Growing and Witnessing

We praise the God of the Bible because He is worthy. He is to be praised: 1. Because He makes Himself known to His Church. 2. Because He fights against the enemies of of the Church. 3. Because He is more glorious than all the kings and kingdoms of the world. 4. Because He is too terrible for anyone to stand before Him in His anger. 5. Because He will make the malice of His enemies to contribute to...

Here is this week's video on chapter 7 of the Westminster Confession of Faith. In it, we discuss the subject of God's Covenant with Man. The fact that God, our creator, chooses to enter into a covenant relationship with us is both humbling and encouraging. We do not deserve the privilege of living in a relationship with HIm. He is far above us. Yet, He loves us so much that He wants to interact wi...

Are you thankful to God for all of the ways that He is working in your life? Can you thank Him in the trials the way you thank Him in the blessings? Psalm 75 tells us that our thanksgiving to God exalts Him, warns nonbelievers, and strengthens our faith.

This week's video in our summer study series on the Westminster Confession of Faith answers the question of why we are the way we are. Simply, we are the way we are because we sin. Bad things happen because we do them. Why is it this way? Our first parents sinned and passed a sin nature down to us and that brought all kinds of trouble to us. Thankfully, our God loves us enough to step into our liv...

In the sixth video of our summer study series on the Westminster Confession of Faith, we answer the following two questions: What is providence and What it means for us to live under His providence? Feel free to share the study with others. 

Our Christian faith asks hard questions about our experiences with God and his grace. At the same time, it places its hope in the Triune God of the Bible and in the fact that he keeps his promises, cares for his beloved, and always defends his cause at the perfect time. This psalm instructs us on how to ask the right questions of God while finding our hope in the certainty of God himself.

In the fifth video of our Westminster Confession of Faith series, we work through the Confession's teaching on Creation. The primary focus of our time is on the "Who" and "Why" of creation and what it means for us as the crowning achievement of God's creation. The links to this session's presentation and the Confession are below. The Presentation's Slides -- https://storage2. snappages.site/XPXG4X...

Out of the pleasure of His will, God planned everything for the purpose of His glory. In this video we will explore this truth by working our way through five statements about God's eternal decree. Below are links to pdf files of the powerpoint presentation used in the video and the Westminster Confession of Faith. Presentation: https://storage2. snappages.site/XPXG4X/assets/files/Decree-of-God-WC...

What went wrong in ancient Judah during Malachi's day? The Judeans had become so consumed with their sin that they didn't even realize that they were lost. They had become so arrogant that they called good evil and evil good. They had completely lost their way. The same could be said about the contemporary Church and society. The answer from Malachi is for us to repent and turn to Christ in faith...

In the second video in our series on the Westminster Confession of Faith, we discuss chapter 1 -- On Scripture. The links are below: Presentation on WCF Chapter 1 -- https://storage2. snappages.site/XPXG4X/assets/files/WCF-Of-Scripture-.pdf Westminster Confession Chapter 1 -- https://storage2. snappages.site/XPXG4X/assets/files/WCF-Chapter-1.pdf Westminster Confession -- https://storage2. snappage...

In the first video of our first series on the Westminster Confession of Faith we answer the question: Why is the Confession in Important? We discuss the background to the Confession and its two big sections -- what do we believe about God? and what duty does God require from us? Join as we begin our study of this most helpful systematization of Christian belief.

What does God deserve and demand from us? Our best. We can give nothing else that is worthy of His matchless glory and love. But we often give him our leftovers. Why? We keep the best for ourselves because we think we're most worthy and because we don't trust Him to continue to provide in His grace.

"How does God love us?" is the question the people of God are asking in Malachi 1:2-5, and God's response is definitive. I loved you enough to choose you to be my beloved people before you ever existed. Like Israel, we get caught asking the same question of God. May we learn to focus on His many blessings in our lives and so develop grateful hearts.

Malachi is the last prophecy of the Old Testament and prepares the way for the Messiah of the New. In this prophecy, God uses Malachi to call to people of Judah to fix their relationship with God. He tells them to wake up from their spiritual slumber, repent of their sins, rededicate themselves to proper worship, and walk with him in faith.

Two of Jesus's disciples got the thrill of their lives when they realized they had been walking with and talking to the resurrected Jesus along the road to Emmaus. They talked about him, he showed up and instructed them and then ate with them in their home. He will do the same for us.

Do you love Jesus? Do you love him enough to follow him where he leads you? Do you know him as the Lord of Glory? Are you willing to follow him? These are the questions that John's Gospel causes us to answer throughout.

The Tomb was empty on that first day of the week when the women went to anoint the body of Christ. They found what they least expected. Where was the body? Who had taken it? No one. He had risen and this definitive act of resurrection has tremendous implications for us. Join us as we peer into the empty tomb and see the evidence of the Lord's resurrection for ourselves.

Pilate deliberately asked Jesus, "What is truth?" because he was at the point of despair. His life's journey had crossed many mountain peaks and achieved significant heights, but he still knew something was lacking. Something was wrong. He didn't understand that the path of self-denial is the only path that leads to eternal exaltation.

Jesus established his kingdom when he came to earth. Its characteristics are peace, courage, order, self-sacrifice, and openness, and they reveal the glory of God.

The story of Mary anointing the feet of Jesus during a dinner party honoring him for raising Lazarus from the dead is one of the most compelling in John's gospel. It grabs our attention with its drama and causes us to look into our own hearts for our response to God and his grace. Are we like Mary? Are we like Judas? Or, Are we like the Jews who wanted to kill Lazarus?

Our God majors in doing the impossible, and that is a good thing because we are all in an impossible situation. We cannot overcome death and sin on our own. It's impossible. God, however, has overcome it in Jesus's life, death, and resurrection. The story of Lazarus's resurrection is a preview of the Lord's that is to come. Join us as we work through the story and note Jesus's impossible delay, hi...

There will always be opposition to Jesus when He is presented to others or when a life is lived devoted to him in front of the world. Jesus showed us this reality when He faced opposition from his family, in the crowds, and among the Jewish leaders. He doesn't leave us alone, however. He invites us to drink from His living water, which is ours through the Spirit.

What does it mean to follow Jesus? It means that we are willing to follow him with our whole hearts and to feed on him in spirit in truth.

John 5:1-18 paints a beautiful picture of what it means to be restored by God's grace and power in Christ. Jesus stepped into an invalid man's life, healed him, and restored him through grace. The religious leaders missed the miracle because they were too worried about their religious practices. Don't be like them. Rather, get up in faith and walk with Jesus.

Love waits patiently.