Articles Archives - Page 53 of 1507

Evangelical Denominational Storm Brewing?

By Kim Roberts — 5 months ago

The issue arose because Greg Johnson, the Presbyterian pastor of Memorial Presbyterian in St. Louis who says he is homosexual but celibate, left the Presbyterian Church in America in 2022. Now his church wants to join the EPC. “That has stirred up all kinds of controversy because we’ve got some in the EPC that appear to be very open to bringing him into the EPC, and we’ve got other groups that are absolutely opposed to him coming into the EPC.”

A storm is brewing in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) and a “meaningful group of churches” are considering other options, according to Pastor Nate Atwood, the pastor of St. Giles Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C.
Atwood has been involved in the EPC since 1988 and held several leadership roles, including serving as moderator of the General Assembly. He says there is a “crisis of confidence in the current stated clerk, moderator, and leadership team” after an overture concerning same-sex-attracted pastors never made it to the floor of the General Assembly this summer.
Now an issue involving a Pittsburgh church—Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church—is raising more questions about whether the denomination is going to follow its original vision. Beverly Heights is trying to leave the EPC following the stated process, but has clashed repeatedly with the Presbytery, culminating in a civil suit.
According to Atwood, the original vision of the EPC when it was founded in 1981 was to be a Biblical, evangelical, constitutional, and Reformed denomination.
Recent events have raised questions about several of those commitments, Atwood explained, including whether denominational leaders will follow processes outlined in the EPC Book of Order.
An overture presented unanimously by the New River Presbytery—composed of 39 churches—proposed an amendment to the denomination’s Book of Government. “Men and women who identify as homosexual, even those who identify as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy in that self-identification, are disqualified from holding office in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.”
The issue arose because Greg Johnson, the Presbyterian pastor of Memorial Presbyterian in St. Louis who says he is homosexual but celibate, left the Presbyterian Church in America in 2022.
Now his church wants to join the EPC. “That has stirred up all kinds of controversy because we’ve got some in the EPC that appear to be very open to bringing him into the EPC, and we’ve got other groups that are absolutely opposed to him coming into the EPC,” Donald Fortson, professor of church history and pastoral theology emeritus at Reformed Theological Seminary and long-time EPC member, told Christianity Today.
Normally, when an overture is presented, it goes to the permanent judicial commission (PJC) for examination to ensure it is clear and fits with the church’s constitution and its confession (the Westminster Confession of Faith.) If there is an issue with the overture, the PJC explains the issue and goes back to the presenters with a suggested cure, Atwood said.
In this instance, by a vote of 5 to 4, the PJC claimed the overture was not valid and offered no explanation or cure. Atwood called their action “high-handed and imperious” and a “catastrophic failure of their constitutional duties.”
Instead, the New River leaders, realizing their overture would not be allowed on the floor of the General Assembly for discussion and a vote, agreed to a two-year study of the issue.
Meanwhile, attention toward Beverly Heights’ departure crisis is growing. Observers, like Atwood, are wondering if the presbytery leadership will use strong arm tactics or will follow the proper constitutional protections afforded to churches in the EPC.
According to Beverly Heights Pastor Dr. Nate Devlin, the church that has been part of the EPC since 2007 began the separation process from the denomination in October 2023. An open letter explains the church’s view of events since the separation process began.
Read More

.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);padding-top:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);padding-bottom:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd{background-color:#dddddd;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-layout-overlay{opacity:0.30;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}
.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 83

A Daily Diet of Doctrine

By Tim Challies — 5 months ago

I once participated in a panel discussion alongside a seminary professor. He had far more education than I did and far greater expertise in the subject matter. A few moments before we took to the platform together, the moderator went over some of the questions he would be asking us. I found it strangely comforting to see that professor pull out his iPad, dig up some old notes, and begin to skim through them. “I need to remind myself what I believe about that,” he told me.

Daily Doctrine

The fact is, we are forgetful people and often need not just to learn what we believe but to re-learn it. There are exams we might pass at one stage in life but fail in another, not because our doctrine has changed or because we have apostatized, but because we have become forgetful. It’s not that we are ever likely to forget the fundamental doctrines of the faith like the inspiration of Scripture or the divinity of Jesus, but we can certainly grow hazy on some of the lesser matters and waver on some of the secondary issues.
A while back I realized I needed to brush up on some of these and began to organize a system of spaced repetition—a way to encounter these doctrines on a regular basis, thus reinforcing them and keeping them fresh in my mind. And it was right then that I learned about Kevin DeYoung’s Daily Doctrine: A One-Year Guide to Systematic Theology. In fact, an Advance Reading Copy showed up in the mail and I knew immediately it was what I was looking for.
Daily Doctrine is in a familiar yearly format much like a daily devotional, but its content is theological in nature rather than devotional. Its purpose is to teach the truth more than to apply the truth—admitting, of course, that there can be a hazy line between the two. DeYoung explains in the introduction that he believes his niche as a writer is “translation—not from one language to another, but from one register to another. That is to say, I think I can best serve the church by reading the old, dead guys (and some living people), digesting their technical arguments and terminology, taking the best of their insights, and then writing with clarity and concision for busy pastors, students, leaders, and laypeople.” And this is exactly what he does.
This means that Daily Doctrine is not a groundbreaking work of systematic theology and is not intended to be. Rather, it is an introductory work that focuses on easing people into the subject. It introduces the discipline as a whole, describes the most important terms, and explains the key ideas. In that way, it provides a framework for Christian doctrine and then builds upon it over the course of a year—with 5 readings per week over 52 weeks, each of which is about a page long. It can be read in that daily format, read straight through, or serve as a concise reference work. I expect many couples or families will want to integrate it into their daily times of devotion.
The format is fairly standard for a systematic theology book, beginning with prolegomena (preliminary considerations and the doctrine of Scripture), then advancing to theology proper (God’s being and works), anthropology (man’s creation and fall), covenant theology (how God relates to his creatures), Christology (the person and work of Christ), soteriology (salvation), ecclesiology (the church), and eschatology (the last things). DeYoung is Reformed and Presbyterian in his doctrine and is clear about the positions he holds, but also charitable when it comes to the alternatives. So, for example, I agree with some of what he teaches about baptism but disagree with much of it as well. But I appreciate the tone with which he discusses the issues and defends his position.
Knowing how important it is that we both learn and re-learn Christian doctrine, I was excited to discover that DeYoung had written Daily Doctrine—what one endorser refers to as “a daily diet of doctrine.” Now that I have been able to read through it, I gladly commend it to you. It will help you learn what Christians believe, it will help you remember what Christians believe, and in that way, it will grow your love for the Lord and your ability to serve him with faithfulness.

Post Views: 57

Suffer No Rival Part 1: Getting Serious About Pornography

By Dan Hult — 5 months ago

We must believe that forgiveness is possible. Habitual porn use brings guilt and shame—and to some extent it should—but that should drive us to Christ not away from Him.[14] We already saw that Judah forgot Tamar’s humanity much like all men do when they view porn. But when his sin was revealed, his repentance was immediate and comprehensive. He literally turned his life around after that. Let that be an encouragement for everyone struggling with porn: forgiveness is possible.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
-1 Corinthians 6:18-20, ESV
Recently, we discussed the household gods of the “yard sign creed”, but there is a much more prevalent idol: sex. Our culture views unrestrained sexual indulgence as a right, necessity, and even virtue—and worshiping this idol has upended much that God created as good. It has become so central that “sexual orientation” is more important for many people’s identity than being made in God’s image as male or female. God designed marriage as beautiful, but it restrains sex so society regards it as ugly and obsolete. Scripture repeatedly emphasizes the necessity and blessing of children, but society sees them as worthless and unfortunate byproducts of sex—and discards them accordingly. Despite the tear-inducing stories of desperation often told by those who scream “my body, my choice”, the vast majority of babies murdered in the womb are slaughtered because their parents want sex without consequences. But there is a much more prevalent form of this idolatry that has so thoroughly infected most churches that the majority of men and even many women at least sometimes indulge in it: pornography. What was once hidden behind the counter or restricted to seedy stores is now accessible anywhere at any time on any device, even popping up unsolicited. Many have simply accepted it, denying or downplaying its destructive effects on individuals, marriages, families, churches, and society. Others recognize the dangers but only shame those who struggle without offering any help to fight it. We need to get serious about fighting against this great evil, which is our topic this time. Next time, we will see how that seriousness drives a strategy to achieve victory.
The Big Problem with Porn
We must address pornography because the sheer scale of the problem is destroying our churches. One study found that 68% of churchgoing men and over 50% of pastors regularly view porn. As a result, 69% of pastors say porn adversely impacts their churches and 57% say porn addiction is the most damaging issue for their congregations. A major reason porn is so common is that many people view it as harmless or even beneficial. Nothing could be further from the truth. Porn is very harmful in part because it is very addictive, making it just as destructive in the life of an addict as any drug or alcohol. Contrary to popular belief, porn is also emasculating: “Porn and masturbation in tandem are a great engine of our modern plague of effeminacy in men. And this happens while the man concerned is being lied to—the porn makes him feel like he is running a surplus of testosterone”.[1] Porn also gives men wildly unrealistic expectations by portraying women as acting like men and being just as desirous of sex as men, so it is detrimental to married men in their own marriages and single men in preparing for marriage.[2] Pornography like any other sexual sin is a sin against a man’s own body (1 Corinthians 6:18). It is also a sin against its victims: the women it objectifies for the pleasure of strangers. We have previously seen how it is hateful to identify anyone as anything other than a person made in the image of God, but porn reduces God’s image bearers to mere bodies existing solely for pleasure just as Judah sinfully viewed Tamar. When a man watches porn, he is summoning a woman to be dehumanized, denigrated, and abused in his presence for his viewing pleasure. Can there be a greater insult to her or her Maker? So when a man views porn, he is sinning against God, himself, and the woman whose body he is coveting.
But he is sinning against someone else who is often forgotten: his wife. God created sex among other purposes to be immensely pleasureful for a husband and wife within the confines of marriage. Not long after exhorting the Corinthian men to cease the common practice of visiting temple prostitutes because that was sin against their own bodies and against Christ (much like porn today), Paul says this: “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband” (1 Corinthians 7:1-2). Paul is echoing the wisdom of Solomon. Proverbs 5-7 warns of the dangers of pursuing the adulteress (literally “foreign” or “strange” woman) and exhorts the young man to instead be content with his own wife:
My son, be attentive to my wisdom; incline your ear to my understanding, that you may keep discretion, and your lips may guard knowledge. For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol….Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth, a lovely deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love. Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman and embrace the bosom of an adulteress?
-Proverbs 5:1-4,18-20, ESV
The contrast couldn’t be any clearer. One of the main reasons people struggle so much when fighting sin in general and pornography in particular is that they focus on stopping the sin but fail to replace it with righteousness (Ephesians 4:22-23). When we only flee the sin, we leave a void that sin can readily enter. Therefore, we must also redirect our energies toward the opposite righteousness. In this case, fighting lust (and the porn we use to feed it) requires not only “bouncing the eyes”, installing blockers and accountability software, or other mere “put off” techniques.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 59

Church Discipline is Not Fun, But It’s Good

By Jacob Crouch — 5 months ago

So no, church discipline is not fun. It is hard and uncomfortable and often messy. But is is good. It is good for the one caught in sin, and it is good for the church as a whole. And as we seek to be faithful to the word of God, the world watches. May we be a repentant people. May God be honored in His church.

When you hear the words “church discipline” and “excommunication”, what comes to your mind? Maybe you grew up Catholic and they bring a variety of thoughts to your head. Or maybe you’ve grown up in a typical Protestant church and have never seen it done or heard it taught. Maybe you’ve heard of church hurt stories or abuse, and you don’t know what to do with church discipline. In light of all this, I want to say something: Church discipline is not fun, but it’s good. I want to give you three reasons why I think church discipline is good.
But before I do that, I need to say this first: Church discipline is biblical. In Matthew 18, Jesus teaches us that there is a proper sequence of events when administering church discipline. Go to the person one-on-one, then take others with you, then take it to the church. This is the proper flow. And if someone doesn’t respond to these pleas for repentance, then it is the responsibility of the church to carry out excommunication. I say all of this to say that church discipline is good, even without my three reasons. Church discipline is good, because God made it. And because God is also good and wise, following Him actually is beneficial! Now on to my reasons!
Church Discipline is Good for the Sinner
When church discipline is carried out correctly, it is really good for the one who is caught in sin. Imagine what a lack of church discipline communicates.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 56

Effectual Atonement and Eternal Assurance

By Geoff Chang — 5 months ago

Though the mountains may depart and the hills; be removed, the covenant of his love shall never depart from us. “For,” saith Jehovah, “I will never forget thee, O Zion;” “I have graven thee, upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” O Christian, that is a firm foundation, cemented with blood, on which thou mayest build for eternity!

Many Christians are happy to affirm Scripture’s teaching of eternal assurance, sometimes summarized as “once saved, always saved.” However, many are more hesitant when it comes to affirming the Reformed doctrine of effectual atonement or definite atonement, namely that by his death on the cross, Jesus not only made salvation possible, but He accomplished salvation for His elect, he actually saved them and purchased them by His blood. And yet, as Spurgeon points out in the sermon “The Death of Christ for His People,” on 1 John 3:16 (“He laid down his life for us.”), the logic of eternal security rests on a belief in the finished work of Christ. It is only because of our hope in an effectual atonement that we can have confidence in our eternal assurance. Listen, as Spurgeon explains the source of our security:
We, who know the gospel, see, in the fact of the death of Christ, a reason that no strength of logic can ever shake, and no power of unbelief can remove, why we should be saved.
There may be men, with minds so distorted that they can conceive it possible that Christ should die for a man who afterwards is lost; I say, there may be such. I am sorry to say that there are still to be found some such persons, whose brains have been so addled, in their childhood, that they cannot see that what they hold is both a preposterous falsehood and a blasphemous libel. Christ dies for a man, and then God punishes that man again; Christ suffers in a sinner’s stead, and then God condemns that sinner after all! Why, my friends, I feel quite shocked in only mentioning such an awful error; and were it not so current as it is, I should certainly pass it over with the contempt that it deserves. The doctrine of Holy Scripture is this, that God is just, that Christ died in the stead of his people, and that, as God is just, he will never punish one solitary soul of Adam’s race for whom the Savior did thus shed his blood. The Savior did, indeed, in a certain sense, die for all, all men receive many a mercy through his blood, but that he was the Substitute and Surety for all men, is so inconsistent, both with reason and Scripture, that we are obliged to reject the doctrine with abhorrence. No, my soul, how shalt thou be punished if thy Lord endured thy punishment for thee? Did he die for thee?
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 61

The Shepherd’s Self-Esteem: How Pastors Find Their Identity in Christ

By Josh Weidmann — 5 months ago

Living with Christ-esteem takes time to master. Negative habits, toxic playlists, and even overconfidence can hijack us for months or even years. Healing is not overnight. It takes conscious, gospel-centered action to step out in faith. My reflex is still sometimes to slip into negative thinking, but we err with grace, and then we get back up and lead with faith.

There’s a temperamental teeter totter between the pastor’s ears. On one side is the desire to give all glory to Christ, and on the other is the weight of self-importance. This back-and-forth tension is stronger than we acknowledge.
Sometimes, while squirreled away in our offices right before the early service, we think, “Who am I to preach God’s Word to all these people? ” For others, the pendulum of esteem can quickly edge toward over-confidence: “Why wouldn’t they want to hear God speak through me?” The back and forth can be nauseating and frustrating for the tenderhearted pastor.
For nearly two decades now, I’ve walked with fellow pastors through the feelings of not being ‘good enough’ and the inverse sense of arrogance. Low self-esteem is my burden at times, too, and it’s led to complex, necessary conversations washed in the grace of our Savior.
How do we, as pastors, handle this idea of self-esteem? What is self-esteem? Is it sinful for a pastor to have high self-esteem? Most importantly, how do we see ourselves in the context of Christ’s redemptive work and our sacred calling as shepherds of God’s flock?
Understanding Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is dynamically connected to our perceived worth as followers of Christ, leaders, and pastors. We all have an innate sense of value and calling. Knowing God has accepted us gives us the strength we need to resist Satan’s attacks and engage our critics. How we feel and what we believe to be true about ourselves is often a fractured lens in light of God’s grace. The Apostle Paul cautions us in his words to the Roman believers that we are to “think soberly” when considering our worthiness (Rom 12:3).
Can we dismiss the term “self-esteem” altogether as outside the goal of the gospel? When we focus on ourselves, we take our eyes off our Savior. We start building our identity on our perspective, not on our Solid Rock. When we allow others to assess and convince us of a different value or significance compared to God’s view, we rely on their opinion. What drives us to make such a change?
Pastors are in danger of unhealthy self-esteem, whether low or overly high, when we place undue value on the feedback of others. Did I do well with today’s sermon? Why do the elders want to meet on Monday night? Do you think people forgot last week’s trainwreck-of-a-message? What did so-and-so mean when they made that comment?
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 43

A Dream-Big Prayer

By Jim Essian — 5 months ago

Until we realize that God is able to do “far more abundantly” than all that we can pray about or dream, we’ll keep operating in the kingdom of this world. We’ll develop a scarcity mindset that leads to anxiety and fear and exhaustion and apathy and impotence toward the kingdom of God. We can risk our money by giving generously to what God is doing. We can risk our own reputation because God already delights in us. Christians should be the most entrepreneurial, the most risk taking, the most audacious people in the world—because the Bible promises that God can do far more “than all that we ask or think.”

In Ephesians 3, the apostle Paul is praying for the Ephesian church, and his prayer is for us too. We see two themes emerge as he prays, and the first is for strength: “He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (v. 16). He’s saying, Deep in your very being, I want you to be strong in the Spirit.
Then in verse 18, he prays that we would “have strength to comprehend” with the whole church, the fullness of God’s love. The world is in opposition to the kingdom of God, and it’s fighting to pull you away, to lure you back into its kingdom. You need strength, endurance and steadfastness to increase in your knowledge and everyday experience of the love of God. So, the second theme is God’s love. In verse 17, he prays that we would be “rooted and grounded in love,” and in verse 19, that we would “know the love of God that surpasses knowledge.” Paul wants you to experience God’s love, not just know that it exists. We need spiritual strength to increase our experiential knowledge of God’s love.
I listen to the Huberman Lab podcast, and one episode discussed the science of muscle growth. For a muscle to get stronger, it has to be stressed; there has to be weight, tension, exertion. Likewise, our spiritual heart—our spiritual strength—needs the same thing. God wants to stretch our faith, he wants us to seek him, to live daringly, to put our hands to the plow. Paul is essentially saying that our spiritual strength needs to grow to receive all that God is doing—to be filled with all the fullness of God. Jesus is ready to call you into something more than you can even ask or think or imagine, but maybe you’re not ready yet to receive it.
There’s a prayer from the Valley of Vision (a collection of Puritan prayers) that says, “There is still so much unconquered territory in my heart.”[1] Are there corners of your heart that are not given over to him? The book, Why Revival Tarries, asks something similar: “Can the Holy Spirit be invited to take us by the hand down the corridors of our souls? Are there not secret springs, and secret motives that control, and secret chambers where other things hold empire over the soul?”[2] That phrase, where other things hold empire over the soul, haunted me when I first read it. Likewise, the great theologian Augustine pleaded with the Lord: “Set love in order in me!”[3]
Your spiritual heart needs to get bigger to contain all that God has for you.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 59

The Whole Counsel of God

By Kim Riddlebarger — 5 months ago

Luke describes “the whole counsel of God” in Acts 20:27 as the person and work of Christ proclaimed by Paul during his gentile mission. But the Christ whom Paul preaches tells us that the whole of redemptive history (i.e., the whole of Scripture) speaks of Him. It is proper, then, to understand the whole counsel of God as all that is revealed in the Bible with Jesus Christ at the center of the biblical message. Therefore, the Westminster Confession of Faith is correct to define “the whole counsel of God” as “all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith and life, [which] is either expressly set down in Scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture” (1.6).

According to Luke’s account of Paul’s third missionary journey (Acts 18:23–21:16), Paul arrived in Ephesus in the spring of AD 52. Paul’s three-year ministry in the city bore much fruit. Luke informs us that the word of the Lord was increasing and many people were coming to faith in Jesus Christ (19:20). But the increasing number of Christians in the city also created “no little disturbance” among the city’s merchants (19:23), leading to the riot described in Acts 19:21–41.

Paul soon left Ephesus for Macedonia to meet with the churches that had been founded during his second missionary journey, returning to Asia Minor by way of Miletus, a seaport near Ephesus (20:17). Knowing that he would eventually go on to Jerusalem, Paul summoned the elders from Ephesus to meet with him in Miletus to say goodbye to those men with whom he had labored in ministry for several years and from whom he had to depart.
Compelled by the Holy Spirit with some urgency to leave for Jerusalem, Paul did not yet know what exactly awaited him, only that imprisonment and affliction were likely, with his death a real possibility (20:22–24). Paul knew that he would never see these men again, so there was much to tell them before he departed. As Luke recounts the poignant scene, there was heartfelt prayer and many tears shed as the men accompanied Paul to his ship when he set sail.
A number of things stand out in Paul’s “farewell speech” to these men in Acts 20:17–38. Paul offers a defense of his ministry, telling the brothers that he is innocent of the blood of all men. He held nothing back from them, preaching to both Jew and gentile the need for repentance before God and faith in Jesus Christ (v. 20). Throughout their years of service together, Paul prepared the Ephesian elders to shepherd the flock of Christ and equipped them to deal with savage wolves who would arise in their midst, introducing false doctrines. Paul faithfully fulfilled his mission in Ephesus. He proclaimed to them “the whole counsel of God” (v. 27).
When Paul speaks of “the whole counsel” (the plan or purpose) of God, we may detect a faint echo from Psalm 1:1. In the opening words of the Psalter, the psalmist contrasts the counsel of the wicked with the way of the righteous. Throughout Paul’s time in Ephesus, he witnessed firsthand those who scoff at and oppose the purposes of God—a large, angry gathering of them assembled at one point in opposition to Paul’s preaching, threatening harm, and for hours chanting, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:28).

But the Ephesian Christians are among those blessed by God and who refuse to listen to the counsel of the wicked as they rage against Paul and the gospel. The wicked will perish apart from the congregation of the righteous (Ps. 1:5), while those who have come to faith through Paul’s preaching now walk in the ways of the Lord and are known to him (v. 6). There are two “counsels” behind Paul’s farewell speech—the whole counsel of God stands in sharp contrast to the counsel of the unrighteous.
The whole counsel of God is summarized by Luke in Paul’s farewell and includes his teaching about those things that are profitable for Christians to know (Acts 20:20), testifying about the gospel of grace (v. 24) and proclaiming the kingdom of God (v. 25).

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 71

Lighten My Load or Strengthen My Back

By Vaneetha Rendall Risner — 5 months ago

God encourages us to cry out to him for whatever we need; he wants us to bring our troubles to him. He may lighten our load and miraculously deliver us, bringing long-prayed-for rescue and relief. Or he may strengthen us in the battle, offering his sustaining grace, the grace that draws us back to him. Both answers turn us to God and deepen our faith, teaching us to trust him through affliction and to glorify him through whatever comes.

Amid the hardest, most grueling trial I have endured, prayer became my lifeline. During that time, a friend sent me a prayer that I ended up pinning to my bulletin board: “Lord, please lighten my load or strengthen my back.” These became the words I whispered to God throughout the day. I needed God to either lighten the burdens I was carrying or give me strength to endure them. God had to bring change, though I didn’t know in what form. I only knew I couldn’t continue the way things were.
I didn’t often pray “lighten my load or strengthen my back” in one sentence. I usually left a large pause after begging God to lighten my load, since that was what I wanted most. I specifically and directly asked for relief — for healing and deliverance, changed circumstances, divine rescue. But if God chose not to heal me, I needed him to strengthen my back so I wouldn’t collapse under the weight of the burden I was carrying. Since I could never be strong enough to hold the heaviness of my trial, I would need to rely on God’s strength.
Lighten My Load
When I scanned the Internet to find a source for my bulletin-board quote, I found no definitive attribution, but I did find many who suggested that it was better not to ask God to lighten our loads. Instead, they said we should just ask him to strengthen our backs. That was an interesting twist on my original quote, and at first it seemed like a more pious request. I wondered if that should have been my prayer.
Yet as I considered that recommendation, it seemed unrealistic and overly spiritual; we don’t often see people in the Bible asking for strength instead of deliverance. Job begged for help (Job 20:20–21). Jeremiah cried out for relief (Jeremiah 14:19–22). David pleaded for rescue (Psalm 69:1–3). Paul persistently asked for his thorn to be removed (2 Corinthians 12:8–9). And Jesus himself entreated the Father to let the cup pass him by (Matthew 26:39). God knows we are dust, and he created us to look to him for everything. So we shouldn’t consider it less spiritual to ask God to lighten our loads. Such a prayer shows we are trusting God with our deep desires, not offering religious words with distant hearts. God knows how great our suffering is.
God wants to relieve our burdens and bids us to give them to him. We are to cast all our burdens and anxieties on him, for he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). We can come to him when we are weary, and he will take our heavy loads (Matthew 11:28–30). God told the Israelites, “I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket. In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you” (Psalm 81:6–7).
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 73

A La Carte (October 11)

By Tim Challies — 5 months ago

Today’s Kindle deals include Vance Christie’s hefty new biography of David Livingstone—one of the best biographies I’ve read in a while. It’s discounted by something like 90%. You’ll find some other excellent books as well.
Also, if you’re not in the habit of checking in over the weekend, you may want to know that on Sunday there’s going to be a big one-day Kindle sale with lots of great deals. So check here or at my X account (@challiesdeals) to see what it’s all about.

Nancy Guthrie: “Isn’t it interesting how God saves people? And whom God saves? And how he changes them? It’s often the people we least expect and in a way we would never expect. Some people hear the gospel and immediately take hold of it, while others spend a lot of time considering the claims of Christ and gradually come to faith. Some people have a profoundly emotional experience, while others feel very little. Some experience immediate deliverance from sinful impulses and patterns, while others spend a lifetime seeking to put certain sins to death. But there is one thing that is always the same…”

Does free will exist? To answer the question we first need to define the term. John Piper does both here.

Stephen looks at a roundup of the songs people find most helpful when it comes to end-of-life care. The song you would choose says a lot about you!

I found this article at Biblical Counseling Coalition very interesting. Charles Hodges tells some of what researchers have learned about schizophrenia over the past few years and interprets it through a Christian lens.

Bryan Schneider offers a radical idea: don’t let politics hijack the pulpit as election season comes toward its conclusion.

Robert Godfrey explains why the Reformation was necessary. “The church is always in need of reform. Even in the New Testament, we see Jesus rebuking Peter, and we see Paul correcting the Corinthians. Since Christians are always sinners, the church will always need reform. The question for us, however, is when does the need become an absolute necessity?”

By faith we believe we will see that when our will and his were in contradiction, we were actually longing for what was merely second best.

As long as you hold onto the idea that you can produce a life that will win the favor of God, you won’t see why you need Jesus.
—Jerry Bridges