In Lessons from the Upper Room, he serves as a kind of tour guide who describes what has happened in this room, what it meant at the time, and what it continues to mean today. He offers a guided tour of one of the most significant evenings in human history and tells how and why it matters to you and to me and to the course of events in this world. It’s my strong recommendation that you take the tour.

If you could go back in time and insert yourself into any point in history, even if only to be a proverbial fly on the wall, what would you choose? What moment would you wish to observe, or what event would you wish to witness? Would you want to watch God create the world? Would you want to see Elijah perform miracles, David compose psalms, shepherds hear tidings of great joy? As for me, I would have to think long and hard, but in the end I might just choose to observe Jesus and his disciples in the upper room.
It was in the upper room that Jesus celebrated his final Passover, that he washed the feet of his disciples, that he predicted his betrayal, that he gave his new commandment, that he foretold Peter’s denial, that he declared himself the way, the truth, and the life, that he promised the coming of the Holy Spirit, that he prayed a long intercessory prayer for his disciples and for his followers through the ages. Each of these was a sacred moment, each packed with the utmost significance. And each took place in one little room and in one short period of time.
Jesus’ time in the upper room has become known as his Farewell Discourse and it is the subject of Sinclair Ferguson’s new book Lessons from the Upper Room. The book’s subtitle, “The Heart of the Savior,” is significant, for it is in this address that Jesus so wonderfully and clearly reveals his heart.
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In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 1-10.

In 2022 The Aquila Report (TAR) posted over 3,000 stories. At the end of each year we feature the top 50 stories that were read.
TAR posts 8 new stories each day, on a variety of subjects – all of which we trust are of interest to our readers. As a web magazine TAR is an aggregator of news and information that we believe will provide articles that will inform the church of current trends and movements within the church and culture.
In keeping with the journalistic tradition of looking back at the recent past, we present the top 50 stories of the year that were read on The Aquila Report site based on the number of hits. We will present the 50 stories in groups of 10 to run on five lists on consecutive days. Here are numbers 1-10:

An Open Letter With A Broken Heart to My Beloved Church

[Editor’s Note: This is a letter from a member to her church explaining the reasons she left a church she loved after being a member for eight years. We are publishing the letter anonymously to avoid publicly impugning anyone’s integrity and to allow the content of the letter to be read on its merits.]

What Greg Johnson Won’t Tell You About “Double Repentance”

Here we have biblical truth, expounded clearly and succinctly. Christ’s blood does not merely take away the guilt of our sin but also removes the powerful grip it holds on us, enabling us to choose righteousness over wickedness, allowing us to actually put sin to death even at the level of our desires. “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5). While Revoice proponents are busy delicately nuancing a distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual behavior, the Lord calls us to put it all to death because it is worldly and wicked.

Disney Airs Animated Series about Satan Impregnating a Reluctant Mother Who Births the Antichrist

Artist Ricky Cometa said, “When Dana first approached me, she said that ‘we’re trying to make this demon realm part of Disney,’ which is something I didn’t think would happen.” Cometa went on to say, “We really wanted to make this demon realm feel like home, and just had to figure out how to do it.”

Overture 15 – The Tipping Point for a Split in the PCA?

The following is the wording of Overture 15 approved by the General Assembly: “Men who describe themselves as homosexual, even those who describe themselves as homosexual and claim to practice celibacy by refraining from homosexual conduct, are disqualified from holding office in the Presbyterian Church in America.”

Ash Wednesday: Picking and Choosing our Piety

When Presbyterians and Baptists and free church evangelicals start attending Ash Wednesday services and observing Lent, one can only conclude that they have either been poorly instructed in the theology or the history of their own traditions, or that they have no theology and history. Or maybe they are simply exhibiting the attitude of the world around: They consume the bits and pieces which catch their attention in any tradition they find appealing, while eschewing the broader structure, demands and discipline which belonging to an historically rooted confessional community requires.

Testimony and Covenant of the Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church

By God’s grace, under Christ’s authority, we vow to strive for purity, peace, and Scriptural order in the formation of the Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church. Therefore, we endeavor to exclude those who disturb her peace, corrupt her testimony, and subvert her established forms from her communion. Therefore, as previous generations of Presbyterians did before us, we covenant together as elders in the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ to be “True to the Scriptures, the Reformed Faith, and the Great Commission!”

What To Do About Greg Johnson?

As an ordained PCA minister, his participation in Revoice and his determination to embrace a gay lifestyle and culture has given comfort and aid to one of the great modern movements attacking the church and orthodoxy.  Furthermore, he has continued to write, speak, and make money off his self-ascribed role as a gay martyr trying to help a misguided denomination that may “still have time to care.”

A Single Woman’s Response to Greg Johnson

Christians ever identified themselves by inner desires?  Don’t we all experience a multitude of desires we deal with besides sexual ones?  As a single female Christian, it never occurred to me to identify myself related to any sexual desires.  I am not alone.  Among Christians, there are life-long single men and women, widowed men and women, divorced men and women, who have obeyed God’s commandments while remaining celibate during periods of their lives.  Furthermore, they never identified themselves by any desires they experienced during those same periods of their lives.

The End of Overtures 23 & 37

While Overtures 23 and 37 did not receive the approval of 2/3 of presbyteries, they did receive more than a majority of the presbyteries that have voted so far. The debate on the issue is not over. There are a number of presbyteries preparing to send overtures to the 49th PCA General Assembly on the qualifications for ordination to church office. 
And the number one story on The Aquila Report for 2022:

Memorial Presbyterian Church Session Calls Congregation Meeting

It is with a mixture of sorrow and hope that we, the elders of Memorial Presbyterian Church, after fifteen months spent fasting, praying, waiting, consulting and listening, now write to call a meeting of the congregation for 5:30–6:30 p.m. Friday, November 18, 2022, in the Auditorium for the purpose of deciding on matters pertaining to denominational alignment. We are recommending the congregation vote to withdraw from the Presbyterian Church in America in accordance with Book of Church Order 25-11.
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We must begin by fearing the Lord and trusting entirely in Him. That’s the beginning of the Christian life. Proverbs 3:5 and 6 say, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” That is the beginning of the Christian life. Trust is the essence of faith. Trust is a willingness to submit your life to God’s ways.

I once was driving around with my kids, and one of them asked me a great question. They said, “Dad, what is a mature Christian?” In that question, I felt a desire in their heart to be a mature Christian! So, I’m driving my truck and thinking, “That’s a great question.” I responded, “Well, a mature Christian is somebody who understands the gospel and where they stand in Christ. A mature Christian is someone who has read their Bible cover-to-cover. A mature Christian is a man or woman of the Book (the Bible), and they know the God of the Book.” After saying that, I kept thinking. ‘What else should I say?’ I asked myself. Then I said, “Paul addresses believers to use their spiritual gifts in the life of the church, so another mark of a mature Christian is that he or she is a churchman or a churchwoman—that they are members of a church, that they are using their spiritual gifts in the life of the church, that they love the Lord’s people.” After saying that, I kept thinking! I replied, “Even more than trusting the gospel thoroughly, even more than knowing the Bible, even more than serving in a local church, maturity involves knowing how to apply all these things in our daily lives. Jesus did not say, ‘Teach them all I have commanded you,’ but ‘Teach them to obey all that I have commanded you!’” So, I explained to my children this element of practical theology we sometimes call wisdom. Knowing how to live Coram Deo (before the Face of God) in the fear of the Lord.  “If you can put all those things together in life application, that’s wisdom, and then you will be a mature Christian,” I told them.
“But what does this wisdom look like exactly?” they asked. My kids are very persistent. “To answer that question,” I said, “we need to go to Proverbs!” Solomon gives us four qualities of wisdom that must be mastered if we are going to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel as mature Christians.
First, we must understand that we must learn wisdom.
Solomon says in Proverbs 22:17, “Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise.” Solomon is saying that wisdom is outside of us, and therefore, we must seek it out.
This was not true of Jesus Christ. Christ is the essence of wisdom, but for us, it is true. Wisdom is NOT intuitive. No one is born a wise person. Proverbs 22:15 says, “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is deceitful and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Therefore, the first thing to understand about wisdom is that we must seek it outside of ourselves.
How often are we told to ‘Follow your heart,’ or ‘Trust your instincts,’ and ‘Just do what feels right.’? The self-help section of every local bookstore is filled with books telling fools to be more foolish by looking inside themselves for wisdom.
Moreover, those who realize they lack the necessary wisdom often search for wisdom in the wrong places. Job asks in Job 28, “Where can you find wisdom? You go and dig into the depths of the earth, you won’t find wisdom there. You go to the bottom of the sea, you won’t find wisdom there. You go and find all the greatest treasures in the world, you won’t find wisdom there.” He says in Job 28:21, “It [wisdom] is hidden from the eyes of all living And concealed from the birds of the earth.” But then he says, “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.”
Wisdom is only to be found in God. Hollywood does not have it. Washington D. C. does not have it. The Ivy League Colleges do not have it. Social media experts don’t have it. Only God possesses wisdom! As a result, if you want wisdom, you must go to God.
The apostle James said this: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5). The first step to wisdom is realizing that outside of God’s gift of wisdom, we are all fools. We must find wisdom through God’s divine revelation!
Second, we must understand that wisdom is the applied knowledge of God.
Solomon also says in Proverbs 22:17, “Apply your heart to my knowledge.” Solomon means that wisdom is the applied knowledge of God. You can have knowledge without wisdom. There are a lot of foolish geniuses in the world.
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