Psalm 16 Summary: Even many of us as Christians have a sneaking suspicion that eternity might not be quite as pleasurable as the life we have now–perhaps the endless boredom of an eternal church service! In this Psalm, David reveals himself to be as much of a pleasure-seeker as any...

Ezekiel 34:11-24 Bernie Baker prepared the sermon.

1 Peter 4:12-19   Summary: Peter was someone who had shied away from suffering for the sake of Christ (e.g. his denial of Jesus; Paul’s rebuke in Gal. 2:11ff). But now a much older and wiser Peter expounds a view of suffering in keeping with what his Saviour taught him....

Psalm 139 Ian Shugart

Romans 1:8-17 Summary: Of all the attributes Paul could have said are revealed in the gospel (e.g. God’s love, grace, forgiveness, etc.), Paul says it is the attribute of God’s righteousness. For years this text frustrated and even terrified Martin Luther who understood that the righteousness of God could only...

Philippians 1:3-11 Summary: There’s an ancient Chinese military proverb that says armies must know themselves and their enemy if they’re to be successful in battle. The Catechism interprets the 6th petition of the Lord’s prayer according to a similar logic. Our spiritual battles require that we know ourselves and our...

Matthew 18:21-35 Summary: Peter’s question is profoundly relatable: how many times do I have to forgive? We’ve almost all had incidents in life where we might have secretly wanted Jesus to put a limit on what’s required of us. But as his parable so famously illustrates, the reason we must...

Psalm 148   Summary: There is such a thing as a general spirit of gratitude aimed at no one in particular. In fact, it’s a sentiment that’s not uncommon around Thanksgiving Day–calls for us to be grateful but with no mention of the one to whom we should direct our...

Deuteronomy 8:6-20 Summary: Perhaps you’ve felt a bit odd sitting at a table full of food, next to a kitchen stocked with more than enough to get you through the rest of the week, and asking God for daily bread. As the catechism points out, the deepest purpose of this...

Leviticus 16:1-34 Summary: It’s dangerous for a Holy God to take up residence with a sinful people. Leviticus 16 describes the one day of the year when the only man in Israel could approach the Most Holy Place behind the tabernacle curtain; the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur in Hebrew,...