Are Megachurches Dangerous? (Ep. 276)

In the last fifty years, megachurches have become commonplace and are an accepted model of church even in Reformed circles (in the sense that people plant churches with the intent of rapidly growing into a megachurch). But in Christianity, the details always matter, and while God has at times caused churches to grow very quickly, this does not mean it is good to plan to create a large church.

In this episode, we want to examine the trade-offs that come with large churches. Even in cases where God causes the church to grow rapidly, there are difficulties that must be dealt with. God has specific things to say about his church, why he created it, and what he expects it to accomplish. Megachurches, particularly those that are intentionally created by men, are rarely well-suited to accomplishing these goals. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

Thumbnail image by CC BY-NC 2,0 by ad.hermann on Flickr

Timecodes

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

Are Megachurches Dangerous? (Ep. 276 Audio)

In the last fifty years, megachurches have become commonplace and are an accepted model of church even in Reformed circles (in the sense that people plant churches with the intent of rapidly growing into a megachurch). But in Christianity, the details always matter, and while God has at times caused churches to grow very quickly, this does not mean it is good to plan to create a large church.

In this episode, we want to examine the trade-offs that come with large churches. Even in cases where God causes the church to grow rapidly, there are difficulties that must be dealt with. God has specific things to say about his church, why he created it, and what he expects it to accomplish. Megachurches, particularly those that are intentionally created by men, are rarely well-suited to accomplishing these goals. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

Thumbnail image by CC BY-NC 2,0 by ad.hermann on Flickr

Timecodes

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

How Evil Leaders Use Power to Terrorize Victims (Ep. 275)

Why is it that leaders can be guilty of injustice and oppression for years, only to be finally removed from office or publicly disgraced when a sexual scandal breaks? Why do men like Bill Gothard or Joe Biden spend years openly using their authority and forcing women and children to endure their violations of intimacy through unwanted touches or closeness, and it is accepted? How do we solve these types of problems? How can we protect not just our sons and daughters, but how can we change our culture so such evil is not permitted?
In this episode, we want to ask what God’s word says about authority and oppression. We know that God says all authorities are appointed by Him, but does that mean we just have to put up with evil leaders? God forbid! But often, as Christians, we forget that God has appointed multiple authorities – not just the church and home, but even other officers in the same government or other levels of government.

God cares greatly about oppression, but at times, it seems as if the church does not. We need to change that. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

Timecodes

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

How Evil Leaders Use Power to Terrorize Victims (Ep. 275 Audio)

Why is it that leaders can be guilty of injustice and oppression for years, only to be finally removed from office or publicly disgraced when a sexual scandal breaks? Why do men like Bill Gothard or Joe Biden spend years openly using their authority and forcing women and children to endure their violations of intimacy through unwanted touches or closeness, and it is accepted? How do we solve these types of problems? How can we protect not just our sons and daughters, but how can we change our culture so such evil is not permitted?

In this episode, we want to ask what God’s word says about authority and oppression. We know that God says all authorities are appointed by Him, but does that mean we just have to put up with evil leaders? God forbid! But often, as Christians, we forget that God has appointed multiple authorities – not just the church and home, but even other officers in the same government or other levels of government.

God cares greatly about oppression, but at times, it seems as if the church does not. We need to change that. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

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

Why Does God Decree Suffering? A Reformed Baptist Perspective (Ep. 273)

We’re starting with a fundamental question this episode: Why did God choose to create a world that would come to be filled with suffering? When human tragedy strikes, skeptics often cite the “problem of evil” to challenge God’s goodness or His sovereignty. But even worse, rather than confronting these questions with the absolute authority of Scripture, many modern churches hide or distort the truth in favor of a comfortable, man-centered theology that strips God of His holy justice and sovereign purpose.
In this episode, we want to discuss how Christians should biblically respond to the existence of suffering and how we can understand God’s attitude toward suffering. We’ll discuss everything from how man tries to sit in judgment of God, to examining how God does not just use suffering but divinely appoints it according to His good pleasure.
Understanding the biblical view of suffering is essential for every believer seeking to stand firm in a broken world. Rather than viewing adversity as a defeat for the Christian faith, Scripture reveals that theology drives the world and that God’s sovereign hand orders all things for His glory and the good of His people. God desires His church to trust in His uncompromised Word, finding true comfort and hope not in human sentimentality, but in Him as the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. Please join us as we discuss this very misunderstood topic.

Timecodes
00:00:00 Spiritual Mind
00:11:37 Judging God
00:19:39 Doing vs Allowing Evil
00:23:01 Questioning God
00:31:14 God Means it for Good
00:54:53 Suffering Pushing Towards Salvation
00:58:43 A Consequence of Sin

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

Why Does God Decree Suffering? A Reformed Baptist Perspective (Ep. 273 Audio)

We’re starting with a fundamental question this episode: Why did God choose to create a world that would come to be filled with suffering? When human tragedy strikes, skeptics often cite the “problem of evil” to challenge God’s goodness or His sovereignty. But even worse, rather than confronting these questions with the absolute authority of Scripture, many modern churches hide or distort the truth in favor of a comfortable, man-centered theology that strips God of His holy justice and sovereign purpose.
In this episode, we want to discuss how Christians should biblically respond to the existence of suffering and how we can understand God’s attitude toward suffering. We’ll discuss everything from how man tries to sit in judgment of God, to examining how God does not just use suffering but divinely appoints it according to His good pleasure.
Understanding the biblical view of suffering is essential for every believer seeking to stand firm in a broken world. Rather than viewing adversity as a defeat for the Christian faith, Scripture reveals that theology drives the world and that God’s sovereign hand orders all things for His glory and the good of His people. God desires His church to trust in His uncompromised Word, finding true comfort and hope not in human sentimentality, but in Him as the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth. Please join us as we discuss this very misunderstood topic.

Timecodes
00:00:00 Spiritual Mind
00:11:37 Judging God
00:19:39 Doing vs Allowing Evil
00:23:01 Questioning God
00:31:14 God Means it for Good
00:54:53 Suffering Pushing Towards Salvation
00:58:43 A Consequence of Sin

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

Why Complementarianism Can’t Save the Christian Family (Ep. 272 Audio)

Patriarchy gets associated with everything that liberal Christianity and modern American culture hates about a biblically ordered home. Because of this, many Christians have abandoned the term patriarchy and replaced it with complementarianism. And the problem with this is that in practice, complementarianism often obscures the purpose of the home and the authority that God bestows on a husband and father. By focusing on “roles” it is used by many to turn the wife from her husband’s helpmeet into a one-woman bureaucracy who operates on her own authority to carry out her own desires, provided they do not directly conflict with what her husband cares about. The husband goes from being a leader to a tie-breaker in extreme cases. Part of the reason for this is that many Christians find authority to be offensive. The idea that a husband should tell his wife what to do is shocking to many, but it is a biblical concept. Please join us as we discuss this issue that is so fundamental to the home.

Thumbnail image by Mohamed_hassan on Pixelbay

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

Why Complementarianism Can’t Save the Christian Family (Ep. 272)

Patriarchy gets associated with everything that liberal Christianity and modern American culture hates about a biblically ordered home. Because of this, many Christians have abandoned the term patriarchy and replaced it with complementarianism. And the problem with this is that in practice, complementarianism often obscures the purpose of the home and the authority that God bestows on a husband and father. By focusing on “roles” it is used by many to turn the wife from her husband’s helpmeet into a one-woman bureaucracy who operates on her own authority to carry out her own desires, provided they do not directly conflict with what her husband cares about. The husband goes from being a leader to a tie-breaker in extreme cases. Part of the reason for this is that many Christians find authority to be offensive. The idea that a husband should tell his wife what to do is shocking to many, but it is a biblical concept. Please join us as we discuss this issue that is so fundamental to the home.

Thumbnail image by Mohamed_hassan on Pixelbay

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

Why Everybody Hates Authority (And Why God Created It) (Ep. 271)

Many people think bad thoughts when they hear the word “authority”. This is partly because the nature and heart of fallen man is to desire his own way, which leads him to fight against what an authority tells him to do. But authority was created by God for good. Without authority, the world falls into even greater evil. And while the unbeliever doesn’t want to be told what to do, many authorities are unbelievers as well, and in their rebellion against God, they resist doing what God appointed them to do as authorities. This is true in families, in the church, and in the state. God appointed authorities for good; therefore, it is necessary that authorities remember what they were appointed to do.

In many ways, authority is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the world today, and because of confusion in the church, it sometimes seems that the world, blind as it is, understands authority better than those who call themselves Christians.

In this episode, we try to explain why each authority was appointed by God, and to better understand their purpose in the world. When fathers and mothers understand why they were appointed, the household becomes a more meaningful place. When elders and teachers and every member of the body understand how the church was put together by God, we can better serve the one who bought us. When presidents and legislators and judges and police officers understand why God has put them in their place, the city or state or nation grows in righteousness. Authority is good, and God made it for our good and for His glory. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

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

Why Everybody Hates Authority (And Why God Created It) (Ep. 271 Audio)

Many people think bad thoughts when they hear the word “authority”. This is partly because the nature and heart of fallen man is to desire his own way, which leads him to fight against what an authority tells him to do. But authority was created by God for good. Without authority, the world falls into even greater evil. And while the unbeliever doesn’t want to be told what to do, many authorities are unbelievers as well, and in their rebellion against God, they resist doing what God appointed them to do as authorities. This is true in families, in the church, and in the state. God appointed authorities for good; therefore, it is necessary that authorities remember what they were appointed to do.

In many ways, authority is one of the most misunderstood concepts in the world today, and because of confusion in the church, it sometimes seems that the world, blind as it is, understands authority better than those who call themselves Christians.

In this episode, we try to explain why each authority was appointed by God, and to better understand their purpose in the world. When fathers and mothers understand why they were appointed, the household becomes a more meaningful place. When elders and teachers and every member of the body understand how the church was put together by God, we can better serve the one who bought us. When presidents and legislators and judges and police officers understand why God has put them in their place, the city or state or nation grows in righteousness. Authority is good, and God made it for our good and for His glory. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

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