Seventeen82

A common problem in our conservative Presbyterian circles is that some members of the PCA believe they not only invented American presbyterianism, but that they and the OPC are the only actual members of the party. One way their aloofness shows itself is through an unwillingness to recognize that not all of us descend from the 1729 Adopting Act nor gauge our history through Francis Makemie or the Philadelphia Assembly of 1789. When Makemie established the first presbytery in the American colonies in 1709 some of us were still in Scotland, both in and out of the revolution settlement CoS. Ebenezer Erskine was a spry twenty-nine years old and Alexander Moncrieff was fourteen. The years 1782 and 1803 are relevant to our history in ways the other dates are not. We are not overly concerned with what the mainliners were up to in those days. We’ve been blessedly free from that mess for two hundred twenty plus years. The reason why I bring that up is because the folks who think they hung the m...

  Whenever we think about the of youth ministry this is one of the ways that we tend to think about it. We think of youth and the church. In many of our churches the youth and the church seem to be rather separated. The youth have youth group, maybe a Wednesday night Bible study, their retreats and conferences and the adults have everything else. I’ve been in the area of youth ministry since 2012. I realize that pales in comparison to some other ministers in our denomination. But what I have found is that it is hard at times to get the youth to feel like they are part of the church. We’ve spent so much time treating them like they are separated that when they graduate they don’t really know what to do. Jesus tells us in Mark 9:33 through 37 that to be the greatest we are to be servants and to receive the little children in His name. Later in chapter 10:13 through 16, He becomes indignant when the disciples rebuke the little children from coming to Him and tells them that we must re...

  As I sit down to write this article, I’m in the midst of preparing to preach Romans 8:19 – 22 in our congregation’s  midweek prayer meeting. It’s an amazing passage that reminds us of what creation was originally supposed to display about God, and about His image-bearers. But it also reminds us that the fallen creation is subjected not to death-pangs but birth-pangs, as it labors and groans forward to  the resurrection of God’s children for a new heavens and new earth.   The fourth chapter of our Confession is just two little paragraphs  that capture this reality about the creation: it manifests God’s glory (4.1)  with His image-bearers as the  special  manifestation of that glory (4.2).   Manifesting God’s Glory   “ It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ” Just as God decreed because it pleased Him, and elected  because it pleased Him, so also now He created because it pleased Him. He is God. He is under obligation to non...

  My father passed away nearly 30 years ago, but if there is one thing  that  I will always remember about him, it’s that he like d  to slick back his hair.  Actually, he  liked to part his hair on the side and comb it in a normal hair style, but he always used hair cream to do it. I’m not 100% sure which brand of hair cream he used, but I think it was  Brylcreem . If you are old enough to remember the ads for  Brylcreem , you probably remember the product’s slogan: “A little  dab’ll  do  ya .” Sadly, “a little  dab’ll  do  ya ” is the way many people approach  matters of  religion. A little religion, a bare minimum of Christianity, is quite enough for them. They will rarely (if ever) read their Bibles and pray. If they  even  attend worship  services , it may be once a month. It may be only a couple of times a year. I remember a pastor who  once  told his congregation at a  fai...