Here is a link to an excellent piece by G. H. Visscher. One of the most disturbing trends of modern Reformed church life is the disappearance of the second service. What does it mean? It means at least two things: 1) we’ve . . . Continue reading →
Means of Grace
More On The Second Service
I’m getting some interesting feedback on the earlier post regarding the second service. A few thoughts:
What's the Big Deal About Preaching?
Gordon Cheng raises this question (HT: Colin Adams) as part of a brief post on a passage from Richard Baxter’s Reformed Pastor. Cheng says, I’ve never really agreed with the evangelical emphasis on preaching, and never quite understood how evangelicals make so . . . Continue reading →
Church Growth is Dead
So says Pastor Marty Fields of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Laurel, MS.
Jones: The Holiness of the Church
More good stuff at WSC.
How to React to Homosexuals in the Congregation?
The question was raised on the PB how a congregation ought to respond to practicing homosexuals who are visiting a congregation regularly. Here’s a slightly revised version of my initial answer. First, praise God that they are in the congregation where, one trusts, . . . Continue reading →
Bill is Reading RRC!
He’s a Cornhusker writing from Omaha.
Twice on Sunday
Iain Campbell explains the importance and even the necessity of the second service.
Which Has Priority: Private Devotion or Public Worship?
This question arises on the PB. I reply: Well, as I argue in RRC, there’s a strong case to be made from Scripture and the confession (defined broadly and narrowly) that, in Reformed theology, the public “means of grace” (the “due use . . . Continue reading →
Nick is Reading RRC: Keep the Sabbath Wholly
I wish I had thought of that.
Sproul on Getting Your Teen-Ager to Church
At the Ligonier blog (HT: Danny Hyde).
Iain Campbell on "The Means of Grace"
…the Reformed tradition recognised, alongside its great emphasis on grace, that while we experience that grace personally and individually, we recognise it through particular channels, or ‘means’. There is a distinction to be made between means and ends – the end that . . . Continue reading →
The Sabbath and the Small Congregation
Good stuff at the Reformed Reader.
Iain Campbell on the Means of Grace
This is solid, helpful, brief account. I’m not sure we should read Berkhof’s distinction back into the Heidelberg Catechism (nor am I confident that the Westminster Divines meant to distinguish their doctrine of prayer as a means of grace from the HC) . . . Continue reading →
Prayer As a Means of Grace
Fix writes to ask about prayer as a means of grace. I’ve thought quite a bit lately, about the question of prayer as a means of grace…. Question 1: When the Westminster Divines spoke of prayer as a means of grace, were . . . Continue reading →
When the Borderline and Sideline Converge: Sunday Evenings
Conservative sideline Presbyterian and Reformed folk like to think of themselves as distinctly different from the liberal mainline Presbyterians and even borderline denominations such as the Christian Reformed Church but the Christian Century (HT: Aquila Report) describes a study done in the . . . Continue reading →
Magical Thinking, Grace, and Ted Williams
Americans love a comeback story. Americans also love magic. Sometimes the two converge as they did in the Ted Williams story. He was a radio announcer, with a great voice, who became a drunk and a drug addict.
Office Hours: Hywel Jones on Preaching the Doctrine of Regeneration (You Need to Hear This)
Of course I always want you to listen and subscribe to Office Hours but I especially want you (and everyone) to hear this interview with the Rev Dr Hywel Jones on preaching the doctrine of regeneration to Christian congregations. We’re discussing Hywel’s . . . Continue reading →
What An Early Presbyterian Learned From Moses
How Thomas Cartwright Interpreted Exodus 3
13 Then Moses said unto God, Behold, when I shall come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you: if they say unto me, What is his Name? what shall . . . Continue reading →
Wearing Crosses or Bearing Them?
In my past life, battling through the highway throng on the ‘5’ out of Escondido, I used to stare in amazement at the gas guzzling Christian four by fours thundering past my little Volkswagen. As I tried to prevent myself from being . . . Continue reading →