Encountering God in the New Year

January 9, 2025

I would like to encourage each of us to be Bible readers in 2025.  In a world where there are always things eagerly competing for our attention (many of them good things), it is important to commit ourselves to hearing the voice of God clearly and often.  There is nothing more important that we could do.

The word of God is eternal.  “Surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:7-8 NAS95)   When we pick up the word of God, we hold the eternal in our hands.  When we read the word of God and reflect on it, we fill our minds and hearts with everlasting truth. 

The word of God is transformative. If we will give ourselves to hearing and heeding the word, it will change us (as God allows).  Sometimes it causes in us a radical, immediate change, and other times it molds and shapes us steadily over time as the words take root in our hearts. 

Don’t you want this in your life?  Is something holding you back from regular Bible reading?

Setting a reading schedule is a great idea, but don’t get overly focused on the schedule.  What I mean is, if you have determined to read every day, don’t get discouraged and quit if you miss a day (or a few of them).  Just start back up again.  Reading at a pace slower than we intended is infinitely better than not reading at all.  And don’t get discouraged if you come upon sections of scripture that you don’t understand right away.  You are reading the words of God—some things are going to be hard to understand.  Also, don’t be deterred from reading because you feel overwhelmed at the thought of reading the entire Bible.  If you struggle with this, why not determine to read the New Testament?  Or the Psalms?  Or one chapter of Proverbs each day for a month?  Or perhaps you could choose a book of the Bible and get into it very deeply by slowly meditating on every word.

And in all of our reading, allow me to encourage you to not see it as a checklist to accomplish each day.  It is much more than that.  It is an encounter with the Living God.  It is time spent in the heart of God.  It is building a relationship with Him.  Let me also encourage you, as you read, to ask the Lord to be your teacher.  Let us pray as David did, “Make me know Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths.  Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day.” (Psalm 25:4-5 NAS95) May God lead each of us in His truth and teach us His ways.

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

Aspiring to be an Elder

November 12, 2024

This article is a call for our younger men to begin preparing themselves to serve as elders in the church.  Elders (also referred to as shepherds, pastors, bishops, or overseers) have a very critical role to play in the life and health of the church.  And since becoming an elder takes years of spiritual preparation, the church should always be looking ahead and thinking about how to prepare faithful men for this role.

We can read about the qualifications of elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1.  Let’s take a look at some of the qualifications and consider how a man might prepare himself to fulfill them.  First, it is important to note that aspiring to be an elder is a good thing.  Paul wrote, “It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do.” (1 Timothy 3:1 NASB95) The work of an overseer is often difficult and comes with very weighty responsibilities.  In light of this, it is important that there is a desire to take on this work.  Elders need to serve willingly and eagerly, not under compulsion. (1 Peter 5:2)

Second, an elder must be able to teach (1 Timothy 3:2). He must hold fast to the faithful word and be able to encourage sound teaching and refute false teaching (Titus 1:9).  An elder, then, must be a man who is deeply rooted in the truth.  An aspiring elder must prepare himself through serious, ongoing study of the word of God.  People’s souls will depend on you faithfully holding fast to the teaching.

An elder must be one who “manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?) (1 Timothy 3:4-5 NASB95) The training ground for an elder is the family.  The one who aspires to be an elder must aspire to lead his family in the ways of God.

Finally, an elder must be a man who is himself walking with God.  Looking through the lists of qualities in 1 Timothy and Titus we see many descriptors of the kind of man he should be:  temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, gentle, peaceable, a lover of what is good, free from the love of money, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not a bully (pugnacious).  In short, he must be a man who is being led by the Spirit of God.  He should be a man who has been walking with the Lord for many years; a man whose character has been transformed by the Lord.

It is a good thing for our men to aspire to this work.  If you feel the desire to serve as an elder one day, I encourage you to begin preparing now.  And if you do not desire this work, I still encourage you to strive for these qualities, for they are wonderful qualities for each of us to pursue.  May God raise up godly men among us to serve our congregation in this way.      

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

Seeking God

November 12, 2024

In his sermon in Acts chapter 17, Paul reveals some magnificent things about the true God of heaven to a group of Athenian philosophers who did not know God.  Paul tells them that God made the world and all things in it.  He tells them that God does not need to be served by humans as if He needed anything.  No, God is the one who serves mankind by giving us everything we need—life and breath and all things.  He tells them that it is God who made all mankind and determined where they would live.

But why has God been so kind and generous to all people in these ways?  This brings Paul to his central point.  He said it was so “that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us…” (Acts 17:27 NASB95) God has poured out His blessings on all so that we would seek Him!  What a profound truth it is that God wants all to search for Him, and He wants all to find Him!

And what a profound truth it is that God does require that we search, that we grope for Him, feeling our way toward Him to discover who He is.  God does not reveal the wonders of Himself to just anyone.  He only reveals Himself to those who will seek Him.  God has been very clear about this throughout scripture.  Take this verse, for example: “How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.” (Psalm 119:2 NASB95) Or take the words of Jesus as another example: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7 NASB95) Or consider this verse, where Paul explains that in Jesus “… are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3 NASB95) You see, the treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge are not available to just anyone.  They are hidden in Christ.  God desires that we do some digging before He will allow access to these blessings. 

But the beautiful thing is that God will allow us to find Him.  He wants to be found.  He wants a relationship with you and me.  The question for us is, are we still searching for Him?  Even if we have already found Him, there is still more to be found.  We must continue to dig deeper to explore even more of the beauty and the delight that is found in God and in His beloved Son.  May God lead us ever deeper into Himself!    

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

Words that Will Save

October 15, 2024

“I would rather see a sermon than hear one.”

I have heard this statement many times in various forms.  I can agree with the sentiment expressed.  It is very important that we live out the gospel—not just saying the right things but living in a right way.  A life lived for God shows the beauty of Jesus to those around us.

But we must remember that being a “living sermon” is not the entirety of the church’s responsibility.  The word must also be spoken.  As the angel said to Cornelius in Acts chapter 11, “Send to Joppa and have Simon, who is also called Peter, brought here; and he will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.” (Acts 11:13b-14 NASB95) Peter was going to speak words that would save Cornelius and his household.  If anyone is going to be saved, they must hear the words of the gospel of Christ.  They must hear who Jesus is.  They must hear the words about Jesus dying and being raised for us.  They must hear what to do to accept His gracious offer of forgiveness of sin.

I do encourage you to continue to be a living sermon.  I encourage you to continue living a life that adorns the doctrine of God (Titus 2:10).  I encourage you to continue walking in wisdom toward outsiders, letting your speech around them be with grace (Colossians 4:5-6), and while you do these things, be looking for open doors to also speak the word of God. 

It’s very interesting to me that God, if He wanted, could announce the saving message to the lost through angels or through personal visions or dreams, but He has not seen fit to do so.  We see over and over again in the scriptures that God sends people (like you and me) to speak the words that lead to salvation. 

Are there people in your life that need to hear the message?  Perhaps they have seen your way of life and felt your love and concern for them.  And perhaps because of that, their heart is ready to hear.  May God prepare you and direct you to those who need to hear the words by which they can be saved. 

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

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