In this sermon, the speaker shares his passion for promoting Reformed experiential preaching, or the importance of experiencing the truths of God in the soul and the whole life. He shares a personal experience of being assaulted in an Eastern European country and dedicating his life to this cause. He also discusses his bout with COVID, which initially left him feeling deserted by God but later renewed his dedication to his mission. The speaker describes the goals of the Puritan Reformed Seminary, such as training pastors and leaders in their own countries, and expanding programs in homiletics and counseling. He also shares his involvement in various projects, such as the complete works of William Perkins, Samuel Rutherford, and Patris Van Maastricht, as well as his own legacy in Reformed systematic theology.

Well, probably the thing that burns in my soul the most and what I feel to be my greatest calling in life is to promote what I call Reformed experiential preaching. That means experiential or experimental, as the old divines used to say is the importance of experiencing beyond the mind also in the soul and the whole life the truths of God which is related to this conference's theme on holiness. It's not enough just to believe the confessions and to be conservative and have an outward demeanor of a godly walk. We need to know God in Jesus Christ whom he has sent. In our library of 100, 000 books at Puritan Reform Seminary, the most common text preached on by the Reformers and the Puritans and all those forefathers we hold dear is John 17, verse 3.

This is life eternal, to know God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent. Number one text preached on. And the word to know, as you know in Greek, means intimate knowledge, that Jesus becomes more real to you than the chairs you're sitting on right now. Well, that's my passion, my passion in life. I grew up in that tradition, and I feel even stronger now than I ever did before.

2002, I was in an Eastern European country. I was assaulted when I came back to my room after teaching systematic theology. I was struck down by a guy who, when I went to shut my door, and they came in, They shouted they were the mafia. And they laid me down and bound me, hand and feet, and gagged me and eyes. I couldn't understand anything they were saying, but I knew I was a dead man Because they had told me, if you're ever in the hands of the mafia, you are a dead man.

I never even prayed that I would live. I just started praying when I was laying there on the ground for my wife, my children, and so on. But comes to find out, they really weren't the mafia, And they took my keys and went over to the seminary they stripped it of all the computers They took everything I own and so on but they left And I after 15 minutes was able to unloosen myself And I stood up And I had one of those aha moments in my spiritual life where I rededicated my life to the Lord to promote his truth known in the soul. And I vowed to God I would spend every waking moment I had to promote Reformed experiential preaching and teaching. This past September, I got COVID and I had a flip experience.

As much as God helped me when I was laying on the floor 20 years ago, I felt deserted by God at the initial time of COVID. I actually got sick in church, went out of church, felt I was going to faint, and I did faint. Took me to the hospital. I was there a couple days. When I woke up, actually, they were cutting my brand new suit pants from the bottom up, and I thought, well, what are you doing destroying a $300 pair of suit?

And then I suddenly realized, wow, this must be serious. And the first days after I was home, it was like I could not pray. I mean, I prayed, but it didn't go beyond the ceiling. It was just no contact with God. It was frightening.

It was the worst part of COVID for me. But after about three days, the cloud lifted, and I felt a burning love to God and to his people more than ever before. And I re-vowed my life, rededicated my life once more to this grand theme of bringing God's truth to the whole man, head and heart as well as hands and feet. So that's my personal emphasis. That's how I feel about my wife and my children and my seven new grandchildren Five years ago, and I stood before you I had zero grandchildren today.

We have five or seven so in five years That's not too bad But they're wonderful, But I have the same passion for them. They need to know the Lord in truth. I have the same passion for my church. Every time I get up to preach from Lord's Day to Lord's Day, I want them to know the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and to love Him in sincerity. But that's also my passion in my other work, my two other main tasks.

First, in the seminary, Pure Term Reform Seminary, Paul Washer actually did our commencement address a week ago, and it was wonderful. And we had 23 graduates going to 13 countries, and our first PhD graduates as well. So we have five degrees. And the PhD degree we began about six years ago to implement because our goal is to get PhDs back with this Reformed experiential emphasis back into their own countries, become presidents of seminaries, is our grandest goal, and that those presidents of seminaries can then select, with the help of their boards, all really godly, reformed, solid men who have an experiential flavor to teach in those seminaries. So the grand goal, and it's a goal of decades, is that in every country with a significant Reformed presence There would be at least one seminary that those men can go to from that country where they can trust every professor to bring them the whole counsel of God in the whole inspired Word of God to the whole man of God.

That's our passion. So they don't all have to fly to America to a few seminaries that are still sound in this way, but they can get trained in their own countries. And to that end, we're expanding our programs. We're opening up a homiletics degree. That's a preaching degree, a Ph.D.

Degree and a D.Men degree this fall. We're opening up a counseling degree. There's a great need for counseling also in churches. Women counseling women and men counseling men, and we're hoping to promote that. That's burning in our soul as well.

But again, that's a Reformed experiential kind of counseling where you speak to the heart as well as to the mind. So It's all of one piece, you see. It's one passion, one dream, promoting God's glory through this Reformed experiential emphasis. And the last thing I want to say is that we want to carry out that dream also at Reformation Heritage Books. That's been a passion of mine for 27 years with the book ministry and God has been opening up new doors.

During the COVID time, We reorganized RHB and the seminary in such a way that if something happens to me in the future, both ministries will go on. David Wolin, who's with me now here today, is a CEO of RHB. And so he's got a lot of energy, vision, drive, along the same lines that we feel convicted by. And so we just purchased a new building, two and a half million dollar building, actually at 44, 000 square feet. And thank the Lord that donors took care of that expense because we're a non-profit.

And that's opening up to be the largest reformed experiential bookstore in the world, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, next month. And still most of our orders will be mail orders, but we have a passion to bring this truth around the globe and to expand it more and more. Good news is that every single year in the last four years, RHB is selling about another $500, 000 worth of books each year. It's growing. COVID time was off the charts.

So it's wonderful to see that more people are loving to read sound truths around the world than I can remember in my lifetime. And some of my passion here is invested in the complete works of William Perkins, the father of Puritanism. We have just published the last volume of a ten-volume set. For the first time, his works are available since the 1600s. How would you like to not have Calvin's Institutes or Calvin's Commentary?" He said, it would be crazy.

Well, it's crazy that we have these hundreds and hundreds of Puritan books that feed the soul and we don't have the father of the whole movement printed. So now they're finally available. So that's one dream done. A second dream is that Samuel Rutherford who many of you know I love him dearly as a man of God not only but as a Preacher of Christ he's the most Christ-centered writer I know in all of church history. Well, we are doing the complete works of Samuel Rutherford, also a systematic theology, which is still in Latin.

We're doing the complete works in 13 volumes. Chad Van Dixhorn from Westminster is the head of a team of us, five editors. We've got about 50 writers involved. It's a nine-year project, God willing. And we want to bring out this great Scottish writer in his complete writings.

Again, reformed experiential preaching and teaching. Jonathan Edwards said that Van Maastricht, Patris Van Maastricht, had a seven-volume set of theology that was the best thing ever written in the history of mankind beside the Bible. And that has never been translated to English as well. We're just putting the finishing touches right now on volume three. It's one of my passions, if the Lord spares me, to complete that work with a number of other men who are translating.

I serve as editor of it in the next five to six years. But that will be a work that will impact scholars and pastors all over the globe. Patris van Mastricht, his seven-volume work on systematic theology. At the same time, this is my last point, I'm leaving behind, Let me get over and get this here I'm leaving behind my own life's legacy of teaching for 30 years in Reformed systematic theology in four volumes with my TA, Paul Smalley. And so Crossway is printing this.

The first two volumes are done. And The third volume is at the printer all typeset and done But will come out in November and then we're working on the fourth volume what we aim to do Which is consistent with all these goals is we take each doctrine of the Bible Say what the Bible says about it. Then secondly, what church history says about it, pro and con. Thirdly, how do you experience this doctrine in the inner man? And then fourthly, practical takeaways from this doctrine.

And fifthly, We end every chapter with a poem or a hymn because we want you to end in doxological praise For every doctrine of the Bible. Don't you ever dare say to me that doctrine is boring? Doctrine is exciting. Martin Luther said doctrine is heaven because by these things men live well. That's what we're trying to do in this legacy I'm trying to leave behind and at the same time we just came out with Puritan reform theology historical experiential practical studies for the whole of life.

This was for our 25th anniversary of our seminary, and I've tried to collect various articles I wrote on the experiential end of the teaching of the Puritans so that you