Andy Davis:In your preaching, teaching, and counseling, display a deep reverence and love for the perfect Word of God.

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In your preaching, teaching, and counseling, display a deep reverence and love for the perfect Word of God (Isa 66:2) and show that the Word of God alone is able to make us continually wise, for "salvation through faith in Christ Jesus" (2 Tim 3:15).

Give the people a sense that every time they hear you speak, it is as though you are speaking "the very words of God" (1 Pet 4:11 NIV).

Always establish the glory of God as the prime motive for everything they do in their lives (1 Cor 10:31).

Establish that the church has been bought with the blood of Christ shed on the cross (Acts 20:28) and that the resurrected Christ is moving with holy zeal tending the lampstands of each of His local churches (Rev 1:12–13).

Give the people a deep, abiding love for the holiness of God and a correspondingly deep hatred for sin.

Expose indwelling sin as the vicious, wicked, virulent tyrant that it is (Rom 7:13–25), and never fail to tell the truth about the devious nature of the natural human heart in light of the holiness of God (Jer 17:9).

Preach the need for continual repentance from sin in order to make progress in salvation (2 Cor 7:10) and the deep desire we should have to be done with sin forever (Rom 7:24).

Demonstrate the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit over indwelling sin and that this power is displayed in the believer's continual mortification of the deeds of the flesh (Rom 8:1–14).

Show how a part of God's love for us is His holy jealousy over us (Exod 34:14) and His desire that we should be free from all the lusts which wage war against our souls (1 Pet 2:11).

Display also plainly Christ's desire that we genuinely love one another as He has loved us (John 13:34) and that this means loving brothers and sisters enough to help them address the sins that are dragging them down.

Proclaim to them the kind of love for the brothers and sisters commanded in Heb 3:12–13, as mentioned above: "Watch out, brothers, so that there won't be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin's deception."

Explain plainly that these verses command members of local churches to be one another's shepherds and guardians, protecting the brothers and sisters in Christ from sin's despicable treachery—its ability to drag us slowly away from Christ by a gradual hardening process.

Hammett, J. S., & Merkle, B. (2012). Those who must give an account: a study of church membership and church discipline. Nashville: B&H.

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Repackaging the gospel? It's more like obscuring the gospel!

Preface : I recognize this post may make me unpopular with some, but I think it is an important issue to blog about here. I’ve had time to reflect on this video and in my opinion, I think what is in this video raises some questions. This gentleman featured below is slotted to speak at the SBC's 2020 Pastors' Conference and it prompted me to think more about this illustration. I want to note that I don't know him and I have no personal issue with him. I assume he is a brother in the LORD. Having said that, I see some significant issues here that relate to this type of preaching being clear on the gospel of Jesus Christ. In fact, it appears to be obscuring it in my observation. Concern: Should the SBC or churches, in general, be in the habit of holding this up as a good and healthy example? Let's think about it some together. (Watch this clip below here first.) Context: The clip was posted to stand on its own as if it were wise and sound on it

Smith: "Many people believe God opens the door of salvation and then stands back...".

Jonah 2:9 “Salvation belongs to the LORD!” God’s dramatic intervention in the life of Jonah is full of hope—not only for those who seek God, but also for those who, like Jonah, have determined to shut him out. Many people believe God opens the door of salvation and then stands back, leaving it up to us to decide if we want to come in. But if God made salvation possible and then stepped back, refusing to interfere with our choice, then the entire life of believers would be about us—our believing, our serving, our following, and our choices to live a good life. In the case of Jonah, imprisoned in the whale’s belly, God was claiming someone who was quite incapable of performing any redeeming work to compensate for his sin. God was not relying on Jonah to save Jonah. The message remains the same for each of us today: if you have trusted God for salvation, he has done more than simply make salvation possible; he has actually saved you. Colin Smith, “Jonah,” in Gospel Transformation B

Men stirred, boys exhorted, and Jesus exalted!

Neh 8 v 13 (CSB) 13 On the second day, the family heads of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, assembled before the scribe Ezra to study the words of the law. Notice the feel of the scene. After that long day in the Word, it appears that the women and children were, understandably, exhausted and urged to stay home on this occasion. And, among the men, there is a growing interest of “What else are we missing right now as it pertains to obeying God's Word?”. So clear is the fact that the family heads, the men, came back to get more. The real sense of enthusiasm starts with the men here. If you were an able-bodied man here, you stayed behind to get instructions so that you might be a good instructor at home. The text says these men came together to study the words of the law . That means to give attention to and ponder. This is the process of thinking through complex things, resulting in wise dealing and the use of good practical common sense. Here in

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