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RTS 2024 Generosity Report

Many of our Reformed Theological Seminary friends and supporters have probably been receiving the RTS 2024 Generosity Report that was just recently mailed out. It is a testimony to God’s generous provision and to the faithful, sacrificial giving of thousands of our partners. We give thanks for what the Lord has supplied, what he has enabled us to do, and indeed what he has given us the privilege to do for him, for the church, this last year. Below are just a few of the highlights. In 2024, RTS donors contributed $12.9 million to RTS, supporting 2,038 students, and enabling them to take…

Love The Brethren

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Hebrews 13. We’re going to be looking at the first three verses this morning. As we turn there, I’ll remind you that the last time we were together in this book in Hebrews 12, we were emphasizing the proper motivation for the Christian life – why it is that we do what we do. Our motivation is very important in the Christian life. And at the end of Hebrews 12, in fact the whole of that chapter, is very much devoted to making sure that we understand the motivations that God has provided for us to encourage us along in living the Christian life. When you get to Hebrews 13, the focus shifts to what we are to do in the Christian life – from why we do what we do, to what we do and how we’re supposed to do…

Mt. Zion

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to the book of Hebrews, chapter 12. We’re coming to the end of this great chapter and it’s been a chapter about the living of the Christian life. And in the final verses of this passage that we’re going to read together this morning, the emphasis is going to be on our motivation for living the Christian life. Why you do what you do is very important. It’s very important for a lot of reasons. One of the reasons why you do what you do is important is because it impacts your joy. If you do the right thing for the wrong reason it can rob you of the joy in doing that right thing. If you do the right thing for the right reason it can increase and sustain your joy in doing the right thing. And the author of Hebrews…

Preparation for God’s Presence

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. We’ll be looking at verses 12 to 17 this morning. As we do so, I do want to bring you greeting from your Australian Presbyterian cousins. I’ve enjoyed being with them the last few days in Melbourne and in Sydney, speaking at the Presbyterian Theological College and also speaking at their General Assembly which they hold once every three years. And they have expressed their appreciation to you for sparing me to them and it was a pleasure to be with them and to be refreshed with both new friends and old. I also want to welcome those who are here who are friends and family of the children who have been baptized this morning. It’s always a joy to have you present with us and we trust that you will…

Congregational Worship at First Presbyterian Church

One of our desires, as we put the services together, is to make connections between various parts of the service – even connections that we don’t draw attention to in the service itself. We want every service to be packed with unexpected blessings and spiritual links that surprise, encourage and help the attentive worshiper. So, sometimes you may notice that the Call to Worship picks up on a phrase from the morning Scripture reading, or an idea from the morning sermon text, or is connected…

The Good of Discipline

Keep your eyes on Jesus and run the race – that's sort of the motto of the Christian life. And you’ll notice in each of the verses the three directives – lay aside, run, and consider Him. Those are the three directives in each of the three first verses of the chapter and they outline for us three important parts of living the Christian life. Laying aside the hindrances of sin and other things, obstacles, especially in us, that keep us from living the Christian life. Running…

He Disciplines Us for Our Good

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12.В We’re going to be looking at the first three verses this morning and especially on the theme, “Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus.”В This whole passage is about living the Christian life, and I want to say just a couple of things about that by way of introduction.В This passage is not telling you how you come to be right with God.В The Bible explains to us that the way that we come to be right with God is through…

The World was Not Worthy of Them

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11. We’re going to be looking at verses 30 to 40 this morning as we continue our way through this book and as we continue our way through this great chapter of faith. The author of Hebrews has been explaining to us that the Christian life must be lived by faith. And in the passage today, he is going to show us five ways that that is so. And I'd like to go ahead and point those out to you so that as we read…

By Faith, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses…

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11 as we continue our way through this great passage about faith. Every once in awhile we hear folks exhorting us to understand the Old Testament from a Christ-centered perspective – and that's good, and that's of course exactly what the author of Hebrews is going to do today, especially in the amazing verse 26 that we're going to read in this passage – but sometimes we hear people say, “If…

By Faith, Abraham and Sarah…

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 11 as we continue our way through this book and through this great chapter on faith. The book of Hebrews, we have said all along, is about the great theme that Jesus is better. And trusting in Jesus means a life of faith, a life in which we base our whole hope on Him and on His promises. We just sang, “More than all in Him I find.” We put all of our hopes in Him. He is greater than any other treasure in life. So a…