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Have you ever noticed how even
though things are constantly changing in this fast-paced world
that there are some things that remain unchanged? This shouldn't
surprise us. We live in God's world and His truth surrounds us. The world, people, cultures will
change but God's truth shall stand forever. And it's to his church and her
preachers that he is given the task of communicating this life-giving
gospel to the world. Each generation must train the
next to proclaim passionately the Word of God. The world needs
to hear of God's holiness, His grace, and goodness to His people. But how are they to call on Him
in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in
Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without
a preacher? Pastoral care, discipleship,
evangelism, preaching is at the hub and everything should flow
in and out of preaching. So it's our conviction then that
the better men are trained to preach, the better served the
church is going to be. And so we see our role then as
just helping the church by preparing men to preach, and our curriculum
is designed to do that. So all our courses whittle, carve,
mold the man so that those gifts can become useful to the church. Greenville Presbyterian Theological
Seminary recognizes the absolute sovereignty of God and the authority
of His decrees. We are therefore unequivocally
committed to the inerrancy of Scripture as its foundational
theological principle. The broad evangelicalism that
often arises with Reformed churches points to a failure of her leaders
to grasp fully the implications of this fundamental doctrine.
We seek to work out this great doctrine in every area of our
instruction. The church grows and spreads
as the Word of God is sown. It's the Word that creates the
church and the people of God. And so the Word of God is the
foundation of the church, but it's also that which builds up
the church. So by the time that students graduate from here,
they'll have an intimate knowledge of the scriptures and be able
to communicate them well for the people of God. The seminary
primarily prepares men for the gospel ministry through its divinity
program, both bachelor's and master's degrees. We offer other
opportunities for study as well. The Master of Arts, available
to men and women, includes several possible concentrations and is
offered to those who are neither ordained nor seeking ordination,
but who desire a general biblical and theological education. The
Master of Ministry for Ruling Elders is for ordained elders
seeking further education and other men approved by their church
leadership. Our Foundations Year Classical
Curriculum enables students to profit more fully from the remainder
of our curriculum. They also train our students
to be more careful thinkers and articulate speakers. We offer
both on-campus and distance learning courses for our students, including
extension classes and video conferencing classes. All programs emphasize
personal piety, knowledge of the Word, and application of
the Word. Here at Greenville Presbyterian
Theological Seminary, we firmly and formally subscribe to the
historic confessions of the Reformed faith. It is our conviction that
the modern church must preserve orthodoxy by returning to full
subscription to biblical truths as set forth in the Westminster
and Continental Reformed standards, and that ministers and elders
must uphold their ordination vows of full subscription to
these standards. We subscribe to the historic
confessions of the Reformed faith, especially what's known as the
Westminster Standards, largely because this connects us to a
historic Christianity. The purpose of creeds and confessions
in the church is to serve as a unifying factor for the church,
and so though we recognize that members in our churches come
from all different walks of life and background, As Paul tells
us in Ephesians 4, those ministering the Gospel are responsible to
bring us to a unity of the faith. We are committed to training
passionate, articulate preachers of the Gospel in the light of
the historic Reformed faith, because the preaching of the
Word is the God-ordained means for the spread of the Gospel.
The priority of preaching is one of the main thrusts of a
GPTS education. We believe that one of the great
needs of the modern church is strong expository and applicatory
preaching accompanied by humility of spirit and sincerity of heart. The Bible teaches that preaching
is God's primary means of grace. When an ordained man preaches
the Word of God, Christ speaks with a living voice. The Reformation
standards have all affirmed that preaching is the primary means
of grace, and so what the church needs above all are well-equipped
pastor-preachers. The statements attributed to
Calvin, send us your wood and we will send you arrows. So we
want to see a man, a godly man, because those arrows are useless
if the man is not a godly man. All programs emphasize personal
piety, knowledge of the word, and application of the word.
Our fundamentals include the languages of scripture, Christian
heritage, missions and evangelism, a classical curriculum, accountability,
and affordable tuition. So all truth should lead to the
worship and service of God. So we teach that way, and we
want as professors to live that way, as staff and administrators
as well, and to help our students learn to live that way. All controversy
within the church is to be settled by an appeal to the Old Testament
in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek. This means that in
order for a man to be a good church man, he has to know the
original languages. And we understand that if a man
is going to preach the Word of God, he needs more than just
a knowledge of the English version that he might be preaching from.
Well, I think the The most significant thing about the way we teach
languages here is that we require double what most seminaries require
as far as language instruction. And then when you add that to
the use of the languages in the systematic theology courses,
I think that strengthens and emphasizes to the student, this
stuff is really important. The emphasis here at Greenville
Seminary is in a great deal, in large part, a recognition
of the importance of history for the understanding of the
Christian faith. The Bible itself is the most
important history book of all time. Much of a narrative in
the Bible is historical. It's important because it helps
us stay focused on who we are. It helps us reflect on what's
happened in the past and not make the same mistakes or to
be able to do the things those men did when they did it well
and know that we're in good company. We recognize we live in the 21st
century and that there's a history of philosophy, there is other
religions around the world, and so our emphasis is basically
to train men in a full-orb ministry to try and reach the lost, those
who have not known or do not profess faith in the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. When seminaries in the United
States first got started in the 19th century, most students coming
to seminary had what we would call a classical liberal arts
education. That's not the case today. Most
of our students, even if they have a BA, it's not in liberal
arts. They haven't had Latin, they
haven't had Greek, they haven't had logic, they haven't had rhetoric.
That's why our curriculum is four years rather than three
because we've got a number of those kinds of courses built
into that first year. Accountability means a good bit
to us. I have been involved with other
schools that basically thought we know best so we'll do it our
way. The attitude from Greenville from day one has been we want
to listen to the church if we're here to serve the church. I'm
very pleased with what we do for accountability. We want our
men to leave here with a burden for the church, not a burden
of debt. And so from day one, Greenville has had a commitment
to very low tuition. Our tuition is two-thirds to
three-fourths less than the other comparable schools in our tradition. Greenville Presbyterian Theological
Seminary offers many opportunities for students and their families,
both for fellowship and professional development. We have what we
call the ladies' seminary wives. This was put together by the
wives' faculty members. And so these ladies have developed
a four-year curriculum to help the wives of the seminarians
to know what's expected of them, how they can best serve as a
pastor's wife. And the husbands are many times
invited to attend. It's a great program. Our home
city of Greenville, South Carolina consistently rates as one of
the top cities in the United States by publications like Forbes,
USA Today, MSN, Fodor's Travel Guide, and more. Anybody that
knows Greenville, South Carolina knows it's an ideal location.
Greenville was just recently in USA Today picked as one of
the top ten cities in America to visit. But then spiritually,
I don't know a town particularly the size with the surrounding
county that has as many churches in our tradition as Greenville
has. It's a great atmosphere. When
you have a group of men that the Lord has called into the
ministry who are pursuing the same goals, you end up with a
very strong bond being created. So there's lots of opportunities
for fellowship and just iron sharpening iron. One of our stated
goals is for the students to develop friendships that will
last them throughout their ministry. It's great to see them at another
level yet, them functioning as friends, getting together, doing
things together, both with faculty in our homes, but also just with
one another. Our hope and desire is to see faithful churches led
by faithful ministers. The world is transformed as the
Lord blesses his truth when it goes from the pulpit to the congregation
and then to the world. We invite you to join us. Explore
your faith and share the word of the Lord.
GPTS: an Uncommon School for Uncommon Times (long)
| Sermon ID | 31716115522 |
| Duration | 12:11 |
| Date | |
| Category | Miscellaneous |
| Language | English |
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