Why Tim Keller (and Alistair Begg) are Wrong About Christian Winsomeness (Ep. 154 Audio)

Tim Keller spent his life arguing that through winsomeness we can get people to accept the gospel. If the world sees Christians as good and kind, then the world would see the goodness of God and come to faith. He argued that if we are kind and thoughtful, then people will want to hear the gospel from us. And here’s the thing: if all you are talking about is what the life and conduct of a Christian should look like, there are lots of situations where we would agree with him. But that’s exactly why we take issue with the position. As we say early in the episode, there is no “balance” between being offensive and being pleasant. Our obedience to Christ requires different things of us at different times, and we aren’t responsible for how the world responds to that obedience.

And while Tim Keller died in 2023, this issue is something that the church has always struggled with and will continue to as long as there is sin in the world. In fact, in the last few weeks of January, Alistair Begg has been in the news for an issue that is fundamentally the same. In an interview from September 2023, Begg recounted how he was asked by a grandmother if she should attend the wedding of her grandson whose partner was transgender. Begg’s repsonse was that as long as her grandson understands that her belief in Jesus makes it such that she can’t countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life that she should attend the wedding and buy him a wedding gift. His response was rightly criticized by many other pastors and Christian leaders. But the result has been a number of questions and discussions about where we should draw the line and how Christians should apply the principles and requirements of Christianity and the gospel to many different situations.

In this episode, we try to frame the topic in way that allows us to think about the issue more clearly. “Balance” and “kindness” can often be misleading, because “balance” suggests that we should be trying to find some middle ground that can only be determined by looking at the world’s response to our life and not to God’s expectations of us. And “kindness” causes us to misdefine what the word truly means as all kind actions aren’t necessarily pleasant and agreeable (like waking someone up in the middle of the night to tell them that their house is on fire.). Please join us as we discuss this important topic.


Note: In this episode we misattribute a quote to Francis of Assisi, “Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.” While the quote is frequently used to make the point we reference in the article, we were wrong about who said it.

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts – Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

How to Pray with Zeal (Ep. 152 Audio)

Prayer is essential for the Christian life. But if we think about it incorrectly, we may never understand how to pray with zeal. We are better equipped to pray when we properly understand God’s authority and our proper relationship with him. Because God created man to glorify Him, and saved His people to do His work in the world and to labor for His name, our zeal in prayer is tied very tightly to our zeal for God himself and for the work He has called us to do.

In this episode, we share, with as much detail as possible, how God has helped us to pray more deeply. We discuss how he answered prayers, with examples of where He said both yes and no, and how He taught us to respond in those cases. We also try to provide examples regarding how we discerned what God was saying, and try to demystify some of the aspects of prayer that plague the church today (No, God doesn’t speak to us in an audible voice). Like we said at the very beginning, prayer is essential for the Christian life. But we need to be able to think properly about prayer so we can understand it. Prayer is a real form of communication between us and the Almighty. It should humble us greatly that such a thing is even possible, but it should also make us desire to be earnest and full of zeal in our prayers. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts – Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

Why Dispensationalism is Wrong (Ep. 151 Audio)

Dispensationalism is one of the most popular views of eschatology (the “end times”) in American evangelical churches, particularly among Southern Baptists where it has been estimated that over 80% of Southern Baptist churches hold to some form of dispensational eschatology. And in case you’ve never heard the term dispensationalism, you’ve probably heard of the “rapture”, which is most commonly associated with the dispensational framework.

But what is interesting about dispensationalism is that many people who believe in the pre-tribulation rapture of the church, know very little about the theology of dispensationalism. And this matters a great deal, because dispensationalism is not primarily about eschatology, but is a way of viewing all of scripture, and for attempting to explain how God is working out his will in the world and ultimately glorifying himself. The result is that even many dispensational teachers, no longer understand the theology that undergirds their teaching.

In this episode, we want to discuss the fundamental problems with dispensational theology and to contrast that system with covenant theology. Theology matters a great deal. How we think about God, his purposes, and his means and methods of glorifying himself shapes how we interpret all of scripture. It matters greatly where you start in defining your theology. Do you start with man or do you start with God?

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts – Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

How God Created Men and Women Different (Ep. 150 Audio)

Our world is very confused about the roles of men and women and this is particularly true in the United States and even in our more conservative churches. And while there is a lot of complexity in this topic, there are some basic scriptural commands and decrees of God that help frame the issue.

In this episode we want to discuss how God created men and women to be different and how God is glorified through those differences. While both are created in God’s image and are equal in Christ, God made their roles to demonstrate the relationship between Christ and the church, to show the nature of the gospel, and to glorify his name and nature.
Men and woman are not the same and anyone who tries to pretend that they are is fighting against God. God says it in the beginning and again throughout scripture: “Man is not made from woman, but woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for the man.” Scripture also declares plainly that man is the head of woman. These are true sayings and the fact that our society has labored so hard to make them offensive should confirm for us what Paul taught us: that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The church of Jesus Christ must not be ashamed of the truth of God’s word. Our families, our churches, our communities, and our nations are suffering because we allow such awful lies to be spoken and celebrated while we fear to proclaim the truth. May the church repent and may God be glorified. Please join us as we discuss this topic.

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts – Dan Horn, Jonathan Sides, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

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