I think most people have the following expectations regarding their lives. They are usually unstated, that would be arrogant and foolish, but they are definitely there. They believe that, They and their loved ones will be healthy and happy throughout their lives. Everyone they know will live to a ripe old age then pass peacefully. No calamities will happen to them. They may struggle at times but nothing too big will have to be overcome; at least nothing they can’t handle. Gra

On Tuesday night we had our Men’s BBQ which sort-of officially ends our Men’s Nights for the church year. I have mixed feelings about this night. I am encouraged to see how many men come out to these nights to discuss the book we read together. The church is in good hands because of the quality of men we have within it. However, I’m saddened that it has to end. Four months without these meetings seems to become a longer break each year. I love the camaraderie, the discussions

One of my favorite theologians is the Dutchman Herman Bavinck. (1854-1921) He is the author of probably my favorite single volume Systematic theology text, Our Reasonable Faith (recently rebranded as The Wonderful Works of God by Westminster Seminary Press) as well as one of the outstanding multi-volume works of Reformed theology entitled Reformed Dogmatics. In the former book he takes aim at the fundamental issue of our human condition -- we are made for so much, but settle

Source Unkown I think everyone, especially men, who have seen the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King gets excited (and maybe a bit emotional) toward the end of the film when Aragorn stands before the Black Gate of Mordor with a tired but determined army desperate to distract Sauron from what he hopes to be a marauding Frodo and Sam who are heading to Mt Doom to destroy the ring of power and bring peace to all of Middle Earth. As he stands before the gate knowing that he mu

*** As we do every year, we will be breaking from the blog for a month after our April 3 post. Look for more content in May. Three quotes today (all for the same price) based on Romans 12:3-4, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” In my sermon on this passage (which you can listen to here) I said this,

NOTE: I have invited the contributions of Stu Reimer to write in this space on the issues of marriage and family. If you follow CRC at all you will know Stu to be my frequent substitute in the pulpit and I am looking forward to his work as my substitute from time to time in this space. Expect his blogs to appear every 6 weeks or so. Stu is no expert on the things on which I have asked him to write (Just ask his wife and children), but he is a committed reformed Christian and

We return today to C S Lewis, this time from his essay, "God in the Dock." Human beings often struggle with their place in the world. Even Christians, who know that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all that is struggle to submit to him as their Lord. All of us have had moments in which we pull God down to our level, actually below it, then evaluate his actions in order to determine whether or not he is truly acting like God should. The stakes are high. If he is judged wort

This book is a concise story of how the Nicene Creed, and its doctrinal affirmations, came to be. The Gospel Coalition bookstore describes the work perfectly, “ The Story of the Trinity relates the settings, characters, and conflicts that led to the Council of Nicaea and the creation of the Nicene Creed, a simple yet beautiful statement of faith that expresses core Christian beliefs that continue to be affirmed worldwide.” If a history book can be an exciting page turner thi

We continue in the vein of quotations from various sources. Today our topic is preaching. Preaching is God’s means of grace given to the church to proclaim his gospel and declare his glory. I should not have to convince you of the priority and primacy of preaching for the church. At CRC we already know this. But allow me to quote two verses in defense of my original statement. It is Paul writing to the young pastor Timothy regarding the priorities of his ministry. Paul writes

NOTE: I have invited the contributions of Stu Reimer to write in this space on the issues of marriage and family. If you follow CRC at all you will know Stu to be my frequent substitute in the pulpit and I am looking forward to his work as my substitute from time to time in this space. Expect his blogs to appear every 6 weeks or so. Stu is no expert on the things on which I have asked him to write (Just ask his wife and children), but he is a committed reformed Christian and

We are continuing on our recent theme of offering quotes from valuable Christian works and writers. This one is a bit different, and by that I mean a bit longer and with a bit more commentary. The quote we start with is from Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. “All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two thing

Let’s start with a familiar verse from Paul’s prayer to the Philippians (1:6), "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." It may not always feel that this is what’s happening in our lives… that we are progressing and moving forward in our relationship with Christ and growth in his grace. But it is. Because he has promised it. The following quote from How People Change by Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp he

Today I want to remind us of the importance of friendships -- more specifically Christian friendships -- which we all need. These relationships, founded on the proper things, will be a major contributor to our spiritual life -- both rooting out sin and living a life in greater union with Christ. I quote today from Matthew Bingham’s book, A Heart Aflame For God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation : “… especially in the case of the local church, one of its great glorie

Over the next number of blogs I want to offer quotations from various books which I hope will challenge and encourage you. The topics are of quite a wide range, so I hope the shotgun approach works. Today we read from Calvin’s wonderful little work, The Necessity of Reforming the Church. In it, Calvin defends the need for the Reformation to Charles V, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. He has many reasons for his defense and one of them is the need to reform worship; to br

New Year's resolutions are dumb. Spiritual resolutions are not. Let me offer an example from history; the well known Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. Jonathan Edwards was an 18th century pastor and theologian -- arguably the best America has ever produced. When he was a young man, 19 years old, he began to write “Resolutions,” begun in 1722. These he expanded throughout his lifetime as a means of intentional spiritual formation. They were carefully thought out and designed to

NOTE: I have invited the contributions of Stu Reimer to write in this space on the issues of marriage and family. If you follow CRC at all you will know Stu to be my frequent substitute in the pulpit and I am looking forward to his work as my substitute from time to time in this space. Expect his blogs to appear every 6 weeks or so. Stu is no expert on the things on which I have asked him to write (Just ask his wife and children), but he is a committed reformed Christian and

We are back to start another run of blogs... lasting until April when I will take another month long break. We start with a review of an excellent book on the Trinity. Fred Sanders, in an excellent book on the Trinity in its own rite, states that the doctrine of the Trinity is the comprehensive truth of the Christian message. It is the all-encompassing truth that lies in the background of the gospel and every theological belief to which the Christian faith holds. Yet the vast

This is part two of our very brief look at prayer. It will also be the last blog of 2025. I will return to this space in January of 2026. [Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss a blog.] In my previous blog I outlined a brief theology of prayer and what we can expect when we pray. In this blog I want to draw a few conclusions based on what we learned. There are a lot of conclusions we could draw but I will only make a few here. The first conclusion I need to draw is base

Brett McCracken may be a new name to some of you but he has been writing books and articles for the Gospel Coalition, where he is the senior editor and director of communications, for some time. This book is, in fact, almost 10 years old. But that does not make it irrelevant. In fact, what he speaks about has been and will continue to be an issue within the church until Christ comes again -- the local church is a necessary, though not perfect, and often uncomfortable place to

The men have just finished discussing the Reformation Triangle for spiritual formation in our Men’s Theology book, A Heart Aflame for God: A Reformed Approach to Spiritual Formation by Matthew Bingham. I’ll spare you the details (ask a man in the church for them if you like) but the triangle includes Scripture, meditation, and prayer. The topic of prayer has been on my mind for some time and our discussion of Tuesday night got me thinking that I should write about it. [I wil