All Articles For Sounding Out the Word

This message was aired on the Reformed Witness Hour on March 1, 1999. What contributes to dead orthodoxy? What con­tributes to mere formal worship? What contributes to a lack of pastors? What contributes to an increase of complex conflict in family and church? What contrib­utes to many young people exiting a doctrinally sound denomination like ours? Of course, there are other components, but I strongly suggest that alcohol abuse is a far stronger factor than we have been willing to consider. Quickly to disagree and dismiss this diagno­sis is to ignore what Scripture frequently indicates to be a problem in...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan and radio pastor for the Reformed Witness Hour, on which this message was aired. “For from you sounded out the word of the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad; so that we need not to speak any thing.” I Thessalonians 1:8 In this chapter of I Thessalonians the apostle Paul states that he knew that the believers in Thessalonica had been eternally chosen of God unto salvation. He says to them in verse 4, “Knowing, brethren beloved,...

When will Jesus come again? After seeing in the Word of God that Jesus comes yet once more in the future, comes to destroy this present world and to gather unto Himself His church, to judge the wicked, and to bring about the newheavens and the new earth we might ask the question: When will He come? Can we know the time? Can we make predictions? Should we, as Christians, begin to set dates when Jesus is expected to come? Our Lord Himself gave a very clear answer to this question. He said in Mark 13:32, 33, “But of that...

The controversy between Jehovah the living God, and Pharaoh king of Egypt, is recorded in the Bible to show the power of God to save His people and to redeem them from all their sins. The apostle Paul, inRomans 9:17, when speaking of the sovereign, almighty predestination of God, that is, God’s eternal determination of who will be saved and who will not be saved, shows from the life of Pharaoh that this is accomplished by the mighty will of God: “For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my...

In a recent broadcast we made reference to a debate that was provoked by a decision made in Kansas to allow creation to be taught in the public schools. The opponents of that decision argued vehemently that the evolutionary explanation of the origin of the world is a scientific fact. The decision that was made in Kansas pointed out that evolution is not a fact but is a theory. That is, the evolutionary explanation of the origin of the world is an explanation that is ultimately unprovable by the accepted scientific method. The opponents of the decision simply would not...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan and radio pastor for the Reformed Witness Hour, on which this message was aired. I assume that those who are listening today are those who profess to be children of God and have the opportunity to know God by attending church and reading the Holy Scriptures. Are you growing in the knowledge of God? And does the knowledge of God preserve you in the midst of a wicked world? Does it preserve you in the way of holiness and truth? Every child of God who professes to know...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan and radio pastor for the Reformed Witness Hour, on which this message was aired. The subject that we will consider is the single, most important truth of God for you to know. Absolutely everything else in your life, and every other possible concern you might have today, fades into insignificance before this subject. The subject will speak of the only possibility for your soul to stand before God. It will answer the most basic question of human life. That question is this: How shall I be right with...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan and radio pastor for the Reformed Witness Hour, on which this message was aired. What do you want in the coming year? Take time to search your heart. The heart of man (yours and mine) is always focused on something. What is it? If you could be given one thing, what would you want it to be? Is it in terms of the earthly: money, things, advance in business? Is it in terms of pleasure: good times, friends, excitement? Is it in terms of personal satisfaction: weight-loss, beauty?...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan and radio pastor for the Reformed Witness Hour, on which this message was aired. Never did the grace of God shine so brightly on this earth as it did in the dark night when the virgin Mary brought forth her firstborn son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger. God gave His own Son in our human body, loaded on Him our sins, so that He might take them all away, for there was no other way to the Father. There is no...

Rev. Haak is pastor of Georgetown Protestant Reformed Church in Hudsonville, Michigan and radio pastor for the Reformed Witness Hour, on which this message was aired. In the past weeks, many of us have again witnessed the opening of Christian schools, and many of us have returned to the active, daily teaching of our children. As people of God, we believe that it is our calling to bring up our children. And, as the Lord gives us the ability and provides for us, it is our calling to establish our own Christian schools for them. What are the reasons for...