Shepherd the Flock

Recently I came across a few comments in Terry L. Johnson’s book Reformed Worship that caught my attention. Specifically, I was intrigued in reading that, “For Lutherans the enemy of faith was works. For the Reformed, the enemy of faith was idolatry.” (P18)
As he goes on to explain, it was John Calvin who insisted that [...]

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Here’s a post I sent to the Reformed Baptist Discussion List today. My good friend and brother Mark disagrees with me on this subject (see his post here), and today we have been engaged in a nice little debate via Twitter. Here’s a general synopsis of my views concerning using rap/hip-hop, and some other forms [...]

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Let me make myself clear before I explain my concerns with Sunday School: I love Sunday School; I believe Sunday School is vital to the health and growth of Christ’s church. I love the interaction, discussion, questions, one-on-one, teaching, depth, and encouragement that comes from a regular participation in a Sunday School group.
But I must [...]

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I am convinced that the methods of communicating the gospel are as chosen and explicit as the content of presenting the gospel. That is, the Bible not only spells out *what* we are to teach/preach to call men to Christ, but *how* we are to call men to Christ as well.
Being faithful to the Word [...]

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Since my readers are well aware that I’ve spent a significant amount of time discussing the Sabbath Commandment here at Shepherd the Flock, I thought the following article was relevant in answering many of the questions that often come up. Namely: what does New Testament Sabbath keeping look like?
Tim Challies posted an excerpt from Don [...]

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Means of Grace: instruments that God uses to convert and bless people, like the reading and preaching of the word, prayer, singing (psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; Acts 16:25; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16)…baptism, and the Lord’s supper.
During a discussion on the ‘means of grace’, a man once told me that the only true ‘means of [...]

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In a recent Time magazine article on the new phenomenon, Twittering in church, a pastor of a church in Charlotte, N.C, Todd Hahn, made the following statement:
[Regarding Twittering during Church]: “if God leads you to continue this as a form of worship by all means do it.”
Now, I use Twitter, I enjoy it, and whether [...]

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For the background of this post, please see my previous post introducing this subject.
Iain Murray, in his excellent book ‘Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism‘, sets forth a few arguments against the altar call that were voiced by men when the practice was just beginning. I thought it would be profitable [...]

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Contrary to popular belief, the ‘altar call’ that is so popular in today’s churches has not been around for long. The practice of prolonging religious services, pleading for a public response, playing emotionally-laden music and using fervent exhortations for people to ‘make a decision for Christ’ got its start with the American ‘Revivalism’ in the [...]

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Have you ever wondered why many modern-day churches have an ‘altar’?
From my 20+ years in Baptist churches, I can always remember special services (usually on a Sunday night, or a revival/evangelistic service) when the preacher would invite people to come down to the ‘altar’ to pray. There, at the foot of the pulpit, in front [...]

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