Christ Reformed Baptist Church

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or The Duties of Christian Fellowship. The current section covers our obligations toward other church members: "Praying for the afflicted."

Will Abram be shackled by his failures in Egypt? Or, does the Lord use the trial in Egypt to form him and prepare him for the tests to come? Here, we see Abram's growing faith on display, and the fruit of righteousness that comes from God's work in him. It's through this testing that God's servant is vindicated as being the true heir of the promises, pointing forward to the greater savior and king to come.

God gave Abram the land as a promise, but now the land is a problem: famine. Here we see that God's promises do not mean that God's people will never experience fear and famine. For often, God uses these things to form and mature our faith. However, this passage also teaches us that God's purposes and promises never depend upon us. For while we may be faithless, He remains faithful. Because the purposes and promises of God rest upon the perfect faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

Our special anniversary service, giving thanks for 10 years as a congregation, where guest preacher John Miller opens up for us: The person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sunday evening service, looking at the Heidelberg Catechism, or the Orthodox Catechism, Lord's Day 7 - #20-22 Q. ARE ALL MEN THEN SAVED BY CHRIST AS THEY PERISHED IN ADAM? A. No, only those who by true faith are grafted into him and receive all his benefits. Q. WHAT IS TRUE FAITH? A. True faith is not only a sure knowledge whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word; but also a hearty trust, which the Holy Spirit works in me by the gospel, that not only to others, but to me also, forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness and salvation are freely given by God, merely of Grace, only for the sake of Christ merits. Q. WHAT MUST A CHRISTIAN BELIEVE? A. Everything that is promised to us in the gospel, as summarized briefly in The Apostles' Creed – the catholic and undoubted confession of faith of all true Christians.

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or The Duties of Christian Fellowship. The current section covers our obligations toward other church members, Section 2, Rules #11-12: "Sharing in the church's lot, no matter what" and "associating with the lowly."

The call of Abraham represents the preaching of the gospel "beforehand," according to Galatians chapter 3. Here we find Abraham sovereignly called by grace, blessed by grace, and then formed/shaped by grace.

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or The Duties of Christian Fellowship. The current section covers our obligations toward other church members, Section 2, Rule 10: "Weariness about those those who seek to divide the church."

As Mark's Gospel concludes with the resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see how God accomplishes His redemptive plan through unlikely witnesses and unexpected outcomes. Here, believers are called to move beyond incomplete faith and fear toward a confident hope in the bodily resurrection. For Christ has defeated death, which secures our new life and glory through our union with Him.

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or The Duties of Christian Fellowship. The current section covers our obligations toward other church members, rules 7-9. Rule 7: bear one another's weaknesses with patience, forgiving one another. Rule 8: supporting one another in spiritual and temporal needs, marked by compassion. And Rule 9: willingly sharing our resources so that the love of Christ is visibly expressed in the church.

Long before Abraham hears the word of God, the Lord is already at work arranging his ancestry, his geography, and even his suffering, to prepare the man of faith for the life of faith, through whom the promised savior would come. In this we learn that life is not a series of random events and circumstances, but is all an outworking of God's plan, where human weakness and even human sin and unbelief cannot thwart His purposes.

In this long genealogy, and in the Tower of Babel, we see the providence of God on display as He governs the rise and fall of the nations, He restrains the pride of sinful man, and He preserves the promised offspring of the woman, preparing the way for Jesus Christ. In other words, as the 1689 Confession says in chapter 5, paragraph 7, "The providence of God in a general way includes all creatures, but in a special way it takes care of His church and arranges all things to its good."

Sunday evening service, looking at the Heidelberg Catechism, or the Orthodox Catechism, Lord's Day 6 - #16-19: Q. Why must he be truly human and truly righteous? A. God's justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for its sin; but a sinner could never pay for others. Q. Why must he also be true God? A. So that, by the power of his divinity, he might bear the weight of God's anger in his humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. Q. And who is this mediator--true God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous? A. Our Lord Jesus Christ, who was given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God. Q. How do you come to know this? A. The holy gospel tells me. God himself began to reveal the gospel already in Paradise; later, he proclaimed it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, and portrayed it by the sacrifices and other ceremonies of the law; finally, he fulfilled it through his own dear Son

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or The Duties of Christian Fellowship. The focus today are the rules concerning our duty as a church to separate from the world, and engage in spiritual conversation.

The Gospel of Mark: The crucifixion and death of our savior Jesus Christ, accomplishing our eternal redemption.

The world has been cleansed by the flood, and God has started over with one man who is "righteous and blameless", Noah. We might think that things would be different, but here in Noah's drunkenness and Ham's sin, we see that "the intention of man's heart is sinful from his youth." No amount of external cleansing on the outside can cure the sin and corruption within. What is needed is a new and greater Noah, from the lineage of Shem, the seed of the woman who will crush the serpent's head.

What does the Noahic covenant have to do with the celebration of 250 years of our nation's history, and the June celebration of so called 'gay pride'? Here with the Noahic Covenant, we see God's covenant of common grace where He formally institutes the state, and calls upon the state to promote procreation, provision, and protection of human life, promising to preserve the earth and the natural order so that the Seed of the woman may come in Jesus Christ.

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or The Duties of Christian Fellowship. The focus today is: Section 2, rules #1 and #1, loving and praying for the brethren - those you've covenanted with in church membership.

In the opening section of Mark 15, we hear how Jesus willingly underwent the legal penalty for sin, substituting Himself as a scapegoat for guilty humanity.

Sunday evening service, looking at the Heidelberg Catechism, or the Orthodox Catechism, Lord's Day #5, questions 12, 13, 14, 15: #13. Q. SINCE THEN, BY THE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT OF GOD, WE DESERVE TEMPORAL AND ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, HOW CAN WE ESCAPE THIS PUNISHMENT AND BE AGAIN RECEIVED INTO FAVOR? A. God demands that His justice be satisfied, therefore we must make full satisfaction, either by ourselves or by another. #13. Q. CAN WE OURSELVES MAKE THIS SATISFACTION? A. By no means, on the contrary, we daily increase our guilt. #14 Q. CAN ANY MERE CREATURE MAKE SATISFACTION FOR US? A. No. First, God will not punish another creature for the sin which man has committed; and further, no mere creature can sustain the burden of God's eternal wrath against sin, and redeem others from it. #15. Q. WHAT KIND OF MEDIATOR AND REDEEMER THEN MUST WE SEEK? A. One who is a true and sinless man, and yet more powerful than all creatures, that is, one who is at the same time true God.

The flood assures us that God's judgment against sin is real, His salvation is true and is our only hope, and that His new creation is His ultimate goal.

What is the story of Noah and the Ark really about? Here we see a World Condemned, a Sanctuary Constructed, a Promise Confirmed, and a People Collected, as the Noah and the Ark pictures the salvation that we have in Christ in the New Covenant, and the church as the body of Christ which is our refuge in the midst of a world under the judgment of God.

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or Duties of Christian Fellowship. The focus today is: Section 1, rules #3 and #4, praying for and esteeming your pastor.

What was the pre-flood world like, particularly to provoke God to such judgment? Who were the 'sons of God' who took 'daughters of man' as their wives? Angels? Evil spirits? Who were the Nephilim? Here, we see the wickedness of the pre-flood world which serves as a paradigm for our own world. Pervasive sin and wickedness provoking God to judgment, yet not a world that is any different than our own day. In this way, Genesis 6 points us to a sole Individual who found favor in the Lord's eyes: the greater Noah, God's only Son Jesus Christ.

A genealogy that tells a story - a story of law and gospel: sin and death, but also hope and deliverance. This is a passage that teaches us how to live and how to die as the people of God living under the shadow of death.

With Cain we get a picture of an apostate, an illustration of what life is like in a fallen world, and a representation of the spiritual war between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent which is fought on the battleground of worship. But in the midst of all the killing, God is faithful to His promises and to the preservation of the Messianic seed.

Sunday evening service, looking at the Heidelberg Catechism, or the Orthodox Catechism, Lord's Day #4, questions 9, 10, 11: 9) BUT DOESN'T GOD DO US AN INJUSTICE BY REQUIRING IN HIS LAW WHAT WE ARE UNABLE TO DO? No, God created humans with the ability to keep the law. They, however, tempted by the devil, in reckless disobedience, robbed themselves and all their descendants of these gifts. 10) WILL GOD PERMIT SUCH DISOBEDIENCE AND REBELLION TO GO UNPUNISHED? Certainly not. He is terribly angry about the sin we are born with as well as the sins we personally commit. As a just judge He punishes them now and in eternity. He has declared: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." 11) BUT ISN'T GOD ALSO MERCIFUL? God is certainly merciful, but He is also just. His justice demands that sin, committed against His supreme majesty, be punished with the supreme penalty-eternal punishment of body and soul.

Sunday School Hour: studying the John Owen book, Rules for Walking in Fellowship, or Duties of Christian Fellowship. The focus today is an introduction to John Owen and an outline and overview of the book.

How does the story of the Fall conclude? How does God carrying out the sentence of judgment against sin end? Not how we might expect. Here in one of the darkest chapters in scripture, even in judgment we find forgiveness, provision, righteousness, and ultimately, LIFE.

Here in Mark we find a stark contrast between Christ's unwavering faithfulness and Peter's threefold denial during Jesus' trial, revealing that the church's security rests not in human strength but in Christ's divine constancy. Ultimately, the message is one of hope: the church endures not by human virtue but by the unbreakable faithfulness of Christ, who forgives, restores, and sustains His people through repentance and the assurance of His eternal intercession.

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. The focus here today is the conclusion of the book: "What tends to the glory and beauty of a true gospel church?"

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. The focus here today is the conclusion of the book: "What tends to the glory and beauty of a true gospel church?"

What does it mean that Eve is "the mother of all living"? What does Adam's naming Eve signify about their faith, hope, and love toward God and one another? Here we find the fundamentals of genuine faith, which is belief in God's word and an ordering of life accordingly.

Here we see Psalm 115 as a blueprint for Christian worship, revealing a divine order that has endured from the early church to the present day.

God's word of judgment upon the man speaks to our very purpose, identity, and existence in life. The curse of sin, rooted in Adam's disobedience, has distorted creation, turning life into that marked by toil, frustration, and decay. Yet, against this dark backdrop of sin, the light of the gospel shines the brightest. For Christ as the second Adam has borne the curse, defeated death, transformed our toil, and accomplished our redemption,.

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. The focus here continues from last week, part 8 and the question: What are the causes of church division and discord, and how can such be prevented?

Sunday evening service, looking at the Heidelberg Catechism/Orthodox Catechism question 6, 7, and 8: 6). DID GOD CREATE PEOPLE SO WICKED AND PERVERSE? No. God created them good and in His own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love Him with all their heart, and live with Him in eternal happiness for His praise and glory. 7). THEN WHERE DOES THE CORRUPT HUMAN NATURE COME FROM? From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners –corrupt from conception on. 8). BUT ARE WE SO CORRUPT THAT WE ARE TOTALLY UNABLE TO DO ANY GOOD AND INCLINED TOWARD ALL EVIL? Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God.

God's word of judgment upon the woman focus on her calling and purpose in creation: having and raising children, and marriage. And His words of judgment promise that life's deepest blessings will be a source of some of our deepest pain. Here we find the root of all pain and sorrow related to motherhood, as well as marital discord. Yet, even in judgment there is mercy, as the Lord continues to bless childbearing and marriage after the fall, and He is even pleased to use such this to accomplish our redemption and restore all things.

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. The focus here continues from last week, part 7 and the question: What are the causes of church division and discord, and how can such be prevented?

In God's words of cursing to the serpent, He essentially lays the essential framework for all of human history: He promises a spiritual war to follow, and a fight to the end that will only be won through suffering.

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. Today's focus: What are the causes of church division and discord, and how can such be prevented?

This Resurrection Sunday, we consider the transformative power of Christ's resurrection, understanding that it is not merely a historical event to be affirmed, but a living reality to be experienced in the present and anticipated in the future.

Guilt causes us to flee from God, fear His presence, cover, deny, accuse, make excuses, and shift the blame. But God in His goodness pursues sinners and calls out to each one of us, "where are you?" This is God's gracious call to the sinner to step out into the light, to confess, to acknowledge, to come clean, rather than fleeing, denying, blame-shifting. For the path to forgiveness and reconciliation always travels through confession.

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. Today's focus: Division in the church, specifically in those who abandon the church, leave the church, run away from the church, resign from membership in a disorderly way.

Sunday evening service, looking at the Heidelberg Catechism/Orthodox Catechism question 3, 4, and 5. 3.) HOW DO YOU COME TO KNOW YOUR MISERY? - The law of God tells me. 4) WHAT DOES THE LAW OF GOD REQUIRE OF US? - Christ teaches us this in summary in Matthew 22 – "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." 5) CAN YOU LIVE UP TO ALL THIS PERFECTLY? - No. I have a natural tendency to hate God and my neighbor.

In the fall, we find a revelation of the utter irrationality of sin, as eating the forbidden fruit was not a mere act of disobedience, but a cascade of transgression, treachery, and tragedy rooted in the heart's rebellion against God. The sinfulness of humanity is exposed here as we see how sin begins in the mind, through the distortion of God's Word, the allure of sensory pleasure, the desire of emotional satisfaction, and in the deceptive promise of self-exaltation. All of this leads to open defiance and the tragic consequence of shame, alienation, and self-justification through fig-leaf efforts like self-righteousness. And yet, this should not leave us in despair, as in this story we are also pointed to Jesus Christ as the Last Adam who perfectly obeyed where the first failed, bearing the curse of sin and offering salvation not through human effort but through faith in His substitutionary life, death, and resurrection.

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. Today's focus: How do we handle heresy and false teaching in the church, which is ultimately sectarianism, division, and schism? How do we handle things when pastors fall into sin?

The fall of Adam and Eve is not merely as a historical event, but is also a framework to understand all sin and temptation.

Sunday School Hour: studying Benjamin Keach's book, The Glory of a True Church. Today's focus: Church discipline in how Christians are to approach confronting sin privately, confronting sin publicly, and excommunication when necessary.

God instituted marriage, and God governs marriage by His holy commandments. However, Genesis 2 is not just about marriage, but is also about God's greater design for human flourishing through communion. This passage has much to teach us about marriage. But it also points us to how, only in Christ, true God and true man, and in the community of the body of Christ, the church, is this communion ultimately found.