One of the most common questions I have received since we transitioned to "at-home" learning and schooling is, "How can I stay faithful in reading my Bible while at home?"

While many non-essential activities are limited, several students have realized that this is a great time to begin doing something they know is essential for their spiritual health and growth. I want to help by giving you some resources about bible reading plans that I know will keep you "At Home in the Word." 

1. Listen to this helpful challenge by John Piper. It is in the form of a question/answer and gets to the heart of why we need to read God’s Word even though we might not immediately retain all we read: 
2. One Year Bible Online has options for the One Year Bible plan which I have used since my seminary days and really enjoy. It is simple and includes a daily reading of a portion of the OT, NT, Psalms and Proverbs. I find that this variety is very helpful and is aligned with 2 Tim 3:16- “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. That the man of God may be mature, fully equipped for every good work.”  This plan is available on the You Version app on your phone as well. 
3. The Discipleship Journal bible reading plan is very similar. It has slightly bigger portions each day, but also includes “catch up” days since it is easy to miss a day during the week. 
4. A very simple way to start is to read a Proverb each day or a Psalm each day of the week, setting a goal for five days a week. 

If you want a comprehensive outline of plans and options, you can check out Justin Taylor’s blog post at the Gospel Coalition website.   

The important thing is that you start somewhere by setting simple goals and committing to the goals for three to four weeks so that it becomes a habit. It helps to get involved with a friend or group of friends as well. Pray for the Spirit to help you and you will be very encouraged! Of course, if I can help further, don't hesitate to reach out to me at [email protected]. I would be glad to help!

by Pearson Johnson, Director of Student Care and Discipleship

Books, supplies, roommates, COFFEE, snacks, syllabi, and enough cash for a few weeks. Ready to start another semester here at BJU? Not quite. We all realize, whether students, faculty or staff, that we need more than just the material things that supply our needs. We need much more from God, and I want to encourage us to meditate on two resources we have been given and will be given which meet our deepest needs for the coming semester: grace and peace. 

Paul begins most of his Epistles with some form of a simple greeting: "Grace to you, and peace" (Eph 1:2, cf. Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:3; 2 Cor 1:2 etc.). What does he mean by greeting us with the words "grace and peace," and how can that affect our outlook on a new semester?

Bryan Chapell defines Grace as "the compassionate and prevailing power of God on behalf of His people," while D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones described grace as God's "beneficent kindness and condescending love." God looks on our weaknesses, our circumstances, our stresses and pressures and He responds with compassionate, loving, undeserved grace. This grace empowers us and enables us to meet the circumstances of life with dependent, diligent determination. What a blessing this is in the face of a daunting semester!

The greeting goes on. Because of the grace we are given, we can be at peace every moment of our lives. Peace is the resulting experience of the believer that understands that everything is right and as it should be under the sovereign, good, and gracious hand of our loving Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  We are at peace with God and we have peace in the middle of the storms of everyday student life. 

Grace and peace-- it is what we have been given by our Father through our Savior. It is also what we need in every challenge, in every circumstance, in every opposition, and in every opportunity. May God grant us all the grace and peace that will enable us to glorify Him in this new semester!

We are excited about a  new semester here at BJU- new in its timing, new in its content (new classes!), new in its experience of God's mercies (Lam 3:22-23), and new in its expectations of God's work in and through us in our discipleship groups. 

Dr. Pettit spoke to us last semester about How to Pray 15 Minutes a Day, his recently reformatted and republished work which has been made available for us for free as a downloadable PDF here. 

I am personally thankful for this booklet. After finishing grad school and becoming an Assistant Pastor at Inter-City Baptist Church near Detroit, Michigan, then Evangelist Steve Pettit came to our church for evangelistic meetings. Before the evening services, he did a series of seminars in which he taught through the concepts included in this booklet. He knew then and we know today that effective prayer is necessary for effective work in seeing people evangelized and discipled.  
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I know this booklet will be a help to you. I would encourage you to make use of it in your discipleship groups as well. 

by Natalie Smith
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I attended a play on campus recently, 28 Steps: A Reformation Play, written by Mr. David Schwingle of our Fine Arts faculty. Although based on Luther’s beliefs and the reality of his situation during the reformation, the dialogue between Martin Luther and a nun who was sent to assassinate him was fictional. Watching this play helped me understand that at the foundation of the struggle between Martin Luther and the church- and the real difference between Catholics and Christians today- is accepting God’s grace alone through faith alone. The nun kept insisting she needed grace from God. She knew there was no way she could get into heaven on her own. But she also kept telling Luther that she had to access God’s grace through the means of doing enough good works, purchasing indulgences, confessing her sins to the priest, and by her own efforts living as pure and chaste a life as possible. She agonized and mourned over her sin, truly acknowledging how wicked she was and desperately wanting salvation. She even spoke of being purified by the fires of purgatory so she could enter heaven, calling purgatory a means of God’s grace. In the play Luther pleaded with her to understand that Christ took our punishment and died in our place, and that our acceptance of His free gift of salvation by faith alone gives us access to all the grace we need. He wanted her to understand that even if we could earn grace, God would get no glory in that. Grace is not grace if we are earning it. And God is not God if any of our merit reaches His holy standard of righteousness. So close and yet so far….so complex when it is really so simple. Grace alone through faith alone.

As I watched the play, I realized the nun was still living like Israel in the Old Testament. In Leviticus 9:5, the “congregation drew near and stood before the Lord”. God wanted to reveal His glory to His people and the priests. But at the time of the offering in verses 7 and 8, it is only Aaron the high priest who is told to “draw near to the altar” and offer the offerings to make atonement for himself and the people.

God wanted an audience with His people, but they had to draw near through a priest. And over and over again, blood had to be shed. The steps involved in each sacrifice were multiple and messy. And the people could only access God through the priest. In Hebrews 4, we are reminded of Christ’s sacrifice that paid the price for our sin once and for all. So now we can “draw near with confidence”. We can go to Him directly, not through a priest. And approaching Him is simple and clean. No animals to kill. No blood to pour out and spread on the altar. No handling of animal organs to be burned. The God of heaven-holy and righteous- the creator and sustainer of life has invited you and me to draw near, to approach him. And because of our perfect high priest who paid the price for our sin, we can. He loved us enough to draw near to us, to become flesh and dwell among us on the earth (John 1:14), to be tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin, and then to die in our place to redeem us. By grace alone, through faith alone we can know God and have eternal life. I wanted to tell the nun we do have a priest, a sympathetic one who knows how hard it is to fight against our flesh and the presence of sin. He is so sympathetic that He died in our place to pay a debt we could never pay.

This is a truth I need to rehearse with myself often. I learned about the Reformation and Martin Luther when I was in school, and I was familiar with the Solas before our emphasis on them this semester. But highlighting the reformation has been a wonderful encouragement and conviction for me. Being reminded of how corrupt the church had become and all that Luther and the other reformers were fighting against to make known the truth, has strengthened my faith and renewed by thankfulness for God’s grace. Grace that I, like the nun in the play, need to access every day. I realized that at times I have a tendency to rely on my good works as a means of sanctification. I know my works have not/don’t save me, but sometimes I act as though my works earn me favor with God and that if I try hard enough I can be humble, selfless, patience, kind, etc. all on my own. I know that’s not true, but do I really live that way? Unlike the nun, I know I have direct access to God to “find mercy and grace in my time of need” (Heb. 4:16) every day. The means of grace- His Word, His Ear (prayer), and His people (the church) – are free. And only by His grace can I live righteously before Him. This Thanksgiving I am thankful for the Reformation: God’s Word alone, salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for God’s glory alone. 

By Eric Newton
Everyone from Aldi to Dick’s Sporting Goods to the local chess club seems to have a mission statement these days. Someone on a mission focuses on a preeminent goal and sets aside peripheral matters. Think of a runner setting aside all weight that would hinder his progress in the race. Or a soldier who refuses to be entangled with civilian activities so that he can focus on war.

While mission statements are modern, living for an ultimate goal isn’t. The original eleven disciples lived missionally. In Twelve Ordinary Men John MacArthur writes,
“They certainly struggled with pride and arrogance like every fallen human being. But the driving passion of their lives became the glory of Christ. And it was that passion, subjected to the influence of the Holy Spirit—not any innate skill or human talent—that explains why they left such an indelible impact on the world.”

To put it simply, the disciples obeyed the Great Commission. They took Christ at His word.
It’s no different for us. Sometimes we wrestle with a call to missions, but the question isn’t whether or not we should go. The question is whether or not we’re going to obey and honor God. We shouldn’t read the imperative at the end of Matthew conditionally, like a Mission Impossible script: “Your mission, should you choose to accept it . . .” Jesus commands us, “As you go, make disciples.”

This doesn’t mean God calls everyone to move time zones. Perhaps your disciplemaking mission is on the very street where you currently live. But we have to reckon with the reality that the Great Commission is God’s will for all of us.

How do we know this command to a few people on a mountain nearly two thousand years ago applies to us in this zany, contemporary world of ours? Several aspects of these verses clearly indicate that the Great Commission is for us. One of the prominent features of Matthew’s final paragraph are the universal statements.

• “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”
• “Teach all nations.”
• “[Teach] them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.”
• “I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.”

In other words, as long as Christ has authority and people need discipled and the commands of Christ are in effect and the world hasn’t yet ended, we must obey the Great Commission.

The second feature that confirms the ongoing nature of Christ’s directive is how the paragraph ends. There are five previous sections in Matthew. Each is completed by Jesus’ teaching. The final narrative concerning Jesus’ death and resurrection concludes, not with an extended discourse, but instead with this divine charge to the disciples. The teaching is a call to make disciples.

In fact, Matthew’s gospel concludes in an ironic way. Matthew does not mention Jesus’ ascension into heaven. This does not mean Jesus stayed on earth, of course. But by omitting an actual reference to the ascension, the Holy Spirit reinforces the ongoing necessity of the disciples’ role in carrying out Christ’s mission. Instead of a period, there are ellipses marks. The work of the King to rescue worshipers continues on through the evangelism and discipleship of the church. 

​Most of us have understandable questions about what we should do with our lives. We have specific decisions to make about next summer and next year, not to mention next month. But in our quest to know God’s will, regardless of the specific situation at the moment, we must keep the Great Commission in full view. It is God’s will for all of us. It is our mission.

By Pearson Johnson

Last week, we had our first fall discipleship seminar.  Our goal with the seminars is to, over the course of two years, provide training for our Group Leaders and Assistants Group Leaders.  The topics will focus on the seven statements from the Group Leaders Guide that describe discipleship at BJU. Dr. Pettit spoke last week on the first point, "discipling leaders who will boldly declare the gospel in a hopeless world." Our particular goal was to see leaders equipped in sharing the gospel in their discipleship group. Since our students are professing believers, he also shared some very helpful advice on discussing the topic of one's assurance of salvation.  

Dr. Pettit initially encouraged our leaders to have the students share their testimonies of salvation during group time. The simple main points to cover are:

• What was I like before I was saved?
• What were the circumstances surrounding my salvation? What did I believe, where was I, etc.?
• What has changed in my life since being saved? 

Second, he gave some biblical advice on how to talk to other students about the assurance of their salvation.  He made the following helpful points:

1. The experience of assurance is not an automatic guarantee. It requires active growth (2 Pet 1:10; Rom 8:16).
2. There are objective aspects of assurance, particularly belief in the Gospel-- the person and work of Jesus Christ on one's behalf--and in the the promises of God-- salvation and all it entails.
3. There are also subjective aspects of assurance that we should experience:
   1. There is new life, or an appetite for spiritual things (1 John 2:4-5; 4:13; 1:6-7);
   2. There is light, or an awareness of spiritual needs and resources (1 John 3:9-10); 
   3. There is love or affections for God, His Word, and others (1 Jn 2:11; 3:14; 4:7-8).​

I listed some recommended resources here which talk more about evangelism, assurance, and things that hinder our experience of assurance as well. 

If someone in your discipleship group would like to talk more about their salvation or assurance, please do not hesitate to bring them by the Student Care Office or email for an appointment.