Sunday, July 18, 2010

For the Lord's Day


“True faith – created in me by the Holy Spirit through the gospel – is not only a knowledge and conviction that everything that God reveals in his word is true, but also a deep-rooted assurance that not only others, but I too, have had my sins forgiven, have been made forever right with God, and have been granted salvation. These are gifts of sheer grace earned for us by Christ.”
Zacharius Ursinus, 1534 – 1583

Sunday, July 11, 2010

That little three letter word...

“Modern masters of science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They begin with the fact of sin – a fact as practical as potatoes.” - - G. K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy, 1908.  Nothing like persistent facts to confuse people.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

For the Lord's Day @ Worship


“… our audience in corporate worship is not people. Corporate worship is not about pleasing people, whether ourselves, the congregation, or unbelieving seekers. . Worship in the corporate gathering is about renewing our covenant with God by meeting with Him and relating to Him in ways that He has prescribed. We do this specifically by hearing and heeding His Word, confessing our own sinfulness and our dependence on Him, thanking Him for his goodness to us, bringing our requests before Him, confessing His truth, and lifting our voices and instruments to Him in response to and in accord with the way that He has revealed Himself in His Word.”
-- Mark Dever in The Deliberate Church