On Sunday evening, February 4, millions of people will gather around their TVs to watch the Super Bowl. Sadly, many Christians will also sit down and watch “the game that everyone has to watch.” Some might even scornfully ask you why you will not join them. What is our response to this massive event that […]
We are all familiar with the first commandment in the table of the law…maybe even too familiar. Those of us who were raised in the Protestant Reformed Churches have heard the law read hundreds of times, Sunday after Sunday. In response to this commandment, we quickly say, “I only worship one God, the true God […]
Remember the story of the golden calf and the people of Israel? Exodus 32 tells us how the people of Israel became impatient waiting for Moses to come back down Mount Sinai. They wanted a god they could see, so Aaron had them melt their gold and make a calf. They worshipped this calf by […]
[A Hidden Idol in Plain View] Is there a thistle in the corner of the garden of your heart? Perhaps a patch of growing and expanding thistles? I refer to the metaphor of the parable of the sower, and through it I challenge you to consider the theme of idolatry as it applies to a […]
According to 1 John 1:4, the very goal of the gospel of the covenant of grace is that we may experience the fullness of joy. It is certainly our prayer as pastors that you yourselves live in the consciousness of the joy of your relationship with our covenant God in Jesus Christ. In the light […]
The first commandment states in Exodus 20:3, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The Heidelberg Catechism says in question and answer 95 that “Idolatry is having or inventing something in which one trusts in place of or alongside of the only true God, who has revealed himself in the Word.” The topic of […]
The twenty-eighth century of His-story opens upon a band of 600 Philistines entering the heritage of Shamgar, a man of God in Israel. They had poured their energy and resources into developing superior iron tools and weapons and felt ready to press into the land of these despised people who put their trust in God. […]
Dear Rev. Laning Here is my question, hopefully you can answer it. In examination of the movie the “Passion of Christ” and the Protestant Reformed stand against it, how, in light of the second commandment, do you view the crosses that we have in several of our churches? Are they a symbol that have a […]
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a […]
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Young people, we were reminded that in our spiritual journey, we […]