Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Providence Is A Wonderful Thing

Just when I was thinking about looking into a way of posting audio files on my blog I happen to visit the Captain's blog and find this BOX thingy in his sidebar. So I went ahead and stole it and put it on my sidebar. It's a neat little widget that actually lets me upload audio files that can then be played from my blog. I put up three sermons from my pastor in St. Louis, Scott Churnock. He is one of the best expositors of Scripture I have ever heard and I think more people need to hear him. Don't worry, he does not visit my blog so there is no danger of him getting a big head. There is a 10mb limit so I had to pick sermons less than that, which is no mean feat when one is sifting through sermons by a reformed pastor. If anyone is interested he just finished sermon 95 and is just finishing Romans 8 and I have them all. I will gladly provide an itunes link for any who are interested.

10 comments:

00 said...

Glad that I was able to encourage you :-)

I'd love to have the link...I think that my biggest complaint about the state of preaching in many churches today is that instead of the focus being on the Word, it seems more and more often that the focus is on something like "The 3 Secrets to a Great Marriage" of "The 5 Keys to Leadership" where scripture is only used to support the speaker's points. Don't get me wrong, I don't see anything wrong with a "practical sermon" every now and then....but shouldn't the MAJORITY of teaching during a church meeting be about the WORD, and not someone's pet idea?

00 said...

I have a question about reformed theology, and I thought that you would be a good person to ask. Does reformed theology teach (or do most people who consider themselves reformed) that a person can be a Christian, yet not reformed? What I mean is, is it possibly for someone to be part of the elect, yet possibly not believe in reformed theology? Do most of those in the reformed camp regarding Arminians as true brothers and sisters in Christ who just have bad doctrine, or are they regarded as not even Christians? In my mind these are all basically the same question, though I realize that for someone who is reformed, you might see these as completely different questions. I've been reading up a little bit on Calvinism (pros and cons...I think that it's good to get both sides), but I didn't run across anything that said whether or not reformed theology requires someone who is honestly saved (part of the elect) to believe in reformed theology themselves. I tend to think no, b/c I imagine that at the moment God saves some, they have little knowledge of doctrine or theology.

Alan said...

Rhea,
R. C. Sproul, a famous reformed theologian, was once asked "Is it possible for an Arminian to go to heaven?" he replied "Only until they get there." It is an arrogant answer but it puts into perspective our belief. Yes Christians who are not reformed can go to heaven. We all are in a state of becoming sanctified and until that is complete we, none of us, have a flawless knowledge. So, believe it or not, some of us reformed will even admit we may actually be wrong from time to time. That was facetious, the problem we have most often today is that most non-reformed do not know how to differentiate between a Hyper-Calvinists and Calvinists, a topic for another day.

I would like to say I appreciate your honest inquiry as well. Let me know if this was helpful and if I can answer any more questions I would be happy to.

In Christ
Alan

00 said...

Alan,
Your response was very helpful. Could you explain a bit the difference between hyper-Calvinists and Calvinists, or could you point me to a good website that explains the differences?

Alan said...

Rhea,
Sure, here are some links that I hope will help. If you desire more information let me know.:

http://www.founders.org/FJ24/sidebar2.html

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/HyperArmin.html

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/hyper_vs_historic.html

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/John316.html

http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/what-is-hyper-calvinism

Alan said...

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/
onsite/HyperArmin.html

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/
onsite/hyper_vs_historic.html

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/
onsite/John316.html

http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/
what-is-hyper-calvinism

Sorry, you may have to copy and paste these.

Anonymous said...

Alan,
I wish I could donate to your education, but unfortunately I cannot. I know how expensive it is in California, my companies home office is in Escondido about 5 minutes away. When you go, I will contact you and maybe we can hook up for lunch or something.

Blessings,

Gage Browning
Post Tenebras Lux

Alan said...

Gage,
That would be great! I can't wait to get there. I will contact you when we move.

In Christ
Alan

00 said...

Alan,
Thanks for all the links. I've heard of that Monergism site before....it's getting a little late for me, but tomorrow I hope to dive on in and learn a little more about reformed theology and Calvinism. Thanks for all your help.

Anonymous said...

Providential, indeed! I'd forgotten that I had that widget waiting to be used, and just noticed it on my dashboard and decided to see what I could do with it. Glad it motivated you to post your pastor's sermons! I'll be checking them out. If they're that great, have you suggested to him to post them at SermonAudio.com?

My pastor fears posting his sermons online, too, out of fear of the appearance of self-promotion. How good of you to do it on his behalf. I think that's a good attitude for a pastor to have. Not that I disrespect those who do, for it is a very real need for hungry Reformed sheep.