"He Shall Be Great Before the Lord" -- Luke 1:1-25

Here's the audio from Sunday's sermon, a sermon for the first Sunday in Advent.

Click here

This Week's White Horse Inn

Christianity Confronts Islam

What is the meaning of Jihad? Is Islam really a religion of peace? What does the Koran say about terrorism? On this edition of the White Horse Inn, Michael Horton discusses these questions and more with Muslim scholar and former professor of Shari'ah law, Sam Solomon, who after his conversion to the Christian faith was forced to leave his country of origin.

http://www.whitehorseinn.org/

Who Said That?

"All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins.  This I grant them through the power of God with which I am invested."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  Answer to follow in one week.

Update on Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 03:42PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is from Pope Urban II's speech at the Council of Clermont, 1095, calling for the first crusade.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A blessed and happy thanksgiving to all!

Here's the thanksgiving prayer from the future URCNA hymnal . . .

Our Sovereign God, who created all things for your pleasure and who gives to all life, breath, and every good thing, we praise you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. For rain and sunshine, in abundance and in lack, we acknowledge that our times are in your hands. You supply all of your creatures with your good gifts: the just and the unjust alike. Nevertheless, we especially give you praise for the surpassing greatness of your saving grace that you have shown to us in Christ Jesus our Savior. For our election in him before the foundation of the world; for our redemption by him in his life, death, and resurrection; for our effectual calling, justification, sanctification, and all of the blessings of our union with him, we give you our heartfelt thanks. And we look with great anticipation toward that day when you will raise us to life everlasting, glorified and confirmed in righteousness, so that we may sing your praises without the defilement of our present weaknesses, distractions, and sins. As you have served us with these gifts, we ask that you would give us grateful hearts so that through us you may serve our neighbors.  In the name of Jesus Christ our Savior, Amen

"The Darkness Is Passing Away" -- 1 John 2:3-11

The Third in a Series of Sermons on the Epistles of John

The contrast between Christianity and false religion is as apparent as the contrast between light and darkness.  John the Apostle, must deal with certain men who have departed from the faith, and who were now denying that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh.  To expose their errors, John uses a simple contrast.  God is light.  Darkness cannot exist in his presence, because light casts out darkness.  Since Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh, Jesus is that light which has come into the world.  That light which gives life, enables God’s people to walk in the light, even as Jesus is the manifestation of the light.  And since light casts out darkness, so too Christ’s coming in the flesh means that wherever the word of life is proclaimed, darkness passes away.

As we continue our series on the Epistles of John, we are now making our way through the second chapter of John’s first epistle.  In this section of John’s letter (vv. 1:5-2:29), John describes four ways in which Christians demonstrate that they are walking in the light.  The first of these four conditions is the necessity of repenting of our sin.  We discussed this last time as we made our way through 1 John 1:5-2:2.  The second condition mentioned by John–that Christians must be obedient to God’s commandments–is found in verses 2:3-11.  This is our topic in this sermon.  The third condition is spelled out in verses 12-17.  John says that Christians must reject all appearance of worldliness, which refers to both the lusts of the flesh and the desires of the eyes.  The fourth condition–that we must hold fast to the truth in the presence of antichrists–is spelled out in the balance of the chapter (vv. 18-29).  According to John, these things are characteristic of all those who live in the light of the word manifest in the flesh.

Since I spent a fair bit of time on background material for the epistles of John in the previous two sermons–in which I explain why I am approaching these epistles in the way that I am–I would ask you to listen to them, if you haven’t yet heard them.  Throughout these epistles, John (the apostle) is dealing an early form of Gnosticism, in which it is argued that a dualism exists between spirit (good) and matter (which is evil).  In this dualistic scheme of things, the Christian doctrine of the incarnation of Jesus Christ is an impossibility because God (pure spirit) could not in any sense be manifest in human flesh (because flesh is material, and therefore evil).  This is why John opens this epistle with the emphatic declaration that Jesus is God manifest in the flesh.  John has seen Jesus, heard Jesus, and even touched Jesus.  The good news (of the gospel) is that Jesus has come as a flesh and blood Savior.

To read the rest of this sermon, Click here

Ursinus' Large and Small Catechisms Together with the Heidelberg Catechism

Several years ago, one of the members of Christ Reformed Church (Greg Myers) learned that Dr. Fred Klooster (who died in 2003) and John Medendorp had prepared translations of Ursinus' Large (1560-61) and Small (1561-62) catechisms.  Greg contacted Dr. Klooster, and got permission to put the large and small catechisms in parallel columns along with the Heidelberg Catechism.

At the time, we made this document available as a PDF file on the old Christ Reformed web site.  When we moved to the new Christ Reformed Info blog, we didn't move this file. 

Recently, Wes Bredenhof made mention of it on his blog (http://www.bredenhof.ca/).  So, I am posting it here for your use and enjoyment!

Ursinus' Large and Small Catechisms

This Week's White Horse Inn

The Preached Word

According to William Willimon, Christianity is kind of like a foreign language that one is not born with, but must be baptized into. Unfortunately, many preachers today are attempting to "translate" the faith into familiar and comfortable terms that people are used to, but the result, he argues, is that things get "lost in translation." William Willimon, author of Peculiar Speech: Preaching to the Baptized, joins the panel on this edition of the White Horse Inn.

 http://www.whitehorseinn.org/

Who Said That?

"Christians don't steal or lie, they don't get divorced or have abortions.  If the Ten Commandments were followed by everyone we would be able to fire half the police force and in six months the prisons would be all half empty."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.  Please, no google searches or cheating.  Answer to follow next week. 

Update on Saturday, November 21, 2009 at 05:59PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This is a quote from a 2007 interview with John Hagee.  Hagee's pelagianism is readily apparent when he mistakenly assumes that since God commands something, after the fall we still have the ability to obey it.  We also see Hagee's perfectionism in his notion that Christians no longer sin.  Christian's should not do these things, but they do.

"Paul, the False Prophet and the Proconsul" -- Acts 13:1-13

Here's the text of this morning's sermon: Click here

Audio from Friday's Academy Lecture

Here's the audio from Friday night's Academy lecture (11/20/09).  Ken's lecture is entitled,  "Learning How to Learn / Intelligent Reading - Three Types of Arguments: Deductive, Inductive, and Abductive"

Here's the link: Click here