We come to this Table every week. For some Christians, this repetition means that we will necessarily drift into religious complacency or sloth. This does happen, and so the Word must always accompany the sacrament, to keep us mindful of our responsibilities here. But one of those responsibilities is to be repetitive. The liturgy of …
Bowing in Gratitude
Our great and glorious God, we bow before You in gratitude. We know that such thankfulness is a gift to us from You, and so we thank You even for that. We know that thankfulness grows, and develops, just as bitterness does, and we plead with You to keep us grateful and never bitter. We …
Marriage as Manifest Glory XVI
Introduction: Some people take an approach to marriage that flatters everyone. In other words, it is assumed that everyone wants (deep down) to be a godly husband or a godly wife, and that the only impediment to this marital bliss is ignorance. That ignorance, it turns out, can be remedied with this book, this seminar, …
The Resurrection of All Things/Easter Sunday 2005
INTRODUCTION: The resurrection of the Lord Jesus was no isolated event. His return from the dead entailed with it the resurrection of all things from the dead. The power of death, which had held the entire world in thrall, was reversed at that point, two millennia ago, and the power of His new life has …
The Risen Lord
Minister: He is risen! Congregation: He is risen indeed! God of everlasting life, we pray to You in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. As Jonah spent three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Lord Jesus spent three days and three nights in the heart …
Death Reversed
Jesus rose from the dead, and defeated the power of death forever. He did not do this in one moment of time, with all the effects of His work immediately evident, but the central thing was done at that one moment of time. His resurrection was the first fruits of what will be a glorious …
Protection and the Sacrament
As was noted at the Good Friday service, the Lord Jesus at the Last Supper gave bread to Judas. The apostle John says that after this identification of him, Satan entered him and he went out into the night. There is an important sense in which we should fence the Table, and this is what …
Good Friday Homily 2005
This is the day in our calendar when we commemorate the time when the mangled body of our Lord Jesus was nailed to a cross of wood. Not only do we commemorate this, we exult in it. In this divine humiliation, we have learned to see the beauty of the Lord, the wisdom of God, …
The Warrior Christ
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! God of Resurrection Life, we praise You now in the name of our risen Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is indeed the resurrection and the life, and we confess that He is life itself, whether before His crucifixion or after. We …
Joy on Holy Friday
We have come to Palm Sunday, and next Lord’s Day we will be marking the event that transformed the heavens and earth, changing them into a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. The triumphal entry into Jerusalem marks one of the greatest acts of faith in the history of our world. …