Our Father and Lord, we are a grateful family, belonging to a grateful people. We rejoice that we have the privilege of worshipping You tomorrow, and we are glad that we can mark the beginning of Your holy day, this feast day, with celebration, feasting, laughter and wine. We are grateful for our salvation in …
Wine or Grape Juice?
As you know, when we come to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we have wine available in the outer rings of the trays, and grape juice is in the center. We do this because some Christians have developed scruples about drinking wine, and the New Testament is very plain about how such things are to be …
Overflowing Like God
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 69 “There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty” (Prov. 11:24). God has placed us in the world in a such a way as to bless us. …
Several Boxes
Thanksgivng, year of our Lord 2005 I live in part of the country that has four seasons, and we have now entered into the foggy and rainy portion. What a glorious thing fog is! We are fast approaching the time when this fog will freeze to the trees, and we will have our hoarfrost, and …
Response to Tumult
When God moves in reformation, it always causes a stir, and it always causes controversy. Take care that you do not give way to the flesh in either circumstance. Receive what God is doing in our midst with gladness and simplicity. But know that Americans have a two-hundred year history of mangling a right understanding …
Ezra Nehemiah 3
Introduction We sometimes take the wrong lesson from St. Paul’s warning about endless genealogies. “Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do” (1 Tim. 1:4). “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable …
Like Grass on the Roof
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Lord God of Israel, Many times they have tormented me, From my youth they have tormented me. Let Israel say the same thing, Let Israel confess: Many times from my youth they have afflicted me, But they have not prevailed. With their …
The Marks of a Pharisee
The Pharisees are the principal bad guys in the New Testament, and they are caricatured as such by the Lord Jesus Himself. But we frequently miss the spiritual lessons involved because we don’t understand polemical satire and caricature. We look at the portrait Jesus draws and we take it with a wooden literalism, and we …
Pharisaical Caricature
I am currently reading a fine book on the Pharisees. The author, Tom Hovestol, is doing a really good job describing the Pharisees as they actually were, where they came from, what their goals were, and how much they resemble modern evangelicals. Although the book is coming from an unexpected quarter (Moody Press), it is …
Including Today
Our Father, and great God, we rejoice before You now. Thank You for the work You have blessed us with in the course of the last week, including today, and for the work that You will bless us with in the week to come. We thank You that in the new covenant our labors are …