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."...
Andreas Kostenberger and Michael Kruger have presented to the Christian world a fascinating account, and rebuttal, of an old idea that seems to keep rearing its ugly head. In The Heresy of Orthodoxy: How Contemporary Culture's Fascination with Diversity Has Reshaped Our Understanding of Early Christianity the authors address the Bauer thesis and its more recent ado...
Keep ReadingI have been reading quite a lot lately about how the Bible is a story or narrative and not a book of propositions.  I have not found this a convincing reading of the situation. It is, to put the matter bluntly, a false dilemma. The Bible is both propositional and a story. It is both factual and dramatic. Let's try a thought experiment. Let's ask our...
Keep ReadingOver at Bring the Books, Adam Parker has a series of posts in which he reviews Craig Koester's Revelation and the End of All Things. Koetser is Professor of New Testament at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. You can find a list of the books that Dr. Koester has written, together with audio resources here. What makes Revelation and the End of All Things unique is the fact th...
Keep ReadingThis year's pre-conference for Ligonier Ministries' National Conference centered on the biblical approach to social media. Overall it was a very beneficial conference. Ed Stetzer, Al Mohler, Burk Parsons, and Tim Challies did a good job of helping people think through how the church can best use technology for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. You can watch the videos h...
Keep ReadingOne important questions in theology is whether or not Adam was in a state of sonship prior to the fall. The answer to this question has direct implications on our understanding of God, the covenant of works, and the nature of soteriological blessings. Sinclair Ferguson has an exceedingly helpful article titled, "The Reformed Doctrine of Sonship" in Pulpit People: Essays i...
Keep ReadingI wish I had a better sense of humor--and ability to use it in the pulpit--for the purpose of grabbing people's attention. Can a minister go too far in this? Absolutely; but there is an effective and, I believe, beneficial use of humor in the pulpit that often gets dismissed out of hand. Having listened to Mark Driscoll's sermons on the life of Jacob and Joseph, I have to ...
Keep ReadingThe audio and video from the June 20, 2010 worship service at New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 9:1-22 and the title, "The Glorious Conquest." You can download and listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below: The Glorious Conquest...
Keep ReadingThe book of Job gives us a glimpse of the majesty of God and His works in a manner unsurpassed among the patriarchal revelation. Reformed theologians, throughout the history of the church, have drawn the conclusion that the revelation of God, recorded in the book of Job, comes from an era immediately prior to the days of Abraham. C. C. Jones, in his magnificent biblical th...
Keep ReadingIt was said of Thomas Halyburton, the great Scottish theologian of the late seventeenth century, that "he abhorred that unedifying converse that is spent in frequent and unseasonable jesting...so common with many, though he was abundantly facetious [humorous] in company, when and where he saw it expedient; and this way sometimes he has dropped what tended to edify. Those w...
Keep ReadingI have loved the study of doctrine since I came to faith in Christ. I couldn't help but eagerly seek to learn all about the faith I had come to embrace. Yes, it is true. I had been raised in a Christian home. Indeed, in the home of a pastor. I am a "pastor's brat" as some like to say. So for almost 27 years I have made the study of God's Word and it...
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