The Only Explanation for Christmas
- By Haak, Carl
News from the Reformed Witness Hour
December 2023
Help Us Get the Word Out!
This month we have five Christ-centered, Gospel-themed messages to share!
In December, we will hear five new messages from Rev. Bruinsma, Pastor at Pittsburgh Protestant Reformed Church in Pittsburgh, PA.
December 3
God’s Promise to His Church Confirmed (1)
Acts 2:39
December 10
God’s Promise to His Church Confirmed (2)
Acts 2:39
December 17
The Song of Angels
Luke 2:13-14
December 24
God’s Faithfulness
1 Thessalonians 5:24
December 31
The Lord Revealed from Heaven
2 Thessalonians 1:7-10
The Voice of All Creation
If you missed it, take time to listen to The Voice of All Creation. This message was the most downloaded message of October, with 360 downloads during the month. Rev Bruinsma expounds on Hebrews 11:3 “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” This message is a wonderful reminder of the rich truths found in creation.
The creation of this world stands as evidence to us of certain truths that are invisible to the eye… God’s Word in creation is a testimony of the hidden wisdom of God that He has ordained before the world unto our glory. It reveals hidden truths that God reveals only to those who have been given the eyes of faith… The six-day creation is a matter of faith versus unbelief... we learn of a truth that has always been accepted by the church of Jesus Christ… Belief in the creation account is a true test of one’s… faith.
Are we convicted in our hearts of the blessed truth of creation? Listen to the full message at reformedwitnesshour.org, search for key words: Voice of all Creation.
Radio Station Update
This year was a busy year for RWH! We started broadcasting on three new stations including Greenville, South Carolina, Detroit, Michigan and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Two of these stations were chosen in partnership with the Domestic Mission Committee with a long-term goal of possible mission work in areas where we broadcast. In God’s providence, the South Carolina station has since closed so we have begun the work of seeking another station. We are currently also working on contracts with several stations in Washington state for more blanket coverage in that area.
We covet your support and prayers as we look ahead to how we can continue to utilize radio and internet ministry to proclaim the truth of God’s sovereign grace in the new year.
Digital Media Update
We are grateful for technology that allows us to bring our messages beyond the geographical reach of our radio broadcasting. Throughout 2023 we have seen more and more listeners engage with our content digitally. So far this year, RWH has reached 98 countries (ten more than in 2022) and all fifty states via internet and podcasts.
Cambodia has been our second highest country in digital downloads consistently for all of 2022 and 2023; second only to the United States. The number of downloads from Cambodia increased from 1,794 downloads in 2022 to 3,010 downloads in 2023!
In 2020, we began broadcasting our messages via podcast. Since then, this medium has become more and more popular. This year, 40% of our digital downloads have been via podcast apps. In 2021 and 2022, podcasts accounted for 30% and 34% of downloads respectively.
Join us by subscribing to RWH on one of these podcast apps: iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, PlayerFM, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, the Podcast App, and Himalaya.
In addition to podcasts, listeners can access RWH messages via our RWH website (www.ReformedWitnessHour.org) and Sermon Audio (www.sermonaudio.com/rwh).
Top countries reached so far in 2023 |
Downloads |
Top states reached so far in 2023 |
Downloads |
United States |
11,332 |
Michigan |
2,656 |
Cambodia |
3,010 |
Colorado |
911 |
Singapore |
809 |
South Carolina |
863 |
United Kingdom |
638 |
Ohio |
627 |
Canada |
376 |
North Carolina |
524 |
Today, December 3, is the forty-eighth Lord's Day of this year of our Lord 2023. Below you will find special highlights of PRC and sister-church news. It is our hope that these reports not only inform you but also give you opportunity to pray for the needs of these churches and mission fields throughout the world.
If you are new to this website and the PRCA, we invite you to join us in worship today or on any of the Sunday's of this year at one of our local congregations near you, or listen online.
Moreover the LORD spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask thee a sign of the LORD thy God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the LORD. And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. ~ Isaiah 7:10-16
Classical appointments and pulpit supply for today in the vacant PRCs: Prof. C. Griess and Rev. K. Koole in Georgetown PRC; Elder led in Hope PRC-Redlands; Prof. B. Huizinga and Rev. J. Laning in Hudsonville PRC; Rev. H. Bleyenberg (1st week) in Loveland PRC; Elder led in Lynden PRC; Rev. R. Smit in Randolph PRC. May we count it a blessing of our church federation that we can help one another in these needs. Let us remember to pray for the men who supply these pulpits and for the vacant congregations. And may we continue to pray for men to hear the call to serve as pastors and missionaries!
Special Congregational Notices:
PRC DENOMINATIONAL NEWS
PRC Seminary Notices:
REFORMED RESOURCES for EDUCATION, EDIFICATION, and EVANGELISM
Listen to the Reformed Witness Hour each Sunday - on a radio station near you, on Sermonaudio, or on your favorite podcast - wherever you are!
Are you a Standard Bearer reader? This fall marks the beginning of volume 100 for the semi-monthly Reformed magazine, and if you are not yet a subscriber or if you used to be but stopped, now is the time to become a subscriber again. Each issue is packed with instructional and edifying articles on a wide variety of biblical and Reformed subjects.
The prayer of Nehemiah 2:4 is clearly ejaculatory. First, it is spontaneous. After Artaxerxes asks, “For what dost thou make request?” Nehemiah tells us, “So I prayed to the God of heaven” (4). Second, it is silent. The Medo-Persian emperor did not hear Nehemiah say anything out loud to God (for that would have been weird). Nor did he see any movement of his cupbearer’s lips, unlike Eli who saw Hannah’s lips move in silent prayer (I Sam. 1:12-13). Third, Nehemiah’s prayer was short. Evidently King Artaxerxes did not even notice any pause before Nehemiah responded to his question.
I take it that you, beloved, are not strangers to ejaculatory prayer, that you too speed off brief darts of prayers to your heavenly Father amidst your many daily activities and that you do it often!
Let us consider some very basic points regarding this ejaculatory prayer of Nehemiah, including, first, when he made it. Nehemiah was working, engaged in his gainful employment as an imperial cupbearer.
Second, where was Nehemiah when he offered this ejaculatory prayer? In an imperial palace! If he can dart a prayer to Jehovah from there, so can we, by God’s grace, whether we are at school, in a hospital, at the office, in an aeroplane or at home.
Third, before whom did Nehemiah make this ejaculatory prayer? In the presence of an idolater who was probably the most powerful man on the planet! Yet, even then, who was this earthly monarch compared to the sovereign ruler over all! “Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven” (Neh. 2:4). We too can shoot our prayers to our covenant God in Jesus Christ our Redeemer before our bank manager, teacher, mother-in-law, employer or persecutor.
~ Taken from the newest Covenant Reformed News, "Nehemiah's Ejaculatory Prayer in the Palace" by Rev. A. Stewart (read all of this fine article at the link provided here)
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Today, November 26, is the forty-eighth Lord's Day of this year of our Lord 2023. Below you will find special highlights of PRC and sister-church news. It is our hope that these reports not only inform you but also give you opportunity to pray for the needs of these churches and mission fields throughout the world.
If you are new to this website and the PRCA, we invite you to join us in worship today or on any of the Sunday's of this year at one of our local congregations near you, or listen online.
In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. ...Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar! My soul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace. I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war. ~ Psalm 120:1,2, 5-7
Classical appointments and pulpit supply for today in the vacant PRCs: Prof. C. Griess and Rev. N. Decker in Georgetown PRC; Elder led in Hope PRC-Redlands; Prof. B. Huizinga and Rev. J. Smidstra in Hudsonville PRC; Rev. S. Key in Loveland PRC; Rev. R. Smit in Lynden PRC; Rev. J. Laning in Randolph PRC; Prof. B. Gritters and Rev. K. Koole in Zion PRC. May we count it a blessing of our church federation that we can help one another in these needs. Let us remember to pray for the men who supply these pulpits and for the vacant congregations. And may we continue to pray for men to hear the call to serve as pastors and missionaries!
Special Congregational Notices:
PRC DENOMINATIONAL NEWS
PRC Seminary Notices:
REFORMED RESOURCES for EDUCATION, EDIFICATION, and EVANGELISM
Listen to the Reformed Witness Hour each Sunday - on a radio station near you, on Sermonaudio, or on your favorite podcast - wherever you are!
Are you a Standard Bearer reader? This year marks the beginning of volume 100 for the semi-monthly Reformed magazine, and if you are not yet a subscriber or if you used to be but stopped, now is the time to become a subscriber again. Each issue is packed with instructional and edifying articles on a wide variety of biblical and Reformed subjects.
Nehemiah is seeking the Lord for the welfare of His church deliberately, and with resolution and perseverance, for a period of about 120 days. These are the actions of a man who sought the welfare of Israel for a long time even before he oversaw the laying of a single stone on Jerusalem’s defensive walls. The genuine and deep distress that he manifests for the people of God over 2,400 years ago puts us to shame and stirs us up to pray for the body of Christ in our day!
Nehemiah 1:5-11 contains a summary of his covenantal praying for four months in Mesopotamia. It begins with the covenant address: “I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments” (5). Here, as elsewhere, the Lord’s “covenant and mercy” refer not to two separate things but to His one covenant mercy.
If we approach Jehovah as the God of the covenant in Jesus Christ, we have access to Him and confidence that He will answer our prayers for His people: “Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants” (6).
~ Taken from the newest Covenant Reformed News, "Nehemiah's Covenant Prayer" by Rev. A. Stewart (read all of this fine article at the link provided here)
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Today, November 19, is the forty-seventh Lord's Day of this year of our Lord 2023. Below you will find special highlights of PRC and sister-church news. It is our hope that these reports not only inform you but also give you opportunity to pray for the needs of these churches and mission fields throughout the world.
This Thursday, November 23, the PRC congregations in the U.S. will gather for worship in the morning for the annual Thanksgiving Day service. Those without a church home or visiting near one of these congregations are cordially invited to join them in praising and thanking the Lord for His goodness, and in expressing complete dependence on Him for all our material and spiritual gifts. "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." ~ Psalm 100:4
If you are new to this website and the PRCA, we invite you to join us in worship today or on any of the Sunday's of this year at one of our local congregations near you, or listen online.
Classical appointments and pulpit supply for today in the vacant PRCs: Prof. C. Griess (and Thanksgiving Day) and Rev. C. Haak in Georgetown PRC; Prof. B. Huizinga and Rev. M. McGeown in Hudsonville PRC; Rev. K. Koole (1st week) and Thanksgiving Day in Loveland PRC; Elders lead; Rev. R. Smit Thanksgiving Day and next Sunday (26th) in Lynden PRC; Rev. S. Regnerus (Rev. J. Laning Thanksgiving Day and next Sunday) in Randolph PRC; Prof. B. Gritters and Rev. D. Lee (and Rev. Koole, Thanksgiving Day) in Zion PRC. May we count it a blessing of our church federation that we can help one another in these needs. Let us remember to pray for the men who supply these pulpits and for the vacant congregations. And may we continue to pray for men to hear the call to serve as pastors and missionaries!
Special Congregational Notices:
PRC DENOMINATIONAL NEWS
A frosty sunrise greeted the seminary this past Monday morning and all week the "autumn glory" maples along the driveway were at their peak.
PRC Seminary Notices:
REFORMED RESOURCES for EDUCATION, EDIFICATION, and EVANGELISM
Listen to the Reformed Witness Hour each Sunday - on a radio station near you, on Sermonaudio, or on your favorite podcast - wherever you are!
Why do we want and take our children with us in worship? Read this resource to find out sound biblical reasons for this practice in the PRC.
And here is the wonder of it all, that God, the all glorious, has purposed through the church; the body of Christ with its many members, in whom He has poured out of His abundant grace, that that church should be the mouthpiece through whom praise shall ascend to Him that enumerates His perfections and thus glorifies Him. O, indeed, also the wicked shall bend the knee and acknowledge that He is God, but they cannot thank Him. But unto us has this grace been given.
Abundant grace makes the thanksgiving to abound!
The one grace of God is multiplied in myriads of reflections in the church chosen in Christ!
This grace overflows and comes out of many mouths through thanksgiving!
To the praise of God's glory!
Thus God glorifies Himself!
What an unspeakably precious gift that He will glorify Himself through us, and that He through the wonder of grace will draw from us His own praise in such a way that we consciously extol His praises with thanksgiving to Him!
This is true thanksgiving!
May we remember this when on Thanksgiving Day we enter His courts!
Now, of course, we realize this only with a small beginning of new obedience.
Presently, however, we shall stand in that vast multitude of redeemed that shall see Him face to face. Then unto all eternity shall ascend as a sweet incense to the Most High the praise and thanksgiving which is His due in heavenly perfection.
~ Taken from the Standard Bearer article "Grace Abounding Through Thanksgiving" by Marinus Schipper
Today, November 12, is the forty-sixth Lord's Day of this year of our Lord 2023. Below you will find special highlights of PRC and sister-church news. It is our hope that these reports not only inform you but also give you opportunity to pray for the needs of these churches and mission fields throughout the world.
If you are new to this website and the PRCA, we invite you to join us in worship today or on any of the Sunday's of this year at one of our local congregations near you, or listen online.
My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes. My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness. Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight. Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me. I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments. ~ Psalm 119:171-176
Classical appointments and pulpit supply for today in the vacant PRCs: Prof. C. Griess and Rev. D. Noorman in Georgetown PRC; Rev. D. Holstege and Prof. B. Huizinga in Hudsonville PRC; Rev. R. Barnhill (2nd week) in Loveland PRC; Rev. J. Marcus (2nd week) in Lynden PRC; Prof. M. DeVries in Randolph PRC; Prof. B. Gritters and Rev. D. Holstege in Zion PRC. May we count it a blessing of our church federation that we can help one another in these needs. Let us remember to pray for the men who supply these pulpits and for the vacant congregations. And may we continue to pray for men to hear the call to serve as pastors and missionaries!
Special Congregational Notices:
PRC DENOMINATIONAL NEWS
Rev. D. Noorman (PRTS class of 2017, pastor of Southwest PRC) led the chapel on Nov.1 at the PRC Seminary.
PRC Seminary Notices:
REFORMED RESOURCES for EDUCATION, EDIFICATION, and EVANGELISM
Listen to the Reformed Witness Hour each Sunday - on a radio station near you, on Sermonaudio, or on your favorite podcast - wherever you are!
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"I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,” Rev 1:10
The wicked world claims this day as their own to do as they please and for their own pleasures. But Rev 1:10 reminds us, this day, Sunday, belongs to the King of Kings, our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27)
This day, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us to, as it were, repair our spiritual armour. After a week of intense fighting against the Devil, the wicked world and our own sinful flesh, there are cracks forming on our helmets and shields. A miracle that they have held up through the relentless and pounding blows of temptations and Satan’s fiery darts of deception. This day, from sun up to sun down, God gives us to sit under the preaching, so that our faith is again strengthened. Our blunt swords sharpen.
It would be sheer foolishness to forget or forsake this true rest!
So come and frequent the Lord’s house. Drink deeply of the sweetness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Shed tears of true heartfelt repentance. Stand in awe and the power of Jesus’s salvation of us. Then march out with hearts filled with joy and thankfulness. With hearts filled with comfort and confidence in the finished work of Christ at the cross.
Restless souls in a world of unrest, come let us rest in Christ.
~ Taken from today's Covenant ERC-Singapore bulletin, written by Pastor J. Tan in his "pastoral voice" note to the congregation
Classis East
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Classis West
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