A Better Hope Than Homer

https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XoEFi2sI1jxPMsTH2vL8Q?si=M7SLbjX7TZWPM-4v4ARpKQ A couple of months ago, for no particular reason, I grabbed my copy of Tolkien's translation of Beowulf off the shelf and began to read. Having only read bit of Beowulf in high school, I only remembered that Beowulf fights a monster named Grendel and a dragon. While I have since learned that, though …

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Question 13: Can Anyone Keep the Law of God Perfectly?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0jB7pqYp0ntRKUUwA3RTcv?si=v4iRmUI8RfyGYK3YJQDkHw With the Ten Commandments as the summary of God's law having been covered in Questions 8-12, the New City Catechism now asks a crucial question: Can anyone keep the law of God perfectly? Of course, perfect obedience was established back in Question 7, and it ought to have been lingering in our minds throughout …

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Consider Jesus

Securing an Eternal Redemption | Hebrews 9:1-14

Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy …

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By What Means May a Minister Best Win Souls | A Sermon by Robert Traill

Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee. 1 Timothy 4:16 THE words are a substantial part of the good counsel and direction [which] the apostle giveth unto Timothy, and in him unto all the ministers of the …

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Question 12: What Does God Require in the Ninth and Tenth Commandments?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ueSU5zUC5yQcvwt3ikjrp?si=EwmqqXVSQpyxUsGxCJm0nQ In the New City Catechism’s brief trek through the Ten Commandments, we come now to the final two. Unlike the prohibitions against murder, adultery, or theft, we might be tempted to these final two commandments deal with less severe sins. The reality, however, is that the Ninth and Tenth Commandments are just as endemic …

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Consider Jesus

A New Covenant | Hebrews 8:6-13

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault …

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Trusting God When the Everyday Is Too Much

Midsummer gnat season is officially here, and earlier this week, I asked Tiff whether or not we are unknowingly descendants of ancient Egypt who are receiving a fresh outpouring of the third of the ten plagues from Exodus. It's a somewhat humorous exaggeration, I know, but every time I run my electric flyswatter through a …

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Question 11: What Does God Require in the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth Commandments?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7p2LIAG77lorCIWAxGwhZO?si=NH1pvnZpSZSK7HpSJxq4RQ Much as the first three commandments set our minds squarely upon how we ought to love God supremely with all our being, the three before us in this question focus upon how we ought to love our neighbor as ourselves. These are also the three shortest commandments among the Ten, being recorded for us …

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Consider Jesus

We Have Such a High Priest | Hebrews 7:26-8:5

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all …

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How the Sabbath Calls Us to Love God and Our Neighbor

https://open.spotify.com/episode/5fRKheenNLypPHRmgEFgp7?si=rzN_2dO8Q6qBgsR6bRvnKw The Ten Commandments are often divided into two tables, one pertaining to the love of God and the other describing how we are to love our neighbor. The most traditional division is between the Fourth and Fifth Commandments. The Fourth Commandment, after all, requires the remembering and keeping of the Sabbath day holy, while the Fifth Commandment demands honor to be given to …

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