Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Sermon Series: Colossians Week 4: A Place to Stand Week 3: Christ at the Center Week 2: Transferred to a New Kingdom Week 1: To the Saints in Christ at Colossae Sermon Outline What the Gospel S…

How can Christians stay embedded within our culture while pursuing virtue and rejecting vice, in personal and in public life? Join Sam Fornecker for a chat with Stephen Presley, author of Cultural Sanctification: Engaging the World like the Early Church (Eerdman's, 2024), about what the modern church has to learn from Christians of the second and t…

We're looking at 5 reasons the incarnation is vitally important to the believer from Hebrews 2.

Thanks for listening to our sermon audio from September 29, 2004.

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Sermon Series: Colossians Listen to Week 3: Christ at the Center Listen to Week 2: Transferred to a New Kingdom Listen to Week 1: To the Saints in Christ at Colossae Sermon Outline What You Onc…

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: . Sermon Series: Colossians Listen to Week 2: Transferred to a New Kingdom Listen to Week 1: To the Saints in Christ at Colossae Sermon Notes In both the ancient and modern church, there is an …

Wisdom of the Mind Passions of the Heart The Grace in Between

What has God to do with politics? What has the kingdom to do with the cross? And what does it mean to work for a kingdom whose origin lies beyond creation, but whose destiny lies within it? Join Sam Fornecker for a conversation with Mike Bird, deputy principal and lecturer in theology at Ridley College in Melbourne, Australia, about insights unpack…

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: . Sermon Series: Colossians Listen to Week 1: Sermon Notes The Christians in Colossae have been "knocked off balance" by some false teachers. Paul is bring them back to the firm foundation of t…

God is the giver of the Word of Truth We are the receivers of the implanted Word of Truth Be doers and not hearers only

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Colossians 1:1–8, Matthew 7:15–20 Sermon Series Our Fall sermon series on Paul's letter to the church in Colossae begins today. Questions? Do you have a question about today's sermon? Email Ste…

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Sermon Outline If you would work out the ministry of reconciliation... Reconcile one another. Receive one another. Sermon Questions What is the difference between being "in Christ" and being le…

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Psalm 16, John 6:60–69. Sermon Outline The work of the Spirit The gift of the Father The confession of the Son Sermon Questions Why do many today find Jesus' teaching hard? Jesus is not overwhe…

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: . Sermon Notes Search Me Try Me Lead Me Sermon Application Discussion Questions: Why is trust in God's love necessary to genuinely pray "search me O God and know my heart"? What are some practi…

A Man in oppressed A Saviors response The call of the follower

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Sermon Notes Imprecatory Psalms come from a people with a deep belief in the holiness and justice of God Imprecatory Psalms are not a license to be vengeful Imprecatory Psalms actually help us …

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: Exodus 16:2–15; John 6:24–35 Sermon Outline What are you working for? The lie of performance-based identity Do not work for perishable food! Christ the Wisdom and Weakness of God Sermon Questio…

1. The Interference of Another 2. The Interruption fo Sin 3. The Intervention of the Father

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: . Sermon Notes Psalm 139:13-18 highlights God's power and purpose displayed in the life of every human being, even from the womb! Observation #1: God's power (omnipotence) is seen in how he lov…

Jesus Saw - He sees you. Jesus Knew - He knows you. Jesus Asked - Man's answer is classic religion. Christ's offer is classic grace.

Bible Study Don't just take our word for it . . . take His! We would encourage you to spend time examining the following Scriptures that shaped this sermon: . Sermon Notes Psalm 139 highlights God's personal knowledge and pursuing presence of each and every person. But whether we welcome this or resist it depends on what we believe about God and ou…

A Stewardship of God's Provision A Stewardship of God's Truth A Stewardship of the Joy of our Salvation

What do Christians miss when we extol the cross of Christ (three cheers!), but fail to place emphasize correspondingly the resurrection of Christ, with all its implications for our lives today? How do we turn up the volume on this critical element of the gospel message? Join Sam Fornecker for a conversation with Tim Patrick (Principal, Bible Colleg…

Sam Fornecker speaks with Paul Miller about his recent book, A Praying Church: Becoming a People of Hope in a Discouraging World (Crossway, 2023). Why does God care if I pray with other Christians? Is a prayer meeting really the best use of my time? What would God do through corporate prayer that He wouldn't do in response to private prayer—or, for…

Sam Fornecker speaks with Rosaria Butterfield, about her most recent book, Five Lies of an Anti-Christian Age (Crossway, 2023). What's the difference between being a Christian in 1992 and 2024? What distinguishes a post-Christian, from an anti-Christian, age? To paraphrase St Paul (Rom. 13:11–14), do we know what time it is? In this conversation, S…

No affirmation more roundly rebuts the modern presumption that humans are merely "brains-on-sticks" than the core Christian confession that, in Jesus, God assumed human nature. To reckon fully with this fact is to enter into "a complex set of practices oriented toward the transformation of one's being and understanding of the world," the learning o…

Sam Fornecker chats with philosopher R.J. Snell about his latest book, Lost in the Chaos: Immanence, Despair, Hope (Angelico, 2023). What have frenzied activists, scheming rationalists, and men in Gandalf garb got in common? Why is each symptomatic of societal despair? And what hope can the Church offer a world no longer pining for the forgiveness …

Sam Fornecker chats with theologian Helen Collins about her recent book, Charismatic Christianity: Introducing Its Theology through the Gifts of the Spirit (Baker Academic, 2023). What is "charismatic Christianity"? What are its signal emphases, its prevailing values, its cardinal foci? How is it to be understood in relation to Pentecostalism, on t…

Sam Fornecker chats with philosopher Esther Lightcap Meek about her book, Doorway to Artistry: Attuning Your Philosophy to Enhance Your Creativity (Wipf & Stock, 2023). The implicit philosophical outlook of the modern world thwarts and damages our humanness, severing us from the "real." Modernity aims to master nature by arrogantly reducing things …

Join Sam Fornecker for a conversation with C. Kavin Rowe (George Washington Ivey Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Vice Dean for Faculty, Duke Divinity School). Drawing on Rowe's recent book, Leading Christian Communities (Eerdman's, 2023), this conversation focuses on how the New Testament enables the communities it shapes to envision a…

Join Sam Fornecker for a chat with David Gustafson (Chair of Mission and Evangelism at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School). Drawing on insight's from David's book, Gospel Witness through the Ages (Eerdman's, 2022), this conversation focuses on how Christians can learn to fulfill our charge to "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Tim. 4:5) by learning…

What is gender, how does it relate to sex, and what's love got to do with it? Join Sam Fornecker for a chat with Fellipe do Vale, Assistant Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Drawing on do Vale's recent book, Gender as Love: A Theological Account of Human Identity, Embodied Desire, and Our Social W…

Happy Thanksgiving! On this episode, Sam chats with Abigail Hull Whitehouse (a fellow priest in the Diocese of the Carolinas) about the season of Advent that begins this Sunday. Sam and Abigail discuss the meaning of the Advent season, the apocalyptic theology it brings to the fore, and how listeners can "bring Advent home" through spiritual discip…

In this episode, Sam Fornecker chats with Michael Rhodes (Lecturer in Old Testament at Carey Baptist College). Dipping toes into Michael's recent book, Just Discipleship: Biblical Justice in an Unjust World (IVP Academic, 2023), this conversation considers a range of questions: What is justice? Does God care about justice—and if so, why? What does …

Would the discovery of "alien life" overturn the Christian faith? As we gain a clearer picture of the universe — it is estimated that there exist around 400 billion billion potentially habitable planets — it's important that Christians answer with a ready, "Of course not"! Join Sam Fornecker and Andrew Davison, Starbridge Professor of Theology and …

If God is love (1 Jn 4:8, 16), why does the Bible make Him look like a bully? Join Sam Fornecker for a chat with Dr. Paul Copan (Pledger Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University) about violence in the Bible: from criminal justice to divine smiting, from cursing psalms to holy war. This conversation draws on Paul's recent boo…

Join Sam Fornecker for a chat with Dani Treweek, founding director of the Single Minded ministry and adjunct teacher at Moore Theological College, about the Christian vision of singleness. Dani's recent book on the subject—The Meaning of Singleness: Retrieving an Eschatological Vision for the Contemporary Church (IVP Academic, 2023)—assesses the Ch…

Join Sam Fornecker for a conversation with Paul Louis Metzger, professor of Christian theology and theology of culture at Multnomah University and Seminary, about the role of personhood in Christian ethics. This chat focuses on Paul's remarkable book, More than Things: A Personalist Ethics for a Throwaway Culture (IVP Academic, 2023). The "reader's…

Season 3 kicks off with Steve Tong, History Master at Sydney Grammar School in Sydney, Australia. Drawing on Steve's new book, Building the Church of England: The Book of Common Prayer and the Edwardian Reformation (Brill, 2023), this episode looks at how the English Reformers sought to give visible form to the invisible Church, through a gospel-ce…

Join Sam Fornecker, Alice Soulieux-Evans, and Jake Griesel, as the gang draw together many of the key themes and insights that have arisen from the seminal reformation texts studied thus far on the New Parker Society series. The New Parker Society series will return after a hiatus, and The Ridley Institute Podcast will be back, Fall 2023!…

Join Sam Fornecker for a conversation with Brian Rosner (Principal of Ridley College, Melbourne) about how the gospel addresses the collective identity crisis of modern society. Exploring the real-life implications of what scholars call expressive individualism, this conversation looks at how the gospel addresses arguably the most urgent question o…

"Make good men wish [Christianity] were true," wrote Blaise Pascal, "then show them that it is." Join Sam Fornecker for a chat with Chris Watkin, Associate Professor in French Studies at Monash University, about how a robust understanding of the Bible's story equips Christians to follow Pascal's advice. Introducing listeners to the riot of ideas in…

In 1556, imprisoned in London's Tower, two Protestant bishops, Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer, encouraged one another through smuggled letters as they awaited the day of their demise. Those letters became the basis of a publication in 1556, which spurred on evangelical believers to stick to Christ, even when their life was at stake. Join Sam Forn…

Join Abigail Whitehouse and Sam Fornecker for a conversation with Leah Savas, coauthor with Marvin Olasky of The Story of Abortion in America: A Street-Level History, 1652–2022 (Crossway, 2022). Synthesizing the book's key findings and implications, this conversation equips Christians to (re)integrate reflection on abortion—including its history an…

Sam Fornecker and pastor/apologist Andrew Fellows discuss why "worldliness" is so poorly understood, and weakly challenged, in contemporary Christianity. Drawing on Fellows' recent book, Smuggling Jesus back into the Church: How the Church Became Worldly, and What to Do about It (IVP, 2022), as well as his experience in Christian leadership (includ…

Join Sam and political theorist Michael Lamb, to see how St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 A.D.) helps us to navigate the bleak and cynical political culture of our day. Key to Augustine's approach is the virtue of hope — the virtue that prevents one from veering into the ditches of presumption or despair. Michael Lamb serves as F. M. Kirby Foundatio…

In this episode, Sam speaks with Teresa Morgan, McDonald Agape Professor in New Testament and Early Christianity at Yale Divinity School, about the role of trust in the Christian life. Drawing on insights found in Morgan's most recent monograph, 'This Rich Trust': The New Testament and the Theology of Trust (Oxford University Press, 2022), this cha…

In this latest installment of the New Parker Society, Sam is joined by Jake Griesel and Mark Earngey (Head of Church History at Moore Theological College, Sydney), to discuss selections from the preaching of the English Reformer, Hugh Latimer (c.1487–1555). To follow along with the Sermons on the Cards and the Sermon on the Plough, click here (see …

Join Sam Fornecker for a chat with D.C. Schindler, Professor of Metaphysics and Anthropology at the John Paul II Institute in Washington, D.C., about Christianity's gift to the world—the gift of freedom. Drawing on a wealth of insights in Schindler's new book, Retrieving Freedom: The Christian Appropriation of Classical Tradition (Notre Dame, 2022)…

In this episode, Sam is joined by Micheal O'Siadhail, Distinguished Poet in Residence at Union Theological Seminary, to reflect on themes inspired by O'Siadhail's latest collection of poetry, Testament (Baylor University Press, 2022).