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."...
I have really been enjoying Tullian Tchividjian's blog over at the Gospel Coalition website. If you have not visited it, I would heartily recommend it to you as a worthwhile resource for Gospel-centered and theological insights....
Keep ReadingHere is an interesting panel discussion with Dr. R.C. Sproul and the four Ligonier Academy Teaching Fellows. Dr. Ferguson's opening remarks are sobering for any pastor. The people who sit under preaching will inevitably read their Bibles in the manner in which they are taught the Bible....
Keep ReadingGrowing up, I spent my time and energy seeking acceptance. No one wants to be left out. C.S. Lewis, in his masterful lecture, The Inner Ring, explained the nature of this futile desire to be on the inside. This deep seated, sinful desire was what led me to seek acceptance by means of sports in High School. When I wasn't able to fulfill my desires there, I turned to sex...
Keep ReadingOne of the big questions floating around the Reformed world has been, "Who will replace R.C. Sproul when he retires from his leadership role at Ligonier Ministries?" Sproul has been the face of Ligonier for nearly 40 years (since 1971). On account of the fact that Dr. Sproul is one of the brightest and most articulate men of our times, finding one individual to carry on th...
Keep ReadingThere’s a TV show with a highly fantastic plot relevant to Bavinck’s formulation of God’s independence. On this show, survivors of a plane crash form tribes and collectives to solve problems and battle wits with other tribes and collectives on a supernatural island. The island itself is a character exerting powerful forces on the other players, challen...
Keep ReadingThe most recent audio and video from New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. You can listen to and download the audio here. You can watch the video below:
Here is a phenomenal article by Mike Reeves on the necessity of the historicity of Adam and Eve. It it taken from the forthcoming book Should Christians Embrace Evolution? edited by Norman Nevin (IVP-UK, PR). I have not read a theological defense as good as this that actually interacts with the more nuanced expressions of theistic evolution....
Keep ReadingErol Bortucene posted a great quote in which Martyn Lloyd-Jones explained that when people say they are not good enough for the Gospel, they are actually denying the Gospel: To make it quite practical I have a very simple test. After I have explained the way of Christ to somebody I say “Now, are you ready to say that you are a Christian?†And they hesitate. And t...
Keep ReadingWilliam Still, in his sermon on Acts 6:1-7, mentioned that the problem of the discrimination against the Greek speaking Jewish widows by the Hebrew speaking Jewish widows was met by the choosing of the seven wise men, all of whom had names with Greek etymological derivations. He made the fascinating observation: The seven may have been the most spiritual men in the fellows...
Keep ReadingIt may seem strange to hear someone say that ministers need to learn how to preach Christ from the Gospels; but in light of the failure, in this regard, of so many when dealing with the commands of Christ (case in point), there is perhaps no greater need for minsters of the Gospel at present than to learn this principle and etch it into their minds and hearts. I had a frie...
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