Gospel Living

Mark 4:1 in the KJV reads, "And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land." Consider the words "and sat in the sea." What a strange image develops if we were to ignore all else and focus on those words alone! Jesus walks on the water, so does He now sit on or in it? Or, perhaps a sandbar kept His body aloft in the water. No, of course not. You might rightly note the immediate context says, "he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea." So, does this mean that He sat in a leaky boat? Perhaps as the boat filled, He "sat in the sea." No, no, no. Just because we could get a unique meaning out of a verse by reading the words in such a way doesn't mean that we are reading the Bible "literally." It isn't applying meanings that no one has ever in...

And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25  But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26  Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. Jesus heads northward, perhaps to retreat with the disciples to teach them, seeking to avoid public ministry when they meet this mother.  Tyre was a port city in Phoenicia (modern-day Lebanon), then called Syria.  Since there were also Phoenicians in North Africa, this woman is called a Syrophoenician, a Phoenician from Hellenized (Greek-speaking) Syria.  She’s not Jewish , so her faith-filled plea is a teaching opportunity for the disciples. First, she comes to Jesus with scriptural understanding.   How much she knows isn’t stated, but what she does is startl...

45  But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places, and people were coming to him from every quarter. 2  And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2  And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. Who could fault the leper’s excitement as he spreads the word about Jesus?  Indeed, when the time is right, Jesus sends out His disciples saying, “What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops” (Mt 10:27).  Even so, the time wasn’t right yet, and this man unwittingly makes Christ's work more difficult.  How could that be, and what do we learn from it? First, those preaching the Word must do it properly .  Jesus gave this man two commands: “say nothing to anyone… ...

"Why the Word?" | Psalm 1 Cornerstone Church of Savannah | November 13, 2016 This morning, the sermon will be a bit different, but not that much. Hopefully, it will serve to not only explain why we are so committed to Scripture, but why you should be as well. We will see today that you can either be rooted in the Word or not, but only the first path leads to blessing. I.  The Righteous are Rooted Upon the Word (vv. 1–3)   A.  The righteous avoids thinking not from the Word (v. 1)   B.  The righteous delights in the Word (v. 2)   C.  The righteous is given life through the Word (v. 3) II.  The Unrighteous Have No Rooting (vv. 4–6)   A.  The unrighteous are driven by the wind (vv. 4–5)   B.  The unrighteous lack life (v. 6) May the Lord bless you this morning in His service. Video: Audio:

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Yesterday, we noted that blessedness includes negatives and positives, what we should not and should do .  The psalmist says that you’re blessed if you do not partner with unbelievers, and you are blessed if you delight in Scripture.  Both are essential to this deep-rooted blessedness. Changing our companions isn’t enough.  We need the Word of God as the foundation of our lives, which is why the blessed man delights in the law of the Lord.  Some read Scripture, but they never delight in it.  The blessed man, though, meditates day and night, wrestling over its meaning and its application.  He reads it, prays over it, and considers it throughout the day.  He understands that “blessed is he who keeps the law” (Pv 29:18), so he wors...

Preaching requires work, and a good pastor will put in the hours.  Here's what I'm using for preaching through 1 Peter, in case you're interested. Arichea, Daniel C. and Eugene Albert Nida, A Handbook on the First Letter from Peter , UBS Handbook Series (New York: United Bible Societies, 1980). Abernathy, David. An Exegetical Summary of 1 Peter , 2nd ed. (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008). Alford, Henry.  Alford’s Greek Testament: An Exegetical and Critical Commentary , Vol. 4 (Grand Rapids, MI: Guardian Press, 1976). Black, Allen and Mark C. Black, 1 & 2 Peter , The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub., 1998). Calvin, John and John Owen, Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010). Case, David A. and David W. Holdren, 1-2 Peter, 1-3 John, Jude: A Commentary for Bible Students (Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House, 2006). Clowney, Edmund.  The Message of 1 Peter . The Bible Speaks Tod...

 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tm 3:14–17). Sometimes people wonder about "full" Bibles, copies of Holy Scripture that contain the apocryphal or deuterocanonical books .  Should we revere as God's Word more than the sixty-six books we commonly read? The 1689 London Baptist Confession speaks briefly and plainly to the matter: 1:3 The books commonly called Apocrypha, not being of divine inspiration, are no part of the canon or rule of the Scripture, and, therefore, are of no authority to the church of God, nor to be any otherwise approved or ma...

Cornerstone Church of Savannah The Southside YMCA (across from St. Joseph's)  11702 Mercy Boulevard       Savannah, GA 31419 Sound Leaders in the Church | Titus 1:1-9 | 4/19/15 Unsound Leaders in the Church | Titus 1:10-16 | 4/26/15  Older Men and Women in the Sound Church | Titus 2:1-3 | 5/3/15 Younger Men and Women in the Sound Church | Titus 2:4-10 | 5/10/15 Amazing Grace in the Sound Church | Titus 2:11-14 | 5/17/15 The Word of Leaders in the Sound Church | Titus 2:15 | 5/24/15 Holy Spirit Cleansing and the Sound Church | Titus 3:1-7 | 5/31/15 Spirit-Empowered Believers Outside of the Sound Church | Titus 3:1-7 | 6/7/15 Keeping the Gospel in the Sound Church | Titus 3:8-11 | 6/14/15 The Legacy of the Sound Church in the Unsound World | Titus 3:12-15 | 6/28/15

Knowable Word: Helping Ordinary People Learn to Study the Bible by Peter Krol My rating: 4 of 5 stars Peter Krol wraps a powerful Bible study tool in a small package, paring acres of difficult hermeneutical texts down into this accessible 100+ page resource. With enough lessons to keep a small group or Sunday School class active for a few weeks, his book leaves lay people with confidence that they can understand Scripture through the tested O-I-A method. You should not only OBSERVE my review and INTERPRET it to mean that you should get his book, but that you also APPLY it by purchasing it for yourself or your church's library today. View all my reviews

Dr. Bill Barrick answers this question on his blog : [1] In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] (The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was upon the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the water.) Some expositors propose that verse 2 represents a gap in the record of creation events. Normally, those who hold to the so-called “Gap Theory” interpret “formless and empty” as some form of chaotic result coming on the heels of God’s judgment of Satan. They suggest that the original creation was destroyed or terribly marred by God’s casting Satan out of Heaven and down to Earth. Many theologians use this “gap” to account for a very old earth, allowing millions, if not billions, of years to pass with Earth in this condition. Some even attempt to place all fossilization (of animals and man) within this gap—which creates a greater theological problem with having death (even of man) existing prior to the fall. A number of...

It's true: books from trusted sources weed through the commentaries for the very best, such as Commentaries For Biblical Expositors by Dr. Jim Rosscup . Even so, when we happen upon potential gold at the thrift store, is there an online resource we can check via smartphone? DTS grad John Dyer brings Dr. Rosscup, D. A. Carson, and many others together at www. BestCommentaries .com/ .  Navigation is easy, searchable by Bible books, commentary title, and author name.  Each commentary receives a score based on an algorithm that " serves as a guide to help students of the Scriptures know where to start ."  There are even books on theology and Christian living that will help any teacher of God's Word.  Give Best Commentaries a try. This, as well as other free Bible resources, may be found on the Bible Study Links page.

Description: John MacArthur on The Dangers of Demoting Scripture http://www.gty.org/Blog/B130514 How dangerous would it be to leave the spiritual operations of Christ's church to the opinions, feelings, and personal preferences of its leaders? Can you imagine the uncertainty and instability of not having an ultimate standard of authority on all matters of faith and practice? Yet that is precisely what we see in every fellowship that demotes the Bible from its rightful place of authority. It's easy to spot the anarchy that follows the outright rejection of God's Word. But reducing Scripture's authority to merely one voice among many creates a hollow, deceptive veneer of biblical fidelity. In the following video, John MacArthur explains the centrality of Scripture in all facets of Christian life. He also discusses the propensity of the charismatic movement to elevate personal experience at the expense of biblical truth. http://www.tmstrangefire.org The ...

You want a good starter Bible for your young reader, but the shelves at the Christian bookstore boast a plethora of choices.  How can you sort out the Christ-exalting from the campy?   The Redeemed Reader helps us out: Choosing Your Child’s First REAL Bible: Some Considerations Sorting Out the Children’s Bible Market

JC Ryle (1860-1900) must have been taking his charismatic pills, because, as AM notes , he waxed prophetic with this message: The consequences of this widespread dislike to  distinct biblical doctrine  are very serious. Whether we like it or not, it is an epidemic which is doing great harm, and especially among young people. It creates, fosters, and keeps up an immense amount of  instability  in religion. It produces what I must venture to call, if I may coin the phrase, a  ‘jelly-fish’ Christianity  in the land–that is, a Christianity without bone, or muscle, or power. A jelly-fish, as everyone who has been much by the seaside knows, is a pretty and graceful object when it floats in the sea, contracting and expanding like a little delicate transparent umbrella. Yet the same jelly-fish, when cast on the shore, is a mere helpless lump, without capacity for movement, self-defense, or self-preservation. Alas! it is a vivid type of much of the reli...

Perhaps one of the best-known verses of Scripture is John 3:16.  Its context, Nicodemus' discussion with Jesus at night, seems to provide words that seekers and new believers need to hear.   As the passage becomes so familiar, however, we tend to gloss over the deeper truths of the passage and may fail to realize its lasting impact on our lives. Listen as John MacArthur explains this passage to the men gathered at the 2013 Shepherds' Conference. MP3 Download:   English | Spanish | Portuguese

This was a message to the adult Sunday School class at Old Plank Road Baptist Church, Jacksonville FL, on December 30, 2012.  Thank you once again for having us come and fellowship with you! e are having a wonderful time back in Jacksonville.  We’ve lived in California since 2005, and, of course, our Florida family is the one thing that we miss the most.  I was asked recently to sum up my time out there in lessons learned.  The main thing I’ve gleaned   from the professors and pastors at the Master’s College and Seminary is a deeper reverence for God’s Word.  That sounds strange, because I went out there in part because I already had a love for Scripture and wanted to learn more.  Even so, I know now that I was not truly and fully explaining God’s Word to people when I taught. Understand, teachers of God's Word can love the Bible but not reflect that love when it comes to some of their interpretations.  For instance, perhaps...

A "King James Version Only" (KJVO) advocate recently wrote the following to me, God promises to preserve His word for every generation and has not done so with Greek or Hebrew. That is clear since the Originals are gone. English was the 7th language that the Bible was translated into. The KJB was the 7th English Bible, if you minus the Catholic translations that come from the corrupt manuscripts. God's word was purified seven times. The fact is, God's word is here today and He said it would be PURE. If it is not the KJB, can you show me a Bible that is pure and without error? Thus, we have one of the most interesting contentions of the KJVO position: the Bible promises God's preservation of the biblical text in the KJV only (not in the Greek or Hebrew manuscripts).  Among the key proof texts for this premise would be Psalm 12:6-7.  In the 1769 revision of the KJV, the one most of us are familiar with, it reads: The words of the LORD [are] pure words: [as] sil...