In this reflection from Reformation Sunday 2025, we consider the joy of being Reformed Christians.

The 12 sons of Jacob became the 12 tribes of Israel, the assembly of God's people at that time. We are one with them, and we learn about ourselves by studying them. It’s like a Bible-based personality assessment, helping us know who we...

Gen. 14:17–20 Ezek. 34:11–24 Luke 23:44–49 Heb. 5:5–10 Part of being any calling is learning its vocabulary. If you work in finances, you have to know the difference between assets and liabilities...

Lions take advantage of the early morning hours to roar loudly as a warning to all who would try to take their territory. Lions are fierce and mighty. And in this passage, the patriarch Jacob blesses his fourth-born son Judah by calling him a <...

Gen. 15:1–6 Jer. 23:1–8 Matt. 1:18–25 Heb. 2:14–18 Ever get tired of waiting? If you open the Bible, that’s a pretty constant complaint. “How long, O Lord?” is a question that’s on repeat. The inc...

Have you ever thought about what you’d like to use your last words for? In Jacob's deathbed scene, he speaks prophetic blessings to his 12 sons. These words set the trajectory for the tribes that come from these men, and also give us a glimpse ...

Gen. 3:8–15 Lam. 3:49–60 Mark 5:24b–34 Heb. 2:14–18 When humankind fell into sin, God could've acted in swift and overwhelming justice. But instead, He made a promise. He promised that a chosen of...

God’s will was that the covenant promises would pass on to the next generation in the unexpected way. That’s the divine pattern. He uses the weak to shame the strong. In Jacob’s adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh, we see Jacob embrace th...

What has the Church to do with the state? Genesis 47 gives us plenty of biblical insights into how God's people—who abound in blessings—are to bless the nations they inhabit. Energized by the redemption we have in Christ, we are called to godly...

Deut. 7:6–11 Isa. 41:5–10 John 15:15–17 Eph. 1:3–14 The doctrine of election is not meant to be a topic for debate, but good news for sinners. God has chosen to save those who c...

What has the Church to do with the Family? In Genesis, the covenant family of Abraham is the Church, and so we are given wonderful answers to this question when we study how this family makes it through trials from without an...

Gen. 5:1–11 Job 14:1–6 Matt. 15:10–20 Rom. 5:12–21 Have you ever wondered why it is harder to maintain good habits than it is to slip into bad ones? Why do we need to teach children, over and over...

In this next section of the Joseph story, his brothers experience the biggest twist imaginable: not only that Joseph is still alive, but that he still loves them as family. This is the great unveiling that happens to all people who come into co...

Gen. 1:26–28 Ps. 14:1–7 John 6:41–51 Rom. 8:5–11 The future is here. World leaders speak about immortality through continuous organ transplants. Tech companies discuss how to upload our consciousn...

At some point or another, most people get into a situation where they have to muster the courage and go and do it, and the higher the stakes, the easier it is to be afraid. When it comes to God, the stakes couldn’t be higher. How to we come to ...

Exod. 9:13–18 2 Sam. 24:1–15 John 9:1–7 Jas. 1:12–18 Have you ever been told that you have control issues? Actually everyone struggles with the thought that they may not be steering the s...

Repentance is when a person turns away from his sin toward God and others. In this chapter in the story of Joseph, when the first signs of repentance show in his treacherous brothers, we are given a glimpse of how the Lord produces true repenta...

Deut. 32:10–18 Ezek. 28:11–19 Luke 10:13–20 Eph. 6:10–20 In a culture obsessed with the supernatural, Christians need to know the basic about the devil and his demons. In this message, learn where...

In Genesis 41, a great famine strikes the land of Egypt and surrounding countries, and God raises up Joseph to save the people during it. Famine is a time of deep hunger, and in this passage, we learn that through the Greater Joseph—our Lord Je...

Gen. 3:14–21 Isa. 55 Lk. 24:36–49 Acts 17:16–34 What's the difference between the law and gospel? In this final message in a short summer series, Ben Phelps shows how the law is woven into the nat...

Should we anoint the sick with oil, as described in James 5? In this message, Rev. Welch spends time explaining why Madison Reformed Church practices this solemn ritual—what it is, what it isn't, the and way it stirs...

Lev. 4:13–21 Ps. 50 John 1:1–18, 29–34 Heb. 9:22–10:18 Moving from the section of the catechism that explains our guilt on to the "grace" section, we learn what God Himself has done to pay the sin...

How can those who are filthy from their sin stand before the God of all holiness? They must be cleansed of their filth and clothed in righteousness. Ben Phelps opens to Zechariah 3, and the amazing prophetic vision in which the high priest Josh...

Lev. 26:9–13 Isa. 40:1–2 Matt. 10:26–33 Rom. 14:7–9Rev. Nick Alons (Lynwood United Reformed Church) opens to the beautiful first question of the Heidelberg Cat...

Exod. 24:3–8 Prov. 17:15 Matt. 26:26–29 Rom. 6:15–7:6If we are now—because of sin—unable to keep God's law, then why are we still held to that standard? The answer has to do with the justice of God. In...