Jesus is Head of the Churches

by David Garner • June 05, 2015
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Jesus is Head of the Churches
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Jesus is Head of the Church. He is Head of his Church. This we believe. This we confess. And yet how quickly this we dismiss!

Honestly, how significantly does Jesus’ lordship over the Church shape our thinking, our lives, and our priorities? How seriously do we take his throne, his reign, and rule? What weight do we give his kingly session? Does my life align with the priorities Jesus has established in his reign in and over his Church?

Head of the Church

Jesus is Head of the Church. He is Head of his Church. This we believe. This we confess. And yet how quickly this we dismiss!

Honestly, how significantly does Jesus’ lordship over the Church shape our thinking, our lives, and our priorities? How seriously do we take his throne, his reign, and rule? What weight do we give his kingly session? Does my life align with the priorities Jesus has established in his reign in and over his Church?

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Place for Truth is a voice of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Place for Truth and the mission of the Alliance.

Following Jesus 50

In our study of Following Jesus and the Twelve Disciples, we come to the twelfth disciple: Judas Iscariot. In Googling the Top Ten Traitors in the Annals of History, Judas Iscariot is ranked at #1. 
 
In our study of Following Jesus and the Twelve Disciples, we come to the twelfth disciple: Judas Iscariot. In Googling the Top Ten Traitors in the Annals of History, Judas Iscariot is ranked at #1. 
 
Let me ask this questions, as provocative as it may appear: Are you like Judas Iscariot? Are you a traitor to Jesus Christ? Let us look at some facts about Judas Iscariot.
He is mentioned in Matthew 10:4. He is always mentioned last in any list of the disciples/apostles.

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The People’s Response

Posted 6/5/15 by Donald Barnhouse
Notice that these were Jews who were nevertheless raising unclean animals, swine, in violation of God’s Law. In acting to heal the man as He had, Jesus was doing two things. He was cleansing a man and showing His power over evil spirits, and He was also rebuking the people of the town for having departed from the Law of God to deal with unclean animals. He had accomplished two cleansings: the man’s was a blessing, but the town’s was a rebuke. Yet the townspeople did not repent; instead, in fear they pleaded with Him to leave their region. There are some people who, if you offered them a deed to property or a spiritual blessing, would choose the material over the spiritual. They are not like Solomon, who was wise enough to realize that to choose the spiritual blessing was to choose everything one would ever need. These townspeople saw only the threat to their livelihood. So the Lord Jesus obeyed their terrible request and left them.
 
Theme: The Earthly and the Spiritual
 
SCRIPTURE
Mark 5:1-13
 
They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces.

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Making God’s Word Plain is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Making God’s Word Plain and the mission of the Alliance.

The Burial of Jesus Christ - Part Three

By James Boice

Theme: Life from death.
This week’s lessons show us that God is greater than the grave.

SCRIPTURE
Matthew 27:62-66

When the chief priests and Pharisees came to Pilate, they explained the request by their fear that “his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead” (v. 64). But that is not likely what they truly feared.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Theological Fidelity: An Interview

by David Garner • June 04, 2015
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Theological Fidelity: An Interview
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Some have enjoyed a deep sense of call since childhood; others have longed for certain vocations or ministry destinations, and found their steps markedly (and not always easily) redirected. Irrespective of anecdotes, calling consists of more than personal intuitions. The Lord uses the church’s “objective” voice to issue and confirm calling.

The following interview is from Tabletalk Magazine and was published online at Ligonier.org. It is reproduced here with permission. 

Tabletalk: How did God call you to become a seminary professor, and how does that calling serve the local church?

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Following Jesus 49

As we examine the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, we have been examining the third group of four. Following James the Less and Judas Labbaeus Thaddaeus, we continued with the disciple known as Simon the Zealot. In light of these three, how can believers identify with these first century followers of Jesus, especially regarding Jesus’ kingdom?  
 
As we examine the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, we have been examining the third group of four. Following James the Less and Judas Labbaeus Thaddaeus, we continued with the disciple known as Simon the Zealot. In light of these three, how can believers identify with these first century followers of Jesus, especially regarding Jesus’ kingdom?

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Reformation Societies is a fraternal of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Reformation Societies and the mission of the Alliance.

The Humanity and Power of Jesus

Posted 6/4/15 by Donald Barnhouse
Christ’s humanity, though not fallen, was very real. As this story opens, He is asleep in the boat. He had a body that would grow tired, and no doubt His heart and mind were weary too. He had been preaching and healing, as we saw in the last chapter, only to face the blasphemous accusations of angry religious leaders and the attempts of His own family to remove Him because they thought Him insane. He then left them, going on to teach the crowd in a series of parables (4:1-33), though His heart was full of loneliness and sorrow at the falling away of weak friends. Jesus is just the Saviour needed by tired bodies and weary minds. He understands the sorrow of disappointment and deception. As we read in Hebrews, we have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15). Every day He is with us, so that we may secure the comfort and refreshment we need from Him.
 
Theme: The Earthly and the Spiritual
 
SCRIPTURE
Mark 4:1-9
 
Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them:“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

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Making God’s Word Plain is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Making God’s Word Plain and the mission of the Alliance.

The Burial of Jesus Christ - Part Two

By James Boice

Theme: Life from death.
This week’s lessons show us that God is greater than the grave.

SCRIPTURE
Matthew 27:57-60

In Matthew’s account, the burial of Jesus was arranged by Joseph of Arimathea, “a rich man” who went to Pilate to ask that the body be given to him. Matthew calls him “a disciple of Jesus” (v. 57). Mark and Luke add that he was “a member of the Council,” which means that he was a member of the Sanhedrin. Mark says that he was “waiting for the kingdom of God” (Mark 15:43) and Luke that he was “a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision and action” (Luke 23:50-51). John alone reports that he was assisted by Nicodemus, who brought the spices. The Romans did not normally allow crucified persons to be buried, least of all traitors. So the fact that Joseph approached Pilate is a testimony to his courage.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Resurrection and Union with Christ

by Jeffrey Stivason • June 03, 2015
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Resurrection and Union with Christ
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In the fifteenth chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul identifies Christ’s resurrection as the first fruits of those who are asleep.  Now, we might wonder at his choice of words.  What does he mean by “first fruits?”  Well, some might say, “Paul is wanting us to think about Christ’s resurrection as temporally prior to the resurrection of the believer.  That is to say, ‘Christ is raised first.’”  Now, that idea is there.  But it doesn’t quite capture all that Paul has in mind. 

In the fifteenth chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians, Paul identifies Christ’s resurrection as the first fruits of those who are asleep.  Now, we might wonder at his choice of words.  What does he mean by “first fruits?”  Well, some might say, “Paul is wanting us to think about Christ’s resurrection as temporally prior to the resurrection of the believer.  That is to say, ‘Christ is raised first.’”  Now, that idea is there.  But it doesn’t quite capture all that Paul has in mind. 

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Place for Truth is a voice of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Place for Truth and the mission of the Alliance.

Following Jesus 48

As we examine the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, we now examine the third group of four. Following James the Less and Judas Labbaeus Thaddaeus, we continue with the disciple known as Simon the Zealot. What do we know about this follower of Jesus? 
 
As we examine the Twelve Disciples of Jesus, we now examine the third group of four. Following James the Less and Judas Labbaeus Thaddaeus, we continue with the disciple known as Simon the Zealot. What do we know about this follower of Jesus? 
 
Simon the Zealot is first mentioned in Matthew 10:4 as Simon the Canaanite. The title comes from the Hebrew word qanna meaning “to be jealous or zealous. It was a title given to those who were zealous for the Law of God.
 
In Luke 6:15, Simon is called Zelotes.

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