Blog
A Bruised Reed
March 14, 2024
The Christian life is a journey, and we’re still “on the way.” We’re still in the process of being conformed to the likeness of Christ (Romans 8:29)—and that will be true all the way home to heaven. The Lord is shaping us—like a potter working the clay, squeezing and pushing and pulling and forming it into a beautiful work of art. And all of that takes time—a lifetime.
So, then, in the meantime, it’s good to rest in our Savior’s strong arms while we’re “under construction.” In 1630, Richard Sibbes wrote A Bruised Reed, focusing on the ...
Forget Not All His Benefits
March 08, 2024
In our Prayer Gathering this week, we prayed through Psalm 103. It’s such a hope-giving song! I thank the Lord for inspiring his servant King David to pen this exquisite praise poem. Psalm 103 puts a major emphasis on the mercy and goodness of God:
“Forget not all his [i.e., God’s] benefits”—how he forgives, heals, redeems, crowns, and satisfies his people (vv 2-5). He’s “merciful and gracious, slow to anger & abounding in steadfast love” (v 8).
To be sure, God has a righteous anger against our sin, and yet “He will not always chide, ...
Easter Sunday 2024
March 01, 2024
"Christ the Lord is risen today. Alleluia!"
Join us as we worship Christ the King, risen from the dead, on Easter Sunday, March 31, at 10:00 a.m., in our Family Life Center (gym).
Come early for fellowship and refreshments--9:15 to 9:45 a.m.
Parents, there will be an Egg Hunt for the children--also from 9:15 to 9:45 a.m.!
Good Friday 2024
March 01, 2024
Join us for worship at the foot of the cross on Good Friday, March 29, at 7:00 p.m., including sharing together in the Lord's Supper (childcare available for ages 3 and younger).
Commissioning Elders to Lead and Serve
March 01, 2024
Last Sunday we commissioned David Nichols to serve as an Elder of Goshen Baptist Church. Here are the questions we asked him, and to which he responded in the affirmative:
Do you reaffirm your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? • Do you accept all Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and do you affirm the Goshen Baptist Church Statement of Faith as a fitting summary of Bible doctrine? • Do you promise to serve in mutual submission alongside your fellow Elders? • Do ...
Just and Justifier
February 23, 2024
In the Apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans, chapter 3 turns the corner from devastating problem to glorious solution. Chapter 1 indicates that all people are guilty of sin. Chapter 2 clarifies: this includes the Jewish people. Chapter 3 begins with the grave and pressing truth: “None is righteous, no, not one” (3:10). And we cannot appeal the verdict: “every mouth is stopped” (3:19).
But in 3:21-26, Paul unpacks the most spectacular solution to our dreadful predicament: people can be “justified by his grace as a gift, through the ...
Don’t Follow Your Heart
February 16, 2024
I just finished Thaddeus Williams’ new book, Don’t Follow Your Heart: Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship. He offers a creative and penetrating critique of the popular quest to find yourself and fashion your own identity by looking within.
Bible readers know the genuine Ten Commandments, as recorded in Exodus 20:1-17. And followers of Jesus recognize that he takes up and affirms (and even intensifies) God’s moral law: hate is a kind of killing, and lust is a kind of adultery (Matthew 5:21-30).
Williams takes a ...
Interwoven Truths
February 09, 2024
Last Sunday’s sermon touched on the interwoven biblical themes of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Consider:
Human choice and will; necessity of a personal response to God:
Deut 30:19 (choose life, so you and your children may live)
Josh 24:15 (choose this day whom you will serve)
Matt 11:28 (come to me … and I will give you rest)
Mark 1:15 (repent and believe the good news)
Acts 2:38 (repent and be baptized, every one of you)
Acts 16:31 (believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved)
Rom 10:9 (if you confess and ...
Scam Warning!
February 08, 2024
We sent the following message out this morning (Feb. 8) to our church's general email distribution list:
Goshen Family,
I’ve been hearing this morning that several Goshen people have received emails claiming to be from me—but they are NOT from me. It is a SCAM.
The emails say things like:
Can you spare a moment? I have a discreet request that I'd like you to attend to. I'm currently headed to a meeting and would prefer communication via email rather than phone calls. Kindly respond promptly to my email
I would be glad if I ...
All Things for Good
January 30, 2024
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28, ESV).
This single verse is the subject of Thomas Watson’s book, All Things for Good (1663). Watson was a pastor in London and a prolific writer. You can access his story and many of his writings at ccel.org.
I first read this book about ten years ago in a season of soul searching and ministry transition: “What is God up to?” I was distressed. The Lord used Watson to put my nose in the Bible and ...
God’s Good Design
January 26, 2024
In recent months, certain denominations have expressed their “progressive” doctrine by veering away from the Bible’s teaching on marriage, gender, and sexuality. For example:
Although formally affirming traditional marriage, in the United Methodist Church bishops and churches have been ordaining non-celibate gay clergy and celebrating same-sex marriages since 2019. A result of this defiance of Methodist teaching is that nearly a quarter of the 30,000 UMC churches in the US have left the denomination, most of them joining up with the new ...
It Is Good To Give Thanks
January 19, 2024
2024 has gotten off to a tumultuous start here at Goshen, with a fire in our Youth Room and now a complex process of assessing damage, dealing with insurance, and arranging for cleaning/ restoration. Plus, it’s thrown us a curve regarding meeting space (thanks to Delaware County Christian School for helping us out!).
At our Prayer Gathering last Wednesday, I asked the group to join me in reading various Psalms of thanks—it just seemed that, instead of dwelling on all this nuisance, we needed to look up and thank the Lord for so very many ...
Come What May
January 12, 2024
It’s a highlight of my week to pray through Scripture together with the Wednesday evening Prayer Gathering group! And, by the way, you’re most welcome to join our prayer time (currently we meet on Zoom, contact the church office for the link).
This week we read through Hebrews 11, section by section—the “Hall of Faith” chapter. Over and over we’re told: “By faith” God’s people obeyed, built, sojourned, looked forward, were tested; they “conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises…” In countless ways down through the ages, ...
Update on Goshen Facilities
January 11, 2024
FEBRUARY 28, 2024
Update:
Late last week the cleaning and restoration work on our church's lower level was able to resume, and a crew is on site this week making further headway with the project. Thank you for praying, and please continue to call on the Lord for further progress!
FEBRUARY 22, 2024
We sent the following message to our GBC email distribution list yesterday asking people to pray:
*******
Goshen Family,
I'm getting in touch with an update on the cleaning and restoration process in our church building after ...
Wired for Worship
January 04, 2024
What is it about the American love of sports that results in Shohei Ohtani getting a 10-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers for $700,000,000? This sets a record for professional baseball. Before Ohtani struck this deal, the highest-paid MLB player was Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels (he has a 12-year contract for $427,000,000). And the Philllies superstar Bryce Harper, who’s on a 13-year contract for $330,000,000, is not far behind.
Our family got a taste of sports-mania a few months ago when the Phillies peaked in the ...
More Than Making Requests
December 29, 2023
I don't know about you, but when it comes to prayer I have a tendency to gravitate toward petitions—as if asking were everything. But the Bible teaches and shows that prayer is so much more than making requests to the Father.
Not that there’s anything wrong with making an appeal to God—Jesus teaches us to “ask, seek, knock” (Matthew 7:7), and Paul urges the Philippians to “let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). So crying out to the Father and pleading for help and comfort and guidance and peace and healing and correction ...
Word & Prayer
December 29, 2023
If there’s anything I can emphasize to encourage you in your spiritual life as we all get our bearings to begin 2024, it would be to keep your Bible reading and prayer connected.
The main way the Lord awakens in us an impulse to pray is through his Word. If you intend to pray, you must be in Scripture. Think of it: prayer is talking to God, and the Bible is God talking to us—to people made in his image. How presumptuous would it be if we tried to carry on a “conversation” with God in which we talk and talk and talk to him, but we fail ...
Singing Handel’s “Messiah
December 21, 2023
In 1741, George Frideric Handel famously composed his sacred oratorio, “Messiah,” in less than a month, locked away from all distractions, writing furiously from morning to night.
The text of “Messiah” is made up entirely of Scripture—passages like Isaiah 40 (“Comfort my people… prepare the way of the Lord”), Matthew 1:23 (“Emmanuel, God with us”), Isaiah 9:6 (“Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”), Luke 2:14 (“Glory to God in the highest”), John 1:29 (“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the ...
Making Sense of Advent
December 15, 2023
In a recent article on “Observing Advent Aright,” Jonathan Gibson notes how the Bible speaks of Jesus’ coming (or advent) in two ways: his first appearing through his incarnation and birth; and his second coming—the final advent of Christ at the end of time.
These two comings are very different from each other, and yet it’s important to keep them connected. Jesus’ first appearing was, in several ways, obscure and quiet, but his second coming will be public and grand. The tone of Christ’s first advent is captured by “O Little Town of ...
31 Days of Prayer -- January 2024
December 14, 2023
31 Days of Prayer -- January 2024
Let’s begin 2024 on our knees! Below are 31 verses from the Gospel of Matthew—one for each day of January. Let God’s Word prompt you to pray (whether on your own, or together with family or friends).
As you read, be alert to the Spirit’s leading about how to pray—whether praise or thanks or confession or requests. And those requests may be for yourself, your family, friends/coworkers/classmates, our church, or other people/situations God brings to mind. In prayer we speak to God, and it is fitting ...
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