The Church and Its Conflicts

I would like to very highly recommend these four messages by Dr. Ferguson to every Christian; but I believe that shepherds in Christ's church absolutely must listen to them carefully. So if you are a shepherd of Christ's flock, I would especially urge you to listen to all four, especially the LAST.

They discuss the God-given calling and purpose of the church, and the God-given means by which she will be built and advance in this world. It is obvious that this matter of the church's purposes and practices are being widely discussed and reconsidered in the present time. And if you will carefully listen to these messages, you will hear the finest short summary of the teaching of our Lord on these important matters, with Dr. Ferguson's characteristic warmth, perceptiveness, scholarship, evangelical concern, and pastoral perspective. These messages very strongly emphasize using Biblical means of grace, as demonstrated in the ministry of Christ and his Apostles, and particularly as urged upon Timothy by the Apostle Paul. If you or your congregation have been tempted to build Christ's church using inferior and corruptible man-made materials, these messages will charge you before the Living God to 'preach the word ... in season and out of season.'

This is part 2 of a four-part series which Dr. Sinclair Ferguson delivered at the 2006 ARP Pre-Synod Conference, which is primarily addressed to Minsters of the Gospel and Ruling Elders in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church.