Ask Ligonier Live with W. Robert Godfrey (May 2022)

On Thursday, May 12, at 7:30 p.m. ET, W. Robert Godfrey joined us as a special guest on our Ask Ligonier team to answer your biblical and theological questions live online. Simply post your questions as comments here or message us on Facebook or Twitter.

Introduction (0:00)

Questions:

1. Can you speak to the root causes of Doctrinal minimalism we see in the Church today? (1:52)
2. How can I use the Psalms to improve my prayer life? (3:33)
3. How much authority does a pastor have? (4:23)
4. What would you say to a Christian who thinks, because of the Bible’s sufficiency, we shouldn’t use Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms? (5:07)
5. What are one or two books you would recommend to help better understand the history of the Church? (7:32)
6. Why are there so many Arminian churches in the United States? (9:20)
7. What would you say to someone who is struggling with Infant Baptism? (11:07)
8. Is the Sabbath principle still in effect today? (12:26)
9. Next year is the 100th anniversary of Machen’s Christianity and Liberalism, what can we learn from his message? (14:29)
10. What does Christian confidence look like, and how does that differ from Worldly confidence? (21:15)
11. What are your thoughts on creating a contemporary catechism? What would you include? (23:01)
12. What is the difference on the Dutch Reformed view and the Luthern view of Baptism? (25:25)
13. Is it the role of the church to evanglise? What does that look like? (28:10)
14. Should a worship service be designed for an unbeliever or for a believer? (30:35)
15. When did God save His people, before the foundation of the world, when Jesus died on the cross, or at some other point in time? (31:59)
16. How should we pray for our leaders? (34:26)
17. Which Christological error do you see resurfacing most today? (37:45)
18. What would you say to someone who says, “I’m just too busy for Church?” (40:01)
19. How important is it for churches to worship together Sunday night in addition to Sunday morning? (43:17)
20. What kind of relationship did John Calvin have with Martin Luther? (44:57)
21. What are some of your favourite Psalms to read and sing? (48:15)
22. Why do you think some protestants students are converting to Eastern Orthodoxy and roman Catholicism? (49:44)
23. How did John Calvin manage to write so many commentaries and preach so many sermons? (51:58)
24. Some Christians say we should avoid the writings of Thomas Aquainas because they will lead to Roman Catholicism, what would you say? (53:56)
25. What advice would you give to a new Christian who is wanting to study the book of Revelation? (55:08)
26. Could you explain some practical steps to living out Psalm 119:9? (56:31)
27. Has God planned out our entire lives, are we exactly where He wants us to be, or do our poor choices change His plans? (59:20)
28. What would you say to someone that is curious and open about the Christian faith, but are wrestling with how God can be good when difficult or tragic things happen in their life? (1:00:57)

[ligonier]

As our thanks for watching Ask Ligonier live with W. Robert Godfrey, for a limited time, request your free download of his new teaching series The Lord’s Day: ask.Ligonier.org/offer

[thomasnorton]

Thank you Ligonier Ministries. These Live Ask Ligonier Q&A's are truly a blessing. Looking forward to the next time.

[kdlok]

Have listened to many of Dr. Godfrey's series on the History of the Church. Strongly recommended.

[irmacalaranielsen]

In due respect to other Christian Ministries, I've to say that Ligonier is rather special and so therefore, I support it on a monthly basis! Thank you, Ligonier - for allowing yourselves to be used as the "Light of the World!"

[andyheller]

Thank you for this. I always look forward to W.Robert Godfrey and what he has to say.

[CarloL]

My favorite. I make sure to take all his courses on Ligonier Connect :D

[robertmize]

Thank you, sir for your wonderfully insightful and well presented answer to the Arminian question. Even your respectful historical statements revealed the Holiness and preservation by God for his elect without saying it. You demonstrated it. This Q&A should be accredited. Ligonier Ministries have miraculously deep and wide archive messages and Connect is a great friend. I'm always called to listen and hear the Word of God.

[kevinclint]

JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD AND SAVIOR IS THE ONLY HOPE WE HAVE IN THIS SHORT LIFE, ……….PUT ALL YOUR TRUST AND FAITH IN HIM, …….AND IN HIM ALONE, ……..PRAISE HIS PERFECT PRECIOUS HOLY AND WONDERFULL RIGHTEOUS NAME, ………AMEN

[seshagirikarra]

Thanks to ligonear ministries ... Glory to be GOD alone. Please explain about the permissive will of God. Is it in the Bible? And how can we understand clearly

[phillippaul]

I have severe hearing loss (otosclerosis) and the audio is poor, I am barely able to hear what is being said with the volume of my headphones and phone on maximum. Thank You.

[HimTru]

Hello Robert Godfrey! Do you know of any Ligonier Church plants within the Snellville, GA 30078 area? My wife and I have been streaming Grace Community Church (John MacArthur) every Lord's Day since the only close churches around us are either Presbyterian Liberal, Southern Baptist Arminian, Bob Jones Arminian Baptist. It grieves us that we haven't been able to connect with a local Reformed Like-Minded church body in our local area. Are there any future plans for Reformed Church planting in our area? The last church we attended dissolved, it was a close, little Presbyterian church that wasn't really Reformed (the pastor read a script, and he said he didn't see the need to preach about Doctrines, The Rapture, The Tribulation, The Gospel, Hell, Heaven, Eternity, nor how to grow in Grace and Sanctification). That little church's leaders incl the pastor were not Biblical-Qualified to be holding office also. Why did we go there? At that time we had a younger member of our family to raise and it was-is important to "Go To Church" even though it grieved us at that time. The church closed and the leaders scattered within 3 months.

[stuartjohnson]

"Your testimony is no the gospel"
-- R.C. Sproul

Calling people to "make a decision for Christ" is CONTRARY to Scripture. They cannot and will not. Christ said "you must be born again" not "you most make decision in favor of me".

[enoch]

The messiah's name was always going to be Jesus according to Zechariah Chapter 6... which is the same name as the post exile high priest, Yeshua!
if the concept of Messiah and God are separate then it doesn't automatically follow that sins can be forgiven.. only God can forgive sins. furthermore if the expectation of Messiah is to reverse the events of Genesis 3 Genesis 6 and Genesis 11 then by Definition messiah has to be more than just a man.
Jesus being born of Mary but not of Joseph is not a problem according to Jewish history because I believe during the reign of Queen Alexandra Jewish law made Heritage pass on, by matrilineal Bases.
A basis for the Trinity can be established in the Old Testament by passages like Amos 4:11Isaiah 48:16.. and Judges chapter 2:1 and Daniel 7:9-14
Support for the idea of God becoming man in Scripture are Deuteronomy 18 verses 15 to 18 Focus of the verse speaks of the coming Messiah coming from lineage of Israel like unto moses.
We also have Exodus chapter 23 verse 20 and 21 the context of which is speaking about the future Endeavor of going over Jordan then we come to Joshua chapter 5 verses 13 to 15 and the context of this passage is having just gone over the Jordan into Israel.
Another proof of this idea perhaps most glaringly Jeremiah chapter 1 verses 4-10... the first thing you want to pay attention to is titles in verse 4 and verse 9... Hashem and the word of the Lord these titles are used interchangeably there's some definite implication there but the point of emphasis here is verse 9 because it goes a little further than just anthropomorphic language.
Now the next concern is did Jesus ever claim to be God? And for this the scriptures I would provide are Matthew 26:64 Jesus directly quotes Daniel 7:13
John 10:34 Jesus claims to be the judge in Psalm 82 referencing verse 6
In John 10 versus Both 11 and 14 Jesus Yeshua says that he is the Good Shepherd and you can cross-reference this with the very first line of Psalm 23.
In Mark chapter 6 starting from verse 45 Jesus walks on the water this is something designated in the Old Testament for something only God (job 9:8) can do this separates Jesus from the other people who did miracles.
Where another claim would be is in the fact that Jesus forgives sins, off the top of my head is Mark chapter 2
now certainly there have always been Messianic claimants but none of them have ever claimed to forgive sins.
Now the question becomes why would Jesus so secretive why didn't he just come out and say that he was the Lord God of Israel?... well one scripture off the top of my head of that I would provide here that might be interesting is this Matthew 16:20 "then he commanded his disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ"... my suggestion to you here, would be that the crucifixion how to take place at a certain place at a certain time and under a specific set of circumstances.

Please Look into all the scriptures I made mention here I hope this helps even one person
Hashem bless everyone of you... in the name of Jesus both son and God of David king of Israel, amen..!

[DogSoldier]

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Christ died for the church and the church is made up of both Jewish and gentiles