I wish to summarize in a brief series of notes the New Testament’s presentation of Koinonia. This Christian partnership is 1) based on shared belief 2) has tangible advantages 3) comes with its own protocol and 4) is a discreet concentration in practicing the Christian religion. But those four points can be illustrated by a [...]
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Pastor’s Notes
A Few Short Thoughts
“I pray that your [koinonia], which arises from your faith, may lead you effectively into a deeper understanding and experience of every blessing which belongs to us as fellow-members in the body of Christ” – slightly modified O’Brien’s paraphrase “Yet thus life rolls away with too many of us in a course of shapeless idleness. [...]
Read this entry »God’s People are Christ Believers!
Where is God working? Of course this question assumes that God exists, and that He starts and brings to completion, and the question hopes that what He is working will turn out to the good. We assume and hope all that. But we also believe that some things will turn out miserably. That some people [...]
Read this entry »An Important Question
There are many different terms used for the elect people. The sacred writers to emphasize something particular used these distinctive terms. Paul uses one in Romans 4 in addressing the question, ‘Who are the children of Abraham?’ “Children of Abraham” -I don’t have to tell you the problem with taking time to listen to Paul. [...]
Read this entry »Church Renewal
Martyn Lloyd Jones; 20th century pastor in Britain: Following are his suggestions for specific prayers for renewal in the church. 1) Ask for the certain assurance of His presence. Moses, in Exodus 33:12-17, knew that he was in God’s care, but he desired more. He wanted to see God Himself. He wanted to know, without [...]
Read this entry »All Things For Good
“There are two things which I have always looked upon as difficult. The one is, to make the wicked sad; the other is to make the godly joyful.” So begins Thomas Watson in his great Puritan classic, All Things for Good. If you have not read this book, I highly suggest that you do so [...]
Read this entry »Church: Tough 3
One last time: The hardest thing a Christian will do is to live well within his church. This difficulty is mostly due to the fact that he must live with others within the church. To review previous notes, we shouldn’t confuse the biblical idea of church with something that approximates it, like: watching the preacher [...]
Read this entry »Already and Not Yet
This Pastor’s Notes entry was written by Ronald Kunselman, who is serving as a pastoral intern at EBC through this summer. … The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, [...]
Read this entry »Church: Tough 2
What I have offered is this: The hardest thing a Christian will do is to live well within his church. Part of this “living well” means being a member among other members. But don’t think of member-ing mainly in terms of member-roles! Here I’m asking you to hear “member” as Paul first metaphorically described the [...]
Read this entry »Your New Favorite Bible Verse
It has been said that Americans have a new favorite Bible verse. We have dropped John 3:16 in favor of Matthew 7:1, “Judge not, that you be not judged.” This is a half truth. When interacting with unbelievers or my friends (not that I actually have many) in the main-line churches, I encounter this pervasive [...]
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