# Big Year for John MacArthur



## bookslover (Feb 1, 2009)

Tomorrow (Sunday, February 1), his congregation (Grace Community Church of the Valley, in Sun Valley, California) will celebrate his 40th anniversary as the pastor/teacher there (he started in February, 1969, when he was 29 years old).

Then, on June 19th (a birthday he shares with Spurgeon), MacArthur turns 70.

He may not be entirely Reformed (although his soteriology is thoroughly Reformed), but he has definitely been a good gift of God for the church at large.


----------



## Hamalas (Feb 1, 2009)




----------



## Ask Mr. Religion (Feb 1, 2009)

I always have to chuckle when John claims he is a "leaky dispensationalist". I wish him forty more years at Grace.

AMR


----------



## Herald (Feb 1, 2009)

Dr. MacArthur has been a faithful servant for the kingdom of God. May his ministry increase, for God's glory.


----------



## Ivan (Feb 1, 2009)

I like him. May God use him for His glory for another forty years!


----------



## jogri17 (Feb 1, 2009)

No mortal man in the past century has done more for bringing back expository preaching than Dr. John MacArthur.


----------



## BJClark (Feb 1, 2009)

Praise God for faithful men like this..

May God raise up more!!


----------



## Devin (Feb 1, 2009)

Congrats! He is also Larry King's best Christian representative.


----------



## christiana (Feb 1, 2009)

I have the greatest respect and admiration for him and love reading his books! My pastor also preaches as he does and I'm so thankful for him!


----------



## AThornquist (Feb 1, 2009)

My pastor worked at Grace to You as the first Director of Counseling Ministries and traveled and spoke with Dr. MacArthur at radio Bible Conferences. He was also ordained and commissioned by the Elders at Grace Community Church. Needless to say, he was there in Sun Valley today, and our Assoc. Pastor led the service. 

May the Lord bless John MacArthur.


----------



## bookslover (Feb 1, 2009)

...and, if you go to the church's ministry website (Welcome to Grace to You), you will find the complete audio recordings of more than 7,000 of MacArthur's sermons, going all the way back to his start in February, 1969.

You can tell he's a "leaky dispensationalist." When you look at the audio sermon indexes, you'll find that there is not one sermon - in 40 years - preached from the Book of Psalms (to take just one Old Testament example).

With his gifts and skills, can you imagine what a series of studies on the Psalms would be like?


----------



## DMcFadden (Feb 1, 2009)

Devin said:


> Congrats! He is also Larry King's best Christian representative.



You mean better than Joel Osteen? Duh! MacArthur ALWAYS states the truth and NEVER pulls punches when he has a national television platform.


----------



## Ivan (Feb 1, 2009)

bookslover said:


> ...and, if you go to the church's ministry website (Welcome to Grace to You), you will find the complete audio recordings of more than 7,000 of MacArthur's sermons, going all the way back to his start in February, 1969.
> 
> You can tell he's a "leaky dispensationalist." When you look at the audio sermon indexes, you'll find that there is not one sermon - in 40 years - preached from the Book of Psalms (to take just one Old Testament example).
> 
> With his gifts and skills, can you imagine what a series of studies on the Psalms would be like?



That is incredible! Well, there's another difference between MacArthur and me...which are many! But I do find that amazing. I have preached many sermons from the Psalms and often use them during prayer meetings.

-----Added 2/1/2009 at 08:34:16 EST-----



AThornquist said:


> My pastor worked at Grace to You as the first Director of Counseling Ministries and traveled and spoke with Dr. MacArthur at radio Bible Conferences. He was also ordained and commissioned by the Elders at Grace Community Church. Needless to say, he was there in Sun Valley today, and our Assoc. Pastor led the service.
> 
> May the Lord bless John MacArthur.



Cool.

-----Added 2/1/2009 at 08:39:19 EST-----



bookslover said:


> You can tell he's a "leaky dispensationalist." When you look at the audio sermon indexes, you'll find that there is not one sermon - in 40 years - preached from the Book of Psalms...



Hmmm...what about this:

Grace to You


----------



## AThornquist (Feb 1, 2009)

Yeah, I see that he has done many sermons from the Psalms.


----------



## bookslover (Feb 1, 2009)

AThornquist said:


> Yeah, I see that he has done many sermons from the Psalms.



Yes, I stand corrected. I revisited the site today and noticed that they've added some more sermons. There are now 11 sermons that he's preached from the Psalms - mostly from Psalm 19, it seems. Except for two sermons from 1979, the rest are from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

They've also rejiggered the way the site looks, too.


----------



## Marno (Feb 24, 2009)

His show used to be on out here in western Washington but in the second half of 2008 went off the air.


----------



## WarrenInSC (Mar 11, 2009)

*Without a doubt an amazing ministry*



bookslover said:


> Tomorrow (Sunday, February 1), his congregation (Grace Community Church of the Valley, in Sun Valley, California) will celebrate his 40th anniversary as the pastor/teacher there (he started in February, 1969, when he was 29 years old).
> 
> Then, on June 19th (a birthday he shares with Spurgeon), MacArthur turns 70.
> 
> He may not be entirely Reformed (although his soteriology is thoroughly Reformed), but he has definitely been a good gift of God for the church at large.



He has lead what is without a doubt a most amazing ministry of the Word.

His focus on not getting the mission of the church off track via inappropriate culture war fighting or watered down ministry in the guise of misplaced 'social responsibility' has been valuable. However, I still think I would have joined Sam Adams in 1776


----------



## Reformingstudent (Mar 11, 2009)

Ivan said:


> I like him. May God use him for His glory for another forty years!



Amen!


----------

