Psalm 12

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Sunday, November 15, 2015 – Dr. James White preaches on Psalm 12 (at Apologia Church in Tempe, AZ):

Psalm 12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

God, a Helper against the Treacherous.
For the choir director; [a]upon an eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm of David.

1 Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases to be,
For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.
2 They speak [b]falsehood to one another;
With flattering [c]lips and with a double heart they speak.
3 May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
The tongue that speaks great things;
4 Who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail;
Our lips are [d]our own; who is lord over us?”
5 “Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,
Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will set him in the safety for which he longs.”
6 The words of the Lord are pure words;
As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined seven times.
7 You, O Lord, will keep them;
You will preserve him from this generation forever.
8 The wicked strut about on every side
When [e]vileness is exalted among the sons of men.

Footnotes:

a Psalm 12:1 Or according to a lower octave (Heb Sheminith)
b Psalm 12:2 Or emptiness
c Psalm 12:2 Lit lip
d Psalm 12:4 Lit with us
e Psalm 12:8 Or worthlessness

Church Discipline Mistakes

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church (1)Jonathan Leeman is the Editorial Director of 9Marks and an elder at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. You can find him on Twitter at @JonathanDLeeman. In an article entitled “22 Mistakes Pastors Make in Practicing Church Discipline” he writes:

Pastors sometimes make the following mistakes regarding formal church discipline.

1. They fail to teach their congregation what church discipline is and why they should practice it.

2. They fail to practice meaningful membership, which includes (1) teaching people what membership entails before they join; (2) encouraging casual attenders to join; (3) carefully interviewing everyone who wants to join; (4) giving regular oversight to all the flock; and (5) maintaining an up-to-date membership list that accurately reflects who is present at the weekly gathering.

3. They fail to teach their congregation about biblical conversion, especially the need for repentance. Continue reading →