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've met plenty of dog lovers, cat lovers, horse lovers and even reptile lovers, but I have never met a donkey lover. Donkeys are not highly sought after animals. They rate low on the totem pole of animal desirability. They are the Datsun or the Hyundai of animals. You never hear someone saying, "I really want a donkey for Christmas." And yet, it was a donkey that our Lord...
Keep ReadingLast year Jeff Waddington wrote a post in which he had taken a picture of B.B. Warfield's handwritten manuscript of the farewell address that he gave to graduating students from PTS in 1914. Jim O'Brien, in his own peculiarly observant manner, noticed something in the picture that may be more impressive than the handwritten manuscripts. Jim wrote, "What struck me more th...
Keep ReadingMy professor and friend Dr. David Murray is now co-hosting a podcast with Tim Challies called "The Connected Kingdom." You can currently listen to Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3. It looks like it will be an interesting and informative podcast (though it should never be viewed as a replacement for Christ the Center)! If you are a Facebook junkie, there is a Connected Ki...
Keep ReadingGrace is not a "thing," it is a "Person," as Sinclair Ferguson notes: It is legitimate to speak of “receiving grace,†and sometimes (although I am somewhat cautious about the possibility of misusing this language) we speak of the preaching of the Word, prayer, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper as “means of grace.†That is fine, so long as we remembe...
Keep ReadingHere is a video in which evangelical archeologists in Turkey are shown discovering what they believe to be Noah's Ark 13,000 feet up Mt. Ararat. For decades pictures have been taken, as peopl...
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Keep ReadingHere is the link to Martin Downes recent appearance on the Heidelcast. Martin brings a sober and balanced emphasis on the imperative need for ministers to guard the people of God from destructive false doctrines....
Keep ReadingThis weekend, D.A. Carson, Sinclair Ferguson, Michael Horton, Richard Phillips, Philip Ryken and Cornel Venema will be speaking at the PCRT in Philadelphia, PA. This event will be available online via live feed. The webcast will start Friday, April 30, 2010, at 9:00Â a.m. and will run through Saturday evening, May 1, 2010. Visit AllianceLive.org to register and watch the...
Keep ReadingHere is one of the best articles I have come across on the importance of having our grammatical-historical interpretation method guided by the theological significance of the text. Poythress' argument is the foundation for my work on the Song of Songs. Every serious student of Scripture should read this article. In order to better understand the process of departure from t...
Keep ReadingThe audio and video from the Sunday morning service at New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 5:1-11 and the title was "The Devil's in the Resales." You can listen to the audio here. You can watch the video below:
