For a number of years, in addition to our monthly Psalm sing, we have had a Sunday evening service that we have held once a month, one which we called Evensong. A number of months ago, we shifted the emphasis of that service, making it explicitly evangelistic—church for non-Christians. We have been grateful for how …
Hastening the Day
We noted at the beginning of the service that by receiving the bread rightly, you are loving your people. You are making a solemn pledge to love each other. You are renewing a most gracious oath, an oath that binds you together with everyone here, not to mention God’s people all over the world. You …
Not Throwing Bread from the Balcony
You are a congregation of God’s people. You have been gathered from many places, and many backgrounds. Apart from the work of God’s Holy Spirit, most of you wouldn’t have much to do with one another. And yet now, in that Spirit, you have been gathered together like this. Here you are. What are you …
Seven Baskets Left
We are privileged to celebrate this Supper on Pentecost Sunday, the day when God in His mercy made it abundantly clear that He had given His Son, the bread from Heaven, as the life of the world. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus miraculously feeds the multitudes on two occasions. In the first instance, in …
With All You’ve Got
The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all you’ve got. This of course can only be obeyed in the context of the grace of God found in the gospel. The way we commend ourselves to God is in Jesus’ name, because He is the only one who perfectly loved God with …
Come Up, Come Up
When the Lord Jesus was raised up from the grave, it was not long before He was raised up from world itself. Jesus first came up out of the earth, and He then came away from the earth. That departure from our world was His ascension into Heaven, a glorious transit between the moment of …
What God Does Every Time
When we come to this Table, we do so as forgiven sinners. Grace has dealt with the past, and has done so in such a way as that the past no longer matters. Under the blood of Christ, God doesn’t care what you have done. As grace has washed away every stain, it follows that …
Contrasts
We gather as one body, but we all different troubles. We gather as one body, but we all rejoice in different bits of news. Some of you suffer strained family relations. Some of you have financial pressures. Some of you have to deal with the grinding ingratitude of others, who should know better. Some of …
No Shortage of Bread
When Jesus fed the multitudes, He did so in desolate places—in the wilderness, in effect. The thousands that He fed were a motley group, a mixed multitude, just like Israel was when they came out of Egypt. And so when manna fell from heaven, it fed both the full-blooded Israelites and the mixed multitude with …
Hit the Line Hard
This exhortation concerns an event that is still a little over four months out, by which I mean our fall conference, entitled The Grace Agenda. We have held many conferences here over the years, but this year, this one is of particular strategic importance. And because of this, we don’t want it to be a …