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 →
As a follow up to the recent post about the intersection between Acts 29, Mars Hill, and the PCA, someone sent a link to the application to be filled in/out on for the Spanish River Church Planting program. One of the questions on . . . Continue reading →
The recent e-mail dump containing nine years’ worth of confidential National Partnership business has been dubbed #PresbyLeaks, which hilariously sounds like a terrible geriatric condition. A very well-organized clandestine political wing of our denomination has been exposed for being exactly what it . . . Continue reading →
…But how do we do that with someone we might think to be unworthy of our love and good deeds? How do you love a jerk? You might say take a look in the mirror. Humbly realizing that we’re all unworthy jerks . . . 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 →
Tending to the means of grace in public worship every Lord’s Day should be at the top of the list for anyone who wants to improve his personal and family piety. Further, people who are committed to spending more time in Bible . . . Continue reading →
To my friends, no I am not, as far as I know, in imminent danger of death. My enemies shall have to wait a bit longer. My reflections this morning are inspired by a series of posts at TGC including “The Song Scott . . . Continue reading →
Introduction: The Hypothesis Tested Way back in 2008 I asked the question whether the offering is an element or a circumstance of worship or neither? I argued that the offering is neither an element nor a circumstance and thus raised the question . . . Continue reading →
I am in the studio today to work on an Office Hours podcast for May so there is just time for a quick thought about another way the Reformed confessions can help the churches be more faithful. Continue reading
A number of Baptists some Presbyterian and Reformed folk have announced in the last year or so that they have become Anglican. Continue reading
In the wake of my latest essay, which cautions readers regarding Jonathan Edwards, has come questions about the role of affections and emotion in the Christian life. These questions signal how deep the Pietist tradition (see the resources below) runs in American . . . Continue reading →
One of the myths that has been exploded in late modernity is that we Westerners are an “Enlightened” people, who have moved beyond demons, ghosts, and religion. We are not and we have not. I am not saying that we have not . . . Continue reading →
The Wonderjaar We are in the midst of a wave of iconoclasm (image-breaking), which reminds me of the wave of iconoclasm that swept through the Netherlands in 1566, the so-called wonderjaar. About how the story of this episode has been told Judith Pollaman writes, . . . Continue reading →
For those who’ve inquired about any PCA precedent on digitally “administering” the Lord’s Supper, below is a pertinent string of excerpts from the Minutes of the 39th, 40th and 41st General Assemblies (2011, 2012 and 2013 in Louisville, Virginia Beach and Greenville SC). Continue reading →
In a recent essay Andrew Wilson writes: I consider the absurd antics of some of the paper-waving, foundation-faced prosperity preachers who appear on Christian television. I acknowledge that much new church liturgy fails to acknowledge the realities of sin and suffering, and . . . Continue reading →
There is a lot of vague talk about “spirituality” in the broader culture today and very little of it is genuinely Christian. Visit the “spirituality” section of Barnes and Noble and you will see I what I mean. There is another approach . . . Continue reading →
The Reformed faith, the Reformed confession, is more than five points on salvation (Dort). It is more than a set of doctrines. It is also a piety, a way of relating to God, and a set of churchly practices that grow out . . . Continue reading →
When teaching his disciples about prayer, our Lord said: And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. . . . Continue reading →
The last time we saw Atlanta Pastor Louie Giglio it was January 2013 and he was embroiled in controversy because he had been invited by President Obama to participate in his second inauguration. It had been discovered that Giglio held the biblical . . . Continue reading →
Prayer consists in calling upon the true God, and arises from an acknowledgment and sense of our want, and from a desire of sharing in the divine bounty, in true conversion of heart and confidence in the promise of grace for the . . . Continue reading →