All Articles For Bruinsma, Wilbur G

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,...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. The media and entertainment industries have become big business, and are a powerful means of shaping the thinking of our present society. This is true because the tools which these industries use, those of radio and television, are, without a doubt, the most popular form of leisure and recreation in the 1990s. This can be said not only of the generation of the 90s in general, but of the church of the 90s as well. This was not always the case. Though many of the older generation had...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. There is a golden link between God’s everlasting covenant of grace and mission work. So much so, that it is hard to conceive of any proper mission work being carried Consider God’s covenant: it is His everlasting bond of friendship on without a deep appreciation of and fellowship with His chosen people in Christ. It is rooted in the life of fellowship God has within the truth of God’s covenant with Himself as the triune God; it is decreed from eternity in God’s sovereign election; and it is...

  Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. “Let’s talk about dating!” was the suggestion I made at the beginning of one of our Young People’s meetings. There followed a little laughter and then silence. “OK, let’s talk about not dating.” A little more laughter and some more silence. We never did pursue the subject, since our meeting was canceled in order that our Sunday School could practice for its Christmas program. It probably should have been pursued, and perhaps still can be – in all our Young People’s Societies. But then, maybe it is too...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. Rid me, and deliver tie from the hand of strange children, whose mouth speaketh vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood: that our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as cornerstones, polished after the similitude of a palace:… Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord. Psalm 144:11, 12, 15 King David was able to observe the nation of Israel in a unique...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. It is always amazing how certain passages of the Bible suddenly seem to stand out at different times in life. I remember when I was once visiting with my sister and her husband, that she mentioned that it is important to teach our children not simply to abstain from evil, but to abstain from all appearance of evil. This short exhortation of the apostle Paul in I Thessalonians 5:22 had never really struck me before that conversation. Maybe that was true because my children were young and I had not...

Rev. Bruinsma is pastor of First Protestant Reformed Church in Holland, Michigan. What is to the child of God most precious in his life? To know God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord. . .” (Jer. 9:23-24): This we believe with heart and soul. So did the Anabaptists. But what they meant by...