Blog Posts
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Who Was Adam?
Ligonier
“Who am I?” “Where do we come from?” These questions echo in human experience throughout the centuries. We desperately want to know what happened in humanity’s past because our origin stories show us more about who we are supposed to… -
Why Does the Lord’s Supper Matter?
Ligonier
Why do we eat food? Sometimes we eat because we are hungry. Other times, we eat because we need energy. In some instances, we eat because we need to balance nutrition levels in our body. Perhaps the easiest answer—and one… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 11): Psalm 20 And The Coming King
Heidelblog
The last-minute arrival of the hero is one of the great suspense breakers in good stories. When all hope seems lost against the rising tide of enemy forces, hope reignites as reinforcements arrive to carry the heroes forward. The civilian… -
Why Good Works Matter
Ligonier
Why do I exist? Who am I supposed to be? Questions of identity touch the heart of our human condition. They also broach some of the most challenging issues of the modern period. We need to know what it means… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 10): Psalm 19 And The Faithful King
Heidelblog
We use the phrase, “when the stars align,” as a way to express when everything comes together in just the right way, even though it seemed like an unlikely outcome. Every factor that needed to be in agreement for a… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 9): Psalm 18 And Remembering God’s Works
Heidelblog
What David says in Psalm 18:20–30 is a little bit startling, and his statements should probably give us pause before we are willing to say them in reference to ourselves. He opens these stanzas by praising God for delivering him… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 8)—Psalm 18 And The Motivation For Praise
Heidelblog
What motivates us to give thanks? It is when we realize the gravity of some good given to us. Psalm 18 is about the thanks that grows out of God pulling his king from death’s jaws. The previous article looked… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 7)—Psalm 18 And Christ’s Cords Of Death
Heidelblog
The time when I felt closest to death was years ago as I was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, trying to get back to shore. The trouble occurred while I was still a long distance from shore and felt… -
Continuing In Communion With God—The Sin Spiral (Part 5): Genesis 4:1–26 A Clash Of Legacies
Heidelblog
Everybody loves a good inspirational poster. One of my favorites is the picture of the single flower sprouting through the garbage in a landfill with the caption, “Hope grows in a dump.” The idea is that the prospect of good… -
Continuing In Communion With God—The Sin Spiral (Part 4): Genesis 4:1–7 The Heart Of Worship
Heidelblog
Authenticity is the banner of our time for what is supposed to be good. The notion is that striving for conformity to any norm outside of ourselves means we are not genuine. That view results in antagonism toward every stable… -
Continuing In Communion With God—The Sin Spiral (Part 3): Genesis 3:8–24 Paradise Lost
Heidelblog
Although biased as a Birminghamian, I think that southerners have great skill for developing words that are most helpful and useful to get at realities of life. Y’all is perhaps our most famous. But another highly useful one is comeuppance…. -
Continuing In Communion With God—The Sin Spiral (Part 2): Genesis 3:1–7 A Listening Problem
Heidelblog
Certain phrases tend to get my attention, and one of them is, “Are you even paying attention to me?” It is one line that, at least in home life, signals that I appear to be focused somewhere other than where… -
Continuing In Communion With God—The Sin Spiral (Part 1): Genesis 1–2 Introduction
Heidelblog
Genesis is a massive book of Scripture that has long captured the Christian imagination. Its opening few chapters alone have sparked more discussion and have motivated more explanation and commentary than even some other Old Testament books. It contains some… -
Images of Christ: A Coffeehouse Conversation
Reformed Dogmatika
Scene: A quiet corner in a local coffeehouse. Mr. and Mrs. Smith, longtime members of a nearby megachurch, have recently embraced the five points of Calvinism. They’re eager to visit a Reformed congregation but carry serious questions about the Second… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 6)—Psalm 17 And Christ’s Anticipation Of Resurrection
Heidelblog
Psalm 17 is about focusing on satisfaction in God even amid our greatest troubles. We find the psalmist here in great distress, calling to God to vindicate him against the wicked. Psalm 17 records his prayer declaring that he was… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 5)
Heidelblog
“Keep your eye on the prize.” “Don’t take your eye off the ball.” We say these sorts of things for situations when we know that focus is extremely important. We miss hitting the ball when we are looking elsewhere than… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 4)
Heidelblog
Building a fire requires balancing. Specifically, you have to balance the use of kindling with the use of longer burning fuel. Kindling gets hot and bright fast, but it also fizzles quickly and fades. Fire has to be fed by… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 3)
Heidelblog
Since purchasing a home, the world of do-it-yourself repairs and upgrades has hit me hard in the face. I often find myself with a vague sense of how to complete the task in front of me, yet I know I… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 2)
Heidelblog
We tread carefully when we enter an important space. Moses stopped cold and removed his shoes when he came near the burning bush. Israel’s high priests knew they stepped on hallowed ground as they entered the holy of holies. We… -
From Glory To Glory: The Story Of Christ In Psalms 15–24 (Part 1)—Introduction
Heidelblog
On Valentine’s Day, I took my wife to a restaurant that I thought was going to prove insanely busy. I called in advance and learned they were no longer taking reservations. It seemed like it was going to take a… -
What Is ‘Missio Dei’ and Does It Matter
Missionary
What is God doing in creation? What is He aiming to achieve? The answer shapes how we think about what the world needs, what the church’s purpose is, and what it means for Christians to live on mission. The answer… -
Christ Came for Us Men and for our Salvation
Christ Over All
Why did God the Son come to earth in human nature? The question takes us to the heart of the Christian faith. It prompts reflection on the greatest of mysteries: God the Son became incarnate. Why would he step down… -
OPC General Assembly 2025
Heidelblog
It is convocation season again! Each summer, Reformed denominations have their national gatherings to weigh, deliberate, and even celebrate various issues going on throughout the churches. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church’s General Assembly met June 4–10 at Trinity Christian College just… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 19)
Heidelblog
When I was in college, I worked in a warehouse that refurbished science kits for elementary and middle schools. As part of my job, I had to replace used-up supplies for various experiments, like the used-up tape, staples, or flour…. -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 18)
Heidelblog
In one elementary school science lesson, we were given bug eggs that we were supposed to help get through the various life-cycle stages. However successful I was at that endeavor with those particular bugs, the principle is something I think… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 17)
Heidelblog
When I was a kid, my grandfather would often talk about his hypothetical outline for what he would do if he won millions of dollars. He intended to pay off his own debts and the debts and expenses of all… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 16)
Heidelblog
The phrase often goes around that “blood is thicker than water.” One of the ways people use this phrase is to mean that family relationships are more important than relationships made by baptism. In other words, when a family member… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 15)
Heidelblog
When I lived in the UK, I had to go on one occasion to the US embassy in London. As I entered the embassy, I was struck by how different the atmosphere of the whole place was. A list of… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 14)
Heidelblog
I lived in New Zealand for a few months during college for a mission trip. We went to help a church start outreach efforts on the nearby university campus. One day, we attended an event where various organizations set up… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 13)
Heidelblog
Casablanca is one of the most famous movies in cinematic history, leaving us with more than its fair share of artifacts ingrained in cultural memory even eighty years later. Humphrey Bogart alone left us with a stack of lines most… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 12)
Heidelblog
It is a common bug of humanity that we do not like saying goodbye. We even have stock phrases like, “I’m bad at goodbyes,” or, “Let’s say ‘see you later’ rather than ‘goodbye.’” Even “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,”… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 11)
Heidelblog
The Trojan Horse is the classic example of a bait and switch. Legend says that, for ten years, the Greeks waged war on the city of Troy. This war went so long because Troy was so well fortified. One morning,… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 10)
Heidelblog
If I were speaking to an audience and asked them what the word reed means, from the sound of the word, the majority response would likely be something like “processing written words.” When I explain that the word in my… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 9)
Heidelblog
One of the common questions that Christians face in conversations with unbelievers is, “How could a loving God send anyone to hell?” Although we certainly have to keep a clear focus on God’s love and how his mercy is truly… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 8)
Heidelblog
One of the flavors of the day in movies and television seems to be the reboot. You take an old story and retell it in a new way. Or you take an old character and reset the storyline, setting aside… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 7)
Heidelblog
The American posture is dominated by pragmatism—meaning that our biggest question for whether or not we should learn something is, “Does it work?” We need ideas to do something for us to think they are at all worthy of our… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 6)
Heidelblog
“What’s in a name?” A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So, we might easily assume that what we name something is unimportant. And yet, there seems to be some sort of natural affinity in most ears… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 5)
Heidelblog
An old joke pokes at the irony of rejecting God by describing an atheistic scientist talking to God about why we supposedly no longer need him. He says to God, “You know, it used to be that we needed you… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 4)
Heidelblog
One question meant to trap Christians in an unsolvable philosophical problem is, “If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so heavy that even he can’t pick it up?” Or as my philosophy professor from college, who was… -
Review Roundup: Cov. Theology (Part 1)
Heidelblog
Antonio Coppola’s Faithful God: An Introduction to Covenant Theology is a pastoral treatment of covenant theology meant to equip ordinary Christians to see the categories of law and gospel and to understand how Christ is at the center of redemptive… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 3)
Heidelblog
An old allegory tries to describe religion with the story of four blind men feeling an elephant. The blind man feeling the trunk thinks he is touching a long, thick creature. The one touching the elephant’s leg says he is… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 2)
Heidelblog
As we start this series, the whole first line, “I believe in God the Father Almighty,” is too much to tackle in one go. As a way of introduction to the whole idea of studying the Creed, then, this article… -
Talking about Sin is Hard
Christ Over All
Why is it so hard to talk about sin? Certainly, we can find it uncomfortable to tell someone outright that their actions are wicked. Worse, we know that sin leads to everlasting condemnation, which is a dark topic on which… -
The Apostles’ Creed (Part 1)
Heidelblog
For good or for ill, I have a taste for shows about comic book heroes and science-fiction stories. The nature of the stories, character development, and plotlines necessarily invites the question: “What is this about?” What seems like relatively normal… -
Psalm 14: The Heart Talk Of Fools (Part 2)
Heidelblog
Why does Psalm 14 focus on the foolishness of sinners? It does so to highlight God’s sovereignty despite the wrongs that are out of place in the world. Sin and its fallout are not what ought to be. These shortcomings… -
Psalm 14: The Heart Talk Of Fools (Part 1)
Heidelblog
I have never been confident enough in my evangelistic approaches to recommend them to others, but they sometimes do make for good stories. In a previous job at a coffee shop, I remember a conversation with a co-worker who expressed… -
Psalm 13: How Long? (Part 2)
Heidelblog
Psalm 13 is about how to navigate waiting before God. The Psalter functions at least in part to instruct us about the godly response to the full spectrum of experience and emotion that we encounter in the Christian life. Psalm… -
Psalm 13: How Long? (Part 1)
Heidelblog
If you are anything like me, waiting in line is really hard for you. Some of my more frustrating experiences are when I see no forward motion in the line I am waiting in. As you are waiting for your… -
Psalm 12: A Pure And Protecting Word (Part 2)
Heidelblog
This series walks through Psalm 12 and its teaching that God’s Word is the pure and protecting source of guidance and deliverance. Part one outlined the three-act structure that developed the problem (1–2), proposed David’s solution (3–4), and presented God’s… -
Psalm 12: A Pure And Protecting Word (Part 1)
Heidelblog
With some irony, one of the hot topics in the news today is whether the news is reliable. The so-called “legacy media,” which is basically the major networks and news outlets, seems to face the common accusation of promoting agendas… -
Reformed Hermeneutics, Republication, and Christian Nationalism
Reformed Dogmatika
We recently had the privilege of sitting down with Harrison Perkins, pastor, theologian, and author, to discuss key issues in Reformed theology. As the pastor of Oakland Hills Community Church and a scholar engaged in theological education, Perkins brings a… -
Psalm 11: Explicable Courage (Part 3)
Heidelblog
As this series has explored, Psalm 11 is a prayer of trust in how God will come through for his people when dangers seem threatening. What could be a real threat to us if we lived in a poor shelter… -
Psalm 11: Explicable Courage (Part 1)
Heidelblog
It is funny how our lodging place changes our perspective on the severity of our surrounding conditions. In a nice and sturdy house, a basic rainstorm seems inconsequential—people inside often even enjoy the patter of raindrops against their windows. On… -
Psalm 10: Where Is The Lord? (Part 3)
Heidelblog
This series has looked at Psalm 10 to draw out its teaching that God is near to his people even when we do not feel like he is. That point comes out through David’s twofold prayer. He first laments how… -
Psalm 11: Explicable Courage (Part 2)
Heidelblog
As we saw in part one of this series, Psalm 10 is a lament about how God seems to be standing far off from his people even as the wicked succeed in their evil. While the psalm recounts how the… -
Psalm 10: Where Is The Lord? (Part 2)
Heidelblog
As we saw in part one of this series, Psalm 10 is a lament about how God seems to be standing far off from his people even as the wicked succeed in their evil. While the psalm recounts how the… -
Psalm 10: Where Is The Lord? (Part 1)
Heidelblog
When I was young and I asked to do something I really wanted to do, my dad had a line that drove me up the wall: “We’ll see.” It seemed like a “no,” but without outright saying it. It felt… -
Psalm 9: The Past For The Sake Of The Present (Part 3)
Heidelblog
Psalm 9 is a lesson about why history matters. We can easily question why we need to learn our history. At least, the modern assumption is that only the present matters. Psalm 9 reorients God’s people to the importance the… -
Psalm 9: The Past For The Sake Of The Present (Part 2)
Heidelblog
Looking to the past ought to have an encouraging place in the Christian life, especially if we apply that practice to how we pray. Psalm 9 models how we can find great hope for the present by recalling what God… -
Noah And The Regulative Principle Of Worship
Heidelblog
Imagine that you get free reign to design the plans for your dream home. You get to pick the kind of rooms you have, you get to decide the layout for where those rooms go, and you get to determine… -
Psalm 9: The Past For The Sake Of The Present (Part 1)
Heidelblog
Most history teachers at some point in their tenure face that deflating student question: Why does this matter? In other words, what use is it to study the past? Is it not the present that is the most important thing?… -
Babies And Baptisms For The Dead
Heidelblog
Ihave to admit, I rather enjoy preaching some of Scripture’s difficult passages. Usually, I have a sense of invigoration in working hard to think through a challenging text and see how I can make good enough sense of it without… -
A Synopsis Of The OPC General Assembly 2024
Heidelblog
Every year, the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church meets to consider the business of the church requiring the attention of the whole denomination, this summer meeting at Seattle Pacific University. This report summarizes some of the main conclusions… -
Psalm 7: The Best Line of Defense
Heidelblog
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” It is one of those lines we tell our children to help them deal with aspects of life that can hit hard. It is also one of… -
5 Things You Should Know about Cov. Theology
Ligonier
Some topics are covered frequently enough in Reformed churches that it might be easy to lose track of the basics. One such topic is covenant theology. Let’s look at five things that Christians should know about covenant theology. A covenant… -
Psalm 4: Courage In The Storm
Heidelblog
I have a few friends I have to call every now and then so they can put my backbone back in place. Courage is one of those finnicky things where, even if we have it, the perfect storm—or maybe even… -
Head Coverings And Cultural Appropriateness (Part 4)
Heidelblog
This series has explored 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 to think through a perennial question about head coverings. Does the apostle’s teaching in this passage mandate that women everywhere and always must cover their heads in public worship—specifically that they must wear… -
Head Coverings And Cultural Appropriateness (Part 3)
Heidelblog
This series explores Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 11:2–16 in the hope of providing some clarity on the perennial question of whether women are required to wear head coverings in public worship. The issue basically circles around whether Paul’s instructions… -
Head Coverings And Cultural Appropriateness (Part 2)
Heidelblog
Sometimes passages take on a life of their own in church life or in church history, confronting us with perennial discussions about specific and difficult questions. Such is the case with 1 Corinthians 11:2–16, where Paul discussed the need for… -
Head Coverings And Cultural Appropriateness (Part 1)
Heidelblog
The evangelical impulse to submit our practices to Scripture is a noble instinct. So is the attempt to search the Scriptures diligently to understand what it says and how to apply it. Sometimes, particular passages produce perennial questions about how… -
Psalm 3: Despite Appearances (Part 3)
Heidelblog
One scholar has commented about Psalm 3 that while Scripture most often speaks to us, the Psalter speaks for us.1 It gives us the words we need as we cry out to God. It shows us what godly prayers look… -
Psalm 3: Despite Appearances (Part 2)
Heidelblog
Suffering is unfortunately part of our experience in this age. Until Christ returns, not all things will be right. Perhaps most things will not be right. The stark reality of life under the rainbow is that we live with provisional… -
Psalm 3: Despite Appearances (Part 1)
Heidelblog
We can probably imagine how different the perspective might be between a photograph taken by an ant and a photograph taken from space. Imagine an ant who happened to have an ant-sized camera and happened to be riding on the… -
Psalm 2: God Is King Over The Nations (Part 3)
Heidelblog
As we have worked through Psalm 2, the question running throughout is: Who rules the world? Are the nations going to overthrow God? For those in the know, namely those paying attention to the message of Psalm 2, the answer… -
Psalm 2: God Is King Over The Nations (Part 2)
Heidelblog
There used to be a gameshow called American Gladiators in which amateur athletes competed in ridiculous tests of strength against professional “gladiators.” The culminating showdown was always a duel atop raised towers where the leading contestant faced down a gladiator,… -
Psalm 2: God Is King Over The Nations (Part 1)
Heidelblog
An old Scottish tune, Skye Boat Song, about Bonnie Prince Charlie begins – Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing. Onward, the sailors cry! Carry the lad that’s born to be King, Over the sea to Skye. If… -
Introduction To The Psalter – Psalm 1-2
Heidelblog
I remember being in a record store when I was younger (if you are of the younger stripe, a record store is like if your favorite streaming service was a building where music was for sale on discs that you… -
Why Should Christians Read the Old Testament?
Tabletalk
Despite how we know we should feel, even Christians who deeply love the Bible often feel a bit less than enthused if the preacher uses an obscure portion of the Old Testament as his sermon text. Some Old Testament books… -
Gladness In The Face Of Realism (Part 3)
Heidelblog
The psalter teaches us that our songs before the Lord are prayers. I do not mean that a particular passage in the psalms states that our sung praises are prayers. I mean that the psalms are clearly prayers to the… -
Gladness In The Face Of Realism (Part 2)
Heidelblog
“Here today, gone tomorrow.” “Like the flip of a switch.” “In the blink of an eye.” “At the drop of a hat.” We have a stack of phrases to express how quickly our situations can change, even unexpectedly so. We… -
Gladness In The Face Of Realism (Part 1)
Heidelblog
The Psalter is a multivalent book, giving us examples for how the godly respond to the whole spectrum of experiences that we face in the Christian life. This collection of songs contains praises, laments, thanksgivings, and so many other examples… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 14
Heidelblog
If you were captured as a prisoner of war, held hostage by bank robbers, or abducted by criminals hoping to collect a ransom, the best news would not be that you might have an opportunity to attempt an escape. The… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 13
Heidelblog
If you have spent any time on boats, you know that boats on the open water do not stay in one place, but drift as currents push them. Even if currents are mild, they eventually carry a floating boat away… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 12
Heidelblog
Where I grew up, there are a lot of windy country roads with numerous surprise turns. When someone gives a long set of driving directions that involve one of these country roads, it is not uncommon to throw in advice… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 11
Heidelblog
Most movie buffs or TV bingers develop a sort of sixth sense about how the story will go. Particularly, you generally know well before it plays out that something bad is going to happen to specific characters. When you develop… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 10
Heidelblog
I will not entertain debate when I assert that one of America’s great cultural legacies is Wile E. Coyote versus the Road Runner, chronicling the coyote’s continual but always failing quest to catch and eat the Road Runner. They live… -
Holy Spirit 101
Logos
Everyone knows what it’s like to need help. Sometimes, we can feel the whole weight of the world, recognizing more and more why Scripture instructs the church to “Bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). Christians know that we can’t do… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 9
Heidelblog
The question “Who do you think you are?” rarely means that you do not know your identity. Rather, someone thinks that you overstepped your rightful place concerning what you have done or said. It is a rebuke to those who… -
A Skilled Engineer: The Mystery of Sanctification
Credo Magazine
The intricacy of LEGO products has changed immensely since I was a child. I remember the basics of rectangle and square blocks, thin flat pieces that work as a ceiling or something, and the occasional exciting hinge piece to mount… -
Holy LEGO: Sanctification in the Local Church
Credo Magazine
I recently received a LEGO set of the Millennium Falcon. I’ve pined over it for years and am thankful for it. But with all my excitement over this gift, what if I never opened the box? Even more, if I… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 8
Heidelblog
GPS, especially as we have it on our phones, is so much easier to use than an old-fashioned map. On the one hand, GPS redirects us around obstacles, accounts for our wrong turns, and outright tells us what to do… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 7
Heidelblog
If you were one of those children who misbehaved, you likely heard the phrase, “You know better!” The point that a parent makes with this phrase is that when we misbehave, often it is not because we lacked knowledge about… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 6
Heidelblog
Sometimes the organization of an expositional series presents a problem when thinking through how to address a particular issue that may be a recurring issue throughout the book being studied but at the same time does not have an obvious… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 5
Heidelblog
Part four of this series argued that Jude’s claim that Jesus saved the people from Egypt provides an exegetical entry point to reflect upon the Reformed doctrine of the covenant of grace, showing that the Son was active in his… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 4
Heidelblog
During summers in college, I worked in a burrito restaurant called Moe’s Southwest Grill where you custom ordered your burrito’s fillings and we prepared and wrapped it in front of you. Moe’s, unlike Chipotle, offered nachos, which were my favorite… -
Jude’s Epistle Part 3
Heidelblog
The doctrine of the Trinity is fundamental to Christianity, but Christians often have very few biblical texts in mind that they know teach this beautiful truth. One reason is that we overlook the way that Scripture often teaches this truth…. -
Jude’s Epistle Part 2
Heidelblog
When I go away on vacation, I usually end up watching shows about people buying homes that need work and then renovating them into something really nice. Whether it is for real or just a way to force some sort…