I first read of Isaac Watts as a boy learning American history at school in that battle cry, “Give ’em Watts, boys!” at the battle of Springfield, New Jersey. Over time I spotted his name in hymnals as the author of the some of the most famous hymns in evangelical Christendom. It happened this week… Read More Give ’em Watts, boys!
This past week I went to my first Acts29NJ church planters conference at Emergence Church, Totowa NJ about 18 – 20 minutes from where I grew up. The plenary and discussions got my mind working as I sought to apply what I learned from these planters and what I have experienced in ministry these 22… Read More Musical Tone
“Sometimes we hear it said that ten minutes on your knees will give you a truer, deeper, more operative knowledge of God than ten hours over your books. ‘What!’ is the appropriate response, ‘than ten hours over your books on your knees?’ Why should you turn from God when you turn from your books, or… Read More Godly Learning
The third phase in the renewal of my prayer life was how the past met the present. It was the way in which all I had been taught yet never valued in bible college and Westminster Seminary, I suddenly understood. I understood the “why” of the gospel. I understood grace. It all became real to… Read More This Praying Life, Phase 3
The second phase of my praying life was in and after my conversion. It was a glorious response to what my new pattern revealed to me at that time. I don’t have the exact day, but there was a time as I prayed out the latest crisis and to put if fairly crudely all the… Read More This Praying Life, Phase 2
After 18 months I finished my devotional reading of Calvin’s Institutes. As I wrote here in June 2011, I have owned a personal copy of The Institutes for over 27 years. My two volume Battles translation were one of the few books I carried by suitcase with me to England in 1985. John Calvin dominated… Read More Nothing comes between me and my Calvin, Final
Christian Focus have released a kindle/e-book edition of Robert Bruce’s sermons on the Lord’s Supper (some of the most helpful ever preached on the topic). It is available this week (I am writing on 091712) at a special price here (UK) and here (US). Robert Bruce preached these sermons on the sacrament in 1589 at Giles Cathedral where he… Read More An E-book Deal!
When you grow older in the Christian life you are regularly knocked down in the dust astounded and amazed, only to rise up in doxology and praise as you see glimpses of God’s footsteps pressed upon you through the path of your life. The fullness of God’s ways are way past our ability to trace.… Read More He Plants His Footsteps in the Sea
As the succession gap of generations continues to grow between nominal Christians and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who’ve abandoned Christianity, it is now increasingly common for us to have visitors who have no idea what is going on in our service. It’s not just that there are unfamiliar elements such as the corporate confession… Read More The Generation Gap
With one of the liturgical seasons coming to a close and with a big Sunday on the horizon — we’re not talking Epiphany and Super Bowl but Lent and chocolate bunnies or eggs — a brief comment on the time of the year just passing may be in order. Peter Leithart has been blogging about… Read More Puzzling over Lent
The Vicar's Garden 