Message: “Advent – Hope” from Matt Warren

Matt Warren - December 1, 2019

Advent - Hope

Advent - Hope from Titus

From Series: "Advent 2019"

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By Grove Admin|2019-12-03T11:14:25-06:00December 3rd, 2019|Comments Off

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The Church Is Essential for Discipleship

J. T. English, Kyle Worley, and Jen Wilkin discuss the critical role of effective discipleship within the local church. [...]

Spark Your Child’s Curiosity About Christianity

Champ Thornton captures the feeling of opening up the knowledge and wonder of an encyclopedia—except with jokes, recipes, secret codes, and a lot of grace and inspiration as well. [...]

Rome Is Not Our Home: Live Counterculturally During Election Season

Just as the sack of Rome didn’t mean the end of God’s purposes nor the church’s fall, so a particular political party’s success isn’t ultimately important but only relatively important. [...]

Why We Preachers Need Sermon Feedback

If preachers want to continually refine our craft, we should build formal sermon feedback into our schedules. Here’s how we do it in our church—and why I’m so grateful for it. [...]

Your Child (Probably) Needs Less Therapy Than You Think

‘Bad Therapy’ encourages a critical examination of our culture’s approach to the therapeutic so that church leaders can better understand and respond to the world’s demands. [...]

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

How do we know if we’re looking at a good kid or a regenerate kid? The one thing we know for sure is that time will tell. The post Give Them Time: How to Protect the Assuring Nature of a Child’s Baptism appeared first on 9Marks. [...]

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. [...]

Four Benefits of Inviting Evaluation of Your Preaching

In “swapping sermons” with fellow pastors, I have discovered four benefits. The post Four Benefits of Inviting Evaluation of Your Preaching appeared first on 9Marks. [...]

Does Your Church Have an Evangelist?

When churches invest time, prayer, resources, and finances into reaching the lost, God loves to bless those efforts with fruit. The post Does Your Church Have an Evangelist? appeared first on 9Marks. [...]

Making the Ordinances Meaningful: Spurgeon on Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

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 [...]

Building a Culture of Evangelism

How did Spurgeon mobilize his church for evangelism? How can we build a culture of evangelism in our churches? In one of his lectures to his pastoral students, entitled “How to Induce our People to Win Souls,” Spurgeon gives three basic principles for building a culture of evangelism: Patience, Pastoring, and Prayer. [...]

Principles from Spurgeon’s Sermon Prep Process

Spurgeon did not intend this description of his sermon prep process to be prescriptive for his students. Indeed, he recognized that his process was influenced by his unique circumstances and abilities. While he was glad to share his approach, each preacher must figure out what works best for him. Still, from Spurgeon’s description, we can learn at least a few wise principles. [...]

Mortification of Spin Releases Its 500th Episode

Back in 2013, Carl Trueman and Todd Pruitt launched Mortification of Spin, sharing a microphone in a small underground bunker, shooting the breeze as the British like to say. Their first episode, "Rock Star Pastors in Las Vegas," aired February 8, 2013, and received 502 plays. Some of their early guests included Steve Nichols, Derek Thomas, and author Simonetta Carr, the force behind another Alliance podcast Kids Talk Church History. All these years later, Carl and Todd no longer share a mic, but they're still going strong, celebrating their 500th first-run episode and over 2.8 million plays! Joining them for [...]

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)

(To read these posts in order from the beginning, start here.)Read Hosea 2:15-23 Last time, we stepped into the wilderness to discover that in the Bible, the wilderness is often a harsh and dangerous place God uses to test and refine his people. It is also a place where he provides sanctuary and allows his people to encounter him in powerful ways. Today, were going to go back in time a bit to when Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. Remember the scene? [...]

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! [...]

Reformed Covenant Theology: A Systematic Introduction

Life in the present world waiting on the world to come raises questions for God’s people about how to relate to our God well. The covenant of grace’s substance in redemptive history’s every era is that God will be God to us in Christ, but we still need a way to experience those heavenly blessings… [...]

On Barth’s Romans Commentary with Mark Gignilliat

Why was Karl Barth’s commentary on Romans so disruptive? This seminal work is still marked by its profound impact on the German liberal theological tradition. His commentary emerged in the shadow of the Great War, but more fully reflected a crisis in his own pastoral ministry where traditional theological frameworks seemed inadequate. Dr. Mark S.… Download Audio [...]

Why I’m a Baptist – Gavin Ortlund

In this video, Gavin Ortlund shares three reasons why he is a Baptist Christian: credobaptism, congregationalism, and the separation of church and state. [...]

Simon J. Kistemaker 2024 Lecture “The University’s Embrace” – Lewis Ayres

Professor Lewis Ayres delivered this year’s Kistemaker Lectures at RTS Orlando entitled, “How Should We Think? On the Place of Christian Theology in Seminary and University.” Here is the first of these four lectures, where Ayres explores the differences between pre-modern and modern universities and their impact on seminaries and Christian Theology. Image: Pixelbay Tama66 [...]

Michael Horton will deliver the 2024 Lecture for The Center for Classical Theology

We are pleased to announce that Michael Horton will deliver the Annual Lecture for The Center for Classical Theology in San Diego, CA on November 19, 2024 (the evening before ETS). His lecture is titled, “If Reformed, then catholic: Revisiting sola scriptura.” Registration is now open here. Michael Horton is the J. Gresham Machen Professor… [...]

Baptist & Reflector
Christianity Today Magazine
alliebethstuckey.com
Christian History
Alisa Childers - Blog

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BEACH REACH FUELS STUDENT EVANGELISM

By Morgan Owen BCM Campus Minister, University of Tennessee-MartinIn recent years, campus ministers at Baptist Campus Ministries across Tennessee have placed greater emphasis on participating in Beach Reach over the spring break holiday. Beach Reach is a unique ministry in Panama City Beach, Fla., that utilizes simple acts of kindness to share the gospel with […] The post BEACH REACH FUELS STUDENT EVANGELISM appeared first on Baptist & Reflector. [...]

MINISTRY ASSISTANTS: PROVIDING EXCELLENCE ON A DAILY BASIS

By Lonnie WilkeyEditor, Baptist & ReflectorEditor’s note: Administrative Professionals Day is being observed on April 24. Take time to thank your church secretary/ministry assistant in a tangible way on this day. Their contributions are invaluable to our churches. SEVIERVILLE — Church secretaries/ministry assistants make invaluable contributions “behind the scenes,” affirmed Julia Binford, president of the […] The post MINISTRY ASSISTANTS: PROVIDING EXCELLENCE ON A DAILY BASIS appeared first on Baptist & Reflector. [...]

ONLY JESUS DESERVES THE ‘G.O.A.T.’ TITLE

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SEVIERVILLE PASTOR DAN SPENCER TO BE NOMINATED FOR SBC PRESIDENT

By Lonnie WilkeyEditor, Baptist & ReflectorSEYMOUR — Dan Spencer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, has become the sixth nominee for the presidency of the Southern Baptist Convention at the 2024 SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis. Chris Kendall, senior pastor of Oak City Baptist Church, Seymour, informed the Baptist and Reflector on April 11 […] The post SEVIERVILLE PASTOR DAN SPENCER TO BE NOMINATED FOR SBC PRESIDENT appeared first on Baptist & Reflector. [...]

Biblical Literacy in a Postliterate Age

We must always be people of the Word, but we’ll have to reimagine deep engagement with Scripture. Christians are readers. We are “people of the book.” We own personal Bibles, translated into our mother tongues, and read them daily. Picture “quiet time” and you’ll see a table, a cup of coffee, and a Bible spread open to dog-eared, highlighted, annotated pages. For Christians, daily Bible reading is the minimum standard for the life of faith. What kind of Christian, some of us may think, doesn’t meet this low bar? This vision of our faith resonates for many. It certainly describes [...]

‘Bluey’: A Heavenly Vision of Life Together

The popular kids’ series reminds parents that playfulness is next to godliness. When my oldest daughter, Elaine, was four, I watched her chase a soap bubble around the yard, utterly spellbound, and it struck me as a tiny window into how God must have felt as he watched Adam and Eve encounter each of the animals in Eden. Likewise, when I discovered that my youngest, Olivia, had held a full conversation with me while cutting our kitten’s whiskers under the table, I felt attuned with God’s anger when he flung his judgments at Israel through the prophets. These kinds of [...]

You Can’t Reach People for Christ While Holding Their Culture at Arm’s Length

A veteran missiologist shares a lifetime of lessons on bringing the gospel into unfamiliar settings. In an important new book, missiologist Darrell Whiteman tells a revealing story about a missionary who had been preaching in a particular community. Without realizing it, the missionary gave offense by wearing expensive shoes in a place where people couldn’t afford shoes of any type. For Whiteman, this anecdote illustrates how much missionaries need to learn—and how many presumptions they might need to abandon—in order to bring the gospel to people in other cultures. Whiteman’s book Crossing Cultures with the Gospel: Anthropological Wisdom for Effective [...]

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Studies find that while less than a third of Americans trust church leaders, 90 percent of Filipinos do. While less than a third of Americans rate clergy as highly honest and ethical, across the globe in the Philippines, 91 percent of the public trusts religious leaders, according to EON Group’s 2021 Philippine Trust Index. Respondents of the survey ranked pastors as the most trusted leaders in Filipino society, compared to a Gallup poll that found clergy in the US ranked lower than 10 other professions, including chiropractors and police officers. “When people outside of church find out I’m a pastor, [...]

Ep 820 | Did Satan Tell ‘Elliot’ Page to Transition? | Guest: Lauren Chen

Listen on Apple Podcasts Watch on YouTube Watch or Listen on BlazeTV Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey: Today we’re joined by Lauren Chen, host of BlazeTV’s “Pseudo Intellectual,” to talk movies, pop culture, and news. First, we talk about movies and TV and how the approach to censoring humor has changed since the shows like “The Office” […] The post Ep 820 | Did Satan Tell ‘Elliot’ Page to Transition? | Guest: Lauren Chen appeared first on alliebethstuckey.com. [...]

Ep 819 | Jen Hatmaker Commemorates Her Divorce from Evangelicalism

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Ep 818 | How LGBTQ Became Our State Religion | Guest: Auron MacIntyre

Listen on Apple Podcasts Watch on YouTube Watch or Listen on BlazeTV Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey: Today we’re joined by Auron MacIntyre, BlazeTV host of “The Auron MacIntyre Show,” to discuss why the Right isn’t winning and the “Total State” takeover of the religion of LGBTQ. We discuss the rainbow brigade’s insistence on exposing […] The post Ep 818 | How LGBTQ Became Our State Religion | Guest: Auron MacIntyre appeared first on alliebethstuckey.com. [...]

Ep 817 | Parenting Influencers Go All-In on Pride Propaganda

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Ep 816 | Reliving the Trauma of Sharing a Locker Room with ‘Lia’ Thomas | Guest: Riley Gaines

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Ten Things You (Probably) Don’t Know About C. S. Lewis

Unusual facts and common misunderstandings that take your knowledge beyond Narnia. [...]

John Calvin: Justice Is a Form of Worship

According to the Reformer, pursuing the good of others is a way to love God. [...]

An Unsung Inspiration for the Protestant Reformation: the Ethiopian Church

For the Reformers, renewing the church was a Pentecost moment tied to the global body of Christ. [...]

Juneteenth Was an Answer to Centuries of Prayer

African Americans asked the Lord for liberation for years. They still do. [...]

The Synod of Dort Was Protestantism’s Biggest Debate

Why Arminians and Reformers squared off 400 years ago. [...]