A Site for the Teaching Ministry of Nick Batzig
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....
While recent developments concerning the state of Israel have given us reason to revisit this subject--it would do us good to be settled in our minds about the fact that all who are united to Jesus by faith have been made children of Abraham and heirs of God (Gal. 3:29). Believers are the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem (Phil. 3:20). This is the only Jerusalem that ultimately matters. As John Newton put it, "Solid joys and lasting treasures, none but Zion's children know."...
Sometimes it seems as if I will never finish the book I am currently working through. This is definitely the case with my bedtime reading. But in the last few days I have concluded reading three different books that I would like to note. Do not fret. This is not my usual practice. But these books deserve some sort of honorable mention. The first ite...
Keep ReadingPhil Ryken preached his farewell sermon at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia this past Sunday. You can watch the video of the entire service below. You can listen to his final sermon at Tenth here. Dr. Ryken's last Sunday Worship Service as Sr. Minister of Tenth from Tenth Presbyterian Church on Vimeo....
Keep ReadingJesus told his disciples that the sons of this world are more shrewd than the sons of light (Luke 16:8). I don't know whether this guy is a son of this world or a son of light, but he certainly exemplifies ingenuity. HT: Nan Whitney (my ingenious sister)...
Keep ReadingAs I was reading through James Anderson's intriguing volume Paradox in Christian Theology I came across this citation from Cyril of Alexandria that reminds me that the so-called "extra Calvinisticum" (the idea that the Son of God is not circumscribed by or limited to the human body of Jesus Christ) is not the property of the Reformed wing of the church but was the view of ...
Keep Reading“And you hath he now also reconciled, that were in times past strangers, and enemies, because your minds were set on evil works.†Nicholas Byfield’s (1579-1622) Exposition upon the Epistle to the Colossians (1615/1628 3rd ed.) was regarded by Spurgeon as wordy but worth consulting. He’s right on both counts. Writing in the context of controversy wit...
Keep ReadingNicholas T. Batzig Books Batzig, Nicholas T., "Edwards, Maclaurin and the Transatlantic Concert of Prayer" in Minkema, Neale, and Van Andel ed. Jonathan Edwards and Scotland 2010 Tabletalk Pastoral Perspective: The Fine Line – This article, written for Table Talk magazine, gives consideration to the issue of ministerial authority in matters of faith and worship are cons...
Keep ReadingTim Keller has a very useful post, over at the Redeemer City to City Blog, in which he pulls a number of Lloyd-Jones quotes expressing the necessity and danger of being intentionally doctrinal. You can read it here....
Keep ReadingWhen I began the work of church planting I had absolutely no idea what to expect. We had no core group, and I only knew one person in the town to which we were called. It's all too common to read church planting blogs, manuals and articles, in which the authors speak of the pressing need to reach the "un-churched" in your community with the Gospel. This is something we see...
Keep ReadingJonathan Edwards, in one of his most interesting entries in his Notes on Scripture, drew a typological connection between the actions and words of Jacob and Joseph, in their deaths, and the promise of Jesus immediately prior to His death. He wrote: Genesis 48:21 "And Israel said to Joseph, 'Behold, I die, but God shall be with you.'" So Joseph, when he was near his death, ...
Keep ReadingThe videos from the 2010 Ligonier National Conference are now available online for streaming. The title of this year's conference was "Tough Questions Christians Ask." You can find the index of all the videos here. I would especially recommend the following talks: Derek Thomas If God is Good, How Could He Command Holy War? Derek Thomas How Do We Know Which Interpretation i...
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