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....
It seems altogether probable that the apostle John refers to himself as "the disciples whom Jesus loved" and "another disciple" for two reasons. In the first place, the fourth Gospel is focused on love as the motivation of Christ in the work of redemption. In other words, John is insistent on centering on the theme of the love of Christ for His people. This is why he says ...
Keep ReadingB.B. Wafield, the great Princeton theologian of the late 19th and early 20th Century, wrote and published a small pamphlet titled A Brief and Untechnical Statement of the Reformed Faith, in which he set down--in 13 points--the central truths of the system of doctrine known as "Reformed Theology." Perhaps this pamphlet will again be a helpful guide, as the nomenclature is b...
Keep ReadingThe most recent audio and video from New Covenant Presbyterian's Sunday service is now online. You can listen to and download the audio here. You can watch the video here. Jesus Lives, and So Shall I (Acts 9:32-43) ...
Keep ReadingJason Helopoulas has an outstanding post on reasons why people should and should not leave a church. I would only add to his list one more reason people have a legitimate reason to leave: "If the minister is unwilling to work hard to feed the sheep with the pure milk and the meat of the word. If the sheep are not being fed through solid, textual, Gospel-centered preaching-...
Keep ReadingMy good friend Gabe Fluhrer is leaving Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC to head to WTS in Philadelphia to begin his Ph.D. studies. Gabe is an outstanding example of a Reformed, Gospel-centered, expositional preacher. You can listen to his farewell sermon here. You can listen to other messages he has preached at Second Pres. here. We wish him the richest b...
Keep ReadingMatthew Blair has set up a daily email devotional from Octavius Winslow's Morning Thoughts and Evening Thoughts. If you have not read any Winslow you will be greatly blessed by his Christ-centered, rich, devotional meditations. You can learn more about this project and sign up for these free email devotionals here....
Keep ReadingLast week marked the beginning of a 6 part series on "Defending the Faith" for the midweek study at New Covenant Presbyterian Church. While it is somewhat unconventional to deal with the issue of jihad and the Christian in a series on apologetics, I wanted to tie the reality of the herem warfare of the Old Testament to the Holy War in which the Christian is continually eng...
Keep ReadingOur friend Jeff Downs has recently posted a series of lectures by Dr. Joseph Pipa and Dr. Richard Gaffin offered at a 1998 conference on Reformed hermeneutics and homiletics. You can find it here....
Keep ReadingWe recently interviewed Anthony Selvaggio on Christ the Center with regard to Redemptive-historical and Applicatory Preaching. The interview contains many helpful thoughts with regard to hermeneutical principles, preparation and plagiarism. You can listen to the episode here. The interview began with a discussion of Anthony's Reformation 21 article Preaching to People?...
Keep ReadingMy friend Andrew Cherry is planning on being an RUF intern at Georgia Southern University. He will be working along side of Rev. Sammy Rhodes. Andrew is an exceptionally gifted artist who is leaving a substantial job in Los Angeles to serve the Lord in Statesboro, GA. If you can give him any financial support, I assure you that it will be used for the advancement of the Ki...
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