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."...
Since it has somehow become uncool to use the word catechism, and cool to call it Q A, I will direct you to Ryan McGraw's Q A on Israel and the church. This is a very helpful way to understand the Bible's teaching on this difficult, but important subject. By the way, Q A times are great ways to teach your kids about Christ. You can find it here....
Keep ReadingThe audio for Westminster Seminary California's den Dulk lectures is now available online. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson gave three lectures under the title “Not ourselves, but Jesus Christ . . . with ourselves: The Heartbeat of Gospel Ministry.†You can listen to or download them below: The Pastor and His Heart The Pastor and His Type The Pastor and His Preaching...
Keep ReadingSean Lucas has a post over at Reformation 21 in which he explains the importance of embracing "biblical authority and its necessary hand-maiden, confessionalism."...
Keep ReadingHere is a recent sermon Jeff Waddington preached at Calvary OPC in Ringoes, NJ. The text was Daniel 9:1-19 and the title was "Daniel's Model Prayer."...
Keep ReadingThe panel of Christ the Center recently picked up the discussion, begun on Feeding on Christ, about the historicity of Adam. You can listen here....
Keep ReadingI never knew the song by Bach many people play at weddings is about Christ! He is the joy of man's desiring. Every joy in all of man's desiring points to the greatest Joy and the Giver of both all joys and all joy-producing gifts: Â Christ!
Apparently Redeemer Presbyterian Church's Center for Faith and Work is hosting N.T. Wright, on April 20th, to speak about his latest release, After You Believe: Why Christian Character Matters. How is this not a tacit approval of Wright?...
Keep ReadingThe video from the Sunday morning service at New Covenant Presbyterian Church is now online. The text was Acts 4:1-22 and the title was "In Battle Array." You can listen to or download the audio here. You can watch the video below:
Roger Wagner, in his outstanding work Tongues Aflame: Learning to Preach Like the Apostles, explains the nature of the heightened opposition that ministers of the Gospel should expect, regardless of how many degrees they have. Wagner writes: When you enter the ‘marketplace of ideas’ expect to be mocked. Even if you have spent thousands of dollars and years of...
Keep ReadingYou can listen to a sermon series on Marriage by Alfred Poirier here. If you have never heard of Rev. Poirier you must read his outstanding booklet The Cross and Criticism....
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