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."...
Creation, says Bavinck, is a revelation of God. There is not a corner of the universe that does not reflect something of his glory. But creation does not reveal God’s perfections like they do in Christ. There are distinctions and gradations throughout creation from the archetype to the ectype. The incarnation of the suffering servant finds his parallel in, “th...
Keep ReadingIn the previous meditation we considered the lack of outward beauty found in the Lord Jesus Christ. He had nothing externally attractive--either in His Person or social status--that we should desire Him. Now the prophet shifts gears to explain what is the most attractive thing about Him: "But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities; the cha...
Keep ReadingHow many confusing ideas surround the theme of the age of the Spirit. Even among the best theologians there is a sort of vague understanding of the age of the Spirit. How did the Spirit work in the Old Testament era? When does the age of the Spirit actually begin? How do we define revival? How do we understand Pentecost? Should we expect it to happen again? What are the ma...
Keep ReadingThe first talk on Saturday morning at the Greenville PCRT Conference was given by Dr. Michael Horton. In keeping with the theme of eschatology the title of the talk was "This Present Evil Age." If an individual's view of the end times is not focused on Jesus Christ, His Person and work, we ought to become suspicious of that approach. One of the questions that arises today ...
Keep ReadingHere is the audio from the 2010 Together for the Gospel Conference....
Keep ReadingChrist the Center has posted the second part of the four views on Christ and Culture series. This week Dennison, Hart, Kloosterman and Wilson present and debate their respective views on "Christ and Politics." You can listen here. Below is the discription of this series from the Reformed Forum: This is part two of our series entitled Christ and Culture.  Four men par...
Keep ReadingThere is a tendency in our day--even in the most biblical churches--to focus on the external attractions of the church. We hire graphic designers, interior decorators and web consultants to improve the physical and technological dimensions of our churches. On one hand there is nothing wrong with maximizing our resources. But we must not forget the nature of the message of ...
Keep ReadingThe second pre-Conference talk at the Greenville PCRT Conference was given by Dr. Cornel Venema. The text was Matthew 24 and the title was "The Olivet Discourse." Dr. Venema opened by suggesting that we must exercise a measure of modesty and reserve when we approach the subject of eschatology. Geerhardus Vos once make the point that exegesis of many of the disputed texts c...
Keep ReadingThe 2010 Greenville PCRT Conference opened with a talk by Rev. Richard D. Phillip on Hebrews 12:25-29, titled "What Cannot Be Shaken." See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promis...
Keep ReadingLast week Martin Downes delivered a great message at the Twin Lakes Fellowship on the nature of heresy, specifically with regard to the link between Socinianism and Open Theism. You can access the audio here. You can watch the video below:
