Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church

At this time of year, people think about the coming of Jesus. But why did He come-- Even people who go to church and keep Christmas often don't know. You need to know why He came-in fact, everyone does. So I am going to take up this subject today, that you might know, that you might know more fully, and that you might be able to tell others. Jesus often spoke about why He came. He explained it from a lot of different angles. Joel Beeke has a little book that gives 31 reasons why He came. But this morning I am going to focus on what Jesus said in John 10-especially John 10-10.

Today in Jesus' fifth letter, to the church at Sardis, there is something quite different that is dealt with. There is no mention of heresy or immorality, nor of persecution. All who visited saw what appeared to be a healthy, vibrant, faithful, prosperous church. This time, there are no charges of false doctrine of immoral behaviour, no charges of a lack of diligence in deeds of love, forsaking worship or inappropriate worship, tolerating false teachers- Sardis was itself a very wealthy city. It was also well known for its immorality. But the church at Sardis had the prosperity without the immorality. Nevertheless, Jesus has little good to say to this church and its leadership.

For some time, I had planned to do seasonal sermons about why Christ came, but when we set Katherine's baptism for today, I decided to preach on the Magnificat -Lu 1-46-56-. Here we have the wonderful response of Mary to the blessing of conceiving Jesus Christ our Saviour.

This afternoon, we will continue our series on the seven churches in Revelation. Today, it is the church at Thyatira in Revelation 2-18-29. Thyatira was the smallest and least important town to which Jesus wrote. By including them, Jesus shows that He cares for the small as well as the great.

In our sermon series from Revelation, we have seen how intimately connected Jesus is with every congregation of His people. We were first shown this in chapter one in John's vision of the glory of the Son of God in which our Lord was seen in His glory caring for His churches and their ministers. This means that we should take great interest in reading what He says to these churches that we may know what pleases Him and what displeases Him, and what punishments await us if we do not repent as well as the blessings that are ours if we are overcomers.

In our sermon series from Hebrews, we are in chapter 11 where we have a whole array of examples of people who had faith. They are helpful to show us what faith looks like. Lately, we have been looking at the section about the faith of Moses. Today, we come to v. 28 where, by faith, he leads the whole nation of Israel to keep the Passover and the sprinkling of blood associated with it.

When Jesus sent this letter to Smyrna, severe persecution had already begun there. Though our persecution is far less severe, it is evident that it is increasing in our land. The core of Jesus' message is in Rev 2-10- Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. The burning question is why not-- Why not be afraid when suffering is coming-- Today we will see how Jesus answers that question.

Today we are going to focus on Hebrews 11-27 which we only touched on last week. It tells us that Moses endured by seeing God who is invisible. Let us learn from Moses' example.

Over the next couple of months, we will be looking at what our reigning Lord says to these seven churches and at how it applies to us. We must consider both the positive and the negative things. His addresses to these churches in real history have a more powerful impact than if He had just given us a bunch of precepts in the abstract.

Today we continue our Hebrews sermon series. We have been looking at Hebrews 11 where we are given a great list of people of faith from the Old Testament. These are presented to the Hebrews to encourage them to have faith. They are models, showing us what faith does in a person's life. Today we come to one of the greatest figures in the Old Testament- Moses, the lawgiver. We will have much to say about him over the next couple of weeks.

Today we come to Rev 1-9-20 where John, for our even greater encouragement, presents to us the vision that he received of God's Son when he -John- was called to write this book.

Currently, we are in Hebrews chapter 11 where we are given examples of faith from the Old Testament. These examples show us about faith, how it works, and what it does. Today we come to the last of the Patriarchs who were before Moses- Joseph. The passage in Hebrews about Joseph is very short-and obscure if you don't know the background story as the Hebrew recipients would. I will cover much of Joseph's life as we go along.

Last week, we began a series on the book of Revelation. We saw that this book begins with the words, -The Revelation of Jesus Christ.- This week, we are going to look at the blessing of Grace and Peace from God.

As most of you know, God has told us that He is God not only to us when we are redeemed, but also to our children- while they are yet children. In Gen 17, God tells Abraham that He establishes His covenant with him and his sons. In Acts 2-38-39, Peter affirms in connection with baptism that the promise is- to you and your children. In Mark 10-13-16, Jesus affirms that the kingdom of God belongs to little children. So with baptism, whether of an adult or a child, we are reminded of our identity as those who are God's people in Christ.

In our suggested topics sermon series, I was asked to do a series on the letters to the seven churches in Revelation -in Rev. 2-3-. I thought this was a wonderful suggestion, so I decided to do it. Now I have decided to include an exposition of the first chapter also. I think this book is something that is extremely useful for our congregation at this time.

Last week, we looked at- The Biblical Importance of Family Worship. I spoke to you about how the very light of nature shows us God's eternal power and divine nature and that He is to be worshipped daily by us -WCF 21-1, 6-. The person who requested this topic also asked me to do a sermon about how to do family worship-for some practical guidance. So our topic today is- Practical Guidance for Family Worship