The Whole Counsel

The idea that revival requires special means, special speakers, and special meetings, is often sourced in good intentions, but it comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of God’s work. When God chooses to draw close in revival, He uses the ordinary means of grace. But He seems to give an incredible and extraordinary fruit to that ordinary means. Does this mean special meetings and extra time set aside for prayer are bad or dishonoring the Christ? Absolutely not. Those may be called for. But we must understand those things will not obligate God to bring revival, far from it. However, they may be a result of God giving a special desire to see Him draw near or after He reveals a particular need we need to cry out for. A recent article by Jeremy Walker on revival: https://banneroftruth.org/uk/resources/articles/2023/holy-fomo/ Books we found helpful in this series: The Fulfilling of the Scripture by Robert Flemming Physical Copy: https://www.amazon.com/fulfilling-scripture-discovery-accomplishment-corrected/dp/1171131968 Revival by Richard Owen Roberts https://www.amazon.com/dp/0842355758?tag=heartcrymissi-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0842355758&adid=1MA5N1HT46X3WABGS4EM Revival: A People Saturated with God by Brian Edwards https://www.amazon.com/Revival-people-saturated-Brian-Edwards/dp/1846256437 Revival of Religion https://www.amazon.com/Revival-Religion-Addresses-Evangelical-Delivered/dp/0851514359 Lectures on Revival by William Sprague https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/theology-books/lectures-on-revivals/ Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

After introducing our new series last week, John and Teddy are diving deeper into the topic of revival. This week they focus on a biblical understanding of revival. Attached to a historical understanding of revival, we also must seek to study the means and results of revival. One helpful definition comes to us from Richard Owen Roberts. He defines revival as, “...an unusual manifestation of the power of the grace of God in convincing and converting careless sinners, and in quickening and increasing the faith and piety of believers.” In the most succinct summary of this episode, we can say that revival is God drawing near, through the ordinary means of grace, in an unusual way. The means are not unusual. But the nearness of God is. And it is His nearness that both makes revival possible and makes us desire it. A recent article by Jeremy Walker on revival: https://banneroftruth.org/uk/resources/articles/2023/holy-fomo/ Helpful books we found for this series: The Fulfilling of the Scripture by Robert Flemming Physical Copy: https://www.amazon.com/fulfilling-scripture-discovery-accomplishment-corrected/dp/1171131968 Revival by Richard Owen Roberts https://www.amazon.com/dp/0842355758?tag=heartcrymissi-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0842355758&adid=1MA5N1HT46X3WABGS4EM Revival: A People Saturated with God by Brian Edwards https://www.amazon.com/Revival-people-saturated-Brian-Edwards/dp/1846256437 Revival of Religion https://www.amazon.com/Revival-Religion-Addresses-Evangelical-Delivered/dp/0851514359 Lectures on Revival by William Sprague https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/theology-books/lectures-on-revivals/ Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

There was a time when revival was the study and focus of careful theologians. Sadly that changed around the middle of the 19th century. Since then, careful writers have allowed the theological ground of revival to become fallow. In recent years, the study of this mysterious reality has become a more common focus of reading and request of prayer. Because of this growing desire for revival, we are going to spend the next several episodes discussing the biblical signs and fruits of revival, along with how we are to respond when we hear reports of God visiting a particular place with revival. In this initial conversation, John Snyder and Teddy James share some helpful works from the past and what we can do now to prepare our souls for the manifest presence of God in our midst. Books mentioned in the episode (in order of appearance): The Fulfilling of the Scripture by Robert Flemming Physical Copy: https://www.amazon.com/fulfilling-scripture-discovery-accomplishment-corrected/dp/1171131968 Revival by Richard Owen Roberts https://www.amazon.com/dp/0842355758?tag=heartcrymissi-20&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as4&creativeASIN=0842355758&adid=1MA5N1HT46X3WABGS4EM Revival: A People Saturated with God by Brian Edwards https://www.amazon.com/Revival-people-saturated-Brian-Edwards/dp/1846256437 Revival of Religion https://www.amazon.com/Revival-Religion-Addresses-Evangelical-Delivered/dp/0851514359 Lectures on Revival by William Sprague https://banneroftruth.org/us/store/theology-books/lectures-on-revivals/ Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

At this time 10 years ago we had just released our flagship study, Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically. To celebrate a decade of the Lord’s blessing on this study, we are releasing the complete interviews from the project. Some men sat down with us for slightly over 30 minutes. Richard Owen Roberts gave us nearly two hours of his time. Because we have such a wealth of answers from him, we are presenting to you part two of our interview with him. During this segment, we ask him questions regarding the use of Scripture to gain a clear understanding of Christ and our holiness, and how we can pursue holiness in our day. To see previous installments of 10 Years of Rethinking God Biblically: Anthony Mathenia, Pt 1: https://youtu.be/vRtl2F9pWJs Anthony Mathenia, Pt 2: https://youtu.be/kiE_RCBmKiE Effion Evans: https://youtu.be/1xo0MsKkncY Andrew Davies: https://youtu.be/FWygnPMbvcY Richard Owen Roberts, pt 1: https://youtu.be/5a6KJyo_TRo Paul Washer, pt. 1: https://youtu.be/ZPEESWW3cHc Conrad Mbewe, pt. 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnrBAXxpvZQ

This week we are continuing our celebration of 10 years of Rethinking God Biblically. Ten years ago now we had just released our flagship study, Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically. John had personally met with and been encouraged by the ministries of every contributor to the study, except one. Conrad Mbewe had been recommended to John. After investigating his ministry, John was grateful that Anthony Mathenia had pointed him in Conrad’s direction. If you are unfamiliar with Conrad Mbewe, we highly suggest you look into his ministry. Several have called him the Charles Spurgeon of Africa, and we believe that to be an apt description. Conrad pastors a church, writes for numerous papers and magazines, and leads a seminary. You can keep up with his ministry efforts here: http://www.conradmbewe.com. To see previous installments of 10 Years of Rethinking God Biblically: Anthony Mathenia, Pt 1: https://youtu.be/vRtl2F9pWJs Anthony Mathenia, Pt 2: https://youtu.be/kiE_RCBmKiE Effion Evans: https://youtu.be/1xo0MsKkncY Andrew Davies: https://youtu.be/FWygnPMbvcY Richard Owen Roberts, pt 1: https://youtu.be/5a6KJyo_TRo Paul Washer, pt. 1: https://youtu.be/ZPEESWW3cHc

Our flagship study, Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically has been released for over a decade. In that time, we have been indescribably happy to see the Lord choose to use this study in so many ways across so many lands. We never could have imagined it going as far as it has. One reason we thought it would be a small study was because so few of our contributors had recognizable names. The only person with any considerable following was Paul Washer. Paul had been a friend to us for many years before we made this study, but when the opportunity came we knew we could trust him to speak truthfully and boldly. We are grateful he took time out of his schedule to speak with us. As with other interviews, Paul’s is longer than our typical podcast length. So we will release part two and part three of his interview in the coming months. To see previous installments of 10 Years of Rethinking God Biblically: Anthony Mathenia, Pt 1: https://youtu.be/vRtl2F9pWJs Anthony Mathenia, Pt 2: https://youtu.be/kiE_RCBmKiE Effion Evans: https://youtu.be/1xo0MsKkncY Andrew Davies: https://youtu.be/FWygnPMbvcY Richard Owen Roberts, pt 1: https://youtu.be/5a6KJyo_TRo Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

We have spent the last few weeks walking through principles to help us in how we can get the most out of our reading. In this episode, we share discussions we have had with friends of ours across the Christian publishing industry. In the first section, we are with David Woolin, CEO of Reformation Heritage Books. While they publish several books we highly appreciate, David points us to some works recently published and books that will soon be released. Second, we talk with Scott Brown, president of Church and Family Life. He recently wrote a book to help parents guide their children in worshipping God. Lastly, we have a zoom call with Jeff Johnson, pastor of Grace Bible Church, founder of Grace Bible Theological Seminary, and president of Free Grace Press. We have found his latest book on the Sovereignty of God to be of particular help and he joined us on the show on the show to talk about it. Reformation Heritage Books: https://heritagebooks.org The Works of William Perkins - https://heritagebooks.org/Search.html#/Search.html?search=William+perkins The Christian’s Reasonable Service by Wilhelmus A Brakel - https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/the-christians-reasonable-service-4-volumes-brakel.html?_ga=2.226146527.439500687.1674682252-1007712609.1674682252 Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible - https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/matthew-henry-complete/ Come and Welcome to Jesus Christ by John Bunyan - https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/come-and-welcome-to-jesus-christ-puritan-paperbacks-bunyan.html War and Grace by Don Stephens - https://www.heritagebooks.org/products/war-and-grace-short-stories-from-the-world-wars-stephens.html Church and Family Life: https://churchandfamilylife.com The Family at Church: How Parents are Tour Guides for Joy by Scott Brown - https://churchandfamilylife.com/products/60d2164f47738a0534abf64b Free Grace Press: https://freegracepress.com The Sovereignty of God by Jeffrey Johnson - https://freegracepress.com/products/the-sovereignty-of-god?_pos=1&_sid=9b8aba062&_ss=r A Choice Drop of Honey from the Rock of Christ by Thomas Wilcox - https://freegracepress.com/products/a-choice-drop-of-honey-from-the-rock-of-christ?_pos=1&_sid=181ac8b44&_ss=r Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Today we are releasing a new podcast that will be published every quarter. We named this new series Navigating the Classics because we want to spend time focusing on those classic works of Christianity that many find intimidating or antiquated. For our inaugural episode, John Snyder is joined by Whole Counsel regular guest Steve Crampton and his son Jamie to discuss Athanasius' On the Incarnation of Christ. To read the book and C. S. Lewis' introduction online: http://www.onthewing.org/user/Athanasius%20-%20On%20the%20Incarnation.pdf To purchase the book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/673655.On_the_Incarnation   You can also listen and watch this podcast on the Media Gratiae app:  https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

Last week we republished a discussion between John Snyder and Jeremy Walker on the first five of six principles to keep in mind if you want to get the most benefit of reading careful books this year. In this week’s episode, John and Jeremy both select six books that exemplify their approach to a balanced reading diet. Check out Jeremy's podcasts: The Heart of Spurgeon: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon/id1546109129 A Word in Season: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW0xuCgknPDN2f0LSE4JiVmtrZtB6zsib Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-word-in-season-with-jeremy-walker/id1511364782 Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app

With the start of the new year, we wanted to revisit John Snyder's conversation with Jeremy Walker back in 2021 about six principles to reading well. We make through five of the principles in this episode. Next week we’ll return to give our final principle and a list of books to help get you started in this year’s reading. Check out Jeremy's podcasts: The Heart of Spurgeon: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/from-the-heart-of-spurgeon/id1546109129 A Word in Season: YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW0xuCgknPDN2f0LSE4JiVmtrZtB6zsib Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-word-in-season-with-jeremy-walker/id1511364782 Want to listen to The Whole Counsel on the go? Subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast app: https://www.mediagratiae.org/podcasts You can get The Whole Counsel a day early on the Media Gratiae App: https://subsplash.com/mediagratiae/app