The end of the year of our Lord, 2024 is quickly approaching. “End-of-years” supply us with an opportunity to reflect on end-of-life. Numerous blessings are found in living lie “backwards” to have the days of our lives illuminated by the reality of our mortality. The Heidelberg Catechism, a 16th-century reformed
Continue readingHow far away spiritual, invisible, eternal realities appear to us as we live in time and space! French Pastor, Adolphe Monod, has a sermon entitled “Seeing the invisible” which beautifully declares how the invisible realities of God, redemption, faith, eternal life, etc. are brought near in Christ’s incarnation. In the
Continue readingAdolphe Monod was an eloquent and insightful French Pastor in the 1800’s. In his book on the incarnation, The Incarnation and Beyond, he wrestles through the importance of the incarnation of the Son of God for the accomplishment of redemption, but is not willing to only leave it at that. The
Continue readingThe accomplishment of redemption required that the Son of God take a human body – which He willingly did and rejoiced to do so! This, I think, is often undervalued – a believer’s interest in the body of the Lord Jesus. The 19th-century Scottish pastor Hugh Martin has provided edifying
Continue readingThe 20th-century Presbyterian theologian B.B. Warfield wrote an illuminating article entitled The Emotional Life of our Lord in which he examines the subject from the Gospel accounts and steers clear of the pitfalls of under or over-emphasizing this aspect of the Lord’s humanity. Here I would like to make two observations
Continue readingThe church I grew up in had the slogan “Ordinary people, serving an Extraordinary God”. Locally in Newmarket a church has the slogan “Where strangers become family”. These, and so many others, are good descriptors of the respective local churches – chosen carefully and giving a clear summary. Sometimes I
Continue readingIt is good to consider how to summarize the truth of Christianity to those unfamiliar with it. Most would focus on the person of Jesus (often as “example”) and others would highlight Christianity as a “code of conduct” with emphasis on living obediently. Herman Bavinck in his Reformed Dogmatics summarizes the essence
Continue readingWe often think of repentance as something we ‘do’ – after all, we are called to repent. It, like faith, is a gift to us that flows from the cross of Christ and is worked in fellowship with the Risen Christ. It goes against all that we are by nature
Continue readingRecently a ministers’ conference was held which had the general subject of “Tensions and Dangers” in preaching, pastoral ministry and the life of the churches. Tensions and Dangers included such things as preaching (comforting/consoling and convicting/exposing), objective/subjective work of God, profession of faith/profession of truth, expectations surrounding confessing members partaking
Continue readingEngaging a person with the Gospel is always daunting. Such questions as “who is this person?” “what will they say?” “what if I come across to them in a confusing way?” These and many other similar trains of doubt can derail evangelistic purpose and action. In combatting this challenge, I
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