SeungHyun Kim's Key Ideas from The Essential Means of Grace
by Paul Washer

Apart the triune God Himself, the greatest and most indispensable gift that the Lord has given to the church is the Bible. There is no other source of inerrant truth regarding God’s person, decrees, works, will, and promises.

“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

If we hesitate to affirm the Bible’s inspiration, inerrancy, or sufficiency, we forfeit a firm foundation for the Christian life.

The Bible is inspired, not magical—its truths don’t transfer passively. We must study it diligently to benefit from it.

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, … Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress.”

‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭15‬ ‭ESV‬‬

True knowledge of God requires diligent study, sound teaching, and biblical fellowship. Without this foundation, growth in His will is unlikely.

The goal is to enjoy the scriptures, to grow in the knowledge of God, and to be transformed by that knowledge.

Paul Washer recommends study Bibles to help your study, such as Reformation Heritage Study Bible, the Reformation Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible, the MacArthur Study Bible.

As you read the Bible, memorize key theological texts and verses that speak to your current needs.

Alongside personal Bible study, the faithful preaching of godly pastors in the local church is a vital means of grace. While nothing replaces personal study, neither can we replace the shepherding of pastors who know, love, and sacrificially serve their flock through the Word.

It is also important to remember that even the greatest preachers are mere men who are capable of error and must be judged by the Word of God.

Let's be like Ezra who prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach (Ezra 7:10).

The Bible must be central in public worship through reading, preaching, and singing. As Paul commands in 1 Timothy 4:13, we are to devote ourselves to the public reading and teaching of Scripture.

We build on sand when we shorten sermons or readings to fit modern attention spans. Instead, we must patiently proclaim the Word until it transforms hearts. True biblical preaching is not about life tips but about knowing God, leading to faith, worship, and obedience.

Singing in worship is also means of grace through worshiping with scripture and must align emotionally and theologically with the Bible.

Scripture is not only the great means of salvation and sanctification but also centers on the person and redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Christ must be at the beginning, center, and end of all our reading, study, memorization, meditation, preaching, and singing.

the gospel is not only “the power or God to salvation for everyone who believes,” but it is also the greatest catalyst or incitement for our advance and perseverance in the faith (Rom. 1:16).

Daily Bible reading and prayer are often the most neglected disciplines in the Christian life—yet this neglect lies at the root of many spiritual struggles. Though believers affirm their importance, most admit to neglecting them. Why is prayer so difficult? Because our flesh resists it; secret prayer denies self-sufficiency, offers no glory to self, and directs all praise to God.

Prayer invites us to witness God do far more than we ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20). As we rely less on the flesh and more on God, His power works in and through us. For this reason, prayer is a vital means of grace.

To expose our self-sufficiency, we need only look to Jesus. Despite a demanding ministry, He excelled in prayer. He was a man of prayer. Day and night, Christ prayed.

“For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col. 2:9), and yet He was also a real man, and as a man, He is our example. He drew His direction and strength from the Father through the Holy Spirit in prayer. How much more should we recognize the same need and devote ourselves to prayer!

In our prayer life, we must avoid two extremes: praying by emotion alone neglecting scripture, or relying only on biblically written prayers. While both can have value, true prayer should be guided by scripture without rejecting the spirit-led, extemporaneous prayer.

The Bible offers many model prayers, but above all is the Lord’s prayer (Luke 11), given by Jesus as a guide. It provides three key points of the backbone of Christian prayer and shows how we should pray with both structure and sincerity.

the Lord’s prayer shows a balance between familiarity and reverence.

God is our perfectly reconciled and loving Father with whom we can freely converse without fear of condemnation (Rom.8:1, Rom. 8:15). And yet, we must always remember that our Father is the King of heaven, the Lord of all, and deserving of our greatest reverence.

This means that the Aramaic expression “Abba” understood and spoken as “daddy” in English is unfounded and harmful. Yes there is intimacy communicated in “abba” but without diminishing the appropriate reverence in father-child relationship. Our God is a Holy God.

The Lord’s Prayer offers three core petitions to guide and shape our hearts. “Hallowed be Your name” is a plea for God to be honored as holy, set apart in our hearts above all else. “Your kingdom come” expresses our desire for His rule to reign in us and through the church as we surrender every part of ourselves. “Your will be done” calls for inward submission and outward obedience. With regard to the unbelieving world, we pray for the gospel to reach all peoples by God’s will, reconciling the world to God in worship and truth.

These three petitions seen above are a revelation of the heart or passion of Christ, and therefore they are to he the central passion of our lives and at the heart of all our praying as God’s people.

In conjunction with the Lord’s prayer there are other more prayers recorded in the Bible regarding sanctification in general, illumination for understanding the scriptures, and guidance and power for the Christian life.

This book and I encourage your diligent study to equip yourself with a relationship with God! These prayers are waiting to be found by you in the scriptures :)

In other words, the third means of grace is the churches fellowship and outward practices commanded by Christ for the church to observe, which are baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The church here is used with reference to a local visible body of believers, committee to one another, shepherded by elder-qualified men, served by biblically qualified deacons, devoted to biblical exposition and prayer, holding to the ordinances, and practicing church discipline.

Local church is not synonymous with a weekly Bible study, a parachurch ministry, or listening to one’s favorite preachers on the internet.

One of the greatest means of grace that God has given us is faithful and humble ministers of the gospel who bear the biblical qualifications of an elder and are devoted to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:2, 4).