“Teach your children that every sermon counts for eternity. Salvation comes through faith, and faith comes through hearing God’s Word (Rom. 10:13-16). So every sermon is a matter of life and death (Deut. 32:47; 2 Cor. 2:15-16). The preached gospel will either lift us up to heaven or cast us down to hell. It will advance our salvation or aggravate our condemnation” (Joel R. Beeke, The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings, 11-12).

“As twenty-first-century evangelical Protestants, we must combine our defense of biblical inerrancy with a positive demonstration of the transforming power of God’s Word” (Joel R. Beeke, The Family at Church: Listening to Sermons and Attending Prayer Meetings, 5).

Isaiah 59:21, As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Generational blessings, that.

Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter VII, Section IV–This covenant of grace is frequently set  forth in Scripture by the name of a testament, in reference to the death of Jesus Christ the testator, and to the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, therein bequeathed.

A. A. Hodge expounds:

Christ as mediatorial King, administers to his people the benefits of his covenant; and by his providence, his Word, and his Spirit, he causes them to become severally recipients of these blessings, according to his will. These benefits he offers to all men in the gospel. He promises to grant them on the condition they are received. In the case of his own people, he works faith in them, and as their Surety engages for them and makes good all that is suspended upon or conveyed through their agency. In the whole sphere of our experience every Christian duty is a Christian grace; for we can fulfill the conditions of repentance and faith only as it is given to us by our Surety. All Christian graces also involve Christian duties. So that Christ at once purchases salvation for us, and applies salvation to us; commands us to do, and works in us to obey; offers us grace and eternal life on conditions, and gives us the conditions and the grace and the eternal life. What he gives us he expects us to exercise. What he demands of us he at once gives us. Viewed on God’s side, faith and repentance are gifts of the Son. Viewed on our side, they are duties and gracious experiences, the first symptoms of salvation begun–instruments wherewith further grace may be attained. Viewed in connection with the covenant of grace, they are elements of the promise of the Father to the Son, conditioned upon his mediatorial work. Viewed in relation to salvation, they are indices of its commencement and conditions sine qua non [something that is essential, something that is indispensable] of its completion (A. A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith, 127-128).

The wisdom of Stubb: “Because a laugh’s the wisest, easiest answer to all that’s queer; and come what will, one comfort’s always left–that unfailing comfort is, it’s all predestinated. . . . Well, Stubb, wise Stubb–that’s my title–well, Stubb, what of it, Stubb? Here’s a carcase. I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick, 168).

In 1 Samuel 5 and 6 the Ark of the Covenant is taken into captivity by the Philistines for seven months. The Ark is bad-news for the Philistines: it brings judgment on the idol-worshipers and judgment on their idols.

The idol-worshipers took the Ark captive, but they don’t know what to do with it. The wicked don’t know what to do when they are in the presence of a Holy God. Colloquially speaking, the Philistines were freaking out.

And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place (1 Samuel 6:2).

 So they brainstorm to send the Ark away.

The takeaway message:

• Don’t listen like a Philistine–they heard God’s voice–they saw God’s judgment on their idols–but they refused to listen and draw near to the Holy God. Instead of truly listening, and being changed by God’s word of judgment, they opted to keep their idols and send the Ark (God) away.
• Don’t listen like a Philistine–draw near to God in humility and repentance–chuck your idols, pursue the Holy God that spoke a word of judgment. 

Kudos to Pastor Nate Harlan at Trinity Evangelical Church, Larwill, IN. Content for this post inspired by personal notes from his sermon series from 2009.

Thom Rainer recently posted “Fourteen Predictions for American Churches for 2014” at his blog in a two-part post: Part-One (Predictions 1-7) and Part-Two (Predictions 8-14). Below I’ve listed the “predictions” that caught my attention.

Prediction #2: Downsizing of denominational structures. Many denominational structures are becoming smaller because their churches are declining. Others are feeling economic pinches. This trend of smaller and more efficient denominational structures at all levels will only become more pervasive in 2014. 

Prediction #3: Decline in conversion growth. American churches that grow are more likely to get their growth at the expense of other churches. Evangelism is waning in many churches, and fewer non-believers are becoming Christians. The negative reaction to programmatic evangelistic methods has evolved into an overreaction. Too few churches emphasize personal and church-based evangelism. 

Prediction #7: Increased challenges for congregations to build and acquire land due to restrictive governmental policies. American churches will experience more frustration with governmental authorities as they seek to expand, build, and acquire land. Part of the reason will be due to the authorities’ concern about traffic and congestions. Another part is the underlying concern of losing a property tax base to a nonprofit organization. In a few cases there will be outright animosity and prejudice against Christians and churches. 

Prediction #11: Longer pastoral tenure. There will be incremental but steady growth in the length of tenure of pastors at a given church. Part of the reason is the influence of the Millennials who do not view larger churches as their next step in ministry. Part of the reason is economic; moving in today’s economy is not nearly as easy in pre-recession days. Hopefully, the main reason is a sense of God’s call to stay rather than move. 

Prediction #12: Local churches increasing their roles as ministry training leaders. The role of ministry training in the past decades fell largely upon Bible colleges and seminaries. More churches in 2014 will partner with those colleges and seminaries to provide contextual training at a local church. 

Prediction #14: More multiple teaching/preaching pastors. In larger churches, there has been a decided trend toward having more than one teaching and preaching pastor. Now the trend is taking place in smaller churches. We will see more churches with attendance under 200, even some under 100, with more than one teaching/preaching pastor. Of course, not all of them will be full-time vocationally at the church, so there will be more bi-vocational pastors whose role is to be a second or even third pastor in these smaller churches. 

Isaiah 43:1, But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.

Psalm 120:6-7, My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

1 John 4:4-6 & 13, Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error….Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

We can have an optimistic/postmillennial eschatology, so long as we allow it to organically flow from and bend before Scripture: even with an optimistic/postmillennial eschatology, we must never forget the antithetical relationship between Christ and his enemies, between the Church and the world. Thus, we must always remember, not in spite of, but because of our optimistic/postmillennial eschatology, that we are separated unto God by the Holy Spirit!