The Means of Grace: Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies

Pastor Bob Burridge has a new post up about 'The Means of Grace'. It looks very good, so I'm posting this to help me remember to read it asap :) Enjoy!

Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies: Wrong Desires

Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies has a good message posted called 'Wrong Desires' that is very helpful. Even though I'm not a Calvinist, I enjoy many things that Calvinists write. Bob Burridge lives in Florida, and was my science and Bible teacher in middle school. I didn't agree with him on everything, since my dad had already studied old earth theories and Calvinism and rejected both, but I greatly respected him and learned alot from him.

Our War with Sin: Pastor Bob Burridge

Pastor Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies has a new post up called 'Our War with Sin'. Very helpful for some struggles I'm going through right now.

Encouraged Together: Bob Burridge

Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies has a good post up about living in community with one another.

Resurrection's Promise: Pastor Bob Burridge

Pastor Bob Burridge has a new post up about the significance of the Resurrection.
Here's the intro:

There are good reasons to celebrate at this time of the year. Easter is a day we all enjoy, but it isn’t a holiday set up in the Bible. It’s a blending of the resurrection of Jesus with holidays and traditions from different cultures, cults, and religions in various times and places.

Even the ancient pagan religions saw the beauty of Spring, and set a time to celebrate it. It’s a sad fact though that those still tragically lost in spiritual blindness miss appreciating God’s glory in it all. They see the amazing way things seem to come back to life after a long winter, but they miss what it’s telling us about the one who made it all and keeps it all working. So the ancients made up god’s and spirit beings they honored at that time of year. As the message of Christianity spread into the different parts of the world the Spring holidays were adjusted and brought together on what we call Easter.

In the time of Moses, the Passover feast was established around this time of the year on their calendar. It celebrated how God delivered Israel from hopeless captivity in Egypt.

God planned that feast to teach about the Savior who would come to die in their place. Just as a lamb died in place of the first born sons back in Egypt, Jesus, the Lamb of God, came to die in place of his people on the cross at Calvary. Then he rose again from the dead to prove that he accomplished what he came to do.

All the beauties of spring and the wonders of the promises of God come together this time of year. We love to hunt for baskets of candy, get together for a good dinner, come to worship, and most usually get a day off from school or work. However, Easter is more than a time for budding trees, warming temperatures, and new spring outfits.

Those who don’t have hope in Christ are left with just the celebration of Spring. There’s a lot to celebrate when we think of the resurrection of our Savior. The date doesn’t fit well into our calendar because it’s based on the date of Passover. The day after Jesus and his followers celebrated that biblical feast, our Savior was crucified. On the third day after that, on Sunday, the first day of the week on the Roman calendar, Jesus rose from the dead.

Please read the rest at the link above.

Bob Burridge: Loved By the Triune God

John Cullimore had a post about our love for God, and here Bob Burridge has a post about God's love for us.

Three Exercises for the Soul: Bob Burridge

Bob Burridge of the Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies has a new blog post up about three spiritual exercises that believers should remember to practice daily. They are taken from 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 which says: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I for one really needed that reminder.

Love in the Bible: Bob Burridge

Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies has a new blog post up called 'Love in the Bible' that is very helpful. I've been learning about love and God's grace lately and have been praying for God to help me to show love to others, and to love Him more and show this in an obedient life. Jesus said that all the commandments of God are summed up in two commands: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself. The Christian, as Pastor Burridge brings out, is equipped to obey these commands by God, but must learn to obey by God's grace in every area of our lives. As 1 Corinthians 13 teaches, love must pervade all our interactions, or all we do is worthless. God's plan from before the beginning of time, as revealed in Scripture, is for His people to be a people of love and glorify Him.

What is Reformed Theology? Bob Burridge

Here's another good post by Bob Burridge of the Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies. Following is a quote from the post:

The result of re-forming what was believe about God came to be called “Reformed Theology.” What had been accepted as fact was being poured back into the mold of Scripture to restore the original shape God had revealed in his written word....We have enough to deal with in working to understand what God tells us in his written word. We dare not presume upon those things which remain unrevealed. When human inventions distort what God has said we need to be reformers for our present age. All that we believe must be poured back into the mold God has given so that a purified theology comes out, a set of beliefs that are formed by nothing less than, nothing more than, what God has revealed to us in his word. That is what we mean by “Reformed Theology.”

Scripture was and is the mold that reforms our beliefs, after the fire of the Holy Spirit burns in our hearts and minds to melt down our hardened doctrines, and get rid of the dross of accumulated traditions.

A Lesson in Humility from 1 Peter 5:6 by Bob Burridge

I'm so glad I found Bob Burridge's blog and website. He has so much good to share from scripture. Today's blog post goes right along with yesterdays: We submit to God in order to resist temptation, and we humble ourselves and submit to God because of what He has done for us as He gives us grace to live as He commands.

When It's Hard to Agree With God: Bob Burridge

Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies has a helpful new post up today about the confession of sin.

The Name of Jesus: Bob Burridge of Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies

Merry Christmas!!! Here's the latest post in 'The Truth About Christmas Series' called 'The Name of Jesus'.

Great God Of Wonders: Samuel Davies (1723-1761)

My old teacher Bob Burridge recommended this hymn by Samuel Davies, a preacher of the 18th century who was also a President of Princeton University. Pastor Burridge writes about Davies in this blog post.

Here are the lyrics for the entire hymn, which gives praise to God alone.

The Birth of Our Savior: Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies: Bob Burridge

My favorite 7th grade science/Bible/homeroom teacher, Mr. Burridge, has recently started a new website and foundation, the 'Genevan Institute for Reformed Studies'. On the Institute's blog, he has a series of articles about Christmas. Here is Part 8: The Birth of Our Savior, which again mentions 'upper room' (Greek 'kataluma') as the true translation of the place in which there was no room for Christ, rather than the traditional 'inn'. The article, and the others in the series, look at the Christmas story from the perspective of Scripture, removing the false impressions that have been added by years of tradition. I hope you will read this article and then take the time to read the others in the series, as I plan to.

Mr. Burridge is no longer a science teacher. After teaching for many years, he became pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church, Pinellas Park, Florida. Here is a page about the Institute and its founder.