The Contemplation of God

Theological Thursdays


"The proper study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy, which can engage the attention of a child of God is the name, nature, the person, the doings, and the existence of the great God which he calls his Father.


There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-contentment, and we go on our way with the thought, 'Behold I am wise.' 

But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumbline cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, 'I am but of yesterday and know nothing.'"


This was Charles H. Spurgeon's introduction to his message, The Immutability of God,  on January 7th, 1855 in the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England on Malachi 3:6 at just 19 years old.


It should not surprise any of us to realize that our God is incomprehensible. The more that we contemplate our God we realize as Zophar:


"Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty? It is higher than heaven - what can you do? Deeper than Sheol - what can you know? Its measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea." (Job 11:"7-9, ESV)


Borrowing from A. W. Pink, we should not let the character and nature of God stop us from mastering what God has revealed about Himself to us. We certainly won't come to a full or complete understanding of God but we should work hard at learning all that we can about our God. This is how we come to appreciate Him and His characteristics.


Spurgeon also said, "The most excellent study for expanding the soul is the science of Christ and Him crucified and the knowledge of the Godhead in the glorious Trinity."


What are you doing to contemplate and comprehend the nature and character of God?


What have you read or are reading that is giving you a greater perspective and appreciation for our God?


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Join us on Theological Thursdays as I will continue to offer theological truths by unlocking the meaning of various words, terms, and definitions through the posting of the attributes of God, word studies, and events from church history. As both a pastor and theologian I am passionate about the accurate teaching of biblical doctrine.

We Can't Afford To Fail?

Gospel-driven Discipleship

Tom Nelson of Denton Bible Church in Texas wrote:

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“If we as a church succeed in every area, but fail to make disciples who can spiritually multiply, then ultimately we have failed. Yet if we fail in every other area, but succeed in spiritual multiplication, then ultimately we have succeeded.”

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Most people choose churches today as consumers who are choosing a product for its value, benefit, and how a product minimizes their life. Allow me to explain; many people with children or teen-agers choose a church primarily for its youth group or children’s ministries. Those who love music may choose a church primarily for its choir or musical opportunities. Of course others choose for various reasons such as family tradition, location, friendliness, the pot-lucks, and even leadership personalities.

If reasons for choosing a church can be ranked or ordered, they would be as follows:

Pulpit Ministry – by that I mean does the pulpit preach and teach the bible systematically, exegetically, and expositionally? Is the teaching truly biblical and is it empowered by the Holy Spirit? As preaching becomes more entertaining, pragmatic, emasculated, and worldly to accommodate larger crowds and budgets it is becoming more difficult to first, define and recognize biblical preaching and second, to find it.

To choose a church that has a weak, inconsistent, or trivialized pulpit because it has a “dynamic” youth ministry is both dangerous and foolish. There is a fundamental problem when a family, particularly the head of the home chooses a biblically or scripturally unsound church in order for the kids to have friends, fun, and food.

Commitment to the pulpit Teaching – an important question that needs to be answered, do the members by God’s grace and as they mature live out what is being taught in the pulpit. More and more we are seeing a disconnect between what is being taught or preached and what is actually being lived out by individual believers.

If the pulpit has no impact on the membership one must take notice. In some cases a Teaching Elder may be trying to “…strengthen what remains and is about to die…” In time can one tell if the members are affected by the pulpit ministry (teaching and preaching) or are they being entertained, maintained, pacified, and made comfortable for the journey? Take time when visiting a church and not as a judge or jury, but observe the overall language, focus, interest, and love of the people. Can you observe that they teaching has made a true impact and the folks who are long time members are truly living out what is being taught?

Disciple-Making Commitment – are the members matured to the point where they can themselves can effectively make disciples? Or is this ministry at best left to the Elders or at worst non-existent? It is easier to grow numerically from means such as sheep-rustling, disgruntled church members, church-hoppers, and church-consumers than to become involved in the lives of the lost, introduce them to Christ and then teach them everything that Christ taught until they are able to do the same themselves.

Rick Wood from Missions Frontiers wrote:

“Our churches in the West seem to be succeeding at lesser things while failing at Jesus core strategy for world evangelization. We are succeeding in collecting tens of billions of dollars each year to gather large crowds into beautiful and expensive church buildings on Sunday. We have succeeded in putting on a great show and developing programs that attract people to our churches. In the process we have put an unbearable burden on our pastors to do nearly all the ministry while failing to activate the laity. As a result many pastors are skating on the edge of burnout, while the majority of church members do not see that God has any other role for them except as spectators. In short, we are largely failing to develop mature followers of Jesus who are able to make disciples who can make disciples. The people in our churches are not growing to spiritual maturity where they are able to carry on the work of spreading the gospel within our own culture, not to mention cross-culturally to every tribe and tongue. This is having a devastating impact on our ability to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth."

Youth ministries, music programs, and good ole fun are wonderful things. However, think of them as icing on a good cake. Icing is fun to eat on your fingers or a spoon, but the cake is extremely important. When one can gather with a body of believers that has a biblical pulpit ministry, where members are being impacted by the teaching and are living it out, and discipleship is actually taking place AND the children’s/youth ministries are dynamic then one needs to lock oneself in and plan on remaining for the rest of one’s life.

Please, don’t forgo doctrinal purity, godly/mature lives, and obedience to Christ for lesser ministries. You will usually regret the choice in the long run. Use the resources that are available in a sound bible teaching church to make up for what is missing in other areas by teaching, modeling, and living out the truth for your kids.

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Join us on Gospel-driven Discipleship Wednesdays as we continue to highlight discipleship with various articles, news, events, opinions, and book reviews as I work toward fulfilling the five purposes of this blog  (see right sidebar of blog) and continue to supply biblical principles of discipleship. I hope to provide the reader with teachings related to beginning, intermediate, and advanced steps that enhance the discipleship process.

It's Like Money In the Bank!

Words for the Wise

A Weekly Devotional

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…” (Ephesians 1:3, ESV)

In God’s unfathomable and free grace, He has given believers everything that they need to live godly, faithful, and obedient lives. In this phrase Paul emphasizes God’s complete benefit to believers with every kind of blessing. The specifics of those blessings are given in verses four (4) through fourteen (14.)

The believer can have absolute confidence in the ability to obediently and faithfully live the Christian life due to the fact that God has supplied everything that is required or necessary for the spiritual well-being of the believer. The child of God lacks nothing that is needed to live a life pleasing to the Lord Jesus Christ. The child of God, due to God’s grace, possesses what is necessary to live effectively in this world. Those benefits are found in Jesus Christ Himself.

The resources to live and maintain a godly life are not found within a believer. The believer is certainly not responsible to “muster” up the where-with-all to maintain a spiritual life pleasing to God. Those resources are of a spiritual nature not a natural nature. The believer must simply rely upon Christ Jesus for “success” in the Christian life.

Ask Yourself

It should bring great relief and joy knowing that we believers do not have to conjure up the necessary “blessings” to live a godly life. As a believer, one must simply turn to and trust that God has in fact provided every spiritual necessity or benefit needed in Christ to live a godly life. Ask yourself, who are you depending on in order to live godly? Are you depending on yourself? Have you turned to God through Christ and learned to appropriate all of those spiritual benefits that have been provided for your spiritual success?

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Join us each Tuesday for Words for the Wise. I love good devotionals very much. For awhile I will try my hand, Lord willing and by His grace to write a short devotional each week designed to edify, exhort, and encourage you. 

Monday Morning Facts

In conjunction with Seams Inspired's Blogfest, I give you my Seven Monday Mornings Fact for your, what, enjoyment, entertainment, curiosity, concern, snoopiness, wonder, and or inquisitiveness!

Fact:  My Lectures to My Students  by Charles H Spurgeon and Heroes by Iain Murray arrived Monday night. I have already dug into Spurgeon's book and have been convicted, challenged, and commissioned in the preface and introduction. Over 800 pages, it will be quite a read. Thank you Banner of Truth Trust.








Fact:  I made the most awesome Country Gravy for biscuits! My first time at gravy but it turned out fantastic.




Fact:  I finished Murray's Heroes today - it is very moving and very edifying.

Fact:  I tried a dry rub on country style pork ribs, then grilled them for a short time for smokey flavor. Then I put them in a baking dish dumped two bottles of BBQ sauce on them and 12 oz of beer (yes, I cook with beer, wine, and sherry sometimes) and put them in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. The meat fell off the bone and had a flavor that is still going on.

Fact:  I thought the America's Got Talent YouTube acts, save Kevin Colis, were a bust. None of them should have been put through.





Fact:  Green Tea is not all that it is cracked-up to be.













Fact:  I did not do a thing on Saturday. If you knew me you would know that is equivalent to Hank Williams Blue Cadillac pulling in my drive-way right now. I sat in my Lazy Boy recliner and read most of the day.



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Join me each Monday as I share personal information in the format of Monday Facts. It seems inspired by many who enjoy personal tid-bits and information about blogger friends including myself. So each Monday for awhile I will regale you by sharing personal thoughts, events, and opinions from a personal perspective.

Are You Suffering from an Identity Crisis?

"Christians are weak because they do not rightly understand

 their new identity in Christ. It is impossible to live as God

intends us to live unless we know who we are in Christ."

--John MacArthur, Jr.

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Join us on Sundays as we share quips, quotes, and queries in a pot-pouri manner of presentation.

Condition of My Condition

I woke up this morning with the sun out shining in

I found my mind in a brown paper bag but then
I tripped on a cloud and fell eight miles high
I tore my mind on a jagged sky
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

I pushed my soul in a deep dark hole and then I followed in
I watched myself crawling out now, as I came crawling in
I got up so tight I couldn't unwind
I saw so much, I broke my mind
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

Somebody painted April fool in big black letters on a dead end sign
I had my foot on the gas as I left the road and blew out my mind
Eight miles out of Memphis and I got no spare
Eight miles straight up downtown somewhere
I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in

Do you remember this old Kenny Rogers and the First Edition song? It was written by Mickey Newbury. It was said that the song reflected the LSD experience; the song was intended to be a warning against the danger of using LSD.

I don’t know for sure, but I do know that as crazy as the words are I liked the tune. I like the line, "I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in.” I thought it was a clever way of saying that the author was so out of it that he felt it necessary to take some time and steps to see just what shape he was really in. In other words it was time to take some inventory.

Now and then we need to drop in and see what condition our spiritual condition is in. I find it can be easy to take for granite that we are OK. Regular check-ups are needed to by both our-selves on a personal level and by a trusted friend or confidant. We might not be so “adrift” as to find our mind in a brown paper bag or discover that we dripped on a cloud and fell eight miles high, but we can discover if we are veering off the track spiritually.

What does it mean to take spiritual inventory?

It means sitting down and taking a serious look at our strengths and weakness… and then planning a course of action to correct that which is lacking and a strengthening of that which is good. Evaluate your time alone with the Lord

“The cross is laid on every Christian. As we embark upon discipleship we surrender ourselves to Christ in union with his death–we give over our lives to death. The cross is not the terrible end to an otherwise god-fearing and happy life, but it meets us at the beginning of our communion with Christ.” (The Cost of Discipleship, Bonhoffer, p.99).

Gospel-driven Disciples need to periodically drop in and see what condition their spiritual condition is in. Just my opinion. 

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Join me each Saturday for an editorial piece. An editorial is an opinion piece written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of a newspaper or magazine. Editorials are usually and are supposed to reflect the opinion of the periodical, or in this case Gospel-driven Disciples.Typically, an editorial board evaluates which issues are important for their readership to know the blog's opinion. Editorials are typically published on a special page dedicated to them, called the editorial page. I shall publish these opinions of Saturday's page, called Saturday's Segments.

Epaphroditus - Pastor Extraordinaire

"I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill." (Philippians 2:25-26, ESV)


One of the greatest gifts to the church was the fact that Paul was merely under house arrest during his first imprisonment in Rome. He was allowed to "receive" any and all visitors to the rented house in which he was held prisoner. He had more comfort and facilities at hand although he was still chained to a Roman guard and unable to leave the house. Many people came and went. Many guards served their duty chained to the great Apostle and some of those guards were born into the kingdom as they sat and listened to Paul pray, sing, preach, teach, answer questions and write letters.

One person in particular who came to Paul was a pastor from a small church in the province of Asia Minor. Epaphroditus brought supplies and a love offering to the Apostle from the church at Philippi. The Philippian believers had heard that he had been arrested and was in prison and in need. As they did on previous occasions they undertook to meet those needs.

Sometime after Epaphroditus arrived with the love gift he took ill. He might have gotten sick on the journey. We do not have any details as to this sickness. All we know is that he was very sick and at one point near death. The church at Philippi heard that their pastor was severely sick and had almost died and was very concerned for him.

Paul decided to write a letter to this wonderful church and since Epaphroditus was able to travel he intended for him to take this letter to the church. Paul writes very highly of this wonderful pastor. He tells the Philippian church:

• Epaphroditus served Paul well as a brother, companion, and even as a fellow-soldier

• Epaphroditus was very sad and burdened because the church heard that he had been very sick

• Epaphroditus should be held in the highest honor of a faithful pastor and messenger

• Epaphroditus did not simply deliver the offering but he threw himself into Paul's care and assisted Paul with his work

We do not know much about this outstanding man who was the shepherd of the church at Philippi and a stalwart companion of the Apostle Paul. He is only mentioned in Philippians 2:25 and 4:18. His name is a pagan name it means "Loved by Aphrodite." The Greek translation is "charming." The Latin translation is "handsome." It was a common name during the Roman period and unfortunately tells us nothing of the man.

What we do know causes us to love and appreciate this great man! After his arrival he threw himself into the work of Christ as Paul's assistant and attendant. He worked so hard that he became gravely ill. What an example of a great pastor - courageous, hard working, devoted, and dedicated. May we see an army of Epaphroditus' raised up in these last days.

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Fridays is our Heroes and Heroines feature. We will take a look at various men and women who have been used by God to shape Christian thought, theology, and teachings. These men and women have had a major impact on Christianity. Here we will attempt to honor them. We hope to expose you to leading Church Fathers, martyrs, pioneers, pastors and teachers of both the past and present.