These are some of our favorite Heidelquotes. Something to think about from the Heidelcast. If you are subscribed to the Heidelcast or the Heidelblog (see below) you will receive these episodes automatically. All the Episodes of the Heidelcast How To Subscribe To Heidelmedia . . . Continue reading →
Over the last few years, I have given increased thought toward God’s ordinary means of grace. That designation itself is worth reflection, by which I have recently come to be thoroughly amazed. First, the means are God’s. They belong to him and . . . Continue reading →
Holy communion (the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist) is one of the two sacraments instituted by Christ (Matt 26:26–29; Mark 14:22–25; Luke 22:14–23; 1 Cor 11:23–34). In the Reformed tradition whereas Baptism is regarded as the sacrament of initiation into the visible church, . . . Continue reading →
When I was a boy, my parents gave my siblings and me a big, round trampoline. That gift brought us and countless hours of fun, laughter, and exercise. So, when our children were old enough, Jordan and I decided to surprise them . . . Continue reading →
When I first began to become Reformed (c. 1980) I was familiar with the second service because my Southern Baptist congregation had an evening service. Indeed, we had a Wednesday evening service in addition to the Sunday morning service. Oddly, much to . . . Continue reading →
Previously began a discussion about parachurch ministries in relation to the church. The point was to raise a concern about how, frequently, parachurch ministries implicitly, if (perhaps) unintentionally, try to usurp the visible, institutional church’s primary role in God’s plan to save . . . Continue reading →
Paul Helm is always worth reading, in part, because he is always reading and doing so well. The other day he posted Continue reading
The most intense religious meetingI ever attended, including prayer meetings with Pentecostals, was not supposed to be a religious event at all. The Meeting I went with the fellow whom the Lord had used to lead me to Christ. He was . . . Continue reading →
Since I am doing a Heidelcast series on prayer and have been recommending devotional materials (see the resources below for more) I was delighted to get this volume in my inbox. It is a paperback volume of 157 pages. It first appeared . . . Continue reading →
This is part two in our series on prayer, Our Father. In part 1 we considered what prayer is. In this episode we are answering the question why pray? Heidelblog readers, students, and others regularly ask “Since God is sovereign why pray?” . . . Continue reading →
With this episode we begin a new series, Our Father. What is prayer? How should we pray? Why is it hard to pray? How often should we pray? What good is prayer? In this series we will tackle these questions and more. . . . Continue reading →
Already in the apostolic period of the church there were heretics, John calls them “antichrists” (1 John 2:18, 22; 4:2–3; 2 John 1:7) who taught that Jesus only appeared to be human but that he did not have a true human body. . . . Continue reading →
One of the several quiet revolutions introduced into American life by the two Obama Administrations was the use of “Big Data” to target voters. To that point no campaign had harnessed the power of the internet the way the Obama campaign had. . . . Continue reading →
We live in a day when those things that stand in the way of the prevailing narrative of the culture are canceled, banished out of existence as we once knew them. As much as we are rightly worried about cancel culture in . . . Continue reading →
In those independent Bible churches in which I was raised, most Sunday mornings the minister preached from a well-worn Bible, told a few stories to illustrate his point, and then reminded us that we must believe in Jesus to go to heaven. . . . Continue reading →
A video discussion with Pastor Chris Coleman on the biblical and historical grounds for and the fruit of the second service on the Lord’s Day. Continue reading →
For all that I learned and tried one aspect of the church-growth movement, perhaps the most fundamental aspect, always made me uneasy and makes me uneasy to this day: the church-growth model was a theology of glory and it turned ministers, who should be theologians of the cross, into theologians of glory. The selling point of the various methods and mentalities was numerical success: look at this congregation. Their pastor and leadership adopted this model and look how many people came. Congregation after congregation was shown to be growing and exciting and influential. Why could we not do the same thing? The possibility was very attractive and it was easily clothed in the pious language of “reaching the lost.” I did want to reach the lost but I also wanted to be “successful.” Continue reading →
Theology, piety, and practice— regular Heidelblog readers and Heidelcast listeners will be familiar with that formula. In classic and confessional Reformed Christianity these three things have always been understood to be intimately, organically related to each other. Our piety flows from our . . . Continue reading →
I can understand why evangelicals and others, who do not have a covenantal theology, would exile their children during public worship but I do not understand why so many ostensibly Reformed congregations have adopted the practice of dismissing their covenant children from . . . Continue reading →
We must in this world come as near heaven and the happiness of life everlasting as may be (Phil. 3:14). And for this cause we must join ourselves to the assemblies where the word is preached, prayer is made, and sacraments administered. . . . Continue reading →
