A Site for the Teaching Ministry of Nick Batzig
When I sit back and read the deluge of thoughts and opinions online about what the church ought to be doing, I sense a noticeable lack of focus on the Gospel. In the many twitter rants that recur on a daily basis, there is a discernible deficiency with regard to Scripture and the Gospel. ...
It is the common lot of those God has called into gospel ministry to become discouraged on account of the challenges and trials that come from serving as a pastor. I can almost always sense when a brother is weighed down by the pressures, demands, and discouragements that come with serving as a pastor of a congregation, because I have known them throughout my own pastoral service. The apostle Paul intimated the challenges that pastors face in the church when he added to the external opposition he experienced from the unbelieving world the care that he had for the church. He wrote, "apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:28). So what are ministers to do when they feel overwhelmed by the discouragements of ministry?...
We are meant to know that Jesus had to remain silent when he was judged so that we might have our mouths shut before the just tribunal of God. Then, having heard the sentence exacted against the spotless lamb of God, believers might open their mouths in praise to God for all the ways that He has removed their transgressions and the righteous condemnation that stood against us for Christ's sake. The silence of condemnation belonged to Jesus that praise for justification might be ours. ...
Sadly, many professing believers approach the gifts of the Spirit by overvaluing the idea of the miraculous spiritual gifts (e.g., tongues, prophecy, healing) and undervalue the common spiritual gifts (e.g., salvation and sanctifying fruit). Holding faulty views of the miraculous spiritual gifts is usually due to a failure to grasp the redemptive-historical purpose of the gifts. When we come to understand the biblical teaching about the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and the ordinary gifts of the Spirit, we will better value the greater and continuing gifts in the life of the church today....
When each of the Old Covenant signs (i.e., the rainbow, Sabbath, circumcision, and the Passover) are viewed in light of the fulfillment of all that they typified, we come to understand a great deal about the work of Christ...
As we enter a new year with new personal goals and desires, the Lord wants His people to commit to Christian living among the members of the body. We must resist the urge to look to practices and programs in the local church to live out the Christian life or do the work of ministry for us. Our God has given us the enormous privilege and responsibility of diligently living out, daily, our Christian lives in Christ. Let’s commit ourselves to the practice of seeking to live the organic Christian life in the context of the local church to which we belong. ...
The reason why Mary sang a song of humility is because she was focusing on what God was doing to provide the Savior she needed. Mary had been waiting on God to fulfill the promises that He had made throughout the Old Testament era. Mary doesn't speak of herself or her privileges because Mary was focused on her need for redemption. ...
We rightly wonder of the coming of the eternal Son of God into the world in true human form while wrongly neglecting to wonder at the accompanying role of the Spirit of God in the ministry of the Redeemer....
In many of life’s circumstances, we struggle to understand how we will come to attain the promises of God, forgetting that their fulfillment is entirely based on the person and work of Christ. Jesus has secured an everlasting joy, an inheritance of hope for His people through His death and resurrection. Though we do not now see all that he has for us, we wait for him with patience. We are to be a people who trust in and wait for Christ in faith....
Our friends at Crossway Publishers have recently published this new book entitled War, Peace, and Christianity: Questions and Answers from a Just War Perspective which can be obtained here. It is authored by Timothy J. Demy and J. Daryl Charles. Given the state of the nation and the world this is a timely offering. Readers will be interested to know that th...
Keep ReadingToday has been an emotionally draining day. Today I visited with my mom and dad and continue to see the signs of aging multiply before my eyes. My mother has been having health problems off and on all her life and during these last few years they have been more on than off. Last winter she entered the hospital with a life threatening condition. Thankfully t...
Keep ReadingI was very blessed to have grown up around such men as Cornelius Van Til, John H. Skilton, Theophilus Herter and Milton Fisher. The Lord shaped my thinking on what Scripture is, and how God preserved it, from my earliest days. After I was converted, I began to diligently study the doctrine of inerrancy, the canon, and the apocryphal books. I had many questions, and was det...
Keep ReadingJon Nielson has an excellent post, over at the Gospel Coalition Blog, about the benefits of modeling an expository ministry to the youth in the church. You can read it here. I could not agree more....
Keep ReadingNick posted a great video of Tim Keller speaking about how the Bible is mainly about Jesus Christ and His finished work. Â Here is a copy of the basic transcript of that helpful video. Â Christ is all! Tim Keller said: "Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures." (Luke 24:27) Jesus is...
Keep ReadingThe audio and video from the Sunday Morning Worship Service at New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 12:25-13:12, and the title, "The Mission of God is the God of Missions." You can listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below: http://vimeo.com/14550461...
Keep ReadingThere is a disastrous discontentment that permeates the very fabric of our being. This can be seen throughout the many and varied experiences of our lives. Solomon spoke of it in Ecclesiastes 1:8, "The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. " Paul learned how to be content in all things, but he had to learn it. Contentment is not a natural incli...
Keep ReadingWell, that is only partly true. The Bible actually has a lot to say about you, to you and for you; but, the Bible is fundamentally about "Jesus Christ and Him crucified." How then can we understand the substance of the Scriptures as God understands it? Tim Keller does a good job of briefly explaining what the Bible is about in the video below: http://www.youtube.com/watch...
Keep ReadingTullian Tchividjian has a helpful post over at his blog, On Earth As It Is In Heaven titled "We are One." In it, Tullian takes an opportunity to teach a valuable lesson based on the recent development in his church. Coral Ridge has recently combined two worship services separated by distinctive, generational music styles. I was most impacted by Tullian's warning agains...
Keep ReadingI have been extremely blessed to have studied theology under some outstanding theologians. One of those professors was Dr. Nick Willborn. Now serving as minister of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Oak Ridge, TN. you listen to his sermons here. You can find several of his lectures here....
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