Where do we turn when the world seems dark and our lives seem like chaos? To the first page of the Bible where we read the words, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Those words were written for a generation that was rescued out of the darkness and chaos of Egyptian slavery, to convince them of the sovereignty of God and his powerful Word. We need convincing just the same.
In Sunday’s sermon, “In the beginning,” we toured the book to discover its central theme, the blessing of God. That is, the favor and smile of God on his people. The theme of blessing bookends the book and recurs some 90 times in-between. Blessing captures the joy and fulness of life with God before sin, what was lost in our rebellion, and the force that drives the book across its fifty chapters. It’s everything we need, even if the word has become cheap. Let’s recover it.
For those interested in studying alongside the series, consider these resources:
Genesis, by Derek Kidner. This is a classic little tome, readable, and a best short-volume on Genesis you could pick up.
Genesis: A 12-Week Study, by Mitchell Kim. If you’re wanting to meet up with a friend from church or work one-to-one, here’s a Bible study that asks perceptive questions and includes a bit of instruction along the way.
The Genesis Factor: Probing Life’s Big Questions, by David Helm and Jon Dennis. Here’s a great volume for reading Genesis with worldview questions in mind—mingling biblical theology and philosophy and insightful observations from the text.
Genesis: Beginning and Blessing, by Kent Hughes. Hughes is a famously faithful, straightforward, and perceptive preacher. This is his expositional commentary.
Whether you pick up a resource to study along or not, be sure to read along in your Bibles. In fact, that’s the best way to spend your time either way.
I’m eager for this journey of ours and pray for us to know the fullness of “every spiritual blessing” that is ours in Christ (Eph. 1:3).
On January 6, Pastor Abe Stratton delivered the book of Hebrews from memory, in a sermon titled, “Looking to Jesus.” In this first of a two-part guest-post, Abe shares with us some observations and benefits of Scripture memory.
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From the middle of 2016 until the end of 2018 I worked to memorize the book of Hebrews. The following thoughts are observations on and benefits of memorizing large portions of God’s Word. In a future post I plan to offer some encouragements and exhortations. My prayer is that the Word of Christ would dwell richly in the hearts and minds of his followers so that individual believers will be sanctified, the church will be built up, and ultimately our God will be glorified.
Here are some observations and benefits of Scripture memory.
1. A well-organized plan is not mandatory in order to memorize.
Your plan can change as you go along. Mine did as I realized how I needed to memorize a growing portion of Scripture, how I needed to review, etc. Here are some personal examples of how my plan developed and adapted over time.
Because of my office schedule at Heritage, I decided to spend time memorizing 4 days a week (Monday-Thursday). At the beginning of the book I spent about 10-15 minutes a day working on a new verse and going over the previous verses I had memorized. Memorizing out loud was helpful for me to internalize the words and message. Not only was I seeing and reading the words, but I was also hearing them. Aural emphasis is helpful for me in memorization.
As the number of memorized verses grew I had to change plans a bit because the time to review was getting longer. The best method seemed to be to review the previous chapter to the one I was memorizing. But around the time I passed the half-way point of the book, I began reviewing 3 chapters a day in addition to memorizing one new verse. This review was rotational. So, I would review chapters 1-3 while memorizing 10:12; the next day I would review chapters 4-6 while memorizing 10:13; the next day I would review chapters 7-9 while memorizing 10:14.
When reviewing 3 chapters a day and memorizing a new verse, the time commitment was probably 20-30 minutes a day. Note, this may sound like a lot of time, and it is in one sense. We are busy people. But think about your time spent in car line, time spent watching TV, time spent on your work commute. What could be more important than thinking on and treasuring the eternal Word of the living God which will remain forever? We tend to spend a lot of our time on things which are transitory and much less important. Now that I have finished the whole book, I will review 2-4 chapters a day to keep the book fresh in my mind and to keep the connections between chapters.
Your routine can be flexible as you progress. Some days I wouldn’t memorize a new verse if I felt like I had not gotten a good hold on the verse from the day before. Sometimes I would just review the chapters that I had memorized to that point.
2. You begin to see connections in lengthy passages of Scripture when you are in them for long amounts of time.
Not until I was in the final chapters of the book did I see a repeated pattern that the author uses. There are a number of “therefores” in the book; look out for them. Following a number of these “therefores” the author says, “Let us…” The author is making the point that because of a significant truth we must respond in a particular way. Once I saw this pattern, I went back through the book and marked each one. These triggers then became points of emphasis for me in my recitation of the book.
3. Scripture comes naturally and unbidden to your mind in everyday life.
I have found that in writing a note to a person or in reading a book or in fighting my own temptations, some passage from Hebrews will rise to my thoughts. This is a wonderful blessing and a work of grace.
This Sunday we will begin a five-week sermon series through the Book of Isaiah, titled, A Vision of Two Cities.
In Isaiah’s vision he sees Jerusalem as it is, in ruins. Yet by the end of the book, he sees a new Jerusalem. The question is: how does Jerusalem get that way? Across these 66 chapters we will gain a better understanding of the human problem of sin, of God’s holiness, and of the good news of salvation in Christ. In fact, it’s from Isaiah’s writing that we get the langauge of “good news” (Isa. 40:9).
Here’s the series outline so you can read ahead each week:
November 25: “The God of Unapproachable Holiness” (1-12)
December 2: “The God of The World and History” (13-27)
December 9: “The God of Incomparable Strength” (28-39)
December 16: “The God of Good News for Sinners” (40-55)
December 23: “The God of a New City” (56-66)
Reading ahead will require a bit of planning, as these are larger divisions of text. But if you can pull it off, your investment will pay you back. Isaiah is quoted in the New Testament more than all of the other prophets combined.
In getting to know Isaiah’s prophecy we will get to know our Bibles better, and in getting to know our Bibles better we’ll get to know Christ better. Come on Sundays with expectation for how God will use his Word among us this December.
Psalm 96 tells us to, “Sing to the Lord a new song” (Ps. 96:1).
We sing old songs because our faith has roots in an old gospel. We sing new songs because the living God is saving sinners and the living Christ is building his church.
Today we welcome Keith and Kristyn Getty and their team of musicians to Heritage Bible Church for Sing! Greenville. You can still register. We’re honored to host this event in partnership with four area gospel-preaching churches, two sister churches, Grace Bible Church in Moore and Emmanuel Bible Church in Mauldin, as well as two neighborhood churches, Suber Road Baptist Church, and Grace Baptist Church.
As we head into the day together, here are a few reminders, helps, and resources to peruse.
Schedule
Area church and music leaders will start the day with us for a Summit with Keith and Kristyn, an interactive seminar that will unfold in three parts:
9:00 AM – “Singing and the Church,” with Keith Getty
10:00 AM – “Singing and the Family,” with Keith and Kristyn Getty
11:00 AM – “Singing and the Church’s Mission,” with Keith Getty and Zach White
During that third session, at 11:00 AM, a children’s workshop will take place in The Cave. This will be a one-hour interactive time with Kristyn and some of the Getty musicians. The kids will learn about some of the Irish instruments, and hear from Kristyn and her experiences growing up in Ireland.
Then, in the evening we come together for an evening of congregational singing.
6:00 PM – Paid Early Seating Access
6:30 PM – Doors Open
7:00 PM – Evening of Congregational Singing
Parking
For both the Summit and the evening event, please use the tower courtyard entrance at the back of the building and be prepared to show your ticket when you arrive. A handicapped entrance will be available under the portico on the Old Spartanburg Road side of the building.
Resources
The Merchandise Hall will be hosted in the Fellowship Hall, the building opposite the auditorium. Getty music and albums will be available for purchase at a discount.
“Music for the Church: Mark Dever Interviews Keith Getty,” a one hour podcast interview spanning the role of singing in the church, hymn writing, technology in corporate worship, and the history of the church’s song curation.
“We Will Wait for You,” a new song we’ll learn on Friday night based on Psalm 130 from Keith Getty, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, and Stuart Townend.
Join us on Sunday Morning
If you are participating with us in this Sing! event and don’t have a church home, we welcome you to join us on Sunday mornings at Heritage. We give ourselves to the simple, ancient, and biblical things: singing, praying, reading Scripture, the Lord’s table, and the preached Word.
This past week we began a two part preaching series, titled, Sing!. Pastor Stratton preached from Psalm 95, “Come, Let Us Sing,” a sermon calling God’s people to song. This Sunday, I’ll preach from Psalm 96, “Sing, All the Earth,” a call for the whole earth to sing.
At Heritage we’re committed to spreading the unsearchable riches of Christ broader in the world and deeper in the church. It is our prayer for this event to do both. Singing drives the Word of Christ deeper into the church as we “[let] the word of Christ dwell in [us] richly … singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Col. 3:16). Singing also spreads God’s wonders wherever his people are heard, which is why Psalm 96 doesn’t just say, “Sing to the Lord a new song,” but continues, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth” (96:1).
If you have any questions or needs across the day, look out for someone with a gold lanyard and an Event Staff badge. We’re glad to be of help.
Our region is brimming with Bible-promoting, God-honoring, and church-unifying events. One of those is an annual conference held at Second Presbyterian Church, The Greenville Conference on Reformed Theology. As you learned a few Sundays back, this year’s conference will take place from October 12–14, a Friday through Sunday.
Rick Phillips, senior minister at Second Presbyterian Church, was kind to invite me to speak at the conference. Pray for me as I prepare messages from 1 Peter 2:4–10 and from Psalm 121.
Besides these wonderful Scriptural texts, here are three reasons why I’d be so glad if you came.
First, come for the conference theme, “The Sovereignty of God.”
There are few biblical doctrines that revolutionize our understanding of God and his ways more than the doctrine of God’s sovereignty. That is, the truth that God is before all things, over all things, and working in and through all things. There is no atom of space and no minute of time that is outside of his providential control. This is, of course, a doctrine that raises a host of questions. What does it mean when the Psalmist writes, “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases” (Ps. 115:3)? What does it mean for my own salvation? What does it mean for our evangelism of our neighbors? What does it mean for our prayers? These are the kinds of questions we’ll address at this year’s conference. The conference talk titles and schedule are available on the conference website.
Second, Kevin DeYoung and Rick Phillips are rare gifts to the church.
Friends, I commend these brothers to you. They are faithful pastors, preachers of God’s Word, and allies for the gospel in our region. Many of you are familiar with Rick Phillips, this past year’s men’s retreat speaker. I commend you to his many helpful books. Rick has been a friend to Heritage and a friend to me. As for Kevin, there are few more reliable and readable pastor-writers than Kevin. When someone expresses interest to me in pursuing pastoral ministry, I’ll often point him to Kevin’s blog for regular reading. From children’s books, to a book for the crazy busy, to a book on Scripture, to a book on homosexuality and the Bible, to a book for church leaders on the mission of the church, Kevin is serving the church well. Read the bios on the conference speakers for more information.
Third, the joy of gospel partnership.
You’ll remember that when Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, he reminded them of the gospel which “is bearing fruit and increasing” throughout the whole world (Col. 1:6). We need the perspective that comes through simple partnerships like a conference weekend such as this. You’ll notice that I’m speaking with two Presbyterian ministers. I share many doctrines in common with these men, but we differ at important points, especially when it comes to, as an example, the question of infant baptism or church polity. For purposes of church life and leadership, it’s good for us to do things apart. But for purposes of the advance of the gospel in our region, it’s great for us to do some things together.
Register for the conference online. College students, special no-cost registration has been set up for you. See you there.
