Worship

Patience and Maturity

Gabriel Williams
Sep 25, 2019
Over the past several months, I've taken a break from regular writing and blogging because I've been pondering the importance of Christian maturity. The apostle Paul himself stated that one of the central goals of his ministry was to "present every man complete in Christ" (cf. Colossians 1:28-29)...

Reciting the Creed

Adam Parker
Sep 23, 2019
Why do we recite the historic creeds of the church in our worship services? There are a few ways to answer this question. First, we believe these creeds are really just recitations of the content of Scripture. All we are doing is reading a summary of what the Bible says. Second, we believe...

Worship That Smells: Calvin on Genesis 8

Aaron Denlinger
Sep 12, 2019
Noah's first deed upon exiting the ark -- at least as recorded in Scripture -- was to build an altar and offer unto God sacrifices. He did this from the "clean" animals and birds which had accompanied him and his family on his recent water-based adventures. God, for his part, smelled Noah's...

Ain't Just Putting On the Ritz

Adam Parker
Aug 28, 2019
Only a few days after Josh Harris told Instagram that he is no longer a Christian, Marty Sampson similarly announced that he is "genuinely losing [his] faith." To briefly summarize, the former Hillsong United lead singer is apparently the first person to notice that miracles aren't commonplace...

Proto-Puritan William Tyndale (10)

Bob McKelvey
Aug 9, 2019
His Sacramental Theology - The Lord's Supper In our last post, we started on Tyndale’s theology of the sacraments first generally and then specifically with baptism. We will now finish up on Tyndale with his convictions on the Lord’s Supper. The majority of Tyndale’s sacramental writing centered on...

Loving the Church, For Better or Worse

Derek Thomas
Aug 5, 2019
Something is terribly wrong when professing Christians do not identify with the church and love being a part of her. Something is wrong when professing Christians fail to be passionate about every aspect of the church and long to invest themselves in her, taking all that the church represents and...

Praying for the Dead

Nick Batzig
May 28, 2019
An individual dies and social media is flooded with sentiments about prayers for the deceased and their family members. Without doubt, it is altogether right and in keeping with a spirit of true Christian charity to pray fervently for the family members of one who has passed away. Any number of...

Walk Over the Vast Ocean (4)

Joel Beeke
May 24, 2019
Reformed, experiential Christianity birthed the pioneer missionary efforts of men such as John Elio t (160 4 –1690), David Brainerd (171 8 –1747), William Carey (1761–1834), Adoniram Judson (178 8 –1850), and John G. Paton (182 4 –1907). This mission effort was small and struggling until it...

Seven Letters Seven Dangers: Sincerity

David Smith
May 22, 2019
Dear Theophilus, Since God’s word makes abundantly clear that the human soul is “deceitfully sick, beyond cure”—that is, human cure—and that God alone knows it (Jeremiah 17:9), we are wholly incapable, on our own, of accurately discerning the biblical validity of our desires, thoughts and actions...

Our Daily Bread

May 17, 2019
Give us this day our daily bread. —Matthew 6:11 In A Body of Divinity , Thomas Watson (1620–1686) presented over 150 sermons on essential Christian teachings, including a series on the Lord’s Prayer. Here is a brief section taken from his treatment of the fourth petition: Thus we argue from the...