Community United Reformed Church

The audio is off, it seems they recorded some music over the actual sermon, do you have a corrected version?

Solid faithful preaching. This is the means of grace.

Excellent message! I will be listening to this one again and again. I love the doctrine of God's providence, because I for one don't want to believe I have control over my own life, the sinful being that I am, how much better to trust and be led by the perfect God.

Thanks, Nete. With due respect to those thinking otherwise, and offering my apologies to Mr Ipema for using this comment section to communicate, definitively, it seems lamentable to observe the persistent adherence to RC terms as 'eucharist' and 'sacrament' in some Reformed circles. Often such terms are explained and justified paroding the Reformed confessions of faith as the ultimatum, and a sort of mysticism defined as the spiritual presence of Christ in the elements is thought to occur in the act of rememberance Christ ordained the night he was betrayed. There is nothing 'mysterious' about the Lord's table. This concept traces back to RC theology by the veneration/worship of the host as God after the 'mystery' of transubstantiation. The measure of spiritual blessing experienced at the Lord's table comes determined by far by the state or close fellowship, obedience and consecration of the blood-bought saints gathered to partake at that particular moment. Sorry Mr.Ipema if you defer in some measure from this. Kind regards.

Thank you so much B. McCausland. I really appreciate your response and your comments on other issues.I felt that it was not appropriate to use when participating in the Lord's Supper; the Communion Table. There is absolutely too much Romanism in the Christian church. When will we learn to search the scripture?God bless.

The word sacrament comes from the Latin word sacramentum meaning ‘solemn oath/utterance', (from sacrare ‘to hallow’, and mentum, meaning literally ‘chin') and it traces back to the military oath Roman soldiers pronounced in the presence of the gods binding them mistically and solemnly to the emperor. After the empire fell the church began to use this word in Christian Latin as a translation for the Greek word mustērion ‘mystery’.It is a misconception to use this word for the biblical ordinances as the historical connotation of the word is rooted in the 'holy mystery' of the RC eucharist refering to the consecration of the host in the mass. Later in Reformation days it modified from the RC sense to being understood as the "outward and visible sign of inward and spiritual grace in the eucharist".

The word ‘sacrament” is used in this message. Where is it in scripture? Where does it come from?

Excellent. Very encouraging.

Thank you so much for your faithful preaching on this matter based on scripture.

Since God has cancelled our great debt because Christ paid it, certainly we can extend the same grace to those who have sinned against us.

Our forgiveness is based on the cross!

Excelent teaching! Great hope!

Paul,Great work in the exegesis and application of this great letter to the gospel. The 'Gospel in Street Clothes' is super description for the application of what is happening in this text. Thanks.

If only there was a church that practiced this

I am listening to most of the sermons on Matthew 5:3 and am now at the bottom of the 2nd of 8 pages with your sermon. I found it to be among the most useful thus far. I plan to download it so that I might listen to it again. All the questions you asked were useful to me. Also, that you approached the verse from several angles, providing the listener with more information to contemplate regarding practical application. Thank you.