Before Jesus Christ ascended to heaven, he promised to send his Holy Spirit to teach us and guide us. But how does the Holy Spirit accomplish his ministry? How can we know if we are being led by the Holy Spirit?

In this episode we want to walk through what scripture teaches about the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit. While theHoly Spirit is God and is therefore above our ability to completely understand, scripture teaches us that his ministry and leading can be understood. Because the Holy Spirit was sent by the Father and the Son and in their authority, he never comes with His own words, but teaches us and guides us to and through the Truth of God’s Word. The Holy Spirit also came to make men Holy, to break the bondage and power of sin and to guide them to works of righteousness.

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

Charles Finney was both an avid proponent of revivalism and a relentless enemy of Reformed doctrine in the early American Church. Finney himself was a product of revivalism, professing faith in his late 20s at an emotional revival service. Finney quickly dedicated himself to the ministry, and began studying for his ordination as a Presbyterian minister.

Despite his studies, Finney claims that at his ordination he was ignorant of the doctrines contained in the Westminster Confession and catechism, asserting in his memoirs that when questioned, he stated that he, “received it for substance of doctrine, so far as I understood it. But I spoke in a way that plainly implied, I think, that I did not pretend to know much about it.” Later, when he did study the confession and catechism he claimed to reject much of what it said. According to Finney and others, he openly preached against Reformed soteriology, arguing against it whenever it was spoken of in his presence.

When he was 43, Penny was appointed as Professor of Theology at Oberlin College. Two years later he became the minister of the church there, and fifteen years later still, he was officially appointed president of the college.

In this episode we want to focus on the influence that Finney had over American society and culture through his preaching and through the realization of his vision for Christianity through Oberlin College. Throughout its history Oberlin has been instrumental in influencing American culture and Society, occasionally for the good, but many times and in many ways for great evil. Because Finney’s theology exalted man, the fruit of his ministry has been humanistic in nature. The idea that through social justice and fervent effort that man can by his own strength create heaven on Earth is an idea that traces back directly to Finney and while there were others certainly who shared his ideals and even who shaped him to some extent, Finney was in many ways the source and indefatigable champion of these views. Please join us as we examine the life and influence of Charles Finney and understand what Paul proclaimed: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

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

Many churches have mortgages or are seriously considering getting one. Sadly, it is shocking how many Christians (and particularly, pastors) do not believe the Bible when it says, “The borrower is a slave to the lender”. We like to make rationalizations and say that slavery has been abolished, and that it’s just a financial obligation that can be ended at any time, but those are just lies. The warning about slavery IS a warning about the financial obligation. Also, Psalm 37:21 says, “The wicked borrows and does not repay” and we should understand exactly what this says about the obligation that debt puts upon us. And while we published an episode on debt and slavery earlier this year, in this episode we want to focus specifically on churches and why the Bible teaches that it is a sin for the church to become a slave.

In this episode, we discuss how a local church body going into debt teaches a false gospel. God is the church’s husband and like any good husband, he does not fail to meet the needs of his beloved. Additionally, the gospel is the proclamation of how God bought the church out of slavery and into the freedom of his covenant and household; what could be more rebellious than the wife he purchased returning to her slavery because her husband will not give her what she claims she needs? We also spend some time discussing how a church should think about their time and resources and how the lure of a mortgage tempts them to focus on the wrong things. Lastly, we discuss what a church with a mortgage should do and what repentance might look like. Our prayer is that the church would take these issues seriously. The actions of the church are always moral actions and should depict the heart of a loving bride who trusts fully in her beloved. Please join us as we discuss this important issue.

Previous episode on debt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36WZF8ZZFKY

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

The Bible has a lot to say about food, and from the beginning, we can see how food was related to sin, to sacrifices, and to the worship of God. There were also the food laws of Israel, which are frequently misunderstood. But through all of this, the Bible never teaches that a person’s health is tied to the food they eat. And this matters a great deal, because this is a common false teaching, even among the orthodox.

But the Bible does talk about health. It has to, because life and death are moral, spiritual issues. We understand this because anything to do with whether someone lives or dies will always be a moral topic because we understand that death exists because of sin and so we know that health issues must tie back to sin being in the world.

In this episode, we want to talk about what God’s word says about food and how we can please him with what we eat. In American culture, there is a lot of talk about eating healthy and frequently it is a power issue. Wives pressure their husbands to eat in certain ways. The US government has a food pyramid that is trying to tell people how they should eat. Doctors tell people how they should eat, but they find they have such little power, they frequently don’t even bother even when there is actual scientific evidence behind their conclusions. The more health care is nationalized, the more government asserts its right to dictate what you eat. With all the manipulation about food, how should we relate food and health and what does God’s word teach us about all these things.

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

If you watched the Republican National Convention this year, you may have noticed that there was a lot of emphasis on religion. Hopefully, you also noticed that none of it was pleasing to God.
One of the dangers of living in a formerly Christian culture that is rapidly decaying is that you can begin to think there are no more lines to be crossed, that there is a good political side and a bad political side and it’s obvious who Christians should stand with. But this view isn’t supported by Scripture, There comes a point where the “good political party” is corrupt as well and their idolatry excludes joining with them. We want to argue that we’ve come to that place.

In this episode, we discuss the pluralism and idolatry of the Republican Party and how its embracing of homosexuality and accepting that abortion is not murder show their lack of interest in retaining God in their knowledge. And Romans 1 is critical here because it tells us in this passage that refusing to retain the knowledge of God is what keeps us from falling into abject depravity. And this is where the Republican party is headed. So this is directed to believers who are in denial. Do you understand that the wrath of God is against them? If you go among them, it must be to call them to repentance, not to clap for their candidates and their policies. And if you join with them, you should expect God’s judgment to be upon you as well. This is where you will see if you have faith. 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

In Hebrews 11, the Bible states plainly that faith requires understanding that the visible world is controlled by the invisible:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

With that in mind, what does walking by faith look like?

In this episode we want to talk about what faith in an invisible, sovereign God looks like. How does faith in the invisible God cause our day to be structured? How do we think about things like sickness and trials, current events and global politics, and the role of the church in the world? When Christians do not believe in the invisible, we become like pagans who fear the world instead of fearing God and turn to worshipping the creature rather than the creator. Christians on the other hand, realize that there are unseen forces in the world, but that they are all controlled by the hand of the sovereign God. Because of this, we are able to fear no one but God, and to serve him directly. This is what it means to walk by faith. Please join us as we discuss this very 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

Suicide has historically been a crime. This is true for many reasons, but one prevalent one is that it is difficult. If not impossible, to argue from the natural world that men own themselves. Everything about the world testifies to man’s dependence, his inability to create himself, provide for himself, or to exist without dependence upon others. We are born from our parents, totally dependent in so many ways and we end our lives in a similar state. From a scriptural perspective this is even more true as God says clearly that the world and all that is in it belongs to him. We are created for his good pleasure and have no claim to life or freedom apart from him.

In this episode, we want to start with the topic of suicide and move from there to discuss the fact that God owns our lives and that all men, whether they acknowledge God or not, know that they do not own themselves. We also discuss the difference between suicide and sacrifice and walk through some of the suicides and deaths in scripture and discuss how and why each of the different men died and whether they murdered themselves (ultimately out of pride) or sacrificed themselves for worthy reasons.

Suicide is serious and God treats it as self-murder. We should also treat it seriously and describe it as God sees it. 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

CORRECTION: After publishing this episode it was brought to our attention that we included some incorrect information about the Schofield Bible. We said that the first edition of the Schofield Bible had dates for when prophecies would be fulfilled, that were removed in the second edition because those dates were past. This was mistaken as dates were not included in the Schofield Bible. We apologize for the error, and are removing it from the Youtube version. – Joshua Horn

Most people don’t know the history of dispensationalism. While many are familiar with the name John Nelson Darby and many more are familiar with C. I. Scofield (or at least with the Scofield Bible), very few know much about their lives, their actions,and their involvement with the creation of the doctrine. But it is a story worth knowing. And while a biblical view’s origin isn’t the most important thing to know about it, it should never be dismissed out of hand and should be considered.

Dispensationalism has, in many ways, always been driven by the headlines, as it arose in the wake of the French Revolution, and developed in the emotional and even mystical response to the impact the fall of the French monarchy had upon the world. So, in this episode, we want to look at the origins and history of dispensationalism, how it started, what was going on in the world, and what were the claims made by those who had a hand in founding it. Please join us as we discuss this fascinating historical 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

Most churches in America have at least some form of church membership. But here’s the question we want to ask and it’s a little bit loaded: Do you take church membership as seriously as you should? The obvious, easy answer is, “No”, but it’s worth actually thinking about. How well do you understand why church membership exists? What is its purpose? What does Jesus Christ desire to accomplish by it? And from the answers to those questions: How should we change the way we think about it and practice it so that we please our Lord and Savior?

In this episode we want to deal with the shape and substance of church membership. Why is it biblical when we don’t explicitly see it in the early church? And why do the Reformed generally insist on associating it with a covenant? From there we want to talk about what the church does in the world, how it is the light and salt of the earth as well as Christ’s body and how church membership both allows and accentuates those aspects of the church, but also how without it, it hinders the ministry of the church.

Church membership may seems like a small thing, but in many ways, it is like the skeletal system of the church, with the people being parts of muscles and organs, and the bones, ligaments and tendons joining them together so that real work can be done and so that protection is offered to the many delicate members of the body. Without church membership, the body becomes this shapeless thing, full of the same potential but unable to move or to achieve its purposes. There’s more to of it course, and God uses more than just the analogy of a body. He also compares the church to a building, to a sheep fold, to a legislative body, to a city, and to other things as well. But in each of these examples, membership is a key part of that arrangement, and it is more than just belonging. Membership lets us know our place in God’s world, and that is a very important thing all by itself. It’s a shame to the church that we think so little of it. Please join us as we discuss this very 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

If you’ve lived in the US for long, you’ve probably had members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door at some point. How much do you know about them and what they believe? And what does their continued existence tell us about the world and the church today?

Similar to the Mormons in that they are a cult formed in the wake of the Second Great Awakening, the Jehovah’s Witnesses started in 1870. Today, they are mostly known for their door-to-door witnessing and their booklets and other publications distributed by the “Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania”, the parent organization of most Jehovah’s Witness denominational ministries.

In this episode, we want to talk about Jehovah’s Witnesses, what they believe, and why they have continued to have some measure of success in the world. Joining us for this episode is Je’quan Underwood, a member of our church who has spent a fair bit of time talking to and witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Similar to Mormons, it’s easy to dismiss their claims as crazy, but the simple truth is that false religions exist because people are seeking to live in the world and to deal with their own sin and the sin of others without accepting the truth about Jesus Christ, Godhood, and the way of salvation. And while there are specific things that are useful to point out if you talk to a Jehovah’s Witness, there is no magic phrase or piece of information that you can give them to cause them to turn away from their false religion. The issue is spiritual, not intellectual. But at the same time, it’s useful to understand what they say they believe as false religions in each age of the church push against specific doctrines that offend the mind and heart of man. 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