Madison Reformed Church

Gen. 21:22–24 Jos. 9:3–21 Matt. 5:33–37  Heb. 6:16–20  The 3rd commandment also includes the reverent use of vows. A vow or oath is when we use God’s name in order to confirm the truth.  In this message, we focus on the principle of carefulness as our guide to taking vows, first by asking the question, Are vows legitimate? , then by seeing biblical examples of bot legitimate and illegitimate oaths...

In, 1 Chronicles 16, David  puts in place loud choirs, musicians, and psalms. And it leads us to ask, more broadly, What are the Psalms for ? They are for pointing us back up to the ascended King, Jesus Christ. When our hearts fail again to remember that he is the King of kings, the Psalms powerfully remind us v. 31, “The LORD reigns!”

Lev. 24:10–16  Isa. 59:14–21  Matt. 10:32–33  Rom. 10:5–13  The 3rd commandment: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” In this sermon, we focus  on (1) the meaning of the commandment; (2) the reason for the commandment; (3) the application of the commandment.

Selections from 2 Sam. 14–18: The story begins with Absalom—whose name means “father of peace”—waging a war against his own father to take the throne by force. It ends with Absalom pierced and hanging from a tree, and his father David wishing he could have died in his place. In other words, what we see in this OT story is a shadow of the king who was still to come, Jesus Christ. And what we learn...

One of the main events that led to the writing of many Psalms was God's covenant with David.  As we dive into the Psalms to learn how and why we sing and pray them, we begin by looking at the Davidic Covenant, learning that in this covenant, God's people are blessed with divine security through Jesus Christ.

Deut. 4:15–19  Hab. 2:18–20  Matt. 15:1–9  1 John 1:1–4  Negatively, the 2nd commandment says you shall not make carved images. But stated positively, the core of the command is to worship God by his Word. We must be convinced that God himself tells us how to serve and worship him. He does this through his Word, not through our experiences. And the reason why he does it in order to keep us liberat...

The call disciples is glorious, but difficult. Yet Jesus’ resurrection is the key that calling. Because he has been raised, we can be sure that the difficult path we follow him on ends in glory, and therefore, we don’t have to give into fear. Today, as we close our series in the Gospel of Mark, we learn that Christian disciples (1) see the risen Christ; (2) seek his kingdom; and (3) speak his gosp...

Exod. 32:1–14 Jer. 17:5–8 Matt. 10:26–39 1 Thess. 1:2–10  The first commandment in our guide to Christian obedience is: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery: you shall have no other gods before me.” Obeying this command requires that  (1) Know the Only True God; (2) Identify the Idols in our Lives; (3) Get Rid of Them 

We have come today in the Gospel of Mark to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, a story that is about access to God. It teaches us that because Christ was rejected on his cross, we have been given access to God as we take up our own crosses. We’ve seen the story of the exodus in the background of so much of the Gospel of Mark, and so too today, we’ll explore this theme of rejection and access through...

Lev. 19:9­–18 Ps. 51 John 15:1–5 Col. 3:5–14 In Q&A 90 of the catechism we read that repentance includes “wholehearted joy in God through Christ and a love and a delight to live according to the will of God by doing every kind of good work.” In this sermon, we discover these three things about good works: (1) Where they come from; (2) How they come from us; (3) Where they are aimed.

Westside Reformed Church's pastoral intern, Matt Walkenhorst, opens Luke's Gospel to the story of Jairus' daughter and the woman with the issue of blood to show us how Christ is merciful to all who submit to him—whether they're insiders or outsiders.

Lev. 20:26  Ps. 50:22-23  Matt. 7:17-18  Rom. 6:13 Matt Walkenhorst—pastoral intern from Westside Reformed Church—walks us through the role of good works in the Christian life, that they are the only proper response to the redemption of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Deut. 17:1–7  Jer. 7:1–15  Matt. 16:13–20  1 Cor. 5:1–13 In Matthew 16, Jesus speaks to Peter as one of the representative leaders of that Church, and gives to him “the keys of the kingdom of heaven.” What do these keys do? They open the kingdom of heaven to believers. They closed the kingdom of heaven to unbelievers.  They are Christ’s keys, entrusted the Church, for the building up and protectio...

Our Lord Jesus Christ was handed over to a string of different authorities and eventually put to death. If it were any other story, it would be a bare tragedy. But in the Christian story, it is actually the story of triumph. When the Lord Jesus was being delivered up to death, he was at the same time delivering us from it. This passage shows us some of the particular things that he has rescued us...

In this passage, Jesus Christ is put on trial and subject to all kinds of false witnesses—both from his enemies and even from Peter, who denies him. In the end, Jesus is condemned and begins to have everything taken away from him, teaching us that through this loss, he has given us all we need to come near to him as true disciples, no matter the cost.

Deut. 12:8–14  1 Kgs. 12:25–33  Mk. 7:1–13  1 Cor. 11:27–34  Today’s catechism sermon seeks to clarify two things: (1) What kind of meal the Lord’s Supper is, which we discuss by comparing it to the Roman Catholic Mass. (2) What kind of person should come to this meal, which we discuss by seeing what kinds of things are required for us to come in a worthy manner. The Lord’s Supper is a meal that o...

This Lord's Day we welcomed Gavin Poe, pastoral intern at Indy Reformed, to lead our service. He opened God's word to Psalm 16 to bring a message on God's goodness in all circumstances, and our response with gladness.

In this evening sermon from Gavin Poe, pastoral intern at Indy Reformed, we learned that God has made us, his New Covenant people, a "royal priesthood" through Jesus Christ.

Exod. 12:5–12  2 Sam. 9:1–13  Matt. 26:26–29  1 Cor. 10:1–5  If the Lord's Supper doesn't automatically give you Christ, then why does the Bible sometimes sound like it does? In this sermon we learn that Scripture teaches us how to talk about sacraments in order to show us what we receive when we celebrate them rightly.

Jesus warns of the tribulations of this age and says "Watch" and "stay awake." Now here in Gethsemane, the tribulation of Jesus' death is upon them, and again he says, "Watch and stay awake." In Mark 14:26–52, we learn the command to all disciples to be spiritually awake during times of trouble, especially through prayer. But as we’ll see, this is only possible t...

The first Passover was the night of the exodus of God’s people out of Egypt. Not long after this event, God made the covenant with Moses and Israel. The New Testament calls this “the old covenant.” Christ’s death brings the shadows of this Old Covenant to full clarity, and through this clarity, we should begin to taste of our future inheritance with confidence.

Exod. 24:1–11  Isa. 25:6–12  John 6:49–59  1 Cor. 10:14–22  The Lord's Supper is a sacred meal that strengthens our fellowship with God and with one another. It is called different names: Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Lord’s Table, even the Eucharist, which comes from the word to “give thanks” in the New Testament. In this sermon, we learn how to participate in this sacrament and two...

Deut. 30:1–10 Isa. 44:1–8 Mark 10:13–16 Gal. 3:1–9 In this sermon, see how the children of believers are included in God's gracious covenant both in the time of Abraham and today in the new covenant. And since they belong to the covenant, then the covenant sign of baptism should be given to them as well.

Here in this story, we find a disciple who has clearly begun to recognize who Jesus is and what he is doing, and in response, she approaches him with deep reverence. Her disposition and actions teach us that s ince Christ gave his whole self to us in his death and burial, he compels us to give our whole selves to him. Or as 1 John 4:19 tells us, “We love because he first loved us.

Hope leads to disappointment only if the thing you’ve put your hope in isn’t certain. But Christians put our hope in the return of Jesus Christ, a certainty. Even though there are some things we don’t understand about the return of Christ, our hope is certain that when he returns, it will be to get rid of wickedness, to redeem his people, and to make a new creation. This certainty clarifies what o...