Preparing for the Lord's Day Last week we celebrated the ascension of Christ which occurred forty days following the resurrection. Ten days later, or fifty days following the resurrection, the ascended Christ sent upon his people the promised Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The Lord Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit upon the Church so that they might ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Forty days following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches us that He ascended up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God the Father (Luke 22:59; 24:51). The ascension of Christ means that His incarnation continues. Jesus Christ is currently in heaven ruling and interceding on behalf of His Church. This past Thursday wa...

Preparing for the Lord's Day This past week Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam, began unveiling his plan for reopening Virginia from the lockdown. We were overjoyed to see that worshipping communities have been given the green light to hold live worship services once the Commonwealth enters phase one of the reopening plan. Now, as you would expect, there are many precaution...

Preparing for the Lord's Day The love that a mother has for her children is a great picture of the love that the Lord has for his people. Often in Scripture the Lord uses pictures of motherhood to describe his love and protection. In Hosea, God describes himself as a mother bear who will enact vengeance on those who stole her cubs (Hosea 13:8). In the Gospel of Matthew, J...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Psalm 148 is the third hymn in the final five Psalms that make up the final doxology of the Psalter. Each of these five final Psalms call for worship of the Lord. Psalm 150 concludes, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!" Psalm 148 calls upon not only those things that have breath, but upon all things in all of the created order to...

Preparing for the Lord's Day As we have been isolated in our homes over the last several weeks it has given us an opportunity to reflect upon the nature of the gathered Church. So often we take for granted the blessing of joining with one another for Sunday worship. We have a hard time articulating what is unique or special about the gathered body compared to small groups...

Preparing for the Lord's Day How are you to rest when you are on the run? Our Psalm for this Sunday, Psalm 3, tells us that it was written by King David while he was on the run from the rebellion of his son Absalom. Yet in this Psalm where David is on the run, we also read in verse 5, "I lay down and slept" If you read the history of this rebellion you will see that Absal...

Preparing for the Lord's Day Impossible means that it can't happen, by definition. An impossible mission is one that is not even worth spending your time on. You can't make a triangle a square. It is impossible. You can't make black white. You can't go back in time. You can't make "a" equal "b" and "a" not equal "b" at the same time. These are things that are impossible. ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day In Philippians 4 the imprisoned Apostle Paul says, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice." It seems a strange command for him to give when his own situation is so dire. However, that is what makes the command so powerful. For we can rejoice even in the midst of our suffering as Christians. We have in the Lord Jesus Christ the ...

Preparing for the Lord's Day How do you move from lament to praise? To lament is to give voice to your hardships and struggles. It is to call out in distress and frustration to the Lord. When we enter into periods of suffering it is only natural for us to lament all that we are enduring. Nevertheless, as God's people we are called to move from lament to praise, from distr...