Come Down, Lord!

  I have been asked repeatedly about our connection with the Church of God (COG) in Aylmer.  When the questions first started to come I had never spoken to Henry Hildebrandt and knew very little about his church.  In the weeks and months that followed I spoke with Henry on separate occasions and in person. At that initial meeting with Henry I asked him a series of pointed questions.  I was concerned.  I was glad his church was open, but I had heard rumors of heresy and cultish behaviour and wanted to hear it from him.  Ordinarily I might have dismissed a group like his outright. But the COG Aylmer was one of the very few churches in Ontario that remained open through the lockdowns, and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. So, I asked him about his view of Scripture, his view of salvation, his understanding of the person and work of Christ and so on.  And I came away mostly satisfied.  There were clear differences between us, but on th...

  I wrote previously: “The cup is ordinarily used to refer to your portion.”   Here, again, are some things to consider next time you reach for your cup.  First, remember that God assigns each man his portion.  Some would have every man given an equal portion.  They would like the government to intervene so that all are on economically ‘level ground’.  Some are against inequalities of any kind.  This unrest comes from discontent and unbelief.  God is our Maker and our Sovereign. It belongs to Him to assign our portion.  He raises up some and puts down on others.  To some God gives great riches in this life, while others are destined by Him to lifelong poverty.  Some enjoy freedom, while others live their lives the servants (or slaves) of others.  It pleases their King when His people bow their heads and say, “it is the LORD let Him do what seemeth good to Him.”   As our potter He has the right to make of His clay whatever ...

Part One  When you sit down to eat, whether the table is nicely set or not there is generally always a cup of some kind.  We can go a while without food but we cannot go long without water; which explains why cups can sometimes be found in every room of the house.   The cup is ordinarily used to refer to your portion.  Here are some things to consider next time you reach for your cup.   First , remember that “The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup (Psalm 16:5).”   You may remember that when land was divided up among the tribes there was one tribe that was in a sense left out.  They didn’t get an inheritance of land.  Every other tribe had their portion.  Some larger than others, but all of them had their piece of it - except the Levites.  Their inheritance was God.   No land… but God. Here - in this Messianic psalm - Jesus, our Great Priest, says to God, “ you are my portion, you are my cup.”   Wh...

  After a long day the bed can be a welcome sight; but for the anxious or the sick the bed can be something else.  Some through fear or depression find no pleasure in going to their beds and others because of sickness are confined to them.  But God also speaks about the bed.  Here I want to highlight some things God has said about the bed, about lying down and about sleeping. When you go to your bed either because you are sick (and confined there) or because it is the end of the day remember the following. First , remember that you are not the first to weep upon your bed.  The psalmist said, “all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears (6:6).”  These tears - God says - are put in His bottle (Psalm 56:8-9).   Second , remember that God makes your bed in sickness.  Ordinarily perhaps you are the one who makes it, but now He does.  God is saying that He takes particular notice of the sick saints (who have considered ...

  Some things that God has made we see a lot (and see a lot of).  Grass is one of them.  It is interesting, then, to consider what God has said about grass in Scripture.  When you see the grass there are certain things you would do well to remember. First , remember your time in this world is very brief.  You are here today and gone tomorrow.  The psalmist says, “My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass (102:11).”  “As for man his days are as grass: as a flower of the filed so he flourisheth (Psalm 103:15).”  Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up (Psalm 90:5).”  “For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away (1 Peter 1:24).”  Knowing, then, that your time is short, knowing your life is “even a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanish...