The Semper Reformata Podcast

Paul’s Mission at Thessalonica Begins Paul and Silas and Timothy have left Philippi following the shameful events there, in which Paul and Silas were arrested, humiliated, beaten and imprisoned without trial, and they have travelled down through Macedonia to the town of Thessalonica.  He later recalls this in 1st Thessalonians 2:1-2  For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto yo...

LORD'S DAY 15, Q38   Pontius Pilate - the Cowardly Judge We have been looking at Lord’s Day 15, and now we arrive at Q38, - Q.38 Why did he suffer under Pontius Pilate as judge? Though innocent, Christ was condemned by an earthly judge, and so he freed us from the severe judgment of God that was to fall on us. Our instructor is leading us to the cross. In our last lesson I tried to impress up...

Acts-In-Replay: "The Aftermath"   Acts 16:35-38  The mission at Philippi is concluded for now. A new day has dawned.  When we left the apostles in our last study, they were at the Prison Officer’s home. Acts 16:34 But the following morning finds them back at the prison.  The disciples and the prisoners hadn’t run away when the prison doors were opened, for their confidence was...

LORD'S DAY 15, Q37 The Cross Changes EVERYTHING What did the Suffering and Death of Christ Achieve ? This is our final look, at least in this season, at Q37. It’s such an important matter, that I’ve spent quite a considerable time on it, for it relates to the suffering and death of our Lord Jesus Christ, who bore, in his body and soul, the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race; in o...

Acts-In-Replay: "Praise, Panic, Prayer. Acts 16:25-34 What must I do to be saved?”  The prison officer’s question has been written in the minds of thousands of people, and I’ve no doubt has been instrumental in awakening people to their need of salvation.  So, it is our responsibility to read the passage, in context, and with a correct understanding of the work of God in salvation and th...

Lord’s Day 15, Q37, WHO DIED?  When Christ suffered, did he suffer in BOTH natures, - in other words, when Jesus died at the cross, did God die?  There is an old hymn, written by Charles Wesley, that is still sung in many churches, "And Can it Be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour’s blood?" contains a line that asks a question: “Amazing Love, how can it be, that thou, my God,...

The Prism: "NI, Covid Passports and the Free Offer of the Gospel . Joining other countries around the globe, Northern Ireland is to have Covid Passports. On Thursday a high ranking medical official publicly called for this measure to be extended to churches.  How will the churches respond?  Is there a Biblical issue here?  In this podcast, Bob McEvoy will note that * Covid passes se...

Acts-In-Replay: Christ Heals Broken People. Acts 16:16-24 We are all broken people.  The next person we encounter in the narrative is certainly broken; a mentally ill slave girl, and the contrast with Lydia couldn’t be more stark.  But this incident teaches us a very important truth, that Jesus saves people no matter what their social status, their monetary value or their influence in so...

TableTalk: What Does the Bible Teach About Angels ? READ.  Psalm 8:4-5 When ‘good’ people die, do they become angels?  In this New Age, there is an unhealthy interest in angels. There are people who think that when a person dies, they become an angel.  You’ll hear them expressing sentiments like, “Fly high, now you’ve got your wings…”. BUT what does the Bible say? Read the notes her...

Catechism Class: LD15, Q37 The DURATION of Christ's Suffering Lord's Day 15, Q37. What do you understand by the word “suffered?” That all the time He lived on earth, but especially at the end of His life, He bore, in body and soul, the wrath of God against the sin of the whole human race; in order that by His suffering, as the only atoning sacrifice, He might redeem our body and soul from everlast...

Echoes of Remembrance ( Recorded Live ) from The Old Reformed Church at Ballymacashon, Killinchy, Co. Down. In this special, bonus podcast, I've made available some of the moments of remembrance from Ballymacashon Church, on this Remembrance Sunday, 14th November 2021.  There's no incidental music, or audio editing - just extracts from a very moving service, where we gave thanks to Almighty G...

Lydia - the First Convert in Europe Have you heard the saying, “From small acorns, great oaks grow. ”  Think of the size and influence of the Christian Church in Europe, over the past 2,000 years.  Our whole society here in Europe is built upon Christian influences.   Just reflect on the fact that all those centuries of Christian witness, so many millions of souls saved by grac...

TableTalk: What Does the Bible Say About the Paranormal? There is a huge interest in ‘the afterlife’ and ‘the paranormal’ among the people of this world. Jesus said that ‘…men love darkness, rather than light, because their deeds are evil.’ In this podcast we look at what the Bible has to say about Ghosts, mediums, seances, contacting the dead, spiritualists - the Paranormal in general. Listen to...

Catechism Class LORD'S DAY 15 Q37 The Extent of the Atonement. We are looking at Lord’s Day 15, which is an examination of the phrase in the Apostles’ Creed that reads, “ Suffered under Pontius Pilot .” We are going to divide this catechism question into several parts, over several lessons. In this lesson, we will ask one of the most important questions of all, a question that has divided opinion...

Acts-In-Replay: The Macedonian Call Paul, Silas and Timothy are travelling through Asia Minor, making their way through the Roman provinces of Galatia and Phrygia.  Then a decision needs to be made,  Would they turn left, and go into the small Roman province of Asia (capital was Ephesus), or would they turn right, and go to Bithynia?  But they are forbidden from entering either of t...

Catechism Class: LD14 Q36 The ONLY Mediator The Virgin Birth - How does it affect me ? The Virgin Birth of Christ was an historical event, it took place in Palestine, over 2000 years ago. But the implications of that birth affect every one of us today, – we BENEFIT from Christ’s birth.  HOW? The practical application of the doctrine of the Virgin Birth is what we will look at in this lesson....

Acts-In-Replay: Timothy's Conversion and Commissioning The band of missionaries is expanding, and now another name is added to the missionaries, a young man called Timothy, and we first encounter him in Acts 16:1-5. With Timothy’s addition, the missionary duo becomes a trio again.  In this podcast, a sermon recorded live at Templepatrick Reformed Church, we discover Timothy’s conversion, char...

Christological Errors in Church History and Today In Lord’s Day 14, Q35, we learned about the two natures in Christ, how he was, while on this earth, fully God and fully man and we saw something of the importance of maintaining and confessing this doctrine without error.  In Q36, we will seek to underline and this, and to  see how the two natures of Christ really matters to Christian bel...

Acts-In-Replay: Warts and All! People and Personalities in Acts 15:36-41 Personality clashes in churches are nothing new. Back in Acts Luke records the history of the early church, warts and all.  When a huge personality clash split the first missionaries up, Luke faithfully records it, makes no attempt whatsoever to cover it up, or airbrush it out of history.  He records it for our bene...

Table-Talk - The Theology of Fashion . In this week's TableTalk, we talked about APPEARANCE - the outward appearance of the Christian. Does it matter what I look like, what I wear, what way I do my hair etc? What does my appearance say about me? Here’s a Scripture text, to start the discussion:- 1 John 2:15-17 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world...

Catechism Class: L/D14, Q35 “The Word Became Flesh” In this lesson we are doing to look at a difficult subject - the doctrine of the Virgin Birth of Christ. It’s important; so much so that John the apostle sets this doctrine out as a test of orthodoxy in 1st John 4 :1-3. So, our catechist asks, Q. What do you confess when you say: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary? The a...

Acts-In-Replay: A Great Burden Lifted The Jerusalem Council in AD49 has ended, and the decree issued, and conveyed to the church at Antioch, in a kindhearted pastoral letter, personally delivered, which encourages the Christians greatly, knowing that the burden of guilt and condemnation imposed by the broken Law had been removed by Jesus, who alone could perfectly fulfil the Law of God for us. &nb...

TableTalk - FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIPS - What Saith the Scripture? Welcome to TableTalk, ALMOST live! In this season we have been looking at the practical issues of the Christian life, seeking for biblical direction in life.  We come up against the questions of life every day of the week.  In this informal TableTalk, we’re talking about Friends and Friendships, and searching the scriptures...

Catechism Class: LD13C Q34 Jesus is Lord How is Jesus our Lord?  Interestingly, when the catechist answers this question, he makes it intensely personal.  Jesus is ‘Our Lord’ because we belong to him!   As we saw in a previous lesson, since we are not God’s children by natural birth, we are enslaved by our own, wicked natural father, the devil. He has us under his authority and he i...

Acts-In-Replay - The Jerusalem Council AD49 . Acts 15:7-21 It’s AD49, and the first great council of the church is about to begin.  It’s the Council of Jerusalem.  Who are the participants, what are the arguments and what decisions are made?   God is calling out a People for His Name.   Read the NOTES HERE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.