I love to preach.  I love the preparation of preaching.  I love the Word.  I struggle to have quiet times as I should.  Study can run dry.  My heart grows cold.  God is faithful to His Word…even when I’m unfaithful to Him.

I’m not that different than many of you.  You love the Word, yet your declaration of love could be in question due to a lack of devotion to the Word.  One of my great hopes is to preach in such a way that causes you to treasure Christ through the Word more than you ever have.  Part of that pursuit for me in preaching is to equip you / remind you about how to study the Word of God.  I need that reminder regularly.  Ultimately, the motivation for treasuring the Word of God is in remembering the Gospel…the Christ of the Gospel.

There are some things I’m developing to help my preaching that are also helping my view of Scripture.  I want to share some of this with you to help exhort you to pick up your Bible, a pen, and a journal and mine the Word of God and discover the treasure of Christ!

At this point, I call this approach “The Gospel-Centered / Christ-Emphatic Approach.”  Here’s how it works:

1) The Gospel is central in the Scriptures because Christ is central in the Scriptures.   I must realize that the greater redemptive story-arc of the Bible is the person of Jesus Christ.  All Scripture points to Christ and His redemptive work in reconciling sinner to God, for God’s glory and man’s joy.

2) Because the Gospel is central, I need to know how to understand the Gospel.  The basic outline we (at UBC) use for the Gospel is… God / Man / Christ / Response.  However, don’t forget that the Gospel literally means “good news.”  So, the Gospel is the telling of the good news of God reconciling sinful Man through Jesus Christ, which is marked by man’s repentance and faith.

3) As I approach Scripture with this understanding, I take pen / highlighters and find the 5 main elements of the Gospel in every passage:  Good News / God / Man / Christ / Response.

4) Now, with that as my pursuit, how do I know what I’m looking for?

• Good News — This emphasis is usually related to telling or proclaiming.  If you were to simply study the role of speech / proclamation in Scripture you’d see the power of Words and the tongue.
• God — The two primary things to look for here relate to God’s primary administration and character.  I believe that God’s primary administration relates to His sovereignty – that He rules over all and ordains His work.  I believe the primary characteristic revealed in Scripture for God is His holiness.  This is the antiphonal song in Isa.6 and the greater realization of all the priestly work throughout the Old Testament.
• Man — There are two primary things to look for related to “man” in the text.  First, as opposed to God’s sovereignty (His independence), would be man’s utter dependence on God.  You’ll see that man’s expression of His fallen nature is to show his supposed independence from God.  This brings man’s greatest characteristic, which is his fallenness.  Man is fallen, a sinner.  Look for this fallen condition of man in the text.
• CHRIST — The revelation of Christ in all of Scripture could be categorized / summarized according to His offices:  Prophet, Priest, and King.  Look where Christ was prophetic through the Old Testament writers and figures.  The message of repentance and faith were there in Christ through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David and so on.  Certainly He was seen as a prophet in the New Testament, but His earthly work was more emphatically priestly.  The entire Old Testament sacrificial system points to Christ’s priesthood and satisfying sacrifice.  Hebrews shows us the beauty of that fulfillment — “It is finished!”  Certainly Christ came as King.  Matthew 2:2 makes plain that Herod got word of this and wanted this person dead.  Pilate tried to get Christ to admit this.  Philippians 2:9-11 promises the kingly worship.  Colossians 1 shows us that Christ is King because He has created all, as the un-created One, and is resurrected from the dead to be the king of the church.  But it’s in Revelation, especially chapters 11,12,19-22 that we see this King in obvious expressed power and rule.
• Response — Here you are looking for repentance and faith.  Both are necessary for true conversion responsiveness.  They are imperatives.  The absence of repentance and faith is actual disobedience to the Spirit’s command.  These two sides of the same response can be found throughout Scripture.

5) At this point, it’s important to realize the emphasis that is on Christ.  In Luke 24, we see Christ meet up with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  In this account, Christ tells them that He is in the Scriptures throughout the Old Testament.  Christ is the central figure and point of the entirety of Scripture.  Therefore, we must place our emphasis on Him as the center of this redemptive story revealed in the Bible.  That’s why understanding these offices of Christ can aid tremendously in the preaching and private studying of the Word.

I believe that approaches, if they are sound biblically, can aid and refresh the personal study of God’s Word and that’s my hope for you.   I hope that you will simply remember these things, grab your Bible, a pen (or highlighting set), and a journal and dive in.  You need to feel the fresh love for Scripture and I believe you have a great opportunity to rightly handle the truth using this developing Gospel-Centered / Christ-Emphatic approach.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Colossians 3:16

He that believeth shall not make haste. (Isaiah 28:16)

He shall make haste to keep the Lord’s commandments; but he shall not make haste in any impatient or improper sense.

He shall not haste to run away, for he shall not be overcome with the fear which causes panic. When others are flying hither and thither as if their wits had failed them, the believer shall be quiet, calm, and deliberate, and so shall be able to act wisely in the hour of trial.

He shall not haste in his expectations, craving his good things at once and on the spot, but he will wait God’s time. Some are in a desperate hurry to have the bird in the hand, for they regard the Lord’s promise as a bird in the bush, not likely to be theirs. Believers know how to wait..

He shall not haste by plunging into wrong or questionable action. Unbelief must be doing something, and thus it works its own undoing; but faith makes no more haste than good speed, and thus it is not forced to go back sorrowfully by the way which it followed heedlessly.

How is it with me? Am I believing, and am I therefore keeping to the believer’s pace, which is walking with God? Peace, fluttering spirit! Oh, rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him! Heart, see that thou do this at once!

(Taken from Faith’s Checkbook – November 29th)

Read about Jonathan Edwards’ Thanksgiving message of 1739, how he exhorted the people to serve Christ by serving one another and ministering to the lost with the gospel.  Let the men work… Let the women cook… Let all be done with the freedom that we could not possibly do enough to minister to our Christ (even when it appears to be sexist to our 21st Century eyes).

For the sermon manuscript, click HERE.

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor– and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be– That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks–for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation–for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war–for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed–for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted–for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions– to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually–to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed–to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord–To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us–and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

Go: Washington

Johnny Hunt, who has done a very good job as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, has recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Please pray for him and his wife, Janet.  More can be read HERE.

Romans 8:36-39

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:10-12

While I’m thankful that we may worship freely, I am ever more grateful for the church worldwide who count it a pleasure to suffer for Christ.

If you’d like to begin using a catechism in your home, we have one available on our website or in the children’s ministry office.

5 He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Psalm 78:5-8