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."...
There seems to be a connection between Jonah and Saul of Tarsus. Both were nationalistic zealots. Both thought they deserved the grace of God. Both were called to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles; and both had to be dealt with in an extraordinary manner. Jonah was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth prior to being sent to the Gentiles. Saul of Tarsus was...
Keep ReadingGod does not change, Bavinck said, because he is. He is independent of time and has life in himself. To say that God becomes as pantheism assumes diminishes his character. As Bavinck’s analysis of God’s immutability moves forward to discuss God’s infinity his conclusions are reassuringly warm: God’s eternality is not static, monotonous, rigid im...
Keep ReadingThe most recent sermon audio and video from New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 8:26-40 and the title was "Tolle Tege: Take Up and Read." You can listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below:
As the 2010 Ligonier National Conference approaches you might be interested in knowing that they will again be live streaming the conference. You can watch it here. This year's conference title is, "Tough Questions Christians Face." You can see the schedule of (including the line up for the pre-conference, "Bits, Bytes, Blogs and Bibles") here....
Keep ReadingApart from the writings of Jonathan Edwards, no other theological writings have had such an impact on the development of my own thinking as much as those of Augustine. If you have never read The Confessions--Augustine's autobiography--you are missing out on an intellectual and devotional masterpiece. There is certainly much to be criticized in the early writings of Augusti...
Keep ReadingTullian Tchividjian has a great post on the nature of God-centered worship. You can read it here. You might want to read Isaiah 6 while you're at it!...
Keep ReadingThe Gospel Coalition had its first Greater Columbus Gospel Coalition Conference at Grace Bible Church in Winchester, OH. Alistair Begg was the speaker. The topic was "For the Sake of the Gospel." You can download the talks below: 1) “What is the Gospel? How does it impact Ecclesiology, Philosophy, Teaching, and Discipleship?†2) “Communicating the Exclusi...
Keep ReadingNew Covenant Presbyterian Church is participating in a Reformed Worship project in conjunction with the Reformed Worship Association. We have already begun a 12-month commitment in which we will commit ourselves to lectio continua preaching, a psalm in either morning or evening worship, 4 of the liturgies from Calvin 500, and a 6-week class, explaining the distinctives o...
Keep ReadingScott Clark has posted a transcription of Tim Keller's recent lecture on creating and nurturing ecumenical "Gospel eco-systems." I encourage you to read it together with the comments at the bottom of the page. You can find it here....
Keep ReadingOver at the Ligonier Ministry blog you will find a series of posts from portions of John Gerstner's primer on Roman Catholicism. In a day of doctrinal reductionism and willful naivete' in regard to false teaching, many in protestant churches do not know what the Roman Catholic church teaches. It is incumbent upon us to be a people who search diligently for truth and know h...
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