MARSCAST

In our last episode our faculty spent time discussing the biblical backdrop to the question of being "outward-facing,", and they started talking about this idea of “contextualization” at the end. What a great thing to explore a little bit before looking more concretely at how pastors, elders, and church leaders can take concrete steps in helping churches to have this “outward” focus. First of all: “contextualization.” It’s a word that we can hear a lot, it can sometimes be a buzz word, and yet it’s a word that has some real value for what we’re thinking about here. Joining once again around the table are Rev. Andrew Compton, Dr. J. Mark Beach, and Dr. Alan Strange.

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy chapter 4, "Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching." Something that has been a strength in Reformed churches is this focus on teaching – this focus on the public reading of Scripture, of exhortation – and yet, what can happen is that, often, we will focus so much on this that we detach it from the bigger picture of Scripture. Think of how it even relates to God's commission to Abraham in Genesis 12: "The LORD said to Abram, 'Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.'" Our Faculty on this Round Table podcast are talking about Outreach (part 1 of 3). Paul's instruction to Timothy (1 Tim. 4) is a good one, and yet it is ultimately in service to these very things in the blessing of Abraham, where all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Using that as a launchpad for our Faculty to join in, you'll hear in speaking order Rev. Mark Vander Hart (Prof of OT Studies), Dr. Alan Strange (Prof. of Apologetics and Church History), Rev. Andrew Compton (Prof. of OT Studies), and Dr. J. Mark Beach, Prof. of Doctrinal Studies).

It is our pleasure to bring to you this special episode outside of our regular cycle of discussions with our Faculty. This past month we had 2nd and 3rd-year students arrive on campus before the second semester officially kicked off to take an intensive interim class. There's a new class offered each year, and this January happened to be one on Advanced Preaching, specifically on "Communicating God's Voice in Our Weakness." It's a class that seeks to teach advanced principles for communicating God's word with a primary focus upon the preached sermon. Here to elaborate more on that, and joining us here on campus to teach this interim class, is Rev. Greg Bylsma, an alumnus of 2005, and pastor of Living Water Reformed Church in Brantford, Ontario.

We've been talking a lot about Natural Law in the past two episodes, and we've seen some of the limits of how some might appeal to Natural Law as though it would somehow be a silver bullet that would get everyone on the same page morally. Some of course would then respond and say "Well it's simple, we've got the Bible. Let's use the Bible to enact all of our laws here in North America or some other country." Let's have our professors respond to this. Joining us once again are Dr. Alan Strange, Rev. Andrew Compton, Dr. J. Mark Beach, and Dr. Marcus Mininger.

Part 1 of Natural Law introduced the subject matter, but now we want to understand a little bit more about it, particularly how it functions in society. Once more at the Table in speaking order are Dr. Alan Strange, Dr. J. Mark Beach, and Rev. Andrew Compton.

Well, you've heard the Professors of Mid-America discuss justification, systematic theology, preaching, and the Puritans. Now they're here to talk about this topic of "Natural Law." What is natural law, what are people saying about it, how has the church talked about it, what is its value? A lot of people wonder, they hear this terminology used but apart from specialists and people who are engaged in a lot of theological studies, but people don't necessarily understand what natural law is. So, we hope to explore this topic a bit, understand what the Reformation has said about natural law, and how we've traditionally approached it. Coming together in order of speaking appearance are Dr. J. Mark Beach, Rev. Andrew Compton, Dr. Alan Strange, and Dr. Marcus Mininger.

Addressing the Puritans once again in speaking order are Professor of Church History, Dr. Alan Strange, Professor of Doctrinal Studies, Dr. J. Mark Beach, Old Testament Professor, Rev. Andrew Compton, and President of Mid-America & Professor of Doctrinal Studies, Dr. Cornelis Venema.

There has been a “revival” of Puritans in the half-century. What should we know about Puritans so as to understand better their value for the church in the 21st century? Let's make room for Faculty of Mid-America to help us out here. You'll hear in speaking order Professor of Church History Dr. Alan Strange, Old Testament Professor Rev. Andrew Compton, President of the Seminary and Professor of Doctrinal Studies Dr. Cornelis Venema,and our other Professor of Doctrinal Studies, Dr. J. Mark Beach.

In this particular podcast episode, we wanted our professors to discuss specifically what it means to teach “the whole counsel of God,” to preach sound doctrine, to be diligent in season and out of season. In continental churches, specifically Dutch Reformed churches, you'll notice the practice of “catechetical” preaching. But many engage in some form of doctrinal preaching, or confessional preaching. And so we want to spend some time discussing that, and seeing its value for the churches, hopefully clearing up some confusions as well. But specifically, as it relates to catechetical preaching, or confessional preaching, there's probably a lingering question that those unfamiliar with this practice may have: “Don't we preach Scripture?” “What's this all about?”

We spoke last time about the importance of preaching, covering a range of topics there, but we thought it would be useful to dig down a little deeper into specifically what is entailed in preaching exegetical sermons, or biblical sermons. Of course, preachers want to preach the Bible, they're not interested in preaching the phone book, or preaching a new novel. But how do preachers go about doing that? What do people need to hear from preachers, how do they prepare, and how do our professors prepare men here at the Seminary to be exegetical and biblical preachers? Revs. Andrew Compton, Mark Vander Hart, and Drs. Mark Beach and Alan Strange join together once more to answer these questions.