All Articles For Bruinsma, Wilbur G

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. We hear it all the time: love God and love the neighbor. We hear it from the pulpit, in the classroom from our teachers, and surely we hear it at home from our parents. The one, great commandment of God’s law is to love God. The second commandment is like unto it: love your neighbor. We do not have to be great theologians to understand this command. We do not even have to be an adult or a young person to know what it is to love God...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. How can a believer put into words the intimate love and communion he shares with his God? He cannot! Yet, though it may be difficult for us to express this relationship, nevertheless God gives us to experience it in this life in a real and concrete way. God has entered into a covenant of friendship by which He binds believers to Himself. As a result, God’s people experience in their joys as well as in their sorrows the presence and favor of their God. Likewise, there is nothing...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of Kalamazoo Protestant Reformed Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Sin-weary saint! Have you ever become so burdened with your sin that you despaired? Have you ever fallen so deeply into sin that you wondered whether God would accept you again into His presence and favor? Does your daily battle against sin at times weary you to the point of despondency? It is at these times in our lives that we hardly dare lift our prayers to heaven to plead with God for forgiveness. We feel so guilty and unworthy. Yet, with shame and sorrow we confess our...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. OK, so I am miserable. Just plain not happy. Something is wrong, but what exactly it is I am not sure. But one thing is for certain, something is askew. My parents are a constant bother. Everything I do or say, it seems, upsets them; and they end up either arguing with me or yelling at the top of their lungs. Then, to make matters worse, a brother or sister has to throw in a snide remark here and there. Sometimes I wonder whether it is even worth...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldst receive him forever. Philemon 1:15 These are pretty soft words, it seems, to describe a dastardly sin committed in the house of Philemon! Philemon was a Grecian convert who, together with his wife, Apphia, and his son, Archippus, were close personal friends of the apostle Paul. For years the church of Colosse had met in Philemon’s house, and it was during this time that he and Paul had become close to one another. Now Paul, in this...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan. *Text of the speech delivered at the annual meeting of the RFPA on September 24, 1992. The subject before us implies there is a relationship between the Standard Bearer and the family, but it says nothing as to what that relationship is. Is the Standard Bearer useful in strengthening the family, or does it have little to do with addressing the needs of a covenant family? That question our theme does not answer. For that reason it is perhaps best that we clarify our intent or purpose...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan. “… Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain. “ Proverbs 30:8, 9 “Feed me with food convenient for me.” Surely, this is not a sinful request we make to our God. It is not wrong to ask for earthly things. In fact, the request of this proverb is strikingly similar to the...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.  John 9:39 “I am come . . . that they which see might be made blind.” A striking statement it is that Jesus makes. We preach a Savior who is the light of the world. He makes the blind to see and the lame to walk. He heals the sick and visits the prisoner. He seeks and finds those that are...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church of Holland, Michigan. (At the September 1993 meeting of the Eastern League of Men’s and Ladies’ Societies, Rev. Bruinsma spoke on the above topic. The substance of his speech will appear in this rubric in two installments, the first of which follows here.) A different spirit prevails in the world today as compared to, say, 40 years ago. Many who have lived through these years perhaps did not even notice the change. This is true because the change was gradual, and, more than these people realize, their own world-and-life view has...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. Solomon exhibits in this passage, as always, a keen insight into human nature. He knows the pride that resides in our flesh. He knows that there is nothing that hurts our pride more than when we are shown our weakness and helplessness. And he knows that there is no, greater way our weakness is revealed than through adversity or calamity in life. This is something no man can avoid. Neither can he overcome it in his own strength. How often this results in frustration and rebellion against God,...