The Whole Counsel

Get 15% off this study for this week only: https://shop.mediagratiae.org/collections/15-off-behold-your-god-rethinking-god-biblically Over the years more and more people are discovering Media Gratiae through our various podcasts. We praise the Lord for this reality. But our podcasts are only a fraction of the work we do. Media Gratiae started over a decade ago with our flagship study, Behold Your...

It is one thing for the Christian to say I believe, my family believes, my church believes what the Bible says. That is a right and essential to the Christian life. But it is another thing to say, “I believe the Bible teaches…” And it is that second statement we want to focus on in this week’s episode. For those unaware, Media Gratiae is rooted in Reformed Baptist theology. To that end, we believe...

This week is our final episode on the realities of revival and we wanted to present to you another sermon used by God during a great time of revival. The sermon is from Hebrews 1:9. The preacher is Daniel Rowland. We chose this sermon specifically because so few people are aware of Daniel Rowland. George Whitefield went to hear Rowland and said it was like listening to the Apostle Paul teach. Rowl...

We have spent several weeks discussing the realities of revival. We have sought to share, using helps listed below, the fruits of revival, the means of revival, and more. This week John makes some concluding comments on revival. Many of his thoughts are found in the book Revival of Religion, a collection of essays from Scottish pastors serving during a time of revival. They point to three areas th...

Due to a sickness in the team, we were unable to film an episode for this week’s podcast. But this led us to a wonderful opportunity. Years ago Andrew Davies visited Christ Church New Albany. While he was here, we recorded him presenting five great sermons used during times of revival in America and England. Since we highlighted the sermons of George Whitefield, a preacher God used mightily during...

The idea that revival requires special means, special speakers, and special meetings, is often sourced in good intentions, but it comes from a fundamental misunderstanding of God’s work. When God chooses to draw close in revival, He uses the ordinary means of grace. But He seems to give an incredible and extraordinary fruit to that ordinary means. Does this mean special meetings and extra time set...

After introducing our new series last week, John and Teddy are diving deeper into the topic of revival. This week they focus on a biblical understanding of revival. Attached to a historical understanding of revival, we also must seek to study the means and results of revival. One helpful definition comes to us from Richard Owen Roberts. He defines revival as, “...an unusual manifestation of the po...

There was a time when revival was the study and focus of careful theologians. Sadly that changed around the middle of the 19th century. Since then, careful writers have allowed the theological ground of revival to become fallow. In recent years, the study of this mysterious reality has become a more common focus of reading and request of prayer. Because of this growing desire for revival, we are g...

At this time 10 years ago we had just released our flagship study, Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically. To celebrate a decade of the Lord’s blessing on this study, we are releasing the complete interviews from the project. Some men sat down with us for slightly over 30 minutes. Richard Owen Roberts gave us nearly two hours of his time. Because we have such a wealth of answers from him, we a...

This week we are continuing our celebration of 10 years of Rethinking God Biblically. Ten years ago now we had just released our flagship study, Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically. John had personally met with and been encouraged by the ministries of every contributor to the study, except one. Conrad Mbewe had been recommended to John. After investigating his ministry, John was grateful th...

Our flagship study, Behold Your God: Rethinking God Biblically has been released for over a decade. In that time, we have been indescribably happy to see the Lord choose to use this study in so many ways across so many lands. We never could have imagined it going as far as it has. One reason we thought it would be a small study was because so few of our contributors had recognizable names. The onl...

We have spent the last few weeks walking through principles to help us in how we can get the most out of our reading. In this episode, we share discussions we have had with friends of ours across the Christian publishing industry. In the first section, we are with David Woolin, CEO of Reformation Heritage Books. While they publish several books we highly appreciate, David points us to some works r...

Today we are releasing a new podcast that will be published every quarter. We named this new series Navigating the Classics because we want to spend time focusing on those classic works of Christianity that many find intimidating or antiquated. For our inaugural episode, John Snyder is joined by Whole Counsel regular guest Steve Crampton and his son Jamie to discuss Athanasius' On the Incarnation...

Last week we republished a discussion between John Snyder and Jeremy Walker on the first five of six principles to keep in mind if you want to get the most benefit of reading careful books this year. In this week’s episode, John and Jeremy both select six books that exemplify their approach to a balanced reading diet. Check out Jeremy's podcasts: The Heart of Spurgeon: https://podcasts.apple.com/u...

With the start of the new year, we wanted to revisit John Snyder's conversation with Jeremy Walker back in 2021 about six principles to reading well. We make through five of the principles in this episode. Next week we’ll return to give our final principle and a list of books to help get you started in this year’s reading. Check out Jeremy's podcasts: The Heart of Spurgeon: https://podcasts.apple....

Last week we talked about the issue of biblical covenants. God reveals Himself progressively, meaning that He has revealed more of Himself and His plan of redemption by the book of 1 and 2 Samuel than He did in Exodus. The seeds are certainly contained in Exodus, and even in Genesis, but they are more developed through later passages. In 2 Samuel 7, God lays out His covenant with King David. God l...

This week, we continue our look at Isaiah’s descriptions of Immanuel. John Snyder focuses on the connection between King David of the Old Testament and the coming Messiah. Scripture offers an illustration that the Immanuel will come from the root of Jesse. But why is this important to us today? To understand this picture, we must consider the covenants God made with particular people, including Ab...

We are grateful to God for His kindness toward us over the last decade. To see a glimpse of what He has done through the work of Media Gratiae over the last 10 years, visit here and read our end-of-year ministry report: https://report.mediagratiae.org

There are many passages of Scripture where God describes Himself to us. This week we are focusing on four such descriptions of God describing the coming Immanuel in Isaiah 9. Some 700 years before the incarnation of Christ, God chooses to give royal titles to the One who would be born a King. He would be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Have you ever stopped to con...

Last week’s episode ended on gloom and judgment. Ahaz has rejected the opportunity of God to ask for any sign of His faithfulness. Rather than obeying God in requesting that sign, Ahaz chooses to put his faith in his own plan and strategy. God’s astounding response is to give him a sign anyway, the coming of Immanuel. He also pronounces judgment on Ahaz and his kingdom in the form of Assyria. This...

This week we continue looking at descriptions of the coming Messiah in Isaiah 8. Last week we discussed how God mercifully gave the wicked King Ahaz an opportunity to ask for any sign to prove His faithfulness. Ahaz refused but God gave a sign anyway. In today’s passage, God speaks through Isaiah and pronounces the coming judgment on the people of Israel. Some of the Israelites respond to this new...

This week we begin a new series in which we examine God’s descriptions of the forthcoming Messiah in the book of Isaiah. In this inaugural episode, we are examining Isaiah 8. When we slow down and really consider what is happening, the story is shocking. A wicked king is given an opportunity by God to receive any sign or wonder, as high as heaven or low as hell. He is the only person in Scripture...

We have previously introduced you to our friend, Mr. Richard Owen Roberts. We walked through the book he assembled, Salvation in Full Color, we’ve had him on the podcast to discuss his upcoming conference (link below). But Mr. Roberts has been a part of our ministry much longer than we have been producing our podcast. When we were discussing who we would interview for our inaugural study in the ea...

In years past we have given you long lists of books we recommend to fill your next year’s reading plan. This year, our list is short. The reading, however, is not. The list is only two books and they have been available previously. However, they have recently be republished and we believe they are done so well they are worth discussing. If you already have a copy of these on your shelves, you migh...

Every quarter we give our supporters an update on what we are working on behind the scenes. Correction: This is not an end-of-the-year update. That will come later in December. In this update, we let you know about where we are in our next study, the growth of our social media platforms, Behold Your God being translated in multiple languages, the Behold Your God: Seeking Him Early resource, and mu...