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Category Archives: Word/Sacrament
10 Things to Expect in a Federal Vision Church
I recently read a post by a frustrated woman on the outcome of some decisions made in different PCA Presbyteries. Among many things, this individual observed that she was deeply concerned for the well-being of the people who attend PCA … Continue reading
Worship is Warfare!
Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Worship is warfare! We are royal people fighting the war we were called to fight. But as we look at the opposing army with their … Continue reading
Posted in Word/Sacrament
Tagged Exhortation, grapes, Joshua, Media, warfare, worship
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Pronouncement and Process in the Pastoral Call
The pastoral task requires a prophetic and priestly vision. The prophetic dimension comes through proclamation in word. This proclamation fills the ministry of word with grace. Grace is riches in the Bible. So the pastoral proclamation is a form of … Continue reading
Posted in Counseling/Pastoral Issues, Theological Thoughts, Word/Sacrament
Tagged church, Counseling, faith, Grace, knowlegde, parish, parishioners, pastor, people, Preaching, priestly, process, pronouncement, prophetic, pulpit, rites. sacraments, rituals, Truth
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How I Have Changed
I spent a couple of hours today chatting with an old friend of mine. He is now a pastor of a Lutheran congregation. He is a fine fellow whom I long to re-acquaint face to face with a pipe and … Continue reading
Posted in Food, John Calvin, John Frame, Lordship, Pastoral Meditation, Peter Leithart, Philosophy, Resurrection, Revivalism, Update, Word/Sacrament
Tagged and wine, God, history, idolatry, water, word
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This world is not my home…or is it?
Those who follow me on twitter may see several tweets with the hash-tag #Ruthproject. The Ruth project is a new work I am working with a fellow pastor from Birmingham. We are working on a commentary on Ruth. But this will … Continue reading
The Ethics of Creation
When God made the world he made it in divine priority. He made all things with an agenda, and to use the oft-repeated line, “he saved the best for last.” He made man on day six, and at the end … Continue reading
Sacramental Meditation: An Objective Meal
What we experience in this pluralistic culture is the death of objectivity. But in a world created by God and glorified by Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension, we can say that this food is for us in an objective way; … Continue reading
Posted in Communion Meditation, Word/Sacrament
Tagged bread and wine, Eucharist, Lord's Supper, Meal, Objective
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Sacramental Meditation for Trinity Sunday
The God who is Three and One gives us Bread and Wine in the midst of the congregation. The Oneness of this local body is joined with the Many bodies worldwide forming the glorious body of Christ. We eat and … Continue reading
Posted in Communion Meditation, Word/Sacrament
Tagged one and three, Sacrament, Trinity, Trinity Sunday, word
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Sacraments vs. Predestination
In his excellent introduction to M.F. Sadler’s The Second Adam & The New Birth, Rich Lusk tackles the unnecessary division within the modern Reformed movement, especially affirmed by B.B. Warfield that a view of sacramental efficacy contradicts a proper view of God’s sovereignty in … Continue reading
Posted in Word/Sacrament
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Instrument and Agent
The Church is both the instrument and agent of applying Christ’s salvation, as well as the form that salvation takes in the world. –Rich Lusk, An Introduction to M.F. Sadler’s The Second Adam & The New Birth
Posted in Rich Lusk, Word/Sacrament
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Meditation on the Lord’s Supper
God is filling the world with his glory. And we are called to make this glory known in word and deed. We do not attempt to make this glory known through our own strength, but by the strength of another, … Continue reading
Posted in Communion Meditation, Word/Sacrament
Tagged calvin, Jesus, Pentecost, Sacrament, sacrifice, spirit, word
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Why Ministers Leave
The typical pastor stays in a church for 3.6 years. This does not seem to offer much hope for any long-term vision for a local parish. Planning ahead seems futile from the outset. This discouraging number stems from a variety … Continue reading
Posted in Ascension, Baptists, Children and Worship, Christian Liberty, Christian Living, Counseling/Pastoral Issues, Covenant Renewal Worship, Culture, Word/Sacrament
Tagged Counseling, Holy Spirit, parish ministry, Pastoral Care, Protestant, resignation, why ministers resign, Word and Sacrament
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What is Holy Saturday?
The Passion Week provides vast theological emotions for the people of God. Palm Sunday commences with the entrance of a divine King riding on a donkey. He comes in ancient royal transportation. That royal procession concludes with a Crucified Messiah … Continue reading
Posted in Augustine, Ecclesiology, Economics, Education, Eschatology, Ethics, Exhortation, Hebrews, History, Holy Saturday, Kingdom, Lent, News/Politics, Politics, Resurrection, Seminary Notes, Sermon Notes, Trinity, Triumphal Entry, Typology/Symbolism/Biblical Parallels, What a Day!, Word/Sacrament
Tagged Alexander Shmemann, Blessed Sabbath, Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands, Creation, Genesis, Genesis 2:2, Good Friday, grave, Holy Saturday, Jesus Christ, new creation, new day, new hour, new life, new work, Orthodox, risen today, tomb
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Baptismal Exhortation: Not an Empty Symbol
The Bible—among many things—is a book of symbols. But they are not empty symbols, they are symbols that speak and direct us to a reality. Baptism does just that! It is a sign and symbol of the reality that God’s … Continue reading
Posted in Exhortation, Word/Sacrament
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Got Wine?
According to J. Duncan M. Derrett in “Water into Wine,” (Biblische Zeitschrift, Neue Folge, 7 (1963), pp. 84-85,89) Mary was deeply concerned about the shortage of wine in John two for a few reasons: First, she was deeply involved in … Continue reading
Communion Meditation: Wash Yourselves and Eat with Jesus!
We celebrate today the baptism of Jesus, because all the events in the life of Jesus are significant to our own lives. The baptism of Christ is that initial moment where he presents himself to the world as the God/Man … Continue reading
Posted in Communion Meditation, Word/Sacrament
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Exhortation: The Voice of Yahweh
In the Psalm we are reciting this morning we will hear a lot about the voice of Yahweh. Psalm 29 says some spectacular things about what the voice of Yahweh accomplishes. It literally transforms the landscape of the desert, makes … Continue reading
Posted in Exhortation, Psalms, Word/Sacrament
Tagged Baptism, baptism of jesus, psalm 29, psalms, religion, Theology, voice prayer, worthy is the lamb
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The Baptism of our Lord
Nicolas Poussin. The Baptism of Christ. 1647. Oil on canvas. National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK.
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Baptism Exhortation for Sophie Leonard and Ephraim Brito
Grace, Mercy, and Peace be with You from God our Father, and Our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Scripture reading this morning is from Matthew 3:16-17: And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the … Continue reading
Posted in Exhortation, Word/Sacrament
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Liturgical Strategy
The worship of the Church accomplishes work in the world. Battles are won or lost as a result of how our churches worship God. Too often we act as though our differences over liturgy were simply differences over decoration, instead … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Preaching, Quotes, Reflections, Reformed Theology, Word/Sacrament
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Communion Meditation: Nurtured by Christ to Nurture the World
The Lord of all glory gives us of Himself that we might be nurtured. He nurtures us that we might perpetuate His example of selfless giving and nurture the world. At this table we are reminded and exhorted to serve … Continue reading
A Word on Weekly Communion
Here is a brief exhortation that I gave in 2010 on the importance of weekly communion, and also an Advent sermon on the biblical and historical case for weekly communion.
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The Table of Love
We come to the Lord’s Table each Lord’s Day to be fed by the Father, who meets our needs above and beyond all that we could ask or think. He has given us life. He sustains that life. He protects … Continue reading
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On the Death of Infants
“The children of believers are holy…by virtue of the covenant of grace in which they together with the parents are comprehended. Godly parents have no reason to doubt the election and salvation of their children whom it pleaseth God to call … Continue reading
Posted in Infant Faith, Word/Sacrament
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Paedocommunion in the Early Church
My good friend, Matt Bianco, quotes Cyprian on the relationship between infants and the Eucharist in the Early Church. According to Matt, what is interesting is that paedocommunion “(was) the practice of the Church as far back as at least … Continue reading
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The Mode of Baptism
Little time is spent discussing the mode of baptism these days. Debates on the recipients of baptism abound, but once that question is solved, how then shall we baptize? With water, of course. In what way then is it administered? … Continue reading
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The Meeting of Nevin and Schaff
In a footnote in Bonomo’s Incarnation and Sacrament, he quotes Brenner’s description of that profound meeting of two of the greatest minds in 19th century Reformational history: The meeting of Nevin and Schaff was like the concurrence of two heavenly bodies of … Continue reading
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Incarnation and Sacrament
Keith Mathison summarizes Calvin’s view of the Eucharist in his foreword to Jonathan Bonomo Incarnation and Sacrament. Mathison argues that Calvin followed Augustine in defining a sacrament as a “visible sign of a sacred thing.” For Calvin, …the sacraments seal the … Continue reading
Posted in Word/Sacrament
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Communion Meditation: Food as Proof of God’s Love
Note: Incidentally, this is also a subtle proof for weekly communion. Food reveals the nature of God. God is a God of abundance. He is a provider. But food also reveals the nature of man. Even the smallest infant knows instinctively … Continue reading
Posted in Communion Meditation, Word/Sacrament
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Heavenly Fellowship and the Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness
This is a great day for these United States. It is a time of joy and celebration. And we hope to bathe ourselves with one of America’s greatest inventions: hot dogs. But beyond all the fireworks, parades, and the good … Continue reading
Resurrectio et Vita 