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RTS 2024 Generosity Report

Many of our Reformed Theological Seminary friends and supporters have probably been receiving the RTS 2024 Generosity Report that was just recently mailed out. It is a testimony to God’s generous provision and to the faithful, sacrificial giving of thousands of our partners. We give thanks for what the Lord has supplied, what he has enabled us to do, and indeed what he has given us the privilege to do for him, for the church, this last year. Below are just a few of the highlights. In 2024, RTS donors contributed $12.9 million to RTS, supporting 2,038 students, and enabling them to take…

Loving Those Who Don’t Love You

The Lord's Day Morning September 27, 2009 Luke 6: 27-36 “Loving Those Who Don't Love You” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you’ll remember throughout Luke chapter 6, from the time Jesus called twelve disciples to follow Him, He is clearly sending the signal that He is creating the people of God anew. And just like Moses gathered twelve tribes and Joshua led twelve tribes into the Promised Land, so also Jesus has twelve disciples in this new Israel that He is bringing about. As we looked at the Beatitudes these last few weeks, we saw that Jesus was saying that one difference between His disciples, His followers, and the world, is that His disciples value something different than the world values. They treasure something different than the world treasures. They worship something…

What True Happiness Looks Like, and What Looks Like…

The Lord's Day Morning September 20, 2009 Luke 6:20-26 “What True Happiness Looks Like, and What Looks Like True Happiness, But Isn't” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6 as we continue to work our way through this gospel and as we double back to a very important passage in Luke. It's from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins with four words of blessing and four words of warning and woe. This is Luke's truncated version of the Beatitudes. It begins with four blessings and follows with four words of woe and warning. And if you look at the blessings and the warnings in parallel, you learn a little bit about what Jesus is exactly getting at, because the blessings are mirrored exactly in the…

Blessed or Cursed? Weal or Woe

The Lord's Day Morning September 13, 2009 Luke 6:20-26 “Blessed or Cursed? Weal or Woe” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles I would invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6. We’re going to look at verses 20 to 26 today as we continue to work our way through this Gospel together. Last Lord's Day we looked at verses 12 to 23 and we said that in part, what Jesus was doing as He introduced the Beatitudes, these surprising words of blessing, because the kinds of things He lists in the category of blessedness are not the kinds of things we normally associate with blessedness: poverty, hunger, weeping, friendlessness, persecution. How can these things be blessed? And last Lord's Day we said in part, what Jesus is doing, is He is preparing His disciples for what…

Poor, Hungry, Weeping, Hated Rejectedand Blessed!

The Lord's Day Morning September 6, 2009 Luke 6:12-23 “Poor, Hungry, Weeping, Hated, Rejected…and Blessed!” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6. We continue now our study in the Gospel of Luke that we began a number of months ago. We left off in Luke 6:1-11, a passage in which the Lord Jesus is teaching us about the Lord's Day, and today we pick up in a passage in Luke 6:12, in which Jesus is gathering His larger circle of…

Elijah: Every deam lost. Every dream fulfilled.

The Lord's Day Morning August 23, 2009 1 Kings 19; 2 Kings 2:1-14 “Elijah: Every Dream Lost. Every Dream Fulfilled.” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III The Anthem: – “He that shall endure to the end.” (Elijah) …..Mendelssohn Amen. You have no idea how true those words are or how applicable they are to the life of Elijah and to the message we are going to consider this morning. If you have your Bibles, I'd ask you to turn with me to first Kings, first Kings chapter 19. This year is…

Lord of the Sabbath

The Lord's Day Morning May 31, 2009 Luke 6:1-11 “Lord of the Sabbath” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III Turn with me to Luke 6, as we continue our way through the Gospel of Luke. This is a passage in which one of the familiar encounters between Jesus and the Pharisees occurs. Over and over in the Gospels we find places where the Pharisees criticize Jesus’ and the disciples’ practice of the observance of the Sabbath Day. You know that the Sabbath command was a distinctive mark and sign of…

He Came for Sinners

The Lord's Day Morning May 24, 2009 Luke 5:27-39 “He Came for Sinners” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III Amen. If you have your Bible, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke 5:27-39, as we continue our way through the Gospel of Luke. The story that we're going to read this morning is all of a piece. It presses to one great point, but I want you to see three parts in it before we read it so that you can appreciate what Luke is laying out for you under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The…

Healing and Forgiving

The Lord's Day Morning May 17, 2009 Baptism Sunday Luke 5:12-26 “Healing and Forgiving” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III Dr. Duncan: As we prepare to worship, let me invite you to take your hymnals in hand and turn to No. 34. Our opening hymn is going to be The God of Abraham Praise, and it's a perfect hymn for Baptism Sunday because it reminds us of the covenant of grace made with Abraham, which the Apostle Paul says is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And so it's perfect for a service in…

How Jesus Makes Disciples

The Lord's Day Morning May 10, 2009 Luke 5:1-11 “How Jesus Makes Disciples” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III Amen. If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 5. As we continue to work our way through this Gospel, let me remind you that the last time we were with the Lord Jesus in this Gospel, at the end of Luke 4, Jesus was preaching in Galilee and in Judea and was proclaiming the kingdom of God. We talked about what that meant for His proclamation to be about the…