Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 26 January, 2020
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering …” (Col. 3:12)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Thy Will Be Done [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Psalm 119:9-32
Text: Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 49
I. The Rich Meaning
II. The Important Adjunct
Psalms: 149:1-6; 119:161-168; 103:17-22; 119:25-32
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
The Kingdom of God Versus the Kingdoms of Man (1)
Babylonian Cultural Assimilation [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Daniel 1
Text: Daniel 1:1-8
I. The Plan of Nebuchadnezzar
II. The Purpose of Daniel
Psalms: 16:1-7; 119:169-176; 106:41-48; 119:9-16
For CDs of the sermons and DVDs of the worship services, contact Stephen Murray
If you desire a pastoral visit, please contact Rev. Stewart or the elders
CPRC Website: www.cprc.co.uk • Live Webcast: www.cprc.co.uk/live-streaming
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Stuart Olyott on Daniel 1: “If Daniel had not stood firm at this point, could he possibly have stood firm later, when threatened with death in a lions’ den? If his three companions had compromised in their early life, how would they have fared when faced by a burning fiery furnace? It is because they honoured God in a small thing that they were able to honour Him when bigger issues were at stake. People who fall into serious sins only do so because they have learned to tolerate smaller ones” (Dare to Stand Alone, p. 22).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Our annual congregational dinner will be at The Thatch in Broughshane on Friday, 21 February. A sign-up sheet is on the back table.
BRF Conference Booking Forms are also on the back table. There are a limited number of en-suite rooms, so if you need one book in quickly.
Monday catechism classes:
5:30 PM – Angelica, Bradley, Josh, Samuel & Taylor (Seniors NT)
6:15 PM – Corey & Katelyn (Juniors OT)
7:00 PM – Alex, Jacob & Nathan (Essentials)
7:45 PM – membership class
Tuesday Bible Study meets at 11 AM to discuss subjective faith and objective faith.
Belgic Confession class meets on Wednesday at 7:45 PM to consider further the civil magistrates (Article 36).
Ladies’ Bible study meets this Friday at 10:30 AM at the church to continue our discussion of Respectable Sins.
Men’s Bible study meets this Saturday at 8 PM at the Kennedys to discuss Acts 18.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846 MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled, “The Privilege and Necessity of Prayer” (Luke 11:1).
The Council’s next meeting is Monday, 10 February, at 7:45 PM.
S. Wales Lecture: Rev. McGeown will give a lecture on “The Canon of Sacred Scripture” at Margam Community Centre on Thursday, 27 February, at 7:15 PM.
The dates for the Lord’s Supper in 2020 are 29 March, 28 June, 27 September and 27 December.
Offerings: General Fund: £975.40. Donations: £73,069.68 (USA).
Translations: We are in the process of adding to the CPRC languages page some 62 ecumenical creeds in 41 languages, including Maori, Haitian Creole and Bulgarian.
Sister Church News: Rev. Bleyenberg accepted the call to Immanuel PRC (Lacombe, AB). Rev. VanOverloop declined the call to Unity PRC. The CERC in Singapore received news that their appeal for the employment pass for Rev. Jon Mahtani has been rejected. Remember the Mahtanis and the CERC in your prayers.
Decision Making and the Will of God
by Rev. Arie den Hartog
(an excerpt from an article in the Standard Bearer, volume 74, issue 20)
There is current among Christians in general many wrong ideas about how to come to know what God’s will is for our lives. One hears glib statements such as “God told me that He wanted me to do this or that” or “I feel this is God’s will for my life.” This sounds rather pious but I have found quite a few times that these statements are made based on totally wrong ideas about how God reveals His will to us in our lives. Of even greater concern is that sometimes in our own churches we hear members claiming that they are following the will of God in certain decisions and they must be told very strongly that their concept of the will of God is just plain wrong.
It is a very common position that God reveals His will to individuals concerning personal decisions in life in ways other than through His Word in the Bible. There are perhaps well meaning Christians who will earnestly pray to God concerning every serious decision in life. Then they will look for all sorts of ways which they imagine God will use to reveal His will to them. Some claim to receive a private revelation from God through a vision or dream. They cite passages of Scripture to support the idea of such private revelations. The supposed biblical basis for these, however, is false. Nowhere does the Bible teach that God today gives us private revelations. It is true that in the days of special revelation, before the canon of Scripture was complete, God sometimes gave wonderful visions to prophets and others. We must maintain, however, in the first place, that such special revelations have ceased, since we now have the complete revelation of God in the Bible. Furthermore, the biblical examples of such revelations never have to do with mere personal and private matters, such as revealing God’s will concerning whom you and I should marry, what occupation we should enter upon or what part of the country we should live in. The special revelations of God had to do with far more mighty and significant things. They had to do with central aspects of the revelation of the covenant of God and the realization of the kingdom of God …
It is also rather common among Christians to imagine that God will reveal His will to us through certain subjective feelings and impressions. So they become convinced that it is the will of God for them to follow a certain course of action. Again, nowhere in the Bible is there any proof that God reveals His will through mere subjective feelings and impressions …
When considering a future course of action, the terms “open doors” and “closed doors” are used rather frequently. Perhaps these terms can be used in a legitimate way. The biblical use of these terms is always in connection with opportunities to preach the gospel and not with personal decisions for careers or changing our place of residence, etc. We believe indeed that God’s providence determines all things in our life from the smallest to the greatest. We ought to consider the providence of God in the light of His Word when we are ready to make an important decision in life. On the other hand, even in this we must be careful. We must not imagine that God always gives absolutely clear providential signs for every major decision in our life. There are a lot of subjective elements in reading so-called providential signs. Sometimes, for example, God sends us very difficult providence in our life. He does not always by this tell us to turn from a certain course of action to an easier one. It is the will of God that we endure hardships. He sends us great hardships to try our faith and to sanctify us. What we might interpret as a “closed door” might in some cases instead be a “crook in our lot” that God in His providence sends us to try us. If this were not the case, Israel might have decided that it could not possibly be the will of God that they pass through the wilderness to the promised land.
None of this means that we ought not to be deeply concerned about doing God’s will in our lives. We ought to spend much time in prayer to learn God’s will. We should never make any major decision in our lives without praying that God might reveal His will to us …
How does God reveal His will to us for the great decisions of our life? First of all, He has given us His law. Whatever we do in life, this is the sum of all things: “Fear God, and keep his commandments” (Ecc. 12:13). Therefore it is entirely impossible that a certain course of action in life can be the will of God if it goes contrary to one of the expressed commandments of God. Let no one, for example, say that he or she is doing the will of God by marrying an ungodly person simply because “God has brought that person into my life.” This is a false appeal to the will of God. Let no one say that God wants him to move to a city far away to take a lucrative job offer or company promotion when such a move will involve moving away from the true church of Jesus Christ where the Word of God is faithfully preached …
It is a rather common argument in our day that, since God has also given talents for the ministry to women, we ought to allow them to be “equal partners in the ministry with men.” Never mind that Scripture clearly indicates that men are to rule and be in the special offices in church and not women.
Let no one say that God wants him to take this or that occupation in life, when it involves things such as Sabbath working or membership in an ungodly union.
We could give many more examples of such faulty reasoning. Let this be the absolute rule of our life: if anything is contrary to the law of God which He has clearly revealed in His Word, it cannot possibly be the will of God.
When we pray for God’s will in our lives (and we ought to pray for this very earnestly and sincerely), we must pray for spiritual knowledge and understanding of the revealed truth of God’s Word, and for wisdom to understand His law as it applies to a given area of our life. All the major decisions in our lives involve great moral questions. We need to pray both for knowledge and submission to the perfect will of God in our lives. God does not care so much about whether we are engineers, doctors or lawyers or perhaps “only” a daily labourer in a factory. He cares a lot more whether we are living according to His law and for His glory in whatever our daily occupation might be …
Let me close with one other observation. This is one given to us in the book of James. “Go to now, ye that say to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that” (James 4:13-15).
It is sinful pride and worldly carnality when man does not pray daily for the will of God to guide him in the plans and purposes of life. The Christian must be profoundly conscious every day how all his plans and purposes and even his very life’s breath depend on the will of God. We honour God when we live in this consciousness.
The Lord will prosper and bless us each day only when we pray, “Thy will be done.” This prosperity will not always, however, be in terms of physical and material well-being. Sometimes the Lord sends trials, hardships and disappointments. He does this according to His own sovereign, wise, and perfect will. We must submit to this perfect will and confess His name and live for His glory.
