Covenant Protestant Reformed Church
83 Clarence Street, Ballymena BT43 5DR
Rev. Angus Stewart
Lord’s Day, 14 September, 2014
“But our God is in the heavens: he hath done
whatsoever he hath pleased” (Psalm 115:3)
Morning Service – 11:00 AM
Christ’s Seven Words From the Cross (3)
Christ’s Relationship to Mary [youtube]
Scripture Reading: John 19:1-27
Text: John 19:26-27
I. In Terms of the Law
II. In Roman Catholicism
III. In Redemptive History
Psalms: 24:5-10; 78:49-54; 22:27-31, 2:1-8
Evening Service – 6:00 PM
Installation/Ordination
Words to Elders, Deacons and Members [youtube]
Scripture Reading: Romans 12
Text: Romans 12:8
I. On Ruling
II. On Giving
III. In the Body
Psalms: 122:1-9; 78:55-60; 101:3-8; 87:1-7
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
Herman Ridderbos: “Attempts have been made in a vast literature to find support in this passage for the understanding of Mary as the mother of the church, which has developed since the twelfth century. This support has been sought specifically in Jesus’ statement to the disciple, ‘here is your mother,’ and in what follows: ‘And from that hour he took her into his own home,’ This is taken to mean that Mary’s motherhood continues in the church, which is symbolically represented by the place she occupies in the disciple’s house. On this foundation widely varying attempts have been made to define the nature of this motherhood in terms of these statements or, more precisely, to link a variety of mariological conceptions to these statements. Discussion of these suggestions and speculations comes to have little meaning when one recognizes that the mariological interpretation of ‘this is your mother’ is contradicted by the entire situation. Mary is placed in the care of the beloved disciple …” (The Gospel of John, p. 614).
Announcements (subject to God’s will)
Rev. Stewart’s bimonthly letter to the PRC is available on the back table today.
As has been announced, Ivan Reid was approved to serve another term as elder and Julian Kennedy was elected to a 3-year term as deacon. Their installation/ordination will be held this evening. May the Lord give grace to these men in their offices for the good of Christ’s church. We thank William Graham for his many years of service as deacon.
Monday Catechism:
Taylor, Josh, Corey, Bradley & Samuel (Beginners OT, book 1) – 5:30PM
Alex, Nathan, Jacob & Joseph (Seniors NT) – 6:15PM
Timothy & Chris (Essentials of Reformed Doctrine) – 7:00PM
The Tuesday Bible study meets at 11 AM to study further the development of the kingdom of God.
The Belgic Confession Class held this Wednesday at 7:45 PM, will study the beginning of sanctification in connection with Article 24.
Ladies’ Bible Study meets this Friday at 10:30 AM at the church to review lesson 2 and start lesson 3 of the Philippians study guide.
Men’s Bible Study meets this Saturday at 8 PM at the Kennedys to review the studies on Malachi.
The Reformed Witness Hour broadcast next Lord’s Day (Gospel 846MW at 8:30 AM) is entitled “A Greater Than Jonah Is Here” (Matthew 12:41).
The council will meet on Thursday, 25 September at 7:30 PM.
Offerings: General Fund – £504.80. Building Fund – £195.40. Donation: £25.
Website Additions: 1 Spanish and 3 Hungarian translations were added.
PRC News: Faith PRC will call from a trio of Revs. Griess (Calvary, IA), Spronk (Peace, IL) and Marcus (Edmonton, AB).
Formula of Subscription
(This formula of subscription must be signed by all the ministers, professors of theology, elders and deacons in the Protestant Reformed Churches when they are installed in office.)
We, the undersigned, professors of the Protestant Reformed Churches, ministers of the Gospel, elders, and deacons of the Protestant Reformed congregations of ……………., of Classis ………., do hereby sincerely and in good conscience before the Lord, declare by this, our subscription, that we heartily believe and are persuaded that all the articles and points of doctrine, contained in the Confession and Catechism of the Reformed Churches, together with the explanation of some points of the aforesaid doctrine, made by the National Synod of Dordrecht, 1618-’19, do fully agree with the Word of God.
We promise therefore diligently to teach and faithfully to defend the aforesaid doctrine, without either directly or indirectly contradicting the same, by our public preaching or writing.
We declare, moreover, that we not only reject all errors that militate against this doctrine and particularly those which were condemned by the above mentioned synod, but that we are disposed to refute and contradict these, and to exert ourselves in keeping the church free from such errors. And if hereafter any difficulties or different sentiments respecting the aforesaid doctrines should arise in our minds, we promise that we will neither publicly nor privately propose, teach, or defend the same, either by preaching or writing, until we have first revealed such sentiments to the consistory, classis, and synod, that the same may be there examined, being ready always cheerfully to submit to the judgment of the consistory, classis, and synod, under the penalty in case of refusal to be, by that very fact, suspended from our office.
And further, if at any time the consistory, classis, or synod, upon sufficient grounds of suspicion and to preserve the uniformity and purity of doctrine, may deem it proper to require of us a further explanation of our sentiments respecting any particular article of the Confession of Faith, the Catechism, or the explanation of the National Synod, we do hereby promise always to be willing and ready to comply with such requisition, under the penalty above mentioned, reserving for ourselves, however, the right of an appeal, whenever we shall believe ourselves aggrieved by the sentence of the consistory, the classis, or the synod, and until a decision is made upon such an appeal, we will acquiesce in the determination and judgment already passed.
Encouraging Quotes:
“Many thanks for the CDs and DVDs [of the 2014 BRF Conference], so beautifully presented as always. I hope to pass them around and pray that under God and by His grace they will do much good.” – England
“Thank you very much for sending me your sermons each week. There is much teaching in them, and I really enjoy them. May God continue to bless your preaching and your church.” – Co. Antrim
“Great articles! I have read all the ‘Jerusalem’ ones [on ‘Christ’s Will to Gather Jerusalem’s Children’], and hope to get to the others later. This passage now makes perfect sense to me, whereas in the past it certainly made me at least question our Reformed doctrine. God always provides the answer! Also, I didn’t think the debate with the Pentecostal minister would interest me, but I ended up staying up until midnight watching them.” – Canada
“Thank you for having a much needed pamphlet on the covenant, written by Rev. Hoeksema, on your site. It was an awesome and helpful guide on my quest for a clearer understanding and explanation of the truth regarding this very important doctrine of Scripture. I tapped into your pamphlets looking for something else and found this jewel instead … I have also found a series of sermons by Prof. Hanko on this subject as well as his book. So I have been given lots of great helps on this subject. God is great!” –California, USA
“Your latest issues of the Covenant Reformed News and the articles on Pergamos have been very helpful to me and a source of encouragement. I have enclosed a couple of orders … The two items I want are ‘The Prophet Jonah’ (volume 2) and the book Whosoever Will by Herman Hoeksema.” – S. Wales
“I want to share with you what a great blessing For Thy Truth’s Sake is being to me. I must admit that, initially, I wasn’t interested as I thought it wasn’t about the church in England’s history. Then I saw how wrong that was of me, as the church in any land is our history, so I ordered it from you and it arrived safely last Monday. Thank you! It is so very wonderful! I hadn’t really taken in what ‘A Doctrinal History’ would mean. I have already read the first three parts and a bit of part 4. It has been really thrilling!” –England
“Thank you for sending me my last order. Please send me a copy of the book, Behold He Cometh for which I enclose payment plus a gift to be used for whatever need comes up. May the Lord grant every blessing on the work in Ballymena.” – Scotland
