The pivot point hangs on whether or not God has revealed a universal pattern for the church in the New Testament. If He has not, then anything will do so long as it works. But I am convinced that nothing so dear to the heart of Christ as His Bride should be left without explicit instructions as to her corporate conduct. I am further convinced that the 20th century has in no way simulated this pattern in its method of ‘churching’ a community… it is incumbent upon me, if God has a pattern for the church, to find and establish that pattern, at all costs.
– Jim Elliot

Elizabeth Elliot, Shadow of the Almighty: Life and Testimony of Jim Elliot (San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1989), 138-139.

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Tags: church, jim elliot, new testament, obedience, pattern

There is so much pressure on church leaders today to make the worship experience larger than life. So much so, that worship leaders become a priesthood of coolness technicians. Living in an entertainment saturated society is no help, but we have to realize that this pressure has always been.

The high places of Israel’s idol worship were places of high octane entertainment, drama, and visual sexualization. People liked to go to the high places, not because of the dead statues, but because of the alluring entertainment experience that was presented there.

But is the high octane pomp and electric experience what God has intended for His people? Rather, it is simplicity. Our worship should stand out, and stand alone over against a highly charged experience. Terry Johnson captures this saying: (more…)

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Tags: church, cool, music, Scripture, Word, worship

Pastors, please visit the new, freshly charged and revamped NCFIC website. In this video, I describe the many resources available for pastors on this new website.

We, as pastors, are not called to reinvent the church in every generation but to lay out the vision that God has given in the Bible for the church and the family.

As you peruse the website, please visit our confession and our network.

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Tags: church, confession, invent, network, pastor, Video

Ezekiel the prophet laments the often repeated condition in the church of singing lovely songs and playing well on instruments, while disobedience of the people abounds. However, they can be an abomination. This condition of antinomianism is repeated in modern churches where the songs are appealing and moving to the emotions, but the people remain worldly. Outpourings of emotion are offensive without obedience. Here is a reality that can exist in even the most emotionally compelling worship services. The people can be enthralled within, while, at the very same moment, God is enraged:

So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. (Ezek. 33:31-32).

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Tags: action, music, obedience, sing

There are few joys sweeter than the joys from worshiping God. This is one principle we want to communicate during our upcoming conference, The Worship of God. He is the most wonderful and compelling object of worship, which is why Nehemiah said, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh. 8:10), and why David said, “In your presence is fullness of joy, at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).

Terry Johnson, author of Reformed Worship: Worship that is According to Scripture, speaks of the kind of joy it is: (more…)

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Tags: delight, fear, joy, lord, trembling, worship

Jonathan Edwards points out one of the wonderful effects of true awakening on people in the church – a sense of absolute dependence.

The drift of the Spirit of God in his legal strivings with persons, has seemed most evidently to be, to make way for, and to bring to, a conviction of their absolute dependence on his sovereign power and grace, and universal necessity of a Mediator, by leading them more and more to a sense of their exceeding wickedness and guiltiness in his sight; the pollution and insufficiency of their own righteousness, that they can in no wise help themselves, and that God would be wholly just and righteous in rejecting them, and all that they do, and in casting them off forever: though there be a vast variety as to the manner and distinctness of persons convictions of these things.

(Pg. 70, 71, The Jonathan Edwards Reader, Yale Nota Bene)

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Tags: awakening, Holy Spirit, Jonathan Edwards, reformation

One of the central themes of our ministry is to appeal to church leaders to engage in the practice of expository preaching so that they bring the voice of God to the church and not their own. This exalts the glory of God in the church and protects it from subjection to a particular man’s hobby horse. It guards and limits men so that they do not emphasize their own favorite subjects and verses and themes and theologies and practices. Our prayer is for the whole counsel of God to fill the Church of Jesus Christ so that it is His words and ways that are exalted. Our desire is to train our men to handle accurately the Word of Truth so that God is glorified. Even though we cling to this safeguard of expository preaching, we are still subject to a danger as we interpret Scripture. As fallen human beings, we often cannot see everything because of our interests, callings, prejudices and spiritual blindnesses. D. Martyn Lloyd Jones offers a very sobering and cautionary note on this problem. He cautions us about approaching the Bible with a theory instead of our theory coming from the Bible. I include his words here, because it is our desire to avoid this error. As we work through Scripture, we must consider the problem that Lloyd Jones reveals: (more…)

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Tags: Bible, God's Word, preaching, reading, study, Word, worship

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Tags: deacon, elder, evangelism, gospel, great commission, new york times, pastor, Word, youth group

As a ministry dedicated to biblical discipleship, we are excited to announce the 2013 NCFIC internship. Training young men in biblical leadership, theology, business and foundational skills is something that we are very passionate about. Our prayer is that the deposits made in these young men will help launch a new generation of disciplined church leaders and elders. (more…)

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Tags: book, church, discipleship, elder, exercise, Honor, intern, leader, NCFIC, work

The number of Calvinist pastors has jumped from 10% to 29% in six years.

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Tags: Bible, Christ, church, evangelical, evangelism, family, godliness, gospel, john calvin, pastor, preach, word of God

Each week, we have two teams from our church who go out to an abortion clinic to preach the gospel to those who are on their way to kill their babies. We know that the gospel is what they need most of all. We also proclaim the truth about life and murder to these women, but the gospel is central.

One day in November 2012,  a young pregnant mother was brought to the clinic by an aunt’s friend. When they drove up, she got out of the car and went into the clinic. She was 18 weeks pregnant with her 2nd child. While inside, the abortionist had implanted 3 laminaria into her cervix. These are like suppositories that are used to start labor and open the cervix. This is a two day process abortion as follows:

Day 1: Laminaria implanted into cervix.

Day 2:  Labor opens cervix enough for abortionist to reach in and start to dismember the baby and bring it out piece by piece.  The members of the baby’s body are laid out to re-assemble just to make sure all is removed.

The gospel was being preached through the loudspeakers outside the abortion clinic. So when she came out she heard the Word of God, and it was penetrating her heart and convicting her. (more…)

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Tags: abortion, Bible, child, children, choice, daughter, duty, family, father, feminism, fetus, friend, godliness, gospel, great commission, heaven, hell, life, marriage, mother, murder, pastor, preach, roe v wade, sacrifice, son, Spirit, Supreme Court, womanhood, Word, worry

©iStockphoto.com/kupicoo

Here is a guest post from Wesley Strackbein:

The constant hullabaloo coming from both political parties about the impending insolvency of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid has real cause, insofar as these welfare programs cannot keep pace with the changing demographics in America.

Our society is fast turning into an upside-down pyramid with an enormous number of Baby Boomers about to retire with a shrinking workforce following in their wake. The factors that are fueling this perfect storm that will soon strike our land include the fact that seniors are living longer than they have in past generations; but more importantly, it has been brought on by the evil of more than 50 million abortions since Roe v. Wade, as well as the Church and broader culture’s gleeful embrace of contraception that followed the Pill’s legalization in 1960, among other factors.

Bottom line: The Baby Boomer generation valued materialism and convenience over the short time, rather than the blessing of children, even as the better part of this demographic has chosen dependency on the state as they enter their retirement years. (more…)

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Tags: care, elderly, family, health, health care, medicaid, medicare, nursing home, obamacare, older

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Tags: Christ, duty, exalt, gospel, harmony, joy, joyful, laud, lord, noise, praise, preach, sing, Word

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Tags: Bible, calvin, Christ, Communion, evangelism, gospel, great commission, happy, Honor, Lord's Supper, Lord's Table, manhood, marriage, Meet the Puritans, ordinance, pastor, sacraments, sacrifice, Spirit, Word

You have to understand that approximately 75% of the people in our church are CHILDREN. We like it that way, but it does present a number of challenges that call for action. We have many, many young families in the midst of the heavy lifting of childraising. This means that they always need a tuneup. I know I did when I was raising my children. So, we try to address child-raising issues by gathering the whole church together to consider them.

Here is a more detailed schedule for the upcoming child-raising conference.

Everyone is invited. The conference is FREE of charge.

All sessions will be held on Friday evening (July 20, 2012) and Saturday (July 21, 2012) in the The Millroom at The Factory in Wake Forest, NC, except for the final session which will be held at Tuxedo Junction at 2:00pm on Sunday. (more…)

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Tags: admonition, adolescent, Bible, child, children, daughter, endurance, family, father, Honor, lord, love, manhood, provoke, raise, son, Spirit, teen, training, womanhood