September 2012

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September 5: Rev. D. James Kennedy

5 September, 2012 in September 2012 by davidtmyers | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History: 

More Alive than I have ever Been Before

The veteran preacher was speaking about his translation to heaven from the pulpit one Sunday morning.  As he spoke of his pine box being brought in at his funeral, Dr. D. James Kennedy warned against any weeping at the sight.  Instead, he said “I want you to begin with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead.  I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life.  I will be alive forever, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.”

The above quotation was on his funeral bulletin after his death at his home in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on September 5, 2007. He had returned from the medical facility just ten days before, after being stricken with a heart attack the previous year. His last sermon had been preached on December 24, 2006, with his retirement from the pulpit of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church for the last  forty-seven years.

Much has been written on the man and his ministry.  His twin themes of the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate characterized his messages and ministry in Fort Lauderdale, the state of Florida, the nation, and the world.  Certainly, the lay-witnessing methodology for sharing the gospel impacted countless Christians, including this writer in his pastorate of forty years.  Taking every thought captive to the Lord Jesus and reclaiming the culture of our once blessed nation and people, enabled the cultural mandate to become practice instead of mere theory.   For all this, we can thank the Triune God for D. James Kennedy.  No wonder can the funeral hymns be started with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah Chorus.  The sovereign God deserves all the praise for the spiritual gifts He had given to His servant, Dr. Kennedy.

Words to live by:  Jesus once said that we were to pray that laborers be literally thrust out into the harvest, for it was ready to be gathered.   When is the next D. James Kennedy to be raised up for the ripe harvest?  Indeed, where is the next generation of pastors and teachers, missionaries, evangelists, helpers, administrators, and you can add all the spiritual gifts here, going to step forward and be counted for labors in the kingdom of grace?  The harvest is there.  The church is there.  The culture is there.  Where are the laborers?  Pray for a mighty calling today for service in our day.

Through the Scriptures:  2 Chronicles 17 – 19

Through the Standards:  A Pattern for prayer  

WLC 187 — “How is the Lord’s Prayer to be used?
A.  The Lord’s prayer is not only for direction, as a pattern, according to which we are to make other prayers; but may also be used as a prayer, so that it be done with understanding, faith, reverence, and other graces necessary to the right performance of the duty of prayer.”

WLC 188 — “Of how many parts does the Lord’s Prayer consist?
A.  The Lord’s prayer consists of three parts: a preface, petitions, and a conclusion.”

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September 4: WSC Q. 82

4 September, 2012 in September 2012 by davidtmyers | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:

Our Sorry State in Light of the Law

Finding no historical record of Presbyterianism on this date, the Shorter Catechism which immediately follows the exposition of the Ten Commandments, number 82, occupies our attention on this day, September 4, 2012.  Our Confessional Fathers ask and answer, “Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?  Answer: No mere man, since the fall, is able, in this life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God: but does daily break them in thought, words, and deed.”

We could sum up the commandments of God from Exodus 20 here so that we could know exactly what we are talking about in this answer.  The children’s version, found in Alexander Whyte’s book of several centuries ago on “The Shorter Catechism with a Commentary,” helps us with their remembrance:

1. You shall not have more gods but Me.

2. Before no idol bow the knee.

3. Take not the name of God in vain.

4. Nor dare the Sabbath day profane.

5. Give both your parents honor due.

6. Take heed that you no murder do.

7. Abstain from words and deeds unclean.

8. Nor steal, though you are poor and mean (e.g. low).

9. Nor make a willful lie, nor love it.

10. What is your neighbor’s do not covet.

No ordinary person since the fall can keep God’s commandments.  That is the sense of those beginning words in this catechism.  Certainly Jesus kept perfectly His Father’s laws in His active obedience, but He was both God and man, not an ordinary man.  Adam and Eve kept God’s moral law perfectly before the fall, but this answer defines itself with the phrase “after the fall.”  No ordinary people, either of themselves, or by any grace received in their lives, can be perfectly obedient to the commandments of God.

Indeed, we, as the Confessional Fathers all too sadly acknowledge, “daily break them in thought, word, and deed.”  All of our sins which we commit are thus reduced to three areas of our lives.  Our thoughts no one but God sees, and so no one knows the sinfulness of ourselves better than us.  Jesus enumerated the list of sinful thoughts in Matthew 15:19 when he spoke of “murder, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” (NASB)  James in chapter 3 of his letter spoke of the futility of controlling our tongues, in that we sometimes bless God and curse men, who have been made in God’s image.  And John, in his letter in chapter 3, mentions the practice of sin, which is lawlessness. (v. 4)

And yet, here the good news.  All of these sins are under the blood of Christ, and therefore forgiven by His grace with genuine biblical repentance on our parts.  Every sin does deserve God’s wrath and curse, but praise God, Jesus become a curse for us, taking the wrath of God upon Himself on that cursed tree.  To escape this holy wrath, God required faith in His Son, Jesus Christ, repentance unto life, using the appointed outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.

Words to live by:  Every time this contributor thinks he has been successful in  pleasing God more and more, he goes back to the Ten Commandments, and their treatment of them in the Westminster Standards.  He then finds that even in his best efforts, there has been plenty of weakness exhibited in thought, word, and deed.  Where would we be without the all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ?  Praise God for His work of sanctification, which enables us to more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Through the Scriptures:  2 Chronicles 14 – 16

Through the Standards:  Direction of prayer   

WLC 186 — “What rule has God given for our direction in the duty of prayer?
A.  The whole word of God is of use to direct us in the duty of prayer; but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which our Savior Christ taught his disciples, commonly called The Lord’s Prayer.”

WSC 99 — “What rule has God given for our direction in prayer?
A.  The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which Christ taught his disciples, commonly called The Lord’s Prayer.“

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September 3: William Edward Biederwolf, Evangelist

3 September, 2012 in September 2012 by davidtmyers | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History: 

Exchanging a Cross for a Crown

Do you realize that, to the surprise of countless Christians, Presbyterianism has produced some of the most noteworthy evangelists in history, especially in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds?   We say “surprise to countless Christians” because it is wrongly thought that our understanding of Calvinism would prohibit us from being evangelists.  But it is rather a case of because we are convinced of Calvinist truth in the Holy Scriptures, that we are zealous of winning souls to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The inspired writer Luke sums up our confidence, when in Acts 13:48, he described the gospel’s effect being preached by Paul “as  many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” (ESV)

One of the greatest Presbyterian evangelists of that time period was William Edward Biederwolf.  Born in 1867, he was the seventh child of two German Presbyterians, Michael and Abolana Biederwolf of Monticello, Indiana.  After schooling in the area, he taught school for a while.  Attending Wabash College in Indiana, a Sunday School class began to pray for his conversion.  In fact, each of them wrote a letter, urging him to receive Christ as his personal Lord and Savior.  At age 20, he did just that, becoming a Christian.

He then went to Princeton University, and Princeton Seminary, graduating in 1895.  Marrying a hometown gal the next year, he studied overseas in Germany at the University of Berlin and the Sorbonne.  Well educated for his life’s calling then, he returned to the United States where he was called to the pulpit of Broadway Presbyterian Church in Loganport, Indiana in 1897.  It was a short ministry as the war clouds of the Spanish-American War loomed on the horizon. He enlisted as a chaplain of the 131st Second Voluntary Regiment  of the 13th Calvary, serving six months in Cuba.  He would write  on his experience and the regiment he served afterwards,  as a spiritual servant of Christ.

Beginning the new year and millennium of 1900, he entered evangelism as a full-time preacher of the gospel.  For the next 39 years before he passed away on September 3, 1939, he made three world tours of evangelism.  And yet the most dramatic evangelistic ministry he engaged in was in a town in Pennsylvania, called Oil City.  In the winter of 1914 on the eve of World War I, he had thousands attending in the bitter cold of north-west Pennsylvania, with the result that the whole town from the mayor down to the ordinary citizen, was stirred in  deep concern about the things of God and their place in it.

His closing years was spent associated with the Winona Lake Bible Conference and School of Theology.  After a long illness, he spoke the title of this devotional about his exchange of a cross of a crown to his wife, and died the next day.

Words to live by:  Christian reader, you can go forth in the power of the Holy Spirit, sharing by life and lips, to your unsaved loved ones, neighbors, school friends, fellow workers at your jobs, and even strangers whom you meet in divine appointments, the unsearchable riches of Christ and Him crucified, knowing that those who are ordained to eternal life, will believe the gospel and be saved.  Claim this text of Acts 13:48 as your confidence, and go, be witnesses of Christ.

Through the Scriptures:  2 Chronicles 10 – 13

Through the Standards: The day of worship

W.C.F. 21:7
“As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, He has particularly appointed one day in seven, for a Sabbath, to be kept holy unto him; which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, was the last day of the week; and, from the resurrection of Christ, was changed into the first day of the week, which, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.”

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September 2: Never Forget

2 September, 2012 in September 2012 by davidtmyers | No comments

This Day in Presbyterian History:

Freedom From Terror Comes with a Cost

Where were you on September 11, 2001?  This has become this decade’s most asked question.  Where were you when the Twin Towers of the Trade Center were destroyed by terrorists?  It has replaced the question of “where were you when President John F. Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas?” Or even a generation earlier, “where were you when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese on December 6, 1941?”  Everyone has an answer to all of these questions, including the first one.  And usually there is a story to go along with it as well.

On September 2, 2011, the Glasglow Presbyterian Church of the Presbyterian Church in America, decided to do more than ask the familiar question.  They decided to dedicate that Lord’s Day, the Sunday before this terrorist attack, with a display of small American flags on  their church property.  Located on the busiest highway in the state of Delaware, the sixty-two hundred flags were a heart-warming, yet solemn remembrance of the U.S. citizens and other nations who have been lost to the War on Terror thus far, particularly in the nations of Iraq and Afghanistan, where our young warriors have been fighting that terror network. As the senior pastor of this congregation, Dr. Chuck Betters, said, “Freedom from terror comes at a cost.”

But the church congregation didn’t stop with just an outdoor memorial.  Using dozens of volunteers, they were able to mail a package to every family who had lost a loved one in the decades long conflict.  In the package was a personal note, and an audio tape entitled “The Ultimate Sacrifice,” which deals with the tender subject of coping with the loss of a loved one.

The following Sunday, on September 11, 2011, Dr. Better preached a sermon on this tragic day which has been seared in our consciences forever. 

Words to live by: The word “remember” is a word which is used often in Scripture.  One of the Ten commandments, which dealt with the Sabbath Day, began with “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”  The inspired writers of  the New Testament are always telling us to “remember this” or “remember that,” usually with regards to an exhortation he has given them at an earlier time.  In Acts 20:35, we are told to “remember the words of the Lord Jesus,” for example.  This is one of the purposes of this whole devotional guide, to remember the faithful Christians and events who and which have gone before, that we will either imitate the good deeds and/or be warned against the bad actions.  Remember!

Through the Scriptures:  2 Chronicles 7 – 9

Through the Standards: The freedom of worship

WCF 21:6
“Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now, under the Gospel, either tied unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or towards which it is directed: but God is to be worshiped everywhere, in spirit and truth; as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself; so, more solemnly in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or willfully to be neglected, or forsake, which God, by His Word or providence, calls thereunto.”

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September 1: Chaplain David Peterson

1 September, 2012 in September 2012 by davidtmyers | 3 comments

This Day in Presbyterian History: 

Good Providence Sums Up His Calling

Reared outside the prairie town of Lemmon, South Dakota, David Peterson would travel to many war-torn countries around the world before his calling as an Army chaplain would be over.  But that thirty-year career did come to an end on September 1, 1995.  For the next thirteen years, he led the Presbyterian Church in America Mission to North America Chaplain Ministries as its Coordinator.  Currently he is the chairman of the International Association of Evangelical Chaplains, which assists foreign nations in developing and training of chaplains.

A key highlight of an adventure filled life and ministry for this Covenant College and Covenant Theological Seminary graduate was his experience as the Senior Military Chaplain for General Norman Schwarzkopf in the first Gulf War.  He was present in the underground bunker in Saudi Arabia when the first United States bombers were to take off for Baghdad, Iraq around midnight.  The general had gathered his staff together, including Col. Peterson.  Before the order was given to start the war, he asked his chaplain to say a prayer.

Chaplain Peterson prayed the following prayer on that momentous night: “Our Father, on this awesome and humbling occasion, we are grateful for the privilege of turning to you, our Sovereign and Almighty God.  We believe that, in accord with the teaching of your word and revelation, we are on a just and righteous mission.  We pray for a quick and decisive victory. Your Word informs us that men prepare for battle, and we have.  But victory rests with the Lord.  Therefore we commit our ways to you and wait upon the Lord.  In the name of the Prince of Peace, we pray.  Amen.”  Those military men affirmed the words with their response of Amen.

Let it be said that Chaplain Peterson suspected that this would be coming.   He had talked with the General for a time that very night.  Just before going to the bunker, there was a time when this PCA minister was alone by himself, waiting for the general to go to the underground bunker.  At that time, David Peterson composed his spirit and quickly wrote down some Scriptural texts and prayer requests on a three-by-five card.  Thus, when the time to pray came in that war room, he was ready to intercede with the God of war for the souls of the men who would enter into a battle that very night,  to say nothing of the victory over the enemy.

Just a few years later, in 1999, Chaplain Peterson would write:

During a recent missions conference, someone said to me, “As long as our nation is not in a significant war, people are not concerned about the military and therefore not concerned about the chaplaincy.” Reluctantly, I must admit that there is some truth in that statement. There is a tendency for the citizens of our nation to take our freedom for granted. Today, very few American citizens are aware of the historical role the military has played in our society and why it is important to continue having a strong force. Nor do we give much thought to the role and impact our chaplains have in the ministry to our military force and their families.

Words to live by: One of the more comforting doctrines of God’s Word is the doctrine of divine providence.  Sometimes the word providence was used in earlier times as a synonym for God Himself.  But properly used, it simply signifies, as our Westminster Confession of Faith states in Chapter 5 that “God the great Creator of all things does uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least, by His most wise and holy providence.”  If we could as Christians simply live our lives in the full knowledge of, and trust for, that doctrine, how much we would live more comfortably  in this present world.

Through the Scriptures:  2 Chronicles 4 – 6

Through the Standards: Parts of worship

WCF 21:5
“The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence, singing of psalms with grace in the  heart; as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: besides religious oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings upon special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be  used in a holy and religious manner.

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