The Semper Reformata Podcast

19/07/2025

The Plain Unvarnished Truth about Jesus and Us
Matthew 10v34-38

as Jesus speaks to his disciples, he never sugar-coats his words, or plays down the difficulties or promises them that life as a Christian will be easy. He’s not the ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ person some people think him to be. Jesus said: ‘…he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.’ How different! According to Jesus, the Christian Life is a:-
* CONFLICT
* COMMITMENT

Matthew 10v34-38

16/07/2025

Idolatry
1st John 5:21

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen
As we come to the very last phrase in John’s first letter, we are driven back to the most basic premise of the Christian faith. That there is only one, True, Holy, God who will not tolerate the worship of any other god that we might invent. John warns us to guard our lives from idols. There is a deep pastoral concern that the believers watch their lives, be so careful, for idolatry can present itself in so many forms, and can draw us away from faithfully following the Lord.

1st John 5v21

12/07/2025

Clarity, Conviction and Confidence.
Matthew 10:26-30
The disciples are being sent into a world that contains great dangers for them. They will be hated by everyone in the world. Yet despite all of that, they are being tasked to preach the Gospel despite the fact that doing so will inflame and antagonise the world even more! Surely a better approach would be for the disciples to keep their heads down, preach behind closed doors, don’t offend anyone. Jesus certainly didn’t envisage that His disciples would do anything of the sort. Here he tells them to stand up and shout!

Matthew 10:26-30

08/07/2025

Three Things the Christian Has That the World Needs but Hasn’t Got.
Text. 1 John 5:18-20.

John is going to remind Christians of three things we know, three blessings of the Christian life and they are all found in Christ alone. They are freedom from sin, victory over the world and a new perspective on life and death, AND these are what every person in the world really needs! I know they won't admit it, for what they THINK they need is greatly different from what they REALLY NEED, but, you see, what we think people need, and even what they think they need, is nowhere near as important as what THE BIBLE says they need! Look again at the blessings we have in Christ, blessings that everyone needs to have, and which we should be telling them about...

1st John 5:18-20

07/07/2025

Seek the Lord.

Text. Isaiah 55:6-7. Luke 19:1. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
We are all to be seekers…. but who will search for God?

Recorded live at Ballymacashon Congregational church.

Listen to Seek the Lord. from The Semper Reformata Podcast. Seek the Lord.Text . Isaiah 55:6-7. Luke 19:1. Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will h...

04/07/2025

Advance warning - be prepared!

01/07/2025

PRAYER - A CASE STUDY
Text: 1 John 5:16-17.
John has been speaking about prayer, and how we may have confidence in prayer, and then he adds this next verse, perhaps as a case-study for what he has just taught us; praying for sinners! What does John mean when he says that there is a sin not unto death, and a sin unto death?

1st John 5:16-17

26/06/2025

Fearfully and Wonderfully
Psalm 139:14-16
In this special bonus episode, we look briefly at these very important verses from Psalm 139, verses 14-16, – to make a prophetic statement on events that have occurred over the past few days in our sovereign UK parliament, when MPs voted in strength for an amendment which will in certain circumstances, make legal the abortion of babies up to the moment of birth. In such times as these, we would want to raise a standard, publicly, for biblical truth and Christian ethics.

Babies, Personhood and the Sin of Abortion

24/06/2025

How to Pray with Confidence.

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Prayer is an essential part of the Christian life, so as soon as John has established that we KNOW that we are eternally saved, with a heavenly destiny, through faith in Christ, he moves on to prayer… and that same confidence that we have in our eternal salvation applies to our prayers. And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will...

1st John 5:14-15

22/06/2025

Ministry Ethics
Matthew 10:8-17
Jesus has called his disciples, and now they get some really practical good advice for ministry, part of their ‘Seminary Evangelism Module’ – and its not just good advice for them, but for us also as we seek to represent the Saviour in this godless world:-

Wisdom in Accounting
Wisdom in Association
Wisdom in Abandoning

Apologies for the sound quality of this recording. this sermon was recorded live at Ballymacashon, and there is some echo and extraneous noise.

Matthew 10:8-15

17/06/2025

The Internal Witness
1 John 5:9-12 V10 He that believed; on the Son of God hath the witness in himself…

For this week's Bible Study I've reprised an episode from October 2024, recorded at TRC. No point recording the same thing again!

Do you know for sure that you are saved and forgiven, through repentance and faith in Christ, and that because of his atoning death on the cross you have forgiveness of all your sins and a certain home in heaven? The record is there for us! The testimony is available for all to see! Changed lives, the Word of God, all the objective tests. But to be saved and have eternal life, we must know the Lord Jesus Christ personally!

1st John 5:13

16/06/2025

Another Monday morning meditation to help you start the week. This time a wee look at an incident from the history of the early church.

Polycarp the Martyr

In this episode were going to be thinking about the persecution of the early church, and focusing in on the martyrdom of Polycarp, the pastor of the church at Smyrna, in what is now called Turkey. Polycarp’s testimony for Jesus Christ led to his arrest and to his death in the city of Rome in the 2nd century AD. May his perseverance and steadfast determination to follow Jesus whatever the cost be an inspiration to us also, in these days, when many Christian throughout the world still face persecution for the faith.

Persecution and Death in the Early Church