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RTS and the Current State of Theological Education

Some of you may have seen this important article over at The Gospel Coalition about the decline and relocation of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) by Collin Hansen, who is a graduate of the school. Reformed Theological Seminary has been friends with TEDS for many years. Over the years, a number of our faculty have done their studies there before coming to RTS, and a number of our graduates have gone on to do doctoral work there. We wish TEDS all the best in this new stage of their institutional life. The last twenty years have been tough for accredited graduate theological education…

Great Peace Have Those Who Love Your Law

If you have your Bibles, turn with me to Psalm 119 again to verse 161 as we come to the second to the last section of this psalm. God willing, on the evening of the 15th, we will complete our journey through Psalm 119. Now if you have Bibles that have headings for each of these sections you have seen an English rendering of the name of the letter of the Hebrew alphabet, perhaps, over each of these sections and for this one you have one that looks like “Sin” or “Shin” – probably better “seen” or “sheen.” That’s the Hebrew letter for “S.” And depending on whether it has a marking over it or not it’s pronounced one way or another. The letter itself sort of looks like the “W” on the side of the helmet that the University of Wisconsin wears, men. …

New Testament Pastors’ Prayer Requests to their…

From these passages we can glean at least eight things we can pray for ministers: Gospel fruit in ministry; dependence on the grace of God in ministry (and not earthly wisdom); boldness and clarity in proclaiming Christ and the Gospel; faith and faithfulness even in suffering for Christ; Gospel opportunities and successes; deliverance from evildoers and persecutors; ministry to be well-received by God’s people; and the joy and refreshment of being with God’s people

Obey Your Leaders

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. We’re going to be looking at verse 17 as we return to our study of this book and its last chapter. If you were going to give a topic heading for Hebrews 13:17-19 it would be, “The Responsibility of the Congregation to Its Spiritual Leaders.” And I think you could outline it in two parts: obey and pray. And we’ll look at the obey verse today, verse 17, and then we’ll look at the pray verses, 18 and 19, Lord willing. I’m really glad that I’m getting to preach this text to you now because it will be apparent that there’s no agenda in it for me. My purpose in preaching this sermon is not to get you to obey me. As the text unfolds, in fact, the reference is not to one person but to…

Ten Principles for Christian Giving (Part 2)

A Continuation of Ten Principles of Christian Giving: Very often people ask or wonder “what are the basic biblical principles for Christian giving?” As we seek God's answer to that question and contemplate our own giving to the Lord's Church in response to the clear teaching of His Word, perhaps it would be wise and helpful to review those principles. First, I would encourage you to read the following passages in the Word of God itself: Matthew 6:1-4; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2…

Pastor’s Perspective November 22, 2013

Last Sunday morning I announced that our church is now debt free. This is a cause for thanksgiving to God and for a little explanation. When I arrived as your pastor back in the summer of 1996, you had just completed the Study Center, and we had significant debt on the books in association with that project. We paid that off in a couple of years, and, as I recall, we were debt free in 1999. Then came Twin Lakes expansions, phase one and phase two, the purchase of houses and property adjacent to…

What is the Gospel?

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to the gospel of John. We’re taking a break from our series in the book of Hebrews to look at the Gospel – what is the Gospel? There are wonderful summarizing statements of the Gospel all through the New Testament; there is none more familiar, more beloved, or clearer than this one. This passage comes in the middle of a conversation between Jesus and one of the most learned teachers in all of Israel, a man named Nicodemus,…

The Sum of Your Word is Truth

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Psalm 119, verses 153 to 160. And you note, in the very opening words of this portion of Psalm 119 that the psalmist again is dealing with his own affliction and is crying out to God. How often we encounter this theme in the psalms. And so we should not be discouraged when we encounter affliction in our trials in this life. The psalmist himself knows this affliction. And I would say that this whole section is about how the…

Live Life as a Sacrifice of Praise

If you have your Bibles, I’d invite you to turn with me to Hebrews chapter 13. We’re going to be looking at verses 15 and 16 today. As we have worked our way through the book of Hebrews together, we have seen the theme repeated that we should continue to trust in Jesus. William Hendriksen says that the exhortation and argument of the whole book can be summarized this way: “Jesus is worthy of your faith. Have faith in Him and do not fall away.” Now the way we’ve been putting…

With My Whole Heart I Cry

Well we’re back in Psalm 119. You may have forgotten; I did! We were working on the sermon schedule and somebody said – I think it was Sean, he said, “Well Ligon, you need to finish the last four sections of Psalm 119.” I said, “I’ve already finished Psalm 119.” He said, “No you haven’t!” And I looked back and he was right! I hadn’t finished Psalm 119! And so we worked it into the schedule and I’m delighted that we have because this is a great psalm and…