In Matthew 16 Jesus tells His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” The Christian walk is not easy —as Paul writes to the Corinthians, we are afflicted in every way, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. The Christian life requires us to continually lay down our lives in…
This Sunday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, which is traditionally a time of prayer, fasting, and repentance leading up to Easter, observed by Christians since the days of the early church. Several elements of the service have been adjusted to fit the character of this season. We will begin each Sunday by singing What Wondrous Love Is This…
In this morning’s sermon text, Paul continues his contrast between the Old and New Covenants. Because of Jesus’s coming, the veil that Moses used to hide the evidence of God’s glory is removed (v. 16), and we can behold the glory face to face (v. 18). But we don’t merely see it, we are transformed to be like it. This…
At the beginning of 2 Corinthians 3, Paul presents a series of contrasts: stone and human hearts (vs. 3), the ministry of death and the ministry of the Spirit (vss. 7-8), the ministry of condemnation and the ministry of righteousness (vs. 9), that which is coming to an end and that which is permanent (vs. 11). If the former of…
In his autobiography Confessions, St. Augustine recounts how his heart was hard and the things of the Lord were despicable to him. Before he understood the beauty of the Gospel, Christ’s work was a stench to him. But when the Lord softened his heart to His voice, Augustine says, “You were radiant and resplendent. You put to flight my blindness.…
Presbyterian minister Henry van Dyke wrote Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee, an ecstatic celebration of Christian unity, in 1907. He intended the poem to be sung to the melody of the final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 in D minor, which was itself a setting of an earlier poem by Friedrich Schiller called “Ode to Joy.” The Ode uses…
He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it. —1 Thessalonians 5:24 This morning, the Scriptures we read and the psalms and hymns we sing point us to the reliability of God’s promises— we can trust that He is faithful to do what He says. The service opens with a Call to Worship from Psalm 111 that declares,…
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed… —1 Corinthians 15:51 In this morning’s sermon text, Paul continues his theme of comfort by recounting some of his trials, trials so burdensome that he “despaired of life itself.” But he urges the Corinthians to set their hope on “God who raises the…
Much like last week, the emphasis in this morning’s service can really be captured in a single word—where last Sunday it was “salvation,” this week it is “comfort.” The two readings from Psalm 46, which refer to God as a “fortress” and “a very present help,” promise that He will make wars to cease and assure us that we have…
This morning’s service focuses on a simple, foundational theme: Jesus Christ comes to save His people, and to save them completely. Each of our Scripture readings is taken from the book of Isaiah, where the Lord promises to save “all the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 45) and to clothe us with the garments of salvation (Isaiah 61). He becomes…