Welcome to this assembly of the Anselm Presbytery. You men are leaders among the churches of God, and you have been selected by your respective churches to gather together like this to consider matters of common concern, and to do so in accordance with the customs we have established. Some of these customs are just …
And More Gratitude
The 2006 meeting of Anselm Presbytery, CREC, concluded yesterday. I am serving as the current moderator, and was extremely grateful for how things are going. The presbytery meeting was covered in grace, even though there were some difficult issues for us to deal with. It is a tremendous privilege to work with men of this …
Close Friends, Not Adversaries
You are accustomed to hear two words paired, and those words are Word and sacrament. The two do go together, and are not in the slightest degree at odds with one another. But in the minds of some, they are at odds, and sides are chosen. Some choose a rationalistic service, where the Word is …
Fathers Leading In Worship
Fathers, the word of exhortation is directed at you this morning. You have gathered your families, and you have brought them here to worship in the presence of the Lord. The exhortation here is that it is not enough to do this physically. The apostle Paul told the Thessalonians that he had behaved toward them …
A Fourth Decade of Psalms/Psalm 40
Introduction: While all the psalms are messianic, this is a great and glorious messianic psalm. The New Testament plainly declares it to have been fulfilled in Christ, and, given this, we learn a great deal about what Jesus came to accomplish. The Text: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and …
I Have Not Hid Your Righteousness
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! I waited patiently for God; He stooped and heard my cry. He lifted me from a horrible pit; He lifted me from miry clay, He put my feet on His own rock, And set my feet in His own path. A glorious …
Always Bright and Shiny
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, St. Paul tells us, but rather against principalities and powers. These principalities have an embodiment and manifestation in the worldly power structures that surround us, and it is therefore a central responsibility of ours to assemble in worship of the triune God. This is because worship of Almighty …
Neither Dead Works Nor Dead Faith
Faith is a gift of God, lest any man should boast. With and in this faith, all of life is sacramental, and the two sacraments proper are clear and unobstructed meetings with God in Christ. But without faith, everything becomes blurry, and religion is reduced in principle to shamanism. The faith that God gives is …
Dishes and Drinks
God of all that is good, and God of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, we pray to You now in His name and in the strength of the Holy Spirit. We rejoice in how Your triune nature is embedded in all things, and for how we can be one family and yet separate individuals …
Like a Canoe Full of Bricks
Let me recommend a post over at TeamPyro, and let me do this for a couple reasons. The first is that I want to commend Frank Turk’s post there. He is a genuine non-FV guy, a baptist, and he is the only one I have encountered (thus far) that is really capable of stating my …