Why do we confess our sins to the Lord?

Why do we regularly confess our sins to God in our corporate worship services? The regular discipline of confession enables us to grasp more fully the beauty and wonder of grace as we are made continually aware of the depth of our need for God’s unmerited favor.

Christopher Ash explains that we also confess our sins “to encourage self-examination that leads to daily repentance, not morbid introspection that leads to despair.”&nbs...
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Why do Jesus followers gather to worship God?

Here is one answer: To re-present and respond to the great story of what God has done in Jesus Christ to save sinners like us. The one word that summarizes this story is “gospel” which means good news. There is a distinct gospel structure to every part of our worship service:Adoration: We adore and praise God for His greatness and grace. Today we praise our Lord for being our Shepherd....
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Prepare Your Heart for Palm Sunday

Tomorrow we celebrate Palm Sunday, which is the beginning of Holy Week. On this day, we remember our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This event is mentioned by all four gospel writers. Here is one devotional thought from the pen of Charles Spurgeon that is particularly meaningful to me: 

Remember, beloved, the coming of Christ is with gentleness. It is not Christ who has come unto you if you have grown prouder, harder, more obsess...

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Can a True Believer Fall Away?

This coming Sunday we will  hear again the story of how one of Jesus' original disciples fell in his spiritual journey. In light of this study, It is vital that we remember what we believe about the perseverance of the saints.

Listen to what our Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 17, Points 1 & 3 says: 

Those whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Sp...

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Recalibrate Your Heart

Corporate worship is designed to ignite in us a greater love for the one, true, living God. Apart from the work of His Spirit, we naturally love other things: Our money, our pleasure, and ourselves more than Him (2 Timothy 3:1-4). We gather for worship so that our Lord might progressively liberate us from our idolatries and therefore reign supreme in our lives. 

Our hearts are finely tuned instruments. Mark Mallett writes “… all the bumps alo...

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When I Am Anxious

Our Scripture Memory verse for the month of March is Philippians 4:6-7: 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

According to this passage, the cure for anxiety is two-fold: Seeking the Lord in believing prayer  and anchoring our hearts...

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Where Do You Need to Grow as a Christ-follower?

“What type of Christ followers are we endeavoring to produce, by God’s grace and blessing, through our ministries of teaching, discipleship and spiritual formation?

Answer: Christians whose lives display the following features:

Doxology, the habit taught and modeled by King David and the Apostle Paul of constantly praising God and giving him thanks;

Humility, the blessed gift of self-forget...

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Why Gather to Worship our Lord?

The people of God gather on the Lord’s Day to worship Him. We do this in the power of the Holy Spirit, out of gratitude to our Almighty God who has revealed Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ.We humble ourselves before Him by declaring His worth, confessing His lordship, and rendering to Him honor and glory according to His Word.                       

There are ...

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Four Profound Benefits of the Lord's Supper

One of the joyful privileges of corporate worship is celebrating the Lord’s Supper. This Sunday we will have this awesome privilege of feasting at the the Lord's table. What benefits should we expect to receive from our time of communion this morning? 

J.C. Ryle states that the right reception of the Lord’s Supper ought to have four effects upon us. 

Right reception of the Lord’s Sup...
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Using the Psalms for Personal and Corporate Worship

The Psalms play a vital role in the personal and family worship of Christ-followers. We also constantly avail ourselves of them in corporate worship. Why such an abundant use of Psalms? 1.  The Psalms nurture in us a life of spiritual health and vitality. Spiritual health consists in: Knowing intimately, loving fervently, and treasuring deeply the Lord who is our Creator, Redeemer, Savior, and King.&n...
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Imitating Our Generous God

John 3:16 is the classic text on God's incredible generosity: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." God generously sends us a Savior to rescue underserving sinners like us from eternal peril . 

As we grow as believers, we discover that another one of his purposes in sending his Son was not only to save us,...

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The Tasks of a Worshiper - Colossians 3:5-17

Colossians 3:5-17 sets forth our tasks as worshipers:                       

• We begin by prizing the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:17). This liberates us from being consumed with our own names and reputations. We are called to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God.            &nbs...

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Why Prioritize Corporate Worship

Corporate worship provides us an opportunity to demonstrate where our true allegiance lies. William Barclay offers this challenge: “Even if the sermon be poor and the worship gaudy and showy, faithful attendance of corporate worship still gives us the chance to show the world what side we are on.”

Corporate worship st...

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Worship Leads to Mission

The Lord does some amazing things while His people worship. At Antioch long ago, the Lord set apart and called specific men to a specific work. The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them” (Acts 13:2).  

The Holy Spirit is still in the calling business. For every church in every generation, worship always leads to mission. A missional church like ours is a unified, worshipping bo...

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Obituary for Bill Whitwer, the beloved former pastor of Rainbow

Dear Rainbow Church,

Below is the obituary from Karen and Karla, the daughters of Bill Whitwer. Bill served two stints at Rainbow Pres.

We will be having Dad’s graveside service Sunday at 3:00 pm at Grace Cemetery at Madison Heights Church. Reception following.

Bill Whitwer was born one of nine children, in Tilden, Nebraska, on July 23, 1930 to Theodore G. Whitwer of Tilden, Nebraska and Ber...

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