This week is Family Week again in the Free Reformed Church of Kelmscott. For all those who are not a member of the FRC Kelmscott: feel free to join in. The material is available online. If this is new for you, you can read about Family Week and its intention in a previous article on… Continue reading Family Week 6-12 December 2020
From 6 to 12 September we have another family week. Here is the material for this week. For those who don’t know what family week is, see my article of two months ago. The material for Family Week is available: For Monday: Nehemiah 1:5-11 A sermon outline and questions about Sunday morning’s sermon. The sermon… Continue reading Family Week 6 – 12 September
In July 2020 the congregation of Kelmscott starts a new project: family week. A document has been sent to the congregation and an article with Biblical background will be published in Una Sancta in the near future. In short, what is happening during family week is being described here. Material for the first Family Week… Continue reading Family Week 5-11 July 2020
Sunday, 1 November is the start of another Family Week. The material for this November Family Week is available here. For Sunday or Monday: Sermon discussion about the Sunday morning service, Nehemiah 6. The sermon outline with questions is available here. The sermon can be watched on YouTube, the account of the Free Reformed Church… Continue reading Family Week 1-7 November
Introduction The topic of Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) has led to a lot of discussion and confusion in our circles. What follows is an adapted version of a report which I wrote for the consistory with the deacons of the Free Reformed Church of Kelmscott, to give direction in how to judge CCM in… Continue reading Contemporary Christian Music
For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2, NKJV) Many will have seen pictures of the Notre Dame in Paris in the past week. The roof of this iconic, world famous, church building was completely destroyed by fire. Several of the media also showed a picture of the altar after the fire, with he golden altar cross seen glowing.… Continue reading Christ’s Cross and the Cross of the Notre Dame
Every year in January, the organisation ‘Open Doors’ publishes a world watch map on which it ranks several countries on this earth with regard to persecution of Christians. The latest map was published in January. It may not come unexpected that North Korea is the number 1 country if it comes to persecution of Christians.… Continue reading Persecution – World Watch Map
A Lie (1) On 17 January of this year, BuzzFeedNews reported that President Trump had directed his attorney Michael Cohen to lie to congress about the Moscow Tower project. This was what according to BuzzFeedNews was reported to the special counsel Robert Mueller who was investigating allegations of Mr. Donald Trump colluding with Russia in… Continue reading What is truth?
Reading: Psalm 42; John 7:37-39 Psalm 42 describes the human struggle of the author. We see it going back and forth: moments of despair, and then coming back to the refrain in which the author tells his soul to hope in God and to be certain that God is there and will redeem him, so… Continue reading Meditation: Psalm 42
Reading: Psalm 8; Colossians 3:12-17 There is nothing in ourselves that makes us worthy of the great honour that God has bestowed upon us, that we are made almost like God, crowned with glory and honour. That we are created in God’s image. Created in God’s image, that means that we received gifts which no other… Continue reading Mediation: Psalm 8; Colossians 3:12-17
Reading: Psalm 8; Ephesians 6:10-20 When you hear all the eloquent speeches and lofty words of all those politicians who with all their eloquence and wittiness try to outwit the other, to seem smarter than the other, to win over the votes of the people: it is a constant quarreling with words, a constant battle… Continue reading Meditation: Psalm 8; Ephesians 6:10-20
Reading: Psalm 8; Matthew 18:1-5 In Psalm 8 David speaks with great excitement about God’s glory and majesty, about His power. God shows His almighty power in nature. But not just in nature. Also in the way He created and still upholds mankind. Man, such a small and tiny creature in this vast creation. Nevertheless,… Continue reading Meditation: Psalm 8; Matthew 18:1-5
Reading: Romans 8:12-39 The Holy Spirit works in us so that we may stand firm in that faith: that we are children of God, and that we cry: Abba, Father. That He is our Father. That is an enormous comfort which we may have! A complete certainty. That brings us great joy! Comfort and joy, not only in… Continue reading Meditation: Romans 8:15 (3)
Reading: Romans 8:12-17; Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 9 The Holy Spirit does not just give us faith, but He continues to work in us, to teach us how to live as God’s children: how to live in the real and glorious freedom of the children of God! That means that we know what is good… Continue reading Meditation: Romans 8:15 (2)
Reading: Romans 8:12-17; Hebrews 8:7-13 Through His suffering and death, Christ delivered us from the slavery to sin and death, from a life in fear. And now we are children of God. And the relation between children and their Father is completely different from the relation between a slave and his master. In the previous… Continue reading Meditation: Romans 8:15
Reading: Romans 8:12-17; John 14:19-24 In John 14, The Lord Jesus promises His disciples that, when He goes to heaven, He will send His Holy Spirit. He will not leave them behind as orphans. And then He says in John 14: 20: In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and… Continue reading Meditation: Romans 8:15, John 14:20
Reading: Romans 8:1-11; Ephesians 1:3-14 In verse 4, Paul says that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. The law was given to us by God and God is always righteous and good. It was because of our sinful flesh that the law could not bring us life, but only death. But… Continue reading Meditation: Romans 8:4
Reading: Romans 8:1-17 In verse 3 Paul says that the law was weakened. It is not the law which caused death; it was because of our sin that the law brought death. The law was good: if you disobey God’s commandments, you will surely die. No matter how hard you try to make up for… Continue reading Meditation: Romans 8:3
Reading: Romans 7:13-8:4 Paul starts this chapter with the words There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. With that, he connects what follows with what he said at the end of chapter 7. In 7:24 he writes Wretched man that I am. Who will deliver me from this body of… Continue reading Meditation: Romans 8:1-4
Reading: Micah 7; Jeremiah 31:31-34 God will show His glory again to His people and to the world, in the great deeds which He will do for His people. Part of His greatness is also His mercy. Micah says in verse 18: Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the… Continue reading Meditation: Micah 7 (2)
