Month: January 2025

The sermon on February 2, 2025, will be from Romans 13:8-10- The Debt of Love We Owe.  “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, …” – Romans 13:8

Isaac Watts penned those memorable words, “But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe; ….” Christians owe a “debt of love” to Jesus Christ because of his sacrificial love for them. But we also, as you see, owe a debt of love to our neighbor. Jesus pours out mercy, grace, and kindness upon us; how can we not love him? But our neighbor may disappoint, hurt, and betray us. Loving him will challenge and stretch us. Nevertheless, our obligation is clear and the “2nd Table of the Law” (Commandments 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10) direct us how. This requires God’s grace strengthening us by the Holy Spirit’s presence in us as believers (See Romans 8:1-4).

Sunday Service Streamed Live at 11:00 AM – YouTube.com – Hickory Withe PCA

The sermon on January 26, 2025, will be from Matthew 18:15-17 – Pursuing Spiritual Health in 2025: In Our Church – A Forgiving Community.   “If your brother offends you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” – Matthew 18:15

Let us begin with a question, “What if Christians would follow our Lord’s counsel in Matthew 18:15 one hundred percent of the time?” Misunderstandings would vanish; true offenses would be identified, confessed and forgiven; families would grow in love for one another; relationships would flourish; and churches would thrive. And, yet, … something else too often occurs – Christians disobey the one they call ‘Lord.’ They take their grievance to a third party and a cascade of events follows – misunderstandings soar; unforgiveness between brothers and sisters grows; relationships fracture; and churches may split. As a result, “Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.” (Isaiah 59:14). Brothers and sisters, these things should not be – LET US FOLLOW OUR LORD’S COUNSEL IN 2025!

Sunday Service Streamed Live at 11:00 AM – YouTube.com – Hickory Withe PCA

The sermon will be from Hebrews 10:24-25 – Consistent Attendance on the Lord’s Day.  “And let us consider how to stir up one another … not neglecting to meet together, …” – Hebrews 10:24-25

Reformation Confessions of Faith of the 17th Century clearly teach a “high-view” of the Christian Sabbath or the Lord’s Day (“Google” – Westminster Confession of Faith, Chap. 21; and 2nd London Baptist Confession of 1689, Chapter 22). The decline of this emphasis is multi-faceted, but is clearly detrimental to individuals, churches, and our nation. The writer to the Hebrews knows that there is a direct connection between Sabbath-breaking and apostasy (i.e. drifting away from the Christian faith to the point of denying one’s faith). A frank admonition is called for – OBEY THE 4TH COMMANDMENT AND HEBREWS 10:24-25 IN 2025!

Sunday Service Live-Streamed at 11:00 AM – YouTube.com – Hickory Withe PCA

The sermon will be from Ephesians 5:22-6:4 – Pursuing Spiritual Health in 2025: In Our Families.  “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, …”  – Ephesians 6:4

21st Century American culture is “egalitarian.” This is an involved and controversial discussion and would require much more space than I have in this short article to explain. But one negative of this cultural reality is that we’ve jettisoned the Scriptural teaching that the husband and father is the head of his household. He is to protect and to provide for his family physically and spiritually. Notice, the importance of the father is mentioned twice in the Ten Commandments (2nd and 5th Commandments – Exodus 20:4-6, 12) and it is inferred in two more of the commandments (4th and 10th – Exodus 20:8-11, 17). So, gentlemen, if you are the head of your household, STEP UP TO THE PLATE IN 2025! STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND START LEADING YOUR FAMILY SPIRITUALLY IN 2025!

Sunday Service Streamed Live at 11:00 AM – YouTube.com – Hickory With PCA

The sermon will be from Ps. 1:1-6; Deut. 8:1-10; Luke 9:23 – “Spiritual Health in Our Individual Christian Lives”.   “… man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” – Deuteronomy 8:3

Did you hear that? Man lives by “every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Do you realize that there are 783,137 words in the King James Version of the Bible? Other versions would vary somewhat, but I think it is safe to say that the version you own contains between 700,000 and 800,000 words. Have you read your Bible in its entirety, all 800,000 words? God humbled Ancient Israel so that they might learn this very lesson (See Deut. 8:1-20). Has God humbled us individually, our churches, and our nation in the first part of the 21st Century in order that we would learn the lesson, “… man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”?

Sunday Service Streamed Live at 11:00 AM – YouTube.com – Hickory Withe PCA