Worth Reading

Mark 15:1-20 

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

The Orthodoxy of Community

Real community doesn’t happen on its own—it takes time, patience, repentance, forgiveness, and love that covers a multitude of sins. The church community is not just a crowd of people on a Sunday morning; it is the gathered, worshiping people of God in a congregation where masks aren’t needed and where real friends help bear the real burdens of one another. Community is not just getting together; it is living together, suffering together, rejoicing together, and dying together.

Beware the Black Hole of Time 

Oh, yes, the black hole of time. This is that period of time following the service when the visitor is standing around awkwardly, knowing not a soul. As the church bustles about, clumped together in their familiar groups, catching up and fellowshipping, the new family nervously gathers their stuff, looks about the room and waits.
They’re hoping to be included.

That Part of Gospel-Centeredness We Avoid 

But one aspect of gospel-centrality remains under-emphasized among us: interpersonal reconciliation. The Bible says, “God . . . gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18). It doesn’t say, “God gives us the option of reconciliation now and then, when it suits us.” No, God has given us the ministry of reconciliation as a matter of sacred stewardship. There is nothing more gospel-centered.
Do we pursue reconciliation with that urgency?
may need to address conditional forgiveness idea...

Worth Reading

Mark 14:43-65

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

What Would You Say If Your Wife Was Ripped Away?

By now many of you may have heard or seen the eulogy Monty Williams recently gave at his wife’s funeral. This article is a great summary. I’d encourage you to take ten minutes and read the article and then watch the eulogy here.

Mercy Triumphs Through Judgment

In His infinite wisdom, the Lord has devised a plan to uphold His justice and show His mercy. In the death of Christ, God is “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). Men have either been judged at Calvary or they will be judged for all eternity. The sacrifice of Christ was so perfect that, just as it would have been unjust for God to kill the firstborn of Israel if the blood were seen on the doorposts, it would be unjust for Him to cast away those for whom Christ died. The apostle John taught as much when he wrote, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). So, with Edwards, we can safely say, “the believer may demand eternal life, because it has been merited by Christ … that justice that seemed to require man’s destruction, now requires his salvation.”

Sabina Wurmbrand: Radical Faithfulness, Beautiful Forgiveness

True Woman has been sharing a series of short profiles of noteworthy women from church history. The most recent entry is on Sabina Wurmbrand.

Worth Reading

Mark 14:32-42, 66-72

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

Contagion of Complaint: The seditious sin of grumbling pt 2

To God, our complaining about a situation he has allowed into our life is offensive. Because of Jesus’ death, we are in a relationship with God, he is our Father, we are his children, he loves us and he provides for us. To complain about what he has handed to us is to slap away the gracious hand of providence.

Do Christian Parents Flirt with the Idol of Sports?

I know beloved brothers and sisters in Christ differ in opinion and practice on this matter. Regardless of where you stand, this brief article is worth discussing with your family and fits nicely with Andy’s blog this week on the shorter catechism:

There’s an idolatry problem in our community related to youth sports. I see this problem every weekend

as families gather at the field rather than their church. It’s a problem in my heart, too.

I feel deep tension as we walk through this season of family life. Jesus makes it clear we cannot serve

two masters (Matt. 6:24). And the taskmaster of sports success always demands my attention.

Here are some guiding principles to help navigate the sports scene.

Risen: Movies, Faith, and the Bible

I agree with Tim Challies on this one: “The best and most important part of this article on the film Risen comes in the final paragraph.”

Worth Reading

Mark 14:12-31

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

WHAT IS GRUMBLING? THE SEDITIOUS SIN OF GRUMBLING PT 1

Anyone giving this up for lent?

Does God Need Anger Management?

Does the God of the Old Testament need anger management? I have no easy answer. But I do know that we must take the text as it actually presents itself. If we let it stand on its own terms, we begin to find clues.

Your 7 Job Responsibilities as a Church Member

Did you know, ordinary church member, that Jesus has given you a job? Your elders have a special office, to be sure, but so do you. And Jesus has given you elders in order to train you to do your job.

So if Jesus’s discipleship program gives every single member a job, what responsibilities come with this job? There are at least seven.

Worth Reading

Mark 14:1-11

Do you come to our gathered worship service expecting God to speak to you through his Word? We encourage you to prayerfully read through the passage that will be preached prior to the service to help you prepare.

Breaking Through the Despair of Unbelief

So in just one year I came to see that God saves us by grace alone (Luther), that I can rest myself on Scripture’s self-attesting authority (Owen), and Christ is truly beautiful and I want more and more of him (Sibbes)

How to Provoke Your Children to Anger

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:4)

...Here are some ways that we parents can provoke our children to anger. I’ve done many of these, and for this reason I’m grateful for the blood of Jesus and the power of the Spirit to change…

– By disciplining them for childishness or weakness, not for sin

– By failing to ask their forgiveness when we sin against them

– By ungracious reactions to their sin (What were you thinking? Why in the world would you do that?)

– By forgetting that we were (and are) sinners (I would NEVER have done that when I was your age).

A Lesson in Prayer from a Three-year-old

The other night, my three-year-old daughter sat down to eat, and she led the prayer. It started out as a simple word of gratitude for what she was about to eat, but the way she ended the prayer struck me.

Before she wrapped up, she earnestly asked, “How are You doing, God? I love you.”