This is the fourth lesson in Dr. William Wood’s Reformed Academy course, Redemptive History and the Regulative Principle of Worship. This lesson covers the following topics:

0:00 God's Incommunicable Attributes

9:25 God's Communicable Attributes

17:51 Theology Proper and the Regulative Principle of Worship

23:34 The Image of God and Worship

41:58 Worship in Light of the Fall and Redemption

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to twenty-seven additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedforum.org/courses/red...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/

#biblicaltheology #Worship #reformedtheology

What role do historic confessions play in the life of the Church today—and why should we care?

In this episode we welcome Dr. D. Blair Smith, President and Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC and author of Reformed Confessionalism (P&R Publishing). We explore the theological, pastoral, and spiritual value of the Reformed confessions—not as artifacts of a bygone era, but as living instruments for the Church’s health and faithfulness.

From the Church Fathers to the Westminster Assembly, Dr. Smith draws out the continuity and vitality of confessional Christianity, highlighting how confessions serve as tools for Christian formation, doctrinal clarity, and ecclesial identity.

Topics include:

• Why every church is a “confessing church”—whether it admits it or not
• The relationship between Scripture and subordinate standards
• How confessions function pastorally and devotionally
• The dangers of doctrinal minimalism in the modern church
• How Reformed confessions express catholicity, not sectarianism
• Encouragement for pastors and churches seeking to recover confessional depth

Whether you’re a church leader, seminarian, or thoughtful layperson, this episode offers a compelling case for embracing confessionalism as a rich, living tradition that grounds the Church in biblical truth and historic continuity.

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Chapters

• 00:07 Introduction
• 05:21 Writing This Book
• 08:06 The Confessing Church
• 13:32 Promoting Unity
• 19:59 The Relationship between Confessions and Systematic Theologies
• 26:19 Challenges Facing Confessional Churches Today
• 31:50 For the Entire Church
• 36:02 Examples of How the Confessions Guide the Church
• 42:40 The Usefulness of Confessions for Church Planting and Revitalization
• 49:26 Conclusion

This is Christ the Center episode 926 (https://www.reformedforum.org/ctc926)

This is the third lesson in Dr. William Wood’s Reformed Academy course, Redemptive History and the Regulative Principle of Worship. This lesson covers the following topics:

0:00 The Importance of Biblical Theology for Worship

2:56 What is Biblical Theology?

15:23 Errors of Continuity

26:08 Errors of Discontinuity

32:17 The Significance of Redemptive History for Understanding Worship

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to twenty-seven additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedforum.org/courses/red...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/ #biblicaltheology #Worship #reformedtheology

What does it mean to be truly blessed in the kingdom of God? In this episode, Camden Bucey welcomes back pastor and author Jonathan Cruse, pastor of Community Presbyterian Church (Orthodox Presbyterian Church) in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to discuss his latest book, Paradox People: Learning to Live the Beatitudes (P&R Publishing). Together they explore how Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5:3–12 turns worldly expectations upside down—and how the Beatitudes offer not a checklist for salvation, but a portrait of Christ and those united to him by faith.

Drawing from pastoral experience and theological insight, Cruse explains how the Beatitudes call Christians to a counterintuitive life: one of meekness, mourning, mercy, and spiritual hunger. Yet far from being burdensome, this vision of kingdom living flows from the grace already secured in Christ. The conversation also touches on inaugurated eschatology, Christian distinctiveness in the culture, and how the Beatitudes equip believers to live faithfully as pilgrims between two ages.

Listeners will be encouraged to see the Beatitudes not just as commands, but as Christ-centered comfort—anchoring our present obedience in a certain future hope.

🎟️ Don’t forget to register for the Reformed Forum Theology Conference on September 27, 2025: reformedforum.org/conference

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Chapters

• 0:00 Word & Deed
• 2:19 Introduction
• 9:35 The Heart of the Beatitudes
• 15:08 The Present Needs and the Applicability of the Beatitudes
• 18:24 It Begins with Blessings Not Commands
• 21:52 Christ Has Lived the Beatitudes
• 26:58 The Future Orientation of the Beatitudes
• 31:32 Pursuing Holiness
• 34:32 Struggling with the Beatitudes
• 41:02 Driving in the UK
• 44:15 Being Salt and Light
• 50:04 Resources on the Sermon on the Mount
• 54:15 Upcoming Projects
• 59:11 Conclusion

This is the second lesson in Dr. William Wood’s Reformed Academy course, Redemptive History and the Regulative Principle of Worship. This lesson covers the following topics:

0:00 The Regulative Principle of Worship

6:41 The Ten Commandments and the Regulative Principle of Worship

19:36 Exodus 32 and Leviticus 10

30:10 Elements, Forms, and Circumstances of Worship

41:59 Answering an Objection to the Regulative Principle of Worship

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to twenty-seven additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedforum.org/courses/red...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/ #biblicaltheology #Worship #reformedtheology

In this installment of the Vos Group, Camden Bucey and Lane Tipton continue their deep dive into Geerhardus Vos’s Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments. Together they explore Vos’s treatment of the essence of the kingdom of God (pp. 385–387), drawing connections to his “Doctrine of the Covenant in Reformed Theology.”

This conversation highlights Vos’s thoroughly theocentric vision—where creation, redemption, and faith all center upon the glory of God. Dr. Tipton unpacks how this framework distinguishes Reformed theology from other traditions, and how the kingdom manifests historically through the power of the Holy Spirit. The discussion further shows how Vos integrates covenant, kingdom, and eschatology, pointing us to our inheritance in Christ and the glory of God as our ultimate portion.

Whether you are a pastor, student, or thoughtful layperson, this episode will help you see more clearly how Vos unites themes of covenant and kingdom in a way that sharpens our understanding of Christ and strengthens our hope in his coming reign.

Chapters

• 0:00 Word and Deed
• 2:19 Introduction
• 7:29 Vos on the Doctrine of the Covenant
• 20:10 Jesus' Use of the Term "the Kingdom of God"
• 30:15 Power Is Central to the Kingdom of God
• 33:36 The Role of the Spirit in the Kingdom
• 48:36 Conclusion

Watch a video version at https://www.reformedforum.org/ctc924

Triple tragedies strike Jacob in chapter 35. The death of his beloved Rachel, his firstborn son’s violation reprehensible sin disqualifying him from leadership, and his father Esau’s death. Yet in the middle of this passage is a genealogy signifying the fact that God’s plan of redemption will continue. We learn how important it is to trace important events throughout Scripture, and see how the weeping of Rachel becomes a signpost pointing to God’s work of redemption through Christ.

This is the first lesson in Dr. William Wood’s Reformed Academy course, Redemptive History and the Regulative Principle of Worship. This lesson covers the following topics:

0:00 Introduction

10:26 Review of the Literature on Worship

14:43 Broad and Narrow Concepts of Worship

23:41 Definition and Features of Worship

30:28 The Importance of Humility

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to twenty-seven additional video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedforum.org/courses/red...

Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/ #biblicaltheology #Worship #reformedtheology

The warning passages of Hebrews, especially Hebrews 6:1–6, have long puzzled interpreters and unsettled readers. Is it a threat to assurance? A theological anomaly? In this episode, Dr. Marcus Mininger, Professor of New Testament Studies at Mid-America Reformed Seminary, joins us to explore the redemptive-historical framework behind one of the New Testament’s most debated passages. Drawing on the insights from his new book, Impossible to Be Restored?: Temptation and Warning in the Epistle of Hebrews (B&H Academic), Dr. Mininger explains how the warning in Hebrews 6 fits not only within the argument of Hebrews but also within the broader flow of covenantal history.

We discuss what the original audience was tempted to do, why returning to the old covenant to be right with God is impossible, and how this passage should shape pastoral ministry today. Along the way, Dr. Mininger helps listeners see how the “impossibility” language of Hebrews 6 is not a spiritual dead-end but a serious exhortation rooted in the once-for-all nature of Christ’s redemptive work.

If you’ve ever struggled with how to understand or teach Hebrews 6, this conversation offers clarity, theological depth, and pastoral wisdom.

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Chapters

• 00:00:07 Introduction
• 00:02:22 Impossible to Be Restored?
• 00:06:52 What Drew Dr. Mininger to this Subject
• 00:11:49 Starting in a New Field
• 00:17:28 Placing These Difficult Passages in Context
• 00:23:54 The Nature of the Temptation of the Original Audience
• 00:56:06 Relating the Warning Passages to the Application of Redemption
• 01:05:06 The Pastoral Application of These Passages
• 01:13:13 Conclusion

This is the twelfth lesson in Dr. Camden Bucey’s Reformed Academy course, Defending Our Hope: An Introduction to Christian Apologetics.

In the final lesson, we bring the threads together by affirming that faithful apologetics must be rooted in a comprehensive Christ-centered worldview. You will be reminded that defending the faith is not merely about technique but about seeing all of life through the “spectacles of Scripture.” From metaphysics to ethics, Christ’s lordship governs our understanding and our witness. This conclusion encourages you to press on in the calling of 1 Peter 3:15—to make a defense for the hope within you—with clarity, humility, and unwavering trust in the sufficiency of God’s word.

Register for this free on-demand course on our website to track your progress, download supplemental resources, and assess your understanding through quizzes for each lesson. You will also receive free access to more than two dozen more video courses in covenant theology, apologetics, biblical studies, church history, and more: https://reformedforum.org/courses/def...  

Camden Bucey (MDiv, PhD) is Executive Director of Reformed Forum and a minister of Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Grayslake, Illinois. He is the author of Karl Rahner (Great Thinkers) and Lamentations, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah: A 12-Week Study.   Your donations help us to provide free Reformed resources for students like you worldwide: https://reformedforum.org/donate/  

#apologetics #evangelism #presupp