A true shepherd sent from Jesus to keep watch over the flock
May 22, 2023 § 1 Comment
Harry Reeder was a pastor, a true shepherd sent from Jesus to keep watch over the flock that he had purchased with his own blood.
That truth has risen to the forefront of my mind, settling in and holding reign over my thoughts and emotions as the tributes, testimonies, and accolades have flooded the internet the last days, as staff and church members have stood together and alternately reminisced, prayed, and wept, as his precious family has shown us the right way to use social media by calling us in their own grief to praise God even in this hard but sanctifying Providence.
« Read the rest of this entry »This Radical Cultural Activism Thing Called Marriage
September 6, 2017 § Leave a comment
On Saturday, September 2, I had the privilege of presiding over the marriage ceremony of Julia Thorpe and Andy Terwilliger. Here is the homily from that ceremony on the passage that Julia and Andy chose, Colossians 3:12-17.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.—Colossians 3:12-17
We live in troubled times. Some might even say that these are times that try men’s souls. « Read the rest of this entry »
Glory to God!
December 21, 2016 § 2 Comments
This past Sunday the Sanctuary Choir of McIlwain Presbyterian Church presented its annual Christmas program. This year’s offering was entitled Glory to God! In addition to both classic carols and music by Keith and Kristyn Getty arranged by McIlwain Music Ministry Coordinator Donny Monk, I supplied a series of narrations designed to explore the glory of God in four progressive themes: the glory of God in creation, the glory of God in the promise of redemption, the glory of God in the Gospel, and the glory of God in the return and reign of Christ. Although these were summarized in the program, we explored the themes respectively each Sunday of Advent this year. « Read the rest of this entry »
Ah, the refreshment of Spurgeon!
May 21, 2014 § 4 Comments
In studying for this week’s sermon on John 1:15-18 I discovered this sermon by C.H. Spurgeon. Entitled, “The True Tabernacle, and Its Glory of Grace and Peace,” it was preached on the Lord’s Day morning of September 27th, 1885 at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England. What refreshment the Prince of Preachers still offers!
…if God has come to dwell among men by the Word made flesh let us pitch our tent around this central tabernacle; do not let us live as if God were a long way off. « Read the rest of this entry »
The wrath of God was satisfied!
August 6, 2013 § 9 Comments
Whenever I have the privilege of introducing myself as a Presbyterian pastor, more often than not it is usually with the caveat that I am pastor in “the other Presbyterian church.”
That, of course, is not strictly true, because there are several Presbyterian denominations in America: the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Bible Presbyterian Church and, my own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. « Read the rest of this entry »
Faith Forward
June 1, 2013 § 4 Comments
Last night I again had the privilege of addressing the graduating class at Trinitas Christian School. I had been asked to speak about, simply, faith. Here is the text of what I shared.
Tonight I am talking to you about faith. Not faith in general—but the faith that is the foundation of our living, moving and being. It is the faith that Paul speaks about in two passages. The first is Hebrews 11:1-3:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:1-3) « Read the rest of this entry »A crest on a stone
May 22, 2013 § 1 Comment
Yesterday, I had the privilege of presiding over a time of remembrance and prayer with family and friends at the dedication of a memorial marker for Michael Schroeder, who left this world for the face-to-face presence of God on March 12, 2012. Michael’s wife Lisa commissioned a beautiful marker (below) to provide their sons, Kyle, Blake and Derek, a means of teaching, as God wills, their children of their grandfather’s faith in the promise of God. Here is what I shared.
The practice of setting up memorials has strong biblical precedent. At several important junctures in Israel’s history God directed his people to commemorate an event by the setting up of stones—stones that call the people to remember God’s faithfulness.
One such occasion is recorded in Joshua 4, when the Israelites at last cross the Jordan River into the land promised to Abraham. The crossing was by God’s power, because the river, which was at flood stage, was halted in its course so that Israel could cross on dry land. After the crossing one man from each of the 12 tribes was to take a stone from the dry bed of the Jordan for setting up of memorial at Gilgal, east of the Jordan. « Read the rest of this entry »
Gospel defeat? Never.
April 24, 2013 § 2 Comments
On April 8 Margaret Thatcher, the first woman Prime Minister of England and one of the most influential and polarizing figures not merely of British history but of the 20th century, died. She was called the Iron Lady by her detractors for what they viewed as her steely style and hard, uncompromising views. Many credit her with saving England, bringing it from the brink of an economic ruin nurtured by years of liberal and socialist-leaning governing.
There were those who hated her so much that, on the day of her funeral, some lined the street with their backs turned as her funeral procession came by; others held wild, public celebrations; a childish rendition of “Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead” topped the English pop charts. « Read the rest of this entry »
Clear as mud?
February 18, 2013 § Leave a comment
I apologize for the confusion that resulted from my last post. I did not make clear that, once you went to the brief post at Reformation21 by Carl Trueman, you were to click the link to the Reformed Baptist Fellowship site that features the post by Richard Barcellos. Here is that link!
Jesus, Personal Lord and Savior
February 15, 2013 § 3 Comments
I have always been bothered by many of my Reformed and Covenantal peers’ contempt for the term “receiving Jesus as personal Lord and Savior.” I am well aware that many who use this phrase have absolutely no ecclesiology to speak of and have so privatized their faith that, in their minds, there is no such thing as a “capital C” Church. What all too often emerges in this criticism, however, is a reactionary, man-made doctrine of corporate salvation that is, in my reading of Scripture, far more dangerous than the individualism that typifies most of those who are broadly evangelical. It is yet another willingly opened chute that slides back to the very theological darkness upon which the Reformation shone the light of truth.
Roblog 