29 August, 2011 To Our Members and Friends, Monday mornings are always accompanied by some memories of the Lord's Day preceding.  This day I am reflecting on the part of yesterday's morning sermon that dealt with the doctrine of the "office of the keys" given by Christ to the church.  By use of these "keys" the Kingdom of heaven is opened to believers and closed to unbelievers.  In many reformed churches I suspect the phrase is strange-sounding although the Westminster Confession of Faith states the following: "The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein...

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Greetings, Earlier this week, Charles Williams directed me to the following post on Reformation 21 written by Dr. Carl Trueman, his new Church History professor at Westminster Seminary.  It speaks very directly to the Letter of Complaint our Session signed and which will be debated at our Presbytery meeting on August 5th.  I urge you to read it.  But keep in mind that "the One Great Heresy" that Dr. Trueman believes is no heresy at all - no more than the "heresy" of holding the line on the illegitimacy of gay sex or of supportiong traditional marriage. Pastor Steve Why...

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    "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ" A major component of the ‘good news', the Gospel, is the declaration that Christ rescues those who take refuge in Him from the agonies of the ‘second death', the torment of never-ending punishment in Hell.  Recently this clear teaching of Biblical truth concerning the future punishment of the wicked has been assaulted by the publication of a book by pastor Bob Bell of Grand Rapids (Love Wins).  The Lord, Who prizes sound doctrine much more than we do, will undoubtedly raise up contemporary voices against this new expression of an...

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         The Lord of the Harvest has the absolute right to assign to His workers their unique places of labor in His field.  In many ways, I seem to have been a “planter.”  That is not always according to my preference.  There are more joyful duties on the farm, but all are necessary in the harvest cycle.  Most of the feasts in the Old Testament were joyous harvest feasts.  But someone had to plant.  It certainly is necessary to be possessed of  a living hope if one would be a sower of seed.      A planter needs to remember the...

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     The following comments are sermon notes from Sunday, May 16th concerning the manner in which the Apostle Paul was honestly known by the churches in Galatia  as a minister of the Gospel.      Christianity is the most personal of religions, but most people do not want to be known personally.   They want to be famous, to have a recognized reputation, yes, but not really to be honestly known.      Christianity stands in radical opposition to that.  Its central truth is that even God Himself, wanted to be known among men “in the flesh.”   Hence, the Incarnation.      We live...

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