Reformation Baptist Church: Recent Episodes
We're starting with a fundamental question this episode: Why did God choose to create a world that would come to be filled with suffering? When human tragedy strikes, skeptics often cite the "problem of evil" to challenge God's goodness or His sovereignty. But even worse, rather than confronting these questions with the absolute authority of Scripture, many modern churches hide or distort the truth in favor of a comfortable, man-centered theology that strips God of His holy justice and sovereign purpose.In this episode, we want to discuss how Christians should biblically respond to the existence of suffering and how we can understand God's attitude toward suffering. We'll discuss everything from how man tries to sit in judgment of God, to examining how God does not just use suffering but divinely appoints it according to His good pleasure.Understanding the biblical view of suffering is essential for every believer seeking to stand firm in a broken world. Rather than viewing adversity as a defeat for the Christian faith, Scripture reveals that theology drives the world and that God's sovereign hand orders all things for His glory and the good of His people. God desires His church to trust in His uncompromised Word, finding true comfort and hope not in human sentimentality, but in Him as the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. Please join us as we discuss this very misunderstood topic.Timecodes00:00:00 Spiritual Mind00:11:37 Judging God00:19:39 Doing vs Allowing Evil00:23:01 Questioning God00:31:14 God Means it for Good00:54:53 Suffering Pushing Towards Salvation00:58:43 A Consequence of SinProduction
Paul has just been saying everything works together for good to those who love God, but the Israelites think that they are the people of God. They have been scattered. They have been displaced from the land. A large percentage of them were killed during the Babylonian captivity, so the Jews hearing Paul would say "how can this be?" All things are not working together for good for us. Paul's response after this passage is because the Israel that you are thinking of is not the true Israel. Not all of Israel is of Israel. To set up that statement, he says that he would honestly be separated from Christ if it would cause his brethren according to the flesh to be joined with him. He knows and accepts that God's plan is better, but he mourns according to his wisdom. They had seen the glory of God. They had received the law. They had been assigned to do service to God and been given many promises, but they still rejected Him. But it was not a failure of the word of God, because that was the plan of God from the beginning.
Patriarchy gets associated with everything that liberal Christianity and modern American culture hates about a biblically ordered home. Because of this, many Christians have abandoned the term patriarchy and replaced it with complementarianism. And the problem with this is that in practice, complementarianism often obscures the purpose of the home and the authority that God bestows on a husband and father. By focusing on "roles" it is used by many to turn the wife from her husband's helpmeet into a one-woman bureaucracy who operates on her own authority to carry out her own desires, provided they do not directly conflict with what her husband cares about. The husband goes from being a leader to a tie-breaker in extreme cases. Part of the reason for this is that many Christians find authority to be offensive. The idea that a husband should tell his wife what to do is shocking to many, but it is a biblical concept. Please join us as we discuss this issue that is so fundamental to the home.Thumbnail image by Mohamed_hassan on PixelbayProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Paul wants to make certain that the readers do not misunderstand. Just because God will give us freely all things and that all things come from His hand, does not mean that everything will be easy. When we suffer persecution or tribulation, it is being directed by God for our good even though the people doing it mean it for evil. It is still good for the people of God. He wrote that for the name of God, we are like sheep being slaughtered. There is a good purpose for it, but there is no promise that it will be pleasant. The sheep are for the sake of the owner of the sheep. In this case, for the glory of God to be seen and often God's work is most evidence in the response to difficult things. We need to be persuaded that nothing can separate us from God. That everything, things that we like and things that we don't like, are from the hand of God.
Many people think bad thoughts when they hear the word "authority". This is partly because the nature and heart of fallen man is to desire his own way, which leads him to fight against what an authority tells him to do. But authority was created by God for good. Without authority, the world falls into even greater evil. And while the unbeliever doesn't want to be told what to do, many authorities are unbelievers as well, and in their rebellion against God, they resist doing what God appointed them to do as authorities. This is true in families, in the church, and in the state. God appointed authorities for good; therefore, it is necessary that authorities remember what they were appointed to do.In many ways, authority is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the world today, and because of confusion in the church, it sometimes seems that the world, blind as it is, understands authority better than those who call themselves Christians. In this episode, we try to explain why each authority was appointed by God, and to better understand their purpose in the world. When fathers and mothers understand why they were appointed, the household becomes a more meaningful place. When elders and teachers and every member of the body understand how the church was put together by God, we can better serve the one who bought us. When presidents and legislators and judges and police officers understand why God has put them in their place, the city or state or nation grows in righteousness. Authority is good, and God made it for our good and for His glory. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Yo
After reminding the readers of the promise to believers of glorification and being conformed into the image of the Son of God, Paul then goes on to other promises that we should base our lives on. If God is for us, how could our enemies ever defeat us? We should live with an expectation of victory. For some like Paul, it was victory in death, but we should live with an expectation of victory. We should live with an expectation that if we need something to fulfill God's will, He will provide. If He was willing to give us His Son for our redemption, what would He withhold from us? We should live recognizing that if God has declared us not guilty, it doesn't matter what the world charges us with because God is greater than the world. The world condemning us means nothing, because Christ rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of the Father, proving that He has overcome the world.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
It is very easy to get the church fathers wrong. From thinking that their doctrine was better or more pure, or that their proximity to Christ and the apostles gave them greater authority, there are many ways to go astray in considering their proper place in the church's history. And while Christ has used many men to lead his church, the primary means that He has used to mature and cleanse his bride is the leading of the Holy Spirit working through the power of His Word. One of the central concepts of the church is its corporate nature and that the church is Christ's bride, who is being made ready for him. But because we are often tempted to focus on individuals and their personal contributions and achievements, the church fathers often become a distraction from the corporate nature of the church and how Christ has made it more mature in both doctrine and practice. In this episode, we try to provide a biblical framework for thinking about God's love and care for the church without putting the wrong emphasis on the people he used. We also discuss how the church fathers are often used to make bad arguments about the church and its doctrine, particularly by the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches. Even the term "church father" gets used far too liberally by many, with the Roman Catholic church recognizing people as fathers as late as the eighth century (and, of course, they choose to elevate those whose writings support their favorite heresies).The church fathers deserve honor as the ones whom God used to lead the early church. But they do not deserve greater honor than other leaders who came after them. God has and is using different men to le
After speaking about suffering and the Holy Spirit helping in our weaknesses, Paul continues to encourage believers through the idea that God is directing all things. Those things that from our perspective look like they are not for good, they are always for good to those who love God and those who are the called according to His purpose. God who spoke the world into existence is still speaking now causing all things to come to pass for the blessing for His bride collectively, but also for each individual Christian. For every believer, He is conforming them into the image of His Son. We will not be His proper image bearer until after the resurrection when corruption puts on incorruption, but even now for everyone who believes, He is working in us to mature us and make us more like the perfect Son of God. As we eagerly wait for the redemption of the body when we finally put off this body of death, we can rejoice knowing that we will be glorified and made like Him.
One of the most challenging issues for a Christian wife to face is when her husband either is openly an unbeliever or even more difficult when he claims to be a believer but behaves in a way that is betrays his faith. And while scripture gives very clear directions in 1 Peter 3:1, "Wives, likewise, be submissive to your own husbands, that even if some do not obey the word, they, without a word, may be won by the conduct of their wives", understanding how to apply it to specific situations can be very complex.In this episode we walk through a number of these complexities and look at how God's word says to deal with them. Because marriage is an intimate relationship, it can seem like it makes up the entirety of a wife's life, but in reality, marriage is only one of many authority structures that make up the world. Often because of pride, shame, or uncertainty, a wife may feel unable to appeal to other authorities in her life, but God has created them as a protection for both her and her husband. Please join us as we discuss this complex issue.Thumbnail image by JESUS_is_our_only_HOPE on pixabayProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Since the whole world is groaning and suffering waiting for the coming of Christ and the revealing of the sons of God, how much more should we be looking forward the redemption of our bodies. In the flesh because of the sin of Adam and the consequences of our own sins, we are still groaning and suffering. Christ suffered not to immediately end our suffering but so the suffering of the whole world will stop when He finishes the new heaven and the new earth. In this life, we should expect suffering, but those of us that have the first fruits of the Spirit should be eagerly awaiting the redemption of the body. Those who are saved, that is what they are saved to: the hope of eternal life with Christ with perfect righteousness. That hope is what is to cause us to persevere through our suffering. The Spirit then helps us through that weakness and suffering in this present world. We don't know what we should be praying for, so the Spirit intercedes on our behalf.
When people try to live according to God's law, they are frequently accused of being legalists, prompting us to ask a startling question: Was Jesus a Legalist? To truly answer this, we must look past cultural definitions and ask from a scriptural standpoint, What is Legalism?In this episode of The Conquering Truth, we dismantle the widespread confusion surrounding what is properly called legalism and examine how the term is routinely weaponized against those who seek to live holy lives. By looking at Christ and the Law, we demonstrate that while the law is NEVER the means of obtaining righteousness, Jesus explicitly demands our total duty to keep and teach it.Unpacking Matthew 5:17-20, we address the severe judgment reserved for those who subtract from God's commandments—a serious issue confronting many modern "Reformed" churches today regarding doctrines relating to Sabbath-keeping, head coverings, and the second commandment. We also break down Phariseeism vs. Legalism, showing how true Phariseeism actually elevates human traditions over God's statutes rather than faithfully obeying His word. We also discuss how people want scripture to tell us exactly what to do in each situation, but scripture almost always conveys the law through case law and case law needs to be understood and applied to specific situations. This doesn't mean that truth is relative but rather that, as 1 Timothy 1:5-11 teaches, the law can be applied to every area of life and every aspect of sound doctrine.As a ministry of Reformation Baptist Church, we desire to promote a greater understanding of God's Word and His law. Join us as we prove once again that theol
Because of the promise of our eternal inheritance, those who are saved should have a different attitude toward the things of this world. The sin and the corruption that comes from it causes real suffering and Christians do not escape that suffering. They also suffer because the world hates them, just as it hated Christ. But through faith, we can see the suffering at this present time as something that is worth it because of what God is doing in as and what He has promised to us. We don't think of the creation having desires, but even the whole of creation is has expectation for when Christ will return and the sons of God, those who are adopted by Him, are revealed. When the firstfruits of creation are revealed is when creation will be renewed. The futility that it was made subject to through the sin of man and the corruption in it will be removed and creation itself will enter into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Most of us grew up hearing about the "American Dream" As a political slogan, it's is useful, primarily because the hearer gets to decide exactly what it means. And politicians on both sides love to argue that they are the ones fighting for the American Dream while their opponents are actively destroying it—but is the American Dream itself just a lie? Coined during the Great Depression by James Adams as a critique of 1920s materialism, the "dream" has shifted from an ethos of freedom and opportunity into a hyper-materialistic checklist: mandatory college degrees, homeownership, and retiring early at 62.In this episode we examine the historical evolution and spiritual danger of the American Dream through a biblical lens. Looking at American history, we unpack how secular definitions look to government intervention or welfare handouts, which actually paralyze economic mobility and strip away the foundational value of productive work. Furthermore, we address how state-sanctioned theft—through inflation and heavy taxation—actively drains the fruit of people's labor.Ultimately, we expose why equating the American Dream with God's covenantal blessing is a false theology. True biblical dominion isn't about escaping work or hoarding luxury; it is about seeking the Kingdom of God first. Join us as we explore how a faithful hermeneutic frees us from worldly materialism and points us back to Christ as the sovereign King and the only hope we need.Thumbnail by bones64 on pixabayTimecodes00:00 Intro02:09 Defining the American Dream06:44 Not Everyone has the same Dream19:39 Economic Mobility27:39 Sacrifice
When confronted with the historical doctrines of grace, Arminians frequently respond by citing popular proof-texts like John 3:16, 2 Peter 3:9, and 1 Timothy 2:4 to deny God's absolute sovereignty over salvation. But are these passages being handled righteously, or are they being ripped entirely out of their biblical contexts?And this question about context matters, because the main problem with the way Arminians handle scripture is that they ignore or twist the context of their proof texts to arrive at the conclusion they desire. This is true whether you are talking about the general context of the harmonization of the Old and New Testaments, where so many Old Testament passages show the weakness and inability of man and are quoted in the New Testament, and Arminians act as if the Old Testament and New Testament have no relation with each other. The other way they do this is by quoting only one or two verses and completely divorcing this short excerpt from the context of the passage it was found in. This second category is where we spend most of out time in this episode.In this episode we break down the most common verses used to defend Arminian theology. By examining the surrounding text, the immediate audience, and the overarching counsel of Scripture, we expose wrong thinking and the poor hermeneutics that drive these misinterpretations—and try to show how ignoring context can pave the way toward serious errors.Thumbnail image by AgnieszkaMonk on PixabayTimecodes00:00 Hermeneutics07:46 John 3:1624:19 2 Peter 3:935:59 1 Timothy 2:451:02 Matthew 23:37Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville
After being told that those who have eternal life, set their minds on things of the Spirit rather than things of the flesh, Paul is going to show the stark contrast between the two. To be carnally minded is death and the be spiritually minded is life. There is a battle between the carnal and the spiritual and they can never have peace with one another. The carnal body cannot submit to the law of God because the carnal mind is in rebellion to God. Those who are setting their minds on the things of the flesh cannot be pleasing to God. It is impossible. Those who are saved can be pleasing to God because they can understand spiritual things and they can set their mind on spiritual things through the work of the Holy Spirit in them. If you are saved, the body is dead because of sin, but your spirit has been raised from the dead through the Spirit working in you. You also have the promise that since Christ was raised from the dead, that your dead body will be raised from the dead and your body will also receive eternal life through the Holy Spirit that is dwelling in you.
Many Pentecostals and charismatics claim that a natural part of the Christian life is to experience a "second baptism" of the Holy Spirit - but is this modern teaching true or is it a form of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? Even more importantly, what is the true ministry of the Holy Spirit? Is it to cause men to babble and faint and tell the future, or to make men Holy as God is Holy?In this episode of The Conquering Truth, we trace the roots of Pentecostalism from John Wesley's Holiness movement through the teachings of Parham and Seymour and examine how the "second work of grace" and "entire sanctification" theories have led to a theology and practice that replaces the Spirit's work of true holiness with mystical experiences, chaos, and even physical foolishness.By looking at scriptures like Acts 1, 1 Corinthians 14, and John 16, we contrast the "spirit" of the Charismatic movement—which often exalts disorder and pride—with the true Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Truth, Wisdom, and Order. The Holy Spirit was sent to give power to the church for the spread of the Gospel and the work of the ministry, and to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, not to make a mockery of the faith through barking or hysterical laughter.At The Conquering Truth, we believe that theology drives the world. Join us as we dismantle the errors of Pentecostalism and point back to the sufficient, transforming power of God's Word.Timecodes00:00 Blaspheming the Holy Spirit10:05 Tongues for Unbelievers15:08 Biblical Prophesy21:12 Mocking God34:44 Christ on the Holy Spirit43:
Now Paul is going to explain salvation. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus because they have the Spirit in them that causes them to desire to walk according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. Because their inner man is made alive because they died with Christ, they are now dead to the law of sin and death. The law no longer produces offenses in them. The law could not produce righteousness, but Christ came in the form of sinful flesh so He could overcome sin in the flesh. By doing so, He condemned sin in the flesh so the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us. Not a righteous requirement of the law for salvation, but the order of God's ways rather than being ordered by the world. Those who have been made alive through Christ, then do no live according to the flesh because those who have the Spirit of God set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Setting the mind on the things of the Spirit does cause righteousness in your life.
Many people think that effective evangelism begins with proclaiming Jesus' love for sinners. But there's the question, and it's an important one: Has Jesus commanded us to tell unbelievers that He loves them? And when we say those words, do people understand that their most pressing need is to be saved from the wrath of God? When we tell someone that Jesus loves them, we are often encouraging them to think about Christ in ways that are not at all biblical. They may think of him loving them in the way that their mother or father loves them. Because most people do not understand love, if they believe that Jesus loves them, they will be unable to imagine him sending them to hell for their sins. In Matthew 7, when Jesus describes sending false converts to hell, he does not express his love toward them. He tells them He never knew them and condemns them for their love of lawlessness. Throughout scripture, even when Jesus shows kindness to unbelievers, he does not begin by expressing his love toward them. Instead, he helps them to understand that God's wrath is on the children of disobedience. So here's a question: When is it appropriate to tell someone that Jesus loves them?Thumbnail image by BunteAufnahmen on PixabayProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After talking about the struggle between the two wills that remain in him after salvation, so he does the things that he wants to do. he reminds us of the only hope, God. That God through Christ is the one that delivers us from sin and not only at salvation. He is the one who delivers us from the body of death as we go through our lives and are tempted to sin. He is the one that breaks the power of sin in our lives, including by scourging us so that we receive the peaceable fruit of righteousness. He is ultimately the one who frees us from the body of death through the resurrection of the dead at glorification. After which, we will no longer have a body of death, because we will have an incorruptible body that cannot die. It is important to remember, it is God who starts our salvation, sanctifies us through the rest of our life and then glorifies us, so the to God alone belongs the glory.
Christian celebrity culture gets rightly criticized for its worldliness, its elevation and celebration of men and their achievements, and its tendency to create apologetics for all types of unbiblical behaviors. But there is also a tendency to divorce celebrity culture from the culture of our local churches, its many congregants, and the pastors that lead them. So, in the wake of Sam Allberry's resignation, we thought it was worth taking the time to look at what Christian celebrity culture says about the rest of us, and the leaders we choose. Fundamentally, those who follow sound doctrine understand that sin is progressive by nature. So, if the "wordly" churches are tolerating sins among their leaders that are blatantly obvious to us, we have every reason to believe that there are sins, which seem much less offensive to us, but to which we are turning a blind eye. Celebrity culture exists because we desire to follow a man. That desire wars against our willingness to live and die for the truth. So let's start with a question: How does blindness come upon churches? And how do we open our eyes to the truth?Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
There's been a lot of talk in the past few years about how young men are leaving Protestant churches for the Roman Catholic Church. It's easy to forget that the Roman Catholic Church, like all other cults and false religions, uses carnal means and methods to cause those who are dead in their sins and trespasses to feel as if they are spiritually alive unto God. And because the RCC has been practicing and perfecting these techniques for over a thousand years, it is easy for people to forget that they are a corrupt institution through and through. In this episode, we want to focus on the many carnal means and techniques that the Roman Catholic Church uses to make its followers feel spiritual. Because the carnal man does not believe in an invisible God they give him a man who sits on a throne and wears a robe and a mitre and that is something the carnal man can believe in. Because the carnal man cannot imagine the glory of God they have built cathedrals so that a man can see the architecture and hear and feel the music and believe in the strength of man's hand instead of having to believe in The Invisible God. Because they cannot believe in the invisible work of prayer, they give you beads to hold in your hand and set prayers to pray over and over to make you feel spiritual. Instead of being able to approach God or their brothers and sisters in Christ and confess our sins they set up a confessional where you confess before a priest or an icon. Because they cannot believe in the spiritual nature of the church as the mother of us all, they give you Mary to worship as a mother, because people cannot believe that God is their father they tell them to call men t
After describing the picture of slavery to sin compared to slavery to God, Paul is now going to use the picture of marriage specifically regarding the Jews. When they left Egypt, they were married to Christ in Exodus 24 when they swore that they would do whatever He told them to do and that marriage was governed by the law, whatever You say, we will do. Because it was governed by the law, for it to go away, they must die to marry another. According to the law of marriage, without committing sin worthy of death, the only way out of a marriage is through death. In death, that marriage is done away with and you have no responsibility to do what your dead husband commanded. For them to escape the curse which just produced sin, whatever You say we will do, is to die, then that relationship ends. To be saved, we must first stop thinking that whatever God says, we will do because that is works based righteousness and still being under that relationship means you are still condemned. You must die to your relationship with the law, so that you can be in the Spirit not just the Jews but also the Gentiles.
There has been a big shift in America in how men and women decide to get married. In early America, parents had a very high level of authority and responsibility over who their children married. This was partly driven by economic and social factors, where the parents were more concerned about continuing the family line and ensuring that their children and grandchildren would not starve to death than whether the two getting married were emotionally compatible with one another. As time went on and America became wealthier, engagement and marriage became less about financial stability and more of a courtship arrangement. The parents were not arranging the marriages as much as they were overseeing the interests of their children. As we lost our understanding of a biblical worldview, and focused on pleasure rather than duty and obligation, the marriage process has become more about the emotional and physical response to the relationship rather than establishing a productive home where both could safely establish their future. And while some may disagree, we would argue strongly that this modern approach to marriage has failed dramatically. In response, many are choosing to never get married or cohabitating for years, but behaving as if they are married to see if the emotions last, but none of this solves the underlying problems. For the last fifty years, about half of marriages end in divorce, people are not happier in their relationships and their families, and marriage rates have declined significantly. So let's start off with a question: why is dating such a terrible way to establish marriages?Thumbnail image by Jack Pearce under CC BY-SA 2.0Production of
In this week's passage, Paul continues the theme that those who are saved are slaves of righteousness. He points out that when you were a slave of sin, you produced fruit that you are now ashamed of. As a slave of righteousness, you will still produce fruit. Not fruit that you would later be ashamed of, but fruit that produces holiness. Slavery to sin produces death. Slavery to righteousness produces holiness. Those who are slaves of God do not received eternal death, instead they receive the gift of eternal life.
In this week's passage, after making his argument as to why that is contrary to the to the grace of God, he repeats his first premise that of course we should not be continuing in sin if we have been saved by the blood of Christ. Then he challenges them (and us) what are you really presenting yourself to obey. If you are seeking after ways to sin, then you are a slave to sin. If you are seeking ways to walk more righteously, then you are a slave of righteousness. Those who are conformed to the doctrine of the Scriptures, those are the ones who are slaves of righteousness. And if we know and understand righteousness and see it in our own lives, that should cause us to be filled with thanksgiving toward God.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
In this episode of The Conquering Truth, we explore "contumacy"—the most common reason for excommunication in faithful churches today. While many assume church discipline is only for overt scandals like adultery, contumacy is a stubborn refusal to submit to the biblically established authority of the church. We discuss why this sin is comparable to the judicial concept of "contempt of court" within the body of Christ and how it manifests as a breach of the membership covenant and ask the following questions: Is it possible to simply "resign" from a local church to avoid the judgment of the elders? Or does this reveal a lack of respect for the universal church and the commands of Matthew 18? And if someone does flee to avoid discipline, is it wrong to excommunicate them for their refusal to recognize the authority of the church? Furthermore, if someone has been excommunicated from a church, is there any way that this can be appealed to other churches, or does scripture require a governing authority for this to happen?Many people first heard of contumacy because of the 2026 controversy involving Stephen Nichols and St. Andrew's Chapel, and while we will mention it in passing in the episode, we do not have sufficient information to discuss it in detail. Instead, we examine the normative process and the jurisdictional complexities that arise when members attempt to flee discipline. Many Christians today treat the church as if it has no real authority, as if it is a purely voluntary association that one can walk away from at any time. Theology impacts every facet of life, including how we resolve conflict and honor God's structur
In this week's passage, Paul is continuing to describe the ramifications of no longer being slaves of sin because we were crucified with Christ. If the slavery was broken because of the old man being crucified with Christ then we have truly been freed from sin. Being a slave of sin means that when we hear the law, immediately in us springs up a desire to sin. The law does not produce righteousness, because that is not a purpose of the law. Instead, it was given so sin would abound. Because those who are saved died with Christ and death no longer has dominion over us just as it no longer had dominion over Christ, so that we can live with Him. Our response needs to be to think of ourselves as not under dominion of sin but under the dominion of righteousness. As those under dominion of righteousness, we should expect and see righteousness ruling in our lives. So many people twist the verse, we are not under law but under grace to mean the opposite of what Paul means by the statement. To not be under the law, means the law no longer produces sin in you. To be under grace, means that the grace of God produces righteousness in you. No longer does sin have dominion over you.
Most professing Christians today hold to Arminian views, often assuming the debate between Calvinism and Arminianism is merely a secondary issue or a sort of "family squabble." But is it much more serious than that? In this episode of The Conquering Truth, we explore why the Reformers saw the doctrines of Arminianism not just as a mistake, but as a fundamental rejection of the biblical Gospel.When Martin Luther debated Erasmus, the core issue wasn't the corruption of the papacy—it was the nature of God's election and the bondage of the will. Does God choose man, or does man choose God? We dive into the outline of Arminianism to show how it changes the very nature of God, turning the Creator into a "slave" to man's choices and stripping Him of His glory.We also want to be very clear that this does not mean that everyone who has been taught or who holds to some form of Arminian doctrine is an unsaved heretic. But it does not help anyone to treat these doctrinal differences as if they are minor. There are wolves in and among the church who use these heresies to divide the church and to weaken the gospel. While our desire should always be unity, it should always be unity through truth, with the expectation that the spirit of Truth will guide those whom He indwells. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As Paul often does in the book of Romans, he asks the question that most people will be asking if they consider his argument. In this case, if God is glorified by our absolute inability to overcome our sin nature, then why don't we just sin more so that grace would abound more? But that is not the testimony of the abundance of grace. It is not that sin is just forgiven. It is that our sin nature is done away with. We die with Christ. The testimony of His glory is not that He just forgives sin, but He baptizes those who He gives the gift of faith into His death so that they will walk in His resurrection. They will be spiritually revived to have spiritual life as Adam did before the day that he sinned. If we were crucified with Him, we were then raised to no longer be slaves of sin.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Why did the first Pentecost lead to death while the last led to life? Most Christians celebrate Pentecost as the "birthday of the church," but its roots go back much further—to the foot of Mount Sinai. In this episode of The Conquering Truth, we explore the profound biblical connection between the first giving of the Law in Exodus and the second giving of the Law through the Holy Spirit in Acts.While the Law on tablets of stone was a "ministry of death" (2 Corinthians 3), the Law written on fleshly tables of the heart was a ministry unto life. We dive deep into Covenant Theology, the promise vs. fulfillment of the New Covenant, and why the feast of weeks was always pointing us toward the substance of Jesus Christ.Thumbnail image by John Biody under CC BY 2.0Timecodes00:00 Pentecost05:17 Giving of the Law17:47 Promise vs Fulfillment25:11 Sin vs Righteousness Abounding48:29 Death to LifeProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Paul after showing that since Adam was a type of Christ, there were similarities in how their actions affected the world. Obvious, Adam infected it with sin while Christ brought life into the world. But the grace Christ brought to the world is greater than the judgment that Adam brought into the world, so just like Adam affected all men for condemnation, Christ affected all men for righteousness. Christ came not just to save sinners, but to defeat sin in all of the world and resulting for the elect in justification to eternal life. Adam brought law into the world so that sin would abound and Christ brought grace into the world, so that righteousness would abound.
Why is a dog a "best friend" but a pig is "breakfast"? As Western Christians, we often mistake our cultural taboos for biblical mandates. We recoil at the idea of eating horses or cats, yet we enjoy bacon and shellfish without a second thought—all while claiming our standards are rooted in Scripture. But is our "culinary morality" truly biblical, or just a product of our zip code? Even worse, our rules and taboos often oppress the poor by forcing them to live according to our standard of wealth and "morality".In this episode, we look at how the Old Testament ceremonial food laws intersect with New Covenant freedoms and practices. We move beyond the common misconception that those laws were about hygiene or health, exploring instead how they served as a "tutor," using the animals as types or pictures to paint a vivid picture of holiness and the separation of God's people. Link to Mike Rowe TED Talk: https://youtu.be/IRVdiHu1VCcTimecodes00:00 Animal Cruelty05:32 Cultural Superiority09:28 Food Law Symbolism20:07 Clean Meat Healthier?31:29 Hypocrisy41:03 Gratefulness45:30 Haitians Eating Dogs49:34 Oppression of PoorProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
In these verse, Paul makes the argument that Adam is a type of Christ. Adam through his sin brought death and destruction to the whole world and Christ as the second Adam brought life into the whole world. Not to all men, because some will be cast out to eternal judgment. Adam caused all men to sin, not the same way that he sinned, but with the same rebellious heart that refuses to do what God says. Christ's coming produces in people a submissive heart that desires to do what God says. In other ways it is different, one sin of Adam's or of ours earns the wages of eternal death. Christ's work is far greater because His work covered everyone of those transgressions that was worthy of death. God's justification in punishment required one offense. The grace to justify the lost requires the covering of a vast multitude of offenses. Adam is a type of Christ, but Christ's work was far greater than Adam's.
The US constitution was designed to limit the power of the president regarding taxes and the use of the military. This limitation of power goes all the way back to the Magna Carta and has its foundations in biblical principles. So when the Supreme Court overturned president Trump's tariffs and when he unilaterally decided to bomb Iran, president Trump was acting outside of the bounds of his constitutional authority. And we should be clear, he is not the first president to do such a thing. The US has not declared war since WWII, but many soldiers and many body bags testify that we have been at war. Our constitution says that war must be declared by the Congress, (Art.1.8.11) but as a nation we now treat that as a relic of a bygone time. Our constitution also says that any bill raising revenue doesn't just need to start in Congress, but specifically the House of Representatives (Art.1.7.1). Now the president does both of these things and so called conservatives rejoice in what he is doing, which is clearly illegal, but they say the legislative process is too hard which was the design of the system. In this episode, we want to consider why the Constitution was structured as it was, how we should think about it as Christians, and what our responsibility is to the president, to the nation, to each other, and most importantly to our Lord Jesus Christ. Thumbnail image by Avash Media under CC-BY 4.0Timecodes00:00:00 Constitution00:09:23 Control of Money00:15:59 Call to Repentance00:29:58 Our Duty00:41:10 Debating War00:51:52 Abdicating Responsibility01:10:20 Solutions01:18:55 OathbreakingProductio
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
When we think of Christ dying for the ungodly in due time, it is easy to think of this in prophetic terms, such as the timeline from the book of Daniel. It is possible to think of this in terms of what was in place physically. But this week, the sermon will be con considering this spiritually. We will be looking at how for four thousand years of human history God was proving that man was incapable, regardless of circumstances, of being without strength, not even to come to God but to stop himself from heading to destruction. We are going to consider how all of human history before Christ was pointing to the total depravity of man.
In Canada, there is a law called MAiD which stands for Medical Assistance in Dying which permits medical personnel to help with suicide. Their criteria are such that in 2024 5.1% of all deaths in Canada are caused by medical personnel legally murdering or assisting in the murder of their patients. In the Quebec province, it was at least 7.3% of all deaths. These are staggeringly high numbers and since it varies by province, there are probably significantly more factors in play than just the health of the patient. Why would a nation want to facilitate the death of its own people and what does God's word say about such a practice?Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:03:23 God's Purpose for the Government00:21:19 MaiD Criteria00:40:55 Canada's Response00:45:00 What the Bible says About Suffering00:53:03 Criteria Volutary Request00:58:57 Assisted Suicide Example from Scripture01:10:55 The Duty of the Church to Stop the OppressionProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After explaining how the peace, tribulation, and hope we receive is from God's love and mercy, Paul further emphasizes our weakness before Him. We are without strength, ungodly, sinners, and enemies before Him, yet He showed mercy and reconciled us. Paul uses the 'much more than' argument to testify that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6), and this produces in us a spirit of rejoicing.
If grace is the goodness of God, then it seems obvious that some goodness can be resisted while others can't. Think about a baby being born. If the mother and father want to bring the baby out of the womb there's nothing the baby can do to stop it. Or consider an unconscious man whose heart has stopped or is beating irregularly.. He will find it impossible to resist the emergency surgery or the doctor shocking his heart back into a normal rhythm. But other types of grace can be resisted. That same child years later can refuse to celebrate his birthday with his family and can sulk and pout even if his parents force him to come to the party. The man whose heart has been restarted can refuse to take his prescribed medicines or to exercise as he should. It is similar in the Christian life. Scripture talks about man resisting the grace of God. But it also talks about man being born again and the Spirit blowing where it will. It talks about God giving man a new heart and replacing the heart of stone with one of flesh. If an earthly parent can show irresistible grace to their child then it is hard to argue that the Father of Spirits cannot do the same. For those who hate to think of God as God, as the One who sovereignly rules in heaven, irresistible grace or effectual calling is considered something immoral. But scripture says that it is about the glory of God. It is about God choosing to show compassion to those who He wants to show compassion. We are saved by grace and if you don't want to receive grace from God, you should question if you are saved. So let's start off with a question: Is there a biblical reason why we would want saving grace to be resistibl
In this passage, Paul addresses man's primary problem, his standing before God. While many preach that peace with God means everything in your life will go smoothly, Paul reminds us that we are promised tribulations. Yet, because we have peace with God, we will mature and better understand Him through tribulations because of the Holy Spirit. We are to be a hope-filled people who see tribulations and difficulties as something to rejoice in.
Recently, Tucker Carlson interviewed Ambassador Mike Huckabee and asked him questions that he struggled to answer. Questions like: Who are the children of Abraham? Who are the Jews? What is the land that God promised? And what was the nature of that promise? And, in this present time, how do we identify the people God promised that land to? Many people say the answer is obvious because there are people that call themselves Jews, but when you consider that many Christians believe America should support Israel militarily as ones who have a God-given right to the land, the answers matter a great deal. This becomes even more important when you consider that Israel does not allow Jews who have converted to Christianity the right to return, so it is not purely genetic in national Israel's eyes. So before we talk about the problems with both Huckabee's and Tucker's arguments, who was the promise of the land that was given to Abram?Timecodes00:00:00 Tucker and Huckabee00:05:35 Promise to Abraham00:13:33 Israel Divorced00:14:43 How God Gives Land00:22:52 Two Promises00:29:13 Descent by Father or Mother?00:47:44 What is the Promised Land?01:00:10 ConclusionsProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After explaining that Abraham understood that God was promising the he and his offspring would inherit the earth and not just the land in the Middle East, Paul then continues to explain why it was an act of faith. Abraham knew that he was dead in terms of being able to have children. He knew that Sarah had never had children. But when God promised that they would have a son, Abraham believed Him even when it was against how the world said everything worked. As it says in Hebrews 11, he believed that the invisible caused the visible and not the other way around. So through faith, He believed that God would do what He promised. God recorded that it was his faith that caused Abraham to be accounted righteous, so that we would understand that righteousness is not by works, but by faith.
Arminians want to argue that to have free will is somehow against predestination and the election of God in salvation, but that is not what the Reformed confessions teach. For example in the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith it says, "God hath decreed … all things, … yet God [is] neither the author of sin … nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor is liberty taken away, but rather established". When people claim that Calvinism says that there is no such thing as free will, nothing could be farther from the truth. The issue is the definition of free will, because many Arminians hold to a definition of free will that according to the Bible, not even God Himself has. So let's start with a question: what is the nature of God's free will?Listen to the audio version here: Timecodes00:00 Nature of Free Will05:08 Libertarian Free Will is False16:17 You can only choose what pleases us25:58 Fallen Man Chooses Evil30:16 The Heart is the Problem32:53 God Gives us Light to Make the Right Choice51:11 How God's Means Affect our Choices59:09 Who Are We to Reply Against GodProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Paul now makes the argument that God was promising the world to Abraham and his descendants, not by the law, but by the righteousness of faith. He uses the picture of inheritance where the one granting the inheritance doesn't grant it out of obligation but as a gift and it is not given to the unrighteous. The Jews looked at that law as binding God rather than binding them. Because He entered into covenant with them, they would not be judged, but God says that the inheritance will go to the righteous and the righteous are made righteous through the gift of faith. If inheritance was of the law, then Adam, Reuben, Esau and others would have been the heirs, but it is not of the law. Laws are given to show just wrath. Inheritance is by faith so that it is by grace, so the inheritance is to all of the true children of God which happens by being born again through faith. Abraham believed that he would inherit the earth contrary to any earthly hope because he understood that inheritance was by faith.
Salvation is God forgiving our lawless deeds which brings us to a place of receiving blessings from God. Sin produces death, salvation produces joy. He then points out that blessing did not come upon Abraham when he was circumcised. It came upon him when he entered into the covenant. He received the sign of that covenant after having entered into the covenant. Paul's point is that the example of Abraham shows that he is the father of all who believe, not just of those who were circumcised. When pedobaptists say that circumcision is the precursor to baptism miss the point, it is a seal of Abraham's faith because it follows entering into the covenant and does not precede it as they do with their children.
There are churches that hold Super Bowl parties or cancel Sunday evening services so people can watch the Super Bowl. If the Sabbath is a day of rest, why shouldn't we do what we want to relax on that day?Thumbnail image by Alan Owns under BY-NC-SA 2.0Timecodes00:00 Sabbath Made for Man09:56 Superbowl Idolatry13:22 Sabbath Sports28:57 Joy in God40:05 Childrens' Sunday Sports42:54 Fighting for the Sabbath57:28 Community Testimony01:01:33 Are Sports Special?Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After showing that Abraham was saved by faith and not by works, Paul argues the foolishness of thinking that we could be saved by works. To be saved by works means that God owes us something. That are works have created a debt of wages from God to a man. When God has given us all things including our very life itself, the idea that God could have a debt to us is completely contrary to the nature of God. He then goes on and says that David understood this as he quotes from Psalm 32.
Scott Adams, the cartoonist who created Dilbert, died recently, and as part of his final public statements, made a very disturbing profession of non-faith while claiming to accept Christ as his Lord and Savior. The general response to this within Christian circles was even more disturbing, with many seeing it as a positive thing and reacting negatively toward any attempt to examine, analyze, or comment on what happened. And while we are going to discuss Scott Adams, our goal is much more to focus on the state of the church, and how easy believism has progressed to such a point that saying you do not believe is considered acceptable. Thumbnail image by Art of Charm under CC BY 3.0Timecodes00:00:00 Scott Adams00:06:18 Fear of God Beginning of Understanding00:15:40 A Heart to Fear God00:20:57 Words Seperated from Hearts00:24:05 The Problem with Pascal's Wager00:29:54 The Small God of Arminianism00:40:47 This is a Hard Heart00:45:53 Bringing God to our Level00:52:57 Purpose of the Gospel00:56:29 The Cost of Being a DiscipleProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After proving that for the glory of God, salvation always had to be the work of God so it had to be by faith rather than by works, Paul now goes back to the covenant with Abraham. The Abrahamic covenant was made with Abram after he heard the promise of God that his descendants would be like the stars in the sky in number and believed Him. At ninety years old without offspring his whole life, it is easy to understand why Abram would not believe. According to the flesh, it made no sense. But Abram believed that the times were framed by the word of God, so if He spoke and said it would be so, then it would happen. He had faith and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
Dispensationalists often argue that Old Testament promises to Israel must only be fulfilled in a physical way to the earthly nation of Israel. There are many complexities with that view because even in the Old Testament, the word "Israel" is also used to mean the promised land, the northern kingdom, the church, or even Jesus Christ. And while there are promises that were made to the physical nation, it is important to understand that God laid the groundwork for bringing in the Gentiles to Moses all the way back in the Pentateuch. In Deuteronomy, in the Song of Moses, Moses understood that the earthly nation of Israel was just a type and that those to whom God gave the gift of faith are the true Israel. In this episode, we look at how fundamental the typology of Israel is to redemptive history and how easy it is to miss it because of how strongly dispensationalism has been pushed in the US and much of the rest of the world. Timecodes00:00:00 Song of Moses00:09:47 Tower of Babel00:22:01 Rejoice O Gentiles00:32:57 Israel's Rebellion00:49:40 DispensationalismProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After declaring that it is only through Christ and His mercy can we avoid the judgment of the law which He does so that His righteousness can be seen, Paul now speaks about the law. The law make all under judgment, so no one can boast of their works for we are justified by faith separate from any works that we might do. Since justification is separate from the deeds of the law, the giving of the law can make no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. He is the God of all and all are saved by faith in Him. That does not mean that law is abolished, rather justification by faith makes the law more visible.
There are many false teachers on social media who are making foolish statements about race, culture, and marriage, saying things like, "interracial marriage isn't a sin, it's just not ideal," or "it's fine to tell your white daughter she shouldn't marry a solid Christian black man because you want grandchildren who look like you." These wolves are not just giving bad advice; they are attacking the heart of the gospel, not because the gospel requires you to marry someone from a different culture or "race", but because it commands you to prioritize spiritual matters over physical concerns. Most people don't have the luxury of choosing between two or more identical spiritually-qualified life partners. And the last thing you should do in such a situation is make physical matters primary. And we should not think this is a new debate. It has been going on for some time in different forms, and though now its proponents are trying to soften it from the openBob Jones University position, which banned interracial dating until 2008 by claiming it was against God's design. So here's the question: Is there any actual Scriptural support for their idea?Timecodes00:00:00 Leaders Pushing This00:08:32 Qualifications for Marriage00:16:04 Moses' Marriage00:22:58 Christ's Marriage00:28:52 Ruth's Marriage00:33:02 What Is Race?00:49:28 Is It Unwise?00:54:00 Biblical Law00:57:29 Christian Culture01:08:35 Punishment for Foreign WivesProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music
Paul is showing how God is glorified in salvation, because the true nature of fallen man that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God so we needed someone outside of ourselves. All of us fail to glorify God the way that we should through perfect obedience so none of us could be justified by our works. Instead, it required a Redeemer, because we could never pay the debt. By His grace, He freely justifies us to demonstrate His righteousness and His mercy because He passes over the sins that were previously committed.
Does the Bible clearly teach that those who did in their sin are tormented for all eternity in the lake of fire? Or does it suggest that there is an end to God's wrath against sinners? While the church has long held the former position, in late 2025, Kirk Cameron posted a video where he genuinely questions the doctrine of eternal judgment, or, as those who hold to conditional immortality like to call it, eternal conscious torment. This view, often called annihilationism, redefines Biblical death and eternal torment for a period of judgment ending in annihilation. While we will deal with many of the verses that they use in this episode, it is worth first considering how changes to eternal judgment affects all of theology. Those who argue for conditional immortality often act like their view does not impact other doctrines. So here's the question: Are they correct?Thumbnail image by Ivan Vtorov under CC BY-SA 3.0. It shows not hell, but a lava lake in a Hawaiian volcano. Timecodes00:00:00 Why Does it Matter?00:04:49 What Is Death?00:19:12 Changing Terms00:22:26 Eternal Contempt00:28:16 Unpayable Debt00:36:56 Rich Man and Lazarus00:42:36 Destroying Soul and Body00:52:19 The Second Death00:59:13 God Can't Be Like That?01:08:11 Wages of Sin Death01:12:42 Corruption in Hell01:14:09 ConclusionProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After citing many examples that show the total depravity of man, Paul uses that to explain a primary purpose of the law to stop every mouth. Because the heart of carnal man is to deny reality because of their sin, God gave the law to stop their mouth and so that they see their sin. There is no law that can save from sin, but God's perfect law makes every man's guilty clear to them. Man wants to think he is righteous and wise, but the law forces him to recognize that he is neither.
Kirk Cameron came out recently saying that he leaned toward a view of conditionalism which is a flavor of annihilationism. Many people started to ask, "Is Kirk Cameron a heretic?" Todd Friel described why he thinks annihilationism is not a heresy and why therefore Cameron is not a heretic. To do this, he utilized a common method that categorizes each theology as either "Essential" or "Non-Essential". In his view, to be classified as a heresy, the wrong idea must be about an essential doctrine (he also seemed to say if you hold to a heresy, then you are a heretic, but that may have just been in the context of Cameron's position as a teacher) The problem is that this method of categorization regarding heresy does not come from Scripture. So we feel that it is worth discussing what the bible actually says about heresy and what makes a man a heretic. While Friel and many others say that heresy is different than error or being wrong, the Greek word that is translated heresy means "to choose". The word also contains the idea of creating divisions. So heresy fundamentally means to choose to believe something that is not true. But does this mean that everyone who chooses to believe something that is not true is a heretic. NO. Absolutely not. According to scripture, a heretic is one who refuses to repent when corrected and who teaches their false view to others, causing division in the body of Christ.So, why is it dangerous to make heresy to hold to something essential? Because what scripture teaches us is that God loves those things that we do out of faith and he hates those who love lawlessness. And lawlessness is not limited to "essential" doctrines, but springs up
Kirk Cameron came out recently saying that he leaned toward a view of conditionalism which is a flavor of annihilationism. Many people started to ask, "Is Kirk Cameron a heretic?" Todd Friel described why he thinks annihilationism is not a heresy and why therefore Cameron is not a heretic. To do this, he utilized a common method that categorizes each theology as either "Essential" or "Non-Essential". In his view, to be classified as a heresy, the wrong idea must be about an essential doctrine (he also seemed to say if you hold to a heresy, then you are a heretic, but that may have just been in the context of Cameron's position as a teacher) The problem is that this method of categorization regarding heresy does not come from Scripture. So we feel that it is worth discussing what the bible actually says about heresy and what makes a man a heretic. While Friel and many others say that heresy is different than error or being wrong, the Greek word that is translated heresy means "to choose". The word also contains the idea of creating divisions. So heresy fundamentally means to choose to believe something that is not true. But does this mean that everyone who chooses to believe something that is not true is a heretic. NO. Absolutely not. According to scripture, a heretic is one who refuses to repent when corrected and who teaches their false view to others, causing division in the body of Christ.So, why is it dangerous to make heresy to hold to something essential? Because what scripture teaches us is that God loves those things that we do out of faith and he hates those who love lawlessness. And lawlessness is not limited to "essential" doctrines, but springs up
Paul continues to use David and the Psalms to show that there is a difference between those who God has granted the gift of faith to versus those who are dead in their sins and trespasses. Their very nature is different and that manifests itself in their works specifically in their use of the tongue. The words spoken believer are very different from that of an unbeliever. Their throat is an open tomb. Their life is about death and bringing other people to death rather than to eternal life. The poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. We will consider Psalm 5, Psalm 140 and Psalm 10 as we consider how Paul used those writings to support his argument.
It can be counter intuitive to think that feminists hate women, but when they insist that men and women are equal in every way, what they are really doing is saying women need to become men to be valuable. But God's word teaches that both women and men are made in the image of God and that the differences He created between them glorify Him and reveal aspects of His nature. When feminists want to diminish the role of women in the world, it is because they look on women as being inferior and their roles as being unimportant. And it should be self-evident that over the past hundred years this viewpoint has impacted every aspect of life and culture. It has changed the structure and order of the home, impacted education at every level, restructured work and the workplace, and has shaped the framework of politics and even the laws of most nations. But if we are going to make the claim that feminists hate women, we should ask what does it look like to love women or even more accurately what does it look like to hold women in biblical esteem?Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:01:18 Biblical Esteem00:13:17 Reject the Natural Blessings00:31:32 The Curse of Barrenness00:40:16 Rejection of Physical Differences00:52:42 Deceiving Like Satan01:00:53 Rebellion Against Roles01:07:49 Take on the Curse of Men01:13:11 The Idolatry of MoneyProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Paul continues his argument how the gospel is about making the righteousness of God to be revealed by comparing God to men. In the previous verses, he used David as a example of how God used David's unrighteousness to cause His righteousness to be seen. The example was not because David was a special case. All men are born under sin and there is no way for them to escape it. There are none righteous. There are none who seek God, so Paul quotes from Psalm 14. Psalm 14 explains the picture of the creation of Eve. God looked through the whole world and could find none comparable to Him, so He had to create His bride. That is the same argument that Paul is making in this passage. No one desires the righteousness of God, so God has to do the work to create those who do.
Again Paul answers the obvious question based on what he had just said. He said that God used the unrighteousness of man, specifically in the case of David, to show He is the one who changes the heart so that He is just when He declares a man innocent. The obvious question for those who love sin is why don't we just sin more, if God uses the sin of man to prove His faithfulness and righteousness? Should we not just pursue sin? The answer is obviously of course not. Increasing sin in the world is not a blessing, otherwise how could God judge the world. Just because our sin results in the glory of God doesn't mean that it is unjust for God to judge the sin. Because people don't understand (or don't want to understand) what Paul is saying, they pretend that he is pointing them to be greater sinners since God will use their great sin for His glory. Armenians continue to use this argument against Calvinists. If God is going to save who He is going to save, our sin doesn't matter. That is as much a lie now as it was at the time of David.
Do the New Testament writers ever use the Old Testaments verses that they quote out of context? It's an important concept to consider because many people use proof texting to make theological arguments. They will quote a verse divorced from its context and declare that it means what they want it to mean. So if the writers of the NT, who were inspired by God, used those same techniques, then proof texting must be approved. But of course that is ridiculous, because the heart of proof texting is to put your words in God's mouth rather than putting His words in your mouth which is the purpose of the Word of God. In this episode, we examine how the New Testament writers handled the Old Testament and how often comprehending the meaning of a passage in the New Testament requires knowing and understanding the fuller context of the Old Testament passage that was referenced. New Testament writers would often just quote a single line from the Old Testament, expecting that those who love God and His Word would be willing to study the Bible and spend the time to understand. But today, most people in the pews, and even most pastors know very little about the Old Testament. So here's the question: If it is wrong to proof text, how does that change how we should look at the Word of God when it quotes from an earlier writer?Thumbnail image by Arran Bee under CC BY 2.0Timecodes00:00 Intro05:22 God Inspired Everything14:30 Under the New Covenant22:29 Muzzling the Ox29:57 The Just Shall Live By Faith38:59 Den of Thieves50:08 The Virgin With Child52:20 Out of Egypt I Called My SonProduction of Reformation Bapt
Paul is making the argument that the things in the Old Covenant were only shadows of things in the New. The Jews were not those who were circumcised in the flesh because it never produced obedience to the law. The true circumcision was of the heart which did produce different behavior. Judah means praise and the man Judah who caused Leah to praise God was only a shadow of those who had faith. Those who have faith receive praise not from men, but from God because of the good works produced by their circumcised hearts.
Christians are often told to tithe, but many often wonder, is tithing really commanded for Christians? Or is it an Old Testament ordinance that passed away with the ceremonial law.Before we talk about whether the tithe is biblical, it is important to understand something. God doesn't need our money. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He can provide whatever is needed, so we need to start with the idea that God had another purpose for His people to give. So here's the question: Why are His people to give, when many lack resources?Thumbnail image by www.tradingacademy.com under CC BY-SA 2.0Timecodes00:00:00 Where is Our Heart?00:19:03 Church's Financial Security00:23:23 Faithful in Lesser Things00:30:19 Honoring God with Money00:33:37 Old Testament Tithing00:37:20 Examples of Giving00:49:08 Consequences of the Love of Money01:00:07 Tithes vs Offerings01:05:22 Old Testament TithesProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
We all know the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, and how they celebrated their first year, a year of loss and hardship, by pouring out their hearts in thankful worship to God. But do we really understand the nature of thanksgiving itself (the act of worship, not the holiday)? In this episode, we try to talk about the modern disconnect we seem to have with feeling and expressing gratitude. We'll talk about how central gratefulness is to Christianity, how being involved in the work of God by laboring for his church and for the brethren enables us to be grateful in a deeper way, and how it is the work of the Holy Spirit in God's people that causes and enables us to offer our lives to God as a thankful sacrifice.Thumbnail Image by James Walsh#BuckleUpForPilgrims#ReformedThanksgiving#SufficiencyOfScripture#SolaScripturaListen to the audio version here: http://theconqueringtruth.com/2021/11/stop-complaining-god-demands-thanksgiving-ep-46-audio/Timecodes00:00 Remembering the Pilgrims03:58 God's Soverignty08:40 Prevalence of Complaining15:11 Complaining in the Family18:45 Thankful Worship24:30 Intentional Gratefulness35:27 Joy from Giving Thanks39:16 Sharing Gratitude43:46 Appointing Days of Thanksgiving48:02 Secular Thanksgiving?49:38 Communion as ThanksgivingProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Building on his statement that there is no partiality with God and that He judges everyone according to his deeds, he answers the logical question that arises from that, "if the Gentiles do not have the law and the Jews do, then how it is right to judge them by the same standard?" The logical answer is that the written law revealed through Moses condemns the Jews, but the law God wrote on the hearts of men might be different in explicitness, but it is not different in substance. The law of their conscience is enough for the Gentiles who did not have the written law to be justly equally condemned, because it is not the hearer of the law that is justified in the sight of God but the doer.
Since Charlie Kirk's assassination, more people are naming the name of Jesus in public. And many Christians think that if they are willing to mention the name of Jesus Christ in public that they are not ashamed of Him or His gospel. But is that really what scripture teaches?In Romans 1, Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel, and then he says two things1) For it is the power of God to salvation2) In it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The Just shall live by faith"It is easy to miss what this means for us. Paul is saying that words are not enough, that we must confront and deal with the sin in us and around us. It is not enough to say his name, we must walk in righteousness. In this episode, we look at what is required to confront unrighteousness both when we are in public in private. We also look back at times when John MacArthur and Voddie Baucham were given the opportunity to confront evil and they both set a good example. But because most of us will never be on national television, we also talk about what this looks like in our everyday life. We also try to look at some situations where Charlie Kirk didn't stand up for the gospel in the way that he probably should have. The point isn't to beat him up, it's to make sure we don't make him the pinnacle. Christ is the example we are to follow. Paul and the apostles. The words of God and how they challenge and direct us to stand for righteousness. That is what we are to look to. Timecodes00:00 Ashamed of the Gospel07:40 John MacArthur15:55 Voddie Baucham20:30 Charlie Kirk24:54 Kirk to a Homosexual28:53 Validating Sin in
Our text this week is Romans 2:5-11. Paul continues to make the argument that the evidence of faith is not what you say or who is your family. The evidence of faith is based on the walk. The just shall walk by his faith. God knows the heart. He knows whether He has saved the person or not, but Paul goes on to say that God will render to each one according to his deeds. Those who seek after God and to serve Him and glorify Him, they will receive eternal life. Those who do not will receive indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish. When Paul was writing, it was many Jews who thought they were saved because they said we have Abraham for our father. Today there are many who say I have Jesus as my Lord and Savior because I walked an aisle or I prayed a prayer. But God says, "the just shall live by faith." There is no partiality with God. He makes those who have faith in Him walk in that faith through the work of His Spirit, so He can judge their deeds.
When we hear the term spiritual gifts, most Christians see it as this mystical, almost magical work of God that comes over you, and all of a sudden, you can speak in tongues or heal people, but is that how the Bible describes spiritual gifts in practice?The Pentecostal movement has, in many ways, driven the conversation about spiritual gifts and the way that we use language to discuss them. Even many Reformed Christians have been affected by their teaching and often describe the work of the Holy Spirit through gifts as something so miraculous and supernatural that their operation must be opposed to ordinary means. But Paul, who is the apostle that teaches the most about spiritual gifts, doesn't treat them that way. In Romans 1, he plainly talks about imparting spiritual gifts to the church in Rome and in Corinthians and Timothy, he talks about spiritual gifts as if they can be practiced and built up in a way that suggests that they are not as "magical" as the Pentecostals would have us think. So here's the question: If spiritual gifts are not opposed to ordinary means, how should we think of spiritual gifts and their use in the church?Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:01:01 Miracle of God's grace00:06:21 Healing is a grace of God00:14:57 Diversity of gifts00:20:28 Gift of language a grace00:28:59 Gifts that are hard to see as pure miraculous manifestations00:42:26 Given at times to unbelievers00:52:06 Given to all believersProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Ga
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
As Baptists we disagree on scriptural and covenantal grounds with the Presbyterian practice of infant baptism, but even more serious is the growing practice in some circles, such as the CREC and those who follow Doug Wilson, of paedocommunion or infant communion. While we believe infant baptism is incorrect, paedocommunion goes further and seriously undermines gospel theology. It is not only extra-biblical but also teaches against the doctrines of grace. In this episode, we attempt to walk through some of the issues with paedocommunion and how it goes against God's word, not only in the explicit commands regarding the practice of the Lord's Supper, but also the covenantal issues that frame salvation.Thumbnail image by Google Gemini AITimecodes00:00 Intro05:40 Logic of Paedocommunion10:21 Consequences for Children17:24 Control of Grace24:15 Crucifing the Flesh?29:10 Splitting the Signs33:13 Former Baptists?38:30 Salvation by Faith57:50 The Fruit of PaedocommunionProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Paul continues to declare what it means to be turned over to uncleanness and the lusts of their hearts which to its farther extent is homosexuality, but he also wants to make it clear that is not the only sign that God has turned them over to a debased mind, a mind that has become disconnected from reality. Because they love the world and the things of the world, they commit all kinds of sins including coveting and being disobedience to parents, the kinds of things that we see all around us. We need to understand are driven because of rebellion against God and the testimony of His creation. Not only those who are practicing those things that are condemned, but those who approve as well because their lack of courage in rebellion to God makes it no less rebellious.
What does Halloween's rise in popularity say about our country?Episode on why it matters what we celebrate: http://celebratereformationday.com/what-should-christians-celebrate/The Conquering Truth, Episode 42Listen to the audio version here: http://theconqueringtruth.com/2021/10/the-truth-about-halloween-americas-scary-obsession-ep-42-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 Celebrations Matter00:04:51 What is Halloween Really About?00:19:09 Mocking the Spiritual00:21:04 Walking in Darkness00:35:28 History of Halloween00:47:00 Acknowledging PowersProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
In these verses, Paul makes very clear that all men stand guilty before God. That God has declared His nature to them through Creation, so that everyone understands that there is a God that they will have to answer to. The response of natural man is not to repent, but deceive himself into believing that he does not know what all of Creation testifies to. Because they want to exalt themselves, they refuse to recognize the thankfulness that is due to God and instead become fools and blind to reality. In that blindness, they then go to worshipping the creature rather than the Creator. That worship of the creature makes them slaves of their flesh rather than reasoning creatures made in the image of God.
As 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the first Council of Nicaea, we want to look back at how God has used times of great uncertainty and confusion to strengthen his church and bring order and light to later generations.It is so easy to think that we live in darker times than those who went before us. Imagine what it was like to exist in a church where there was no established doctrine of the Trinity, and where many taught that Jesus was a man who became God. Looking back, we see only the order that was established, but God was pleased for many of his saints to live their lives fighting against that darkness. The doctrine that came forth by the power of Christ's Spirit strengthened and further established the church, and the difficulty that the church endured caused her to grow in maturity.It is easy to forget that the church is Christ's bride and that he is maturing her and strengthening her. And this should give us hope. We should not look at the darkness and confusion of the day that we live in with despair, but with great expectation. As James tells us: "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."Timecodes00:00:00 Overview00:08:32 Work of the Spirit00:14:55 Progress in Church History00:21:54 Timing of Battle00:27:42 Arriving at Unity00:42:28 Having the DebateProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy Kaiser
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Recently, Cliffe Knechtle was interviewed by Tucker Carlson and he was asked if he thought there was more Christian persecution in the world or if there was a revival of Christianity in the US and he answered "Both". In his explanation, he referenced a statistic that the 20th century had more martyrs than all previous centuries combined, specifically mentioning that since the year 2000, more than 50,000 Nigerian Christians have been slaughtered for their faith. And while this episode is not intended to critique everything that he said, we do want to focus on the statistic that he cited, why it is not correct, and why we shouldn't use it to imply that the church is about to expand because of all the blood that has been shed. Besides it being a serious confusion of cause and effect, we first need to understand what persecution and martyrdom are and how they differ from God judging his church for its lack of faith and obedience.In this episode, we spend time discussing how easily persecution is misunderstood. For part of this discussion, we leverage specific information we have from over a decade of ministry in Nigeria, specifically in the Northern areas where Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsman have been most active in their attacks. While many people in Nigeria have been killed, the disagreements and attacks have been much more over politics and resources than over faith. The church in Nigeria is largely corrupt, ironically, with much of it dominated by those who preach the prosperity gospel, many pastors there openly admit to sleeping with congregants, and theft and lying is rampant among church leadership.The point of all this is not to be discoura
While scripture commands those who follow after Christ to marry in the faith, many Christians end up in the situation where they are married to a husband or wife who is not a believer. And while there are times where the unbeliever chooses to leave or divorce, there are many cases where they do not. For a wife, there are explicit instructions in how to live in that marriage. (see 1 Peter 3:1-2), and while there are definitely nuances there that are worth discussing, for this discussion we are going to focus on the situation where a believing husband is married to an unbelieving wife. This is actually a growing problem. For many years, more women attended church than men, but recently that trend has reversed. So here is the question: how should a Christian man live in obedience toward God with his unbelieving wife?Thumbnail image by Wyatt Fisher under CC BY-SA 2.0Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:01:34 Ephesians 500:06:15 Different Situations00:12:01 Practicing Love from 1 Cor. 1300:19:32 Leading an unsaved wife is your ministry00:31:26 Sanctification is the Goal00:46:18 Wisdom in God's Ways00:49:43 Don't Lose Hope00:51:34 How to bear her burdens00:58:24 Watch out for bad influence01:02:36 Sex as a weapon01:11:29 Examine what your wife is bringing to youProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
People often talk about the blessings of homeschool without discussing the challenges and problems that parents and children face. And while many parents fear that they will fail their children, often their fears are about the wrong things. As everyone on the panel is homeschooling or has homeschooled their children and two were homeschooled, we want to talk about the more serious ways homeschooling can fail to prepare a child. And while we do want to talk about all homeschools, we want to start with Christian homeschools. What does scripture say about teaching children? What is the most important thing for them to learn to be successful in the world? Is it education or is it character? Is it knowledge or virtue?Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:04:01 Biblical Basis for Homeschooling00:12:29 Following Public Schools Instead of Focusing on Character00:31:54 Not Teaching Biblical Virtue Before Knowledge00:47:50 The Trap of Busyness00:54:04 Worldly View of Socialization01:13:43 Failure of Training to be Adults01:28:07 Not Requiring PuctualityProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
As we begin the book of Romans, Roger provides a summary of Paul's life in context to the reading of the full book. We see how God used the book of romans as a bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and how Paul's letter transformed the reading of Scripture.
Why is the American church so desperate to receive a handout from the government? Why are Christians so willing to approve of men with no testimony of faith and to follow after them, seeking their approval in return? Is it because of a lack of understanding or a lack of faith?For the purposes of understanding, it is true that God created the church and state to accomplish different roles. The church is the people of God, made to know Him and to understand His Word. The church's power is in its intimate knowledge of God, both that the church communes with God and that it speaks God's words to the world. The state was created to serve God in a different way: to punish evil and reward good. The state wields the sword, and in many ways it is dependent on the church to teach it right from wrong and how to properly discern evil.But in terms of faith, the church is never to look to the state for protection or power. The church knows God and receives its blessings directly from His hand. The church should never look to the government to do its work or to be its provider. In doing so, it ceases to trust in God and becomes dependent on the government, and in that dependence, it finds itself no longer capable of speaking the truth for fear of loss.Timecodes00:00:00 Church and State00:08:19 Government Handouts00:17:28 God's Provision00:24:00 Kings Nursing Fathers00:30:30 Taking the Church's Work00:34:15 True Influence on the State00:37:50 Spiritual Harlotry00:43:05 President Trump a Christian?00:45:12 Paula White00:51:21 White House Faith Office00:58:44 Faith Office GoalsProduction of Refo
After considering those things that are voluntarily dedicated to God by men, Leviticus concludes by reminding the people of God of those things that belong to God and God alone. From the firstborn, to those things appointed to destruction, to the tithes that God requires, God reminds His people that while all things are His, He is merciful and allows us to keep much of what He gives us. But God will not be mocked, and those who rob God will fall under his wrath.
Whether it is politicians saying that we can deport illegal immigrants because you are separating children from their parents or the bill needs to pass because it is the biggest spending cut ever, politicians lead primarily with stirring up emotions. The church isn't much different as music and stories are used to create an atmosphere so the people first respond emotionally rather than with reason. It is then easy to get them to agree with the reasoning when they are emotionally invested already. So here's the question: How should emotion be used in leadership?Timecodes00:00 Intro06:05 Emotions can bring blind followers28:06 Christians should be reasonable people44:03 Leaders whose first appeal is emotion should not be followed55:11 Church as an Example01:12:48 How you use emotion in your homeProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
There are more things that you can vow or dedicate to the Lord than people or animals. God now codifies the laws of redemption for houses and land. Just like with redeeming an unclean animal, if you want to redeem a house, you have to pay a fifth higher than market value for it. The priests could sell it and they should get their valuation, but if the person dedicating it buys it back, they are required to pay more. For land, the value is based on the amount of seed that would be typically sowed. Good open prepared fields would take much more seed to plant than where there was a mix of rocks and trees in addition to open land. The land was valued strictly on its ability to produce grain. This makes sense because God has given us dominion over the land, not so we can set it aside and have it be useless. Man has responsibility to make land useful and not subject it to futility. The land is valued based on its productivity until the next Year of Jubilee. If he does not chose to redeem the land, then at the Jubilee it becomes irredeemable. It permanently belongs to the priesthood. If you vow land that was land you bought, then it goes back in the Year of Jubilee, just like it would if you had not consecrated it.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
In 1977 when James Dobson started Focus on the Family, American families were in a great deal of turmoil. Dobson, a Christian psychologist who grew up in the Holiness movement started Focus on the Family to try to help resolve some of the confusion and to strengthen the home. And while he was successful in many ways, the American church began to look to him as more than just a psychologist with much better advice than the world and looked to him as an Evangelical leader. This shift was in many ways not beneficial for either Dobson or the church. In this episode, we want to look at Dr. James Dobson's life and overall influence on the American family and the church. One of the main issues we want to focus on is what happens when the church follows someone whose primary focus is on something other than proclaiming and teaching the Word of God. To do that, it's crucial to understand that every Christian is not called to lead the church. Every Christian who ministers is not required to focus on teaching the church how to understand the Word of God and equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. But the men who lead the church must have as their primary focus how to cause God's word to shine forth and to transform the hearts and minds of those they are ministering to. And it is as much the duty of the church to follow the right men as it is the duty of the leaders to have the right focus. This is one of the main reasons that Dr. Dobson's ministry is a bit of a mixed bag. He fought fiercely against the most visible cultural attacks and pressures that were assaulting American homes such as abortion and the sexual revolution, and he championed a return to Biblic
After ending the last chapter with, what in many ways, is a summary statement, God then spoke to Moses specifically about vows. Vows done with sincerity are an acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God. Obedience to His commands was the sign of whether you were right with God, not whether you made vows. The laws about vows are given after the other laws, because you cannot buy favor with God. It is acceptable when you are in a difficult situation to make a bargain with God. These verses start to describe how the vow is paid, but the important thing to remember is, if you make a vow to God, pay it.
Rebaptism has been a discussion since before the Reformation where the Anabaptists openly rejected the Roman Catholic baptism and said that because they worshipped a false god, a Catholic who professed faith had to be baptized "again" - though the Anabaptists would say they were being baptized for the first time. Since then, especially with easy-believism - raise your hand, pray a prayer and you're saved - many people who made such "professions of faith" earlier in their life have realized that they had no idea who God was when they were baptized as they were complete slaves to sin and continued to walk in that path. The Bible is very clear that there is one baptism, so should people in such a situation be baptized?In this episode, we want to look at what is commonly referred to as "rebaptism." While the Anabaptists were a heretical group with no real direct connection to modern Reformed Baptists, it doesn't mean that their position on a particular topic was wrong. One of the things that gets overlooked with baptism is that while Baptism is more than just an outward sign of an individual's inward faith, God still says that faith is required to please Him and that without faith, pleasing Him is impossible. When you consider a Catholic baptism, where is there any faith present? The same can be said for many evangelical services. The other thing that comes up quite frequently is the idea that baptism requires some sort of ability to determine if the person is "really saved", with many jokes being made about "regeneration goggles". We agree completely that it is impossible to tell if someone is truly regenerate. But what is so often overlooked is that Scripture do
This passage continues the promise of the outpouring of the wrath of God, if the Israelites will not obey Him. Even after He has taken most of them captive, they will still shake with fear when no one is pursuing them. They will hear a leaf fall and terror will strike their hearts. They will run away stumbling over one another in their haste to flee and they will flee to countries where they will be consumed. They will continue in their fathers' sins and God will continue to judge them even after they have been forced out of the Promised Land. But if they confess their sin, then God will bring them back to the land that He gave them. If they humble themselves, He will remember His covenant with their fathers and He will bring them back to the land after it has enjoyed its Sabbaths. God will not utterly abhor them. Never think that God will ignore sin.
In Hebrews, Jesus Christ is described as being different than all the sacrifices that preceded Him. All of them failed to take away sin. They could turn aside the wrath of God for a season, but they would never make the person who was offering it righteous. Then Christ came, and He was different. He actually took away sin. He actually took men who were slaves to sin and set them free. He ended sin's power in their life and brought them to liberty.In this episode, we want to look at what it means to be free in Christ. So many people claim that Christian liberty means that we can do what we want to do, but this is not how God's Word describes it. Christian liberty is freedom to do what is right. It is the man who goes from being completely unable to choose righteousness to being able to glorify God in everything he does. One of the ideas that we want to discuss throughout the episode is how vast and broad the freedom that God gives to those who are His servants. Slavery to sin all leads to the same, solitary place, eternal death. But righteousness leads ever higher and deeper into the boundless glory of service to God.Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:03:54 Definition of Christian Liberty00:12:07 Saved to walk in faith00:16:06 Delivery from present evil age00:18:46 Break bondage to the world00:22:08 Not in bondage to Satan00:24:38 Not in bondage to sin00:31:10 Sin is progressively defeated00:34:28 Free from the need for vengance00:38:33 Freedom in trials00:41:27 Free from fear of death00:46:45 Death becomes a blessing00:49:30 Free access to God01:00:35 New covenant gives more freedom to
As God continues to warn them of what He will do (and now we know it is what He has done), there is a continued escalation because they will not repent and walk in obedience. If after all of the chastisement, they will continue to oppose Him, then He will set Himself in fury against them. If they want to walk contrary to Him, He will be contrary to them which means they will become so blinded by their sin that they will even consume the flesh of their sons and their daughters. God will destroy their high places, even if it is the temple. He will make them as lifeless as their idols are. He will make them so desolate, that their enemies will be astonished at it. All of this took when they went into the Babylonian captivity. He scattered them to the nations and had them hunted everywhere and God gave the land its sabbaths. They didn't want rest from God, so He took away their rest but He still preserved it for the land that did not rebel against Him. The whole world will receive rest, but those who refuse to submit to God's law will be cast where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
While Jimmy Swaggart died in 2025 at the beginning of July, many people only know him because of his public scandals of being caught with prostitutes in 1988 and then again in 1991. But before those revelations that heralded the decline of his influence, he was an internationally known preacher on TV and radio, making around $150 million dollars per year, who had built his ministry over nearly 40 years. In this episode, we want to look at Jimmy Swaggart's message and the techniques he used in his ministry and ask some questions about his success. It's so easy to dismiss false teachers and to think that we cannot be tricked by them. But in doing research for this episode, Charles went back and listened to some of Swaggart's old sermons and was surprised to realize how much he sounded like an old-fashioned fire-and-brimstone preacher that would have preached in many churches he grew up in. Swaggart consistently refined his preaching techniques to the point that when he began his ministry, he sounded much like Billy Graham, and toward the end, he sounded much like Joel Osteen.False prophets will always be a threat to the flock, but we can protect ourselves and others by being aware of how they lead men astray and by keeping our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.Timecodes00:00:00 Entertainer00:17:10 The Trinity00:20:24 Speaking in Tongues00:22:32 Red letter Bible00:25:30 Cross Idolatry00:26:43 Strange Ideas00:38:42 Pride00:42:56 Swaggart's Fall00:51:43 Why People Followed Him00:57:48 Changing Appeal01:03:1
After God promised blessings to Israel if they will walk in accordance with His statutes, He now issues warnings of what He will do if they will not hear. The issue that He will judge is not even the disobedience directly. It is instead of thinking that His commandments are good, they will despise His commandments. It is the hatred of God commanding them which is what causes the disobedience and the judgment. He will appoint terror for them and fill them with fear. They will be consumed by mourning. They will not have food, because their enemies will pillage it. If after all that, they still will not listen, then He promised to punish them seven times harder. He will break the pride of their power. He will make everything they set their hand to a waste and vanity. If they still will not obey, He will bring on them seven times more plagues. He will send beasts among them and have their enemies execute them with the sword. He will cut off their food, so that everything will need to be rationed. God is not passively sitting by. When they refused to obey, He treats them like His child and increases the punishment. God will never lose that battle, but (like Satan) they are confident that they can win anyway. We should never deceive ourselves. If we fight God, we lose.
People turn to many different Scripture passages to build their eschatology, but which Old Testament passage did the Holy Spirit inspire the Apostles to use over and over again? In this episode, we examine Psalm 110, one of, if not the most quoted and referenced scripture passages in the New Testament. It is a remarkable Psalm in that, among its poetic elements, it plainly and straightforwardly describes the order of future events relating to the establishment of Christ's kingdom and his return. It is a beautiful Psalm in how it glorifies God as God and in the way it shows the plan of God to establish righteousness and to bring peace. Often, when people attempt to understand eschatology, they look at the various historical views held by leaders in the early church or by prominent Christians at different points in history and then try to compose the correct view. But here is why that is a flawed approach: Scripture should be the primary influence that shapes our thinking. Scripture transforms our minds. It changes the way we think and when our thoughts flow through scripture, we are more likely to think correctly and to come to the correct conclusion. It is very believable that when the early church thought about eschatology through the lens of Psalm 110 (as well as other scripture) that they would come to different conclusions than we would come to today. It was hard for them to imagine 2000 years of history. They may have assumed that Christ would put his enemies under his feet quickly. After all, they may have seen Rome as the primary enemy that needed to be defeated. So this is why a proper view of scripture is important. It does not matter quite so m
Similarly to what God does at the end of Deuteronomy, God makes promises to them. If they forsake their false gods and worship the true God by keeping His Sabbaths and reverencing His sanctuary, He will bless them. If they will simply obey Him, then He will pour out blessings upon them. They will receive rain when needed. Their crops will last until the next harvest. They will dwell in safety. All of the things to have an easy life. No one will make them afraid, instead fear of them will fall upon others so five will put a hundred to flight. He will cause them to be fruitful and they will be His people. The sign of being the people of God has always been obeying the commandments of God.
In the wake of John MacArthur's death, how do we avoid falling into the trap of hero worship or idolatry? How can we examine his life so we keep the good things he taught and avoid carrying forward his mistakes? Few American pastors have had a longer or more impactful ministry than John MacArthur. From his focus on sequential expository preaching to his emphasis of Lordship salvation, to his late-in-life transition from Arminian to Reformed soteriology, John MacArthur helped reform the American church in significant ways. But like any man, Pastor MacArthur was not perfect and made decisions and had practices that we should not emulate. In this episode, we discuss John MacArthur's life and attempt to unpack the aspects that should be emulated and those that should be discarded. We believe that this is a God-honoring practice that helps keep us from idolatry and worship of man. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.Listen to the audio version here: Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:03:14 Expository Preaching00:10:22 Lordship Salvation00:26:39 Charismania00:32:54 Bible Commentaries00:36:52 Sabbath00:50:50 Dispensational Eschatology00:54:48 Cessationalism01:04:34 COVID01:07:05 Celebrity Pastor01:13:25 Money01:15:05 ConclusionProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As we come to the end of the letter to the Hebrews, we come to the benediction that is used by churches all over the world to end their services. A prayer that God who raised up Jesus from the dead make you completely do His will. The prayer is that the readers will do what is pleasing in the sight of God. When we think of the book of Hebrews with all emphasis that the things that were shadows have become substance. The shadow of atonement became real atonement through Christ. The way to the Father was exposed in the Son. The Sabbath that was from before the fall was pointing to the true rest in Christ. Now comes the conclusion of the matter, God did it all so we could be pleasing in His sight so Jesus Christ will be glorified forever and ever. Too often, churches want to make salvation about man, but intent of it was always the glory of God. We just receive the benefit of the means that God chose to glorify Himself.
What does it mean to edify one another? We know that the word means to "build up", but how should we think about that task as brothers and sisters in Christ? In this episode, as we continue to look at the duties of Christians, we come to edifying one another and supporting the ministry of the church, both of which are central to being Christians, both of which are often greatly misunderstood. Please join us as we discuss this oft-neglected topic.Link to first video in series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1u5lvDuSDlIListen to the audio version here: Timecodes00:00 Intro02:20 Paragraph 459:00 Paragraph 5Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Continuing on from the thought that we have no continuing city on this earth and our hope is in the one to come, we should be continually offering the sacrifice of praise. If our hope is in eternal life and everything in this world is preparing us for eternal life, then in everything we should be be giving thanks. We also should not be holding the things of earth to tightly. Not just personal possessions, but things like relationships. We should expect them to change, because this is not our home. It also means that we can submit to authorities because God is the one who set them in place. Specifically, the passage is about submitting to elders in the church. Not a blind obedience, but a willingness to be persuaded by the truth of the Scriptures. The writer ends with an appeal to pray for them, that they might have a good conscience that they do the right thing even in the midst of difficult circumstances, trusting that will bring and end to those circumstances sooner.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever should have serious consequences in our lives. It means that we should not be tossed about in doctrine. He doesn't change, so we should determine what we believe and hold to it. Not being unwilling to grow through the Word of God, but by expecting our doctrine to become more firm and deeper as we mature in Christ. We must have gratitude toward God rather than thinking that any sacrifice we make could ever cause us to be reconciled to God. Those who think by their work they can come to God, they cannot participate in the sacrifice of Christ. Our response then needs to be to go with Christ outside the camp where He was crucified and never to think that through the praise of men that we are coming to Christ. We have to bear His reproach by having our hope in the city to come and not in this world.
Often until things become very extreme, people do not recognize the absurdity of things. People who have any credible profession to be Christians are usually quick to say that a man cannot be born in a woman's body or that two men cannot marry, but often they ignore the precursors that brought our culture to the point where that would be considered moral. One of the things that the church does to make those things appear normal is to have women speak in church or be pastors, because once you have eliminated the idea that there is any difference in roles, how can you say two men cannot marry or that there is any real differences between men and women. If God did not make them different and it is just a social construct, then why cant someone change their gender. Another major component to the societal self-deception that men and women are the same is women in combat. For a long time, governments have used the military to transform the culture and that happened in the United States. They said that they are the same, but they had significantly lower fitness standards for women than for men. Pete Hegseth says that he has eliminated that, but are there things other than strength that theologically and practically make it unwise to have women in combat?Listen to the audio version here: Timecodes00:00:00 Effectiveness00:05:08 Role of Women00:09:16 Women in Non-Combat00:18:55 Biblical Authority00:23:05 Military Reality00:28:11 Who Scripture Says Should Fight00:36:51 Uncleanness in the Camp00:43:50 Women and Fear00:51:56 Purpose of War00:57:43 Women's Spirit01:04:28 Physical Differences01:12:
What does it mean to be a Christian? Not what you believe or how you become one. But what happens after that? What does the Christian life look like? What are the duties that we have to one another? How do we live and labor as a part of the body of Christ? In this episode, using our church's covenant as a framework, we walk through the many different duties that make up the Christian life. Love for God, love for our spiritual brothers and sisters, love for our families, love for our neighbors, love for the world. It's so easy to overlook many of these and yet we believe that each is a part of the Christian life. Please join us as we discuss this important topic. Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/06/was-the-revolutionary-war-rebellion-or-righteousness-ep-223-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 Paragraph 100:38:01 Paragraph 201:11:45 Paragraph 3Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
As with Paul's epistles, after laying out the theology in chapters 1-12, the writer now begins to give practical applications. Because believers have a kingdom that cannot be shaken and God is a consuming fire, it should really effect our behavior starting with brotherly love. If we recognize that this world is not our home, then our treatment of those who have eternal life will be different because we will use the things of this earth to care for one another and not just focus on ourselves. The most basic manifestation of this will be hospitality. As one body, we should all remember and support people who suffer for their faith. If we have an heavenly focus, we will have control of our lust. We will turn from covetousness and we will submit to authorities that God has appointed. Truly understanding the kingdom of God, will change our behavior toward this world.
Was the American War of Independence an unrighteous act of rebellion against God-appointed authority or a legitimate effort at seeking peace that generally followed Biblical principles? What conclusion should we come to if we look at the American Revolution through the lens of a passage like Romans 13? In this episode, we try to do exactly that. Romans 13 is often used as the go-to passage for understanding submitting to authority, but often it is discussed very shallowly if not completely incorrectly. Early on in the discussion, we note that this passage does not say to submit yourself to the higher power (singular), but to the higher powers. And in every circumstance, there is always more than one authority that God has appointed. This is undeniably true of the American Revolution. In many ways, the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and the entire American Revolution serve as an ideal case study for this type of discussion. One reason for this is because, at least for those of us in the US, it is our own history and is not so far in the past that the details have been lost to time. Another reason is that fallen man has a natural desire to be rebellious, and even in Christian circles, American independence is often associated with rebellion and this association is often used to justify rebellion. But it's also worth pointing out that no effort of man is without sin. Some people go so far as to whitewash the actions of the founders, casting them in a light that makes them appear to be without fault. This is also not true. As much as the devil is in the details, righteousness is also often found in the details. Please join as we discuss this important topic
After declaring that Israelites could redeem one another from slavery, but the foreigner would be in permanent slavery, God declares that the same rules do not apply if a foreigner buys an Israelite. If, because of poverty, a rich foreigner buys a poor Israelite, they can be redeemed by a kinsman redeemer at any time. The price of their redemption would decrease depending on the number of years to the Jubilee. Unlike the foreigner, they are released at the year of Jubilee to return to their family. The Israelite also had the responsibility to make sure the foreign master is not being cruel to the Israelite as far as they can tell. All of this is a picture of that true believers might be slaves on this earth, but we are truly free in Christ and will always be free in Him when He returns.
Our text this week is Leviticus 25:35-46. After talking about the kinsman redeemer and his ability to redeem the land as a picture of Christ, God moves on to the duty that we have toward one another. That we must care for our brothers more than we care for earthly things. We have a duty to show hospitality towards him as we also do to guests and strangers that dwell near us. You cannot take advantage of them by charging them interest for loans. We have a duty to not use our capital to take advantage of our brother because we have been freed from spiritual Egypt. God then talks about slavery. If your brother sells himself to you, typically this would be because he had debts that he could not pay, then you shall not abuse him in his slavery. He does go out at the time of Jubilee as a picture of the liberty that is in Christ doesn't mean that you will have liberty in this world. At the time of Jubilee, he returns with his children to his family. You can also purchase slaves from the nations around you and as a picture of unbelievers, neither they nor their children go out in the Jubilee. They are permanent slaves. They are the inheritance of the Israelites. They never receive the picture of the liberty in Christ.
One of the most common objections we get from dispensationalists is that we do not know how to "rightly divide the Word of Truth", which is taken from II Timothy 2:15. Based on the dispensational view popularized by Scofield, Larkin, Ryrie, and others, this verse is a foundational hermeneutical passage instructing the church that God's word must be broken into divisions so that it can be properly understood. But not only is the dispensational view of this verse incorrect, it also goes against the hermeneutical and doctrinal thrust of all of Scripture, which instead of teaching division, teaches that Christ's purpose was to bring unity.In this episode, we examine II Timothy 2:15 in light of a broader view of God's Word. We look at many passages where scripture teaches that Christ came to reconcile man to God, to unify the Jews and the Gentiles, and to restore God's creation. We look at the dispensational insistence that the church and Israel must be forever separated from one another, and explain why Scripture teaches this is not true. God did divorce the physical nation of Israel, and to the extent that it continues in the world, it is an example of what happens to those who reject Him. But the Israel that is made up of those Old and New Testament saints that are the children of Abraham by faith, is reckoned in the Son of David, the risen Christ, the True Israel, and regardless of their earthly heritage, all those who believer are made one in Christ and are partakers of the promises. Please join us as we discuss this often mishandled verse of scripture.Listen to the audio version here: Thumbnail image by Rod Ramsey under CC-BY 2.0Timecodes
After constraining oppression, God now declares the right of redemption. Because they are sojourners in the land, they cannot buy or sell the land permanently. When they sell the land, it can also be redeem by someone near of kin to them. This is the same word that is used with avenger of blood or the kinsman redeemer. It is a picture of Christ. Christ had to become incarnate to become a kinsman in order to redeem the world itself that was sold into sin through the work of Adam. God creates a different picture related to the land compared to cities in the land. In cities, houses can be bought and sold. It can be redeemed within a year, but after that, it is perpetually the purchasers and his heirs unless you are a Levite. The Levite can purchase their houses back whenever they want to. While houses in other walled cities remain their purchasers even through the Jubilee year, that is not the case for Levites. They receive their houses back in the Jubilee. In the laws about the houses, the picture is of heavenly Jerusalem, where, as a picture of the elect, the Levites always have a place and they will receive their place in the new heavens and the new earth.
What makes a rich country rich or a poor country rich? What causes them to stay that way? Often, when people think of countries that are wealthy versus those that are poor, they discuss factors like natural resources, but that isn't really the case. If you look at North America vs. South America, there were more resources in South America, but yet North America is far wealthier than South America. Doctrine really matters and the North America continent was far more Protestant than the South American continent and it has real and substantial long term effects. So how does that work itself out in the world and what are the ways that righteousness exalts a nation?Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/05/pedobaptism-debate-response-ep-218-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 Righteousness Exaults a Nation00:09:01 Justice00:12:39 Access to the Bible00:20:06 Safety00:22:51 Laws Enforced00:30:22 Fruitfulness00:45:39 Victory00:53:30 Fearsome00:59:04 Expansion01:04:29 Debt01:06:14 ClimateProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
In the midst of the these pictures of restoring the world to righteousness, God stresses the need to not oppress people now. The specific example that God uses is in buying and selling land, but the overriding theme is to not oppress one another. When you buy and sell land, it should be based on the number of crops between the time of the sale and the Jubilee year. It is not lawful to take advantage of people's ignorance, instead we are to trust that God is our provider. If your focus is on the new heavens and the new earth, then you will not oppress people now because of fear of God and the judgment to come.
People used to have their children walk long distances to school and would assume that they would be safe. Now there are cases where that has been treated as child abuse. Children are afraid to ride a bike without a helmet, but with less bike riding, there are more bike head injuries. We are a society that is filled with fearIn this episode, we want to look at risk from a Reformed perspective. We start with the fear of death, which scripture teaches is central to the lives of the unsaved. As it says in Hebrews 2:14-15 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. From fear of death, we look at the damage that has been done to the family: to men's abdication of responsibility and leadership and to the rise of feminism and women-led households and communities. We have talked in other episode about how men and women prioritize safety differently, but in this episode we look at how this difference plays out when the home and therefore society becomes fundamentally disordered.Lastly we also talk about the ways that changes in technology, the news industry, and government also impact our view of risk and fear. These issues matter greatly and affect how we live our lives, how we train our children, and even how we promote and preach the gospel. Please join is as we discuss the subject of risk.Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/06/america-the-fearful-raising-brave-children-in-a-generati
In addition to the Sabbath year, God appointed a Jubilee year every fiftieth year. While the Sabbath year was on the revised calendar that started in the spring, the Jubilee was back on the original calendar that started in the fall. Both are a picture of the redemption of the earth, but the focus of the Sabbath year is the eternal rest. The picture of the Jubilee is the restoration of all things. The world will be put back into God's order. Everyone will be restored to their own families. Everyone will be free. The Sabbath year is declaring the eternal rest. The Jubilee is declaring the blessings of eternal life
Mother Teresa is considered one of the great humanitarians of the 20th century and is revered as a saint by the Roman Catholic church. But she did not really help many of the people that she talked about helping. The help she gave was very different from the way it was described by her and others and she often taught doctrine contrary to Roman Catholic teaching. But in the end, according to the Roman Catholic church, she is a shining example of what it means to be Catholic. And they have no problem with her unorthodox doctrine, her false help and false promotion, or taking the millions that she funneled into the coffers of the Roman Catholic church.If you listen to our podcast often, this should come as no surprise to you. Roman Catholicism is a false religion that leads many to hell. According to the Westminster and Second London Baptist Confession, the Pope is that Antichrist. It should come as no surprise that the "saints" of this false church are false as well. And this is very relevant to us today, as many conservative Christians follow and listen to Catholics like Matt Walsh and Candace Owens or JD Vance. We should remember that Roman Catholicism ultimately leads to death and darkness and separation from God. Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/05/the-hypocrisy-and-heresy-of-mother-teresa-ep-219-audio/Thumbnail image by JohnMathewSmith under CC-BY-SA 2.0Timecodes00:00:00 Danger of Charities00:06:58 What She Got Right00:09:28 Her Ministries00:19:24 Twisted Theology of Suffering00:26:03 Need for Conversion00:33:53 Roman Heresy00:37:48 Private Letters00:43:21
God is now going to tell them how they need to treat the land when they receive the Promised Land. That they need to give it rest. Man, since the fall, being self-centered wants to think that God only cares about us, but He said that creation was good before man was every created. He cares about the land and gives them specific instruction of how they are to treat it. This does match practical experience in farming, so the world can recognize the need to give land rest. While this is ceremonial law, since it is requirements for when they receive the land but we should also remember our responsibility to be good masters of the land that God has given us. Christ did not just come to save men. He came to save all of Creation.
God is now going to tell them how they need to treat the land when they receive the Promised Land. That they need to give it rest. Man, since the fall, being self-centered wants to think that God only cares about us, but He said that creation was good before man was every created. He cares about the land and gives them specific instruction of how they are to treat it. This does match practical experience in farming, so the world can recognize the need to give land rest. While this is ceremonial law, since it is requirements for when they receive the land but we should also remember our responsibility to be good masters of the land that God has given us. Christ did not just come to save men. He came to save all of Creation.
After God gave these pictures that relate to the importance of making God and His Word known, the text switches to a narrative. A man who had a Israelite mother, but a Gentile father, blasphemed and cursed the name of God during a fight. The Israelites recognized that he was in serious sin, so they put him in custody while they waited to hear from God what they should do. Notice how much greater and proper their fear of God was that they would at least know that he needs to be punished. Many professed Christian churches wouldn't think of church discipline for someone who blasphemed the name of God in a fight. At the same time, they knew if you cursed father or mother it was worthy of death, so how much more is it worthy of death if you do it to God. God is instructing them in the proper use of the law, how to take the laws that they were given and apply them to other situations, so God told them to take him outside the camp and stone him. The tendency of the unbelievers is always to say that God is not serious about the level of punishment that He will inflict, so we don't want laws that are as severe as God's laws. God is a jealous and just God, so He can judge with eternal torture. We need to understand how serious sin is and the significance of the forgiveness through Jesus Christ.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
A little over a month ago, Dan Horn had a debate with Pastor Rich Lusk about Paedobaptism and the place of children in the church. After the debate was posted on YouTube (see link below), there were a number of comments that seemed worth responding to. A couple of the comments are from credobaptists, but most are from paedobaptists whose viewpoints seem to diverge from orthodox Presbyterian views and lean more toward Federal Vision.Dan Horn vs. Rich Lusk on Children in the Church:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4rcocRXATE Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/05/pedobaptism-debate-response-ep-218-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 The Debate00:00:45 The Position is Cold?00:11:44 Israel Drank of Christ?00:25:55 Children Praying?00:33:11 Christ's Baptism?00:40:57 Born Again?01:00:27 Baptism and Priesthood?01:16:31 Covenant Community?Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
How can we think about pain and suffering from a Reformed perspective. While suffering exists because of sin, both sin and suffering are part of God's means to glorify Himself through his Son. Because of this, those who seek to glorify God with their lives must approach suffering not only as God's decree, but as one of the ways that He glorifies Himself.In this episode, we discuss why suffering exists, how God uses suffering to constrain sin, how maturity and suffering are tied together, and how suffering for our sin differs from suffering for the sake of righteousness. Please join us as we discuss this important topic. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Replacement theology is a derogatory term often used by dispensationalists to accuse those who believe in Covenant theology. Specifically, they claim that covenant theology teaches that the church replaced Israel. And while Christ does say to national Israel that the kingdom of God will be taken from them and given to another who will produce it's fruit, the way that is fulfilled is through the people established in Christ himself, the true Israel. One of the other issues with Dispensational eschatology is that it teaches that the church is a "parenthesis" in Israel's history and that every spiritual promise given by God will be fulfilled in physical Israel, which is clearly not true. So here's the question: What is right about replacement theology and what is wrong about it?In this episode, we look at the promises made to physical Israel which were fulfilled and acknowledged in Scripture. We also look at the promises that were clearly made to be fulfilled through Christ and his body, not in a "parenthesis", and not by the church completely replacing Israel either, but by the substance, which is Christ, taking his place as the root and head of true Israel and bringing all that the Father has given him to the blessed promises of his glorious salvation and redemption.Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/04/is-replacement-theology-biblical-or-a-dispensational-boogeyman-ep-216-audio/Thumbnail image by Daniel Borman on Flickr under CC-BY 2.0Timecodes00:00 Replacement Theology09:57 Shadows to Substance15:20 Divorce of Israel28:49 Not All of Israel52:39 All Israel Will Be Saved?
Leviticus 23:23-32. After the Feast of Weeks, the next feast in the Israelite calendar is the Feast of Trumpets. It is the first day of the seventh month which means it would take place immediately after the original start of the year, It the first feast that represents what happens after Christ returns or as 1 Corinthians describes it as the last trumpet. The next holiday, the Day of Atonement, was when the High Priest went into the presence of God. If you consider it as the High Priest carrying spiritual Israel into the presence of God, when you consider the timeline and when you consider that it is a day of affliction, it is pointing to the the day when Christ will open all of the books and all our deeds with be judged, both those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life and those who are not. All the dead will stand before God in preparation of the next thing in the redemption timeline which is tabernacling with God forever.
One of the biggest disagreements between Baptists and Presbyterians is related to baptism, it's administration and what it means within the church. And these differences in practice are tied directly to differences in how God's Covenant and the covenants that He has made with men are understood. One primary difference that we want to concentrate on is that the Baptist view has more of an upward focus, looking at how each of God's covenants with man reveals or discovers the Eternal Covenant of Grace whereas the Presbyterian view is more downward focused with their description being that the Covenant of Grace has different administrations in the time of the law and the time of the gospel. Because of these different focuses, Baptists and Presbyterians see the effect of continuity and discontinuity very differently, with Baptists looking for those details to be expressed in physical vs spiritual typologies expressed as the earthly covenants with man reveal the heavenly Covenant of Grace (for example: circumcision of the flesh being fulfilled through circumcision of the heart, physical offspring pointing to spiritual offspring, physical households pointing to spiritual households, etc). Alternately, Presbyterians look for continuity and discontinuity within the earthly covenants. (physical households continuing, circumcision becoming baptism, etc).Most of the differences in this episode are found in Chapter 7 of both the Westminter and the Second London Baptist confessions of faith. In the Westminster, this chapter is titled, "Of God's Covenant with Man" and in the SLBC it is titled, "Of God's Covenant"Note: While we are focusing on real dif
God now codifies what is to happen at the Feast of Weeks. First of all, it is to be fifty days after the waving of the sheaf offering, which means that the day of the Sabbath was to change year by year. This is important when we think of the resurrection which the sheaf represents, because it was fifty days after the resurrection of Christ that the Holy Spirit was poured out. The Feast of Weeks is done in remembrance of the giving of the law on tablets of stone at Mt. Sinai and was given to point forward to the giving of the law in the hearts of believers at Pentecost through the Holy Spirit. At Pentecost, they were to wave two large loaves of leavened bread because unlike the Feast of Unleavened Bread which represented the gospel not spreading from Israel, the Feast of Weeks is a picture of the Word of God going through the whole world. Also, more animals needed to be sacrificed for Pentecost and not just burnt offerings, but sin and peace offerings as well. With Israel being the people of God, there was no eternal forgiveness in the making of them as a people unlike in the New Covenant where sin was actually taken away. It is about where there is true peace with God. Israel was never at peace with God, but the visible church does have peace with God even as it is a mixed multitude. Then lastly, God ends by putting aside all of the symbolic offerings and speaks plainly. You must leave the corners of the fields for the poor and stranger. They would not have understood the symbolism of the offerings, but they had a duty to understand that. They had a duty to care for their neighbor.
When you consider the fact that God calls those He has called out front the world, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and His own special people, it should be obvious that He intended the church to be the ideal form of community. What group could have more in common and closeness than one made alive by His Spirit and called for His purposes into His family and household?But when we look at the world, we can see a different picture. While the church has a greater sense of community than the world, it does not seem to be a light to the nations in this regard. In fact, over the last sixty years, the American sense of community has been breaking down. And while some people want to accuse technology of causing this breakdown, in most cases, technology only facilitates the things we already desired. One of the things that has happened in the church is that we have shifted our focus from God saving the church as one body to be his bride, and instead have almost exclusively focused on God saving each of us as individuals. And because a strong sense of community requires one to focus, not on himself but on the group and what they hold in common, this singular focus wars against the sense of community that God desires for the church. In this episode, we want to look at the ways that God has designed the church to be the model community for the world, and how the practices He instituted and called the church to should strengthen rather than weaken this sense of community. Please join us as we discuss this very necessary topic.Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/04/gods-blueprint-for-community-how-th
After reminding the children of Israel about keeping the Sabbath and the Passover, God now describes how the first fruits are to be offered. These would be barley for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and wheat for the Feast of Weeks. They would be required to bring a sheaf of their grain to offer before the Lord as a wave offering. The priests had to offer an additional lamb of the first year as a burnt offering in addition to the regular daily offering along with the grain offering and a drink offering. When we think of grain in the offerings, we should think of it as a type of the Word of God. The lamb of God must be slain so that we can received the Word of God. It is through Christ's sacrifice, that God opens our eyes so that we can meaningfully receive His Word. This was to be very distinctive for the people because they were not allowed to partake of any of the crop of the new year, until the wave offering had happened. When we think of times of famine, this would require self control when your crop comes in and you are not to eat it until the first fruits are waved before God as a testimony that both the physical food and the spiritual food that we receive is from the mercy of God.
Sharing the gospel is central to the Great Commission. But doing so on a day-to-day basis is more complicated than we often want to admit. It's definitely more complex than just memorizing the Romans Road or learning a three-step approach for door-to-door witnessing. So in this episode, we want to ask two different questions about sharing the gospel: first, we want to ask why don't we do it, and second, how should we change the way we think about sharing the gospel?Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/04/what-stops-christians-from-sharing-the-gospel-ep-213-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 Failure to Evangelize00:08:36 False Fears00:11:33 Belief in Hell00:14:53 Disobedience00:19:59 Gifting vs Practice00:26:48 Different Venues00:35:36 Hospitality00:40:04 Ready to Give an Answer00:49:28 Listening00:58:17 Answer a Fool01:21:59 Using God's WordProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After five chapters of declaring that they must be a holy people, now God also talks about how they must rejoice together. All of the commandments about holiness were not evil and to harm, rather they were given so that they would be a blessed people. God's laws are good when they are used lawfully. They were designed to bless, so they should result in rejoicing before God. He called them to many feasts. The weekly feast of the Sabbath to remember that God has given them rest and then the annual feasts for the nation. The first annual feast is about rejoicing before God because God not only delivered them from Egypt, but He was taking them to a pleasant land, to a place of blessings. Just as God loves a cheerful giver, when we understand them properly, all of God's commandments will bring us to a place of joy.
Many Christians would describe justice and mercy as being at odds with one another, but most confessions of the faith, such as the SLBC and the Westminster Confession, say that God is most just and He is most merciful. But if they are in opposition to one another, how can God be both merciful and just?Thumbnail image by Manu_H on Flickr under CC-BY 2.0Timecodes00:00:00 Intro00:02:57 Sproul00:10:50 Definition of Justice00:15:52 Definition of Mercy00:24:51 Overlooking Sin00:37:02 Vengeance vs Justice00:46:08 Justice in Man's Law00:49:14 Importance of Justice01:00:51 Mercy in the LawProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Many churches teach that Matthew 18 is the generally applicable text about church discipline and it should be followed in all circumstances. But Matthew 18 is primarily about forgiveness between brothers and when you look at other cases of discipline, such as when a man has his father's wife, there is no hint that Matthew 18 should be followed. So when is Matthew 18 appropriate? And why is this passage so often misunderstood? In this episode, we start out by laying out the differences between personal offenses and offenses against God. Matthew 18 is about dealing with personal offenses and because the person who believes he has been wronged has no greater authority than the brother he is confronting the process is structured to minimize slandering and false accusations. We also discuss how this is not just for brothers who go to the same church, how that works and what it looks like. After laying this groundwork, we then walk through the passage verse by verse discussing how each step is rooted in God's desire for justice and forgiveness.Matthew 18 is an incredibly important passage for us to understand. When we do not understand what it is intended to accomplish or how we should go about the process, we cause the church to be filled with a lack of forgiveness and injustice. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
God continues to give instructions through Moses to Aaron and his sons, and to all the people of Israel, regarding the requirements for animals offered in freewill offerings, peace offerings, or offerings for vows. God points out that these types of offerings can be made not only by the children of Israel but also by strangers dwelling among them, and he requires the same standard for his offerings regardless of who is making the offering. God is holy, and he expects what is offered to him to be free of defect.
Both of the primary Reformed confessions explicitly call the pope that Antichrist. They saw the man of perdition from 2 Thessalonians 2 and that Antichrist from 1 John 2 fulfilled in the office of the pope. So what does it mean for the Pope to be that Antichrist or for the apostasy of the Roman Catholic Church to the falling away that Paul writes about to the Thessalonians and also to Timothy? One of the dangers of not considering these issues is that we begin to view eschatology as completely separate from doctrine. But Paul says that all scripture is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Whether we consider the Pope to be THAT Antichrist or just one Antichrist of many, we should realize that the scope and success of the Roman Catholic Church as a heretical and evil imitator of the true church for almost 1500 years is something that the church must grapple with. At a minimum it should warn us to not grow lax in standing against the heresies of the church even when they are embodied in likable people. At the most, it should help us focus on Christ and the work that He is doing in the world, it should reframe how we view the scope and significance of the Reformation and the work that Christ has for His church in fighting for right doctrines and right practices. So here's the question: If you hold to a Reformed tradition have you considered what it means for the Pope to be the Antichrist? And even if you do not, have to considered why the Reformers thought the way they did?Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/03/is-the-pope-really-that-antichrist-ep-210-audio/
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Leprosy in the Bible was a picture of sin. And God uses it many times throughout the Old and New Testament to help us to think about different types of sin and the redeeming work of Christ.Recently we did a podcast on reading the Old Testament and how we should think abut the types and shadows whose substance has come in Christ. Leprosy, which was never intended to be primarily about health, was a type of parable regarding sin in individuals, in the works of men, and in houses and we are to be able to understand how those pictures as given in the law and in narratives apply to the current time. As a follow on to that topic, we want to discuss leprosy and we thought it would be useful to start with one of the more straightforward examples: leprosy in a house. We think the most direct application of this passage is to when sin is exposed in a household of faith, not just in an individual, but in the very church itself. In the text that we walk through, God spends significant time talking about how to prevent that revealed leprosy from spreading and then what to do when it is found to have spread, and when it keeps recurring. This Old Testament instruction parallels Paul's admonitions in the New Testament and it is instructive to us that he does not repeat the Old Testament but merely references it. This not only helps us to understand how to deal with this specific situation but instructs us in the proper use of Old Testament texts, how they relate to proper practices and how they relate to the holiness of the church. Please join us as we consider this important topic.Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/03/whe
God continues to give restrictions to the priests, because it is not about them. It is about the holy things of God and profaning His name. When things are dedicated to the Lord, they are not to be defiled by uncleanness because that profanes the name of the Lord. The priest that is caught doing that is to be cut off from His people, meaning that it is a death penalty offense. Whether it is long term or permanent, like a leper, or it is short term, like touching a dead body, those who are unclean are not allowed to act as priests. As priests in the New Covenant, we should understand the seriousness of profaning the name of God through our actions and the church has a real obligation to act when it sees the holy things being defiled. Often in church discipline, people make the goal restoration, but the first goal is always to declare that God is holy.
In the 1960s, less than 4% of bodies were cremated. Now, it is about 2 out of 3 and by 2040, it is expected to be around 80%. Much of that is driven by the rising cost of funerals, since the burial plot is expensive and you can send a significant amount of money on a nice casket. On average, a cremation probably costs half of the cost of a burial. Another thing that seems to drive it is that the church typically doesn't explain why burial matters and why cremation is wrong. While many people do not think deeply about it, cremation has always existed and from a Christian perspective has been viewed as a picture of the body going to hell while burial is the picture of the body waiting for the resurrection. In this episode, we look at what scripture has to say about cremation and burial. We look to the Old Testament which contains the laws that detail dealing with the dead and where most of the narrative surrounding death and burial is written. We also look to church history and see how as Christianity spread, so too did the idea of burying the dead rather than burning them. We talk about how death and our handling of it is a significant testimony to the world about our faith and when done properly is something that the world cannot fully understand. So here's the question: If we are going to be resurrected anyway, does it matter how the body is treated? Or does our handling of death and burial testify to our faith?Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/03/is-cremation-a-sin-ep-208-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 Does it Matter00:05:30 The Symbolism00:06:53 What God's Law Says00:14:26 Bi
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
How you read the Old Testament impacts how you read all of God's word. It frames the questions that shape our understanding of God and His purposes. What was the purpose of the garden? Why did God choose, separate, and protect the nation of Israel? What is the church? Who is Jesus Christ and the nature of his atonement? It frames all of these and a hundred other questions as well, none of which are trivial or unimportant. In this episode, we want to look at how broadly and deeply the Old Testament shadows run. And while we start with God's word in Hebrews that "the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things" which is talking about the ceremonial, priestly laws of Israel, by the end of the episode, we want to go broader still to where Paul looks at the crossing of the Red Sea as a baptism, and Christ declares the manna in the wilderness to be bread from heaven which points forward to Him as the bread of life. We also want to emphasize that Scripture teaches us that these pictures are for us. We should not say, it is only Christ and Paul who can understand them. Jesus promised that after He left, He would send the Holy Spirit, who Paul reminds us in Corinthians understands the deep things of God. God's word declares that "all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." When the church refuses to look deeply at the Old Testament, we misunderstand the New Testament as well, as God does not spend a great deal of time repeating himself. The shadows are important because by them we can better understand the substance, which is Christ. P
As we go back to Leviticus, we need to remember that the Levitical priesthood and High Priest were to teach us about Christian priesthood and the effectual High Priest of the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ. After Leviticus 19 talking about how individuals needed to be holy and Leviticus 20 talking about how the society had to enforce holiness, we now come to how the priests need to be holy. The first picture is about a separation from the world. They still have connections to the world, so they can defile themselves for a dead body such as their mother or father, but not even for a married sister, since she is now part of a different family. When we think about applying this, we should consider ex-communication and what that means. Obviously, a believing child doesn't have to leave home if their father is excommunicated so that they do not have fellowship with them. This gives parameters to a question that often comes up when people are excommunicated. God then continues and commands, as He did for all of Israel, not to have tattoos, cuttings or cutting the edges of their beards which are acts of worship to false gods. God connects it to offering the bread of God. When we think of the bread of God in the Old Testament, we should always be thinking about the word of God. Hypocrisy, by rebelling against the word while it is being taught is against the priesthood. A priest is not allowed to take a defiled woman as his wife, which is a picture of equal yoking. Also, the daughter of a priest is held to a higher standard, so if she acts as a harlot, then her body is to be burned. God then sets an even higher standard for the High Priest as a picture of Christ. He cannot def
Credobaptists and Paedobaptists differing views of baptism have real-world implications over how they view their children and their relationship to the church. Presbyterians (paedobaptists) hold that baptized children are part of the church, with the church having authority over and membership responsibility toward the child. Baptists (credobaptists) hold that they only become part of the church through faith and membership, and see baptism as a result of their faith. Often though, credobaptists treat their non-professing, unbaptized children like they are part of the church and as if they have been regenerated, going so far as to create practices that are inconsistent with their theological views of salvation, faith, and baptism.In this episode, we want to look at some of these inconsistencies, compare them to scripture, and discuss how they cause harm and confusion. So here's the question: What practices do churches need to watch out for so the children at the church are not deceived about their state with Christ?Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/02/the-hypocrisy-of-baptists-ep-206-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 Introduction00:02:49 Youth Ministry00:12:09 Parents' Duty00:22:55 Baby Dedications00:30:13 Baptism Limits00:35:49 Should Our Children Be Saved?00:45:22 Expectation to Get Baptized00:53:26 Church Discipline00:55:17 Deceptive Songs00:59:43 Children in Church LifeProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Mus
In this passage, the writer is connecting the heavenly Jerusalem with the promise in Haggai that once more God will shake not only earth, but also heaven. When God descended to Mt. Sinai with the giving of the law, the earth shook. Through entering into covenant, Israel became the people of God. The law that had been written only on fallen consciences, now was written on tablets of stone. But as Hebrews has said many times, the New Covenant is a greater covenant because not only earth is shaken, but heaven as well. We see that in the establishment of the heavenly Jerusalem and we will consider what that means, but the application God has for us is that we are to focus on not the things that will be removed. Instead, we are to focus on the things that will remain for God will consume the rest for He is a consuming fire.
A hundred years ago in America most wives considered themselves to be homemakers with very few working outside the home. Now about 57% percent of them do. What should we think about this shift in the fabric of the American home, and more importantly what does God's word have to say about it. Throughout history, there have been societies that have been very confused about men's roles and women's roles. Frequently, the men don't do much work. They just do the things that please them. Hunting, fishing, maybe going to war while women do most of the provision for the household. But when Scripture began to inform a society, the roles of the husband and wife have typically been changed. Men begin to recognize they have a duty to provide for their family, to lead, and to make their household productive. Wives see their role as submitting to their own husband. Over the last hundred years, we have been losing that Christian influence in America and we've made an enormous shift that the church has largely gone along with it. In this episode, we look at many of the passages in Scripture that frame God's design for the home. We discuss how the curses from the fall continue to shape men's and women's rebellion against God's design. We also talk about what it means to build a home, to be productive, and how our unwillingness to hold the structure and purpose of the household in high regard has caused our courtship rituals to become focused on shallow concepts such as pleasure and comfort rather than long-term purpose. While modern culture has many problems that need to be resolved and fixing marriage and the home will only solve some of them, the home and family
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
In considering the last passage in Hebrews 12, it is referencing Haggai and understanding the reference will provide more insight for that passage next week. In Chapter 1 of Haggai, God had rebuked Israel for not having rebuilt the temple since they came back to Jerusalem around sixteen years before. They had started, but the opposition used King Artaxerxes to stop it after they rebuilt the altar of burnt offering and the foundation of the temple. Nothing had happened since, but after Haggai rebukes them, they start to rebuild the temple. Less than a month later, God tells them to look at the temple and recognize how it is nothing compared to the previous temple, but that they should persevere for God is going to shake like He did when they came out of Egypt, but also heaven. He will shake the nations so they come to the Desire of All Nations and I will fill this temple with glory That temple will have greater glory than the first temple that Solomon made. As we consider all the shadows of Christ in this passage, it is important for the understanding of Hebrews 12:25-29 for us to understand what it meant that He shook heaven and earth when the Desire of the Nations come. Since Haggai 2 is about the heavenly temple described in Hebrews 12:22-24, we will consider that temple and the promises associated with it before we conclude Hebrews 12.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14, that we are to pursue love and to be zealous for spiritual gifts especially that we may prophesy. We are not just to sit back and wait for God to bestow them on us. It is part of pursuing love and edifying one another. And if prophecy is about love and edification, then it cannot be primarily about telling the future. So what is prophecy? Prophecy is about declaring the truth regarding the nature of God. It means to speak forth, and while prophets did often declare future events, a key reason those events were foretold was to warn Israel and others to turn from their sins, thus declaring the justice and faithfulness of God. This is why Moses was a great prophet, not because of all his foretellings, but because by him the law of God was given. This is why Jesus Christ was the greatest prophet of all, because He is the very image of the invisible God. Everything He did and said declared his Father and the nature of God. And we must understand this because Paul says that prophecy is for edification. How can we edify one another without understanding? This is one of the key differences between the Pentecostal view of prophecy and a Biblical view of prophecy. Pentecostalism keeps a great sense of mysticism around prophecy. It is cloaked in spiritual artistry and emotionalism. But Biblical prophecy brings all things back to scripture. The Spirit of God, as we are told in John 16, "will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
After talking about how without holiness no one will see God, the author of Hebrews then explains the picture of the feasts in Jewish law. They are these times where all the circumcised must gather three times a year at Mt. Zion to be the picture of the gathering at heavenly Mt. Zion. All of national Israel was to gather and make sacrifices so that we would understand what God is doing with Christ. Calling us to gather in the eternal presence of God through the perfect sacrifice of Christ. Another way that the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant feasts were to be a time of celebration, but they were physical. In the New Covenant, we now have the spiritual version of that, a much better version.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
People often think that what made America unique was its separation of powers and system of checks and balances, but those ideas were not really new at the time or unique to America. What actually was unique was having the Constitution as a single written document that formed the structure and scope of powers of the government and having every officer in that government take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. In almost every other government, the standard expectation was that officials would try to use their authority in any way they could get away with and the checks and balances against one person becoming a tyrant was that others who had power as well would stand against them. But the oath of office was different. It constrained by establishing that those who did not keep their oaths were both morally and legally impeachable. This allowed for powerful figures to be held in check or even removed without violence and bloodshed. And one of the reasons for taking oaths is to ask God to judge when the oath is broken. So here's the question: Does God still care about oaths and does he still judge people and nations when they fail to uphold them? Because that's really the key point about oaths. They aren't just super-serious secular promises. They invoke the name and identity of God. And God promises that He will judge, not just the person who swore the oath (Leviticus 19:11-12), but also the people who were witnesses to the oath, if they do not require it to be upheld (Leviticus 5:1). So in this episode, we want to look at what God says about oaths, and how we as Americans have broken our promises made before God. We also want to specif
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Because of God's discipline is for our good, so we become partakers of His holiness, we need to run the race with endurance. When discouragement comes in a race, you drop your hands and your knees become week. When we see the discipline of the Lord, our response should be the opposite. We should see it as coming from His hand for our good and that should encourage us to persevere. It should not just cause us to be encouraged, but we have a responsibility to encourage others to correct what is out of order so that others don't go off the path. We need to seek peace with all men, but not without holiness. We can never sacrifice holiness for peace and we should expect the world to war against us. We are to seek peace with the significant limitation of seeking holiness as the same time. We should understand that it will be offensive to those who consider themselves righteous, but are really slaves of the flesh like Esau who sacrificed the promises of God to satisfy the desires of his flesh. We are to warn others that they cannot give into the flesh when they are running the race. All those who are saved will run it with endurance.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Can Baptists actually be Reformed? To answer that, we probably have to answer another question, "What does it mean to be Reformed in the first place? Is it a tradition, a specific set of beliefs, or something else entirely? There are a lot of online debates and discussions about whether Baptists can be Reformed or not. And while some of those debates are just good-natured ribbing between Presbyterians and Baptists, it's a subject worth thinking about seriously. When Baptists say they are "reformed" what do they mean, and are they correct? In one sense, the term "reformed" doesn't have only one definition or use. Words are like that, in the abstract, they can have multiple definitions. But when a specific word is actually used, such as to identify a group of Baptists, that use must have one specific meaning. So are Reformed Baptists really Reformed?In this episode, we want to talk about why Reformed Baptists are Reformed and what we mean by that. We discuss some of the history of the Protestant Reformation and how Reformed Baptists emerged as a group in the UK. We discuss some of the doctrines that are specific to being considered Reformed, and we also talk about the unifying spirit of the Reformation that existed well before Luther or Calvin and goes back to the leadership and direction of Christ and His Spirit.Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/01/can-reformed-baptists-be-reformed-ep-202-audio/Timecodes00:00 What Does it Mean to Be Reformed? 17:36 Soteriology 28:42 Covenants 50:19 CredobaptismProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Da
After being encouraged to not despise the chastening of the Lord, in this week's passage we hear of the purpose of that chastening. While the best human father chastens according to his wisdom and understanding, he will always fall short. That is not true with God. God knows with perfect and complete knowledge exactly how to train His children. He will correct those who are His. It can be very painful, but in the end He will cause the peaceable fruit of righteousness to be produced. We need to chose to count it all joy in trials because by faith we know that they are sent by God for our good.
Does the Bible teach that there are sins serious enough that a pastor should be permanently removed and never be able to serve as a pastor again? Frequently, when an elder or a pastor falls into sin, people immediately start to say that they hope he can repent, so he can resume his ministry. This is often because the pastor was particularly gifted in preaching or teaching or leading the church. He often had a great deal of charisma or motivation, when it is easy for people to look at this gifted man and think that it would be a shame for the church to lose his talent and ability. But that is looking at it from man's perspective. God is far more concerned about his reputation and protecting his glorious bride, the church. So what does scripture say about removing a man from office permanently? Please join us as we discuss this important topic. Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2025/01/when-should-a-pastor-be-permanently-removed-ep-201-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 Calling of Elders 00:10:17 Removal of False Shepherds 00:28:03 Theft 00:33:38 Sexual Abuse of the Flock 00:40:38 Abusing the Weak 00:48:43 Not Seeking Lost Sheep 00:58:46 Force and Cruelty Towards the Sheep 01:11:42 Could a Polygamist Be an Elder? Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Both Daniel Penny and Luigi Mangione were in the news recently due to associated murder charges. Both men claimed they were trying to stop evil. Both men claim their use of force was justified. The public is also divided, with some claiming one or both of them a hero and many others strongly believing the opposite. But for those of us who believe in the sufficiency of scripture, we should be able to go to God's word to understand these two situations as well as the general question of, "When does God say that men are allowed to use force?" Please join us as we discuss this culturally relevant topic. Podcast on self defense https://theconqueringtruth.com/2022/01/why-christians-must-defend-themselves-ep-53/ Sermon on Sampson https://legacy.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=72224183820340Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Jimmy Carter was one of the most outspokenly Christian presidents of the modern age, but was he an accurate representative of Christianity in the public sphere? His view of Christianity was that his beliefs should not impact his decisions or inform his policies, a view that many professing Christians shared at the time. In this episode, we examine the legacy of Jimmy Carter, both during his time as president and in the years that followed. Please join us as we consider this topic. Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2024/12/jimmy-carters-legacy-was-he-a-christian-president-ep-199-audio/ Timecodes 00:00:00 Character00:15:01 Deregulating Airlines00:22:02 Camp David Accords00:28:47 Leadership Failures00:42:36 Iran Hostage Crisis00:48:01 Damage to the Economy00:55:09 His Christianity01:16:12 Panama Canal01:18:00 Playboy Interview01:21:08 Women in the Church01:33:00 Habitat for Humanity01:34:37 Nobel Peace PrizeProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
At Reformation Baptist Church we stream the audio of the service for those who regularly attend who are unable to attend due to sickness or travel. We encourage everyone else to attend a church in your area.
Just as God had warned them in Leviticus 18 about sexual perversion, God is now repeating many of the same things, but giving the society responsibility to enforce it. It is not enough to be a holy people to teach against perversion. The society must testify to the significance of the perversion and the effect of that perversion on the whole society by enforcing the death penalty. Modern society says that is cruel for things such as adultery and incest, but God says it is necessary to put the evil out from among you. Living in a society that is rapidly increasing in the acceptance of all kinds of perversions, we should be able to understand how much better God's ways are.
Who has authority over marriage? When a man and a woman are married, the official often says something like, "by the power vested in me by…". But what does that mean and it is even remotely Biblical? Does the civil government have any authority over marriage? What about the church? And do people need to get married in a church by an ordained minister for the wedding to be recognized by God? In this episode, we want to look at many of the different issues that relate to authority over marriage. We look at the Old Testament passages where God frames and defines the institute of marriage, and then discuss how this design plays out in society as the civil magistrate, the church, and the family, each of which are divinely-appointed authorities, work together at times and in other ways against each other. Marriage is both simple and complex. The union itself is fairly straightforward, a man and a woman are joined together - two previously separate people now become one flesh, but because marriage is the foundation of societies and nations even small errors in how we understand that union can have huge impacts. Please join us as we discuss this important topic. Timecodes00:00 History of Marriage10:58 God's Law15:25 Creation Ordinance34:22 The Amiee Byrd Situation42:30 Role of the church56:30 Role of the stateProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
God had been telling them the things that they needed to do individually to be a holy people. Now He started telling them how they collectively needed to constrain sin if they want to be a holy people. He started by telling them that they needed to put to death anyone in their land, whether stranger or Israelites, that gave his offspring to Molech. Giving them to Molech is broader than sacrificing them to Molech. It would include leading them to serve Molech as well. To be a holy people, those who train their children to worship a false god must be removed and not just those that do it. The ones who know about it and do nothing about it, God will judge them as well. In the church too often we don't consider the training of the children by parents as the central way that we are to preserve society holiness in the next generation.
One of the most hotly debated topics in Protestant circles is the doctrine of infant baptism, the practice of baptizing the infant children of professing believers. As we are unapologetically baptists, we disagree with this practice and believe that it goes against scripture and causes many problems in the church. In this episode, we look at some of the issues caused by the practice of infant baptism, such as how it divides the church body, creating two covenants, two baptisms, two memberships, all of which leads to a host of problems. And while we don't expect this episode to resolve the differences between Baptists and our Presbyterian brothers, we do believe that it is worth continued debate and discussion. One of the ways that we achieve unity in Christ is through truth and right doctrine, and setting important issues aside or saying that there is no right answer does not move us toward unity. Quite the opposite. Please join us as we discuss this controversial but important topic. Listen to the audio version here: https://theconqueringtruth.com/2024/12/dont-baptize-your-babies-the-problems-caused-by-paedobaptism-ep-197-audio/Timecodes00:00:00 The Danger 00:07:43 Which Covenant? 00:11:51 Dividing the Body 00:29:48 Diluting Holiness 00:40:21 Unbelievers Outnumbering Believers 00:45:09 Not Fulfilling the Role of the Church 00:49:29 Covenant Issues 00:54:17 The Duty to Train Children 01:07:46 Presbyterian PolityProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme M
One of the stranger stories to come out of the 2024 presidential elections is the story of Peanut the squirrel and Dave the raccoon. In case you haven't heard here's the short version: in upstate New York, early one morning, the government sent agents to the house of Mark Longo, a man who ran a non-profit animal shelter. Mark also had a popular Instagram account featuring a squirrel named Peanut that he had rescued seven years before and kept at his home. According to the man, the Department of Environmental Conservation raided his home with ten to twelve agents. They searched the home for five hours while they detained him. Finally, they took Peanut and a raccoon. They said that Peanut bit an officer, so they killed them both.While this story is very strange, it apparently struck a nerve with many people with support for either Mark and Peanut or the government fracturing along partisan lines. In this episode we want to look at the ways these issues reveal different details about American culture, politics, and the influence of the church. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As God continues to instruct on how to be a holy people, after speaking about sharing your peace offerings, He now switches to talking about how to provide for the poor. Providing for the poor starts with giving them opportunities to provide for themselves by leaving the gleanings when you harvest crops. Giving a handout is much different than reducing the amount of labor required to provide while still requiring labor. They don't have to do the sowing and dealing with the things that destroy crops, but they have to do some labor. Honesty is the next thing that He lists as a requirement for a holy people. Since God is truth, to be a people that represent Him, they must speak and walk in truth and not deceit. The last is being fair to those who are weak. Not making it more difficult for people who have difficulties, but not being unjust either. Being unjust is also to spread tales about your neighbor to harm them rather than to bless them. We are to be a holy people and these are the basic things to start with.
So here's the question: Assuming that you are in favor of corporal punishment and believe that God describes spanking as an appropriate form of punishment for certain types of foolish/rebellious behavior, do you think whether or not you spank your children in public says anything about your faith, your obedience to God, your trust in Him, or is part of your Christian testimony?That's what we want to talk about in this episode. And while we have specific opinions on the matter, we think it's worth people's time to think through the issue and to consider how their actions are shaped by their beliefs. We should also say upfront that while there are places in the world where it is illegal for a parent to spank their child, in America, as of the time this video was recorded, it is legal in all 50 states. One of the things that God says of Christians is that they are the salt and light of the world, and it is not just the result of their actions that are salt and light but their actions themselves. One of the tactics of the world is to try to make righteousness shameful and in the case of spanking, they have been able to do that very successfully. Many Christians who spank their children and believe that God's Word teaches that it should be done are also ashamed to let others know that they do so. It is also a matter of fear. Because many have heard accounts of people having their children taken away from them by CPS, they fear that the same will happen to them if they openly obey God. And while God calls us to be prudent, he does not call us to fear. In fact, Revelation 21:8 says, "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorc
When people think of revival, they often think of meetings with a preacher like Billy Graham standing on a stage with his Bible held high as he holds an altar call and where people stream toward the stage as the crowd sings "Just As I Am". But that's not what Biblical revivals look like. Biblical revivals starts with doctrine - a greater knowledge of God and His holiness and righteousness. When you look at revivals in the Old Testament, they start when the lost book of the law is found and as it is read by the king and read to the people, hearts are changed by hearing the Word of God. This is what happened at the time of Hezekiah, Josiah and Ezra. True revival is very associated with growing in knowledge and understanding, and that is also true of the greatest revival in history after the time of the apostles, the Protestant Reformation. It was because the bible started to be read and the people began to understand the doctrine of election and of salvation by grace through faith alone that there was a major revival. So why is doctrine necessary for revival?Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Leviticus 18:24-30. After dealing with sexual perversion, God now explains that the nations of the Canaanites were going to be cast out for violating these morals laws. Because they had more revelation, if God judged Canaan and Egypt for such behavior, He is warning them, that He will destroy them as well. Multiple times, God uses the term the land vomiting them out to show the revulsion because the behavior is so unnatural. How much more will He judge them because they have Him as their Lord? When we consider the greater knowledge that the church has and the closer connection that we have to God, consider how much stronger God is judging us and even the nation that we are in.
Most people who hold to a Calvinistic view of salvation probably think they have rejected works-based righteousness. But when sin is revealed in a leader, why do so many turn to that man's works to assure themselves that he is truly saved? This was the response of many when Steve Lawson was removed from office. And in the last sermon he preached before his removal, this was Steve Lawson's defense of himself as well. Scripture teaches us that we can have assurance of salvation. But it warns us that even though we can examine our inward motivations, we are susceptible to deceiving ourselves (Philippians 2:12-13, I Corinthians 11:28-32). When it comes to other people, scripture is very clear, we can NEVER be assured of someone else's salvation in the same way. But more importantly, scripture teaches that while those who have been saved still sin, those who walk in sin or practice sin, ARE NOT saved. (Galatians 5:16-24, I John 1:16). To say it a different way, we can be more assured that someone else is NOT saved than that they are. And this bothers many people. In his last sermon, which was on John the Baptist, Steve Lawson suddenly says the following: "And you should not judge a man by his one weak moment you need to look at the whole body of his work you need to look at his whole message. You need to look at his whole ministry and don't judge him on one hiccup that happens." And while you may disagree that this statement was connected to what was about to happen to Steve Lawson and his ministry, it is a perfect example of how he was defended by many.So here's the question: how susceptible are you to a work-based righteousness defense of salvation
After defining who are eligible spouses in term of degrees of consanguinity and affinity, God now talks about other perversions. These perversions are thing that have become increasingly embraced in our culture. Not just in the sense of being found acceptable, but actively and jealously promoted by political leaders. We have not yet started embracing having sexual relations with animals, but we should recognize the pattern of these verses is the pattern of a people whose are rejecting the knowledge of God. They are laying out the pattern of our society since the sixties. God says that these things defile the land and the land will reject people who embrace them. Our nation is actively working to sow the seeds of its destruction.
In the past weeks, several hurricanes have struck the United States, killing hundreds and displacing millions. Many professing Christians are offended if you say that God sent these hurricanes as judgment, but we'd like to argue that this is because we tend to think very shallowly about the judgment of God. And while disaster striking an area does not inherently mean that God judged the people who lived there because they were the most evil and vilest of sinners, scripture clearly teaches God ordains all events and that he is the one who kills and makes alive (Deuteronomy 32:29), who brings peace or sends calamity (Isaiah 45:7). In this episode, we want to discuss what the Bible says about natural disasters and God's judgment. We start out by framing the issue, reviewing scripture explaining how God's wrath is revealed to man (Psalm 10 and Romans 1) and establishing His authority as Lord over all the earth. We then walk through some of the many passages that show God's judgment through storms and other disasters and how He uses them to punish, warn, demonstrate his power, teach men to fear God, and demonstrate the danger and power of sin. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Leviticus 18-1-16. After the laws about the Day of Atonement and the shedding of and eating blood, God then instructed Moses on laws regarding unlawful uncovering of nakedness. In reading this, people want to shift this to purely sexual matters, but God chooses His language with precision. The issue at hand is when people are uncovering nakedness for the goal of uncovering nakedness. Frequently, that is sexual in intent, but it could be other things and these laws are outlawing those other things as well. God is giving these laws not just to testify to the sin of fornication, but also to testify that mankind should be ashamed of its nakedness. Rebellion against God manifests itself in the flaunting of nakedness, in having no shame. Another thing to note about the passage is that it assigns nakedness to people. You are not allowed to uncover your grandchild's nakedness, because it is your nakedness. That language is not about the possession of the nakedness to do with as you wish. The language is about who has specific responsibility to protect the nakedness of others.
The law of God confronts us with our sin. And while sinners hate this condemnation, they also want others to obey God's law because it makes their life easier. Because of this, they are very quick to notice sin in others, specifically, the sin that the law has convicted them of. This is often referred to as projection. Scripture refers to it this way: And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.In this episode we want to discuss the different ways that this practice of hypocrisy presents itself in the world and in our lives and how we as Christians should think about it. It is one of the reasons why the world calls Christians unloving, not because the world understands love, but because they are convicted of their lack of love and so accuse others of it. (This does not mean that Christians are always loving or that the world is always wrong about Christians being unloving, but that this is a common pattern it is helpful to understand it). We also discuss how sin impacts our ability to understand others. It separates us from them and then causes us to see them through the perverting influence of sin. This is why perverts think the innocent are being perverted when they are not, why the angry take offense at kindness, why the covetous are harmed by gifts they are given and so on. The law of God is good, but sin perverts everything, and as Christ
Having right doctrine is important, but it's not enough. That why orthopraxy -having correct practices- matters.--People like to debate theology. Many people believe that Christians should make an effort to persuade other Christians to their understanding of scripture - and the bible is clear, while pointless debates are foolish, persuading others to understand sound doctrine is a good and important thing to do. Right doctrine is how the church is made one. Unity comes from the right and complete understanding of who Christ is. But many are satisfied with only having right doctrine. They do not go on to apply it to their lives and to have right practices. And when orthopraxy is ignored, it is reasonable to ask whether the doctrine was ever really and correctly understood. In every field of study, there is a recognized difference between abstract knowledge and application. And as anyone who has tried to build a building or follow a recipe for the first time knows, applying knowledge can be much more difficult than obtaining it. --In this episode, we want to discuss why right doctrine is insufficient. While the wicked do not love right doctrine, it is almost always actions that they find most offensive. When Christ came to his own, they would not receive him, and while many of them were offended by his doctrine, what the religious leaders were most offended by was that he revealed them to be hypocrites, not just by his words, but by his deeds. We also want to talk about how orthropraxy and orthodoxy cannot be separated from one another. And when we try to separate them, we often lose what doctrine we have or create practices that teach a false doctrine. We can see thi
After describing what they were to do with the scapegoat, God finally revealed when they were to do these things, on the tenth day of the seventh month. He will later tell them the first of the month will be the feast of trumpets and the fifteenth will start the Feast of Booths. While the other two are feasts, this day was a day appointed for the Israelites to afflict their souls. It is a sabbath of solemn rest. While all the other days that God commands them to celebrate is about feasting, this is the one day about them mourning over their sin and their need for it to be dealt with so they are not separate from God.
There are well-meaning Christians who teach that no one should ever be allowed to remarry after divorce. The main problem with that interpretation is that God divorced and remarried. Spiritually, God is only ever married to the invisible church, but that is not true in an earthly sense. According to Scripture, God divorced Israel and He was divorced from Judah when he came to them and they put him to death. But then Christ is betrothed to the church, with his death paying the bride price. So, if God, who is perfectly righteous, divorced and remarried what does that mean for us----In this episode, we want to discuss what scripture teaches about marriage, divorce, remarriage, and abandonment. We will look at the Old Testament law of divorce and see how its substance and intent are consistent with Christ's and Paul's teachings in the New Testament. We will look at marriage as both a picture of the gospel and of Christ and the church and how the message throughout scripture of -hardness of heart- is a central theme demonstrated through the differences between the old and new covenant. --Marriage is an important institution, and while God hates divorce, he hates hardness of heart even more. While the church needs to protect the importance and sanctity of marriage by requiring fidelity, the church must also recognize that hardness of heart can bring a marriage to an end. When we deny this, we obscure the perfect righteousness of God. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timo
After the High Priest goes into the Holy of Holies, consecrates the mercy seat and the altar of burnt offering, he then brings the live goat that he will make the scapegoat. He lays hand on the goat and confesses the sins of the children of Israel, so that the goat can bear the sins out into the wilderness. It bears the sins away to an uninhabited land, the picture of sin being removed and not just transferred. After that, the High Priest comes back and takes off the linen garments that he had on before that were just the standard robes of a priest and replaces them with the garments of the High Priest. He then comes and offers the burnt offering for himself and for all of the people, burning the fat on the altar of burnt offering and taking its flesh and burning it outside the camp. Unlike most sin offerings, this is burned outside the camp like a burnt offering and all of it is burnt. No parts are kept by the priests.They would appoint this scapegoat to take away the sins, but as it says in Hebrews, it never worked. It required the perfect lamb of God to bear the sins of the world away.
Do you understand the many ways that Christianity has made the world a better place---Some people think of eschatology as this far-off thing dealing only with future events that are primarily spiritual in nature. But scripture does not teach that this is true. Christ came to establish his kingdom and to destroy the works of the devil. After his life, death, and resurrection, he ascended to heaven, his rule and reign were established, and his kingdom has been going forth and transforming the world. -The word of God says that Christians are the light of the world, but so many believe that the darkness wins over the light. But God designed light and darkness to give us a picture of how the world works. Just as light will dispel the darkness so will the light of Christ through his church push back and destroy the darkness of the world. In this episode we want to look at the many ways that Christ's kingdom of light has taken dominion over the darkness and how that victory has been made manifest in the world. Christians of all people should see and understand these things and glorify God for his goodness. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After declaring what sacrifices needed to be made, God now relates to Moses who is to instruct Aaron how those offerings are to be made. First, Aaron must sacrifice a bull as a sin offering for himself and his family. The writer of Hebrews makes it clear that this is a testimony of the ineffectiveness of the offerings because if they could take away sin, then it would not need to be continually offered., The true sacrifice, Jesus Christ, as the sin offering takes away the sins of His household, the household of faith. Then the High Priest needs to burn incense in the Holy of Holies to produce a cloud over the mercy seat. The picture of incense is the picture of prayers, so it is through the petitions of Christ that His offering was accepted and that we receive mercy. Then he sprinkles the blood of the bull on the mercy seat, because it is only through the shedding of blood that we can receive mercy. Next, he goes out again and kills the goat that is the sin offering for the people. He carries that blood back to the mercy seat which is a picture of Christ's death allowing Him to go to the mercy seat, but it also brings believers into the presence of God. The final thing that is also done is the anointing of the altar of burnt offering as a picture that Christ not only made a way for believers to come to the Father, but He also made the judgment of damnation and the righteousness of that judgment more obvious. We have been given these shadows so we can understand more about the substance of what Christ did.
If you pay attention to the news at all, you'll hear a lot of worried cries about how we need to work to -save democracy-. But if you know much about American history, you'll know that the US isn't a democracy and has never been one. In fact, if you've really studied history you'll know that pure democracies tend to be short-lived institutions. And because this is a podcast by Christians, and largely aimed at Christians, you shouldn't be surprised that we want to take this all back to scripture and talk about what the Bible teaches about government, how people should rule themselves, and why pure democracies tend to lead to evil.-In this episode, we want to look at the danger of democracies and how this is demonstrated throughout scripture. The people collectively always have a great deal of power, the question is how should that power be both harnessed and constrained-- There will also always be leaders among the people. Even if there is no official position anyone who can influence others will always have some form of power. Pure democracy gives great power to those who can influence the public and typically leads to mob rule. And this is not only true in the nation but also in our churches -and not only in congregational churches-.-Scripture has much to say about government, authority, and the principles that shape a nation, and while in this episode we can only scratch the surface and begin to lay a framework for this should be thought about, it is a discussion that the Christians in America desperately need to have. Please join us as discuss this important topic.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts -
If you pay attention to the news at all, you'll hear a lot of worried cries about how we need to work to "save democracy". But if you know much about American history, you'll know that the US isn't a democracy and has never been one. In fact, if you've really studied history you'll know that pure democracies tend to be short-lived institutions. And because this is a podcast by Christians, and largely aimed at Christians, you shouldn't be surprised that we want to take this all back to scripture and talk about what the Bible teaches about government, how people should rule themselves, and why pure democracies tend to lead to evil.In this episode, we want to look at the danger of democracies and how this is demonstrated throughout scripture. The people collectively always have a great deal of power, the question is how should that power be both harnessed and constrained? There will also always be leaders among the people. Even if there is no official position anyone who can influence others will always have some form of power. Pure democracy gives great power to those who can influence the public and typically leads to mob rule. And this is not only true in the nation but also in our churches (and not only in congregational churches).Scripture has much to say about government, authority, and the principles that shape a nation, and while in this episode we can only scratch the surface and begin to lay a framework for this should be thought about, it is a discussion that the Christians in America desperately need to have. Please join us as discuss this important topic.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts -
Before Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he promised to send his Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us. But how does the Holy Spirit accomplish his ministry? How can we know if we are being led by the Holy Spirit? In this episode we want to walk through what scripture teaches about the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. While theHoly Spirit is God and is therefore above our ability to completely understand, scripture teaches us that his ministry and leading can be understood. Because the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son and in their authority, he never comes with His own words, but teaches us and guides us to and through the Truth of God's Word. The Holy Spirit also came to make men Holy, to break the bondage and power of sin and to guide them to works of righteousness.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCPermanent Hosts - Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Hebrews 11:35-40. After considering the people who were involved in subduing kingdoms, the writer moves on to those who were not as well know. We should expect that there were many men and women who were saved, but did not have great success that changed the history of Israel. They still were important examples of faith, like the women whose sons were raised up by Elijah and Elisha to many people who were tortured for their faith. We know of the hundred prophets who Ahab tried to kill but were protected by Obediah, but the point of the passage is that there were others who suffered for their faith. Men and women who did not receive a reward in this life, but because they trusted in the promises of God, they died because they refused to deny God. They suffered because their hope was not in this world, just as our hope is not to be in this world even with the better promises that we have been given.
Charles Finney was both an avid proponent of revivalism and a relentless enemy of Reformed doctrine in the early American Church. Finney himself was a product of revivalism, professing faith in his late 20s at an emotional revival service. Finney quickly dedicated himself to the ministry, and began studying for his ordination as a Presbyterian minister.-Despite his studies, Finney claims that at his ordination he was ignorant of the doctrines contained in the Westminster Confession and catechism, asserting in his memoirs that when questioned, he stated that he, -received it for substance of doctrine, so far as I understood it. But I spoke in a way that plainly implied, I think, that I did not pretend to know much about it.- Later, when he did study the confession and catechism he claimed to reject much of what it said. According to Finney and others, he openly preached against Reformed soteriology, arguing against it whenever it was spoken of in his presence.-When he was 43, Penny was appointed as Professor of Theology at Oberlin College. Two years later he became the minister of the church there, and fifteen years later still, he was officially appointed president of the college. -In this episode we want to focus on the influence that Finney had over American society and culture through his preaching and through the realization of his vision for Christianity through Oberlin College. Throughout its history Oberlin has been instrumental in influencing American culture and Society, occasionally for the good, but many times and in many ways for great evil. Because Finney's theology exalted man, the fruit of his ministry has been humanistic in nature.
For our seventh sermon on these verses, we will consider both how the prophets that succeeded Samuel did things like conquered kingdoms and worked righteousness, but we will consider them with an emphasis on how we are to do these things. What the prophets did of old through words is what we are to do now through words. These examples of faith and the results of it do not separate the Old Testament believers from the New Testament believers, rather there is a continuation that faith continues to produce the same results. Under the New Covenant, all those who believe are prophets and should have a prophet's reward.
If you watched the Republican National Convention this year, you may have noticed that there was a lot of emphasis on religion. Hopefully, you also noticed that none of it was pleasing to God. -One of the dangers of living in a formerly Christian culture that is rapidly decaying is that you can begin to think there are no more lines to be crossed, that there is a good political side and a bad political side and it's obvious who Christians should stand with. But this view isn't supported by Scripture, There comes a point where the -good political party- is corrupt as well and their idolatry excludes joining with them. We want to argue that we've come to that place. --In this episode, we discuss the pluralism and idolatry of the Republican Party and how its embracing of homosexuality and accepting that abortion is not murder show their lack of interest in retaining God in their knowledge. And Romans 1 is critical here because it tells us in this passage that refusing to retain the knowledge of God is what keeps us from falling into abject depravity. And this is where the Republican party is headed. So this is directed to believers who are in denial. Do you understand that the wrath of God is against them-- If you go among them, it must be to call them to repentance, not to clap for their candidates and their policies. And if you join with them, you should expect God's judgment to be upon you as well. This is where you will see if you have faith. Please join us as we discuss this important topic. -Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Dir
With Samuel, we come to the first example in the list of people who subdued kingdoms that was not first known as a warrior. We really only hear of Samuel lifting a sword after the battle was already complete to fulfill the commandment of God when he -hacked Agag in pieces,- but he does subdue a kingdom. He subdues it by crying out to God and calling people to repentance rather than physical force. Samuel is an example that while you do need to deal with the physical, sometime the whole problem can be resolved in the spiritual. By faith, Samuel led Israel in the worship of Jehovah.
The Bible has a lot to say about food, and from the beginning, we can see how food was related to sin, to sacrifices, and to the worship of God. There were also the food laws of Israel, which are frequently misunderstood. But through all of this, the Bible never teaches that a person's health is tied to the food they eat. And this matters a great deal, because this is a common false teaching, even among the orthodox. But the Bible does talk about health. It has to, because life and death are moral, spiritual issues. We understand this because anything to do with whether someone lives or dies will always be a moral topic because we understand that death exists because of sin and so we know that health issues must tie back to sin being in the world. -In this episode, we want to talk about what God's word says about food and how we can please him with what we eat. In American culture, there is a lot of talk about eating healthy and frequently it is a power issue. Wives pressure their husbands to eat in certain ways. The US government has a food pyramid that is trying to tell people how they should eat. Doctors tell people how they should eat, but they find they have such little power, they frequently don't even bother even when there is actual scientific evidence behind their conclusions. The more health care is nationalized, the more government asserts its right to dictate what you eat. With all the manipulation about food, how should we relate food and health and what does God's word teach us about all these things.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-br
As the writer of Hebrews has been working through the judges, we have seen how through their faith that they subdued kingdoms, but it was David who brought peace from the River Euphrates to the River of Egypt, all of the promised land of God. While in reading 1 and 2 Samuel we can see many failures of David, we also see many victories that he has as well. One of the first stories that we hear about David is when he fights the Philistine giant Goliath. The focus of that passage is not how David is a mighty warrior but how God determines who will be victorious. David's testimony starts with believing that the worlds are framed by the word of God.
If you watched the Republican National Convention this year, you may have noticed that there was a lot of emphasis on religion. Hopefully, you also noticed that none of it was pleasing to God. -One of the dangers of living in a formerly Christian culture that is rapidly decaying is that you can begin to think there are no more lines to be crossed, that there is a good political side and a bad political side and it's obvious who Christians should stand with. But this view isn't supported by Scripture, There comes a point where the -good political party- is corrupt as well and their idolatry excludes joining with them. We want to argue that we've come to that place. --In this episode, we discuss the pluralism and idolatry of the Republican Party and how its embracing of homosexuality and accepting that abortion is not murder show their lack of interest in retaining God in their knowledge. And Romans 1 is critical here because it tells us in this passage that refusing to retain the knowledge of God is what keeps us from falling into abject depravity. And this is where the Republican party is headed. So this is directed to believers who are in denial. Do you understand that the wrath of God is against them-- If you go among them, it must be to call them to repentance, not to clap for their candidates and their policies. And if you join with them, you should expect God's judgment to be upon you as well. This is where you will see if you have faith. Please join us as we discuss this important topic. -Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Dir
Jephthah, the son of a harlot, gets forced out of his father's house by his legitimate brothers. He provides for himself and those who gathered to him through raiding, so when the part of Israel that is east of the Jordan is threatened Israel goes to him to lead them. Not a great testimony of faith at that point, but when the Ammonites tell them to get off the land, Jephthah argues that they do not need to leave the land because God gave it to them. He recounts the history of the land and how the Ammonites never held the land. In his argument, he acknowledges the sovereignty of God and calls upon Him to judge between Israel and the Ammonites. He then vows to make a burnt offering of the first thing that leaves his house if he returns victorious, so when he does return victorious, he accepts that it was the sovereign will of God that it was his daughter that was to be the burnt offering. We see him exercise his faith even to extreme ends.
In Hebrews 11, the Bible states plainly that faith requires understanding that the visible world is controlled by the invisible--Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.--With that in mind, what does walking by faith look like----In this episode we want to talk about what faith in an invisible, sovereign God looks like. How does faith in the invisible God cause our day to be structured-- How do we think about things like sickness and trials, current events and global politics, and the role of the church in the world-- When Christians do not believe in the invisible, we become like pagans who fear the world instead of fearing God and turn to worshipping the creature rather than the creator. Christians on the other hand, realize that there are unseen forces in the world, but that they are all controlled by the hand of the sovereign God. Because of this, we are able to fear no one but God, and to serve him directly. This is what it means to walk by faith. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Hebrews 11-32-34 with a focus on Samson. Samson is a complicated Old Testament man of faith. We know that he believed. He understood from his parents that he was to be a Nazirite. We don't know that he obeyed the other restrictiions, but he at least did not cut his hair. He had a level of faith, but he also went into harlots. He also killed people for their clothes. He didn't follow the other ceremonial law as he ate unclean things. We do know that God used him to subdue kingdoms and Hebrews 11 holds him up as an example of faith in action. As we think about Samson, we should praise God that He sent His Holy Spirit, so that believers are now constrained by that Spirit, so we do not follow in the sins of Samson, but we should follow in his righteous works.
Suicide has historically been a crime. This is true for many reasons, but one prevalent one is that it is difficult. If not impossible, to argue from the natural world that men own themselves. Everything about the world testifies to man's dependence, his inability to create himself, provide for himself, or to exist without dependence upon others. We are born from our parents, totally dependent in so many ways and we end our lives in a similar state. From a scriptural perspective this is even more true as God says clearly that the world and all that is in it belongs to him. We are created for his good pleasure and have no claim to life or freedom apart from him. -In this episode, we want to start with the topic of suicide and move from there to discuss the fact that God owns our lives and that all men, whether they acknowledge God or not, know that they do not own themselves. We also discuss the difference between suicide and sacrifice and walk through some of the suicides and deaths in scripture and discuss how and why each of the different men died and whether they murdered themselves -ultimately out of pride- or sacrificed themselves for worthy reasons.--Suicide is serious and God treats it as self-murder. We should also treat it seriously and describe it as God sees it. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Hebrews 11-32-34 with a focus on Barak. As Gideon, Barak also had faith that conquered a kingdom. Mostly when people talk about the passage with Deborah and Barak, people want to use it to argue for Deborah being the leader, but she was not. Barak insisted that she go along and he did correctly treat her as a prophetess, but he was the one that the book of Hebrews uses as an example of the one with faith. He was the one who led the battle against the king of Canaan and defeated him. He was the one who was valiant in battle. He was the one who was weak and was made strong. He was the one who put to flight the armies of the aliens. He was the one that the writer of Hebrews says teaches us about what faith looks like. Deborah was a just and good judge. Deborah was a true prophetess, but she did not further the argument that true faith produces real changes in the world.
Most people don't know the history of dispensationalism. While many are familiar with the name John Nelson Darby and many more are familiar with C. I. Scofield -or at least with the Scofield Bible-, very few know much about their lives, their actions,and their involvement with the creation of the doctrine. But it is a story worth knowing. And while a biblical view's origin isn't the most important thing to know about it, it should never be dismissed out of hand and should be considered. --Dispensationalism has, in many ways, always been driven by the headlines, as it arose in the wake of the French Revolution, and developed in the emotional and even mystical response to the impact the fall of the French monarchy had upon the world. So, in this episode, we want to look at the origins and history of dispensationalism, how it started, what was going on in the world, and what were the claims made by those who had a hand in founding it. Please join us as we discuss this fascinating historical topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Hebrews 11-32-34 with a focus on Gideon. The writer of Hebrews now goes through six other people that are an example of faith, but that he doesn't want to take the time to consider each. We are going to consider each one individually as we continue to study the testimony of faith of the elders. Gideon through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, out orf weakness was made strong, became valiant in battle and turned to flight the armies of aliens. Things to note about the faith of Gideon- given as a response to people crying out, reluctant to be called, tested God and obeyed to the point where his means of victory were very clearly caused by God.
Most churches in America have at least some form of church membership. But here's the question we want to ask and it's a little bit loaded- Do you take church membership as seriously as you should-- The obvious, easy answer is, -No-, but it's worth actually thinking about. How well do you understand why church membership exists-- What is its purpose-- What does Jesus Christ desire to accomplish by it-- And from the answers to those questions- How should we change the way we think about it and practice it so that we please our Lord and Savior---In this episode we want to deal with the shape and substance of church membership. Why is it biblical when we don't explicitly see it in the early church-- And why do the Reformed generally insist on associating it with a covenant-- From there we want to talk about what the church does in the world, how it is the light and salt of the earth as well as Christ's body and how church membership both allows and accentuates those aspects of the church, but also how without it, it hinders the ministry of the church. -Church membership may seems like a small thing, but in many ways, it is like the skeletal system of the church, with the people being parts of muscles and organs, and the bones, ligaments and tendons joining them together so that real work can be done and so that protection is offered to the many delicate members of the body. Without church membership, the body becomes this shapeless thing, full of the same potential but unable to move or to achieve its purposes. There's more to of it course, and God uses more than just the analogy of a body. He also compares the church to a building, to a sheep fold, to a legislati
Why has Jonathan been missing from the recent podcasts----Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
If you've lived in the US for long, you've probably had members of the Jehovah's Witnesses come to your door at some point. How much do you know about them and what they believe-- And what does their continued existence tell us about the world and the church today---Similar to the Mormons in that they are a cult formed in the wake of the Second Great Awakening, the Jehovah's Witnesses started in 1870. Today, they are mostly known for their door-to-door witnessing and their booklets and other publications distributed by the -Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania-, the parent organization of most Jehovah's Witness denominational ministries.In this episode, we want to talk about Jehovah's Witnesses, what they believe, and why they have continued to have some measure of success in the world. Joining us for this episode is Je'quan Underwood, a member of our church who has spent a fair bit of time talking to and witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses. Similar to Mormons, it's easy to dismiss their claims as crazy, but the simple truth is that false religions exist because people are seeking to live in the world and to deal with their own sin and the sin of others without accepting the truth about Jesus Christ, Godhood, and the way of salvation. And while there are specific things that are useful to point out if you talk to a Jehovah's Witness, there is no magic phrase or piece of information that you can give them to cause them to turn away from their false religion. The issue is spiritual, not intellectual. But at the same time, it's useful to understand what they say they believe as false religions in each age of the church push against specific doctr
If demons believe in God, then what else is required for salvation-- What is the difference between normal faith and saving faith-- On this episode we discuss this important issue.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
By faith, Israel passed through the Red Sea, but we know from chapter 3 of Hebrews that they did not have saving faith. When they were told that God would give them victory in the promised land, they did not trust the promises of God, so they would not go in. Earlier, Abraham was used as an example of faith when it was before he was accounted righteous by God, but obviously the faith he had grew to be saving faith. Here Hebrews is saying that 'they' who are the people of Israel went through the Red Sea by faith, but that faith never matured into saving faith in most of them. There is a collective faith that a people can have that is not salvific, but is a real faith in God. They really trusted that God would deliver them. They really believed that the visible was made by things that are not seen, while the Egyptians couldn't believe that this phenomenon would stop before they made it across. They didn't have collective faith to say God has defended the Israelites the last seven plagues, He will defend them here. Instead, they went -we can make it- and they all died. We should recognize that this collective faith is important. A society has underlying beliefs that it acts on even when they are not held personally to the point of salvation and it really effects the society. That type of faith in God is what America has lost over the last sixty years with dire results.
In 2021, John MacArthur preached a message to his church addressing how to think about Christianity's decline in America. It starts out like this- -Hey, we tried. We honestly did. I think you did. I think I did. I mean I took interviews, I responded to questions I think we tried to have an influence on our nation last year.- He goes on to talk about how the world isn't interested in Christianity and then he says this- -We don't win down here. We lose. You ready for that-- Oh, you thought because you were a postmillennialist, you thought we're just going to go waltzing into the kingdom because you took over the world. No, we lose here. Get it-- They killed Jesus, they killed all the apostles, we're all going to be persecuted. If any man come after me', let him what, 'deny himself'. Garbage of prosperity gospel. No, we don't win down here. Are you ready for that-- Just to clear the air - I love this clarity - we don't win. We lose on this battlefield, but we win on the big one - the eternal one. ---His response is a good example of why we've been doing more episodes about eschatology lately and why we think it matters. Because those verses he quotes and references about persecution and denying ourselves are true, but they make absolutely no sense in the way he is using them. As much as we appreciate John MacArthur's ministry, his teaching is really wrong on this. Even if you hold to dispensational theology, you shouldn't think about those verses in that way. Denying yourself is not at odds with succeeding, some of the most successful people by any standard have been faithful Christians. Yes, it means you can't pursue carnal things, but surely that's not som
A series of expos- articles have just come out about Voice of the Martyrs. This is a group that we've discussed a great deal in the past, we we give our perspective on the recent revelations. We discuss Cole Richards, Jason Peters, ECFA, the dishonor of God, and the right way to clean all this up. -Our previous videos on VOMhttps---persecutingthepersecuted.com- -Articles on VOM from the Roys Reporthttps---julieroys.com-whistleblowers-accuse-vom-president-deception-retaliation-https---julieroys.com-former-voice-of-the-martyrs-executive-calls-resignations-time-clean-house-https---julieroys.com-whistleblowers-voice-of-the-martyrs-president-put-optics-needs-persecuted-christians-https---julieroys.com-whistleblowers-retaliation-sham-investigation--Jason Peters video - https---www.youtube.com-watch--v-tdE1xS8L-wYProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Connor Swim, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - James WinsteadTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
In the previous passage, we hear about Moses' faith when he went to visit his people, but now the example of his faith is when he forsook Egypt. The initial reading of forsaking Egypt would appear to be when he went to Midian to avoid punishment for the murder. There is a problem with that because here it says that he did not fear the wrath of the king, but in Exodus 2 it is clear that he feared getting caught which seems directly connected to the wrath of the king. When you remember why it was commanded that all sons be put to death, it is because they feared that the Israelites were mightier than they. As Moses was a man mighty in word and deed, he could have probably led the Israelites to have at least power in Egypt, but instead he forsook the land. We see how he had no fear of the king when he went to Pharaoh and said -The Lord God of Israel said 'Let My people go.'-
When you hear the word -Evolution- it is usually meant as a stand-in for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, specifically the idea that all life on earth arose from natural processes beginning with -some warm little pond with all sort of ammonia and phosphoric salts,-light, heat, electricity present, that a protein compound was chemically formed-. As we discuss in the episode, Darwin was by no means the first to propose such an idea, as his grandfather had written something very similar many years before. But what was needed for evolution to flourish was not the idea, but a community in the world, ready and willing to embrace it. -In this episode, we want to discuss some of the Biblical and logical problems inherent with evolution as a theory. We discuss the problem of -Death before Adam-, of man desiring to worship the creature rather than the creator, and how order does not arise from disorder. We also talk about how the pursuit of the theory of evolution has caused harm in many other areas of science as our insistence that specific falsehoods regarding order vs chaos must be true has caused us to pour untold time and resources into technological dead ends. -The theory of evolution is just that, a theory. It takes a lot of ideas, some of which are true, and makes claims that are contrary to science and reason. Support for evolution requires for teachers and scientists to tell lies about randomness, about order and chaos, about the nature of humans and most importantly, what the universe declares about the nature of God Himself. The church must continue to stand against its lies, and then to go beyond that, to tear down the stronghold that has been cr
When you think of the Christian life, do you immediately think of warfare-- It's all throughout scripture. So much of the Old Testament was about battles and soldiers, and armies waging war. And in the New Testament, we're told that while the warfare continues, it's a spiritual battle that we are to be fighting. But so often, we want to pretend that the spiritual battle shouldn't disturb our comfort. We are tempted to prize unity over truth, to desire to compromise so no one gets offended instead of understanding that the way is narrow to eternal life. But even more than that, very often, churches and the Christians that fill them, have very little love for their neighbor, because they would rather have pleasantries than salvation. The other metaphor that gets used a great deal in scripture is of sheep and shepherds. And sheep are not something you think of as mighty. They get hurt easily. They got lost. They have to be looked after. But we've taken our favorite parts of these two very different metaphors and instead of being warriors who fight for the righteousness of God, and humble shepherds and sheep who care for those who are hurting and wounded, we stand around polishing our armor while the battle is being lost, and laughing and playing in the sun while wolves are ravaging the flock.-In this episode, we want to issue a wake-up call. If we could, we would reach through the screen and grab you by the shoulders and shake you, as we shouted, -Stop playing church- There are men and women in your midst who are suffering--. This is for pastors and laymen, for men and women, for the old and the young. For everyone who claims the name of Christ, WAKE UP-
We will also look at Genesis 50-15-26. Last week's passage focused on the blessing Jacob gave to Joseph's children. We are already beginning to see the fruit of this blessing in Genesis 50-23 with Ephraim's great-grandchildren and Manasseh's grandchildren being present. Joseph's farewell address focuses on the promises of God. Despite the prosperity and ideal living conditions at the time, Joseph believed the promises God gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that His people would suffer and would need deliverance from bondage. By making the Israelites swear an oath that they would remove his bones, Joseph is testifying of the resurrection. The people are taking his physical bones out of the land that symbolized sin and worldliness, and are taking him into Canaan, the picture of Heaven.
In this episode, we look at some of the texts that are used to build dispensational eschatology, and see whether they are being used correctly.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After the complicated story of how, by faith, Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, we now come to a more straightforward story that Jacob did by faith, the blessing of Joseph and his sons. The blessings of Joseph and his sons are significant because of two things. Jacob tried to make Joseph effectively the first born son and receive a double portion. The other was that Ephraim was put before his older brother Manasseh. When Jacob was going to die, he had a testimony of being more concerned about blessing and having an expectation that it will impact on what was to come than on the fear of death. Since we know from Hebrews 11 that he was looking forward to a heavenly country, he had hopes for the future even as he died and he knew what God wanted him to do and that God would cause it to come to pass.
Antisemitism has been around for thousands of years. Starting with their conflicts with Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the restrictions against holding public office in the Byzantine empire, the Catholic church's view for hundreds of years that the Jewish people carried blood guilt and deserved punishment for killing Jesus Christ, the violent pogroms in Russia in the late 19th and 20th century, culminating in a worldwide attitude of Jewish hatred and indifference that led to the Holocaust and the Nazi's systematic murder of millions of Jews. But even after the 1940's racism against the Jewish people has been acceptable in America, with Nixon blaming the Jews for his problems -with even Billy Graham saying they had a stranglehold on America that had to be broken-. And now, we are seeing a rise in worldwide antisemitism again regarding Israel's response to the terrorist attacks by Hamas with many Western nations condemning Israel and in America, college students actively protesting against Israel in support of Hamas and Palestine. -With all of this as a backdrop- in this episode, we want to understand both how antisemitism is racism that Christians should not accept or participate in and, at the same time, to understand how God, who works all things according to the counsel of his will has ordained the hatred of the Jews that exists in the world. We walk through the prophecy spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy where he explains that God will judge Israel for their unbelief and pretense of holiness, causing them to become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the nations of the earth. -Production of Reformation Baptist Church of You
In this verse, the faith of Isaac is declared in an odd way, because he blessed Jacob and Esau. Reading the story of the blessing where Isaac is deceived by Jacob to steal the blessing from the first born favorite Esau doesn't come across as an exercise in faith. Isaac is doing the opposite of what God said would happen. He is trying to make Esau before Jacob even though before they were born, God said the opposite would be true. God still works it out the Jacob receives the blessing and by faith, Isaac accepted that was the way it was. All of them involved had a level of faith even though clearly Esau did not have saving faith, but they all believed that the blessing mattered. They all believed that the blessing would effect the visible world.
In this verse, the faith of Isaac is declared in an odd way, because he blessed Jacob and Esau. Reading the story of the blessing where Isaac is deceived by Jacob to steal the blessing from the first born favorite Esau doesn't come across as an exercise in faith. Isaac is doing the opposite of what God said would happen. He is trying to make Esau before Jacob even though before they were born, God said the opposite would be true. God still works it out the Jacob receives the blessing and by faith, Isaac accepted that was the way it was. All of them involved had a level of faith even though clearly Esau did not have saving faith, but they all believed that the blessing mattered. They all believed that the blessing would effect the visible world.
Many people are only familiar with the idea of betrothal from the Bible -or certain kinds of romance novels-. Today, in Western cultures, serious relationships begin with dating, followed by engagement, and then eventually, maybe marriage. But from a Christian perspective, betrothal is an extremely important aspect of marriage, to the point where it is central to the gospel itself.-In this episode, we want to try to explain why betrothal was built into ancient marriage practices, what it accomplished, and how it is demonstrated in Christ's marriage to his church. We also want to discuss the different parts of betrothal that differentiate it from engagement, such as the covenant, the bride price, the commitment to the upcoming marriage, and the transfer of authority between the time of betrothal and the wedding ceremony itself. When these are misunderstood, we begin to think of the nature and purpose of marriage differently than it truly is.-We should not be deceived- marriage has been under attack for a very long time and the church needs to labor to bring it back in line with the word of God. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
What should we do when someone who calls themselves a Christian commits a crime against us-- Take theft for example. Let's say a brother comes to you and tells you that he had -1000 stolen from him by a deacon in the church or by the teenage son of the pastor, or just by another church member. Is it wrong for him to report it to the police-- What about for domestic abuse-- Child abuse-- Sexual abuse-- The sad truth is, these things happen. And whether it's someone that you personally thought was a Christian or not, many people struggle with how to handle this situation according to scripture.-In this episode, we want to deal with the reality of how to handle the overlapping authority between the church, the home, and the civil government and, in particular, how that works out when someone has broken the civil law but professes to be a Christian. This is an important issue, because while most Protestant churches correctly condemn the Catholic church for their handling of the child abuse scandal among priests, many Baptists, Presbyterians, and Protestants still fail to report cases of physical or sexual abuse to the God-appointed civil magistrates. This does not mean that the church should do nothing, but that the church should not usurp the authority that God has given to our civil leaders. A person can be excommunicated by the church and sentenced to death by the state for murder. The church of Jesus Christ needs to care about justice, and we need to stop believing that civil justice is not a part of God's justice. Part of the reason why Christ was born as a man under the law, who lived a perfect life, and then was unjustly put to the death as a sacrifice for sins
The writer of Hebrews now explains that the story of Abraham and Isaac was about Abraham's faith in God's ability to resurrect the dead. When he took Isaac to the top of Mt. Moriah and was willing to sacrifice him as a burnt offering, it was not just about Abraham being willing to obey. It was because Abraham trusted God when God said that in Isaac his seed would be called. Abraham understood and had strong enough faith to believe that if he killed Isaac according to the commandment of God that God would have to raise him from the dead in order to fulfill His promise. Abraham truly and boldly trusted in the promises of God.
Many Christians believe the Bible teaches that everything in the world will get worse and worse and then Christ will suddenly rapture his church away before pouring out his judgment on Israel and his enemies. But In Daniel 2, Nebuchadnezzar's dream lays out when, how, and why Christ's kingdom would begin before going on to triumph over all of Christ's enemies, and God's explanation does not involve the failure of the church or its rapture away to heaven.-We start out by making some pretty strong statements about the rapture. Not only is the teaching of a pre-tribulation rapture of the church wrong, going against the clear teaching of scripture, but it also causes real harm to the church and teaches a theology that Christ's atonement and the power it bestowed upon the church by the sending of the Holy Spirit fails to constrain sin and overcome and destroy the works of the devil. Not only does the teaching of the rapture mislead the church into ignoring the awesome scope and grandeur of the Great Commission-make disciples of the nations, teaching them to observe all that Christ has commanded-, but many use the failure that it teaches as an excuse to justify their own sin and carnality.-In this episode, we want to look at a number of the verses where scripture explains most clearly what God is doing in the world- how, why, and when Christ's kingdom will be established- and what it will accomplish in the world. While we will look at many verses, much of our time will be spent in Daniel 2, unpacking Daniel's interpretation of the dream that God gave to King Nebuchadnezzar. This dream and its interpretation explain much of God's design for the end times and th
The next example that the writer of Hebrews declares has a good testimony is Sarah, the wife of Abraham. When barren Sarah heard at the age of ninety that she was going to have a child, her response was to laugh and then lie about it to God. Even despite her sin in this area, she still has a testimony of having faith. She still received the strength when she and her husband were as good as dead in terms of child baring, ended up being the father and mother of those who have faith. God raising a child from those who are dead is a picture of the resurrection. Sarah believed God. Even though she laughed and lied, she believed the promise of God by faith.
Christians recognize that Christ took the wrath of God upon Himself on the cross. But Christ's suffering and death did not do away with God's wrath toward the unrighteous. And God still pours out his wrath on the earth to deal with man's sin when He so chooses. One of the titles of God that many Christians have forgotten is the Lord of Hosts, which literally means the Lord of Armies. The idea is that God is the one who rules over the world and so when nations go to war against one another, it is God who is sending judgment upon them. But in the United States at least, where we've lived for almost 200 years without having a war within our borders, much of the church has forgotten the great reality of God's wrath. --In this episode, we want to discuss the reality of God's wrath, how it is poured out on the earth, and what it looks like when He does so. We want to discuss not only how an understanding of God's wrath can exist with an optimistic eschatology, but also how necessary it is for a proper view of the seriousness of sin and of God's holiness. We also want to stress that while God is slow to anger, and is longsuffering, his patience is not without limits. Paul tells us in Romans 9, that one of the reasons that God created the world is to show his wrath and power. It is dangerous when the people of God forget basic things about their Lord. God's wrath is not something that Christians can afford to forget. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Mu
Our text this week is Hebrews 11-9-10. The next elders the writer of Hebrews mentions are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all of whom dwelt in tents. As the line of heirs according to the promise of God, their hope was not in the present world or they would have established things in this world. Their hope, as our hope must be, is in the world to come, the new heavens and earth which will be build by God.
Our text for this week is Hebrews 11-8, the first -by faith- attributed to Abraham. Unlike the previous cases we have covered, Hebrews 11 provides more details and particulars about Abraham's faith by recording various specific events or behaviors that demonstrate his faith. For this week, we will study how Abraham's first faith caused him to obey God by leaving his homeland and his father's house, despite not knowing where God was taking him. The specific background material for our sermon text is from Genesis 11-27-12-9, which I recommend reading beforehand. Abram is from a prominent family descended from Shem and God leads him on a journey from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan before telling him that Canaan would be the inheritance for his descendants. If we view Abraham's faith as a type of how faith grows in a person, then this week's passage shows us that the earliest outworking of that faith produces obedience, the putting off of the old life and its idolatries, and trusting in God.
We're starting with a pretty straightforward question this episode- Why do different people read the Bible and come to different conclusions-- Is it the people-- Is it the Bible-- Or is it how they read the Bible-- The study of reading and interpreting the Bible is called hermeneutics, and while proper hermeneutical principles won't keep you from making any mistakes, it's helps keep you from making some of the most obvious and dangerous errors.-In this episode, we want to discuss some of the most common mistakes that people make when reading and interpreting their Bibles. We'll discuss everything from bringing your own assumptions to the text, to interpreting figurative language as if it was literal, to the most common error of all, not even bothering to read the actual text, but just going from memory or paraphrase. Reading the Bible incorrectly is dangerous, but all of us who are saved are commanded to do it, so it's not something that we can avoid if we desire to obey God. The issues raised in this video won't keep you from making mistakes, but they can help you recognize mistakes that you've been making and even give you ideas on how to avoid making those mistakes in the future. God desires his people to understand his word so much that Christ died on the cross to send his Holy Spirit to help teach us all things and to guide us to truth. Our ardent desire is that the church would have a renewed desire to seek and follow after the Words of God. Please join us as discuss this very important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Directo
In all the recent discussions about transgender weddings, one thing that didn't come up that much is that a wedding is very different from other types of events. At a wedding, a covenant is made between three parties, both the husband and wife making an oath to God and vows to one another, and with the guests participating as witnesses and taking upon themselves a responsibility to hold both the husband and wife to what they have committed. When we forget this, as even much of the church has, it causes us to treat weddings and marriage as little more than a party, focused on the happiness of the bride and groom. But when we understand this, we can see why God compares divorce to murder and why he holds not just the couple responsible, but also the community that allowed such sacred things to be treated as unholy.-And just to put things into context, we are referencing a particular event that occurred in September 2023 but only gained significant attention in early 2024. Last year, during an interview as part of a book tour, Alistair Begg responded to a question from a Christian grandmother by recommending her to attend her grandson's wedding to his -transgender- partner. And while the response to Begg's advice was generally negative and he was encouraged to repent of his position, we feel like there is still a lot that needs to be said about the issue. -In this episode, we want to discuss why Christians can't attend a homosexual-transgender wedding. We discuss the nature of marriage itself and how it is a picture of the gospel, that publicly displays God's mercy and holiness. Weddings, even secular ones, celebrate truth, but homosexual and transgender we
the first -by faith- attributed to Abraham. Unlike the previous cases we have covered, Hebrews 11 provides more details and particulars about Abraham's faith by recording various specific events or behaviors that demonstrate his faith. For this week, we will study how Abraham's first faith caused him to obey God by leaving his homeland and his father's house, despite not knowing where God was taking him. The specific background material for our sermon text is from Genesis 11-27-12-9, which I recommend reading beforehand. Abram is from a prominent family descended from Shem and God leads him on a journey from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan before telling him that Canaan would be the inheritance for his descendants. If we view Abraham's faith as a type of how faith grows in a person, then this week's passage shows us that the earliest outworking of that faith produces obedience, the putting off of the old life and its idolatries, and trusting in God.
The next elder the writer of Hebrews declares had obtained a good testimony and believed that the visible is made of the things not seen was Noah. He believed God when God warned him of the destruction that was to come upon the world. Since Noah understand that God speaking framed the world and because he feared God, he built the ark to save his household. Those actions condemned the world, but Noah partook in righteousness. These make him a type of Christ as Christ came to separate and save those of His household from the world and in the process condemned the world to destruction.
IVF is getting a lot of attention this past week because of the Alabama Supreme Court ruling. For those who do not know, IVF refers to -in vitro fertilization-, and is a fertility procedure where multiple eggs are harvested from a woman, fertilized in a laboratory, and then one or more are selectively implanted back into her -or a surrogate's- uterus. And all of this matters because the basic pro-life position is that life begins at conception meaning that each of those harvested eggs that are fertilized deserve the same protection and life-honoring treatment that any other image-bearer of God should be afforded under His law. And that's really the heart of the discussion, because IVF is marketed as a this purely positive treatment for those who greatly desire to have a child, but not much attention is placed on the process itself, where in the Western world there are currently millions of frozen but fertilized embryos, many of which, no one has any plans to implant, and which will eventually, if nothing is done to prevent it, be destroyed. --So, in this episode, we want to talk through the issue. Our position is pretty straightforward. IVF has a lot of serious moral problems, and while a single IVF customer might be able to find a doctor and associated laboratory that is willing to limit its egg harvesting, fertilization, and implantation so that every egg harvested is implanted, there are still moral problems with that strictly controlled process, and there is no reason to believe that the doctor and laboratory are following this strict and limited protocol with their other patients. --In the end, this really does become an issue about God'
There are a few major ways to study history. One is the great man method which basically teaches that history is shaped by great men that rise up and lead and so studying those important men is the way to understand history. Another is to study history as a pattern of political or societal events where one cultural event by its nature leads to the next. Many modern educators completely reject the idea of history having any real patterns and instead, just study societies as stand-alone representations of human behavior. But Christians should think about history differently. And from a Reformed perspective in particular, Christians should think about history as an ordained series of people, circumstances, and events planned by a God who knew the end from the beginning and is moving the world from that beginning to the end in a way that manifests his glory. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As we consider the testimony of the elders that went before us that what was recorded about their lives was the faith that they had of the hope of things to come. The first example is Abel. God testified that his gifts showed he was more righteous. They both offered gifts, but Abel offered his by faith while Cain did not trust in the promises of God. He still offered gifts to God, but his were not acceptable because they were offered without faith, without obedience. Because Abel offered his gifts by faith and was murdered by Cain because of it, his blood still calls out from the ground. Of course, that just as Jesus is a better high priest, His blood also calls out with greater force that does the blood of His antetype, Abel.
Altar calls are a common feature of church services around the world. But are they Biblical-- What theology and history are they based on, and what do they teach converts and church members about the gospel--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As we leave Leviticus after considering a long section of symbolically what it looks like to be separate from God, we now go to Hebrews 11 which is a chapter about the examples of faithfulness producing works that God gave us in the Old Testament. The chapter starts with the principle that those who went before us had a good testimony because they believed the promises of God, that they would receive what they hoped for a city whose builder and maker was God. They understood that the reason that they could do things that were contrary to what the world said to do is that they were supported by their faith in invisible things. Their faith made them see what could not be seen and that changed what they did. It goes back to the beginning of the bible. The visible came from the invisible. God's speaking is more real substance than any physical thing that you could touch.
The Bible says a lot about debt and slavery and teaches that the two are tightly connected, going so far as to say -the borrower is a servant -slave- of the lender-. And as Christians, when we read God's word, it is our duty to take God's commands and instructions seriously. But if you asked the average Christian if slavery is bad and then examined the amount of debt they have, would you come away with the sense that their stated beliefs and actions were in alignment---In this episode, we want to deal with what God's word says about debt and slavery. In doing this, we discuss the purposes for which God created debt, how we should think about freedom vs bondage, and even how this is different for the individual Christian than for a local church body. We even want to push back on our view of slavery itself as Scripture uses slavery to demonstrate both positive and negative aspects of our physical and spiritual lives. This is important, because part of the Christian life is keeping our minds from being conformed to the world but allowing them to be transformed through the renewing that God's word and spirit bring upon all who faithfully abide in Him. --Topics discussed--What is debt-- What is slavery--Are mortgages good or bad--Is it better to rent or be a homeowner--How the United States has structured its laws and policies to favor debtHow God uses debt and slavery to accomplish his purposes.Why not paying back debt is evil and is a sign of being unsavedWhat debt and slavery shows us about man's relationship to God -and sin-How should we treat the poor--How living beyond our means is a rejection of God's sov
Just as God started with talking about discharges from a man that are typically related to sexually transmitted diseases and after dealing with normal bodily functions, He returns to dealing with symptoms that are typically associated with sexually transmitted diseases in woman specifically the discharge of blood outside of her normal monthly cycle. Just like with the man, while her physical uncleanness can spread through sin, the picture of the pervasiveness of sin is such that it spreads more broadly so even the bed she lies down on or the chair she sits on can spread the uncleanness. The only way that uncleanness can be cured is through the sacrifice of Christ which is represented by killing two birds, one as a sin offering and one as a burnt offering when she is healed. Then God reminds them why they need to do this. Because He is holy and His tabernacle is in the midst of them. If their uncleanness is not separated from them, then His wrath will break out among them and they will die.
Tim Keller spent his life arguing that through winsomeness we can get people to accept the gospel. If the world sees Christians as good and kind, then the world would see the goodness of God and come to faith. He argued that if we are kind and thoughtful, then people will want to hear the gospel from us. And here's the thing- if all you are talking about is what the life and conduct of a Christian should look like, there are lots of situations where we would agree with him. But that's exactly why we take issue with the position. As we say early in the episode, there is no -balance- between being offensive and being pleasant. Our obedience to Christ requires different things of us at different times, and we aren't responsible for how the world responds to that obedience. -And while Tim Keller died in 2023, this issue is something that the church has always struggled with and will continue to as long as there is sin in the world. In fact, in the last few weeks of January, Alistair Begg has been in the news for an issue that is fundamentally the same. In an interview from September 2023, Begg recounted how he was asked by a grandmother if she should attend the wedding of her grandson whose partner was transgender. Begg's repsonse was that as long as her grandson understands that her belief in Jesus makes it such that she can't countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life that she should attend the wedding and buy him a wedding gift. His response was rightly criticized by many other pastors and Christian leaders. But the result has been a number of questions and discussions about where we should draw the line and how Christians should appl
Initially in chapter 15, God declared to Moses and Aaron how to deal with sexually transmitted diseases, but then He continues and declares that normal acts also make you unclean including laying with your spouse and the menstrual cycle. These things that are normal still make one unclean and cause others to be unclean. It makes it clear that the uncleanness is not sin, since non-sinful acts still produce uncleanness, The picture is more that from our flesh is where sinfulness and uncleanness arises. We need to be spiritual and not just carnal or we are unclean in the sight of God.
After dealing with different types of leprosy, now God moves on to declare the laws related to discharges. The discharges are those things that come from people that are related to sexual matters. God starts by declaring the treatment of men who have sexually transmitted diseases. Just like with the leprosy, it can appear that the statutes are to stop the spread, but these commandments really would not stop the spread. They are physical pictures to declare spiritual realities and only incidentally deal with physical realities. Touching a bed, sitting in a chair or touching the skin of someone with a venereal disease is not how it spreads, but those are the restrictions put in place by God. Sin and the effects of sin spread far faster and easier than a venereal disease. It is very easy for us to underestimate the impact sin has to our future and how much it impacts people around us.
Pentecostalism teaches that the gift and practice of speaking in unknown languages in the church today is a continuation of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts. But this view is fundamentally at odds with what scripture teaches about tongues. First and foremost, it misses what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14 where he explains to the church that the gift of tongues was a sign for unbelievers. Quoting from Isaiah, Paul references the passage where God prophesied that he would speak to Israel in other tongues but even then, they would not hear. -What is also clear from Paul's teaching is that much of what he is referring to as speaking in tongues, would not mesh in any way with the Pentecostal practice today. Paul is using tongues to mean languages, and when he says to -speak in an unknown tongue-, there is no reason to assume he means that somehow the speaker does not understand the tongue he is speaking in. When approached from this perspective, the meaning of these passages suddenly becomes much clearer, as Paul is obviously describing how to deal with the disunity and barriers to communication caused by those who cannot understand one another. Why is prophecy -declaring the truth of God's word- better than tongues-- Because prophesying -declaring who God is- actually builds up the church, whereas the act of speaking in a different language, all by itself, does nothing, -and actually, speaking in a different language when no one else can understand you is actually a waste of time and can be more about showing off or exercising control by cutting people out of the conversation-. Anyone who has ever traveled to a foreign country and needed to speak through an
Continuing the laws about dealing with leprosy in a house, God talked next about what to do if the leprosy spread. If you remove the leprous stones, but the leprosy comes back, the whole house is to be torn down. When we think of this as a picture of God dealing with sin in churches, this is very different than most people think. They think God wants to keep bad churches alive. If the light in the church is darkness, it should be torn down. God is not desperate to have more churches. He only desires more faithful churches. Christ came to destroy sin, so it is important that the church doesn't spread it. Then He told Moses and Aaron, if the church remains clean after being cleansed, then the picture of substitutionary atonement is required to atone for the church. We should remember that Christ did not just come to atone for individuals. He came to atone for His bride and even for individual churches. Lastly, He reminded them what all the laws of leprosy are about. They are not about how to deal with sickness and mold. They are about being able to divide the clean from the unclean.
Prayer is essential for the Christian life. But if we think about it incorrectly, we may never understand how to pray with zeal. We are better equipped to pray when we properly understand God's authority and our proper relationship with him. Because God created man to glorify Him, and saved His people to do His work in the world and to labor for His name, our zeal in prayer is tied very tightly to our zeal for God himself and for the work He has called us to do. --In this episode, we share, with as much detail as possible, how God has helped us to pray more deeply. We discuss how he answered prayers, with examples of where He said both yes and no, and how He taught us to respond in those cases. We also try to provide examples regarding how we discerned what God was saying, and try to demystify some of the aspects of prayer that plague the church today -No, God doesn't speak to us in an audible voice-. Like we said at the very beginning, prayer is essential for the Christian life. But we need to be able to think properly about prayer so we can understand it. Prayer is a real form of communication between us and the Almighty. It should humble us greatly that such a thing is even possible, but it should also make us desire to be earnest and full of zeal in our prayers. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After declaring the law related to the cleansing of a leper to Moses, God spoke to Moses and Aaron about dealing with leprosy in a house. Unlike people who can be cured, if there is leprosy in the house either all or part of the house needs to be taken outside the camp. The reality that this seems to be picturing is what God did to Israel and what He threatens to do to local churches in Revelation 2 and 3. There is always sin in churches, but if it is unusual heresy or embracing of wickedness, it is good for nothing
Dispensationalism is one of the most popular views of eschatology -the -end times-- in American evangelical churches, particularly among Southern Baptists where it has been estimated that over 80- of Southern Baptist churches hold to some form of dispensational eschatology. And in case you've never heard the term dispensationalism, you've probably heard of the -rapture-, which is most commonly associated with the dispensational framework.-But what is interesting about dispensationalism is that many people who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, know very little about the theology of dispensationalism. And this matters a great deal, because dispensationalism is not primarily about eschatology, but is a way of viewing all of scripture, and for attempting to explain how God is working out his will in the world and ultimately glorifying himself. The result is that even many dispensational teachers, no longer understand the theology that undergirds their teaching.-In this episode, we want to discuss the fundamental problems with dispensational theology and to contrast that system with covenant theology. Theology matters a great deal. How we think about God, his purposes, and his means and methods of glorifying himself shapes how we interpret all of scripture. It matters greatly where you start in defining your theology. Do you start with man or do you start with God-- -Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
In this passage, God repeats much of what He said in last week's passage about the sacrifices needed for a leper to be cleansed, but He demonstrates that it is not about what you have that shows you have been cleansed. We do not buy cleansing from God. The person who can only provide one lamb and two birds for the offering is just as cleansed as the person who can provide all of the animals that picture the cleansing. Their picture of their deeds being remade through the blood of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is the same as for those who have more. This false concept was widespread when Christ came to the Jews, but it is still widespread today as the prosperity -gospel- has spread through the world.
Our world is very confused about the roles of men and women and this is particularly true in the United States and even in our more conservative churches. And while there is a lot of complexity in this topic, there are some basic scriptural commands and decrees of God that help frame the issue. -In this episode we want to discuss how God created men and women to be different and how God is glorified through those differences. While both are created in God's image and are equal in Christ, God made their roles to demonstrate the relationship between Christ and the church, to show the nature of the gospel, and to glorify his name and nature. -Men and woman are not the same and anyone who tries to pretend that they are is fighting against God. God says it in the beginning and again throughout scripture- -Man is not made from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.- Scripture also declares plainly that man is the head of woman. These are true sayings and the fact that our society has labored so hard to make them offensive should confirm for us what Paul taught us- that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.-The church of Jesus Christ must not be ashamed of the truth of God's word. Our families, our churches, our communities, and our nations are suffering because we allow such awful lies to be spoken and celebrated while we fear to proclaim the truth. May the church repent and may God be glorified. Please join us as we discuss this topic.-Production of
After doing the ceremony with the birds and sprinkling the healed leper, next the leper needs to shave off all his hair, wait a week and then shave it off again which is a picture of the first resurrection -justification- and the second resurrection -glorification-. During that week, he can stay inside the camp but not in his tent, which is a picture about how our abode is in heaven after salvation, but we are still residing on earth. He also needs to make three sacrifices- a trespass offering, a sin offering and a burnt offering. These are made in the opposite order from what is typically made as the burnt offering is usually offered first and then the sin or trespass offering is burned upon the burnt offering. The focus is on the trespass offering. For glorification and acceptance into heaven is not through re-justification. It is through the sins that we have committed since salvation to be forgiven.
In what appears to be an odd order, after dealing with leprosy in clothing God told Moses and Aaron what to do on the day of the cleansing of a leper. The first thing that they are to do, before dealing with the person himself, is to take two birds along with cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop. The priest is to kill the one in an earthen vessel over running water. The other living bird is then dipped in the blood of the first bird along with the cedar wood, scarlet and hyssop and is then released. God is giving a picture of substitutionary atonement. In order to be cleansed from our leprosy, it was required that another was sacrificed in our place and it is by being covered by the blood of Jesus that we can be cleansed of our sin.
You can't go anywhere around Christmas without hearing the familiar sound of a Salvation Army volunteer ringing their bell beside the familiar red kettle asking for donations. But how many people know that the Salvation Army is a false church that teaches a falses gospel based on works righteousness and who believe that men can become perfect and completely without sin in this life----In this episode we examine the origins of the Salvation Army and what they still believe today. We also talk about the nature of charity itself and how we've gotten used to the idea that a word that means and act of love has been reduced to giving someone else money to do good in our stead. Jesus had a lot to say about love, and he tied it to his law, and to the power of His Holy Spirit. The Salvation Army rejects this, and American culture has followed suit in so many ways. The church of Jesus Christ should be the ones who truly understand how to perform acts of charity. Please join us as we consider this important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After dealing with leprosy in people, God then gave commandments about dealing with leprosy in garments. It talks about leprosy in woolen or linen garments and mentions in the warp or in the woof nine times in thirteen verses. These are the only places in the bible that warp and woof are mentioned, so there is obvious significance. It also talks about leprosy in leather garments. The leprosy needs to be in the garment for the garment to be unclean and not just on the surface of the garment and it needs to be greenish or reddish. If the priest examines it and isolates it for seven days. If it spreads at all, the garment is to be burned with fire. If it does not spread, then it is to be washed and isolated again. If it has not spread, but it also has not faded, it is still unclean and is to be burned because the leprosy is still eating away even if it cannot be seen on the surface of the garment. If it has faded, then the part with the faded leprosy is to be torn out of the garment, but the rest of the garment can be saved. If we think of garments as representing deeds that are done, the order of dealing with it is contrary to what we would naturally think to do. If there is a problem, wash it and see if it comes back and if it does burn it, but God's way is to see if it will spread first and if it doesn't spread, then wash it to see if it can be removed.
In this episode, we want to consider the Mormon religion and its place in the world. Founded almost 200 years ago, in the wake of the Second Great Awakening, Mormonism has grown into a worldwide religion with millions of members. And while we will spend some time talking about how it started and some of the stranger beliefs that the Mormon church teaches, we really want to focus on a few questions- Why has Mormonism continued to be successful in the world-- And how should we as Christians think about it and other similar false religions-----Episodes Referenced---Why Faith and Reason Cannot be Separated-https---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-01-why-faith-and-reason-cannot-be-separated-ep-55- --Polygamy- Why Did God Allow It---https---theconqueringtruth.com-2023-06-polygamy-why-did-god-allow-it-ep-122- --Creating a Culture of Life-https---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-09-how-the-church-can-create-a-culture-of-life-ep-86--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After verses about what is leprosy and what is not, now God talks about things that are not leprosy such as white spots on the skin. Just because something is different, does not mean that it is unclean. We need to rejoice in the differences in the body since all the parts of the body are necessary and wisely placed. Then, he speaks about baldness not being leprosy. Signs associated with age are not signs of being unclean, but the signs of leprosy in those who are aged is handled differently. There is not the isolation for fourteen days to determine if it is really leprosy. If it appears on the bald portion of the head and it looks like leprosy, there is no need to see if it is deeper than the skin or that there is a white hair in it, it is leprosy. What is questionable behavior in a young professed Christian that needs to be checked if it goes to the heart, when it appears on a mature professed Christian is a testimony that they are really unclean. This is about the efficacy of the Holy Spirit. Finally, the passage concludes with how lepers are to be treated and how they are to behave. They are to have a testimony that they are mourning over their sin and not find comfort in that sin. Their clothes are to be torn and their head uncovered. They have to announce themselves as unclean and they have to dwell outside the camp. These passages about leprosy are about making what is unacceptable to God in those who profess faith obvious to those around.
Isaiah 9 famously proclaims how Christ came to establish and order his kingdom. In this episode we want to look at how extensive and expansive that order was and still is. In many ways the church has forgotten what the world was like before Christ came. Like fish who are so accustomed to being wet that they take water for granted, the church has lived within the kingdom of Jesus Christ from the moment of its birth. But do we understand it-- And do we understand the work that our Lord has given us to do----Please join us as we discuss this very orderly topic -in a less than orderly way-. -Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Our passage today is where God continues to give symbolic pictures of sin through leprosy as He now gives the law related to leprosy on the head. Since the hair on the head and beard is different, the laws related to detected that leprosy is different such as the hair would be yellow rather than white. The sores appear different on the head, since they are scaly sores rather than the swelling or indented sores on the rest of the body. As with the other sores, the primary issue is whether it is spreading or whether it is contained. God does not have an expectation that we will not sin, but He does have an expectation that we will repent of our sin and it will be constrained in us.
Over the past seven years, there have been a lot of headlines to this effect- -No Christian can justify voting for Donald Trump-- But often enough, the people writing these articles don't really know God themselves. And so it's easy to write them off. But here's the real question- Could they be right anyway---For most of us, this isn't just political theory. In the next year, we're probably going to have a couple of opportunities to vote and Donald Trump seems very likely to be the front-runner. So in this episode, we thought it was worth taking the time to try and unpack Donald Trump and why he gets so much support from Christians. Are those who support him truly thinking biblically or are they being manipulated by political forces-- We think it's a topic worth serious consideration. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Our sermon this week covers the instructions to the priests for examining cases where leprosy breaks out of either skin boils or burns. The text describes scenarios where, in both cases, the original burn or boil starts healing itself, but then leprosy -or suspected leprosy- presents. At that point, the priest has to decide if the person is unclean or requires a seven-day isolation. As is often the case, we see that harboring some sin or temptation might allow other sins to be revealed, even as the original sin is being repented of. In other cases, the person does not have leprosy, but is still scarred by the boil or burn. In a spiritual sense, this person is clean and has experienced forgiveness and repentance, but still has to bear some consequences of the past sin.
Limited atonement often seems like a simple doctrine. Christ died for the elect. The end. But it's more complicated than that. Because Christ didn't just come to save the elect. He also came to put away sin, destroy the work of the devil, and reconcile the fallen creation to the Father. -The other part about it that's worth discussing is that even those who understand the doctrine, limit the atonement in practical ways when we act as if the blood of Christ has no real effect on the lives of those who believe. It's so common today for Christians to be cynical and pessimistic about the world- to act as if the very world we live in has not already been blessed and changed by the death of Christ. And when we do this, we limit the atonement. Not by stated doctrine, but by practice and by our lack of faith. The doctrine of limited atone is important. And while it's not incredibly complex, it touches on many different aspects of Christianity. In this episode, we want to push on the modern view of the atonement, because while the atonement is limited, its scope and majesty are beyond measure. It is limited, but it is not small, and it is the means by which Christ accomplished everything. And even as Christ sits in authority at the right hand of the Father, its work is still ongoing and will continue until all his enemies have been defeated. Do we, his people, understand the atonement-- Do we honor and praise him by doing the work he has appointed us, as we should---Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gab
Our text this week is Leviticus 13-12-17, which continues instruction on the priestly duties to examine and diagnose leprosy. We have the opportunity to reflect this week on what it means to be completely and thoroughly -scourged- as we study the case of the leper who is completely covered, everywhere the priest looks, such that he is declared to be clean. It is helpful to contrast the text from our passage for the week with Isaiah 1-5-6---Why should you be stricken again---You will revolt more and more.-The whole head is sick,-And the whole heart faints.-From the sole of the foot even to the head,-There is no soundness in it,-But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores--They have not been closed or bound up,-Or soothed with ointment.--How we respond to the scourging of God is absolutely critical to understanding what God would teach us from Leviticus.
In the first thousand years after Christ, the early church gradually transformed into the Roman Catholic church, leaving the Word of God and its holy practices and replacing Christ as the head of the church with a man. While we are certain that most of our listeners are familiar with the Protestant Reformation, where so many of these false doctrines and heresies were turned away from, in this episode, we want to look at a few of the events that caused this situation to come about in the first place, and ask the question- How did the Roman Catholic Church become apostate----We want to consider three events in particular in this podcast. The broadening of the church at the time of Constantine-313 AD-, the establishment of the papacy at the time of Gregory -590 AD- and the adoption of teaching through images by Gregory III -731 AD-. While there are many other events that could -and should- be discussed, these three in particular were major steps in the Roman Catholic Church's fall from grace and each consists of issues that the people of God are facing today, particularly in the American church, but in many ways worldwide.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
This chapter introduces us to the laws pertaining to the priests' responsibility to discern and judge cases of leprosy. As we study this example of the priests' ability to judge between the clean and unclean, we should be asking exactly how this text applies to us as believers -all of us being priests in the New Covenant-. If leprosy is a sign of the effects of sin on a person, then this text should instruct us how to evaluate and judge cases where a person's sin has become publicly known and emphasize our responsibility to stir one another up to love and good works.
In this episode, we finish our discussion about physical and spiritual maturity and how God has designed each stage of life to have a specific purpose. In the last episode we discussed from birth to young adulthood-adolescence and in this episode, we focus on early adulthood, middle age, and being elderly. In early adulthood, we establish our household and our place in the world, in middle age, having established ourselves, we are able to reach out and have an impact beyond our home in the broader world, and in our final stage of life, we focus on establishing the next generation and handing over the responsibilities that we have taken on to those who come behind us. --As in the last episode, we also look at this from a spiritual perspective and consider how in the stages of spiritual maturity those young in the faith grow into adulthood, finding their place in the church body, reaching outside in faithful duty to have a ministry that others can depend upon, and then nurturing, teaching, and committing to those who are the next generation within the church. Please join us as we discuss this often-overlooked topic.--Watch part 1 of this episode here--https---theconqueringtruth.com-2023-10-from-birth-to-childhood-building-toward-physical-and-spiritual-maturity-ep-142- Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After exhorting the readers to remember how God caused them to persevere in the faith to reward them with confidence, he now reminds them that they will need endurance. The Christian walk is not intended to be easy. You have to endure in doing the will of God by the power of the Holy Spirit if you want to receive the promise of eternal life. Those who have been justified through the blood of Christ, they live by their faith. It drives the decisions that they make in their lives. If you draw back from doing the will of God, God takes no pleasure in you. When one draws back, they are drawing back to eternal ruin and destruction, but those who have saving faith continue to the saving of the soul.
After talking about how we should fear the wrath of God if we fall away and do not continue in the truth, the writer of Hebrews then reminds them that there are things that should encourage them. When they were saved, they endured great struggles with sufferings. This could be specific to the readers because of the persecution of the Jews and the Romans, but it also applies generally. To truly be born again means to turn from things of the world and there will be people who will respond hatefully. He then talks about reproaches and tribulations. The word translated tribulations is really pressures, so he isn't saying that they suffered physically, but they did through words and treatment. An example is that they supported the writer when he was in chains. They did not separate from him, even though it resulted in them losing their worldly possessions. It testified to their faith because they were more concerned about the eternal inheritance than they were about earthly things. The confidence that we receive when we are tested and tried should not be treated as a minor thing. Instead, we should recognize it as a great reward from God.
We all know that there are stages in life, and because God is a God of order, we know that they have a purpose that He designed. But often, because of sin, it can feel as if we are scrambling through life without understanding what we should be doing along the way. We are born, we spend time as children, we are thrust into adulthood, we have families and careers, we have grandchildren, we retire, and then- we die. But looking back, we can see how we did not use our time properly, and how certain periods were suited for specific growth and purpose. It would be good if we could understand their purposes before we entered into them. It would be good to be able to better prepare our children.--And from a spiritual perspective, God has given us this image of being born again and becoming children of God who are trained up by Him in his household. But scripture does not spend a great deal of time talking about what that process of spiritual maturing should look like. Instead, God points us back to what physically maturing and growing should look like, insisting that those physical stages of maturity are a metaphor for growing spiritually. From Scripture, we can see five basic stages of life. In Hebrews, it talks about children before they are weaned and the writer is rebuking the people for still being like babies that they are not yet able to feed themselves solid food. Then as with the picture of Samuel being brought to the temple to server, there is childhood which extends until puberty. There is youth which goes from puberty to thirty when the priests would start their ministries like Christ. Then the ministry of the priesthood which goes from thirty to fi
After commanding us to provoke one another to love and good works, the writer of Hebrews then makes the argument why it is so serious. If under the Mosaic law, when they broke the Old Covenant - the covenant of works, they were put to death by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If that was the punishment for treating the blood of bulls and goats as a cheap thing, what will God do when we act as if the blood of Jesus Christ is as ineffectual as the blood of animals. He then quotes from Deuteronomy 32, the Song of Moses, that declares that Israel will be destroyed. With that quote, He is switching from the individual punishment to the collective punishment. The promise was that their foot will slip in due time and God will whet His glittering sword and avenge His name. If that is what He did to Israel for treating the blood of bulls and goats as a common thing, what vengeance will He afflict on those who disparage Christ-- As the writer reminds us, -The Lord will judge His people.- The passage closes will the ominous warning -it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.- If we are not willing to exhort one another to love and good works, we should expect the wrath of God upon us greater than the wrath He ever showed Israel. We can see that wrath in the news right now. His wrath against those who trample the blood of Jesus Christ will be worse.
In early October, soldiers from Hamas invaded Israel. They killed babies in their beds, kidnapped wives and grandmothers, and in general, attacked without any moral constraints on their behavior, deliberately and intentionally attacking non-combatants. Over 1300 people were killed and hundreds were taken hostage. Naturally, Israel is responding and firing upon Gaza. The media almost always reports on this story the same way, saying that Israel has a clear right to respond, but that since the Hamas soldiers hide in civilian housing, the Israelites are killing children. And while it is true that Israel's counterattacks do result in the death of women and children, the question is, how should they respond when their enemies hide behind women and children. What should a nation that is trying to be moral do when enemy combatants use children as shields-- --In this episode, we discuss the challenge of responding righteously when your enemy has no regard for the innocent. In particular, we talk about the often-overlooked fact that Hamas is the elected government of Gaza, and has strong support from Palestinians living there and in the West Bank. When you consider that Hamas is very open about both their hatred for Israel and their tactics of attacking from positions where they are surrounded by civilians, who should we hold to blame for the children that are killed-- Does that not fall on the parents who chose Hamas-- This is worth pointing out, because Christians often try to play games when it comes to difficult moral situations. We like to absolve certain parties of guilt, and in doing so, we shift the blame to someone else. And God is never ok with this. He sa
After arguing that Christ's crucifixion will cause all of His enemies to be destroyed and will cause His people to have their sins taken away, the writer then argues that we should have boldness to enter the Holiest. Since Christ died to make us holy, we should have enough faith to walk according to the law of God rather than the according to the wisdom of the world. We should prepare to enter into the Holiest, by walking in holiness now. Walking as if Christ has defeated sin, which He has. Since Christ is the High Priest, the evil of our consciences can be sanctified and our bodies washed by pure water through His sacrifice. We should be provoking one another to love and good works, because we can trust that since He is destroying the works of the devil, that those who are His will love and have good works. As we gather, we should be deliberate to provoke one another to spend our time here deliberately and with diligence to do those things that bring honor and glory to God.
Would you be surprised to know that over 460 years ago, a group of missionaries left Geneva for Brazil to preach the gospel-- Or that by 1562, missionary efforts based out of Geneva and other similarly minded cities had planted over 2000 churches in France-- -In this episode, we consider how God's work in the lives of the men and women of the Reformation resulted in missionaries being sent out to the entire world. And while this early mission movement had similarities with what we think of as modern missions, there were also some key distinctives that the modern American church seems to have forgotten. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After arguing that Christ's sacrifice was effective in taking away sin, he then declares the effect of that sacrifice. Christ sat down at the right hand of God until all His enemies are made His footstool. Because His sacrifices was effectual, His enemies will be defeated and not just in those who believe. It starts with those who believe as He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. God does this by writing His law in our minds and on our hearts, so that He can rightly forgive us our sins and lawless deeds. Since His sacrifice is effectual in taking away sins, there is no need for another offering for those sins.
We live in a culture where people almost throw temper tantrums when they don't get their way. Where adults want to go back and live with their parents and be taken care of by them. Where people think that others should compensate for their incompetence. But Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13-11 that when he became a man he put away childish things. So, what is childishness, and how should we think about it-- -Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
The writer made the argument that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sin from the fact that the sacrifices had to continue to be offered. If they worked, there would be no further need for sacrifice. Now he is going to make the argument from Psalm 40. It is interesting that he quotes from the Septuagint which is very different than the NKJV translation of the Psalm. -My ears you have opened- becomes -but a body you have prepared for me.- The Jews definitely saw this as Messianic so they may have picked an alternate translation from the straightforward one about the ears. Either way, Hebrews is saying the right way to interpret it, since it is the core of the argument, that Christ had to take on flesh to be a truly acceptable sacrifice. The writer then uses the argument of the Psalm to argue that since Christ took on flesh to do His will and produce a people that actually do His will. Because He came to do the will of the Father, His sacrifice produces a people that do the will of the Father, a sanctified people.
As we go back to Hebrews after considering the pictures of cleanness and uncleanness in Leviticus 10 and 11, we have the means to interpret them reinforced - they are the shadows of the good things to come. In the New Covenant, we are no longer dealing with shadows since the time of reformation. They were not the image of the very things, but just shadows. In the New Covenant, our ability to understand is much greater because we have the image and not just shadows. A shadow expresses truth about a thing, but all of the detail and precision is completely lacking. Since the coming of Christ, we don't have His crucifixion in front of us, but we have the image of that crucifixion. Because their shadows had no power, they had to be repeated year after year because they couldn't make anyone spiritually clean. Instead, the sacrifices were to be a reminder of their sins and their being unclean as the high priest went into the presence of God on the Day of Atonement, they had a duty to recognize that they needed something greater, because the blood of bulls and goats couldn't take away sin. We need to make sure we recognize that Christ was the sacrifice to take away sin and not just to forgive us of that sin.
In Deuteronomy 21-18-21, God's law says that the parents of rebellious children are to take them to the rulers of the city and they are to be stoned. How can a loving God command such a thing---In this episode, we deal with a passage that is often used by critics to demonstrate that Christianity is evil or at the very least that the God of the Old Testament was cruel and unloving. But as the Apostle Paul says in I Timothy, -But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully-, and in Galatians 3, -Is the law then against the promises of God-- Certainly not- For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.- And so knowing that the law is good, it is also good for Christians to understand and to be able to explain how God demonstrates his goodness and constrains the sin of men through his commandments. Please join us as we discuss the goodness of God's law.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After describing what animals can be eaten and which are abominations and make one unclean by touching them, God then described to Moses another types of uncleanness, the uncleannesses related to giving birth. In chapter 11, there were two types of uncleanness. One type you were just unclean until evening. The second type, you had to wash your clothes and then you were unclean until evening. Now there are two additional types of uncleanness that are introduced. The uncleanness of when you have an issue of blood as a woman does after childbirth or during her customary impurity -to use the biblical term for menstrual cycle-. Also, an uncleanness that is after seven days if she had a boy or fourteen days if she had a girl. With that uncleanness, she has to separate herself from hallowed things, but the separation isn't as severe as it is when she has her customary impurity. God is giving these different pictures of impurity as different ways that sin impacts us and associated with that, different kinds of responses that are required.
As with a lot of things that get adopted in the church culture, youth groups started as a way to reach unchurched youth in high school. From there, the practice spread and changed over time until youth groups were viewed as a normative part of American church life.-And while there have been movements withing conservative Reformed churches to move away from youth ministry and to emphasize the responsibilities of the parents to train their children,-what we've noticed is this- Youth ministry isn't just the result of the church overstepping its bounds. Sometimes, the parents ask the church for it. Sometimes, it's a result of the church's collective fear that they are losing the next generation. And sometimes, it's a focus on numbers and the growth of the church. But in every case, what we would argue is this- God's word does not show us a pattern of singling out the youth and separating them from the rest of the flock on a regular basis for special instruction and ministry. Anytime the church adopts practices that cannot be found in God's word, it is sin. Youth ministry won't disappear overnight. But we should expect God to continue to mature and cleanse His church. If, as a church, we face with the trials our Lord sends our way in the ways He has instructed us, we should expect to see and end to youth groups and youth ministry. Please join us as we discuss this issue.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After God deals with the last group of animals, those that crawl on their bellies or those that go about on more than four feet, they are all an abomination without exception. He then made it clear why this was important, so that you do not become an abomination like them, because they can defile. Remembering that this is a physical picture of a spiritual reality, what God is saying here is that we need to be able to see the spiritual unclean because when we do not see them, we become like them. We will have the same defilement that they have. This is what played out in the history of Israel so they became like Egypt, Babylon and Canaan. God gave them the food laws so that they would be spiritual separate and not just bear the physical picture. They are to be consecrated and they were to know that they were to be holy, so that God would be their God. All the animals in this chapter were given, so we could make a separation between those who are right with God and those who are not.
We live in a society filled with gossip, yet the Bible commands to avoid it. We discuss how we can know when we we are speaking gossip, and when we are speaking the truth in love.Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After God gives them instructions about discerning the clean and the unclean through what they are allowed to eat and what they cannot eat. He now gave instructions about what they are to do when the dead unclean touch things in the world, then the thing that it touches must be washed with water and it also will be unclean until evening. If it falls into a earthen vessel, that vessel is to be broken apart and anything that it contains is now unclean. Any clean food or drink in that vessel is now unclean and cannot be consumed. If it falls where there is much water or where the water is a spring and flowing, then the water is only unclean where that touches it. Seed becomes unclean by contact if it has been watered. If it is dry and waiting to be planted, it remains clean. God gave us these pictures of how contact with unclean things affect the world, so we can see how sinners affect the world around them
If you've ever visited a third-world country where bribery is rampant, it's easy to think that the United States doesn't have a bribery problem. But the church is supposed to understand that sin left unchecked with always grow and that when it is allowed to grow among leaders and those who are exalted, it will grow even faster. And in that sense, America has a horribly bribery problem, and it getting worse every day. -In this episode, we discuss what the Bible says about bribery and why the word it uses for bribes means gift. We talk about bribery in different contexts, in the government, the church the workplace, and how in each case it perverts judgment and tempts men to serve someone other than their true master. -In the end, bribery is a picture of sinful man's slavery to his desires. All men have an obligation to serve God, but his sinful desires cause him to pervert righteousness. Only those who are free from their sin can serve the Lord of earth faithfully and not be swayed by earthly things. Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
God had told them about what beasts of the field, birds of the air that they could eat and the animals of the waters. Now, He declares to them what bugs are clean and unclean. For a bug to be clean, it must have two jointed legs above their feet. In other words, insects that can leap off of the ground. Any flying creature that has four feet are not to be eaten. While they were to regard the carcass of unclean water animals as an abomination, for touching the carcass of the flying creatures, they just become unclean until evening. This is the first time in the Scriptures that the idea of the uncleanness expiring at the end of the day is introduced. If you carry such a creature, you also have to wash your clothes to be clean. All things that walk on paws among those that walk on four feet, shall be unclean until evening. The picture of being unclean until evening is tied to the idea of the second resurrection. When Christ returns, the righteous will be made perfectly clean.
Total Depravity is usually thought about as a doctrine related primarily to salvation -and is probably best known for being the 'T' in the acronym, TULIP-. But in actuality, it is a broad doctrine that explains a great deal about the world and the role of sin in men's lives. So, here's our question- How well do you understand the doctrine of total depravity-- --Have you ever wondered, -If Total Depravity is true, why don't unsaved men sin more than they seem to--- Or -What stops an unsaved man who likes alcohol from becoming a drunkard-- Or a lustful man from running out and committing adultery--- The answer might surprise you.--So please join us for this discussion. Our goal is to discuss this doctrine in such a way that it helps us to understand the world. And because sin is such a big part of the world we live in and according to scripture most people in the world are slaves to sin, misunderstanding the doctrine of total depravity can make it easy to misunderstand why unsaved people do so many good, kind, and beneficial things. We'll even talk about how God has ordained the world in such a way, that a man's pride can cause him stop sinning in a particular way -he'll still sin, just differently than he would have-. Because even in God's justice, he shows mercy upon sinful man and provides many constraints in the world that keep men from rushing to their own destruction. May we glorify God for his great mercies. As it says in Romans 11, -Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God- How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out---Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHost
The first picture that God gave in food for distinguishing between the holy and the unholy was beasts of the fields, to be clean you must chew the cud and have a cloven hoof. Next He talks about the creatures in the sea. If it does not have fins or scales, it is an abomination to eat. God used a stronger word than He did related to the beasts of the field. I belive that the picture is that you must not be controlled by the world, i.e. tossed to and fro by the waves, and you must be protected from the things of the world, i.e. have on the armor of God. After dealing with land and the sea, He then described what birds are not edible. The list of birds are largely unknown. There is speculation as to what is what, but we really don't know so translations vary as to what they correspond to. It seems that, since we don't know which specific bird it is, the names themselves must be significant and they are. Most of the various birds are named after characteristics, such as violent, which are works of the flesh that should be evident to all. We are to see in the birds, pictures of those that walk in the flesh and not in the spirit.
Human Trafficking probably isn't what you think it is. Based on the news and social media, you've probably gotten the impression that it is this rapidly increasing phenomeon of children being snatched off the street and from stores, whisked away to some far-off place, and then forced into sexual service. And no one should say that things like that never ever happen. But they are extremely rare. And that's part of the problem. It's not that there's a lack of sin of world. There's lots and lots of sin. But dealing with sin is incredibly complex. It's also incredibly messy. The easiest solution, in most cases, is to ignore the sins we don't want to mess with an focus on something that is most likely to offend the fewest people. And this is what has largely been done with human trafficking. --This was a difficult episode to put together. We should be clear, it's going to be really easy to misunderstand the point that we are trying to make. Everything about how we've been taught to think about very specific types of sin, such as prostitution, drug abuse, why children run away, foster care, etc has been carefully shaped for years to allow the church of Jesus Christ to ignore the reality of sin. Because in almost all cases where human trafficking is going on, the -trafficking- is just a small part of the sin. And unless the church gets serious about the sin in our midst, the sins that we can actually see and touch and speak to, nothing will actually change. The Bible says in I John that Jesus Christ was made manifest that He might destroy the works of the devil. Does the church actually believe this-- Please join us as we discuss this vital topic.
God had just declared to Aaron that the role of priests was to distinguish between the holy and the unholy. The clean and the unclean. He now started the instruction of distinguishing by talking about the animals that they were allowed to eat. In order for it to be acceptable to eat, it must chew the cud and have a cloven hoof. We know from the New Testament that this was ceremonial law which was to point to something until the time of reformation. God put specific animals in the world, so we could understand and discern, not between clean and unclean animals, but between those who are right with God and those who are not. That is the role of the priest that was told them by God.
It's tempting to think that America is a modern rational country where people don't believe in magic potions, but is that really true-- -Homeopathy is an old lie that keeps being updated as necessary to fool the next generation. While often associated with herbal treatments this is just another form of deception as it is completely different both in its claimed means of -healing- and in its actual substance.-For those who truly understand what homeopathy is, it's not much different than pouring water into a bottle and claiming that it is now suddenly medicine. But then you realize how much money this water is being sold for, and how many truly sick children and adults are being sold a lie, and the reality starts to set in. Lies are always harmful because they displace the truth.-In this episode, we walk through what homeopathy really is, its history and how it keeps being sold in slightly different ways. We also discuss medicine and healing in general, because part of the reason why homeopathy and other medical quackery keeps getting accepted is because we often think about our health in wrong ways. One of the sins of the modern age is that believe our knowledge has given us greater power than we truly have. Even with our greatest advancements, modern medicine is incredibly limited, but we want to put greater faith in them than we should. And when faith is misapplied, new idolatries spring up. The Bible says in I Timothy 3-15, that the church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the truth. If we read that passage with any amount of faith, we will realize that the reason that lies are able to have so much power in the world is directly tied
After Nadab and Abihu are killed by God, then God spoke to Aaron alone for the first time and told him that he had responsibility to judge between the holy and the unholy, the clean and the unclean. He had the responsibility to teach the children of Israel the commandments given by Moses. Immediately following God speaking to Aaron, he then discerns between the clean and the unclean. Since Aaron and his sons had made the offerings, they were to eat them in a holy place. When Moses came to make sure that they had obeyed, he found that they had not eaten it. Instead, they had burned the sin offering, so Moses was angry. Aaron then explained that since God had killed his two sons, his heart was not right with God, so it would not have been acceptable to him. Aaron discerned that being holy was not an external thing, but a matter of the heart. Moses was satisfied with the explanation.
One of the most common questions that people ask is, -How can I know that I have eternal life--- And scripture does teach about assurance of salvation, but the subject is more complex than many people want it to be. One of the things that the Bible teaches most clearly is that there are many people who should NOT think that they are saved. From the self-righteous Pharisee convinced of his own personal righteousness to the man who stands before God on the day of judgment exclaiming, -Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name--- to the man Paul writes about in Corinth who was sleeping with his father's wife and who -along with his church- was sure that he was a son of God, there are many who are deceiving themselves and suppressing the truth in their own unrighteousness-- --So how should we think about assurance of salvation-- Is it guaranteed to all believers-- Is it something that once we have it we will always have it-- What do the scriptures say-- Please join us as we look to God's word for answers to these and other questions about this important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After Aaron and his sons had offered the offerings as instructed by Moses, two of Aaron's sons put fire in their censers, put incense upon it and offered profane fire before the Lord. God consumed them just like He had consumed the burnt offering at the end of the previous chapter. They offered fire that God had not commanded and thought that He would accept it. Moses then explained saying that all who approach the Lord must regard Him as holy. He must be glorified before all people. Often in the church, people think that they can approach God however they want. Pray a prayer and He has to accept you. The sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, thought that and became the offering. God's wrath hasn't changed toward those who do not consider Him holy.
Plea Bargains have become such a fundamental part of the justice system that at the federal level, only 2- of cases go to trial. And while plea deals definitely lower the financial cost of the legal system, it is worth asking whether or not they actually bring forth justice. Scripture is clear- sin has a cost and that cost cannot always be paid with money. -In this episode we look at the subject of plea bargains from a biblical perspective, considering both the fundamental nature of justice as well as the specific way that they have generally been implemented within the various state and federal government's justice systems. We also discuss specific ways that plea bargains undermine obtaining a just verdict and how they both promote and hide corruption within the government. God cares a great deal about justice, and his people should care about it as well. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After offering the bull as a sin offering for himself, Aaron then killed the burnt offering for himself, sprinkled the blood from it around the altar and then burned the pieces on the altar of burnt offering. After offering for himself, he then offered the sin offering and the burnt offering. He then burnt the memorial of the grain offering and burnt the entrails of the peace offerings. Aaron then came down from the altar of burnt offering and went with Moses into the tabernacle and came out again. At that point, the glory of the Lord appeared as Moses had promised earlier. Fire came from the Lord that consumed the burnt offering clearly showing that God had accepted the sacrifices.
A society's attitude toward gambling tells you a great deal about its attitude toward holiness and the treatment of the poor. This should not be a controversial statement within the church, but in the last 30 years, the American church has softened its stance toward gambling a great deal. This can be seen from the rampant rise in sports betting, lotteries, casinos, and many other forms of legalized gambling that have been approved in most states -only Utah and Hawaii do not allow gambling of any kind--In this episode, we look at the subject of gambling from a Biblical perspective. While Scripture does not have a specific command against gambling, the church has historically viewed it as an immoral practice that violates many overlapping principles and commands. But holding gambling to be a sin requires a specific view of God's word. It requires a high view of the authority and prescriptive nature of God's word and that has been on the decline, at least in the American church for many years now. Our hope is that as we discuss this topic, we are all encouraged to think more seriously about God's word and how our Lord and Savior leads his people to walk in paths of righteousness. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.-Phil Johnson of the now-retired Pyromaniacs blog wrote a helpful nine-part series on gambling back in 2009. It can be found here- http---teampyro.blogspot.com-2009-11-is-gambling-ok-dont-bet-on-it.htmlProduction of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After Moses consecrated Aaron and his sons for a week, Aaron started making sacrifices for himself and Israel. Now that Aaron was consecrated, he could now offer a sin offering of a bull and a burnt offering of a ram for himself. He also was to offer a kid of the goats as a sin offering for the people as well as a calf and a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering for the people. He was also to offer a bull and a ram as a peace offering and a grain offering, because the Lord was going to appear to them that day which showed that they were at peace with God. Aaron then offered a bull for the sin offering burning it outside the camp. Even after seven days of offering, God still made the testimony very clear- something more was needed.
In the wake of last year's landmark abortion ruling, many Christians have expressed a renewed hope in the Supreme Court's potential to impact the nation. And while the cases before the court in 2023 were not as high profile as Dobbs v. Jackson, there were still matters of national significance that were ruled upon. In this episode, we examine six of those cases, discussing their moral and political components and their outcomes with the goal of answering some basic questions- -Was the decision a good decision and why---, -How did we get to this particular point as a nation---, and -Can this particular issue really be solved by a court decision-----Student Loan Forgiveness Episode-https---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-10-the-truth-about-student-loan-forgiveness-ep-90--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After offering the bull and the ram and putting the blood of the ram upon Aaron and his sons' right ear, hand, and foot, Moses prepares a wave offering for Aaron and his sons, composed of the fat of the ram, the right thigh, and one of each of the different types of unleavened bread and has them wave it before the Lord. Moses also offers a wave offering as well of his portion of the ram. Then Aaron and his sons spend a week at the door of the tabernacle of meeting eating from their portion of the ram which they boiled along with the bread in the basket of consecration offerings to complete their consecration. God warns them that if they leave before this is completed that he will kill them. As it says in Hebrews, all of these things are a parable for us that we might understand God's holiness and the order of his heavenly decrees.
Over the last few years, the phrase -toxic- has been used with greater and greater frequency in Christian circles to describe both people and relationships. It is frequently used in regard to family, often, specifically, to parents. This type of language is often used when speaking about mental health and is frequently connected to the question, -When is it ok to cut this person out of my life--- We want to talk about all of these things in this episode and ask a number of questions- Is -toxic- a good way to describe some relationships-- Is cutting people off a valid way to deal with relationships that seem to only cause suffering-- And, how should we think about the suffering that comes from dealing with sinful people--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
God commands Moses to being Aaron and his sons to the door of the tabernacle and to have the congregation assemble their before them. With him, Moses was to bring the garments, the anointing oil, a bull as the sin offering, two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread. And then before the people, Moses washed-Aaron and his sons, put the newly made clothes upon them and anointed them with oil as part of their consecration.
Over half of those professing to be Christians are in the Roman Catholic Church. We discuss the differences between Catholics and Protestants in doctrine and practice, and why they matter.Listen to the audio version here- https---theconqueringtruth.com-2023-06-are-catholics-christians-does-it-matter-ep-126-audio-Timecodes00-00-00 Intro-00-04-46 Protestant Churches Effectively Catholic-00-06-31 Salvation by Faith Alone-00-21-21 Ceremonies-00-33-38 Saints-00-42-35 Authority of Church Fathers-00-47-16 Dispensing Grace-00-54-07 Transubstantiation-01-05-03 Salvation Outside the Church---01-07-15 Can a Catholic be a Christian---Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
The writer of Hebrews declares why the things done in the temple were so particular, because they were copies of the things in heaven. The copies had to be cleansed with the blood of bulls and goats. It was sufficient for the copies, but it was not sufficient for the heavenly things. The required a better sacrifice. Even the need for something greater was obvious, because year after year the Levitical high priest would offer sacrifices for himself and all the people, but it just needed to be repeated the next year. If the sacrifice dealt with the sins, then there was no need to repeat it. For that reason, Christ only needed to suffer once since the foundation of the world at the end of the age. The last days if you will because there is no further work required. He entered into the Holy of Holies only to return when He comes not to deal with sin, but for salvation.
In Acts, Paul warns that wolves will rise up from within the church and that false teachers speaking perverse things will draw disciples after themselves. And you'll notice that Paul doesn't immediately give some simple rule to follow to make sure that we aren't taken in by a wolf. Wolves are so very dangerous because they work to appear like a good shepherd. Jesus warns in Matthew that while they wear -sheep's clothing-, inwardly they are ravenous wolves, and they want to devour you. -So, how should the church think about wolves-- How can we protect our family and the flock around us-- How can we protect ourselves-- -In this episode we discuss the many different warnings that scripture gives us about wolves. And while there are no simple solutions, there are clear signs that someone is behaving as a wolf. -Scandals are Good for the Church-https---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-05-scandals-are-good-for-the-church-ep-19-Listen to the audio version here- https---theconqueringtruth.com-2023-06-how-wolves-attract-shiny-happy-people-ep-125-audio-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After describing how Christ was the Mediator of a new covenant through His death, the writer now starts to use a particular kind of covenant. Earlier in speaking of the new covenant, he was not particularly treating it like a will, but after declaring that Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant, he treats it like a will. In the NKJV, at this point in time the translators also start to translate the same word 'testament,' rather than 'covenant.' It is the same word in Greek. Treating the new covenant as a will means that it required the death of the one that entered into the covenant and that it could have no power at all while the testator lives. Until his death, the person who made the will could rewrite it at any time, so it could have no power at all before the death of the one writing the will. He then writes that this was pointed to with the first covenant, because with the first covenant, not the blood of the testator, but the blood of bulls and calves was shed pointing to the blood that was required. The shedding of blood was required to be delivered from sin. Under the first covenant, it was only a spiritual picture. In the new covenant, the spiritual delivery from sin is real.
We discuss Juneteenth - the latest addition to our nation's holy days. We discuss a bit of the history behind the holiday, why we've suddenly started hearing it over the last few years, and whether it should be set aside for the entire nation.--What Should Christians Celebrate episode--https---celebratereformationday.com-what-should-christians-celebrate- Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As the writer of Hebrews had discussed the ceremonial laws were parables so we could understand things after Christ came to reform them, he now spoke specifically about Christ and His role of High Priest. The tabernacle was just a parable of the true tabernacle. One that was made without hands unlike the first one that the Israelites spent months constructing. The tabernacle that is separate from this creation, so it requires a better sacrifice than the blood sacrifices of goats and calves. It required the unblemished blood which could only come from the perfect High Priest, Jesus Christ. He was able to enter into the eternal tabernacle, because He obtained an eternal redemption. The blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer could only clean the flesh. It could not clean the conscience. After doing the work of the sacrifices, the one making the sacrifice still had guilt in his conscience. It is only when we lay down our works and accept the finished work of Jesus Christ can our conscience be purged so we can serve the living God. Christ became the Mediator of the new covenant because the first covenant only produced condemnation, but the new covenant produces eternal life.
America sets aside a whole month to celebrate pride in sin. What does our love of pride say about us as a country---Is Pride Ever Good-- https---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-06-is-pride-ever-good-ep-76-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As we return to Hebrews from our study in Leviticus, God reminds us that the priesthood, the tabernacle, the offerings and the divine service that He established designed, and instituted among the Israelites were parables for the church by which we might understand the nature of the true and heavenly reality of these things that are made known to us in Christ.
In this episode, we want to examine how the Word of God frames the issue of marriage, sexual relationships, and polygamy and how this all relates to the nature of the gospel of Jesus Christ and his marriage to the church. While Jesus Christ makes it clear that from the beginning, God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman, man's rebellion against God has resulted in many sinful situations that must be regulated. And this is what the law of God does. As Paul says in Galatians, the law was added because of transgressions. As we will discuss in this episode, because of our sin, men often ignore the obligations of the law, choose their own ways, and then declare themselves righteous. We would do well to remember what Paul goes on to say, -Is the law then against the promises of God-- Certainly not- For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.- May we look to God's law to understand the righteous way that he constrains sin in the world, and by it, to better understand how Jesus Christ has come to destroy the works of the devil. Listen to the audio version here- https---theconqueringtruth.com-2023-06-polygamy-why-did-god-allow-it-ep-122-audio-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As God finished talking to Moses about the various regulations related to the different types of offerings, he ended with the portion of the peace offering that was consecrated to the priests, specifically the priest that offered the blood of the peace offering. God does apportion the best for those who are serving Him, especially those that are showing that the only way to peace with God is through the blood of the true peace offering, Jesus Christ.
God explains two death-penality ordinances relating to the handling of fat and blood to Moses, the first of which is ceremonial while the second is part of the moral law. --Because understanding what laws are ceremonial vs moral is often misunderstood, we review the passages where God' explains in His word how to understand and make the distinction between them.
Why Does God Say That Unlawful Divorce Is Like Murder-We tend to think of divorce as a social issue. But in Ephesians, the Apostle Paul makes it clear that marriage is a picture of Christ and the church, and in the Old Testament, the laws and circumstances regarding marriage and divorce are referenced multiple times to describe God's relationship with Israel. What's more, it is very clear in the Old Testament that God righteously divorced Israel and Judah for their adultery and hardiness of heart. This means that divorce, while only existing due to sin, has its proper place in the world until such time that sin is done away with. --In this episode, we want to tie these issues together and talk about how God is glorified through marriage and divorce and how earthly marriage and divorce are pictures that connect directly to the nature of the gospel. How the church views the sanctity of marriage, and how we deal with the sin of divorce tells us much about the church's understanding of God's righteousness. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
After speaking about the sin offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering and the grain offerings from the perspective of the priests, God then spoke about the peace offering. The peace offering is a picture of the blessings related to peace with God. The peace offerings are divided into two categories, those that are for thanksgiving and those that are either the result of a vow or that you feel compelled to give but is not required by the law. If it is a thanksgiving offering, it has to be offered with four types of bread, three unleavened and one leavened. One of each kind is heaved before the Lord and then the priests receive it. For the peace offering that is offered for thanksgiving all of it must be eaten the same day that it is offered, which means that the offerer has arranged for people to eat it before the Lord. None can be left until morning as a picture that being at peace with God means that you bless others. If the peace offering is about paying a vow or a voluntary offering -which means you believed it was necessary-, then you should try to eat it the first day, but if not, it can be eaten the next day. On the third day, it must be burnt. If any is eaten, your vow is still considered unpaid. Those that can eat the peace offering are those who are clean, but if you are unclean and eat it, you must be cut off from the people. Declaring that you are blessed by God and at peace with Him, God takes seriously.
Do You Understand That the Gospel Is About Authority-- Not off to the side, or one of the overlooked aspects of it, but front and center, in your face, written in flaming letters and spoken with a tongue of fire- THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST IS ABOUT AUTHORITY- --Do you understand it----In this episode, we look at the ways scripture establishes Jesus Christ's authority over all things and how this authority is expressed through the gospel. We discuss Christ's role as lawgiver, and how his authority and the understanding of it that necessarily comes with salvation, changes the entire worldview of the sinner who is saved by His grace. We also discuss how God the Father's and Christ's authority are demonstrated through the relationships that each has with those they have saved, both individually, and collectively, and we spend some time talking about the ways in which a father and a husband use their authority differently from a judge focused on the condemnation of the law. --Understanding the nature of authority in the gospel matters for so many reasons. For one, the defining aspect of the sinner is his hatred of authority. It is the cruel irony of his situation, that he, a slave to sin, would fight so hard to pretend that he is his own master, even as he labors in accordance with his enslaved will toward his own death and destruction. He is truly without hope, unless by grace, his eyes are opened by the work of the Spirit, he is given a new heart, and his understanding of the authority of Jesus Christ changes everything. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.--Listen to the audio version here- --Timecodes-00-00-00 Intro-00-01-09 Lordship-00-05-28 The Fall-00
Our text for this week is Leviticus 7-1-10, which covers the priests' duties in administering the trespass offering, as well as how they should divide the priestly portions of the previous offerings we have covered -the burnt offerings and grain offerings-. This text again emphasizes the burning of the fat of the sacrificial animals, which should remind us to be vigilant in how we handle sin as God moves us through sanctification.
Jordan Peterson, a psychologist by training and practice, has lectured about the significant influence of the Bible on Western culture since at least 2015, but in the past few years, his incorporation of a positive view of the Bible and Christianity into his brand and messaging has earned him a great deal of attention from Christians, to the point where he is viewed by some as a Christian and by others as drawing closer and closer to Christ. It's important to note that Peterson is also appreciated for the fact that much of what he says actually makes sense and he is able to address what many see as the confounding social issues of our day with some degree of success. But Jordan Peterson is not a Christian. He has not professed faith in Jesus Christ as his savior, and in those Christian concepts, such as Hell and redemption, that he says he believes in, he is clear that his view of them is in purely carnal-physical terms. -So, why is Jordan Peterson so appealing-- How should the church think about his Christless Christianity-- And why is the church of Jesus Christ not more effective at explaining to the world how to deal with the problems created by sin-- There is much for the church to consider here. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Our text for this week is Leviticus 6-19-30, which covers the duties of the priests to make grain offerings and how the priests should administer the sin offerings. We have already covered these offerings from the perspective of the person making the offering, and now we see the particular duties and responsibilities of the priests, especially what they are to eat and not eat from these offerings. These restrictions show us the limitations of the physical sacrifices. No priest is to consume an offering made for his own sin- a person cannot make atonement for himself. Hebrews 13-11ff references these sacrifices that could not be eaten and how, in the New Covenant, we have greater sacrifices to bring, the praise of our lips, doing good, and sharing, that are the fruit of following Christ. With these things, God is well pleased.
Work is central to Christianity. Jesus Christ came in the form of a servant to do the will of His Father. Paul called himself a bondservant. We are bought with a price to be the slaves of righteousness. Even before sin entered the world, God made man to work for him in the garden that he had prepared. This is important, because it means that work is good. Though sin may add to our sorrows and labor, work itself is not the consequence of sin but of God's good order and desire for us all. -In this episode we discuss how the church's view and doctrine of work has shaped the world around it. Right now in the US there is a higher percentage of men who are no longer in the workforce than during the Great Depression. This is not because there is not work for them to do, but because they have no plan or desire to work. We should not be deceived, sin spreads like leaven and this particular sin has been growing for decades. How should the church think about this issue-- How should we pray-- And how should we fight back against this sin that is so rampant-- Please join us as we discuss this important topic.-Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NCHosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua HornTechnical Director - Timothy KaiserTheme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
If you ask ten different people what art is, you're going to get ten different answers. We believe that there are fundamental objective principles that govern how we should think about and approach the subject. We also believe that as men have grown in their rebellion against God, they have twisted the very definition of art in a futile attempt to glorify themselves rather than their Creator. --In this episode, we talk about the modern definition of art and how its focus and purpose has changed over the years to the point that it basically has no definition. We also talk about how historically art has included a much broader scope of activity than just visual media, spilling over into other skill-related disciplines, including the sciences, trades and crafts, and any area that requires skill. We discuss how this practical aspect of art helps keep it from becoming something for its own sake. Finally, we discuss how art can be a part of our everyday life, how it intersects with our work and worship, and how, once it is properly defined, we can see art as a central aspect of Christianity.---WhatIsArt--GodlyArt--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022--Listen to the audio version here- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-03-is-art-useful-for-christians-ep-64-audio--Timecodes-00-00-00 What is Art--00-04-33 Ridiculous Modern Art-00-08-32 Art as Religion-00-12-12 Art as Rebellion-00-18-18 Money Laundering-00-20-37 Historic Meaning of Art-00-33-51 All Art is Skilled-00-42-46 Idolatrous Art-00-48-40 The Reformation's Impact on Art-00-53-22 Efficiency-00-59-09 What is Good Art--0
Our culture these days tries to destigmatize everything. But is shame actually a good thing- What does the Bible teach----SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022--Thumbnail photo by Suelen Pessoa --Listen to the audio version here- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-03-when-its-good-to-feel-shame-ep-63-audio--Timecodes-00-00 Shame can be good-09-54 Shame in salvation-17-46 Destigmatizing--24-28 Shame for Christians-41-17 Shame in the Gospel-45-10 Shame for Children-56-04 Shamelessness in Heaven--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
No one likes to feel shame. And while we understand that shame is in the world because of the existence of sin, God has framed the world in such a way that shame can be used for good or for evil. The dictionary defines shame as -a painful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong or foolish behavior-, but what happens when the church fails to proclaim the truth and allows the world to declare that good is evil and wisdom is foolishness- The result is a culture that labors to destigmatize evil and instead heaps shame on those who do good.-In this episode, we discuss the nature of shame, its connection to fear and service, and how the world attempts to use shame to silence those who oppose their sin. We discuss the importance of a proper view of shame in the church and society and what happens when that is absent, and we talk about how we can help to give our children a proper sense of shame for their sin.---SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022--Thumbnail photo by Suelen Pessoa--Listen to the audio version here- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-03-when-its-good-to-feel-shame-ep-63-audio--Timecodes-00-00 Shame can be good-09-54 Shame in salvation-17-46 Destigmatizing--24-28 Shame for Christians-41-17 Shame in the Gospel-45-10 Shame for Children-56-04 Shamelessness in Heaven--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
If you were going to create a society from scratch, and you wanted it to have the best laws possible, how would you go about coming up with those laws- And what role would the Law of God play in determining what those laws should be- Would you just make the Old Testament laws the law of the land- Or would you skip those Old Testament laws that you feel no longer make sense and that perhaps don't fit in our modern world--In this third episode focusing on the Law of God, we look in more depth at the category of the Judicial Law.and discuss what role it should play in the laws of the land. ---Referenced Episodes------------------------------------What Did Paul Mean When He Said We Are Not Under the Law- - http---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-02-what-did-paul-mean-when-he-said-we-are-not-under-the-law-ep-57- -Ceremonial, Moral and Judicial Laws - http---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-02-which-old-testament-laws-should-christians-keep-ep-59- -Why Prisons are Unbiblical http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-06-why-prisons-are-wrong-ep-26- -A Christian Solution for Immigration-http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-05-a-christian-solution-for-immigration-ep-18-----TheLawOfGod--SLBC1689--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
This week President Biden delivered his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation, outlining his view of where the nation is and where he wants to lead it. And while it's often easier to ignore what was said on the grounds that you'll almost certainly disagree with it, we think it's worth taking the time to think about what was actually said, what it really means, and how it is intended to shape public policy and discourse. Politicians are famous for lying to the people, but just as often, they say exactly what they are going to try to do and why. In this episode, we walk through a number of video excerpts from the President's speech. We discuss some of the ways he attempts to influence the nation to -feel- rather than think about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we talk about his plan to fight inflation, his focus on environmental justice, as well as his efforts to get more women back into the workforce and end with his support for children seeking gender reassignment. Through all of this, our goal, as always, is to encourage Christians to see the world through the lens of scripture, to take every thought captive, and to apply God's word to every area of life, that God might be glorified in all things.--Episode on Inflation -Should You Cash Your Stimulus Check-- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-01-should-we-cash-our-stimulus-checks-ep-4- ---HistoryNow--StateoftheUnion--SOTU--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music -
If you are like most parents, history is one of the more intimidating subjects to teach your children. This is partly because most of us don't know that much about history ourselves. But it's more than that- history is so vast and deep that we're often not sure where to start or how deep we should go. We worry about what books to read and how to avoid bias and wrong worldviews. And while we certainly can't resolve all of these problems, our goal in this episode is to try to lay down a framework and give some tips on how to approach the subject. We discuss the joys and complexities of teaching and learning history from a Christian perspective. We talk about the importance of history, and ways to communicate that importance to our children. We also discuss how to find good books to use and how to identify and avoid bad ones. At the end of the episode, we make specific book and resource recommendations. --Recommended Books------------------------------------Reformation History by Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubign--Susan Wise Bauer's History books-Confessions by Augustine-City of God by Augustine-Genevieve Foster's Books-DiscerningHistory.com-Selections of Landmark Books such as The Landing of the Pilgrims by James Daugherty-If you must have a textbook, Generations' History curriculum https---store.generations.org-collections-curriculum-Paul Revere's Ride by David H. Fischer-Washington's Crossing by David H. Fischer-Albion's Seed by David H. Fischer-Historians Fallacies by David H. Fischer-James I- The Fool as King by Otto Scott-The Secret Six by Otto Scott----History--Homeschool--SolaScript
From shell fish to levirate marriage to murder. We discuss the moral, ceremonial and judicial law - and how to tell which is which. --Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
As Russia faces off against Ukraine, how should Christians around the world be thinking about this situation- Should we be concerned, or are we just being manipulated by the media and politicians----SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022--Thumbnail image from President.gov.ua--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
It is very common to hear Christians reference Paul's statement in Romans 6, -you are not under law but under grace- without any context or connection to the overall argument that Paul has been making throughout the book of Romans. And while there is no question that Paul's statement is absolutely true, it is not a statement that we get to take and interpret however we want. But this is exactly how it has been commonly used, and there has been a great deal of damage and confusion both inside and outside of the church because of it. In this episode, we focus on the relationship between law and grace and try to establish a way of thinking about them both that harmonizes with the teachings of the Old and New Testament. We talk about the difference between the law as the standard of righteousness and the curse of the law, the nature of the Gospel, and how being under grace enables us to see the goodness of God's law so that we might obey it with joy. ---Grace--TheLawofGod--LawvsGrace--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022---Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
All around us, we see evidence of people who refuse to look at the truth. They are blinded by their passionate support for their side or their trust in the untrustworthy. Should this be surprising to Christians or should we understand, this is the normal state of the world----SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT202---Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Faith and reason are frequently set in opposition to one another. But what if it's impossible to truly have one without the other---Spurgeon on the Age of the Earth https---www.christiantoday.com-article-did.ch.spurgeon.believe.in.evolution-84218.htm--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Particular ways that American political outcomes affect Nigerian politics and economics. We are joined by a guest this week, Deshi Zingak Nengak from Nigeria. -Joshua will be back next week---Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
While a majority of Americans believe in the right to self-defense, there are some mainstream Christian teachers, such as John Piper, who make the argument that Christians should be willing to die rather than to take an assailant's life. This view is particularly common among missionaries, with the story of Jim Elliot being commonly held up as an example. In this episode, we talk about the problems with this view and how it can lead to -or be caused by- a fundamental misunderstanding about the gospel, and the nature of justice and mercy. We also discuss the biblical basis for the right to self defense and we talk about how wrong teaching on the issue has caused problems on the mission field and Dan discusses some firsthand experiences he has had in Nigeria. ---SelfDefense--Mercy--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2022--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
We started the podcast one year ago, so it seemed like a good time to take a break and discuss why we started the podcast, and a little bit about ourselves. We also reflect on some favorite moments from 2021, and some predictions for the future.--Referenced Episodes-Is Ravi Zacharias in Hell- -Ep. 6- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-02-is-ravi-zacharias-in-hell-ep-5---Should You Cash Your Stimulus Check- -Ep. 4- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-01-should-we-cash-our-stimulus-checks-ep-4- --Why Prisons are Wrong -Ep. 26- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-06-why-prisons-are-wrong-ep-26- --A Christian Solution for Immigration -Ep. 18- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-05-a-christian-solution-for-immigration-ep-18---How VOM Funded - Covered Up Child Abuse -VOM Scandal Part 1--http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-03-how-vom-funded-covered-up-child-abuse-vom-scandal-part-1-2---Scandals are Good for the Church -Ep. 19- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-05-scandals-are-good-for-the-church-ep-19---Why is Our Society So Confused- -Ep. 30- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-07-why-is-our-society-so-confused-ep-30- --Is the Israel-Gaza War Just- -Ep. 21- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-05-is-the-israel-gaza-war-just-ep-21---Fighting For Meaning- How the Church Lets the World Call Evil Good -Ep. 49- -http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-12-fighting-for-meaning-how-the-church-lets-the-world-call-evil-good-ep-49----SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2021---Listen to the audio version here- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2022-01-one-year-of-podcasting-why
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, the topic of when you can disobey the government's orders has been a controversial subject of discussion. It's a complex subject because as Christians, we both desire and are commanded to obey God, and as sinners, we desire to disobey the authorities that God has placed over us. In this episode, we walk through different scenarios and situations and discuss the different ways they might play out---1. Disobeying a command that would require you to break God's law-2. Disobeying a command that usurps the authority of the church-3. Disobeying a command that usurps the authority of the family-4. Disobeying a command that is tyrannical in that violates a superior earthly authority, law or constitution-5. Disobeying a command that although not inherently sinful or usurping another specific jurisdiction, is tyrannical in violating your liberty -6. Disobeying a command just because you believe it is unwise-7. Disobeying in order to make a political point of scene--Some of them are based on our real experiences over the past two years navigating government restrictions on meeting and the government's attempts at regulating specific aspects of worship, while others are based on historical examples. As always, our goal is to go to scripture and to focus on how God has ordered the world. Please join us as we discuss this issue.--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
It is practically impossible to think about Christmas without thinking about Santa Claus. In secular circles, Santa Claus is widely accepted, but what is more surprising is how accepted Santa Claus is within conservative and even Reformed Christian circles. And it is specifically the practice of telling your children that Santa Claus - the supernatural being who flies around the world distributing presents to good children - is real, that we focus on in this episode. We discuss the nature of worship and idolatry, and how easy it is to think that we are completely different from our ancestors. We talk about how strongly children believe their parents and how this early deception impacts their view of God, the gospel, and God's sense of justice.. And we talk about how this impacts the church and our ability to be a witness in the world. Please join us in thinking about these things. --Here is a link to a previous episode we did on the subject of lying, titled, -Can You Lie to the Nazis--- https---youtu.be-KnwuIFpsrXw---SantaClaus--LyingLipsAreAnAbomination--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--TCT2021--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
In the war over defining what is good and what is evil, words matter a great deal. In this episode, we look at what God's word says about truth and the power of words. We'll discuss how the war over words has been central to every major cultural battle of the last hundred years and how abortion, climate change , gay marriage, and transgender rights, were all fought and won by changing the definition of words. We'll talk about why the tactic is so successful, how it generally works, and some of the key ways that we can fight back against it. ---Episode Referenced--Why Conservatism Should Die http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-02-why-conservatism-should-die-ep-8-2---Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
Abolishing or significantly reforming the police has been a topic of serious and contentious discussion in 2021 with very little common ground to be found between the opposing sides. In this episode, we attempt to answer some basic questions and answer from a biblical perspective. Are police even biblical- Should they be abolished- Whose job is it to protect people in a free society- How did the police come to exist and to be accepted in modern culture- Whose job is it to make sure that the law is followed- How did we end up where we are as a society, and is there even a way to imagine a world where police are not necessary- ---BacktheBlue--AbolishthePolice--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
-Let's Go Brandon-- has become a popular rallying cry among the political right. How did a euphemism for an obscene phrase directed specifically at President Biden come to be seen as acceptable speech among Christians- Is it because Donald Trump's love of coarse language had such a big impact on our culture and our standards or do Americans just love crude discourse- For those who care about these things, is there an objective standard for how Christians should speak- -In this episode, we'll discuss idle words, coarse talk, obscene language, and how God's word lays out clear principles for thinking about our words and how we should show honor to those who are in authority. --Paul Washer Shocking Youth Message - https---heartcrymissionary.com-sermons-shocking-youth-message----letsgobrandon--swearing--cursing--SolaScriptura--SufficiencyOfScripture--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
We all know the story of the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving, and how they celebrated their first year, a year of loss and hardship, by pouring out their hearts in thankful worship to God. But do we really understand the nature of thanksgiving itself -the act of worship, not the holiday-- In this episode, we try to talk about the modern disconnect we seem to have with feeling and expressing gratitude. We'll talk about how central gratefulness is to Christianity, how being involved in the work of God by laboring for his church and for the brethren enables us to be grateful in a deeper way, and how it is the work of the Holy Spirit in God's people that causes and enables us to offer our lives to God as a thankful sacrifice.--Thumbnail Image by James Walsh---BuckleUpForPilgrims--ReformedThanksgiving--SufficiencyOfScripture--SolaScriptura---Listen to the audio version here- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-11-stop-complaining-god-demands-thanksgiving-ep-46-audio--Timecodes-00-00 Remembering the Pilgrims-03-58 God's Soverignty-08-40 Prevalence of Complaining-15-11 Complaining in the Family-18-45 Thankful Worship-24-30 Intentional Gratefulness-35-27 Joy from Giving Thanks-39-16 Sharing Gratitude-43-46 Appointing Days of Thanksgiving-48-02 Secular Thanksgiving--49-38 Communion as Thanksgiving--Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC-Hosts - Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn-Technical Director - Timothy Kaiser-Theme Music - Gabriel Hudelson
For the past two years we've all heard the mantra, -Listen to the Experts-- It's well past the time to ask if this is appropriate, and to discuss the right and wrong ways for Christians to follow and think about experts. Should expertise be used as a baseball bat to keep people in line- Are experts lofty beings who cannot be questioned and whose word is law- Is expertise even real- In this episode we discuss the nature of expertise itself, and how God created it for a purpose. We talk about how we should think about experts, how we can use them without giving them more authority than they should have, and how we can answer those who try to use experts to control us. Perhaps most importantly, we talk about how expertise works and exists within the church and what it looks like when things get out of balance.--Afghanistan Episode - http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-08-why-we-failed-in-afghanistan-ep-35----ListenToTheExperts--Authority--SolaScriptura--ChurchLife--SufficiencyOfScripture
Whether it's President Biden's forthcoming vaccine mandate or Governor Ron DeSantis' signed law that Florida's government and private institutions cannot require proof of vaccination, it seems clear that both sides of American politics have embraced greater government involvement in its citizen's lives. Do Americans just want to be controlled- Do we want a tyrant to rule over us to enforce our views on everyone else- In this episode we discuss these issues and how Christians should think about these things.
This year is the 500th anniversary of the Diet of Worms - where Luther stood on God's word against Emperor Charles V. This week, we bring you the messages from our annual Reformation Day celebration. For more information on Reformation Day, visit www.celebratereformationday.com-
What does Halloween's rise in popularity say about our country---Episode on why it matters what we celebrate- http---celebratereformationday.com-what-should-christians-celebrate-
We tackle the Big Tech debate - free speech, Section 230, the Facebook whistleblower, and how the church should respond.
We start with Gen Milley's phone calls and end up discussing civilian control of the military, standing armies, and total depravity.
If Jesus is the -Lord of the Sabbath,- why do we think this one of the Ten Commandments is no longer binding-
We discuss how well doctors understand mental illness, and what the Bible has to say about the mind.
We try to apply the Bible to one day's headlines - from Afghan refugees to January 6th trauma.--Articles Referenced--https---www.nytimes.com-2021-09-16-us-politics-afghan-refugees.html-https---www.nytimes.com-2021-09-16-world-australia-australia-china-submarines.html-https---www.nytimes.com-2021-09-16-us-school-shortages-bus-drivers-workers.html-https---www.nytimes.com-2021-09-15-us-gavin-newsom-governor-california.html-https---www.nytimes.com-interactive-2021-09-16-us-politics-capitol-riot.html-https---www.nytimes.com-2021-09-16-technology-digital-privacy.html
In light of the ongoing disaster in Afghanistan, we talk about where America went wrong, and how not to do it again. --Videos Played---President Bush Video- https---www.c-span.org-video--204426-1-operations-afghanistan -Jumping Jacks Video- https---youtu.be-uKfIujZjoHA
We discuss the shot pushed round the world, bad arguments for and against it, and where all this is coming from. --Brian Williams clip - https---www.youtube.com-watch-v-qWI0YiSmTKs-ab-channel-MSNBC--Thumbnail Image by Armin K-belbeck
How the Bible teaches modesty - it's about more than clothes, but there's still a lot to be said about clothing.
We discuss how the church can fight our country's murder of children, and when is right to compromise.--More information on abortion abolition https---freethestates.org--Why Conservatism Should Die http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-02-why-conservatism-should-die-ep-8-2---Thumbnail photo from American Life League, used under Creative Commons License
What an unhealthy obsession with pets says about cultural rebellion to the Biblical commands to be fruitful.--Episodes Referenced--Children Are a Blessing, Right- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-06-children-are-a-blessing-right-ep-25--Why Prisons are Wrong http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-06-why-prisons-are-wrong-ep-26--Why Is Our Society So Confused- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-07-why-is-our-society-so-confused-ep-30-
Our society is clearly confused - we can't even make a distinction between men an women. How did this happen, and what can we do about it-
What can Christians in the USA learn from Nigeria- We are joined by a guest this week, Deshi Zingak Nengak from Nigeria. -Jonathan will be back next week---This continues last weeks episode on what Nigeria can learn from America- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-07-comparing-nigeria-and-the-united-states-ep-28-
Comparing Africa with the USA, and considering how much we have to be grateful for. Next week, we'll continue by looking at what America can learn from Nigeria. -We are joined by a guest this week, Deshi Zingak Nengak from Nigeria. -Jonathan will be back in two weeks---Twitter banned in Nigeria- https---www.buzzfeednews.com-article-nelsoncharityjohn-nigerian-government-twitter-ban-buhari -Smithsonian on Whiteness- https---www.miamiherald.com-news-nation-world-national-article244309587.html
Our promised discussion on why the modern nation-state of Israel does not hold a privileged place in God's plan for history
We discuss why our prison system is not working and why it is in conflict with God's design for civil order.--Exodus sermon series- https---www.sermonaudio.com-search.asp-sourceonly-true-currSection-sermonssource-keyword-reformationbc-subsetcat-series-subsetitem-Exposition-of-Exodus
After warning the Israelites to not pervert justice because of the status of the person, God declared the obligation to show mercy even to our enemies. If your enemy's animal escapes, you have a duty to take that animal back to him. Your duty to him is not dependent upon your relationship with him. The law commands that we show mercy to our enemies. In last week's passage, we were warned to not be biased toward the poor. In this week's passage, we are commanded to not pervert the judgment of the poor by delaying it. God warns us to keep far from a false matter, because we should expect His judgment on this earth and not just the world to come. We are warned not to take bribes, because even the discerning and the righteous judgment is affected by bribes. Before God goes into teaching about the Sabbath, He ended this section with you shall not oppress the stranger. All these laws are about making our behavior toward someone about our relationship with them, rather than about their connection to God. Not in a salvific sense, but in the sense that we are required to treat people in a certain way, because they are made in the image of God. Their poverty, their relationship with us or their being part of the community should not affect whether we treat them justly.
The Bible is abundantly clear that children are a gift from God, so why do we so often think they are not---Episodes Referenced---Kids Should Work- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-03-kids-should-work-ep-13-2---Where Should Christians Give their Money-- http---theconqueringtruth.com-2021-04-where-should-christians-give-their-money-ep-15-
Our text this week, Exodus 22-28-23-3, after declaring the how the poor and strangers among them should be treated, God then moved on from the respect that should be shown the poor to the respect that should be shown to authorities. You are not to treat them with contempt. Another way to treat God with contempt is to not offer Him the first fruits, whether of the field, the trees or the womb. The first fruits belong to God. They were not to be eating things that were killed by animals. All the food items are about trusting that God will provide. The topic then moved on spreading rumors and joining in the wicked by spreading their lies. Every Christian has the responsibility to be a check on the impulses of a crowd to do evil and to pervert justice. One way of perverting justice is to be biased toward the poor. God's people are to be just and trust God and not use the techniques that are used in the world.
We discuss what the Bible says about race, and the scriptural arguments used to defend racism and Kinism.--Kinism article quoted- http---ironink.org-2021-04-i-get-by-with-a-little-help-from-my-friends-one-non-caucasians-view-on-race-
Our text this week, Exodus 22-21-27, now God switches to a recurring theme throughout the bible, how the poor are to be treated. When we think of the abuse of the poor, it is not that much different than making sacrifices to a false god. Christ warned about it saying that you cannot serve both God and mammon. They were to have sympathy for the stranger because of their time of sojourning in Egypt. They are not to treat the foreigner that dwells among them like they were treated as foreigners. Then God gave stern warnings about how He hears the cries of the widows and the fatherless when they are abused and taken advantage of. This is not the righteous widow and the righteous orphan. He hears the cries of those who are oppressed and will hear and respond by making the oppressors wives widows and their children orphans. You are not to afflict any of your neighbors that are suffering for gain. Even when they pledge something, you cannot hold the collateral if it produces misery for they can cry to God for help. As the body of Christ, we have a responsibility to stop oppressor. To stop the abuse of the weak. Much oppression happens in America and we have a duty to plead for the widow and defend the fatherless.
What the COVID-19 pandemic and public health regulations have revealed about our fears, and our faith.
Our text this week, Exodus 22-1-8, after declaring how animals killing should be dealt with, God continues the discussion moving from laws related to murder to laws related to theft. In changing from laws related to the sixth commandment, we also see a shift from equal punishment, an eye for an eye, to a multiplier, four sheep for a sheep, so we see the equitable punishment for laws related to murder to be very different than the equitable punishment for other laws. In this passage, God gives cases related to theft. In giving these cases, some of them are not cases that would happen while they are wandering in the wilderness. When they abide in one place and have to provide for themselves rather than receiving manna, they will be typical problems. While they are in camp together, there will be theft so God is speaking to them about how to deal with it. Rather than giving them cases related to their current situation, they are given situations that will only be applicable later, such as letting your ox go into another's field, but they are to apply these cases. God is explaining the law for both then and for later. The application of the law about theft requires significant wisdom in judgment. Why does an ox require five fold restitution, but a sheep requires four fold- Why if it is killed or sold, it is restored with a factor of four or five, but if it is found in their hand, it is restored double. In other places in the Scriptures, it also says seven times and adding a fifth. The law is absolute for the specific cases, but we are to be wise to apply it's principles for the many other cases that exist.
Our text this week, Exodus 22-9-20, as we continue with God's commandments for Moses to teach the children of Israel, He continues to declare the righteous judgment where normal contentions arise, such as giving your neighbor something to keep and it disappears or your animal that they were keeping is driven off or stolen. God explains how to think of these situations that can create long term anger between neighbors. By giving the law, God is instructing how to have peace between neighbors because if people judge for themselves what is fair, their bias tends heavily toward themselves. God lays out conditions to resolve that potential animosity including through the taking of oaths. Oaths are a means for both parties to say there is a greater judge who will not let people take His name in vain. The passage then moves on to how to deal with a woman who is seduced, not allowing a witch to live, not having sexual relations with an animal and sacrificing to a false god. This is a passage where it is easy to just say these are miscellaneous laws, but God is an orderly god, so we need to think how do these things tie together. I would argue that these are examples of escalating rebellion to God's order. The worst of which is to sacrifice to a false god. We should be very careful not to think that sins like bestiality, as much as an abomination that they are, is actually worse the sacrificing to a false god.
We discuss President Biden's recently published plan for changes to US education curriculum policy--Links-President Biden's Education Plan https---www.federalregister.gov-documents-2021-04-19-2021-08068-proposed-priorities-american-history-and-civics-education-PragerU on Critical Race Theory https---www.prageru.com-video-what-is-critical-race-theory-
Discussing the doctrine of just war and how to apply it to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.-This was recorded just before the cease fire agreement. -Videos from the Israel Defense Forces and Wall Street Journal
We discuss lynch mobs, justice and prejudice. --Note- This was recorded before we saw reports of one of the juror's participation in BLM protests - https---news.yahoo.com-chauvin-juror-defends-participation-washington-230418703.html
Our text this week, Exodus 21-20-27, after regulating slavery and clarifying murder, God continued to clarify what is lawful slavery. Not slavery where the person is owned, so it is still murder to kill a slave but it is not unlawful to beat a slave with the rod. If the slave is laid up but is not killed, then the loss of the slave's labor is the punishment for the excessive use of the rod. God's law also protects the defenseless. If a child in the womb is harmed, the guilty party is to suffer the same harm. God laid out His general equity of punishment. Eye for eye. Tooth for tooth. Life for life. With a slave, who is also in a vulnerable position, if the master acts in such a way not to chastise them but to be violent toward them and there is measurable damage, the slave is to go free. Our society is so much about pain avoidance. The focus of God's law is avoidance of permanent damage. If the goal is pain avoidance, there is no limit to the laws that you can pass including those against microaggressions because someone's feelings were hurt. God's role for the civil magistrate is much more constrained. You must see damage.
Our text this week, Exodus 21-12-19, God continued to give details on specific applications of the ten commandments. After discussing selling your daughter into slavery for the purposes of betrothal, He explained the laws about murder. He started with declaring the penalty which He had already declared to Noah, death. But then He dealt with some of the more complicated cases, how judgment is required. If they killed someone where it looked like an accident, the killer had to flee to the place appointed, but then judgments needed to happen. Did he lie in wait- Did he premeditate the act- In those cases, the accidental appearance is not to allow the person to escape. Another case is brought up where the victim didn't die. If it is your father or mother, that doesn't matter that you didn't strike hard enough to kill, it was still worthy of death. If you kidnap someone, it is still worthy of death. As we consider these specific regulations of violence, we should remember that there were a lot of people in this group, almost certainly in the millions. They were also almost all without faith. They also hadn't be constrained by the light of the law, so we shouldn't think of these laws as spoken just in case they were needed. We should read these as God working to make His people different from the people around them, because they considered life to have value.
Our text week, Exodus 21-7-11, continues the discussion of slavery in the nation of Israel by dealing with the special case of a daughter sold as a slave specifically for the purpose of marriage to the master of the house or to his son. While this practice likely strikes us as something from distasteful to repugnant, we should approach the text seeking to hear God would speak to us through these verses. First of all, one of the purposes of the Law is the constraint of sin and we will find that this passage restrains the sins and lusts of men and protects vulnerable girls. Sadly, the sale of girls is not an uncommon practice, either historically or presently, and these constraints are needed. Secondly, the Law is a tutor to bring us to Christ, so we should search to see how a passage like this shows the gospel and love of God towards His people. When God uses types and metaphors from human relationships to explain His relationship to His people, the three most common examples are fatherhood, marriage, and slavery. In this passage, we have all three of those rolled into one situation, so we should expect to find a vivid picture of God's relationship to His people. We, the Church, are this slave girl. We have been bought with a price, then brought into the household of God in order to become ready and suitable for marriage to the Son.
From the prosperity gospel to impoverished pastors, we discuss the challenges of handling money in Christian ministry.
After addressing worship and how to not diminish the power and holiness of God through worship, in this week's passage, God addresses slavery. In our -modern- world, slavery is considered pure evil, but God started His law about how men should treat one another by regulating slavery. Slavery was always a major part of the human situation and requires regulation. God does not condemn it, which is consistent since He is a Lord, i.e. a slave master. Instead, He regulates it so that the Israelites will be slave masters like Him rather than masters like Pharoah. He establishes laws, so if they were followed, the Hebrew slaves would be blessed with freedom after six years of labor. They would picture the Sabbath rest, laboring for six years and receiving their rest on the seventh. He also establishes rights for the slave. The slave can choose to remain a slave after the six years if he desires, which is the picture of a Christian who still desires Christ as a master after serving Him.
God spoke to the Israelites and gave them the ten commandments, so in this passage we see the response of the people and the response that God wanted. The response of the people was terror. They saw the thunderings and they moved away from God. It was a justified fear of God, but it was not a sanctifying fear of God. it was a fear that caused them to flee from God rather than seeking His righteousness. Moses understood that God showed them His power so that they would fear Him and turn from their sin. The Israelites rightly asked for Moses to be a mediator because they had reason to fear God's wrath. When God then spoke with Moses, He talked that their response should be to be holy and to recognize they were not. He gave three areas that they should respond to understanding who He is. First, they should not make gods of gold or silver, because that is not the God that they saw. Second, they should not use any tools on making an altar, because all of their works would be unacceptable to God. Third, they shall not put steps going up to an altar so that their nakedness is not uncovered, because the sin of man needs to be covered. As we start through the Scriptures about God teaching the law to the Israelites, the first laws are all about worship and about the great gulf between God and man which they should have understood as they were crying out, let us be far away from God lest He speaks to us and we die.
We discuss biblical principles for responsible charitable giving, and whether God makes ministries or churches responsible for His work.
As we come to the last of the ten commandments, -you shall not covet- and then some of the different ways we can covet. As we come to the end, it is important to understand that the last commandment in a sense is restating the first commandment, -you shall have no other gods before me.- When we covet, we are manifesting that we put other things before God in our hearts. We need to be satisfied and trust what God is doing for us, to us and with us.
We examine how well Voice of the Martyrs adheres to its own published objectives.--VOM Mission Statement- https---www.persecution.com-about--VOM Statement of Faith- https---www.persecution.com-sof-
As we consider -You shall not bear false witness,- the most significant breaking of this law is in testifying in legal proceedings. That is where God prescribes that you receive the same punishment as would have been received if your perjury had been successful, meaning it could be punished with death. Bearing false witness against your neighbor can be done in many more ways than that. When we use words to tear down others, especially with falsehoods, we are in violation of this commandment. Much of the news media is now focused on breaking this commandment. They seem to enjoy the power to tear people down by declaring people -racists- without the need for evidence. There is a reason why all of the treason and insurrection charges that are made in the media are not adjudicated in courtrooms, because in America there is still some vestige of requiring evidence at trials. When we constantly are immersed in hearing opinions called facts, we should not expect seeking truth in trials to continue. We should ask ourselves when we bear false witness. When do we try to tear people down with our words- The Hebrew doesn't mean just to speak false testimony, it also means to heed false testimony. Do we put up with people saying false things that tear down other people, because they agree with our preconceived notions-
-What the Bible has to say about household industry and productivity. --Home School Conference Recordings https---homeschoolwakeforest.com-homeschool-help-conference-recording--
As we consider -You shall not steal,- we need to think of the many ways that one can steal. It is easy to think of stealing is being about money and material things, but it is far more than that. In the Scriptures there are laws about stealing for more than just money. You can steal authority. You can steal reputation. You can steal people, i.e. kidnapping. You can steal by charging interest when you should not. You can steal from God by making vows and not fulfilling them. You can steal from a new bride by sending her husband away to war or business. You can steal a livelihood by taking tools as a pledge. You can steal by delaying to pay a debt. You can steal by not giving opportunities to the poor to have provision. It is easy to say I am not a thief in the eyes of man, but we should be asking ourselves, where are we thieves in the eyes of God.
Our experience of the difficulties of bringing the Voice of the Martyrs's abuse and fraud to light.--See part 1 and further documentation at- http---persecutingthepersecuted.com-
How our church discovered Voice of the Martyrs funding of child abuse in Nigeria, and how VOM lied to victims and worked to cover up wrong doing. --Find more information and documentation at http---persecutingthepersecuted.com---If you have any questions, or any suggestions on how to help resolve this tragic situation, please contact us at http---theconqueringtruth.com-contact-
As we consider -You shall not commit adultery,- it is important to remember that adultery is just the worst manifestation of this sin. Adultery is the worst form because it is about breaking covenant with someone else and is frequently used in scripture as a picture of breaking covenant with God. When a wife commits adultery, the anger and wrath that her husband would have under the circumstances is a picture of the anger and wrath that God has toward those who claim to be His, but chase after other gods. We should recognize that the category of sin that is expressed as not committing adultery is about not having self control and all of the sins of lacking self control, such as drunkenness and gluttony would fall into this category as well. When we cannot control our love for the world and the things in the world, we are committing adultery against God.
As we consider the sixth command, you shall not murder, we need to consider the fullness of the commandment and not just the most egregious example or we will be like the rich young man that said that he kept all of the commandments. Just as the fifth commandment includes the duty to honor all those to whom honor is due, the sixth commandment includes putting people to death for murder, but not letting their body hang on the tree into the night because that is . It includes not being angry with someone. Not destroying someone's legacy. Not destroying their gender. And we know from Jesus, that it includes not being angry with someone unrighteously. With most of the other commandments, it is straight forward to know if we broke the most obvious case of it, but with this commandment a dead body is not necessarily a breaking of the commandment. If it was done in war, if it was done in self defense, if it was done as an avenger of blood, there are many exceptions where killing someone is not murder, but murder is still supposed to be considered very seriously by the civil magistrate. It is serious enough that something that looks like an accident, is still to be treated as a possible murder. The biblical law is that they are to be considered guilty if they hated the person in time past. God's law puts good constraints on the behavior of sinful men. It is the means for a peaceful society made up of sinful men and women.
How a Christian should think about space exploration.--Bounds of the Dominion Mandate from ICR-https---www.icr.org-article-bounds-dominion-mandate --The Holy Cosmos- The New Religion of Space Exploration-https---www.theatlantic.com-technology-archive-2012-03-the-holy-cosmos-the-new-religion-of-space-exploration-255136-
We now consider, as Paul says, the first commandment with a promise. If as a people, we show honor to our fathers and mothers, our days will be long upon the land. When we think of any of the commandments, we should see the commandment as expressed in the ten commandments as not just restricting the worst manifestation of it, but also the infractions that are not quite as bad. The worst manifestation of dishonor is dishonoring your parents, but it extends beyond there. When we do not give honor to whom honor is due, society begins to collapse and our days are numbered in the land. This is important for us to understand as we are in a culture that has rejected that we are to honor those who are in authority. It shows up in many homes with single mothers that are terrorized by their teenage sons, but it is a bigger problem than that. We hold that rebellion is frequently good which is why we had riots for months last summer. We are a nation that is under judgment by God, because we don't like having authority over us. We need to make certain that we are part of the solution and not part of the problem.
After preaching through Hebrews 4 and before we leave the 4th commandment, it seems worthwhile to consider the communal nature of the commandment and how that applies today. Most of the words spoken by God in giving the commandment about the Sabbath are related to the communal nature and not just how it applies to the individual. What does it look like to not have your sons and daughters work and rest- What does it look like in our day and age not to have our male servants and our female servants work- We don't use cattle for labor, but God even commanded that they be given the day of rest. How should we work to cause the stranger who is within our gates to rest- The church used to be very successful at doing these things. There used to be laws to enforce them. Now most people who go to church don't think that they should keep a day of rest and because of that, we testify that God is like Pharaoh and not the merciful God who He is.
Why we think conservative Christian politics needs to be overhauled--While not referenced in the episode, this quote by R. L. Dabney is very pertinent---It may be inferred again that the present movement for women's rights, will certainly prevail from the history of its only opponent, Northern conservatism. This is a party which never conserves anything. Its history has been that it demurs to each aggression of the progressive party, and aims to save its credit by a respectable amount of growling, but always acquiesces at last in the innovation. What was the resisted novelty of yesterday is to-day one of the accepted principles of conservatism- it is now conservative only in affecting to resist the next innovation, which will to-morrow be forced upon its timidity, and will be succeeded by some third revolution, to be denounced and then adopted in its turn. American conservatism is merely the shadow that follows Radicalism as it moves forward towards perdition. It remains behind it, but never retards it, and always advances near its leader. This pretended salt hath utterly lost its savor- wherewith shall it be salted- Its impotency is not hard, indeed, to explain. It is worthless because it is the conservatism of expediency only, and not of sturdy principle. It intends to risk nothing serious, for the sake of the truth, and has no idea of being guilty of the folly of martyrdom. It always-when about to enter a protest-very blandly informs the wild beast whose path it essays to stop, that its -bark is worse than its bite,- and that it only means to save its manners by enacting its decent r-le of resistance. The only practical purpose which it now subserves in American poli
The idea that the Bible is sharper than any two-edged sword is frequently applied, but in these verses we get the context. After the writer warns us to not be like the Israelites in the desert who refused to go into the Promised Land, we are told to be diligent to make sure that we enter His rest. The core means for that diligence is the Word of God. It is what is able to allow us to see the thoughts and intents of our heart. Our hearts can deceive us and convince us that we are right with God when we are really still refusing to obey. The word of God shines light into the dark recessives of our hearts, so we can understand have we really entered His rest or not. God already knows the account that we will give. The word of God allows us to see, if we are willing, what account we will give. The writer then continues with an exhortation. Christ was tempted in all the same ways. He understood the things that make it difficult to enter His rest, so we can cry out to Him for wisdom and strength for He knows all our needs and struggles. When we deceive ourselves and pretend like we are hiding from Him, we never are. We are always hiding from ourselves and it is always better to know what God thinks of us than to abide in deception.
This week, we continue to consider what is pointed to by the Sabbath, the eternal rest with God. The rest of the promised land was always pointing to the same rest as the seventh day. The rest that can only be accomplished by the work of God and not by our works. Salvation entails stopping thinking that we can achieve rest through our works and instead trusting that God did the work, which is why we still have a Sabbath rest. One aspect of the Sabbath is to testify that there still remains a possibility of rest. When we rest from our labors, we are testifying to the community around us, that there still remains a rest for those who repent and turn to God. But it is not a call to sloth, it is a call to be diligent to make certain that we enter God's rest.
How Christians should think about the fall of a famous religious leader--NOTE- Some links contain explicit details that may not be appropriate for all readers--Full report 2-9-21- https---s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com-rzimmedia.rzim.org-assets-downloads-Report-of-Investigation.pdf--Interim report statement, 12-22-20- https---s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com-rzimmedia.rzim.org-assets-downloads-2020-12-22-LMB-Ltr-to-Special-Cmte.pdf--RZIM Board statement, 12-23-20- https---www.rzim.org-read-rzim-updates-update-from-rzim-board-allegations-against-ravi-zacharias--Article from a RZIM staff member- https---www.christianpost.com-voices-catastrophic-betrayal-the-greatest-apologist-ravi-zacharias.html
Do you want to know what 2020 was all about- Read Exodus for the Biblical framework to understand an odd year.
-Is the government actually stealing from the American public by sending out stimulus checks---NOTE- This was recorded last week before President Biden's inauguration.--Resources to learn about inflation--https---www.youtube.com-watch-v-ah9i3R9pRpg-https---www.youtube.com-watch-v-XNu5ppFZbHo--Contributing to a fund to reduce the debt--https---www.treasurydirect.gov-govt-resources-faq-faq-publicdebt.htm-DebtFinance-
This week, we will consider the third commandment. This is the commandment that is probably twisted most often. Men take a commandment about bringing disgrace and honor to His name and make it just about using His name as a swear word. We should be warned that a far more egregious violation of the third commandment is to say you are a Christian and walk in the love of the world. When we say that salvation doesn't mean that we change, just that we are forgiven through the blood of Christ without being cleansed, we take His name in vain. Do not be deceived, those who are practice righteousness are righteous and those who claim to be Christians, but are not practicing righteousness, God will not hold them guiltless.