Practice: What Duty God Requires of Us

We share the following articles and media based upon the main emphasis of the Bible’s teaching on practice as highlighted by the Westminster Larger Catechism Question and Answer Number 5: Q: “What do the scriptures principally teach?” A: “The scriptures principally teach, what man is to believe concerning God, and what duty God requires of man.”

 

Church Unity
The Relationship of the Reformed Churches of Scotland, England, Western & Eastern Europe from the 1500’s to the 1700’s
[and its implications for today] — Chris Coleborn

Being the Church (Government and Mutual Membership):

• Elders are to Rule and Pastors are to Preach — Benjamin Glaser
• Does the Bible Support Female Deacons? No. — Guy Waters
• Membership Matters — Alistair Begg
• Church Membership is Mandated and Matters — Pastor Grant Van Leuven
• Why Should I Join a Church? — William Boekestein
• Church Membership: Is It Biblical? — Phillip Kayser
• Church Membership: Why Bother? — Adam Parker
• Belonging to the Church (Audio) — Sinclair Ferguson
• If Church Isn’t Necessary, Let’s Quit — Kyle Borg
• Doing Church Away from Church Isn’t Church — Eric Davis
• A Living and Legally-Binding Relationship — Mark Johnston
• Why I Became a Presbyterian — Ben Hein
• The Church Comes First — Nick Batzig
• He Who Does Not Love the Church — Shane Lems
• The Orthodoxy of Community — Burk Parsons
• Is Church Membership Biblical? (VIDEO) — Alan Cairns
  (Please note, Rev. Cairns alludes to but does not cite Scripture references; please see the following:
  Acts 18:27; Romans 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:1, 11:28; Philemon 1-2, 16-17; Hebrews 13:7, 17.)
• Christianity is a Religion (Thank God!) — William Boekestein
• Do Not Forsake the Assembly — Todd Pruitt
• Belonging Part 1B (AUDIO) — Alistair Begg
• Belong to the Church (The Mother of Christ and His Seed) (AUDIO) Lecture on Revelation 12:1-6) — Grant Van Leuven
• Built upon the Rock: A Study of the Doctrine of the Church — Richard Bacon and Gary Crampton
• T-t-t-talkin’ Bout My Generation (But Thinking About the One After Next) — Carl Trueman
• Is Church Membership Optional? — Stephen Pribble
• Church Discipline — Free Grace Broadcaster (Chapel Library), Winter 2012 (Issue 222)
• The Eldership of Matthew 18:17 and 1 Corinthians 5:4: The Ministerial Assembly Holds the Power to Bind and Loose — Richard Bacon
• Individual Liberty and Church Authority — John Lafayette Girardeau
• Message to the Great Oxymoronic Class of Churchless Believers: Church Membership Matters! — Neil Stewart
• Don’t Let Your People Resign into Thin Air — Bobby Jamieson
• Not So Fast – Advice to those considering leaving their church — Trevin Wax
• The Glory of Plodding [in the Visible Church] — Kevin DeYoung
• An Open Letter to Stay-At-Home Christians: Some questions and an exhortation to professing believers regarding their life in the visible church — Matthew Everhard
• Should I Stay or Should I Go? Church shopping violates the integrity of the church and the meaning of church membership — Albert Mohler
• The Case of the Curious Contradictory Christian — Sinclair B. Ferguson
• The Importance of the Local Church (AUDIO) — George Scipione
• 5 Ways to Be Unsatisfied With Your Church — Shane Blackshear
• Right and Wrong Reasons for Leaving Your Local Church — Chris Gordon
• Leaving a Church to the Glory of God — Christian McShaffrey

Church Incorporation (Unnecessary and Unbiblical Erastianism):

• Four Ways to Organize a Ministry — Dr. Roger Sapp
• Covenant Presbyterian Church Partial Report on Incorporation 
  (which includes a helpful study report by the RCUS in Appendix C in addition to this denomination’s paper that later led to its formal position and practice) — Dr. Philip Kayser
• The Problems with Church Incorporation — Dr. Philip Kayser

The Foolishness of Preaching:

• 8 Reasons Only Ministers May Preach — Robert Baillie
• Seven Marks of a Puritan Pulpit Ministry — Chad Van Dixhorn
• What’s So Special About Preaching? – David Jackson
• Collected Thoughts on the Manner of Direct Preaching with Fire and Heat, In Response to Objections on Occasion Over the Years Against it in Our Pulpit, with a Few Important Disclaimers Included — Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church
• Delayed Adolescence in the Church [due to a lack of sound preaching] — Erik Raymond
• Preaching to the Heart — Jay E. Adams
• What Do You Do with Your Pastor’s Preaching? – Grant Van Leuven
• Where Did All the Preachers Go, And What Did You Do to Them? — Joseph Franks

Gender Relations:

• Blood Cries, “Binary!” — Grant Van Leuven
• Book Review: The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men, by Richard Phillips — Jonathan Leeman
• Tender Warrior — Stu Webber
• Disciplines of a Godly Man — R. Kent Hughes
• Disciplines of a Godly Woman — Barbara Hughes
• Long Hair for Women and Short Hair for Men — Matthew A Vogan and Rev Keith M Watkins (Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland)
• Godly Grooming Gives a Witness: Restrictions on Hairstyles and Beards (audio sermon) — Grant Van Leuven
• O Beard, Where Art Thou? — Greg Morse
• A Biblical Case for Awesome Beards — Jared Brock
• The Abomination of a Close Shave? — Keith Giles
• Do You Shave? (Biblical Manhood) — www.semperreformanda.com
• Of Men and Manes and Identifying with the Messiah — Grant Van Leuven
• To Beard or Not to Beard? — Drofrehtur Leumas
• Examining Head Coverings in Light of Scripture and Church History — Femina Sola Gratia
• Sermons on the Topic of Head Coverings — Femina Sola Gratia
• www.coveredglory.com — website with various resources
• Covered Covered Glory: 1ST CORINTHIANS 11 & THE CHRISTIAN USE OF HEADCOVERINGS — English Translation, David Phillips
• Glória Coberta: 1 CORÍNTIOS 11 & O USO CRISTÃO DA CABEÇA COBERTA — Portuguese Translation, David Phillips
• Paul’s Discourse on the Use of Head Coverings During Public Worship: An Exposition of 1 Corinthians 11:2-16 — Part One (article) — Richard Bacon
• Paul’s Discourse on the Use of Head Coverings During Public Worship — Part Two — Richard Bacon
• Misconceptions Regarding Headcoverings (audio sermon) — Richard Bacon
• Are Headcoverings the Issues in 1 Corinthians 11? (audio sermon) — Richard Bacon
• Glory and Coverings: A Study of 1 Corinthians 11:1-16 (This overlaps with the next topic below, public worship) — Phillip Kayser
• To Cover or Not to Cover? — R.C. Sproul
• Male and Female Roles and Head Coverings Part 1 (audio sermon) — Todd Ruddell
• Male and Female Roles and Head Coverings Part 2 (audio sermon) — Todd Ruddell
• Male and Female Roles and Head Coverings Part 3 (audio sermon) — Todd Ruddell
• The Headcovering Movement — Dedicated website with many articles and resources (including some translations in other languages, and the book: Headcovering: A Forgotten Christian Practice for Modern Times, by Jeremy Gardiner).
• What Does Church History Teach on Head Coverings? Greg Price/Semper Reformanda
• Head Coverings: An Opportunity to Encourage in a Day of Confusion –Derek Freeman

Purity of Worship (Acapella Psalmody according to the Reformed Regulative Principle of Worship):

• Purity of Worship (VIDEO) – Jeff Stivason (produced by Pastor Van Leuven)
• Acapella Psalmody Booklet (A Brief Explanation of Acapella Psalmody; outline developed for Sabbath and Membership classes) — Pastor Grant Van Leuven
• Lecture on Exclusive Psalmody–Pastor Grant
• Lecture on Acapella (no instruments) Worship–Pastor Grant Van Leuven
• Puritan Preface to the 1650 Psalter — by Puritans including Thomas Manton, John Owen, Matthew Poole, and Thomas Watson
• Ancient Praise – W. Robert Godfrey
• Westminster and Worship Examined: A Review of Nick Needham’s essay on the Westminster Confession Faith’s teaching concerning the regulative principle, the singing of psalms, and the use of musical instruments in the public worship of God [in the Confessional Presbyterian] — Matthew Winzer
• Review of Exclusive Psalmody (Critique of Gary Crampton’s article in The Trinity Review against exclusive psalmody) — Richard Bacon
• Music and the Worship of God (Acapella Psalmody) (AUDIO) — Covenant Radio Podcast interview with Dr. Richard Bacon
• Is Your Church Worship More Pagan Than Christian? — Todd Pruitt
• Purity of Worship – Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Australia
• Worshipping God God’s Way — Chris Connors
• Acapella Psalmody at a Glance — William Melanchthon Glasgow
• Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of the Church – John Lafayette Girardeau
• A Brief History of Psalm Singing (VIDEO) – Warren Peel
• Psalm Singing: A Reformed Heritage – J. Kortering
• The History of Psalm Singing in the Christian Church — Terry Johnson
• Psalm Singing in Scripture and History — Reg Barrow
• Sing Psalms or Hymns – Jeffrey A. Stivason
• A Brief Explanation of Exclusive Psalm Singing – Brian Schwertley
• For more on exclusive psalmody: ExclusivePsalmody.com
• Celebrating Christmas — B.B. Warfield
• The Idolatry, Superstition & Sinfulness of Xmas, Christ-Mass, ChristMass, Christmas — Sermon by Jim Dodos
• A Holy God and Holy Days (AUDIO) — Sermon by Robert McCurley regarding Christmas.
• Should Christians Celebrate Christmas? — Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland
• The Unwrapping of Christmas: Its History, Myths, and Pagan Traditions — VIDEO by Jeremiah Films
• Worship – 25 Protestations Against Christmas — Daniel Kok
• Pagan Origins of Christmas & Tradition History — Documentary VIDEO — Alison Guss
• Emphasize Christ’s Resurrection (Weekly Holy Day Versus The Unholy Christ-Mass) — preached on the Lord’s Day that fell on December 25 by Grant Van Leuven
• Focus on Christ’s Ascension (Not a Baby in a Cradle But a King on a Throne) — preached on the Lord’s Day that fell on December 25 by Grant Van Leuven
• Dressed Up for Church? A Contrarian Rag on Appropriate Clothing — Phillip Kayser

Remembering the Christian Sabbath to Honor it and Keep it Holy:

• Christians Watching the Super Bowl? — Mark Jones
• How the Sabbath Keeps Work from Being the Meaning of Our Lives — Hugh Whelchel
• The Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath — Jonathan Edwards
• The Doctrine of the Christian Sabbath — American Presbyterian Press
• Sabbath: A Day to Keep – J. C. Ryle
• Sabbaths Or Sabbath In Colossians 2:16–17? –Scott Clark
• Seven Good Reasons to Stop Breaking the Sabbath Right Now — D.G. Hart
• The Biblical Doctrine of the Lord’s Day (AUDIO) – Sermon by Malcolm Watts
• Lord’s Day Observence: Man’s Proper Response to the Fourth Commandment — Roberty L. Reymond
• The Westminster Standards: A Comprehensive Treatment of the Sabbath — Mark Shand
• Sunday as a First-Day Sabbath — Phillip Kayser
• Public Assembly: The Biblical Call to Faithful Attendance at Public Worship — Phillip Kayser
• Bless and Consecrate the Sabbath by Resting in Christ (AUDIO) — Sermon by Grant Van Leuven
  (See also his sermon series on the Fourth Commandment through the Westminster Larger Catechism Series, Q&A 115-121)
• Why I Love the Evening Service (And You Can Too) — Kevin DeYoung
• Don’t Give Up on the Evening Service — Kevin DeYoung
• Why Two Sunday Services? — John Benton
• Why an Evening Worship Service? — Michael Brown
• Why Go Twice? — Ronald Cammenga
• The Second Sunday Service — Audred Spriesnma
• Is There Biblical Warrant for Sunday Evening Worship? — W. Robert Godfrey
• Why You Should Commit to Evening Worship — Joshua Hinson
• Diligently Frequenting the House of God (Second Evening Service) Audio Sermon– Cory Griess
• The Good Practice of Two Services — Dale H. Kuiper
• Not Forsaking the Assembling of Yourselves Together (Emphasis on Need for Second Service) — H.C. Hoeksema
• Joy in Evening Worship —  Jacques Nel

Baptism

• Of the Sacraments and Baptism (an excerpt from PECA Membership Class on
  chapters 27 and 28 of the Westminster Confession of Faith with extended explanations on
  paedobaptism and sprinkling/pouring over against immersion) — Grant Van Leuven
• A Concise Case for Reformed Infant Baptism — Anthony Charles
• Covenantal Baptism — Audio Podcast Interview of Jason Helopoulos by Carl Trueman
• Some Common Objections to Paedobaptism Answered in Outline — Richard Bacon
• The Real Reason Evangelicals Don’t baptize Babies — G. Shane Morris
• Baptism — Robert Raymond
• Baptism — Sinclair Ferguson
• 15 Arguments in Favor of Covenant Child Baptism — Jason A. Van Bemmel
• A Brief Defense of Infant Baptism — Kevin DeYoung
• A Body of Divinity: Baptism – Thomas Watson
• Baptism — Louis Berkhof
• The Subjects of Baptism — Charles Hodge
• Christian Baptism — B.B. Warfield
• The Great Commission and Infant Baptism — Leon Brown
• Infant Baptism — Greg Johnson
• The Polemics of Infant Baptism — B.B. Warfield
• Is Infant Baptism Scriptural? — John Murray
• The Ground for the Baptism of Infants — Herman Hoeksema
• A Contemporary Reformed Defense of Infant Baptism — R. Scott Clark
• Of Infant Baptism — John Owen
• Jeremiah 31: Infant Baptism in the New Covenant — Richard Pratt
• Infant Baptism in Early Church History — Dennis Kastens
• Seven Biblical Principles That Call for Infant Baptism — Phillip Kay
• How I Changed My Mind About Infant Baptism — Liam Goligher
• Baptism is Your Admission into the Membership of Christ’s Church (AUDIO) sermon — Grant Van Leuven
• Commit to Your Children (Covenant Paedobaptism) (AUDIO) sermon — Grant Van Leuven
• Your Covenant God Summons Your Covenant Children (AUDIO) sermon — Grant Van Leuven
• The Sign and Seal of Baptism (AUDIO) sermon, Jeffery Stivason
• Sprinkling is Scriptural — Francis Nigel Lee
• Baptism by Sprinkling — Ben Lacy Rose
• Baptism, Rightly Administered — Joe Gibbons
• What at the River Was John Doing? [Sprinkling] — David Brand
• Old Princeton: Charles Hodge — Don’t Throw Out the Roman Catholic’s Baptism with Its Baptism Water — Grant Van Leuven

The Lord’s Supper:

• Family Expectations (Confirming Membership Required for Partaking): Ken Golden
• “Restricted Communion”
  (Please also see Exodus 12 and Joshua 5 for how a person needs to be officially and visible committed to the Visible Church to visibly commune with the visibly covenanted members of the Visible Church)– Matthew Vogan
• “Why Do the Minister and Elders Interview Intending Communicants?” — Matthew Vogan
• The Westminster Standards and the Frequency of the Lord’s Supper – Richard Bacon
• Why Weekly Communion — T. David Gordon
• The Reformation of the Supper (historical argument for weekly communion crediting Dr. Bob Godfrey) — Kim Riddlebarger
• On the Weekly Celebration of Holy Communion — Daniel Hyde
• Frequency of Communion (various authors including Calvin and article links) — Monergism.com
• Wine in the Communion Cup – Marion Lovett
• Danger of Being Over Wise (Wine in the Lord’s Supper) – William B. Sprague

Tithing Our First Fruits:

• Will Man Rob God? — R.C. Sproul
• The Christian Privilege and Duty of Tithing — JJ Lim
• Tithing — A.W. Pink
• Tithing is Not Typical: Giving Ten Percent of Our Income to Church is Not Expired with the Theocracy’s Judicial Law — Grant Van Leuven

Christian Parenting of Covenant Children:

• A Collection of Thoughts on Responsible Parenting and Its Righteous Product
  (Scriptures, Puritan and Reformed quotes, and some observations by secular psychologists) — Puritan Reformed Presbyterian Church
• Raising (Covenant) Children Well — Mark Jones
• The Duties of Parents — J.C. Ryle
• A Word to Christian Parents — Thomas Dwight Witherspoon
• “I Just Want Her to Be Happy”: The Collapse of American Parenting — Leonard Sax
• Family Worship and Its Benefits — Jason Helopoulos
• Self Denial and Evangelical Parenting – Rebecca VanDoodewaard
• Why French Kids Don’t have ADHD — Marilyn Wedge
• Remember Who You Are: Passing on the Faith to the Next Generation of the Covenant
  (A Devotion through Deuteronomy for Parents) – Grant Van Leuven
• Praise from the Mouths of Children (Baptism and Covenant Children) — Mark  Shand
• Forming Covenant Identity in Children — Benjamin W. Miller
• The Home — Heartbeat of the Covenant — Ron Koole
• Child Evangelism or Covenant Theology?
  The Reformed Church has Failed to Teach Its Members
  the Implications of Covenant Theology for Their Children — Larry Ball
• Top Ten Reasons our Kids Leave Church — Marc5solas
• Sunday Schooling Our Kids Out of Church — Tim Wright

Using the Best English Bible:

• Introducing the Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible — Reformation Heritage Books (Joel Beeke)
• Modern Bible Versions (Superiority of the KJV) – David Engelsma
• Logical Criticisms of Textual Criticism – Gordon H. Clark
• Original Manuscripts, the Majority Text, and Translations – W. Gary Crampton
• The King James Version of the Bible – Steve Houk
• www.trinitarianbiblesociety.org
  (See the following under “Articles”: Plain Reasons for Keeping to the Authorised Version;
  The Received Text: A Brief Look at the Textus Receptus;
  How we got our English Bible; Bible Word List and Bible Reading Scheme)
• Another King James Bible Believer — Will Kinney (A website full of myriad and diverse articles)
• Has God Indeed Said?: The Preservation of the Text of the New Testament — Kayser and Pickering
• Numerical Symbolism in the Book of Revelation: A Weakness of Modern Bible Versions — Michael Kuykendall

Purity and Chastity in Sexual Behavior:

• The Puritans and Sex — David Kjos
• Ten Myths About Premarital Sex — Sean McDowell
• The Bible and the Brain [Conquering Pornography by the Renewing of Minds] — Sam Black
• Hot Bods, the Bible, and the Brain — Luke Gilkerson
• Daddy Looks at Porn: Can Fathers in Sexual Sin Lead Their Children? — Luke Gilkerson
• The Western Emperor Has No Clothes — Conrad Mbewe
• Christian Modesty: The Public Undressing of America — Jeff Pollard
• McGraw Review of Christian Modesty 2013
• Modesty? — Cheryll Hemphill (Laramie Reformed Presbyterian Church)
• Modest Apparel — Various Authors (Chapel Library Periodical)
• A Return to Modest Apparel (AUDIO) — Jeff Pollard
• Don’t Hide Your Inner Beauty (AUDIO) — Sermon on Genesis 24:64-65 by Grant Van Leuven
• Not Even a Hint — Kevin DeYoung
• Modesty Matters — Pam Hardy
  (Please note: we give this document for women to use to teach women, per Titus 2; also,
  we point out that the comments about “merely” in 1 Peter 3:3 is not there in the Greek,
  whichever Greek source one uses, as reflected properly in the KJV (no “merely”);
  this point of her discussion should be considered with that knowledge).
• On Modesty — an open letter to the ladies, Michael Fischer
• Modesty: Virtue Ignored, Contending for Modesty in the Church — Jim Harmon
• You Are What–and How–You Read — Rosaria Butterfield
• Breaking the Silence: Redefining Marriage Hurts Women Like Me – And Our Children — Janna Darnelle

The Institution of American Slavery:

• Love Liberty, Love Your Master (Audio Sermon with Emphasis on Exodus 21:16) — Grant Van Leuven
• Stop Stealing (Sins Forbidden in the Eighth Commandment, Pt. 1 of a Series on this in the
  Westminster Larger Catechism addressing “menstealers”) (Audio Sermon) — Grant Van Leuven
• Documentary of Alexander McLeod’s “Negro Slavery Unjustifiable” (Video) — Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (produced by Grant Van Leuven)
• Negro Slavery Unjustifiable — Alexander McLeod
• The Problem of Slavery in Christian America — Joel McDurmon
• The Reformed Presbyterian Argument Against Slavery — J.R.W. Sloane
• Things for All Men to Do — Beriah Green
• Slavery and the Bible — Thomas Kidd
• Samuel Miller Vs. Slavery — This Day in Presbyterian Church History
• Augustine of Hippo Against the Slave-Trade — Simonetta Carr

Staying Faithful
“Fight the Good Fight” — J. Gresham Machen’s Last Princeton Sermon (full text)

Studies and Devotionals

• Tatian, His Works, and His Theology – Grant Van Leuven
• Family Devotional Through Esther– Grant Van Leuven
• For Unceasing is His Covenant Mercy: A Hebrew Exegesis Paper of Psalm 136– Grant Van Leuven

Miscellaneous:

• We Need Revival! — William E. Hill, Jr.
• “Where Was God Last Tuesday?” — sermon during week of 9/11 and during its 10-year memorial, by Dr. Frank Smith
• The Christian Approach to Schizophrenia — Jay E Adams
• Schizophrenia (brief audio lecture) — Jay E Adams podcast