Theological term
Whole Counsel of God
13 sermons · All terms
The Pattern for the Christian Life
Philippians 3:17 calls believers to join in following the Apostle Paul's example and to identify others in the local church who walk the same way. The sermon argues that faithful Christian examples are not found among social-media influencers but among ordinary, persevering saints whose lives are grounded in justification by faith alone, followed by sanctification, perseverance, and glorification. Paul's example is examined across four dimensions — his conversion, his life as a believer, his ministry, and his suffering — with particular attention to the courage and gospel-centrality displayed throughout Acts. The sermon's application presses the responsibility squarely on individual believers: they must actively seek out faithful examples in the congregation rather than waiting for examples to come to them.
Ask FGBC #19: Should Christians engage in politics?
Should Christians engage in politics? This Q&A addresses the Christian's dual citizenship — as a member of both the church and the civil body politic — and argues that while political engagement is neither commanded nor forbidden by Scripture, it is entirely lawful. The discussion distinguishes the church's spiritual sword (the gospel and the keys of the kingdom) from the civil state's coercive sword, drawing on the Noahic covenant in Genesis 9 as the foundational charter for justice, family, and enterprise in society. The threefold use of the law is applied to show why preaching against abortion or civil injustice is ethics and theology, not partisan politics.
Lessons from Paul's Ministry - Acts 20:17-31
Acts 20:17–31 presents Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders as a model for Christian ministry and congregational faithfulness. The sermon draws four lessons from Paul's example: the transparent, suffering-marked character of his ministry; the divine call and gospel mission that sustained him; the sobering warning against wolves from without and false teachers from within; and the encouraging promise that God and the word of his grace are able to build up and preserve his people to their final inheritance. The application presses both ministers and congregants toward openness before God's people, vigilance against false teaching, and diligent use of the means of grace.
Live Stream - October 01, 2023
Acts 20:17–32 records Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders, and this exposition draws four lessons from that address for all who labour in Christian ministry and all who sit under it: the transparent example Paul modelled, the singular motivation of pleasing a sovereign God even through suffering, the urgent warning against wolves from without and false teachers from within, and the sustaining encouragement that God will keep his people to their inheritance through the gospel of his grace. The sermon calls those already in ministry to openness and fidelity, urges young believers to consider the call, and presses the unconverted to receive the gospel of the grace of God while it is offered.
The Great Commission
The Great Commission in Matthew 28:16–20 is grounded in the absolute authority of the risen Christ, who possesses all power in heaven and on earth and commissions His church to make disciples of all nations. The passage contains four grammatically imperatival commands — going, making disciples, baptizing, and teaching — each examined for its precise theological and ecclesiological force. Believers' baptism by immersion follows upon credible profession of faith, not the reverse, and the Trinitarian formula of baptism grounds the church's confession of one divine essence in three persons. The sermon closes by situating the Great Commission within the full passion narrative: the life, death, and resurrection of Christ are themselves the content the church is sent to proclaim, and Christ's omnipotence and omnipresence are the twin assurances that the commission will not fail.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 7
Acts 20:32–38 concludes Paul's farewell address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, functioning as a pastoral charge that moves from doctrinal grounding to ethical example to affectionate departure. The sermon treats three movements: Paul's commendation of the elders to God and the Word of His grace as the only sufficient resource for long-term ministry, Paul's example of non-covetousness and manual labor as a rebuke against ministerial greed, and the tearful parting as a model of godly gratitude for the instruments of grace. A sustained excursus defends the biblical warrant for paying pastors from 1 Corinthians 9, 1 Timothy 5, and 2 Timothy 2, establishing that Paul's voluntary self-support was the exercise of a right, not the abolition of one. The sermon closes with a call to pray for faithful ministers and to value the means God ordains for the salvation of sinners.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 6
Acts 20:28–31 records the Apostle Paul's pastoral charge to the Ephesian elders at Miletus — a charge that functions as the first pastors' conference in the new covenant era. The passage demands that elders take heed to themselves and to all the flock, that they shepherd the blood-bought church of God, and that they remain vigilant against both external persecution and internal doctrinal corruption. The theological weight of the phrase 'the church of God which He purchased with His own blood' opens into a precise treatment of the communication of idioms, establishing that the divine and human natures of the one person of Christ are the ground on which Scripture can speak of God's own blood. Ministers are called to feed the flock with the whole counsel of God, warned that savage wolves and ambitious false teachers will arise, and exhorted to watch and warn with the same tear-stained fidelity that marked Paul's three years in Ephesus.
The Third Missionary Journey, Part 5
Acts 20:17–27 records the Apostle Paul's address to the Ephesian elders at Miletus — the only extended speech in Acts directed specifically to Christian leaders. The sermon examines Paul's review of his own apostolic ministry as a model for pastoral faithfulness, tracing his humility and tears, his unflinching proclamation of repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and his resolve to press toward Jerusalem despite the Spirit's testimony of chains and tribulations ahead. Paul's declaration of innocence in verse 27 — grounded in his refusal to shun the whole counsel of God — is pressed as the standard against which every gospel minister will stand accountable before God.
The Defection from the Truth
When the apostle Paul commands Timothy to 'preach the Word' in 2 Timothy 4:2, he immediately supplies the reason: a time is coming when professing Christians will not endure sound doctrine. This sermon expounds 2 Timothy 4:3–5, tracing four sequential steps of doctrinal defection — boredom and apathy toward the truth, heaping up teachers who satisfy itching ears, active turning away from the truth, and final embrace of fables — and sets over against that decline the fourfold call to Timothy: be watchful, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry. The church's responsibility is to receive the truth, recognize its proper mission defined by the marks of the church, and rejoice in the means God has ordained rather than demanding a prescription of its own devising.
The Minister Approved by God
What does God require of a faithful gospel minister when heresy invades the church? Expositing 2 Timothy 2:14–15, this sermon argues that the approved minister is marked by three things: a diligent commitment to reminding the people of God of gospel truth, a pursuit of God's approval rather than human favor, and an accurate, straight-cut handling of the word of truth. The damning danger of false teaching — whether outright denial of the resurrection or the subtler corruption of justification by works — makes these qualifications not merely desirable but necessary for the health of the church.
The Call of Samuel the Prophet
The call of Samuel in 1 Samuel 3 marks a decisive turning point in redemptive history — the transition from the era of the judges to the era of the monarchy, with Samuel functioning as God's appointed prophet and king-maker. The chapter opens with a judgment: the word of the Lord was rare in Israel, a condition the sermon argues is never accidental but always the fruit of covenant unfaithfulness, as God withdraws the lamp of His word from a people who have despised it. The Eli narrative exposes the consequences of passive, toothless pastoral authority, while Samuel's emergence illustrates the mercy of God who meets the absence of His word with a new voice. The sermon closes by pressing the abundance of available Scripture upon contemporary hearers as an undeserved grace, calling both believers and unbelievers to be where the Bible is preached and to receive Christ's imputed righteousness by faith alone.
The Murder of John the Baptist
Matthew 14:1–12 narrates the imprisonment and beheading of John the Baptist by Herod Antipas, and this exposition argues that the account is ultimately about Jesus Christ — the fate of the forerunner foreshadows the fate of the Coming One. The sermon traces three movements: the imprisonment of John for faithful law-preaching, the morally depraved celebration that occasions his murder, and the execution itself, which Matthew frames as a typological preview of the crucifixion. The characters of Herod and Herodias are examined as New Testament counterparts to Ahab and Jezebel, whose guilt-driven conspiracy to silence God's law illustrates that no sin can be covered except through the death of Christ. Hearers are called to forsake self-made coverings for sin and to believe on the one in whom alone is forgiveness and the gift of righteousness.
The Bible and Abortion, Part 2
Scripture consistently treats the unborn as image-bearers of God, and this sermon works through four questions designed to test that conviction: whether abortion is ever lawful, how to handle hard cases such as rape and incest, how to avoid abortion altogether, and what the church is called to do. Drawing on the biblical categories of lawful killing — self-defense, legitimate war, and capital punishment — the sermon demonstrates that abortion satisfies none of these conditions and therefore remains sin without exception. The hard cases do not alter the status of the conceived, and Deuteronomy 22 establishes that in rape the criminal, not the child, bears the penalty. The church's answer is the whole counsel of God: law that restrains sin and gospel that offers genuine hope to those who have already committed it.