only had power over a particular district of the land. But consider, O believer, our God reigns as sovereign King over the heavens and the earth. None can stay his hand against God and thwart His purposes. He globally rules. There’s not a leaf of a tree, or a drop of rain that falls, or an insect that roams the dust of the earth, or a giant meteor that falls outside of His perfect power. Indeed, no man at any place can ever thwart God’s will or resist His purposes. God is globally good and globally God and globally King!

17. The Lord is the VICTORIOUS King.
I suppose that everything so far would be good but if God was not the victorious King then there might be the possibility that He could fail, or be overthrown, or triumphed over by a bigger and greater threat. But no! Our God is the victorious King! He is King of kings and Lord of lords and He, alone, holds the divine scepter so all nations fall beneath His feet in submission and will bow at the name of Jesus Christ! Our God reigns victoriously! Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty … You exalt yourself as head over all! (1 Chron 29:11).

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How to Encourage Your Pastor.

How to Encourage Your Pastor
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Every pastor needs encouragement. The man in ministry who faithfully invests himself in the study of God’s Word, in the counsel of God’s people, in the shepherding of his family, and the diligent-examination of his own heart is a man desperately in need of encouragement. When David ran for his life from Saul, Jonathan came to David and, at one point, encouraged him in the Lord. What a marvelous example for all of us to follow! Let us go to one another and encourage them in the Lord. But how, practically, can you encourage your local pastor-shepherd(s)?

1. Live out the Word
The first way that you can encourage your pastor consists of the simple truth of heeding what you’ve heard, doing what’s been declared, practicing what’s been preached. The servant of Christ who has preached the truth of God from the pulpit has worked hard in his study and in his proclamation. So it should be with every hearer. Every hearer should work hard at listening to the Word and in the diligent application of the Word. So, live out the Word and by you intentionally, deliberately, carefully doing this, you will encourage your pastor.

2. Pray daily for him
The second way that you can encourage your pastor is to intercede on his behalf and to bear him before the majestic Throne of grace regularly. As he meets with God in prayer, bible study, Bible-interpretation, exegesis, and sermonic work, he desperately needs illumination. Your pastor covets your prayers. He needs your intercession. Pray for faithfulness in his study and proclamation. Pray for purity in his own heart and mind. Pray for a fervent and singular love for his wife and her alone. Pray for faithful pastoring of his own ‘little flock’ in the home. Pray for his heart to be warmed by the tender love of Christ and the awesome communion with the Spirit!

3. Write a note of thanks
The third way that you can encourage your pastor may include writing a periodic note of thanks to him. And the more specific you can be, the better. That sermon that was preached at that time that covered that topic which convicted you of that sin which led you to implement change in that particular way is what you may choose to include in that note. This will encourage him beyond words. Seldom to pastors receive these notes. But, in the awesome and timely providence of God, He usually brings those encouragements to shepherds at just the right time. Perhaps God will stir you up to write him a note of thanks that will bless his soul, encourage him when he’s low in weakness that particular week, or full of sorrow because of a sinning churchmember. Lift him up! Bear him up! Bless his soul. A simple note can be used in tremendous ways!

4. Serve his wife & family tangibly
A fourth way that you can encourage your pastor is to creatively think of ways to serve his family. You may not think that serving his family serves your pastor but it does. He and his wife are a team in the ministry. They are joyful together and they mourn together. She helps him, encourages him, supports him, comforts him, and holds him in hard and trying times. Bless her and the children. Perhaps it’s coming over and cleaning the house. Perhaps it’s watching the children in the home for a few hours so the mother can get out and go grocery shopping, or go read her Bible somewhere without distraction, or perhaps it is to provide a date-night (once a week for a month), or better yet, gathering folks from the church to help provide date nights for the pastor and his wife regularly throughout the calendar year. Think of how you can encourage both your minister and his wife. She is the unseen blessing. She labors at home so he can labor in the pulpit. She labors in private so he can labor in public. They are a team -- working together in harmony and tirelessly. Find ways and think of ways to bless the family.

5. Intentionally focus conversations after sermons
A fifth way that you can encourage your pastor is to engage in good conversations at church especially, but even throughout the week with God’s people. Think about it, in faithful preaching: God has spoken! God has addressed His people through His mouthpiece, your pastor. This is no lightweight responsibility. We have heard from God Himself! The mouth may be that of your minister but the voice is God’s! So encourage your pastor by taking God’s truth, or a principle from the sermon, or a thought-provoking, heart-searching question and engage in faithful, Christ-exalting, sermon-applying conversations. Perhaps you approach the person sitting alone, or the visitor, or that quiet couple, or the lady sitting by herself who looks dejected, or the man who is a bit odd in personality and you engage them in good conversations. Perhaps you ask: how did God show you Himself in that sermon and in that text? Or, how did the Spirit convict you of your sin in that sermon? Or, where do you need to change in light of the truth just preached? Or, in light of what we just heard, provide for me one specific way I can pray for you right now and throughout the upcoming week. Be creative. Be thoughtful. Ask good, thoughtful, intentional questions.

6. Share what you learn with him
A sixth way that you can encourage your pastor is to follow Paul’s guidance in Galatians 6 and share all good things with those who teach you. Your pastor labors hard in the study. So share with him if you benefit from that laborious work! If God shows you a facet of His character in a message, share that with your minister. The more specific you can be, the better! The more thoughtful and heartfelt you can be in what you share, the better. If you learn something about Christ and the gospel-work that He accomplished at Calvary, share that with your shepherd! If you were studying the Word throughout the week and God blessed your soul with something specific from the Word, bless your pastor by sharing that truth with him. Perhaps it’s a hand-written note, or an email, or a text, or even a meeting with him for coffee just for the purpose of encouraging him in what you’re learning through God’s Word as he faithfully exposits the Scriptures. Be careful, however, that you don’t bombard your shepherd on Sunday one minute before he gets up to preach. His mind is focused and he has that terribly awesome conflicted feeling of excitement to preach and fear of speaking for the living God. Be thoughtful in when you approach him. But don’t let that stop you. Encourage him. Approach him. Bless him. Share specifically with him what you learn from him as God uses him as His spokesman to deliver the unspeakable riches of Christ! May God use you to encourage your pastor in this way.

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A Pastor's Prayer on Monday

A Pastor’s Prayer on Monday
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Every pastor who faithfully studied the Word and exerted all his energy in proclaiming God’s Word faithfully on Sunday feels drained on Monday morning. Preaching God’s Word consists of one of the greatest, most noblest, privileges a man may have. So he preaches. He finishes. He greets people. He hears feedback from the service or sermon. He goes home. Then he goes to bed. His work is done. In all actuality, his work may be done, but the real sermonic application wrought in the soul by the Spirit of God continues. But what does he pray for on Monday? How should be pray?

In this brief essay, I want to help by providing six ways that we as pastors might consider praying on Monday.

1. Pray with faith.
Men of God pray with faith. Prayer without faith is like a conversation without believing the person to whom you’re talking is listening. To pray without faith is to distrust God. After the truth of God has thundered forth, the minister’s work has not finished entirely. He still should pray. He should still pray in faith. He should pray and believe -- confidently believe -- that God is working and that He will work through the heralded Word. Even when there is little visible fruit and when the sermonic interaction after the service is meager or, at times, discouraging, the man of God must come to the throne of grace, in faith, with confidence, by the Spirit, to find mercy and grace for the soul.

2. Pray for eternal-mindset.
Rising early on Monday morning to meet with God is one of the most rewarding, refreshing and re-focusing events in a pastor’s week. He can quiet himself with his Bible and with his God and call upon his most-gracious and ever-available Father. On Mondays, the man of God must reorient the eyes of his heart to gaze upon eternity and to fix his attention upon the eternal truths that have been conveyed through the preaching event. In this early morning time of communion with the Lord, the minister of the gospel may pray that Christ would plunge his heart into the unlimited extremities of eternity as he remembers the high calling of pastoring, the unspeakable gravity of preaching, and the eternal worth of souls.

3. Pray for implementation.
The public work of proclamation is finished. On Monday morning, the pastor-shepherd knows that the private work of soul-application and personal-implementation amongst his flock is happening. There is a mighty, invisible, and often unknown work that God the Spirit is doing as He drives the preached Word deeper into the hearts of His people as they meditate on and re-preach the message to their own hearts. The man of God prays for great fruit in implementation. He earnestly and desperately begs God the Spirit to produce fruit from the preached Word. He is unsatisfied with a sermon with no effect. He prays for believers to be sanctified and to be seized by the glory of Christ. The true minister prays for His people to put the Word to practice through regular and heart-searching examine mixed with fervent resolutions to serve Christ and walk in nearness to Him.

4. Pray for families.
In meeting with the Lord in private prayer, the minister should remember to intercede on behalf of the families. He should pray that God would produce much fruit and bring much good from the preached Word as it continues to reverberate through the home throughout the upcoming week. The pastor should pray for the fathers of the church to be faithful in applying the Word to their own hearts and then to teach the Word faithfully to each of the children as appropriate given their ages. He should pray for the fathers to be leaders in repentance over sin, humility because of grace, and holiness in pursuing Christ. He should also bear up the mothers as they instill the divine truths into the hearts of the children as they teach and instruct them. He should intercede for the mothers to be strong in the unchanging character of God and in the supreme and powerful grace of Christ in the midst of busy and tiring days. He should pray for the children to heed what they’ve heard and to respond to what has been revealed from Scripture. He should pray for unity in the home and harmony in marriages. Let him pray for strong families!

5. Pray for vigilance.
Undoubtedly every minister is so prone to forget that an enemy rages against the souls of those to whom we minister. How easy to believe his subtle lies that we failed in preaching, that no good fruit could possibly come from such a weak exposition, that no one was paying attention and that no one cared because no one gave helpful feedback after the sermon! No! Don’t believe his lies. Every minister should meet with God on Monday before meeting with men to pray early and earnestly for vigilance -- for himself and for every soul in his flock. He must remain vigilant against the enemy’s schemes and he must intercede for the church that the believers may stand strong against the enemy and his wily and cunning darts that are sure to come. The shepherd is to pray that their faith would not stagger, that their trust would not waver, that their hope would not dwindle, and that their zeal would not wane. Let him pray -- and pray earnestly -- for protection from the evil one!

6. Pray for stirring.
Every shepherd wants the truth to penetrate deep into every heart so that the Spirit would bring greater holiness among the saved. For this reason, the minister presents faithful and fervent supplications to God asking that God would stir up His people to love Christ more, to follow Christ unreservedly, and to behold His beauties daily. The pastor should pray for the meat of the Word to provide the sustenance needed for the believers to walk in the good works that God has prepared for them. He should pray for a stirring up of God’s people to take hold of God in prayer, to disciple each other with God’s Word open, to involve themselves in intentional gospel-centered relationships, and to seek opportunities to care for one another in the flock. After he has emptied himself in the proclamation of God’s Word he knows that the people of God are filled full from the proclamation of God’s Word. So he prays for a Spirit-granted, Christ-enthralled, and God-fueled stirring up of the elect to win souls for Christ, to serve God with sacrifice, and to engage in private and public prayer. Let the ministers of the gospel rise early on Mondays -- weary from Sunday’s work and yet, perhaps, unsure of how God will exactly use His Word -- to meet with God in the joyous, heavenly, and heart-warming duty of prayer. The minister on his knees is a mighty weapon in God’s hand.

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Ideas for Prayer During Family Worship in Training the Children on How to Pray

Ideas for Prayer During Family Worship in Training the Children on How to Pray
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Family worship may be defined as the regular coming together of a family to worship God in song, in reading the Word, and in prayer. It doesn’t have to be long. Nor does it have to be flashy. It shouldn’t be a sermon; nor should it be boring and dull. Family worship should be done by every Christian household because God deserves to be worshiped, in our homes, by our families, led by fathers, every day.

In this article, I want to provide some ideas for fathers in leading in the prayer portion of family worship so as to train the children on how to pray by employing different forms of prayer.

• Adoration —  God is to be adored and praised by His people. To adore God means that His people extol His greatness and speak of His power and might. Families may adore God by speaking of His attributes and praising Him for who He is and what He has done.
• Triune God — Christians worship a Trinitarian God. We worship One God who eternally exists in three co-eternal, co-existing, co-equal Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. The Father could instruct the family of each member of the Trinity in their particular roles, for instance, in salvation. The Father elects. The Son redeems. The Spirit regenerates. The Father picked. The Son purchased. The Spirit preserves. Pray Trinitarian prayers!
• Thanksgiving — Families could spend much time, undoubtedly, in thanking God for many things. Families may remember how God protected them in hardship, how God delivered a family member’s life from a near-death experience. Families may thank God for providing the daily food, shelter, clothing, and salvation. Perhaps fathers may encourage the children to thank God for 2 or 3 things when it’s their turn to pray.
• Supplication — Scripture commands us to present our supplications to God. We can bring our petitions to God who promises to hear when His people pray. So ask! Seek! Knock! Fathers may instruct on how to ask and for what to ask. He can model how to pray in line with God’s will.
• Confession — All have sinned and, in the family, many have sinned against each other that very day. Use family worship not as a way of pridefully refraining from family worship out of shame but rather as an opportunity to confess sins to one another and to God. The father may choose to teach on what biblical forgiveness is and how it’s so important to repent of, confess, and forsake our sins. God hears and God lavishly forgives!
• Holiness — A family may choose to spend a night praying specifically for holiness. Perhaps it’s praying for a closer walk with Christ. Maybe the father prays for more patience, or more contentment, or a greater, more sacrificial love for his wife. A family could pray together for holiness and earnestly believe that God will be pleased to answer these prayers.
• Family (immediate, extended, church) — How many are the opportunities to pray for each other in the immediate family. Pray for every member in the household by name -- the youngest all the way to the oldest. Pray for grandparents, great-grandparents, and even relatives both near and far.
• Local Church — A marvelous way that fathers can lead in the home is to model for his wife and children the importance of praying for the local church. The family can pray for their pastor as he studies during the week, or for the protection of the flock from division, conflict, and strife. God’s people can pray for the families, marriages, widows, divorced. Families might pray for the hurting & downcast. Don’t forget to pray for greater power.
• Missions — The work of God and the gospel of grace spreads far beyond the immediate vicinity of the church. Teach your children this! Remind them that God’s fame extends to the ends of the globe. Pray for the persecuted. Pray for missionaries, by name, by region, specifically. Pray for fruit.
• Friends — Pray for your friends whom you know, love, and care for. Pray for your neighbors that you want to see come to Christ. Pray for those on the sports team (and coaches) to repent and believe. Pray for teachers, professors, acquaintances, co-workers and others to be drawn to Christ.
• Elders — Families should pray frequently for the shepherd-elders of their church. A father cannot instruct his children too much on the importance of godly leadership and integrity. Families can pray for the men to be above-reproach, faithful to their wives, pure, not given to anger, and not out of control. Families can pray for the elder-shepherds to lead the flock with wisdom & integrity before the eyes of God. Pray that God would give them joy.
• A-C-T-S — Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. This simple acronym can help fathers teach a simple model or pattern for prayer.
• Nation/leadership/president — The Word of God instructs all believers to pray, ‘first of all’, for leaders, and kings, and all those in authority. God’s people must not forget to pray for political authorities. Families must pray for God to save many and give godly leaders and to save from wicked, selfish leaders.
• Police/fire — Families can and should praise God that He has given law-enforcement to serve communities and to provide a safe environment for people. Fathers can teach the children to thank God for the police men and firefighters and all the paramedics and related personnel who seek to serve us. Praise God!
• Unsaved friends/neighbors — Undoubtedly you have unsaved friends and neighbors that observe you and your family interact. Perhaps as you sing on the back patio during family worship or have a church get together. Or maybe you have bible-studies in your home and the neighbors notice the get togethers. Pray that God would give you many opportunities to proclaim His glories and call the neighbors to forsake all and follow Christ to be saved from coming wrath. Pray specifically and by name.
• God’s attributes — Our God is unfathomably glorious and ineffably wise. He has revealed Himself to us. Fathers should teach children to remember who God is and to praise God for who He is. Pray through His attributes: God’s love, holiness, righteousness, mercy, wrath, grace, patience, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, aseity, immutability, faithfulness, eternality, Fatherhood, sovereignty, goodness. Remember! Pray! Reflect! Worship! Exalt! Glory! Savor Him! 

More articles can be found at VassalOfTheKing.com

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Praying for the Preaching of the Word.

Praying for the Preaching of the Word
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The high point of every week for a Christian rests in the public proclamation of Holy Scripture. This comprises the full meal that God provides for His people to sustain them, encourage them, reprove them, and comfort their souls till the next gathering. The preaching of the Word may be likened to going to a market. When God’s people gather together and hear the Word expounded, it is like the market day for the soul when the supply of spiritual food is richly and amply provided and the shelves are full of goods to nourish the child of God till the next feast day. If the Word preached has such a high place of importance in the Christian life, we must pray for the preaching of the Word.

This essay serves to provide seven simple aids to your prayers for the preaching.

1. Pray for UNCTION.
Preaching accomplishes good only in so far as the Spirit of God attends the going forth of divine truth with supernatural power. This Spirit-endowed, glorious effectual, and desperately needed power is what every preacher needs. It makes the message God’s message. This unction makes the arrows of truth sharp to penetrate the heart of the listener. Pray for unction! Seek God tirelessly and hold God to His Word. Unction comes as God’s people desperately ask for it. Ceaselessly ask for this power!

2. Pray for FAITHFULNESS.
Your minister has studied this week and the Word has soaked deep into the fabric of his soul. He knows his message and he knows what he must say. Pray that everything he says is faithful to the text of Scripture. Spend much time praying throughout the week as your shepherd isolates himself alone with God and with His Word. Pray that He would cut the Word straight and herald God’s meaning to God’s people and call for God-graced change in life!

3. Pray for SANCTIFICATION.
Preaching serves to declare God’s message from God’s Word to God’s people so as to produce Godlike and God-empowered change in the hearts and lives. The declaration of Holy Scripture is God’s primary means of growing the people of God. Just as a man regularly eats to stay nourished and healthy so a child of God regularly feeds on God’s preached Word to stay nourished, healthy, strong, and vigilant.

4. Pray for CONVERSION.
One of the primary vehicles that God employs in the everlasting saving of souls is the heralding of the King’s message. Pray for the minister to come with urgency in his bones and passion in his heart to proclaim Christ and Him crucified. Pray that Christ would be preached and that God would draw His elect through His sovereign Spirit.

5. Pray for EDIFICATION.
The body of Christ gathered is to be built up, strengthened, and established in the faith. The faith once for all handed down to the saints must be guarded, preached, protected, and obeyed. Pray for God to build up His people so that they would serve one another sacrificially, comfort one another heartfully, and counsel one another biblically. The people of God grow till all are fully mature in Christ. Pray to this end.

6. Pray for REVIVAL.
True revival comes when the Spirit of God sovereignly and mercifully awakens His people to the beauty of Christ, the power of prayer, and the urgency of soul-winning. Revival comes to the people of God who ask for it. Revival cannot be planned nor can God be coerced to bring  it. It comes as the people of God take hold of God in prayer, commit to holiness of life, prioritize preaching, and compel nonbelievers to embrace Christ through repentance of sin and faith in Him. As God revives His people so a true working of God will then affect the society.

7. Pray for HUMILITY.
God tells His people to receive the Word with humility. During the week leading up to the Lord’s day, pray for humility in your own heart to receive the preached Word with a meek and willing spirit, eager to follow Christ regardless of the sacrifice. You pray for your pastor to be humble and diligent in his study so can can preach well. May God’s people listen well also. Pray to never criticize the message, or the preacher, or be distracted away from the sermon. But pray that God would enable you to focus, show you where you need to change, and then make those changes through specific implementation of the truths declared from Scripture. Humbly receive conviction and grow by it.

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I Love My Church!

I LOVE MY CHURCH.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

I love the church. Christ is the Head over His church. He rules. He leads. He is our captain, our guard, our preserver, our protector and our provider. He saved us and He secures us. I absolutely love the church. If I could say this: I love my church. I don't mean that they belong to me; rather, I love the particular local assembly in which God has privileged me to shepherd and serve. I love the place where God has me. Perfect? No -- because I'm there! Is it without sin?  No -- because I'm still there! But I love the flock of God which has been chosen by God, beloved by Christ, quickened by the Spirit and which thus zealously desires to engage in good deeds. I love the church. This certainly is not exhaustive, but I want to provide 8 simple, brief reasons WHY I LOVE THE CHURCH.

I love the church because it is…

1. An assembly of believers bought with the blood of Christ.
The church consists of the community of the redeemed. Those for whom Christ died comprise the body of Christ. He redeemed them with His precious, spotless, eternal, unblemished blood. The church is a gathering of Christians.

2. An assembly of believers hungry for the preached Word.
Sheep must eat. If they don’t eat, they’ll be famished for a time and inevitably they’ll die. The people of God hunger for God’s Word since there they know they’ll find Christ, hear from Him, and grow. Believers want to be nourished!

3. An assembly of believers earnestly fighting sin & zealously pursuing holiness.
God’s chosen and beloved must put to death the former deeds of darkness and strive to replace those old habits with new, godly patterns of holiness. Christians fight sin & hate it. Christians pursue Christ and purity with fervency!

4. An assembly of believers devoted to fervent prayer privately and corporately.
Healthy relationships require good communication. It is no different with believers and God. God instructs believers to pray without ceasing & He provides manifold blessings upon congregations that gather to pray. God responds!

5. An assembly of believers committed to evangelism pleading for souls!
To be saved by God is to love His gospel of sovereign grace. God’s gospel is an ocean of love. Believers meditate on it. It also entails a passionate concern for others to know Christ, hear this gospel, and repent to be saved. Christians refuse to go to heaven alone. He whom the gospel has saved burns in his soul to take others with him to glory.

6. An assembly of believers captivated by Christ and compelled to live for Him!
Like the prophets of old, godly living is not satisfied with knowledge of God or mere obedience to God. The believer wants God & hungers for Christ Himself. Christ’s radiant beauties & perfect delights compel believers to live for Him!

7. An assembly of believers loving one another enough to serve, reprove, & encourage one another.
Like a servant looks to his master and like a child looks to his father, so every believer looks to Christ and longs to be like Him. Christians love as they’ve received love. They serve and encourage others as Christ has done to them. God’s people count it a joyful duty and rewarding delight to serve others & sacrificially love their neighbor!

8. An assembly of believers supportive of their shepherd-leaders.
Sheep depend on, love, follow, and need their shepherds. Just as Christ is the ultimate Shepherd, he has given under-shepherds to care for His people, to feed them by preaching and to care for their souls. God’s people love their shepherds, seek to know them, respect them, pray for them diligently, serve them happily, and make their shepherding a joy.

More articles can be found at VassalOfTheKing.com

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Audio-Commentary on the Mission of Christ Fellowship Bible Church (St. Louis, Missouri)

We've put together 7 brief audio clips providing a commentary on Christ Fellowship Bible Church's mission statement:

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.

 7-part audio fleshing out 'who we are' at CFBC—

1. We exist...  |  listen
2. To glorify God  |  listen
3. By preaching the Word  |  listen
4. Evangelizing the lost  |  listen
5. Discipling the saved  |  listen
6. Obeying Jesus Christ  |  listen
7. All by the power of the Spirit  |  listen

Here is the link to all of the AUDIOS here: http://bit.ly/1PTdytW

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The Plague of Busyness.

The Plague of Busyness
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

How often do we hear: “I’m too busy” or “I don’t have time for that” or “I have too much going on today!” Undoubtedly you’ve heard others say that but you have probably also said that yourself -- perhaps even today! Nothing is inherently sinful with being busy. But busyness can take our minds off of Christ, cloud our hearts from meditating on Him, distract us from serving our local church, and prevent us from communing with God in prayer and study of His Word. I ask you: has the busyness in your life become a plague that has caused you to lose your wonder of God’s magnificence, the privilege of bathing in Jesus’ ravishing and redeeming love, and the supernatural power available to you through the power, filling, and fellowship with the Spirit?

How Busy is Too Busy?
You’re busy. I’m busy. Everyone is busy. But how busy is too busy? How do you know whether you’re too busy? Is it possible to even tell? Perhaps you reflect on the recent past and wonder where your awe of God went. It may be that you ponder the past year of your life and contemplate how it happened that you’ve distanced yourself from your local church. You’re not as involved as you once were. You’re not meeting with anyone for discipleship and accountability. You do read the Bible -- but it can become quite rushed. You do pray -- but it often seems cold, lifeless, powerless, and just doing it to ‘do it.’ Ever been there? How busy are you? How much do you have going on in life? With what do you busy yourself? Perhaps a simple way of thinking of this: I’m too busy when I don’t intentionally make time to meditate on Scripture and actively invest in my local church.

What Occupies My Time?
What occupies your twenty-four hours of the day? Everyone has the same amount of time. The question is: with what do you fill it? Sleep? Eating? Work? Health programs? Sports? TV? Social media? Commuting? Take inventory and consider how you spend every minute of every hour of every day? Do you redeem it for Christ? We should! Our blessed Lord tells us to redeem the time because the days are evil. Every minute we live is a gracious gift from our God for us to live for His supreme glory and not our narcissistic pleasures. Let us live for Christ! Do you watch TV for one hour per day? Do you invest 5-10 hours per week in sports? Do you go to the gym and work out daily for an hour? Do you peruse Facebook or other social media with consistency? Consider. Think. Meditate. Don’t be too busy to examine how busy you really are. What occupies your time and your hours? Be specific and be honest.

What are My Priorities?
You do what’s important to you. You make time for what you deem the priority. A man who worships sports will do anything and everything to get home in time to watch ‘that game’ or to go to that ‘event’. There are many parents who so indulge their children in the ‘god of game’ that they spend hours each day playing sports to the neglect of spiritual instruction, family worship, and praising God in the home. This is not to pit sports and spirituality against each other. But often the god of sports has triumphed in our hearts and removed Christ from the ravishing delight of centrality in our minds. Do you prioritize sleep? Do you sleep your weekends away? Do you prioritize movies and entertainment? Do you stay up late watching certain things that you can’t arise early the next morning to awaken the dawn with your praises to God’s most worthy Name? Do you work so long and so hard that you’re unwilling to exert energy to go to the prayer meeting of your local church? Everyone has priorities and everyone makes time to do what is important to them. Examine your heart and your life.

Guarding from the Distraction of Busyness.
Good things that become God things are sinful things. When something that is good becomes a heart-craving and a ‘need’ in someone’s life, that good thing has become an idol, and thus, it is a god-thing. There are many things that occupy our hearts -- many, if not all, of which are profitable and good. But when ‘things’ and ‘stuff’ and ‘good blessings’ crowd our lives, occupy our hearts, distract us from Christ, usurp all our energies, we have veered off course and are in need to stop, consider what has gone wrong, and make adjustments. Praise God for His clear Word that guides us as believers to guard our hearts, manage our time well, and live maximally for Christ’s glory! Let us never forget that in Jesus’ parable of the soils, the third soil that he describes — the seed that was sown among thorns — lives a life ‘distracted with other things’. It’s not only sinful things that keep people out of heaven. It’s good things that become god things that prevent multitudes from entering heaven.

The Nonnegotiable Priorities.
So what can we do? How can we take inventory and guard our hearts, our lives, and our time? Here are some guiding thoughts and some essential priorities to ensure that we have in our lives. Whatever else a child of God may neglect, let him not neglect these important, nonnegotiable priorities. I’ll list four.

1) HEARING FROM GOD BY READING SCRIPTURE.
You probably don’t go most days without eating food. In fact, like most of us, you probably eat multiple meals a day. You need it! You enjoy it! You take pleasure in it! How much more must man live not by physical bread for our bodies but by the spiritual food — the Bread of Heaven — for our souls. To live a healthy, flourishing, joy-filled, Christ-centered life, all believers must hear from God as they read Holy Scripture. Eternal life is to know God and to know Christ! Knowing God comes as we allow the Word of God to dwell richly within us. Let us put off anything that crowds out our private, intimate times of hearing from God as we read, study, examine, apply, and memorize His precious Word. Like an eye-gripping, beautiful garden, God’s Word has sweet flowers of delight, sweet fragrances of divine comfort, and endless buds to stop and consider, look at, and smell and enjoy to the fullest! Let us hear from God by reading His Word.

2) COMMUNING WITH GOD IN EARNEST PRAYER.
No Christian grows apart from prayer. What a man is on his knees before God, that is what he really is, and no other. A man may have riches, prosperity, prestige, fame, and influence but if he has not regular, fervent, prioritized, and heart-warming times of fellowship with God in prayer, he has much to learn in the Christian journey. Prayer is the holy incense that takes the sacrifice of our lives up to heaven. Prayer is the soul’s converse with heaven. To neglect prayer is to forfeit strength. To minimize prayer is to depend on self. To abandon prayer is to welcome backsliding. A man falls on his knees in private before he falls into great sin in public. A man who does not pray in private is on the highway to backsliding and sinful living. Let us wage war with the devil, with temptation, yes indeed, with our own hearts and fleshly desires! Let us commune with our gracious Father, our merciful Savior, and our comforting Spirit! Let us approach God’s holy throne as Christ Himself always intercedes for us as the Spirit of God takes our prayers to God for us.

3) INVOLVING YOURSELF RELENTLESSLY TO YOUR LOCAL CHURCH.
To follow Christ as one’s Head means that the Christian joins himself to Christ’s body, the Church. Just as a bodily limb cannot live severed from the body, so impossible is it for a Christian to live severed from a local assembly of believers. Don’t allow the busyness of life — sports, TV, social media, laziness, work, vacations — seize you from the precious Bride of Christ! You need the Church! A local church should reside as the centerpoint of the believer’s life. Biblically, what we observe in Acts is that the believers made the community of believers, preaching, evangelism, and prayer the nucleus, the hub, the priority, the nonnegotiable priority in their lives. God used it. He matured them. They suffered much! He was glorified. Whatever you do: mortify the temptation and part with the thought that you don’t need Christ’s Church! You do!

4) MEDITATING ON TRUTH & EXAMINING YOUR SPIRITUAL CONDITION.
In an astounding verse at the end of 2 Corinthians, Paul writes to a church of believers and pastorally exhorts them to ‘examine themselves and see whether they’re in the faith’ (2 Cor 13.5). Believers must take spiritual inventory regularly. Where is there sin? Where am I being tempted? Where am I loving self more than loving Christ? Where are my idols? Am I hiding any sin at all in a private corner of my life? Am I loving the brethren? Am I walking in obedience to the truth as I practice righteousness? Am I believing the truth about Christ while submitting to Him and following Him? Let us examine our souls.



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What Is a Christian?

WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN?
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

A Christian has been redeemed by the blood of Christ and lives for the renown of Christ. He has submitted to, lives surrendered to, and is sanctified to his God. A Christian comes after Christ and denies himself, takes up his cross daily and follows Christ (Luke 9:23). In this brief write-up, I will elaborate on the question: what is a Christian?

A Christian is a...

1. Holy man.
A Christian is positionally holy for he has been united to Christ by faith and because of His new heart, and his new position before God, and His new nature granted by divine favor, he longs to live out in his conduct what he has become in his position. He repents of his sin and trusts in Christ. He is positionally righteous and justified because He is in Christ and he longs to live a holy, set apart, distinct, Christ-filled, Christ-enthralled, Christ-centered, and Christ-pursuing life. He hates sin & loves his God!

2. Prayerful man.
A true Christian is a praying man. If a man does not pray to God, then he does not know God and therefore is not a Christian. Prayer is the lifeblood of the believer. It is the pulse that reveals whether there is life or not. Prayer is communion with God and the believer cannot get enough of this. He quiets himself to meet with God, pour out his heart before God, thank God for salvation, pray for greater holiness, and intercede for God’s people. Christians pray.

3. Serious man.
Christians understand that eternity is fast approaching for everyone. The believer in Christ cannot contain the joy he has that Christ has borne his hell and satisfied divine wrath. And because of this, he lives with a holy pursuit, with a holy seriousness, with a holy vengeance for purity, for godliness, for truth, for Christ. He fights in the Christian life with a holy earnestness and a serious demeanor. He doesn’t trifle with life. He is serious about life & about His God.

4. Evangelistic man.
A soul that Christ has redeemed is a soul that earnestly longs for others to go to heaven and escape divine punishment. O how Christians long to save souls! Christians know what they’re saved from, and who they’re saved by, and what they’re saved to, and they long to proclaim this gospel and plead with others to repent and trust Christ.

5. Worshiping man.
God seeks those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. That means that God seeks true worshipers. A true Christian worships God. To worship is to respond to God’s revelation about Himself with awe, praise, wonder, and obedience. A Christian worships God as a way of life and repents when he sins. A Christian loves to worship and longs for heaven. He communes with God in His Word and as God reveals Himself there, the believer responds with joy, obedience, proclamation, awe, and integrity.

6. Churchgoing man.
No true Christian abandons Christ’s body, the Church. All true Christians join themselves to Christ as the Head and His body, the Church. A Christian longs to be with God’s people. He cannot get enough of the faithful, biblical preaching of the Word, corporate worship with God’s people, prayer, singing, fellowship, and the ordinances. A Christian loves Christ and Christ’s body.

7. Humble man.
Nothing is more antithetical for a redeemed sinner by grace than to live with pride. Pride is the first sin, the root of all sin, and the devil’s sin. Pride is anti-God and, of course, God hates pride. A Christian is humble because he knows what he deserves and he has received God’s grace in Christ and thus he lives humbly. He lives near the cross. He hides in His Christ. He is lowly.

8. Expectant man.
A Christian knows that salvation is nearer now than when he first believed. Christ will return quickly. He is near! He diligently labors for his Master and he watchfully anticipates the any-moment coming in the clouds. O the man of God is a man of eternity! He expects heaven! He longs for heaven! He longs for his Christ. He hopes for heaven for there he’ll see his God.

More articles can be found at vassaloftheking.com

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Arrows.

ARROWS.
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

Psalm 127:4 — "Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.

1. Children, like arrows, are sharp, powerful & can accomplish great things! An arrow, carefully and diligently sharpened, can accomplish powerful results if shot rightly, powerfully, accurately, and precisely. Let us remember that our children, in a similar way, can accomplish great tasks and effect tremendous results if we would sharpen them diligently and in biblically.

2. Children, like arrows & unlike a sword, can go where the warrior cannot go (v.4)!  Parents must remember that our children can go to places in the world, in the region, in the city that we ourselves are unable to go. Just as an arrow that flies from the hand of the warrior goes swiftly to a location where the warrior himself cannot go, so our children can accomplish great things far and wide!

3. Children, like arrows, are to be offensive weapons to fight battles that are afar off & coming (v.4)!  Arrows in the hand of a warrior are never defensive weapons. Never does a mighty man sharpen an arrow just to hide it in his quiver. Rather, he readies his arrows and his mind so that when danger approaches, he stands ready to engage in combat. In a similar way, even now there may be battles that are afar off and over the horizon, but give it time and the combat will draw near. Let us prepare our children for battle!

4. Children, like arrows, must be deployed by God who knows how to use them best (v.4)!  Ultimately, the arrow is in the power and under the prerogative of the mighty warrior. The arrow does not pick and choose and aim and fire itself. Rather, the warrior lets it go. Ultimately, we as parents aren’t ‘Ultimate Warriors’, God is! God must deploy them for He knows how to use our arrows best.

5. Children, like arrows, must be straightened to be powerful thru discipline (v.4)!  A warrior preparing for combat straightens his arrows so that there are no rough patches on the shaft. It must be strong, powerful, able to penetrate, and certainly not flimsy. Likewise, we must straighten, fortify, and establish our children to be powerful and resolute through discipline and fervent instruction.

6. Children, like arrows, must be sharpened thru instruction, teaching (v.4)!  A warrior could pick the most sturdy instrument for the arrow but if the head is dull, it will accomplish no good. Let us sharpen our children, like arrows, constantly, fervently, intentionally, biblically, and theologically so that they are sharp in their knowledge of God, His ways, His Word, and how to live for His glory!

7. Children, like arrows, must be aimed/directed for the future thru sharing the faith, vision, future, truth, gospel (v.4)!  If a mighty man of war does not put himself in a ready position for battle with his arsenal readily available and his arrows at his disposal for future battle he is a warrior that is soon to perish. Let us direct our children toward Christ and prepare them for the long-haul to serve Him as we proclaim the essentials of faith, the ultimate passion for God’s glory and the necessity of a life of integrity.

8. Children, like arrows, should be aware of how powerful they are & the effect they can have (for the Master's use) (v.4)!  Arrows can kill. They can penetrate deep below the skin and can kill the enemy or, if wrongly utilized, can harm oneself or a friend. Let children understand that they are powerful beings made in God’s image and yet they can have such a mighty and powerful impact for the Master’s use. Let us employ them and send them as powerful instruments in the Redeemer’s hands!

9. Children, like arrows, must be aimed at the bullseye (salvation of their souls) thru constant evangelization with grace-driven, Christ-exalting urgency!  No matter how skilled and professional a warrior may be, if he aims at nothing, he’s sure to hit it. O let parents learn this truth! We must aim and direct our children to hit the bulls-eye. The bulls-eye of childrearing is the gospel of Jesus Christ. We want our children to know the gospel, comprehend the gospel, believe this gospel, surrender their lives to obey this gospel, follow Jesus Christ, and live confidently and courageously for Him regardless of the cost and even to the point of death.

10. Children, like arrows, must be let go & leave the bow (home) (v.4)!  No front-line warrior would ever attend vigilantly to his arrows in the home and then refuse to release the arrow in the demanding moments of warfare. In similar way, parents must prepare to release and send them!

11. Children, like arrows, once shot in warfare cannot be retrieved -- so make every moment count! (v.4)!  In combat, warriors never would cross into enemy territory to retrieve the already-shot arrows. Once fired, they’re gone. Parents must redeem the time, making the most of every opportunity to point our children to Christ and to lovingly urge them to surrender to Him! Let us daily teach, faithfully model, and woo them to Christ!

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O Satisfy Us in the Morning with Your Steadfast Love [Ps 90:14].

O SATISFY US IN THE MORNING WITH YOUR STEADFAST LOVE
—A meditation on Psalm 90:14—
Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Christ Fellowship Bible Church

The Text of Ps 90:14—
Hebrew:
‏שַׂבְּעֵנוּ בַבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ וּנְרַנְּנָה וְנִשְׂמְחָה בְּכָל־יָמֵינוּ׃
Author’s Translation:
“O satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love so that we will sing for joy and we will be glad all our days!”

What does it mean to be satisfied in God’s love in the morning? In this wisdom psalm, Moses records the everlasting nature of God, the brevity of man’s life and the thrilling reality that God’s love remains constant all through the lives of His people. In fact, Moses prayed: O satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast, covenant-keeping love [‏חֶסֶד, hesed]. But what does it look like for us as God’s people to be satisfied with God’s love? What needs to happen? Where do we begin?

Here, I’ll provide six brief remarks about God’s great love for us! Let us satisfy our souls in Him each morning afresh.

God’s Steadfast Love [‏חֶסֶד, hesed] Is An...

1. Undying love.
The love that God has for His people is an everlasting love that endures forever. That’s why the psalmists proclaim so frequently that “His love [‏חֶסֶד, hesed] endures forever” (see, e.g., Ps 136). As eternal as God Himself is in all of His fullness, so eternal is the mighty love of God. It never dies or fades. It never ends or terminates. It won’t ever end!

2. Undeserved love.
Sinners lived lives of sin and God’s love was unwelcomed and unwanted from the sinner’s perspective who loved his sin and plunged into self-centered living. But when the kindness and love of God appeared, He graciously saved His elect, whom He had foreknown and predestined from eternities ago! There is nothing that we have to attribute our salvation to other than the undeserved love of our God. His love triumphed over our stubbornness and conquered!

3. Unfathomable love.
No earthly creature ever could fathom and exhaust the fullness of divine richness encompassed in His almighty and infinite love. No one can define fully or comprehend totally the infinite extremities and everlasting blessings that will flow from God’s mighty mercy to all of His creatures individually. He lovingly plunges all His people into His everlasting love now and to eternity.

4. Unrelenting love.
Our love wanes. So often our love grows cold. But God’s love never fades nor does it ever diminish in power and in force. The covenant-keeping love of God never relents or minimizes. What a mind-boggling and thrilling thought: the same love that God wondrously had in eternity past in electing us to be His own forever is the same love that He has now for us and the same love that He will have forevermore as we dwell with Him in everlasting glory! Like an overwhelming, mighty, ever-flowing waterfall rushing down with unstoppable and unrelenting force, so great is God’s love for all of His people whom He loves in Christ.

5. Unconditional love.
The love of God is free, rich, undeserved, and not contingent on our behavior! Did you hear that. Never does God say I’ll love you if…” or “I’ll keep loving you only if you measure up….” Those who are united to Christ by faith have the fullness of God’s love without end, without condition, without limitation, without hesitation, with everlasting duration! What a glorious love!

6. Unsurpassed love.
Nothing in all the world can surpass the strong and saving love of Christ! No creature has loved like this nor could any creature ever conjure up enough strength to love like this. It comes fully from God and triumphs all other loves! His love surpasses all other loves and dwarfs all other expressions of love that men could ever display. O the love of God conquers all loves and wins the heart with its supreme, other-worldly, heart-winning, and soul-ravishing love. Satisfy yourself in this divine love each morning!


More articles can be found at: www.vassaloftheking.com

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Pastoral Advice...

If I were asked to provide advice to people in various seasons of life, what would I say? If I could only give one brief word of counsel to believers in various life-situations, what would I say?

1. Advice to MILLENNIALS [20's and 30's]  |  audio

2. Advice to ENGAGED PEOPLE  |  audio

3. Advice to HUSBANDS  |  audio

4. Advice to WIVES  |  audio

5. Advice to CHILDREN  |  audio

6. Advice to PASTORS/ELDERS  |  audio

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The Slavery of Unforgiveness

Helpful comments by John MacArthur on Unforgiveness:

"Unforgiveness imprisons people in their past and makes those they refuse to forgive their jailers. Those who refuse to forgive continually pick at an open wound, never allowing it to heal. Having chosen to embrace hate, they become tortured prisoners of the offense and the offender. Such behavior is foolish, lacks common sense and is self-destructive. It consumes unforgiving people’s lives, robs them of their well-being, and deprives them of happiness and joy."

— John MacArthur, Luke 11-17, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, p.42

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The Exposition & Application of the "Disciples' Prayer" in Luke 11:1-4 [eBook]

This week to help with my sermon preparation, I've compiled some thoughts in an expositional and applicational eBook: "The Exposition & Application of the 'Disciples' Prayer' [Luke 11:1-4].

You may read/download it HERE.

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"A Godly Home" — Understanding What God Says On Issues Related to Home/Family Life.

At Christ Fellowship Bible Church, we just concluded a series called: "A Godly Home" where we looked at God's Word on various issues related to home/family life so as to understand God's perspective and to glean God's wisdom on the family.


A GODLY HOME teaching series at Christ Fellowship:

1. Introduction to the series: "A Godly Home"  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland
 
2. The meaning of marriage (Genesis 2)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland

3. The husband's duties to his wife (Ephesians 5:25-33)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland

4. The wife's duties to her husband (Ephesians 5:22-24)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland

5. Godly communication in the marriage (Selected Scriptures)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland

6. The intoxicating delight of sexual intimacy in marriage (Selected Scriptures)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland

7. Forgiveness in a godly marriage (Matthew 18:21-35)  |  audio
Randy Kirkland

8. The goals of Christian parenting, part 1  (Selected Scriptures)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland
 
9. The biblical method for parenting: bring your children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland

10. Family worship  (Selected Scriptures)  |  audio
Jason Woelm
 
11. Your singleness & undistracted devotion to Christ (Luke 2:36-38)  |  audio
Geoff Kirkland
 
Download the full PDF notes from all the sessions  |  pdf

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