The Heidelberg Catechism - The Foundations Of Our Faith

 Don't Lose Heart, Be Of Good Heart   Get a Great Heart.    4:16 ἐγκακοῦμεν, So we do not lose heart. 5:6, 8 We are of good courage  (θαρρουμεν). The Past Tells Us Troubles cause a loss of heart.  We could lose heart.  A Tenting Life   Οἴδαμεν γὰρ ὅτι ἐὰν ἡ ἐπίγειος ἡμῶν οἰκία τοῦ σκήνους καταλυθῇ, For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed,  A. A Tenting Life Is Testing. We Are in Perishing Condition    Though our outer self is wasting away, Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them";2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain,3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the w...

TRELLIS AND THE VINE    Chapter 12. Making a start We began, some time ago it now seems, with a vine, a trellis, and the Great Commission. And we made a promise at the start that we would offer no new special technique, no magic bullet, and no guaranteed path to ministry success and stardom. We did this because Christian ministry is really not very complicated. It is simply the making and nurturing of genuine followers of the Lord Jesus Christ through prayerful, Spirit-backed proclamation of the word of God. It's disciple-making. This is not hard to understand, nor even hard to do—unless, of course, you happen to be a sinful person living in a sinful world. The deceptively simple task of disciple-making is made demanding, frustrating and difficult in our world, not because it is so hard to grasp but because it is so hard to persevere in. This is why we are such suckers for the latest ministry expert, who has always grown a church of at least 50...

1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: 3 "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. 5 "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Consider The Preacher. The Lord Jesus Christ. The best of preachers. 'He went up.'  His words—an oracle; his works—a miracle; his life—a pattern; his death—a sacrifice. 'He went up into a mountain and taught.' Jesus Christ was every way ennobled and qualified for the work of the ministry. The Lord Jesus was an INTELLIGENT preacher. He had 'the Spirit without measure' (John 3:34) and knew how to speak a word in due season—when to humble, and when to comfort. We cannot know all the faces of our hearers. Christ knew the hearts of his hearers! He understood what doctrine would best suit them...