Pre-Election Presbyterian Thoughts

“Every nation ought to recognize the Divine institution of civil government, the sovereignty of God exercised by Jesus Christ, and its duty to rule the civil affairs of men in accordance with the will of God. It should enter into covenant with Christ and serve to advance His Kingdom on earth. The negligence of civil government in any of these particulars is sinful, makes the nation liable to the wrath of God, and threatens the continued existence of the government and nation.”

Testimony, 23.4

A Free Offer Poem By Ralph Erskine

One of the greatest parts of our Associate Presbyterian history is the emphasis on the free offer of the Gospel.

Grace is offered freely to all men and the doors of salvation are proclaimed to all who will hear. Ralph Erskine was one of the greatest Gospel preachers of his time, maybe of all time.

Here is a poem based on Isaiah 55.1-3 which shows the biblical nature of the free offer of the Gospel. God offers grace in Christ sincerely to all who will come:

"Ho, every thirsty soul, and all
That poor and needy are,
Here's water of salvation's well
For you to come and share.

Here's freedom from sin and woe,
And blessings all divine,
Here streams of love and mercy flow,
Like floods of milk and wine.

Approach the fountain head of bliss,
That's open like the sea,
The buyers that are moneyless,
To poorest beggars free.

Why spend you all your wealth and pains,
For that which is not bread,
And for unsatisfying gains,
On which no soul can feed ?

While vain ye seek with earthly toys,
To fill an empty mind,
You lose immortal solid joys,
And feed upon the wind.

Incline your ear, and come to me;
Hear and your soul shall live:
For mercies sure as well as free,
I bind myself to give."

Sabbath a'Brakel: Two Kingdoms

Calmly consider first of all that there are but two kings in this world, each having a kingdom: the kingdoms of Christ and of the devil, which are mortal enemies to each other. A third kingdom does not exist. Every person upon earth or is either a subject of King Jesus or of the devil, the prince of darkness. No matter who you are individually, you are truly a subject of one of these two kingdoms. You are neither neutral nor a subject of both kingdoms simultaneously. Therefore, to which kingdom do you presently belong? What do you have to say for yourself? If you neither know nor have ever given this any thought, come and sit next to me for a moment; let us consider this matter, and then make a heartfelt and eternal choice. Whose subject do you wish to be? Whom do you choose to be your king? (II: 56).

Reformed Presbyterians Sing!

Anyone who has spent time around the RP Church knows that singing of Psalms is something that is loved. I wanted to capture one of the songs from the International Conference to show how the singing is really a 'foretaste of heaven', as so many say. Enjoy 1600 RPs praising God!

Reformed Presbyterian International Conference

This week my family and I are at the RP International along with 1600 other Reformed Presbyterians from around the globe. There are people there from the US, Canada, Australia, Scotland, Ireland, England, Cyprus, Japan, the Sudan, and others.


The singing is phenomenal and should be experienced if you are in the Grand Rapids area. It is actually overwhelmingly beautiful. I hope to get a video of it up tomorrow.

Today Dr. Dennis Prutow preached from Colossians 3.16 on how to meet Christ by 'letting His Words dwell in you richly'. The two main points (or moves as he would say) were by heeding the preaching (teaching and admonishing) and the singing of Psalms. Heeding includes hearing and making it change your life. It was a great sermon!


The children also have classes to attend which focus on the same topic. (There are over 150 preschoolers present!)

There are also 'break away sessions' which are attended later in the morning. I went to one on preaching (by Dr. Prutow as well) and Lydia, my wife, went to one on 'keeping our youth', which was led by Pastor Andy McCracken. Some of the others from our congregation attended sessions on 'dealing with conflict in the church' and 'the mercy ministries of Jesus'. Everyone had good feedback on what has been taught thus far.

What an opportunity to meet with like-minded Christians for fellowship, encouragement, and Christ honoring teaching!

Sabbath a'Brakel: The Temperment of the Truly Converted

God is the moving cause of meekness. Man is naturally inclined to lose his temper, be angry, be rancorous, and to be as prickly as a sticker bush which cannot be touched without being injured by it. However, when God regenerates a man according to the image of the meek Jesus, He grants him a meek heart. The apostle therefore also lists meekness among the fruits of the Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is...gentleness" (Gal. 5:22) [IV: 82].

Is Your LIFE hid with Christ?

Colossians 3:1-3 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

It is worthy of observation, that our life is said to be hid, that we may not murmur or complain if our life, being buried under the shame of the cross, and under various distresses, differs nothing from death, but may patiently wait for the day of revelation. And in order that our waiting may not be painful, let us observe those expressions, in God, and with Christ, which intimate that our life is out of danger, although it does not appear.

1. For, in the first place, God is faithful, and therefore will not deny what has been committed to him, (2 Timothy 1:12,) nor deceive in the guardianship which he has undertaken; and,
2. secondly, the fellowship of Christ brings still greater security. For what is to be more desired by us than this — that our life remains with the very fountain of life. Hence there is no reason why we should be alarmed if, on looking around on every side, we nowhere see life. For we are saved by hope. But those things which are already seen with our eyes are not hoped for. (Romans 8:24.)

Nor does he teach that our life is hid merely in the opinion of the world, but even as to our own view, because this is the true and necessary trial of our hope, that being encompassed, as it were, with death, we may seek life somewhere else than in the world. -Calvin

Sabbath a'Brakel: The Lord's Supper

1) A true believer will perceive within himself that with all his heart--albeit the one time more perceptibly than at other times--he yearns for the Lord Jesus in order to be justified by His blood, to be clothed with His holiness as merited by His fulfillment of the law, and to be renewed and sanctified by His Spirit. He will perceive that he yearns for, longs for, cries after, flees to, waits upon, and surrenders himself to Him. He wrestles against unbelief in order that he may bring Jesus into his heart, and to be assured that he believes in Him and is a partaker of Him and His benefits.

(2) He will perceive that he cannot be satisfied with believing that he has received grace. He desires with all his heart the possession, the enjoyment, and the relish of the benefits of the covenant. He will perceive that he is enamored with being truly united to God, with a life in which there is an impression of the Lord's presence, with peace of conscience, and with the love and fear of the Lord. When he misses this, he is troubled, and if he has lost this, he cannot rest until he receives it by renewal; for this is his life, delight, and felicity.

(3) He will perceive within himself a hatred and distaste for sin, a grief when he sins, a repeated rising again and a fleeing to the blood of Jesus unto reconciliation, and a delight and love to live a life which is pleasing to the Lord. He perceives within himself a warfare between the flesh and the spirit. The lusts of the world continually draw him to the world and away from God, whereas the spirit--that which has been regenerated, his spiritual life within him--continually draws him away from sin unto God. He also perceives, to his grief, that the flesh at times has the upper hand in this battle, whereas at other times, to his joy, the spirit prevails.

The City of Angels

My family and I will be leaving for Los Angeles, California, at 6 AM Wednesday. We have been asked to come and visit the LA Reformed Presbyterian Church's members as a part of the candidating process. We will gone for two weeks. I will be preaching on the Lord's Days as well as having various teaching responsibilities. Pray for God's will to be made clear as to where He would have us to minister.

To God Alone Be Glory

How many seminaries that were around 200 years ago are still faithful to the Scriptures? How many are still Reformational, Bible teaching seminaries? How many believe that the Scriptures are the inspired, inerrant Word of God?

I can only think of one. (Correct me if I am wrong.)

This past week, To God Alone Be Glory was released in honor of 200 years of God's faithfulness to the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. I got my copy at Synod and it is a wonderful book. It is filled with stories of those who have attended the seminary, as well as many pictures and facts from the seminary's past.

Here are the chapter titles and contributors:
1. "Two Centuries of Sola Scriptura," Robert M. Copeland

2. "The Blessing of Balance," Paul E. Faris

3. "From Syria to Pittsburgh," Bassam M. Madany

4. "From the Old Building to the New: An Analogy," Kenneth G. Smith

5. "The Turtle on the Fencepost," Robert H. McFarland

6. "Friendships," Donald W. Piper

7. "A Caring Family," Walter W. Swartz

8. "The Blessing of Intimacy," Brian E. Coombs

9. "Three Hananiahs," Richard B. Holdeman

10. "A Faithful Family," Andrew R. Cooper

11. "An Unanticipated Blessing," Sung Kug (Ulysses) Jung

12. "Continuity in a Period of Transition," Rutledge E. Etheridge, III

13. "The Women Who Stood," Maryln C. Black

14. "Stories from a Seminary Wife," JoAnn Smith

15. "A Faculty Member's Testimony," Wayne R. Spear

16. "The Seminary's Best Kept Secret," Thomas G. Reid, Jr.

17. "Looking to the Future," Jerry F. O'Neill

It really is amazing that the Lord has been faithful to the RPCNA and her institutions for over 200 years. To God alone be glory!

Sabbath a'Brakel: Tale of Two Kingdoms

Civil government does not have the authority to use the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Those keys have not been given to it, but rather to the church. The civil government punishes those who disturb the peaceful coexistence of its subjects, doing so by way of corporal punishment. The church, however, punishes those who act contrary to truth and godliness, doing so with spiritual discipline. They both have different objectives and there is thus a different manner of punishment. He who is disciplined by the church may nevertheless be a good subject of the government (II: 168).

177th RPCNA Synod Blog

Here is the blog for Synod. I know that it is late in the week, but I do not want to give over $20 to Geneva College for wi-fi.

I am on break and it is going well. Many have asked about my exams, so: In the Lord's goodness and providence, I was unanimously sustained for both exams.

Praise be to His Holy name!

When a man possesses spiritual life, however, this life cannot be idle; it will be active by way of meditation. Since this life originates in heaven, it will also gravitate toward heaven. If it were not repressed by natural corruption, would always, without impediment, be exercised with holy meditation. Since it is repressed, however, it wrestles with corruption and breaks through all this in holy meditation. "My heart is inditing a good matter" (Psa. 45:1). To that end it is time and again needful that there be the influence of the Holy Spirit whereby He lifts us up and maintains our life. Such is the manner in which the regenerate man meditates; however, he is moved to that end by the Spirit of God (IV: 28).

Courage In Christian Ministry

The English word ‘courage’ and the derivative ‘courageous’ are used 25 times in the Bible. There are four different Hebrew words and one Greek word that translated as such in the English Bible. Each give insight into what God requires of those who have positions of leadership in the Church. The words are:

• Chazaq: This word means to strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, be firm, or be resolute. This is the most common in our courageous lexicon. It is mostly used to describe Joshua and his boldness in conquering God’s enemies.
• Lebab: This is inner-mind or will. It shows us that courage is something that that is internal and something that is to be ‘willed’. Courage does not come naturally, but is a discipline that the minister must practice in the midst of conflict.
• Ruwach: Interestingly, this word is most often translated as spirit, will, or wind. It is a widely used Hebrew word in the Old Testament. This derivative teaches us that courage is not just a ‘willful’ attitude, but one that is spiritual. True courage will never be without the held and aide of the Ruwach of God.
• Amats: This word is closely related with chazaq. It means be strong, alert, courageous, brave, bold, solid, or hard. It teaches those who lead that there is a discipline which is not only reactive, but proactive. The minister is to be alert for practicing this discipline, not only performing courageously after conflict has arisen.
• Tharasos is the only Greek word that we have translated as courage. It means courageous or confidence. It is important to note, that this confidence is not within ourselves, but confident that God is using conflict to further his glory and conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.

The Reformed Can Jump Too!

In 2005 when Rob Bell wrote Velvet Elvis he talked about how he just wants to 'jump' and how so much of Christianity (read: Grand Rapids Reformed Christians) are not able to 'jump' but instead live in what he called 'Brick-ianity'.

When I read that 3 years ago, I thought to myself, many Reformed Christians I know enjoy a good jump. We enjoy fellowship of the saints and enjoy God and enjoy life in the Spirit. We are not all controlled by the bricks.

Today (3 years too late) I caught the perfect image of the Reformed 'loving the joys of the jump'. My children were playing on a trampoline in the front yard of Dr. Joel Beeke. They were jumping and enjoying life. They were enjoying the jump while people around enjoyed the joys of Christian community. I cannot think of anything that would better symbolize Grand Rapids Reformation Christianity than Dr. Beeke's home (and the seminary next door)! And in his front yard the future men and women of the Reformed faith are enjoying the jump!

Enjoy the jumping brothers!

The Pastor As Shepherd

One of the reasons that congregations fail is lack of biblical leadership. Seminary will often produce good preachers, good teachers, good theologians, but few seminaries focus on the aspect of leadership that the Bible calls 'shepherding'. Biblical leadership, or shepherding includes:

• The shepherd as a congregational participant, and not just the teacher or preacher.
  
• The shepherd as the chief organizer of the people that God has entrusted to him.
  
• The shepherd as a planner of the changes and reformations that he desires in his congregation. Disorganization can be the death of a ministry.
  
• The shepherd as the proistemi, (I Tim. 3.4-5) which can be translated as 'the one who presides over, the ruler, or the manager'. In the business world, this would be the CEO, the one who has the grand vision, the one who directs and manages.
  

Leadership, in a biblically faithful church, will then include, planning, organization, and authoritative instruction.

Jay Adams comments on the failure to be a biblical leader:

Without leadership, the sheep become confused, each turns to his own way and wanders off. That is why Zechariah was able to portray the disorder among the disciples that accompanied the death of Christ so vividly by use of this shepherdly figure when he prophesied: ‘Smite the shepherd and the sheep will scatter (13:7)’. Indeed, the biblical phrase, ‘like sheep without a shepherd’ has become proverbial. Yet like most familiar sayings, we take it for granted and we seldom think of what it means. Consider for a moment, something of its import. Sheep are helpless and are prone to scatter; ie., to break up into separate single units, to become disorganized and to disintegrate as a flock. Unlike ‘birds of a feather’ that ‘flock together’, sheep do not of themselves tend to do so. It is a principal activity of a shepherd. By faithful, personal leadership that involves responsible participation on his part such congregational organization is accomplished. Shepherdly leadership, then, has as one of its chief ends to bring about cohesion and order.

Adapted from Adam's book, Shepherding God's Flock, pp.324-329

The Evangelical Church is 'Rediscovering the Psalms'

As a Psalm singing Christian, it is hard to understand why anyone would want to sing anything other than the Psalms of the Bible(in the context of public worship). It is a beautiful and edifying event that promotes knowledge of Scripture, meditation on the Word, and having the very words of Christ dwell in us richly!

As someone who, in my early Christian life, did not sing Psalms exclusively, or at all, it is understandably a 'hard pill to swallow' that God wants us to sing the Psalms of the Bible as our praise and worship. It is difficult to begin as an individual, and it is difficult to begin as a congregation.

The Evangelical and Reformed Churches are rediscovering Psalmody though. Many are being converted to the practice of Psalm singing. Reformation 21 chronicled it this week, here is the sum of the whole matter:

There was a point in the history of the church when a government official--on another errand--stumbled across a long neglected book hidden in the rubble of a temple. Sure of its importance he brought it to king Josiah. The king in terror and joy read the book realizing that it was the very word of God. His response to this rediscovery was a plan of radical obedience designed to plead God's covenant mercy and praise his long forgotten redemptive works. This is what it looks like to rediscover the Bible and on a smaller scale to rediscover the psalms. It is this radically renewed worship that is spreading throughout the church today. It has deeply encouraged my soul as so many others have joined me in rediscovering the psalms.

Read the article here.

Real Christianity Is Vibrant Christianity

What is the problem with the church today? This is a question that we see time and again. We need to get our ideas for what the Church should look like from the Scriptures. The Scriptures promote a Christianity that is much more vibrant than the once a week Christian. There is fellowship and love and a family atmosphere in New Testament Christianity. It is much more than what much of the Church of Christ offers today. We need to work at being the Church of Christ.

Foreign to many churches today is the vibrant fellowship with God that we observe in Acts: the joy, the confident expectation of prayer answered, the tangible expression of family care… If we do not see in our churches the fellowship of the Spirit, drawing diverse people together into the family of God, eager to share with one another- food, time, funds, encouragement- what has changed? It could be as simple as this: We have lost sight of the Church as God shows in Acts. It is easy to lapse into viewing the church in terms of its externals- organizational routine, structure- and to think of our fellow members only in terms of their aggravating habits and frustrating failures. When little seems to be happening in the church, when nothing seems to change, it becomes easy to expect little or nothing to change.
-Dennis Johnson, The Message of Acts.

Some Prayer Requests

There are a number of prayer requests concerning the Reformed Presbyterian Church that you can pray about:

• We have Synod approaching in two weeks. Please pray that the Lord would be glorified by the decisions of the Church Courts.
  
• The Great Lakes/Gulf Presbytery has a few men who will be examined at Synod. I will have a theological exam as well as a preaching exam.
  
• There are 13 pulpits open or coming open. Please pray that the Lord would raise up the men that He would have to fill these.
  
• The mission to Nantes, France is coming up soon. Ask the Lord to prepare the hearts of those who will be attending (First Church's own, Loretta Lanning, is among the laborers).
  
• Westminster RP in Chicago, IL had a congregational fast on June 7th. Please pray that God would give them clarity and insight into the issue(s) for which they fasted.
  
• Please pray for those men who are looking for a pastoral position. I think of A.K. and B.E. especially.
  
• Ask that the Lord would prosper the church planting activity in the nation. I think especially of the Berkshire RP mission in Massachusetts as well as North Atlanta RP in Alpharetta, Georgia. Both of these communities have great need for the Reformed religion and are ripe for the Lord's harvest.
  

Thanks for your prayers for denomination. If your denomination has special needs at this time, please post them in the comments section and we will pray that God's will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Sabbath a'Brakel: Christian Solitude

We must always strive for a disposition of heart that is inclined toward solitude, so that we can engage in secret prayer while surrounded by the turmoil of the world and as we interact with people. This means that we are to be loose and divorced from all that is of this world, such as the honor, love, riches, lusts, and pleasures of men. Furthermore, it means to be free from all creatures so that they will neither have dominion over us, conquer our hearts, confuse, nor trouble us (IV: 20).