The Heidelberg Catechism - The Foundations Of Our Faith

Responding to Trouble The most important thing about suffering is not why it happens, but how we respond to it. Attitudes, not answers, are the keys to triumphant living. We like to focus on why. But to know why suffering comes does not ease the pain or heal the hurt. If we respond to it correctly, it can make us better regardless of its cause. We do not get to choose our experiences in life. And we may never understand why they come to us, but we can choose our response to them. We determine how they will affect our lives. There are at least five responses we can make to suffering: 1. We can become bitter.  We can follow the advice that Job’s wife gave to him in his suffering. We can “curse God and die” (Job 2:9). We can blame God for everything that happens to us and become resentful, skeptical, and unbelieving. 2. We can sink into self-pity.  We ca...

Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is  through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,  forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,14 I pres...

I gather that the issue is the temporal sense of the periphrastic ἔσται δεδεμένον/λελυμένον from Matthew 16:19. I was taught that the voice of the participle determines the voice of the periphrastic construct. Here, δεδεμένον/λελυμένον is in the middle voice, suggesting that the thing being bound/loosed plays a part in its own binding/loosing. The perfect tenseform of the participle has a stative aspect and brings the participle (verb) into the foreground. Porter's "Fundamentals of New Testament Greek" (chapter 28) lists the future equative + perfect participle as equivalent to the future perfect indicative of the participle's finite verb, here "will have been bound/loosed". The temporal sense of the periphrastic construct is future. Putting these together suggests that the binding/loosing on earth plays a part in the equivalent binding/loosing in heaven, with the 'foreground' emphasis on the thing that happens in heaven and 'background...

Have you ever wondered why certain words or phrases seem to be missing in some Bible translations? Take Romans 8:1 as an example: Modern translations (ESV, NASB, NIV, CSB, etc.): “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” King James Version (and NKJV): “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” What accounts for this difference? The Short Answer (emphasis on the word short) The New Testament text is preserved in two main Greek manuscript traditions. Since the New Testament was originally written in Greek, our English Bibles are translated from these Greek manuscripts. 1. The Byzantine Tradition (or Majority Text) This text form arose within the Byzantine Empire (centered in Constantinople) and became the standard Greek text used by the Eastern Church for over a thousand years. The King James Version (KJV) was translated from th...

John Newton The Lord Will Provide Though troubles assail And dangers affright, Though friends should all fail And foes all unite; Yet one thing secures us, Whatever betide, The scripture assures us, The Lord will provide. The birds without barn Or storehouse are fed, From them let us learn To trust for our bread: His saints, what is fitting, Shall ne'er he denied, So long as 'tis written, The Lord will provide. We may, like the ships, By tempest be tossed On perilous deeps, But cannot be lost. Though Satan enrages The wind and the tide, The promise engages, The Lord will provide. His call we obey Like Abram of old, Not knowing our way, But faith makes us bold; For though we are strangers We have a good Guide, And trust in all dangers, The Lord will provide. When Satan appears To stop up our path, And fill us with fears, We triumph by faith; He cannot take from us, Though oft he has tried, This heart-cheering promise, The Lord wi...

Our young pastor told us a few months ago that he had created the true translation of a passage and every Bible translation has had it wrong for the last 700 years.  On Sunday September 7th 2025 Pastor told us that every minister and every translator of the Greek New Testament got it wrong for the last 2000 years when translating or interpreting Matthew 16. He then stated that he had consulted the Greek New Testament and he alone now has translated it correctly. Here is the passage: ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Μακάριος εἶ, Σίμων Βαριωνᾶ, ὅτι σὰρξ καὶ αἷμα οὐκ ἀπεκάλυψέν σοι ἀλλ’ ὁ πατήρ μου ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς· κἀγὼ δέ σοι λέγω ὅτι σὺ εἶ Πέτρος, καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς· δώσω σοι τὰς κλεῖδας τῆς βασιλείας τῶν οὐρανῶν, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν δήσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται δεδεμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν λύσῃς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔσται λελυμένον ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς. τότε διεστείλατο τοῖς μαθηταῖς ἵνα μηδενὶ εἴ...

A reading of Colossians 1: 1: 5-23. Paul has assured his readers in the Lycus Valley that when they received the preaching of Epaphras, they had received the true grace of God in receiving his gospel which was Paul’s gospel. This was in the context of their being visited by teachers of other versions of “the gospel” who came with additional “knowledge, rites and seasons”. These were unnecessary because Christ was supreme in creation and redemption and they had been reconciled to God by his Christ. Firstly, Paul reminded them that Christ is supreme in creation. As the Son of God, he is not only the image of the invisible God but also the whole fullness of God dwells in him. He is both the creator and the heir of all things. Through him all things were created, both on earth and in the heavens. This included what could be seen and not seen. It included all things earthly and all things spiritual. Angels and demons were created through him. Moreover, he is eternal when all other things ...

When God visited the Lycus Valley 07 By the heralding of Christ’s supremacy A reading of Colossians 1: 1: 5-23. Paul has assured his readers in the Lycus Valley that when they received the preaching of Epaphras, they had received the true grace of God in receiving his gospel which was Paul’s gospel. This was in the context of their being visited by teachers of other versions of “the gospel” who came with additional “knowledge, rites and seasons”. These were unnecessary because Christ was supreme in creation and redemption and they had been reconciled to God by his Christ. Firstly, Paul reminded them that Christ is supreme in creation. As the Son of God, he is not only the image of the invisible God but also the whole fullness of God dwells in him. He is both the creator and the heir of all things. Through him all things were created, both on earth and in the heavens. This included what could be seen and not seen. It included all things earthly and all things spiritual. Angels ...

Dr. F.B. Meyer counsels, "We make a great mistake in trying always to clear ourselves; we should be much wiser to go straight on, humbly doing the next thing, and leaving God to vindicate us. 'He will bring forth our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noonday.' In Psalm 105:19 there follow words which, rightly rendered, read thus: 'The word of the Lord cleared him.' What a triumphant clearing did God give His faithful servant. There will come hours in our lives, when we shall be misconstrued, misunderstood, slandered, falsely accused, wrongfully persecuted. At such times it is very difficult not to act on the policy of the men around us in the world. They at once appeal to law and force and public opinion. But the believer takes his case into a higher court, and lays it before his God. He is prepared to use any means that may appear divinely suggested. But he relies much more on the divine clearing than he does on his own most perfect arrangements...

Intimacy With God  Philippians 3:1-17 This is the heart and essence of Christianity. Other religions are content with ornate rites rules, regulations and religion. Christianity is a real relationship. HONESTY  Philippians 3:7-9 'One day,' says Bunyan, ' as I was passing into the field, and that too with some fear dashed on my conscience, fearing lest yet all was not right, suddenly, this sentence fell upon my soul, " Thy righteousness is in Heaven," and methought withal, I saw with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God's right hand: there was my righteousness ; . . . I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame of heart that made my righteousness worse ; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, "The same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."' Moses Exodus 33 18 And he said, "Please, show me Your glory." 19 Then He said, "I will make all My goodne...

Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is  from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do,  forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,14 I press t...