24 episodes
The MacArthur Center Podcast The Master's Seminary
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- Religion & Spirituality
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4.9 • 1.2K Ratings
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As The MacArthur Center for Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary opens its doors, season one of its flagship podcast will tell the surprising, providential, compelling story of how John MacArthur became synonymous with expository preaching. From his first sermon at Grace Community Church on February 9, 1969, through his 52 years of relentless, verse-by-verse exposition from the New Testament, John has modeled a simple idea: that the Bible is clear and the preacher’s task is to patiently explain that meaning to his audience. This documentary-style season will look at Grace Community Church, which during John’s 52-year ministry has grown from a small, nondescript church in the middle of the San Fernando Valley into one of the largest, most influential churches in the United States. These eight episodes will tell the story of John’s calling into pastoral ministry and explain why, and how, he preaches the way he does. It will also trace his involvement in controversies and look at how he preaches during cultural upheaval and personal suffering. Don’t miss season one of The MacArthur Center podcast.
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Episode 4: Friendship and the Finish Line
After the study of God’s Word, nothing gives John MacArthur more joy in life and ministry than relationships. For him, being with those of like precious faith infuses his days with meaning, encouragement, and the grace of God. All pastors need to prioritize friendships.
This episode looks at the biblical, cosmic scope of friendship, explores the reasons why it has fallen on hard times, and shows why no minister can endure without friends. Along the way, John recounts his unique, life-giving friendship with R.C. Sproul and gives all of us principles for cultivating relationships like that, maintaining them, and responding when friends disappoint. -
Episode 3: When Believers Stop Believing
If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you probably know someone who used to follow Jesus Christ, but now wants nothing to do with him. Why does that happen? What marks the path from faith to apostasy? John MacArthur started exploring those questions in college, when long-time Christian friends stunned him by walking away from God and into atheism and false religion. What he found is that the path to apostasy is well-trod, dating back to Judas, who rejected Jesus after following him for three years. This episode traces what John learned, then taught for decades, about apostasy, what happens when believers stop believing, and how all of us can be sure that once we are truly saved, God will never let us go.
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Episode 2: The Gospel According to Jesus
In 1988, John MacArthur’s book The Gospel According to Jesus stirred no small amount of controversy. By simply looking at what Jesus meant when he said follow me, the book exposed more than one false version of the gospel prominent among evangelicals. This episode takes you back to that pivotal time, a turning point both in John’s ministry and the evangelical church, to show you what it really means to follow Jesus, and why a right understanding of the gospel is essential to an enduring ministry.
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Episode 1: The Drivetrain
If, like John MacArthur, your ministry is going to endure for more than a half-century, you need to know how to navigate doctrinal disagreements within your local congregation and with other pastors, churches, and Christian leaders. To do that well, you have to know how to prioritize doctrine and practice what’s often been called theological triage. See how John MacArthur has practiced this kind of triage and kept his ministry doctrinally pure by focusing on what he calls the Drivetrain. This is episode one of season 3 of the MacArthur Center podcast.
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Episode 8: MacArthur and His Successor
Who will succeed John MacArthur? Who will carry on the God-centered, biblical-grounded, expository ministry that he’s built over the past half-century? John MacArthur has always had a succession plan. For decades, he’s known exactly how he wants the ministry to carry on at Grace Community Church when he’s gone. This episode looks at his succession plan. It also, with the help of John Piper, Sinclair Ferguson, Tony Reinke, David Gibson, and Geoffrey Chang, explores how any of us who love the church can think wisely about passing truth to the next generation.
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Episode 7: MacArthur and the Government
On July 26th, 2020, California’s government leaders said the worship service at Grace Community Church was an illegal gathering. John MacArthur called it “a peaceful protest.” Why did the church defy the state and county’s health mandates? This episode, the penultimate of season two, goes behind-the-scenes of MacArthur and Grace Church’s lawsuit against Los Angeles County. Beyond that, we go to Washington D.C., then north of the border, and back to a 1975 MacArthur sermon to show that Christians should submit to government, resist at times, while always preaching the gospel to their political leaders. Tune in for a crash-course in political theology: truth Christians will likely need in the coming years.
Customer Reviews
Superb!
Thank you Duncan for for rich biblical truths and discussion,thought provoking topics and the creative style. My new fav! I’ll be praying for you all.
Excellent content, distracting audio issues
Excellent content! It goes into detail on many aspects of MacArthur’s ministry and the challenges going forward.
I would have rated five stars if it were not for the distracting audio issues. Here are some of the annoyances:
- Interviews often have a good connection with interviewee, but awful connection with interviewer. You can hear the answers but not the question.
- Sermon clips and other recordings have a musical background added. Often this background is as loud as the speaker, thus making it difficult to listen.
- Episode has a bass heavy dub beat background that varies in intensity when there are pauses.
- I could go on.
For producers, please drop the background music so those of us with old ears can better hear the content. Thanks.
Awesome
In the 1980’s, I was in the Navy and went to SEAL training in Coronado, CA. I heard some on John’s teaching at that time and didn’t like him at all. I thought he was arrogant and condescending; without empathy and judgmental. Now, I feel like I had been in the Christian “Matrix” deceived by my own sin and idea of Christ my mind created. God used John (and subsequently his staff -ATD) to give me the “Red Pill” and wake up to the True Gospel and Expository Preaching …it’s cut me to my knees to repent and thank Jesus for His sovereignty in every molecular movement in the universe!
I’ve downloaded all these podcasts and it’s teaching me so much about the Bible, true Christ, and filled so many gaps in my 60yrs on this planet.