February 24th, 2010
What’s happening this coming Sunday
12 noon. Reuben McCormick, a candidate for the ministry from Lucan Presbyterian Church, is conducting the service of worship.
A Sunday School is available for primary school children and a creche is available for pre-school children.
6.30 pm. We continue our series on the Apostles’ Creed. We’ve reached the eighth article in which we confess that we believe in the Holy Spirit. What does the Bible teach about the Holy Spirit and how does he help us?
Tea and coffee is served after the evening service.
Everyone is welcome to join us for both services.
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March 7th, 2010
There is much in this chapter which disturbs us. First of all, there is the way Gideon ruthlessly gets his own back on the people of Succoth and Peniel for refusing to help Gideon and his men (vv. 13–17). We see as well that he was acting partly out of personal revenge whenever he pursued and killed Zebah and Zalmunna (v. 19). Gideon’s ephod became a snare which caused the people to turn away from the true worship of God. And, in the end, once Gideon dies, the people turned back to worshipping false gods. The Lord Jesus is a far better leader than Gideon for at least two reasons. First of all, he never did anything wrong and so he never did anything which causes us shame or embarrassment. We never have to make excuses for the Lord Jesus. Secondly, Gideon died and the people went further astray. However, Jesus died to bring us to God.
Tags: Judges
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March 4th, 2010
John the Baptizer and every Christian minister after him are only able to administer the outward sign of baptism. All John can do is make people wet with water. Only the Lord Jesus can baptise us, or wash us, with his Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of our sins. By referring to wheat which is gathered into the barn, John means Christians who are gathered into eternal life. By referring to the chaff which is burned with unquenchable fire, John means to warn us of the eternal punishment which awaits all who reject the Lord Jesus and his salvation.
In the account of the Lord’s baptism by John, the three persons of the Trinity are clearly revealed. There is the Son who is baptised. There is the Holy Spirit who descends in the form of a dove. And there is the Father who speaks from heaven. Since we are united to Christ by faith, believers may take comfort from the knowledge that in Christ, and because of his righteousness, we too are well-pleasing to God and may look to him as our loving Heavenly Father.
Tags: Matthew
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March 3rd, 2010
The Lord Jesus is the Saviour of the world. It is therefore fitting that at the time of his birth representatives from the nations should travel from their homes to greet him. The Lord Jesus is kept safe from Herod even though the reason he became incarnate was in order that he might die for sinners. However, before he could die to pay for our sins, he first had to live a life of perfect obedience so that we might receive, by faith in him, his righteousness. Until such time his life was kept safe.
Tags: Matthew
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March 3rd, 2010
The significance of the genealogy is to teach that the Lord Jesus is the promised seed of Abraham, the one through whom God will bless all the nations of the world (Genesis 12:3). Furthermore, God, who cannot lie, commands that the son to be born to Mary should be called ‘Jesus’ (which means ‘The Lord saves’). Sinners are therefore assured that they can find salvation from their sins in him.
Tags: Matthew
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March 3rd, 2010
The background to this psalm may very well be the same as in psalm 3 when King David had to flee Jerusalem because of his enemies. David, however, continues to count on the Lord’s help, confident that God will hear and answer his prayers. There were many who wondered if any good could come out of this terrible experience (v. 6). David, though, is able to rest in the knowledge that God will take care of them (v. 8). Many of Jesus’s disciples must have wondered if any good could out of the cross. But on the third day, Jesus rose again and the disciples came to understand that by his death Christ was reconciling sinners to God.
Tags: Psalms
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February 24th, 2010
God said that those who kneeled to drink should be sent home. This had nothing to do with who was going to be the better soldier. God simply wanted to reduce the size of Gideon’s army to a small number because God always saves his people in a way which will cause us to praise him. By saving his people with only 300 men, everyone who heard about it would say: ‘Isn’t God great the way he saved his people: the only reason Gideon and his army won was because God was with them.’ God saves us from our sins and from eternal condemnation in a way that causes us to praise him. He saves us by his Son who died on the cross to pay for our sins. When we finally come into the presence of God in eternity, no one will be boasting about themselves and what they have done. We’ll all be boasting about God and what he did to save us by his Son.
Tags: Judges
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February 24th, 2010
God sent Gideon on a mission to destroy the idols and false gods the Israelites were worshipping so that they would return to the one true God. And Gideon risked his life in the process: the people were mad with him and wanted to kill him. But he risked his life out of obedience to God and he rescued the people from idolatry and false worship. Well, the Lord Jesus not only risked his life, but he lost his life out of obedience to God. God the Father sent him into the world to suffer and to die in our place on the cross in order to bring us to the one true God. And out of obedience to his Father, and in order to bring us to God, Jesus died on the cross.
Tags: Judges
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February 24th, 2010
Most of the stories in the Bible are about men. But there are some which are about women and what they did. Can you think of any? There was Ruth who married Boaz and gave birth to David’s grand-father. There was the girl who advised Naaman the leper to visit Elisha. There was Esther who saved her people from being wiped out by Haman. There was Mary, of course. And there’s this story about Deborah and Jael. Once again, God’s people sinned against him and did evil in his sight. In order to humble them, God allowed their enemies to overwhelm them. When they turned back to God, God was merciful and saved them by Jael’s hand. How surprising! That this mighty warrior Jabin should be beaten by a woman! Who would imagine it! And very few people imagined that Jesus was the Son of God and that by his death on the cross God was saving his people from their sins. Who could have guessed that this was the way God would save us. But that’s precisely what he did.
Tags: Judges
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February 24th, 2010
God’s people forgot God. But he never forgot them. Whenever they cried out to him in their misery, he sent them leaders to save them. He sent them Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar. And as we continue to read the book of Judges, we’ll learn about the other leaders God sent. All of the leaders in the book of Judges point forward to the even greater leader who was to come into the world. They all point forward to Jesus Christ. And whenever God’s people cry out to God to save them from their sins, God saves them by his Son Jesus Christ. How does Jesus save us? Well, the leaders in the book of Judges saved God’s people by killing their enemies. But when Jesus came, he didn’t come to kill. He came to be killed — and by his death on the cross he paid for all our sins so that we can have eternal life.
Tags: Judges
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