We have not really learned all the lessons from the Pharisees that we need to learn. The first lesson is that the Pharisees were not all bad. Jesus was visited by one of their number by night, and Nicodemus was an honorable man. Some Pharisees at one point warned Jesus of a plot against His …
God our Savior
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Creator God, You spoke the Word, and the heavens came to be. You said, let there be light, and there was light. You nodded Your head, and all that has creaturely existence sprang into being. God of all Providence, every atom receives …
What He Purchased, He Will Have
As we gather to worship the Lord, we need to remember. This is one of the great requirements found in many place throughout the Bible—remember. But we are not called to remember a random collection of denominational distinctives. This kind of thing is done so that we can keep denominations and churches straight in our …
What Kind of Miracle?
What are we doing here? Or, more importantly, what is being done to us here? The Church has historically been divided as to the meaning and import of this Supper. Some believe that no miracle occurs here, others believe that a miracle happens, but it is the wrong category of miracle. A third group believes …
For the Wine and Dessert
Father and God, Giver of Life, we thank You for the food You have provided to us yet again. We are grateful for the wine and dessert, we thank You for the soup and the bread, and we rejoice that we are blessed as we have been. We pray that this would be a true …
Westminster Two: Of God, and of the Holy Trinity
1. There is but one only (Deut. 6:4; 1 Cor. 8:4, 6), living, and true God (1 Thess. 1:9; Jer. 10:10), Not that this should be necessary to say, but the Christian faith is monotheistic. But this does not mean that “Christianity” is a belief system which contains one God within it, so that people …
The Covenantal Mind and Heart
We got the name Deuteronomy through a happy misnomer. The name is taken from the Greek version of the text below (17:18), where the king was to write out a “second” copy of the law for himself. But at the same time, the occasion of the book of Deuteronomy was a covenant renewal. A covenant …
Grace Without Walls
As we come to God to worship Him, our constant prayer should be that He makes us unable to stand before His holy presence. When this happens, there is always a winnowing effect in the church. One of the names historians give to such winnowings is reformation. Men love religion when that religion enables them …
A Fourth Decade of Psalms/Psalm 33
Introduction: God is greatly to be praised. He is worthy of all honor and praise. Our ability to praise Him falls short of necessity, and yet we are still summoned to it. Unlike the failures of sin, there is a glorious failure in praising God. Who can even begin to do it justice? The Text: …
Complaints and Complaining
We cannot have a body of saints this size in this world without having that body contain a significant number of complaints. Every complaint has two components. The first is the objective aspect, the offense, or irritation, or annoyance. Sometimes this problem is not truly objective – it is possible to believe someone has sinned …