[William Burns – a missionary to China] boldly declared, "I am ready to burn out for God. I am ready to endure any hardship, if by any means I might save some. The longing of my heart is to make known my glorious Redeemer to those who have never heard." On another occasion Burns was heard to say, "The longing of my heart would be to go once around the world before I die, and preach one gospel invitation in the ear of every creature." His own mother likened him to a sharp knife that would be worn out by cutting, rather than by rusting; and the young Burns wished that it might be so!

The story is told that when he was seventeen he was brought by his mother from the quiet town of KiIsyth to the bustling city of Glasgow. His mother was separated from her son while she was shopping. After retracing her steps she discovered him in an alley with tears streaming down his face. She could see he was suffering great agony and said, "Willie my boy, what ails you? Are you ill?" With broken cries he replied, "Oh, mother, mother - the thud of these Christless feet on the way to hell breaks my heart."

It is helpful to note this wonderful record concerning evangelism:

In September of 1840 Scotland's famous praying pastor, Robert Murray M’Cheyne wrote a letter to William C. Burns. He writes, "I am deepened in my conviction, that if we are to be instruments in ( A TRUE REVIVAL ) we must be purified from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Oh cry for personal holiness, constant nearness to God by the blood of the Lamb! Bask in His beams, - lie back in the arms of love, - be filled with the Spirit, or all success in the ministry will only be to your own everlasting confusion." 

– These quotations are taken from this website.

One of the focuses of the NCFIC this year is evangelism with our annual national conference White Unto Harvest.

Following Whitefield’s example would keep us from many missed opportunities in evangelism:

“God forbid that I should travel with anybody a quarter
of an hour without speaking of Christ to him.”

– from Colver, Randy & Cathy. "The Quotable Whitefield | Christian History." Christianity Today. Christianity Today, 1 Apr. 1993. 20 Feb. 2012. <http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/1993/issue38/3828.html>.

Those that would learn well, and teach well, in religion, must not affect new-found notions and new-coined phrases, so as to look with contempt upon the knowledge and language of their predecessors; if we must keep to the good old way, why should we scorn the good old words? Jeremiah 6:16. – Matthew Henry commenting on Proverbs 4

You see this same sentiment in the "Letter to the Reader" which accompanied the Second London Baptist Confession:

Also, when we observed that those last mentioned did in their confession (for reasons which seemed of weight both to themselves and others) choose not only to express their mind in words concurrent with the former in sense, concerning all those articles wherein they were agreed but also for the most part without any variation of the terms, we did in like manner conclude it best to follow their example in making use of the very same words with them. This, we did both in these articles (which are very many) wherein our faith and doctrine is the same with theirs. And this we did, the more abundantly to manifest our consent with both, in all the fundamental articles of the Christian religion, as also with many others, whose orthodox confessions have been published to the world on behalf of the Protestants in many nations and cities. Also we did this to convince all that we have no itch to clog religion with new words, but do readily acquiesce in that form of sound words, which has been, in consent with the Holy Scriptures, used by others before us. We hereby declare before God, angels, & men, our hearty agreement with them, in that wholesome Protestant doctrine, which with so clear evidence of Scriptures they have asserted. Some things indeed, are, by us, in some places added, some terms omitted, and some few changed. But these alterations are of that nature as that we need not doubt any charge or suspicion of unsoundness in the faith from any of our brethren upon the account of them.

Bill Mounce has written a very touching piece on a couple's loss of a dream through church gossip. He tells a heartbreaking story of backbiting, gossip, slander and criticism. He says, “Gossip is surely the native tongue of the church."

One of the most powerful messages on the use of the tongue was delivered by my fellow elder, Dan Horn.

Check out Phil Johnson on "Evangelicalisms Addiction to Novelty." He says,

In all of Paul's instructions to Timothy and Titus, there is not an ounce of encouragement for the person who thinks innovation is the key to an effective ministry philosophy. Much less is there any room for the pulpiteers of today who like to exegete the latest movies, or preach on moral lessons drawn from television sitcoms, or build their sermons on themes borrowed from popular culture. You know what I mean: the kind of preachers who insist they are being "missional" when they are merely being worldly.

Here is a must read from Phil Johnson at Team Pyro that calls into question what has become an unfortunate pursuit – relevance. The modern church has felt that it is no problem to set aside the commands of God for the "relevant" traditions of men. He writes:

After five decades spent obsessing over a warped notion of "relevance," American evangelicalism is overrun with "change agents" who are so steeped in worldly values that they can't distinguish true relevance from mere trendiness. Their philosophies of ministry are complex, wrong-headed, counterproductive, and hostile to the notion that some things—namely God Himself and the truth He has revealed in His Word—are by definition not susceptible to change.

By contrast, what Paul bequeathed to Timothy in two brief epistles was a remarkably simple, straightforward, but comprehensive ministry philosophy. Not only did Paul not urge Timothy to be innovative; what he did urge Timothy to do flatly contradicts practically every ministry philosophy currently in vogue.

Here is my sermon on Matthew 14:1-22, contrasting the kingdoms of Herod the Tetrarch and our Lord Jesus.

Here is a helpful article by Carl Bosma:

GOD'S LOVE: THE COMPELLING FORCE OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONS

Novelist Reynolds Price claims that Jesus' teaching "has resulted in the most far-reaching movements of mercy, tolerance and human freedom..." ("Jesus of Nazareth: Then and Now," Time, Dec 6, 1999, p. 94). For this reason he also asserts that Jesus' words in Matthew 11:28-29, "Come to me," offer the old welcome. Even though Price professes that Jesus cured him from cancer, he cannot accept Jesus' final instruction to his disciples in Matthew 28:18-20. In his opinion, "that last command goes on contributing heavily to the evils of national and religious warfare, institutional and individual hatred, imperialism and enslavement...".

Under the banner of love and human freedom, Price and others plead for cultural diversity and religious inclusiveness. Since they consider all Christian missionary efforts to be at odds with religious pluralism, they call for an end to Christian missions.

An important argument against the current call for ending Christian global missions is the intrinsic Scriptural link between God's love and his disciples' permanent obligation to disciple the nations in the period between Christ's first and second coming. A principal reason for continuing the commission to preach the gospel "to the ends of the world" and "to the end" is that the missionary enterprise is not only a natural response to Christ's royal edict (Mt. 28:18-20), but that it is also rooted in God's persistent love for his creation (John 3:16) as that love manifests itself in redemptive history.

Jesus accepted his mission. Because of Christ's loving obedience, God reconciled himself once for all to the world (Col. 1:20; 2 Cor. 5:18) by making peace through Jesus' blood, shed on the cross (Col. 1:20) and by "not counting men's sins against them" (2 Cor. 5:19).

So that the nations might participate fully in the blessing promised to Abraham (Gal. 3:8), Jesus, the seed (Gal. 3:16) and the son of Abraham (Mt. 1:1), also sent his disciples into the world (John 17:18; 20:21). He empowered them with the Spirit to declare God's pardon of sins (John 20:22-23). Consequently, the disciples' commission is based on the connection between God's sending his Son into the world and the Son's sending the disciples into the world.

A significant corollary of the sequence of sendings described above is that discipleship and mission are inseparably connected. Jesus called disciples to make them fishers of men (Mk. 1:17 par.). Jesus' invitation to come, to take up his yoke and to learn from him in Matthew 11 and his final command in Matthew 28 to go, to make disciples and to teach cannot be split apart. Those who have taken up Jesus' yoke and learned from him will make his last command their first concern.

God's gracious forgiveness and reconciliation require one to participate in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18) because of Christ's compelling love (2 Cor. 5:14). To impress this requirement on the minds of their members, local [churches] should impress upon their members Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:16: "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!" Since God's love compels us to make disciples, I urge [churches] to increase its world missions outreach in the new millennium. Each one should reach one!

Hear Octavius Winslow on the supremacy of Christ to the family:

There is a supremacy in the feeling of Christ’s preciousness to the believer, which is worthy of a remark. Christ has the pre-eminence in the affection of the regenerate. “Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.” Listen to His own words, asserting His claim to a single and supreme affection: "Whoso loveth father or mother, brother or sister, wife or children, more than Me, is not worthy of Me.” There are natural ties of affection—the parental, the conjugal, the filial; there are ties, too, of human love and friendship, linking heart to heart; but not one word does He who inspired those affections, who formed those ties, breathe, denying their existence or forbidding their exercise. Nay, the religion He came to inculcate distinctly recognises these human relations, and seeks to strengthen and intensify by purifying, elevating, and immortalizing them. But mark the emphatic word employed by Christ–“MORE than Me!”…In a word, Christ should become more supreme and precious to our hearts by all the sweet, sacred relations and affections of life.—Octavius Winslow, The Precious Things of God, page 25-26

This year, we hope to reach the Spanish-speaking world by translating Divided, A Weed in the Church, the Divided website, and the NCFIC website.

When we launched the NCFIC website many years ago, we had no idea how quickly and broadly the message would spread. Families were transformed. Churches were planted. People were connected.

In order to create the Spanish resources from the NCFIC, there are several projects to accomplish. Please join us in breaking this language barrier to bring the message of church and family reformation to the Spanish-speaking world.

Here is a breakdown of the various projects and their costs for each one:

I. Translate Divided Resources – $8,000

1. TRAILER: Translate, cast, record, edit, etc.
2. DVD: Translate, provide text to create a new DVD master
3. WEBSITE: Translate completely, including the extra features

II. Translate A Weed in the Church – $5,900

1. BOOK: Translate and edit book (300 pages, 60,000 words)

III. Translate NCFIC website (100 web pages + 20 audio recordings) – $7,500

1. HOME: Translate navigation, links, graphics, etc.; make Spanish versions of existing graphics, etc.
2. BLOG: Translate 36 select blog entries
3. EVENTS: Translate information for all 9 events listed
4. RESOURCES: Translate 35 select article resources. Translate and record 20 select audio resources. Identify and compile 5 gospel article resources (from Chapel Library and others), and 5 gospel sermons in Spanish (from SermonAudio)
5. NETWORKS: Translate menu and navigation text, excluding info for each church/family
6. STORE: Translate individual pages for Spanish-language resources only (Divided, A Weed in the Church, Feminine by Design, Gospel-Centered Marriages)
7. ABOUT US: Translate 9 drop-down pages, including 17 FAQ answers
8. DONATE: Translate
9. CONTACT US: Translate

IV. Select audio messages from past NCFIC conferences – $3,125

Transcribe, translate, and record 25 messages. Examples: Sufficiency of Scripture; Love the Church; Family Reformation; Child Training; The Master's Plan for Fatherhood; What is a Family-Integrated Church?

V. Represent NCFIC at “Expolit” a premier Spanish-language ministry conference in Miami – $5,100

Total project cost: $29,625

We believe that God is able to bring about a biblical church and family reformation in the Spanish-speaking world. Please join us as we endeavor, by God's grace, to reach them.

Recently I have read about men who say that we don't need to be too consistent with family worship. After all, they may say, it's not in the Bible. The reality of family worship is in the Bible. In addition, this opinion, by some men, is contrary to the settled opinion of others like Charles Hodge:

Social prayer includes family prayer, and prayer in the assemblies of the people for social worship. As man’s nature is social, he must have fellowship with his fellow men in all that concerns his inward and outward life. No man lives, or can live for himself, in religion any more than in any other relation. As the family is the most intimate bond of fellowship among men, it is of the utmost importance that it should be hallowed by religion. All the relations of parents, children, and domestics are purified and strengthened, when the whole household is statedly assembled, morning and evening, for the worship of God. There is no substitute for this divinely appointed means of promoting family religion. It supposes, indeed, a certain amount of culture. The head of the family should be able to read the Scriptures as well as to lead in the prayer. Those, however, who cannot do the former, may at least do the latter. All persons subject to the watch or care of the Church should be required to maintain in their households this stated worship of God. The character of the Church and of the state depends on the character of the family. If religion dies out in the family, it cannot elsewhere be maintained. A man’s responsibility to his children, as well as to God, binds him to make his house a Bethel; if not a Bethel, it will be a dwelling place of evil spirits.[1]

[1] Charles Hodge, vol. 3, Systematic Theology, 706.

Recently, Reformation Heritage Books sent out a pertinent letter from Joel Beeke about the importance of family worship.

"Have we forgotten the urgency of evangelism and to save souls as we enjoy the comforts of the Church?"

This often happens to churches…The former lifesaving station. 

I am looking forward to this…

Thomas Boston, commenting on "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," says:

It is a sign men have no spiritual hunger when they are more for religious disputes—than the practice of piety. Some men feed only on difficult questions and controversies (1 Timothy 6:3, 4). These pick bones—and do not feed on the meat. They have hot brains but cold hearts. Did men hunger and thirst after righteousness, they would propound to themselves such questions as these, 'How shall we do to be saved? How shall we make our calling and election sure? How shall we mortify our corruptions?' But such as ravel out their time in frothy and useless theological disputes, I call heaven to witness, they are strangers to this text. They do not 'hunger and thirst after righteousness'.

God describes the Church in many ways, and each of these is for our benefit. Each of them exposes the beauty, practicality, and blessing of God's design for His Church.

Here is a good list of New Testament Metaphors for the Church.

This past Sunday, we considered Matthew 13:24-43, where Jesus is teaching about the kingdom of heaven. In this passage, Jesus gives three parables: 1) the wheat and the tares, 2) the grain of mustard seed, and 3) the leaven. He explains through these what the kingdom of heaven is like and what those who hear should know about it.

You can listen the sermon through this audio player:

A simple concordance search on families does not tell you everything you need to know about what the New Testament teaches about family life. But the New Testament presents many expressions of family life:

• A spiritual father mentoring young men Timothy (2 Tim. 1:2), Titus (Tit. 1:4), Onesimus (Phm. 1:10)
• A husband and a wife, Aquila and Priscilla, laboring together in the gospel and ministering to the great preacher Apollos (Acts 18:26), and risking their necks for the apostle Paul (Rom. 16:3-4).
• A father crying out for his demonized son (Mark 9:24)
• A father grieving over his dead daughter (Mark 5:22-23)
• A woman caught in adultery (John 8:2-11)
• A woman with five husbands (John 4:18)
• A young man falling asleep during a long meeting, falling out a window to his death and then brought back to life (Acts 20:9-12)
• Children being converted in households at the preaching of the apostles – Philippian Jailer (Acts 16:31) and Cornelius (Acts 10:24, 44)
• Brothers seeking to follow the Lord Jesus – Nathanael (John 1:45-50)
• The family of Jesus and their attitudes toward Him (Matt. 12:48-50)
• Jesus giving his mother to be taken care of by John on the cross (John 19:26-27)
• The 12 apostles came from only 6 families (Matt. 10:2-4)
• A husband’s love in marriage is the picture of Christ’s love for the church (Eph. 5:25)
• A submissive son does the will of his father, doing only what he sees him doing and hears him saying (John 5:30)
• Older women teaching the younger women how to have godly family life (Tit. 2:4)
• Children wanting to be hear the Lord Jesus (Mark 10:13-15)
• Children shouting Hosanna (Matt. 21:15)
• A child providing his bread and fish to feed 5,000 (John 6:10)
• Children in prayer meetings (Acts 12:13)
• A young man growing in stature and favor with God and man (Luke 2:52)
• Children in the midst of controversy and danger – Paul’s nephew (Acts 23:16-17)
• A son-in-law caring for his mother in law – Peter (Matt. 8:14)
• Apostles preaching a gospel that is for "children’s children" (Acts 2:39)
• Prayers that invoke God’s blessing on coming generations not yet born (Eph. 3:14-21)
• A little girl raised from the dead – “talitha cumi”, which is little girl arise (Mark 5:41)
• Families being torn asunder by the gospel (Matt. 10:34-39)
• Two sisters treating Jesus differently, Martha and Mary (Luke 10:40-42)
• Two sisters grieving over their beloved brother (John 11:21, 32)
• A centurion appealing to Jesus for his a sick child (Matt. 8:5)
• Brothers who are greedy and envious for their inheritance (Luke 12:13)
• A widow making shawls for the other widows (Acts 16:14)
• Divine commands to take care of the fatherless and the widow (Jas. 1:27)
• A young girl, Rhoda, at a prayer meeting (Acts 12:13)
• Commands for young men (Tit. 2:6-8) and older men (Tit. 2:2)
• Commands for women (Tit. 2:3-5)
• Divine commands for marriage (Eph. 5:22-33)
• Divine commands for child discipline (Heb. 12:9)
• A newly, married couple with child (Matt.1:18)
• Genealogies (Matt. 1:1-16; Luke 3:23-38)
• A betrothed man treating a woman wonderfully in spite of the talk of the town (Matt. 1:19)
• A 12-year-old in temple collaborating with the older men (Luke 2:42-47)
• The first miracle was performed at a wedding (John 2:11)
• Many principles of behavior that are oil between the frictions, commands for how to treat one another. (Rom. 12:10; 13:8; 15:7; 1 John 2:10)
• The Bible begins with a marriage and ends with a marriage (Gen. 2:22; Rev. 21:2)

There is an interesting discussion about the youth group at James MacDonald's Harvest Chapel over at TeamPyro.