Wednesday Tabletalk Study and Prayer:
Wednesday Evening’s Tabletalk Study meets at 6 PM
Come join us weekly at 6 pm for a study in the monthly magazine at the church. Enjoy learning and a time of fellowship…
Table Talk Study
Schedule for March 2025
The Witness of listening in love
I hear it from wives as well as husbands. I hear it from teens and children. I even hear it in church committee meetings. “I don’t feel heard” is a regular refrain not only in more intimate settings but also in the culture at large. What’s going on here? The cynic inside me wants to…
Hope in Our Trials
Jewish tradition holds that the temple of Solomon was destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonians on Tisha b’Av (the ninth day of the Jewish month of Av). Interestingly, the tradition also holds that the temple of Herod was destroyed on the same day in AD 70 by the Romans…
Hope in the Ordinary
A friend called and asked about my day. I sighed: “Same old, same old! Laundry, dishes, meals, and a doctor’s appointment later.” You could answer the same question with whatever fills your days—driving, your job, cleaning, meals, homework,…
He Leadeth Me: O Blessed Thought
John 10 introduces us to an extended use of the shepherd metaphor. Jesus is the “good shepherd” who leads His sheep to pasture and protects them from wolves (vv. 11–12). One statement requires some explanation: “When he has brought out all his own,…
Themes in Hebrews
Hebrews is probably most well known for its emphasis on Christ as High Priest (4:14; 8:1), discussions of covenants (8:7; 9:15; 13:20), the use of Old Testament typology (3:5; 8:5; 10:1), and the heroes-of-faith chapter (ch. 11). In the Arminian-versus-Calvinist debates, Hebrews is…
Grumbling, Murmuring, and Complaining
When my kids were young, my wife and I taught them a little song to help them check their attitude. It went like this: Why complain about your clothes and your shoes, Why complain about your teacher and her rules, Why complain when so many have no home, Why complain when you have one of your own?…
Strength for the Weary
The book of Isaiah contains many beautiful promises, but none more reassuring than the one found in Isaiah 41:10: “I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” The prophet is looking into the future, to the days when the…
How to Follow Jesus
Jesus was a popular preacher. People were “traveling with Jesus” (Luke 14:25, NIV); like a popular performer, He had followers. So what did He do? He thinned the “great crowds” by revealing the cost of discipleship (Matt. 13:2, 22). Jesus wasn’t dispiriting sincere devotees…
The Holy Spirit’s Work through Us
How should Christians engage with culture? The answer to that question is hotly contested, and many proposals set down the wrong track. We discover in Jesus’ description of His people in Matthew 5:13–16 key principles to guide our answer. His choice images—the salt of the earth and…
Assuming the Best of Fellow Christians
The mark of a truly converted man is the fruit of the Spirit that is love (Gal. 5:22). Love for the brethren was Christ’s new commandment (John 13:34–35). After Jonathan Edwards saw a spiritual awakening of his congregation in 1734–35, he preached…
Promise Box
I first came across one some fifty years ago: a somewhat small, ornate box, complete with tweezers with which one pulled out a tiny card on which was printed a promise from the Bible. Sure enough, there were 365 cards, one for each day of the year…
Portrait of a Prayer Wrestler
Another new year has come, and with it comes this perennial question: “How can I make this year better than the previous one?” For the spiritually minded, thoughts turn to spiritual wellness. Most Christians will have to admit that the area…
Labor and Rest
“He who dies with the most toys wins.” “I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.” If you are of a certain age, you may remember seeing these bumper stickers on the backs of cars. They capture much of the way that the world looks at work…
Winter Seasons
Each winter, the vibrant flowers and lush landscape outside the back window transform into a sober, muted palette. Trees become stark sketches of brown against the white snow, while the deep greens of spruces and pines jut into the endless…
Go to My Brothers
Jesus had cast out seven demons from Mary Magdalene (Luke 8:2). Having been forgiven much, she loved much. She demonstrated this love when she awoke very early in the morning after the Sabbath to visit the tomb in which Jesus…
Enter His Gates with Thanksgiving
One of the greatest benefits of life in the local church is a shared memory of our history and shared thanksgiving in the Lord’s manifold provisions. Seeing the church as a great cloud of witnesses provides storehouses of…
Seeing Sin for What It Is
Things are not always as they appear. A calm sea can mask a deadly undertow, and a fleeting pleasure can hide the seeds of destruction. This is the nature of life in a fallen world—appearances can deceive. Nowhere is this more true than in the realm of sin…
Heading Sin off at the Pass
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin” (1 John 2:1). Centuries ago, the Apostle John took up his pen under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and wrote those words. He was referring to his purpose in writing his short epistle…
The Covenant of Works
By themselves, individual bricks look nothing like a completed building. But joined together, each individual brick is one smaller part of a greater assembled whole—a building. We can say the same about the surveyed scriptural data:
How Can I Truly Forgive, and Why Should I?
There is a notion out there in the world that the Christian life is for weak people. It is a crutch for people who can’t stand on their own in a tough world. Such an observation fails to recognize the truth of Christian martyrs…
Paul’s Nephew to the Rescue
“Now the son of Paul’s sister heard of their ambush, so he went and entered the barracks and told Paul. Paul called one of the centurions and said, ‘Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him’” (vv. 16–17).
What Keeps You Going?
What draws you out of bed and gets you going each day? Is it the smell of your morning coffee? Is it the demands of work or family life? Asking it another way: What drives or impels you, deep down, to live another day…
A Thousand Years of Christ’s Reign
Eschatology concerns the doctrine of the last things, and it involves both personal eschatology—what happens to us as individuals at the end of our lives—and the events leading up to the return of Christ to consummate His kingdom…
Christ the Worship Leader
Sinclair Ferguson has publicly recounted that when serving as a guest preacher, he has been approached by an energetic young person announcing, “I’m the worship leader at this church.” Dr. Ferguson says he has had to bite his tongue…
From Generation to Generation
It is sad to observe the children of faithful parents turn aside from the Lord. We see it throughout the Scriptures. Adam and Eve raise a son named Cain; one of Abraham’s sons is Ishmael; Manasseh follows his father,…
The Certainty of God’s Sovereignty
Things happen because God orders them to happen, orders them to happen before they happen, and orders them to happen in the way that they happen. This is a statement of God’s complete sovereignty…
Hypocrisy and Its Answer
Recently, I met an old man who used to attend church when he was young. He told me how he had left his church because of hypocrisy. Church members who acted devoutly on Sunday…
Who Are the Poor in Spirit?
I want a great life. Don’t we all? You might say that it depends on what I mean by great. The world defines a great life as a comfortable, easy sort of life with no trouble whatsoever. Health, wealth,…
Secret Things
Perhaps someone has asked you the question, “What is your favorite Bible verse?” This is impossible to answer satisfactorily, but when we read older Christian writers, we can begin to see which Bible verses…
Cultivating Gratefulness
The Puritan writer Thomas Watson, in his work The Godly Man’s Picture, writes: “A godly man is a thankful man. Praise and thanksgiving is the work of heaven, and he begins that work here which he shall be always doing in heaven.”…
