Christ the Center

Jared Poulton joins Camden Bucey to discuss Van Til’s Counseling Movement: A Critical Analysis of Jay Adams and Biblical Counseling. They trace how Cornelius Van Til’s presuppositional apologetics supplied key theological instincts for Jay Adams and the modern biblical counseling movement, including the God-relatedness of every human problem, dependence upon divine revelation, and confidence in Scripture’s sufficiency for pastoral ministry.The conversation also examines tensions within contemporary biblical counseling. Camden and Jared consider the antithesis, common grace, the relation of the book of nature to the book of Scripture, and the danger of either rejecting all extra-biblical knowledge or baptizing secular methods without sufficient theological scrutiny. Throughout, they argue that faithful counseling should serve the church’s disciple-making mission and bring every claim about human life under the authoritative framework of God’s Word.ResourcesVan Til’s Counseling MovementInstitute for Reformed Biblical CounselingChapters00:00 Introduction03:12 Jared Poulton’s path into biblical counseling09:12 What is biblical counseling?17:44 The sufficiency of Scripture and pastoral counsel23:09 CCEF, David Powlison, and Van Til27:29 A Van Tilian foundation and an identity crisis32:48 Competing trajectories in biblical counseling41:02 Robert K. Rudolph and Jay Adams44:02 Three streams that shaped Adams50:57 God is man’s environment55:58 Presuppositions and borrowed terminology61:37 The antithesis and secular psychology67:06 Scripture’s framework for counseling72:59 Common grace and the two-book approach75:56 Counseling in service of the church’s mission77:42 ConclusionMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000 Live in Austin, TXChrist the Center 1000 SummitChrist the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000 Summit

Hebrews never pits the covenants against one another as law versus gospel; it presents them as grace and grace—the same house, the same people, the same promise. Yet the old was always preparatory: shadow giving way to substance, promise to fulfillment. Marcus A. Mininger traces that organic development and shows why the unity of the one covenant is precisely what makes Hebrews’ warning so urgent. The address closes where the letter does—on persevering within the covenant and resting in the sole sufficiency of Christ.Dr. Marcus A. Mininger is professor of New Testament at Mid-America Reformed Seminary, with research on Paul and the General Epistles—including a forthcoming study of the warning passages in Hebrews.Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, “The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose,” at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.Watch this address: https://youtu.be/DMhQflaD8PMWatch the full conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJykAlOwqPCAreformedforum.orgMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000

Few passages have unsettled readers like Hebrews’ warning that it is “impossible … to restore again to repentance” those who fall away. Does it teach a sin beyond forgiveness? Marcus A. Mininger clears away the common misreadings and names the real danger the author confronts: the temptation to abandon Christ and re-lay a foundation in the old covenant alone. The warning, rightly heard, is not about a sin too great to forgive but about the impossibility of going back—and it sets up the covenant question taken up in the session that follows.Dr. Marcus A. Mininger is professor of New Testament at Mid-America Reformed Seminary, with research on Paul and the General Epistles—including a forthcoming study of the warning passages in Hebrews.Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, “The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose,” at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.Watch this address: https://youtu.be/9B4fCp9femsWatch the full conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJykAlOwqPCAreformedforum.orgMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000

A greater Joshua has come. Benjamin L. Gladd takes another look at Jesus’s exorcisms, reading them against the Old Testament backdrop of Israel’s conquest. Where Joshua led a people into an earthly rest by the sword, Christ leads his people into a greater rest by the Spirit and the word, defeating the powers that held them captive. The kingdom does not advance by force but by the triumph of the one Savior who gathers one people to himself, and the exorcisms are a preview of that greater conquest.Dr. Benjamin L. Gladd is executive director of the Carson Center for Theological Renewal and formerly professor of New Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson. He edits the Essential Studies in Biblical Theology series and has written widely on the use of the Old Testament in the New, including works co-authored with G. K. Beale.Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, “The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose,” at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.Watch this address: https://youtu.be/UeBRopgfpmIWatch the full conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJykAlOwqPCAreformedforum.orgMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000

When does the long-promised restoration of Israel take place? G. K. Beale gives particular attention to Acts 1:8 and its use of the Old Testament and argues that the restoration is already under way in the church's Spirit-empowered witness to the nations. God fulfills his covenant promises to Israel in Christ and carries them to the ends of the earth, as the one Savior gathers one people to himself. The answer has direct consequences for how we understand the church, the nations, and the promises of the covenant.Dr. Gregory K. Beale teaches at Reformed Theological Seminary, Dallas. He is a leading New Testament scholar known for his work on biblical theology, the use of the Old Testament in the New, and the temple theme across Scripture.Delivered at the 2026 Reformed Forum Theology Conference, "The Covenant of Grace: One Savior, One People, One Purpose," at Lakeland Church in Gurnee, Illinois, on September 26, 2026.Watch the full conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJykAlOwqPCAhttps://reformedforum.orgMentioned in this episode:Christ the Center 1000Christ the Center 1000