Author Archives: reveds

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About reveds

Occupation: Pastor, Ebenezer Presbyterian Church, Lennox, SD Education: BS - Christian Education, Sterling College; MDiv. - Princeton Theological Seminary Family: Married, with Four children. Hobbies: Running (will someday run a marathon), Sci-Fi (especially Doctor Who and Sherlock), Theater, and anything else my kids will let me do.

The Purpose of Worship (its not what you think)

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There has been some great conversations going on in Reformed/Protestant circles about the nature and purpose of Christian Worship.  This isn’t about the style of music or length of sermons (that’s an entirely different conversation). Rather, its about why we worship in the first place.

Along these lines, I share with you this video of David Platt speaking at the Sing! 2018 conference, an event hosted by songwriters Keith and Kristyn Getty to help people grow in their understanding of Gospel-centered worship.  Platt is an author and pastor of McLean Bible Church in Washington D.C.

I encourage you to watch the video, and I’ve written up some bullet point notes below.

  • The Psalms is a hymnbook that God wrote for Himself (the illustration is great!)
  • God blesses His people for the sake of His own praise and glory.
    • Isaiah 43 – He blesses for His glory.
    • Ezekiel 36 – Its not for your sake, but for my great name.
    • Matthew 28 (and others) – You are saved so that you may be a witness to all nations.
    • Galatians 1 – God revealed His Son to me so that I may proclaim Him.
  • The Danger we need to be aware of:
    • We who are blessed are prone to disconnect God’s blessing in our lives from God’s purpose for our lives.
    • The Church is prone to disconnect God’s blessing in the church from God’s purpose for the church.
    • A self-centered Christianity, with grace centered on us, misses the purpose of God.
  • How do we disconnect the blessing from the purpose?
    • We say the message of Christianity is God loves me so much he sent His Son
      • This is not the complete message!
      • If the story ends here, the point of Christianity is all about me.
  • The message of Christianity: “God loves me so that His glory may be made known to all the nations.” God is the object of Christianity.

May our worship of God, both corporate and private, delight in His blessings, and make His glory known to all the nations.

SDG

Finding Rest

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Do you ever wake up tired?  Do you feel rested, refreshed, renewed? Or do you always feel the crushing burden of the tyranny of the urgent? Are the “to-do’s” terrors that keep you up at night?

We are a busy people. Between work, school, sports, church, and family activities, there doesn’t even seem to be time to breathe.

The idea of Sabbath rest is nearly lost on us today. I’ve seen how more and more activities are crowding into our day of rest, pulling us away from the quiet and peace of God’s Sabbath rest in Jesus Christ, back into the frenzied fury of the world’s demands. There’s always more to do, more to be, more to accomplish, never any time to simply rest and delight in God.

I recently came across this old (3 years) video of Kevin DeYoung preaching on the Sabbath. This is just an excerpt from his sermon, but he raises some great evaluative questions we should consider for our own lives. I encourage you to watch the video, it’s only 3 minutes long.  I’ve written out the questions below.

  1. Am I using Saturday to prepare for Sunday?
  2. Am I using Sunday to get ahead or get a break?
  3. Is there anything about Monday that feels like you rested on Sunday?
  4. Can others see that this Lord’s Day is a day with unique priorities and special blessings for you and your family?
  5. Do you trust God enough to rest? (This one hit be right between the eyes)

Know the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus Christ – and find your rest in Him!

SDG