MAC KIRK

  Luke 15:11-32  The Compassionate Father I came cross this illustration from the idea of doing things together as a Church and this helps illustrate it.  This fits the idea of the Compassionate Father in our reading today. No One Completes the Journey Solo The migration of the monarch butterfly is an amazing story, a lovely little creature who blesses our gardens and forests in the summer. Every autumn, millions of monarchs from all over the eastern United States and Canada migrate thousands of miles to a small handful of sites in Mexico where they rest for the winter. Then in the spring, they begin their return trip to the north. The amazing thing is that no individual monarch ever makes the trip to Mexico and back. A butterfly that leaves the Adirondack Mountains in New York will fly all the way to Mexico and spend the winter. In March, it begins the trip northward, but after laying eggs in the milkweed of Texas and Florida, it will die. Those butterflies will continue northward, la

  Of Providence.  Ch. V - Westminster Confession of Faith. " God, the great Creator of all things, doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions and things,from the greatest even to the  least,  by his most wise and holy providence,  according to his infallible  foreknowledge,  and the free and immutable counsel of his own will,  to  the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and  mercy."   That seems clear doesn't it?  Is this Biblical?  Let's take a look.  It makes sense if we see God is the Governor of His creation from start to finish.  We have discussed original sin, free will and justification in the last couple of days.  My first thought is that most people accept that this is true.  If you have heard the news since last Saturday a week ago people keep saying that the ony thing that kept the former President alive was providence.   People understand that providence is the over watch of God .  Some of our greatest revoluti

  Justification  Q. 50. What is justification? A. It is God’s forgiving sinners, and treating them as if they had never sinned.   This is where we are going today.  Children's Catechism Where have we been? Q. 36. What is that sinful nature which we inherit from Adam called? A. Original sin. Q. 37. What does every sin deserve? A. The wrath and curse of God. Q. 38. Can any one go to heaven with this sinful nature? A. No; our hearts must be changed before we can be fit for heaven. Q. 39. What is a change of heart called? A. Regeneration. Q. 40. Who can change a sinner’s heart? A. The Holy Spirit alone. We saw that unbelievers do not have free will to regenerate themselves... Ch 9 " Of free will".."Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to  any spiritual good accompanying salvation; so as a natural man, being  altogether averse from that good,and dead in sin,  is not able, by his own  strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself

  A new Series of studies and reflections on the Standards and Catechisms of the ARP....based on the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. ---I would like to start a new series today and we may want to call it Biblical Theology because that is what it is actually.  Some do book studies and we have done that, and will continue to do that. We have looked at Ruth , and Jonah as well as I John in the NT. You can go on the web look up my sermon site and find them when you put in search if you are looking for that study/studies if you want to refresh what was said there to your memory.   mackirk.blogspot.com Why do this study now?  Well every Church has some kind of standard.  Of course most of them say they have the Bible, and we start with that of course.  Most of the Westminster Confession, common to reformed churches ( even the historic Anglican 39 articles has that too), is full of Scripture, and that is its value. My concern is that many say that they start with the Bible, but