Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 26 June, 2016
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind …” (Rom. 12:2)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Administration of the Lord’s Supper
Knowing God’s Love to Us [youtube]
Scripture Reading: I John 4
Text: I John 4:16
I. The Nature of God’s Love to Us
II. The Manifestation of God’s Love to Us
III. The Knowledge of God’s Love to Us
Psalms: 146:1-8; 147:6-13; 11:1-7; 45:1-6
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Applicatory: Complete in Christ (7)
Christ’s Triumph Over the Demonic Powers [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Colossians 2
Text: Colossian 2:13-15
I. The Meaning
II. The Manner
III. The Benefit
Psalms: 96:1-7; 147:14-20; 74:10-15; 68:16-20
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: https://cprc.co.uk/live-streaming/
CPRC YouTube: www.youtube.com/cprcni
CPRC Facebook: www.facebook.com/CovenantPRC
Quote to Consider
Jerry Bridges: “Any time that we are tempted to doubt God’s love for us, we should go back to the Cross. We should reason somewhat in this fashion: If God loved me enough to give His Son to die for me when I was His enemy, surely He loves me enough to care for me now that I am His child. Having loved me to the ultimate extent at the Cross, He cannot possibly fail to love me in my times of adversity. Having given such a priceless gift as His Son, surely He will also give all else that is consistent with His glory and my good … If we are to trust God in adversity, we must use our minds in those times to reason through the great truths of God’s sovereignty, wisdom, and love as they are revealed to us in the Scriptures. We must not allow our emotions to hold sway over our minds. Rather, we must seek to let the truth of God rule our minds. Our emotions must become subservient to the truth. This does not mean we do not feel the pain of adversity and heartache. We feel it keenly. Nor does it mean we should seek to bury our emotional pain in a stoic-like attitude. We are meant to feel the pain of adversity, but we must resist allowing that pain to cause us to lapse into hard thoughts about God … If God’s love was sufficient for my greatest need, my eternal salvation, surely it is sufficient for my lesser needs, the adversities I encounter in this life.”
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
After a week of self-examination, confessing members in good standing are called to partake of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Your participation in the Lord’s Supper is in part a witness that you repent of your sins, believe that Jesus Christ is your righteousness, and desire to live a new and godly life. As this heavenly food can be taken to one’s judgment (I Cor. 11:28-30) and as the common reception of this food is a confession of doctrinal unity (Acts 2:42), the elders supervise the partaking of the sacrament. Visitors who are members of other denominations must request permission from the Council.
We rejoice with David & Kristin Crossett in the birth of a baby girl, Sophie Lyn, this past Thursday. The consistory has granted their request for baptism on Sunday, 10 July.
The Tuesday Bible study meets at 11 AM to discuss the eating of blood in connection with the OT food laws.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846MW at 8:30 AM) by Rev. R. Kleyn is entitled “Watching and Ready for the Return of Christ” (Matt. 25:1-13).
Offerings: General Fund: £663.75. Donation: £200 (England).
New translations: 1 Indonesian.
PRC news: This past Friday, 24 June, the Pittsburgh Protestant Reformed Church was instituted as a congregation. We rejoice together with this small body of believers and ask God’s continued care as they begin their labours and witness as an instituted church of Jesus Christ.
Encouraging Quotes
“Thank you so much for the CDs of the sermons on Lord’s Day 21-24 and also for the last Lord’s Day bulletin. ‘Have You Seen Leo?’ on it was really helpful … In the goodness of our Saviour, all the CDs I’ve received from you have been just what I needed, including the most recent on Isaiah 51 and 52. I’ve also just read Prof. Hanko’s book [Faith Made Perfect] on James 1:1-8 and that also has been just what I needed.” – Yorkshire, England
“I e-mailed you last year when I watched your debate on YouTube. I have watched it again and wanted to thank you once more as I am learning. My entire background is Arminian in its approach rather than Calvinist …” – USA
“Thank you very much for dispatching the order of books. Many thanks too for the complimentary book [PRC 75th anniversary book]. It will make interesting reading.” – Co. Antrim
“Listened to the sermon on ‘Hear Him!’ today. It was excellent. Really gained a lot. I know it is all of God but I wanted to thank you.” – Hertfordshire, England
“I spend many hours daily listening to your sermons. I am 61 years old and I wish I lived in Northern Ireland so I could be a member of your church. I could then ‘sit at your feet’ like a child and address to you in person the many questions that arise from my studies. I also have no assembly of believers to worship and interact with. Perhaps the Lord will enable me to move to Michigan so that I could join a PRC there … God has been guiding me through an agonizing, painful path to progressively higher and purer levels of doctrinal understanding. I humbly request that you and your flock remember me in your prayers. I have begun watching the live Sunday ‘feeds’ and I consider you to be my ‘virtual’ pastor.”- Connecticut, USA
“I listened to the debate [on Psalm-singing] between you and Ivan Foster and appreciated your input.” – Australia
“I read your article from the website about Bullinger and the covenant and it helped me. Would you be so kind to maybe guide me into this theme or possibly give me other helpful information and literature to the subject?”- Switzerland
“I was a liberal pastor with liberal teaching and preaching. Then I was influenced by the charismatic movement. But it is the same as the liberal movement. Both these movements don’t need the Scriptures. But 2 years ago our Lord stopped me. I’ve realized that the Bible is the Word of God and I must teach and preach only God’s Word, without twisting and dilution. So I’ve studied Reformed theology (which I hated before!) because I’m convinced that only the Reformed confessions and Reformed theology are true expositions of biblical revelation … I didn’t understand the image of God in man until I read your article. It is a great article. It helped me very much and I recommended this article to my Reformed brothers. Because of my continual doctrinal and scriptural struggle with charismatic members from my fellowship I also viewed your debate on cessationism. Thank you! It helped me too … My first ‘meeting’ with Herman Hoeksema was through Robert L Reymond’s A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. So I’ve desired to study Hoeksema’s Reformed Dogmatics. I read some articles from him and Hoeksema seems to me to be a crystal clear biblical teacher and easy to read … May God bless you. Please send me the Covenant Reformed News.” – Czech Republic
“Many thanks for all the literature and tapes. Wow! What a cornucopia of good stuff!” – Wiltshire, England
“I was flabbergasted by some of the background stories of some of the hymn writers from the Free Presbyterian hymn book [in ‘Our Own Hymnbook Versus God’s Own Hymnbook’]. I shudder to think what one would encounter if one looked into the writers of contemporary ‘praise and worship’ songwriters.” – N. Ireland
“Thank you for your C. R. News on the 42 months. That fills in a piece of my eschatological understanding.” – California, USA
“I attached the translations of two articles (‘18 Scripture Texts on God’s Hatred of the Reprobate’ and ‘8 Charges Against the Mass’). The sermons on God’s [communicable] attributes are excellent.” – Hungary
“My thanks to you for arranging for the Covenant Reformed News to be sent to me regularly. In fact, I’ve been on the mailing list since volume 1 when Rev. Ron Hanko occupied your chair. I still have most of them … Thank you for arranging the Standard Bearer subscription. You may not know but I receive the printed sermons of the Reformed Witness Hour going back to the 1960s. I also remember when the RWH was broadcast on Transworld Radio.” – Cambridge, England
