“I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” —Galatians 6:17 If you are at all a people watcher, you will see different people wearing different marks on their bodies. Those marks tell you something about that person. For example, some people wear the mark of nearsightedness; some have on their fingers the mark of […]
It’s six o’clock Wednesday evening. Your church’s mid-week Bible study starts in one hour, but you don’t feel like going. The trouble is that you can’t think of a fresh excuse, and you don’t dare to say what you (and several others) would like to say: “Is this really what a Bible study is supposed […]
“[David] appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel: Asaph was the chief.” —1 Chronicles 16:4–5a One of the greatest gifts God has entrusted to man is the gift of music. Not every person may have […]
The English Puritan Thomas Goodwin wrote, “In God’s sight there are two men—Adam and Jesus Christ—and these two men have all the other men hanging at their girdle strings.” Paul concludes the last half of Romans 5 by contrasting Adam and Jesus. As he does so, he conveys these important truths to his […]
After spending three chapters teaching his readers the depth of our sin and another three chapters on how we are reconciled to God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Paul pens three chapters on the significance that our union with Christ has on our daily lives. In Adam we were dead in sin; in Christ […]
Paul greets the Ephesians with a benediction of grace and peace (Eph. 1:1–2). An outburst of praise then follows (Eph. 1:3–14). What does the apostle want us to know? God has blessed us beyond conception! We have grace beyond measure. We who trust in Christ have been “seated in the heavenly places” (Eph. 2:6). We […]
Introduction Among the various summer activities the Lord decreed for the year of 2012, the United Reformed Churches of North America (URCNA) found themselves gathering together in Nyack, New York for their eighth synod. It was the author’s privileged responsibility to attend these meetings as a delegate. While a reproduction of the forthcoming Acts of […]
After giving a thumbnail sketch/report of what happened at Synod this year to our council I was asked if I would be willing to put some of those thoughts down on paper. I will not attempt to summarize every decision made but try to touch on highlights and what I feel to be some potential […]
Synod 2012 of the United Reformed Churches in North America met on the bank of the Hudson River, on the campus of Nyack College in Nyack, New York, on June 11–16. Represented were 191 delegates from 102 churches, along with sixteen fraternal delegates and observers. One church sent delegates who were not presently sitting elders, […]
In 1999, Synod Hudsonville (MI) tasked the Psalter Hymnal Committee to begin the work of producing a new psalter hymnal for the URCNA and to provide a list of songs to be included to a future synod. Synod Hudsonville also instructed the committee to “consult with those churches with whom we have entered into corresponding […]