Once there was a young girl who desperately wanted to be popular, but who knew in her own heart that she would never be. She was constantly afraid that the other girls were talking about her in catty ways, and that whenever they were friendly, they must be only pretending. Her parents were dimly aware …
Goodness to God; Gladness to Man
We are here because we believe the Word of God. We are here because God has summoned us. We are here because God promises to forgive us our sins as we confess them in Jesus’ name. We are here because God is dealing with us; God is at work in our midst. But there are …
Beloved of God
You are here as saints, as the elect of God, as Christians, as believers. Now one of the central things that believers must do when they assemble to worship God is—believe. This means that we are not to conduct exercises in abstract theological problems. We are not doing math; we are meeting with God. So …
Playing Tennis With the Devil
Once there was a young Christian man who had a terrible day. Everywhere he went, and everywhere he turned, there was some temptation waiting for him there, leering. On the way out the door to school, his mother asked him three times if he wanted his gloves, and by the time he got to the …
The Company of the Peeved
Even though we are Christians, a forgiven people, we still struggle with remaining sin. God in His ultimate wisdom did not choose to translate us immediately to heaven the moment we were converted. His desire is for us to learn how to love Him, over the course of our lives, when there is an adversary …
The Gods NASDAQ and DOW
We cannot understand the world around us apart from right worship. And yet, day after day, we see a world which cries out to be understood. We see conflict, distress, warfare, and oppression, and we sometimes despair of comprehending our role in it. This problem has been accentuated by the current war, but this actually …
But Nobody Wants to Die
Scriptures teach us that the service of the Lord should follow a definite pattern. We come to the Lord first, and we receive forgiveness of sins from Him as we confess our sins. This corresponds to the guilt offering in the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. Then we hear His Word read and proclaimed, …
Red, White, and Blue Idols
We are gathering to worship God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit through the name and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. In short, we are a congregation of Christians. We are doing this as citizens of a nation that continues at war, and we have a two-fold duty in this respect. …
Where Peace Rules
Rightly understood, contentment is impossible to understand. A preacher who sets himself to explain it is therefore heading into treacherous waters. He needs to take care to explain only those aspects of it that are laid out in the Word, and then leave the the Holy Spirit to His work in bringing about contentment in …
Drinking Love
A number of years ago, as a congregation we abandoned the practice of serving grape juice in communion and began serving wine. This was not an incidental change, because we also moved from observing communion monthly to the practice of observing it at the culmination of each service. Although we did this, we also reserved …