Living in community as we do, and living in the kind of community we live in, it is necessary that offenses will come. We provoke them, we commit them, we endure them, and frequently we will do one of these, thinking that we are doing another. We provoke offenses while thinking that we are enduring …
Basics
“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11) Growing Dominion, Part 57 We sometimes think we are mature enough to start forgetting our Sunday School lessons. But we never outgrow certain things, like the fundamental principles of honesty. These are principles which are operative when you are ten-years-old and running your …
The Sound of Splintering
Come before the Father now, and do so in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. As we worship the Lord according to His Word, we reflect His glory into the world. But in the Bible the word glory is more than just a simple matter of brightness; it also carries the idea of weight. …
Laid Out On The Altar
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Father of all, we come before You in order to be laid bare before You. We know that Your Word is sharper than any two-edged sword, and will cut us apart, as the priestly knife used to cut apart the sacrifical animals …
Pietism and Piety
As we grow in our knowledge of biblical doctrine, and as we expand the boundaries of what we know under the heading of a “biblical world view,” we have to be careful about one of the oldest traps in Christendom. Knowledge puffs up, St. Paul tells us, but love builds up. Graduate school is not …
The New Synagogue
INTRODUCTION: As we are considering some changes in how we elect and establish the elders of our church, the session has asked me to lay out the scriptural case for the principles we are seeking to honor and observe in this. THE TEXT: And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to …
Jesus Is Lord
As we continue our study of historical optimism, a good thing to keep in mind is the need to constantly turn to fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. When we think through these issues carefully, we must recognize that the basic issue is really the view we have of …
God Throws Down the Proud
We cannot have an assembly like this without collecting together great sin and sinfulness. But this is not a function of the size of our church. The same thing would happen if any one of us were to assemble, all by ourselves, in a closet. We are all sinners, and God is in the process …
In Pleasant Places
Father in heaven, You are a gracious God, and You have poured out blessing after blessing upon our heads. You have established the lines for us in pleasant places. We have opened our mouths, and You have filled them. We have turned to You, and You have bestowed Your covenant kindness upon us. We thank …
Fullness and Overflow
Who are you? What are you doing here? How did it come about that you are now here? The instruments used by God are many, but the fundamental answer is that you are here at worship because you have been called, summoned. God wants you to hear His Word. He requires you to worship Him, …