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Dear Church Family, This Friday, October 31st, is Reformation Day – a day to remember the Protestant Reformation over 500 years ago. This weekend also marks the end of Day Light Savings Time, so don’t forget to set you clocks back one hour on Saturday! Anyway, I thought this would be a good opportunity to address the question, “What does it mean to be Reformed?” In a general sense, all Protestant denominations may trace their roots back to the Reformation; however, not all Pr

Dear Church Family, In the adult Sunday school class, we just concluded our study of the first vow of church membership in which we confess that we are “sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy.” One of the best ways to perceive and understand this Biblical truth, indeed one of the best ways to perceive and understand the overarching outline and teaching of Scripture, is by understanding the difference and r

Dear Church Family, This past Sunday, I began the adult Sunday school class by saying that we, as Reformed Christians, do in fact believe in free will, and that human beings will always choose to do that which we most want or desire to do. Unfortunately, many people outside of the Reformed faith – and even some within – do not understand or believe this truth. In his book The Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes , G.I. Williamson helpfully introduces this to

Dear Church Family,   In our most recent Sunday school class, I mentioned a song by the alternative rock band, Weezer. That’s right, I said Weezer. The song is over twenty years old, and it’s called “Undone – the Sweater Song.” Here’s the chorus:   If you want to destroy my sweater Pull this thread as I walk away (as I walk away) Watch me unravel I'll soon be naked Lying on the floor, lying on the floor I've come undone   I know, it may seem odd, but hear me out. Without

Dear Church Family, In the adult Sunday school class, we have just finished the introductory portion of our series of lessons entitled “Church Membership 101.” This coming Sunday, we will begin our study of the five vows of church membership with the first of five vows in which we confess that we are “sinners in the sight of God, justly deserving His displeasure, and without hope save in His sovereign mercy.” In our final introductory lesson, we talked about how followers

Dear Church Family, One of the topics that we discussed in the adult Sunday school class this past Sunday was a doctrine known as “the spirituality of the church.” In a short and accessible article, “ Two Cheers for the Spirituality of the Church ,” Kevin DeYoung offers this succinct definition: “In general terms, the spirituality of the church teaches that given the nature of the church under the mediatorial reign of Christ there are limits to church power and that this

Dear Church Family, In the adult Sunday school class this past Sunday, we reviewed the vows which officers (ministers, elders, and deacons) take at their ordination, as well as the vows of church membership. One of the things that we discussed was how many today do not take seriously the oaths or vows that they make. Unfortunately, this lack of solemnity regarding the promises that we make can even sometimes creep into the church. Yet, as Christians the Word of God comman

Dear Church Family, During our continuing introduction to “Church Membership 101,” in the adult Sunday school class this past Sunday, we had a tangential discussion about the different ordained offices in the PCA: teaching elders, ruling elders, and deacons. As a follow-up to that discussion, and since we’ll be having an installation service at the church this coming Sunday evening, September 7 th , at 5:00 pm, I thought it might be helpful to review the broad strokes of th

Dear Church Family, At the conclusion of the worship service this past Sunday, we sang August Toplady’s hymn Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me . During the service, I mentioned that pastors and theologians often deliberately wrote hymns to promote or counter one particular doctrine or another. For instance, in this case, as a contemporary of the Wesley brothers, Toplady wrote this hymn in order to counter their views of sanctification. Contra Entire Sanctification You see, J

Church Family, In Sunday school a week and a half ago, we had a lesson on the "Principles of Interpreting Scripture." One of the principles of interpretation that we mentioned was understanding those literary devices which the authors of Scripture employ. In so doing, we may better understand the main point, theme, or emphasis of a particular passage. In that Sunday school lesson, we only touched on some of the literary devices that we find in Scripture. In the passage of