The Cross and Christian Community The following excerpt is from John Stott’s classic book The Cross of Christ. He discusses the relationship of the cross of Christ to the importance of Christian community. The author conveys an excellent truth. “Perhaps the reader has so far found this presentation of Christ’s cross too individualistic. If so, […]
Yearning For God Psalm 42 is the Psalm of a desperate person who yearns to be restored to God’s presence. His immediate circumstances are not known, except that he is far from Jerusalem, the sanctuary and the people of God. He suffers the taunts of the ungodly who oppress him with such questions, as “So […]
Believing in the Real Jesus The following quote is taken from Dr. R. C. Sproul’s St. Andrew’s Expository Commentary on the Gospel of John. His comment is based on the disbelief of Jesus’ own brothers as seen here in John 7:1 – 5. “After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about […]
The Glory of God I found the following word studies from the NLT Illustrated Study Bible (Tyndale Publishers) to be very interesting. It is true that we often get the wrong idea about the meaning of the “glory of God.” We have learned this misconception by the way our culture understands the word “glory.” For […]
Reformation Day – II Psalm 115 What is the Reformation? (Brief history of the Belgic Confession, 1561) Westminster Shorter Catechism – Question 1: What is the chief end of man? Answer: Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him. The Solas of the Protestant Reformation *Sola Scriptura, meaning “Scripture Alone.” The Bible is […]
God Demonstrates His Love In my prior post I addressed the question concerning the way in which God loves. I had said that without some clarification as to what God’s love is really all about, we are pretty much left in the dark. I also contended that the message of God’s love and peace […]
How Does God Love? We often hear people say “God loves you.” That statement may be reassuring on some level yet leaves us bewildered as to exactly what it means. The statement seems a bit vague. We may ask ourselves “How does God love me?” or “What does it mean that God loves me?” Is […]
Yahweh’s Suffering Servant The following passage of Isaiah was most likely written toward the end of Isaiah’s ministry that spanned the years 739 BC to 701 BC. The passage concerns the Suffering Servant of Yahweh that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ well over 700 years later. Who has believed what he has heard from […]
I thought this blog of Michael Horton’s was good and worth sharing. Calvin did not imagine that the New Testament gave us a precise liturgy or church order, but he was convinced that it gives us clear guidelines. From his study of the New Testament Calvin suggested that there are four offices: doctor, pastor-teacher, elder, […]
Wilhelmus `a Brakel was a pastor and theologian from the Netherlands. He lived from 1635 to 1711. He is perhaps one of the most noted and loved theologian among the reformed churches in the Netherlands. His four volumes on Dogmatics are titled “The Christian’s Reasonable Service” (published by Reformation Heritage Books, Grand Rapids, MI.). His […]