MARSCAST

We’re rounding out our series on Reformed and Presbyterian Confessions today, which started way back with the Belgic Confession. Our Dutch Reformed brethren tackled the Three Forms of Unity, with Dr. Alan Strange and Dr. Marcus Mininger reflecting on the Westminster Standards, wrapping up today with some thoughts on the Westminster Catechisms.

Back with us on the podcast today is Dr. Alan Strange and Dr. Marcus Mininger to open up and explore the *content* of the Westminster Confession of Faith, one of the documents crafted at the Westminster Assembly in the 17th century.

We’re going to move away from Continental Europe and into English territory to Westminster Abbey, where we find the creation of the Westminster Standards in Presbyterian circles. On the podcast today is Dr. Alan Strange and Dr. Marcus Mininger to talk a little bit about the background of one of these documents, the Westminster Confession of Faith.

In our final installment of the Three Forms of Unity, Rev. Mark Vander Hart, Dr. Cornelis Venema, and Dr. J. Mark Beach look at the Canons of Dort, no doubt a difficult confessional document to understand. Good thing our professors are here to help us out.

“What is your only comfort in life and in death?”  “That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”  Thus begins a beautiful conversation between teacher and catechumen on guilt, grace, and gratitude. This is the Heidelberg Catechism, a remarkable confession that we find in the Three Forms of Unity. Once again, Rev. Mark Vander Hart, Dr. Cornelis Venema, and Dr. J. Mark Beach offer some great insight into this historical document. 

If you’ve been in the Reformed camp long enough the month of October should ring a bell for you. Not because of witches and ghouls and pumpkin carving, but something that holds much more significance for our lives as Christians - Protestant and Reformed Christians, specifically. And that’s the season of Reformation, beginning with the epochal work of Martin Luther and his nailing of the 95 theses on the church doors of Wittenberg in response to the selling of indulgences by the Catholic Church. Of course, as we know, it didn’t end there: The Reformation continued, and a variety of documents were written reflecting the theological confessions of the Reformers. Rev. Mark Vander Hart, Dr. Cornelis Venema, and Dr. J. Mark Beach (3 of our Reformed professors) sit down to discuss a selection of these documents known as the Three Forms of Unity, beginning with the earliest of these: the Belgic Confession.

Today we wrap up our series on Christ-Centered Preaching from the Faculty with Rev. Mark Vander Hart bringing us a word from Matthew 2:1-15, a message detailing the flight of Christ as a child to Egypt with his parents as a part of his journey to the cross.

In our continuing series on Christ-Centered Preaching from the Faculty, Dr. Venema brings us a word from Ephesians 2:1-10, perhaps one of the most (as Calvin put it) concise summations of the gospel. His message is titled, “For We Are God’s Poem” and was originally given at Zion United Reformed Church in Ripon, California. May you be blessed by this message.

Continuing our lineup of Christ-Centered Preaching from the Faculty at Mid-America, Rev. Andrew Compton, Professor of Old Testament, brings to us a message from the book of Proverbs titled “Do Not Walk in the Way With Them," a sermon about the enticement of sinners and how Christ enables us to avoid them.

No doubt we would all agree on the importance of Christ-Centered sermons: Christ and him crucified, the good news of salvation, preached through all of Scripture. Over the past many years, our professors have labored in preaching Christ and the gospel in various churches all throughout the U.S. and Canada, but even here on the campus of Mid-America during the Seminary’s time of chapel. Some of these chapel messages are being compiled into a book currently in the works, so it’s our pleasure to give you a sneak peek and showcase a couple of these sermons for you. First up is Dr. J. Mark Beach with a word from the book of Judges and the story of Samson.