Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Down to the dust my soul bends down, Quicken me with spoken Word. I have declared Your Word and ways, You heard my supplicating cry, Teach me Your statutes and Your law. Make me to understand Your precepts now, Then I will …
Too Educated To Be Wise
One afternoon, a pastor was leading a Bible study at the church with a group of seminarians, young men with gray eyes, profound thoughts, and ambitious hearts. They were hanging on his every word, or were at least trying to, because the noise from the youth group upstairs was irritating and distracting. The pastor was …
The Food Before Us
God and Father, we thank You now for the gift of worship, which is our true food and drink. We praise You for nourishing and feeding us according to Your Word, and by Your Word. We thank You for the food before us now, which provides us with a picture of how wholesome our spiritual …
Charges and Specifications
It is about time that somebody realized the source of all the trouble. High time we brought old Jean Calvin of St. Peter’s Reformed Church in Geneva up on charges. Somebody had to do it. HT: Peter Leithart
Suzy At The Last Trump
The Bible is very clear that we cannot misplace, or lose, our salvation — as though our salvation were a possession of ours, like a set of car keys or something. My salvation is not something I can lose, as though I owned it. Rather, Christ owns us. We have been purchased by Christ, and …
Ezra Nehemiah 11
Introduction: Repentance may be felt (and usually is felt) at a deep emotional level. But this does not remove the need to be careful and deliberate in how things are set right. The Text: Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there …
Easter and Re-Creation
God has given us a holy day every week, on the first day. Each week we are reminded that we are living in the new heavens and the new earth. Each week we remember that just as God rested after His work of creation, so Jesus Christ rested after His glorious work of re-creation. In …
Maturity and Discernment
In this next chapter of Hebrews we begin a short introduction to the nature of Christ’s priesthood and intercession for us. The writer of Hebrews is then diverted into a discussion of immaturity and apostasy before he returns to this theme in the middle chapters of his book. “For every high priest taken from among …
My Soul Is Broken With Desire
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Can this poor man a servant be? Deal bountifully with me, That I may live and keep Your Word, That I might walk and never stray, In all the blessings You poured out. And if You open both my eyes, I will …
Bus Fare
One gray afternoon, there were five people standing at a bus stop. There was a minister with his clerical collar, a school teacher, a mechanic, a professor, and a street walker. The bus was running a little late, and so they all lined up eagerly when they finally saw it approaching. But when the doors …