Seminary on SermonAudio

BJU Seminary Retreat 2026 Session 2

BJU Seminary Retreat 2026 Session 1

Every biblical counselor assumes their approach comes straight from Scripture alone, but what if the underlying architecture came from an apologist rather than a counselor? In this third episode of our MarsCast series on biblical counseling, Dr. Jared Poulton joins Jared and Dr. Alan Strange to reveal the hidden intellectual DNA of the biblical counseling movement: how Cornelius Van Til's presuppositional apologetics (covenantal knowledge, the antithesis, the rejection of "brute facts") became the theological scaffolding Jay Adams built his entire system on. But it's not a simple story of inheritance. Dr. Strange raises a pointed challenge about what gets lost when the antithesis is applied to counseling without its necessary counterweight, common grace, right down to what that means for how Christians assess the insights of secular psychology. If you've ever wondered why biblical counselors are so skeptical of Freud, CBT, or trauma therapy, this episode traces that instinct straight back to its source.

The devotional explores Judges 6, focusing on Gideon's call amid a nation in spiritual and physical bondage to the Midianites, illustrating how God responds to desperate prayer with deliverance through humble, unexpected instruments. Central to the message is the transformative power of divine presence—God's declaration, 'I will be with you,' confronts human inadequacy and ignites faith, as Gideon's initial self-doubt gives way to worship and obedience. The passage reveals a recurring spiritual cycle: apostasy leads to oppression, repentance to deliverance, and complacency to relapse—warning believers against returning to the sins that caused their bondage. The call to worship, symbolized by Gideon's altar, becomes the proper response to divine deliverance, marking a commitment to remain faithful. Ultimately, the sermon emphasizes that God uses the humble and insignificant to accomplish mighty works, and that true freedom is sustained not by strength but by continual dependence on Him.