A moment’s reflection should show us that God’s standards are much too low. He has graciously invited to this Table all sorts of disreputable people. When He tells us in His Word that we should show hospitality to those who cannot repay us, we need to remember that this is something which He has done. …
All the Same Truth
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Great Jehovah, You are the only God! We worship You now in the great name of Your Son, Jesus Christ, and in the power of His Holy Spirit. You rule the earth, and You do so in majesty, wisdom, power, authority, splendor, …
Created for the Good Work of Worship
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Father and Jehovah God, You called forth the heavens and earth out of nothing. You separated the night from the day, and the waters from the dry land, and the woman from the man. Father, we worship and adore You, the Lord …
Gird Up Your Loins
Always beware of unexamined assumptions. When we speak and act, we do so on the basis of what we instinctively know to be the case. When we are right, this is right and proper—it is how we were created to live. We cannot be examining all our assumptions constantly. We have to live on the …
The Taste of Fear
The Bible does not teach us that the Table must be protected from unfaithful people. Rather, the Bible teaches us that unfaithful people must be protected from the Table. This Table is a winnowing fan, a fan that separates the wheat from the chaff. This Table deals with us as we come to it. To …
State of the Church 2005
Introduction: The Church continues to hampered in the work of reformation by certain “unquestionable truths” that are still circulated among us. The Text: “I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage” (Ex. 20: 2). Overview: The Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, …
Deliverance Now
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! Father of our Lord Jesus, You are the one who cast down Pharaoh, and drowned his entire army in the Red Sea, and You did this because Your loving kindness endures forever. You destroyed Og, the king of Bashan, because your mercy …
Looking for a City
The Word and the sacrament go together. Without the sacrament, the Word by turns gradually evolves into mere lecturing, or, if it is excited, a hectoring of God’s people. On the other hand, the sacrament without the Word gradually turns to superstitious and blind observance, at the end indistinguishable from rank paganism. The two go …
Foundations of Marriage VIII
Introduction: We have seen that the creation of man, male and female, is not unrelated to God’s pronouncement that the whole creation was “very good.” But the same thing is true of the new creation in Christ. In the new creation, the relation of husbands and wives plays an important part in the worship of …
Stage Directions
This morning you will notice a few alterations in our liturgy that we wanted to go over with you beforehand. First, we will no longer be announcing any of the hymns or psalms beforehand. We will try to give you a moment to locate where we are in the bulletin, but are trying to keep …