One evening, a mother was talking with her daughter about her grades. The problem was not what you might expect—the girl’s grades were perfect. She had never gotten a B in her life, and she wasn’t about to start now. But her parents were concerned about her nevertheless. “Are you asking me to not study?” …
Away From Alien Tables
We know, in coming to this Table, that we are solemnly and joyfully renewing our vows, and those vows include a deep commitment to stay far away from all alien tables. We cannot commune here, and at the table of demons, as St. Paul teaches. We are also committing ourselves to stay far away from …
God Above
Gracious God above us, we thank You in the name of Jesus Christ, and we pray to You in the authority that the Holy Spirit gives to us. We look forward to the arrival of yet another Lord’s Day, another opportunity to rejoice before You together with our people. We thank You for the food, …
Open Heart Surgery
We now observe the Supper of the Lord at the conclusion of every worship service. Do not drift into the sin of thinking that this is a mere routine. What is actually happening is that God is performing the spiritual equivalent of open-heart surgery on you, and He is doing it now on a weekly …
Your Curriculum of Law
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 …
Loved and Shaped in the Supper
Christians are accustomed to think that a worldview consists of the things that you think. What are your “views” about the world? What are your opinions about this and that? I am afraid that this is a very truncated view of what it means to have a worldview. We need to develop this at length …
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 …
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 …
Christ Prays for You
The world is a perilous place, and we do not make it any safer by pretending. The sacred things of God are always accompanied by many warnings, but for the faithful, and rightly understood, these warnings only serve to strengthen our faith in Him. The sovereign covenantal purposes of God are the only security we …