Sabbaths & Feasts | Exodus 23:10-19

Chapters 20-23 of Exodus form a section called in 24:7 the Book of the Covenant. In 21:1-22:15, Yahweh gave Israel laws relating to how they were to treat their slaves and how they were to make restitution for physical harm done to others or the damage of someone else's property. 22:16-23:9 then provided a number …

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Theology in the Heart When the Mind Fails

The following is a guest post written by my wife as she reflects upon her grandmother's battle with Alzheimer's. Scripture memorization is a highly important discipline that often gets overlooked. Especially since nowadays with access to information at our fingertips every second of every day, we have unconsciously outsourced some parts of our memory to …

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You Shall Be Consecrated to Me | Exodus 22:16-23:9

Last week, we covered a large number of laws from within the Book of the Covenant, yet they all boiled down to the three big categories: regulations concerning slaves, statutes limiting retaliation in events of personal injury, and laws of restitution for the damage of property. As we noted, the principle at the center of …

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Adultery, Divorce, & Same-Sex Marriage

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2JPkDOzgTHsVWIfi0xgHmc?si=xU-pHpQ2RXey3dIF7bk6PQ Moving through the first section of the catechism, we have focused upon God's good design for human sexuality and some of the challenges that our sin-scarred world brings against them. In questions 3-5, we studied the goodness of being made male and female to image God, while questions 6-8 addressed the present-day challenge that …

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Slavery & Restitution | Exodus 21:1-22:15

As we continue to make our way through the section of Exodus called the Book of the Covenant, we would do well to make a few notes for going forward. First, let us remember that while these laws are distinguished from the Ten Commandments, they cannot be detached from them. As we said, the Ten …

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Question 37: How Does the Holy Spirit Help Us?

Now that we’ve established that the Holy Spirit is the Third Person of the triune God, we must turn our consideration toward His work. Since the Holy Spirit is our Helper, the question rightly asks How does the Holy Spirit help us? We could summarize the catechism's answer into the following statement: The Holy Spirit …

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An Altar of Earth | Exodus 20:22-26

It is a tragedy that worship is one of the most divisive and conflict-filled areas within the church. Of course, it is also understandable. We tend to fight most fiercely over the things that are most important to us. If the chief end of man truly is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever, …

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Question 36: What Do We Believe About the Holy Spirit?

With this question, we officially dive into the third and final section of the New City Catechism, which focuses upon the Spirit, our restoration, and our growing in grace. We, therefore, begin with this very fitting question: What do we believe about the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is God. That is the short answer, …

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The Origin and Purpose of Marriage

https://open.spotify.com/episode/51kjrYtWJxgDOGEMuCNRlt?si=Kr1aBVndRASiu-ecUvx6cg We should keep in mind that questions 3-41 of this catechism are explaining to us the things that we must know to live happily in the comfort of our new identity in Christ, and in this first section, we are focusing upon God’s good design for humanity. In questions 3-5, we studied the goodness …

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You Shall Not Boil a Young Goat in Its Mother’s Milk | Exodus 23:19

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. Exodus 23:19 ESV Last week, we began our third and final dive into the Exodus by studying the giving of the Ten Commandments at Sinai. Of course, as I noted there, we did not make an expository walk through each of the Ten because …

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