Supplemental Material for 8/4

Rev. Brooks Pipher

05 Aug 2024

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16–17, ESV)

Dear friends,

Following the conclusion of Evening Worship, on all but the last Sunday of the month, Covenant Church enjoys a time of fellowship in what we call "Questions to the Minister and Answers." This is a time in which all present are invited to ask questions that have come up in their walk with Christ, Bible reading, something that didn't make sense in the sermon, and so on.

We had a fantastic discussion last Sunday evening and I promised to send along some supplementary material for further study.

Though these materials particularly address the questions raised Sunday evening, I have no doubt that all of God's people will find these valuable and worth listening to and reading.

The Ten Commandments, the Sinner, and Christ

At the link below you'll find an excellent, excellent lecture series given by Dr. Joel Beeke in Scotland in 2020. Some of my illustrations in the morning and the evening came from this series — that I haven't quite finished listening to myself — but I'll be sad when I do, because it has been so good for my soul.

Pleading The Promises of God

A very appropriate question was asked Sunday evening — if God has made promises, why are believers encouraged to remind him of those promises in prayer? Does God forget them so that he needs reminding?

And in my answer, I referred to the book linked below (also by Dr. Joel Beeke!).

In this book, there's a chapter titled The Puritans on Understanding and Using God's Promises. And there's a section in that chapter, "We Must Pray the Promises," I'll summarize just one part of that section by these two notes:

Praying the promises is encouragement for the Christian believer. It's good to know that in any and every circumstance we find ourselves, that God does carry out and fulfill that which he has promised, according to his will and purpose and glory.
Praying the promises gives us a guide by which we can pray expectantly and confidently in the name of Christ.

A Good God & A Suffering World

One of the questions asked was about the goodness of God in a fallen world. I referenced this thought-provoking Easter sermon from Dr. Max Rogland on the loss and restoration of Job's children.