The Banner Podcast

The new minister has arrived. He loves the Lord. He loves the Scriptures. He loves the local church. But all is not well in the congregation he has been called to serve. What is he to do? How is he to build? 

Long-time friend of the Banner, veteran pastor Peter Barnes, offers counsel to a young man in such a position. 

Featured resource: 

Peter Barnes, 'Approaching Pastoral Difficulties,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 392 (May 1996).  

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

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Elijah's ministry to Israel at a time of rampant backsliding is a challenge and an encouragement to us in the days of apostasy in which we live. But what drove Elijah? What was his abiding concern—his activating conviction? Reed S. Rusniak takes us to the heart of the prophet's motivations. 

This week's article, the first of a projected six-part series in the print magazine, is from the June 2026 issue. 

Featured resource: 

Reed S. Rusniak, 'Standing for God (1): Elijah's Concern for the Honour and Glory of God,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 753 (June 2026). 

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

The Christian's great hope is the personal return—the Second Coming—of the Lord Jesus Christ. In his article 'Eagerly Awaiting the Saviour,' Mike Riccardi helps us grasp the nature of this hope, and work it out in our own lives. 

Featured resource: 

Mike Riccardi, 'Eagerly Awaiting the Saviour,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 629 (February 2016).

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

Grant Castleberry serves as a Pastor-Teacher at The King's Chapel, Raleigh, North Carolina. Grant recently concluded doctoral research into D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and in this bonus episode we discuss 'the Doctor' and his ministry emphases, as well as hearing Grant's own fascinating testimony to God's faithfulness and gracious calling. 

More on The King's Chapel: 

https://www.thekingschapel.com/

Grant's book, The Honor of God: 

https://store.ligonier.org/the-honor-of-god-hardcover 

Grant's resource website: 

https://unashamedtruth.org/

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

Christian fellowship, contends our editor Mark G. Johnston, is the 'Cinderella' of the means of grace. That is to say, of the various means the Lord uses to build up His people, fellowship is woefully and unjustly neglected. This week on the podcast, we are encouraged to remedy this neglect, and discover afresh that there is no healthy church life–even Christian life–without Christian fellowship. 

Featured Resources: 

Mark G. Johnston, 'Fellowship: The Cinderella of the Means of Grace,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 737 (February 2025). 

Ian Hamilton, 'The Fellowship of Saints,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 633 (June 2016). 

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

How are we to love and to set apart the Lord's Day? Why are we to love it and set it apart? Maurice Roberts explains, in clear and compelling terms, what relevance the Fourth Commandment has for Christians in the New Covenant. 

Featured Resource: 

Maurice Roberts, 'Sabbath Observance,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 392 (May 1996). 

Be Part of the Next Chapter: 

More information about our building project, and how you can pray and give, can be found here: 

https://banneroftruth.org/uk/nextchapter/ 

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

Thomas Boston was one of the outstanding Scottish ministers of the eighteenth century. This week we consider his faithfulness in two small parishes in the Scottish Lowlands, and God's sustaining of him in these difficult charges. 

Featured Resource: 

G. N. M. Collins, 'How Thomas Boston Beheld the Lamb of God which Taketh Away the Sin of the World,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 640 (January 2017)

Be Part of the Next Chapter: 

More information about our building project, and how you can pray and give, can be found here: 

https://banneroftruth.org/uk/nextchapter/ 

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

Our bonus episode this week is a conversation with Dr Robert Strivens, Banner of Truth Trustee and Director of the recently set-up Reformed Baptist Study Centre. We hear more about Robert, the work of the Banner trustees, and the hopes for the new study centre in this interview recorded at the recent Banner Ministers' Conference in Staffordshire. 

Robert's recommendations: 

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Puritans: Their Origins and Successors

Iain H. Murray, The Life of Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1 volume)

Iain H. Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (2 volumes)

John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied

Find out more about the Reformed Baptist Study Centre and its events: 

https://rbstudycentre.com/ 

Be Part of the Next Chapter of the Banner of Truth: 

More information about our building project, and how you can pray and give, can be found here: 

https://banneroftruth.org/uk/nextchapter/ 

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

This week's selection is an excursion into Pastor William Shishko's ministerial library, to see which books have fed him as a Christian and as a minister. The result will be of interest not only to other men called to shepherd the Lord's flock, but to every Christian with an appetite to know more of God. 

(In Print) Books Mentioned in the Episode: 

John Owen, The Glory of Christ (Volume 1 of The Works of John Owen, comprising Owen's Christologia, Or a Declaration of the Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ and Discourses and Meditations on the Glory of Christ)

Gardiner Spring, The Attraction of the Cross (Out of print). 

Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and the Revival of Religion in the Soul

Octavius Winslow, No Condemnation in Christ, as Unfolded in the Eighth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans

Octavius Winslow, The Work of the Holy Spirit: An Experimental and Practical View

J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Matthew: https://banneroftruth.org/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-9/ 

Mark: https://banneroftruth.org/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-10/ 

Luke (I): https://banneroftruth.org/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-11/ 

Luke (II): https://banneroftruth.org/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-12/ 

John (I): https://banneroftruth.org/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-13/ 

John (II): https://banneroftruth.org/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-14/ 

John (III): https://banneroftruth.org/store/commentaries/expository-thoughts-on-the-gospels-15/ 

William Hendriksen's Commentaries: https://banneroftruth.org/about/banner-authors/william-hendriksen/ 

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast

The doctrine of the cross of Christ is not merely a constituent part of the Christian system of belief - it is the beating heart of the Christian message, the saving reality which cannot be known or loved by man in a state of sin and rebellion. The cross mocks human wisdom, exposing its strength as weakness. Maurice Roberts helps us see that only divine wisdom, given by the Holy Spirit, enables us to receive the cross of Christ and its implications. 

Featured Resource: 

Maurice Roberts, 'What Earth's Princes Never Knew,' Banner of Truth Magazine, Issue 370 (July 1994). 

Explore the work of the Banner of Truth: www.banneroftruth.org

Subscribe to the Magazine (print/digital/both): www.banneroftruth.org/magazine

Leave us your feedback or a testimony: www.speakpipe.com/magazinepodcast