Message: “Ekklesia” from Matt Warren

Matt Warren - September 8, 2019

Ekklesia

From Series: "Ekklesia"

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Book Review: The Church, by Erin Wheeler

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Four Reasons to Preach the Psalms as a Book

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Give Them Time: How to Protect the Assuring Nature of a Child’s Baptism

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Four Ways God Used a Church Fire for Good

On November 1, 2022, our church building burned down. Not one part was salvageable. The fire swept through the attic at astonishing speed. Not a single notepad or paper clip … keep reading… The post Four Ways God Used a Church Fire for Good appeared first on 9Marks. [...]

Visible Grace in Disagreements

Does the tone of your disagreements sound more like the intercessions of Jesus or the accusations of Satan? The post Visible Grace in Disagreements appeared first on 9Marks. [...]

Spurgeon on the Marks of a Missionary

One of The Pastors’ College’s proudest achievements was the increasing number of missionaries sent out internationally. However, Spurgeon did not forget that there was much work still to be done at home. Speaking to the Baptist British and Irish Home Missionary Society in 1870, Spurgeon sought to encourage all Christians to engage in the work of home missions. But what are the qualities of an ideal missionary? Spurgeon listed five qualities: ability to teach, willingness to toil, prayerfulness, compassion, and sacrifice. To the missionary of any rank, aspiring, current, or retired, these are encouragements from Spurgeon to lift you up [...]

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As Spurgeon pastored the largest evangelical congregation in the 19th century, he understood the importance of baptism and the Lord’s Supper for their identity as a church. Rather than downplaying or individualizing them, he elevated their importance and incorporated them into their life as a church. What might Spurgeon have to say to church leaders today about making the ordinances more meaningful in the life of the church? [...]

Susannah Spurgeon: A Faithful Wife

Susannah Spurgeon experienced both tremendous joys and agonizing suffering throughout her life, but the legacy she left behind testifies to her ultimate hope in the Lord and her undying faithfulness to her husband. She lived a life of service and devotion to God and her husband, and was ever his constant encourager and source of both incredible joy and comfort. Thought she was often incredibly ill and spent many years as an invalid, she remained steadfast in trusting the Lord and His sovereign plan in all things and sought to serve both in her own home and church body. Mrs. [...]

Keep Up the Prayer Meeting Pt. 1

The congregational prayer meeting was a key component of Spurgeon’s ministry. He believed that prayer meetings were “at the very secret source of power with God and with men.” Apart from earnest, consistent prayer, a congregation should have little hope that God would use and bless their ministry. Spurgeon always gave thought and planning to the prayer meetings at the Tabernacle. He once said to his students, “Do not go walking into the prayer-meeting, as so many do, to say anything or nothing that may occur to you at the moment; but do your best to make the meeting interesting [...]

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Mortification of Spin Releases Its 500th Episode

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Listen to the podcasts on the Alliance YouTube Channel

Did you know the Alliance Podcast Network is now available on YouTube? You can listen to any of the Alliance podcasts on any device, including your Smart TV, media player, game console, phone, tablet, or computer. Additionally, you will find Alliance events, interviews, updates, and more on the channel. To subscribe, please visit youtube.com/@Alliance-Video and be sure to turn on notifications. On April 10 we will sharing a special video episode of Mortification of Spin—you won’t want to miss it! Continue reading The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you. [...]

The Holy Spirit with Robert Letham

Join us for the first Gap Bible Seminar of the spring semester, April 12-13, in Gap, PA. Robert Letham will teach four sessions on the Holy Spirit and His work in the Bible and today. Robert is a Presbyterian minister with twenty-five years of pastoral experience. He was formerly a professor of Systematic and Historical Theology and now serves as a senior research fellow at the Union School of Theology in the UK. He is also an associate professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a fellow in History and Theology at Greystone Theological Institute. He has written many books, [...]

Do you enjoy listening to sermons by solid, Reformed preachers?

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals has a rich treasury of sermons from throughout our 75-year history. We want these messages to have maximum impact on the Church. One of our key goals is to construct a reliable and searchable database that is easily accessible to our supporters and listeners. To that end, we are looking for volunteers to help us accomplish this project. Alliance Allies will listen to sermons, complete a simple review form, and return the form digitally or in a postage-paid envelope. That’s all there is to it! You get to listen to excellent messages from James Boice, [...]

Walking in the Old Paths

Jeremiah 6:16 says, “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it." The messages from the 1993 Philadelphia Conference on Reformed Theology look at the “old paths” – what they must mean to us now and with a concern for our present responsibilities. Re-released with eight newly discovered messages from the pre-conference and conference workshops—this special 30th-anniversary set will surely bless your time as you listen. The PCRT 1993 Anthology includes 15 messages from John Armstrong, James Boice, John Gerstner, Phillip Jensen, Roger Nicole, and J.I. Packer—see the [...]

Door of Hope (Hosea Study #7)

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I Will Allure Her and Bring Her Into the Wilderness (Hosea Study #6)

(To read these posts in order from the beginning, start here.)Read Hosea 2:14Long before God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, he had another son, Ishmael. God had promised Abram and Sarai a son, and when he didn’t move fast enough for them, they took matters into their own hands. Sarai gave her handmaid Hagar to Abram as a wife and things didn’t turn out so well. Sarai became jealous of Hagar and dealt harshly with her. So, Hagar escaped into the wi [...]

Hedge My Way With Thorns (Hosea Study #5)

(To read these posts in order from the beginning, start here.)Read Hosea 2:1-13In America, committed Christians are now a “worldview minority” in an increasingly anti-Christian culture. Israel was not just a worldview minority in their surrounding culture but was a tiny speck on the map of a rapidly expanding and violent Assyrian Empire. They were also surrounded by the polytheism and Baalism of the Canaanite culture. But they were called to worship and depend on Y [...]

No, Martin Luther Was Not a Deconstructionist

This article is in response to this piece from The Gospel Coalition. As a past TGC contributor, as an act of good faith, I did express my concerns directly to TGC before posting my article here. **Update** The Gospel Coalition was gracious to publish a condensed version of my article on their site. No, Martin Luther Was Not a Deconstructionist. And neither was Jesus. Many years ago, my Christian beliefs were challenged intellectually by a progressive Christian pastor. It t [...]

Mercy Me... (Hosea Study #4)

(To read these posts in order from the beginning, start here.)Read Hosea 1:8-11More than a thousand years before Hosea, there lived a nomadic farmer who was out in the middle of nowhere minding his own business when God started speaking to him. And what God said wasn’t easy. God put Abraham through a grueling test of faith by asking him to slaughter his only son on an altar of wood. This was set to take place at a location that would eventually become the site of the first Israelite te [...]

You Are Built Up In Christ

Paul’s letter to the Colossians, along with Paul’s letters to the Ephesians and Philemon, was apparently written during Paul’s first imprisonment. If this is the case, the most likely date is around 60-62 A.D. Moreover, Paul’s letter to the Colossians covers much of the same material and uses many of the same themes as his letter to the Ephesians. [...]

Relationship To Jesus Christ & His Body

Paul's letter to the Colossians, along with Paul's letters to the Ephesians and Philemon, was apparently written during Paul's first imprisonment. If this is the case, the most likely date is around 60-62 A.D. Moreover, Paul's letter to the Colossians covers much of the same material and uses many of the same themes as his letter to the Ephesians. [...]

Christian or American

On a wintry day in 1618 Rene Descartes rejected tradition, the church, and the Bible as the source for authority. In his famous conclusion “I think, therefore I am,” he revolutionized the quest for authority. Following Descartes declaration, a new day was sprung. It was called “the enlightenment.”Deeply influenced by enlightenment thought, John Lock provided the world as well as the American colon [...]

Divisions In The Church

Divisions in the church are nothing new; they are as old as the church itself. Unfortunately, we “protestants” are the worst! [...]

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How Classical Theism Has Shaped My Life

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New Credo Podcast! Whatever Happened to Contemplation? Zena Hitz

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Door of Hope (Hosea Study #7)

I Will Allure Her and Bring Her Into the Wilderness (Hosea Study #6)