“O God, you have commanded us to walk in the Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh; make us perfect, we pray, in love, that we may conquer our natural selfishness and give ourselves to others. Fill our hearts with your joy, and garrison them with your peace; make us longsuffering and gentle, and thus subdue our hasty and angry tempers; give us faithfulness, meekness and self-control; so that crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, we may bring forth fruit of the Spirit to your praise and glory…”

Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, 1857-1891

Veterans Day 2009, Ft. Hood

Thanks to those who served, who died, and who continue to serve to keep us free. My prayers are for the families of those killed, the wounded and their families and the Ft. Hood community - all casualties of the massacre perpetrated by Muslim terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan.

For the Lord's Day

All creation joins in praising

Christ, the savior of our race,

Drawn from ev’ry tribe and nation,

People, language, time and place:

“Holy, holy, holy, holy

Is our God, the God of grace.”

--Hymns for a Modern Reformation, James Montgomery Boice

Reformation Day Service

We have chosen to celebrate Reformation Sunday as close as possible to October 31. My text for Today's Reformation Day Service: Jeremiah 6:16 (English Standard Version) "Thus says the LORD:"Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' " Phil Ryken comments about this passage:" Novelty is the enemy of orthodoxy."

For the Lord's Day

People ought to come to corporate worship services to get. They ought to come starved for God. They ought to come saying, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1). God is profoundly honored when people know they will die of hunger and thirst unless they have God. And it is my job as a preacher to spread a banquet before them. I must show them from Scripture what they are really starving for – God – and then feed them well until they say, “Ahhh.” That is worship.” - John Piper, The Dangerous Duty of Delight

For the Lord's Day

“To properly evaluate the place of good works in the Christian life, we must understand that grace maintains the value of God’s children apart from any merit of their own; but we must also understand that God uses our obedience to promote our good and his glory. By our accomplishments God works his holy purposes in our lives, provides us with many temporal blessings and, most of all, fulfills our Spirit-instilled longing to honor God with all our heart, soul, mind and might.” Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Seminary, in Holiness by Grace

Sorry not to have posted for a while - vacation

For the Lord's Day

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means he does not understand Christianity very well at all. – J. I. Packer, Knowing God