“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows” (Matt. 10:29-31). We do well to remember more often the cosmic scope of God's covenant, that it embraces the four corners of the earth and every living creature therein, and reaches out to the farthest bounds of the universe, to the astonishingly vast galaxies with their billions of stars and all the hosts of the highest heaven. For Christ, God’s own Son, shed his blood to reconcile all things to God and bring them into his covenant (Col. 1:20). Read More
An article by Mrs. Margaret Laning Praying for our prodigals “We lift up our child in prayer, Lord. Help us, for we do not know what to do. Our child is walking in sin, will not meet to talk with us about it, and is listening to and giving in to spiritual enemies. We cry out for Thy mercy. Thou alone hast power to change the heart….” Such is a prayer of Christian parents who have a wayward child. Who else...
We deserve to be drowned under the flood of the wrath of God in hell with the unbelieving and unrepentant world. But God has sent Christ into this world to suffer the outpouring of that flood on the cross in our place. Our baptism is a sign and seal to us that his blood has cleansed us of all our sins and will carry us out of this filthy and doomed world into a heavenly paradise. Read More
We need to articulate the truth about the flood clearly and adamantly today in our battle against the secular worldview of evolutionism that would inundate us and our children. The so-called experts today, including many who profess Christianity, refuse to allow even the suggestion that the Bible is true in its record of the worldwide flood and this explains the existence of many of the mighty mountains and canyons of the earth, as well as the extraordinary phenomena of fossils around the world. Our children and young people can be sorely troubled by the persistent claim of modern man that this world is billions of years old and was fashioned by merely natural processes over long eons of time. We must diligently teach our children and all who ask us a reason of the hope that is in us about the wonder of the flood. Read More
Grace motivated him to build because he knew that he didn’t have to build in order to obtain that grace, but he already had it and would never lose it! What soul-liberating and heart-motivating gratitude that gives to the believer! Grace empowered him to build because if left to himself he could not have cut a single gopher tree or set one board upon another, but God was perpetually there in his heart working and preserving his faith.Read More
In her book, I Belong, Joyce Holstege takes the smallest incremental steps to teach your child the Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1. That’s it. A whole book – 50 pages – for one catechism question and answer. You can be assured, though, by the time you finish this book with your child, he or she will be able to recite the question and answer and explain what it means.Read More
Just as Scripture itself tends toward the final consummation of all things on the day of Christ’s second coming, so too this book builds up this ultimate hope of the church: the return of her Lord. The reader is given a sober description of Antichrist, who he will be, how he will rise, what power he shall wield, what short-lived kingdom he shall build, the part the false church will play, and the tribulation he shall bring upon the church. The fullness of Scripture’s teaching on the subject is here explained. The reader who is interested in gaining a better understanding of difficult eschatological passages of Scripture, such as in Daniel and Revelation, will be well rewarded by reading this work.Read More
In the centuries before the flood, the intermarriage of the boys of the church with the girls of the world was one of the primary causes of the apostasy which eventually diminished the covenant community to eight souls and filled the world’s cup of iniquity, making it ripe for judgment.
“The sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose… There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown” (Genesis 6:2, 4).
Do you receive the Word with readiness of mind—with all readiness of mind? Do you receive it with eagerness, willingness, passion, and zeal? If you do, then you are like the Bereans. The Bereans received the Word, as it should be received, because it is God’sWord. They did not despise it, or criticize it; they did not mock it or show disdain. They were not indifferent to it, but they submitted to it and they obeyed it. They embraced the Word not as something intellectually stimulating, but as authoritative: as authoritative as the Old Testament Scriptures, as we shall see. Therefore, the Bereans believed the Word, they lived according to it, and the Word changed them: if Jesus was the Messiah who suffered, died, and rose again, as Paul proved, then they believed in this Messiah and turned from sin.Read More
"You will discover that each chapter teaches a distinct, comforting truth that will leave you eagerly anticipating the next opportunity to read further. Rev. McGeown tackles the various concepts of Scripture such as love, faith, peace (and many more) using precise yet easy to understand language. Certainly, this is something the average reader is looking for! At times a book can become so abstract that we lose the line of thought and find ourselves rereading the last several paragraphs over again. I do not believe that this will be the case with this book. At the same time the young preacher will find this an excellent commentary on these chapters of the Bible that he can use to help stimulate his preparation of a sound, biblical sermon for his congregation."Read More
It’s hard to imagine, but for most of the history of the church, people didn’t have Bibles in their homes. This was before computers and copy machines and printers. Each Bible had to be carefully written out, copied word by word from another Bible.
Think how long it would take to copy even one page of the Bible that way. And then another page. And then another, until you had copied the whole Bible. It would take months and months. And when you were finished, you would only add one Bible. So, a Bible was a rare and expensive thing.Read More
There is in the Bible no Epistle to the Bereans. There are, however, two epistles to the Thessalonians. Yet, although the apostle Paul did not write an epistle to the Bereans, the Bereans are a very famous church. In fact, most Christians are very familiar with the Bereans. The Bereans are famous for their reception of the word. Therefore, if they had received a letter from the apostle, they would have read it and carefully studied it in light of the Holy Scriptures that they had. And of course they did (in due course) receive all of the apostolic letters, which we have in the New Testament as Scripture.
The Bereans are set forth by Luke, and by the Holy Spirit who inspired Luke, as an example worthy of our emulation. Be like the Bereans in your reception of the word. Do not be like the Jews of Thessalonica, many of whom rejected the word out of hand, but be like the Bereans in receiving the word with all readiness of mind. And be like the Bereans by testing the word that you hear against the only infallible standard, which is the Holy Scriptures.Read More
Joyce Holstege, kindergarten teacher at Heritage Christian School in Hudsonville, Michigan, and author of I Belong: Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1 for Children recently addressed the RFPA's Association members on the why, when, and how of bringing doctrine into the devotions we do with our young children. Here is an overview of part 1 of the speech, the reason for doctrinal devotions. Why do we teach children doctrine in our devotions? - By the grace of God, little children know and love God,...
Do you think that obedience is simply spontaneous, even automatic, that it springs from us as an expression of our gratitude? It should be, but it is not. Incentives are necessary, first, because of the weakness of our flesh; second, they are necessary because of the difficulty of the way; third, they are necessary because of the opposition of the enemy. Fourth, they are given by the grace of our God. It is Reformed to speak of incentives: “The consideration of this benefit should serve as an incentive to a serious and constant practice of gratitude and good works, as appears from the testimonies of Scripture and the examples of the saints” (Canons 5:12). So, dear reader, when you feel like giving up, when you ask yourself, “What is the point in adding to my faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity?” then remember the incentive, “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”Read More
