"Shall we be afraid for Christ’s church or for ourselves personally in this final hour? Fear not, little children of our heavenly Father, because this final hour belongs to him. The Father has closely connected this hour to the central hour on his clock of the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Christ our Lord. The hours on his clock, even the last moments of the final hour with all of its darkness and persecution for the church, are all the hours...
You have probably heard it from your own pulpit. You have probably seen the announcement in the bulletin. You have probably read about it in the Standard Bearer. You have probably heard it discussed at Sunday coffee. You may have even prayed about it yourself. There is an urgent need in the Protestant Reformed Churches for more preachers of the gospel. This is not a new need, but one that’s been around since Jesus told his disciples, “The harvest truly is...
Our flesh so quickly associates a snow cover with the celebration of Christmas, and then it gives the pre-eminence to the incidental and loses the essential. The white snow on the ground becomes in our thinking essential as a part of Christmas. Its absence detracts from the significance of the holiday for us, even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the true meaning of Christmas. Even then in these areas where snow is so common in December, the holiday is by no...
In my reading, I’m usually not attracted to articles written in a series. For starters, I want the option of reading everything the author has to say in one sitting. Secondly, unless the author can produce new installments on a timely basis, I don’t have the patience to wait four months before I read the next article. This lamentably leads me to my opening point: I’ve done everything in this series of posts that I dislike as a reader. Mea Culpa....
The Reformed Free Publishing Association is pleased to present T is for Tree: A Bible ABC book written and illustrated by returning author and illustrator Connie L. Meyer. Connie is the author of the book Gottschalk: Servant of God published in November 2015. The expected release date of this title is January/February 2018.  "Share this lovely ABC book with your youngest children. Mrs. Meyer’s colorful, detailed illustrations please the eyes, her simple, rhyming verses gratify the ears, and the selected scripture texts...
As I alluded in my last post, it is sometimes suggested that the last semester of seminary is the most difficult semester. After soaring on the internship, the student must again clamp on the chains and manacles of practice preaching and formal class room instruction. I can understand and agree with this sentiment to a point. There is something about the internship—tasting and experiencing the real work that the seminary student anticipates he will soon be doing as an ordained servant...
 The charge of antinomianism coming from the quarters of the federal vision and its supporters must be rejected and dismissed, but also countered. It should hearten the Reformed church and believer that they have even drawn the charge. If men like Mark Jones, Richard Gaffin, and the rest of the federal vision men charge the truth with antinomianism and try to dismiss the truth with a name, they do to us Reformed believers nothing more than what the opponents of...
Once again, I walked out of Professor Dykstra’s office with mixed emotions. I had just been informed that the seminary faculty had granted me an internship, and that mine would take place in Hull, Iowa at Calvary Protestant Reformed Church. Mixed emotions. Of course, I was tremendously excited. For several months all the third years had ruminated, speculated, and discussed—would we be granted internships? And if so, where would they be? Now I knew definitely: the Lord had opened yet another...
Recently we celebrated the five-hundredth anniversary of the great Reformation of the sixteenth century. Through this powerful work of God, the church was placed back on the foundations of the scriptures and anchored in the cornerstone, Jesus Christ. This highlights another responsibility that we have as active members of the church militant. Our responsibility is, when necessary, to engage in the reformation of the church. One of the principles that we hold dear as Reformed believers is semper reformanda: the church...
The book by Mark Jones, purporting to be a tool to discover antinomianism in the preaching and teaching of ministers and in the faith of believers, turns out to be a full-blown attack on the doctrines of grace. This attack continues with his assault on the precious Reformed doctrine of assurance. Because the Reformed faith teaches that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone and not by works, it gives assurance and comfort to the child of God. Such is...
It’s been some time now since I addressed the subject of active church membership, but I’d like to return to a consideration of those basic responsibilities that fall to us as members of the church of Christ. So far we’ve established two duties: becoming (and remaining) a member of a true, instituted church; and faithfully attending the worship services of that local congregation. Another responsibility of church membership is that we listen carefully to the preaching. It almost goes without saying...
              Walking in the Way of Love: A Practical Commentary on 1 Corinthians for the Believer (Volume 1) by Nathan J. Langerak (New Author!) 432 pages, Hardcover Coming January 2018! A love that disciplines impenitent sinners; a love that will not fellowship with the impenitent sinner; a love that will not endure false doctrine or those who teach it; a love that suffers the loss of all earthly things,...
In preparation for writing this post I sat back and tried to think about the things that made the third year of seminary distinct from the other years, and I have concluded that part of my challenge now relates to the fact that third year was very similar to second year. The first year of seminary is distinct in my mind as the time when everything was exciting because it was the beginning—everything was new. I distinguish second year as the...
If you did not have an opportunity to listen in on Monday, you can do so now by clicking the link below. Yesterday, on November 27, Prof. David J. Engelsma had a radio interview with Chris Arnzen, the national, religious radio host of Iron Sharpens Iron. This was the third interview on a book that Engelsma authored, Gospel Truth of Justification: Proclaimed, Defended, Developed. This interview was of special significance since this year is the five hundredth anniversary of the Reformation and this book was...
