Introduction: We believe that there was a time when the world was not. God spoke, and all of it came into being out of nothing. We believe that there will be a time when the world (as it is now) will cease to be. That will come about in the same way—God will say the …
Worshiping with Little Ones
Many of you are here as parents of little ones and, in some cases, many little ones. For you, the worship of the Lord is a far more arduous task that it is for the rest of us. All of us are engaged in the work of worshiping the Lord, but you are carrying young …
Treachery
As God writes the story of His covenant people in the world, with this Table at the center, we see that traitors and treachery are an important element in the story. All four gospels have the story of Judas, which is certainly one indication of its importance. When Jesus talks about the Table of the …
The Apostles Creed 14: And Sits at the Right Hand of God the Father Almighty
Introduction: In the creation of Adam as pictured on the Sistine Chapel ceiling, God the Father has a right hand. But the God of the Bible is Spirit, and has no right hand—for He has no body at all. At the same time, with few exceptions (e.g. Acts 7:55), the Scriptures repeatedly tell us that …
Feral Children in a Digital World
Over the last several decades, our church has grown significantly in our numbers, and we thank God for it, but during the same time period, the world has been undergoing a technological and cultural transformation. And the frontier of that transformation necessarily runs right through the teen years. Now a moment’s reflection should tell you …
The Ultimate Toast
This Table is what it is, and it does what it does. That is to say, it is the Table of the covenant, and it winnows out covenant keepers from covenant breakers. Covenant keepers extend no hand to receive the elements but the hand of faith, and open no mouth to receive the bread and …
The Circumcision of Timothy
A common question concerns why Paul allowed the circumcision of Timothy. Not only did he allow it, he is the one who oversaw it. He is the one who did it. “Him would Paul have to go forth with him; and took and circumcised him because of the Jews which were in those quarters: for …
The Apostles Creed 13: Ascended into Heaven
Introduction: The intersection of heaven and earth, the boundary between the two, is not the same kind of boundary that we might find between two countries. If you were not on a marked road, crossing between countries is not necessarily something you would even notice. But crossing between earth and heaven necessitates a qualitative difference …
The Width of Our Lives
The life that Christ has called us into is a life that is not just everlasting in duration. The eternal life that He welcomes us into is qualitative. Jesus says that He is the resurrection and the life, and that life is one that the Holy Spirit weaves us into. This affects the texture and …
Two Kinds of Losers
One of Christ’s most famous parables is that of the prodigal son. It could also be called the parable of the self-righteous brother, or the parable of the longing father. What it teaches us about God the Father is quite remarkable, and to a certain kind of religious mind and heart, also quite scandalous. Once …