bob's blog

Numbers 30 provides a concrete illustration of the principle of family leadership that transcends the Mosaic Covenant. We are not under the covenant laws of the Pentateuch, yet many of the same laws are binding under the New Covenant precepts, (New Covenant = New Testament), Romans 6:14 "...for you are not under law but under grace." The exhortations to husbands in Ephesians 5 to sacrificial and edifying love and leadership can be applied for the same effect as Numbers 30.

Our nation celebrates and mourns the days that shape our national character. We remember sorrowful days like December 7^th, 1941 or September 11, 2001, and joyful days like July 4^th, 1776. The danger of forgetting is serious. The more we are separated from our past, either by “new history” or a careless obsession with the present, the more we lose our identity as a nation.

Leadership is a call to be students of Scripture and mighty in the Word.  Without this qualification, we are unprepared for shepherding and ministering to the people of God.  It is insufficient to merely love the flock, and possess a servant's heart.  These are essentials but our love and service must be informed by a real understanding of the revealed will of God.

Paul tells us it is a commendable thing if a man desires the work of an overseer, (1 Timothy 3:1). But who is qualified to shepherd the flock of God?

You do not need to be ordained or have a seminary degree to start a church or become an elder in a local congregation; however you should possess all the qualifications of an elder and be recognized as such by the local fellowship. These qualifications include character qualities and being thoroughly equipped in the doctrines of Scripture to enable you to engage in teaching and polemics, Titus 1:9ff, 1 Timothy 3:1-7.

The Christian family must be a consistent object of ministry in the local church. For our purposes, we designate the season between Mother's Day and Father's Day to take up the particular ministry issues of marriage and family. Pastors must not forget the great struggles that continually face the homes within their congregations. But equipping husbands and wives, mothers and fathers to build their homes on the principles of God's Word accomplishes much more than easing tensions in the individual homes. This ministry strengthens the whole church.

I have been meditating on Revelation 2:10, "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."  Below I have listed eighteen hope-filled observations and applications.

Our nation celebrates and mourns the days that shape our national character. We remember sorrowful days like December 7^th, 1941 or September 11, 2001, and joyful days like July 4^th, 1776. The danger of forgetting is serious. The more we are separated from our past, either by "new history" or a careless obsession with the present, the more we lose our identity as a nation.

This article is not about losing our national identity through reinterpretations of the past or through the growing academic hatred for America's history and heroes, as serious as that may be. My concern regards the lost identity of the evangelical church in forgetting the Reformation.

In our postmodern culture, reprobate intellectualism finds the Biblical idea of God to be odious and loathsome. Recently, the hostility of unbelieving thought has intensified in the public arena through the promotion of skepticism and atheism in the books and articles of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and others.

"And he said, 'Please, show me Your glory.'" - Exodus 33:18

"Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire." - Deuteronomy 5:24

A Bible is one of the greatest gifts anyone can receive! Though it was written by forty human authors over a period of 1600 years, they are all united by the Divine authorship that superintended their writing, so that using their own personality and vocabulary they recorded the revelation of God without error. Imagine it! God has written a book so that generations living after the prophets and apostles can know Him. St. Augustine spoke truly, "The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home."