Real Talk

Coming back at you with another Real Talk Round Up! Jon Dykstra joins us for this one as we reflect on the last three episodes. Listen to the end to hear Jon's top 5 book recommendations for graduates. We hope you enjoy today's episode!
Top 5 books for graduates:
Grace and Truth Paradox - Randy Alcorn
Just Do Something - Kevin DeYoung
The Christian Counsellor's Commentary on Proverbs - Jay E. Adams
John: An Expositional Commentary - R.C. Sproul
Death by Living - N.D. Wilson
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
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Happy Victoria Day to all our Canadian listeners!
On today's episode we brought on fan favourite, Pastor Jim Witteveen to talk about his new book, How in the World did we get here? This book highlights the earthly forces and movements the devil is using to try accomplish his purposes. We know we have the final victory in Christ yet it is important for us to be informed of the evil works at play so we can be on guard and fight the battles of spiritual warfare. Be sure to check out this book here!
We hope you enjoy this episode and pray that it informs and encourages you to live boldly for Christ. We'd love to hear your thoughts!
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
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We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!
 

We have a new episode for you with Al Siebring. Al has served in a variety of public roles including as the Mayor of North Cowichan, BC. He might be most well known to you as the host of ARPA’s previous podcast enterprise, Lighthouse News. We chat about his experiences in the public life and the importance of staying faithful in this work.
 
0:00 - Intro
3:00 - Al’s experience & career
25:00 - The Michener Award (for Investigative Journalism)
33:00 - Bias in the media
36:00 - Charles and Diana
41:00 - Ted Byfield
43:00 - Lighthouse
50:45 - Municipal Politics
1:04:00 - COVID
1:13:00 - Advice for being involved into politics
1:17:00 - Consulting
1:22:30 - What makes a good leader?
 
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reformedrealtalk/
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!
 

Here is part 2 of our series on the marks of the true church. In this episode, we're looking at the sacraments. Joining Tyler for this chat is Rev. James Zekveld, a missionary and pastor in Niverville, MB. We start with a general outline of what the sacraments are and then go into the baptism discussion. We cover arguments for both paedobaptism and credobaptism and why the covenant matters!
 
0:00 - Intro
06:10 - What is a sacrament?
10:00 - Roman Catholic sacraments
14:00 - Why do we only do it on Sunday?
23:30 - What do we believe Baptism is?
40:20 - Baptism vs Profession of Faith
47:30 - Arguments for Paedo and Credobaptism
1:17:00 - Importance of the Covenant
1:22:00 - Feelings and Symbolism
 
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
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We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!
 
 

Time for a Real Talk RoundUp! RP's chairman on the board, Bruce DeBoer and fellow board member, Pastor Jim Witteveen are joining us for this conversation. We catch up on the last three episodes as well as touch on a recent article Pastor Jim wrote for Reformed Perspective covering the topics of Residential Schools & Truth and Reconciliation. Check it out here on page 29 of the magazine:
Truth & Reconciliation is possible, but not as it is being popularized
We also have a special update from Bruce on the work for Reformed Perspective. Be sure to let us know what you think of this episode and any feedback/ideas you may have for us at Real Talk or Reformed Perspective, please don't hesitate to reach out. We're grateful for your support and listenership.
0:00 - Intro
4:00 - Covid 19 & Mental Health
18:50 - To Preach or to Lecture
29:00 - IVF & Embryo Adoption
40:00 - Truth and Reconciliation Article
53:40 - Reformed Perspective Update
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
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We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!

We have an interesting yet difficult episode for you today. We know this is a sensitive topic but we hope it will be helpful for you in understanding more about this complex topic. 
Justina Van Manen from CCBR joins us for this conversation where we discuss the history of IVF, it's regulation and the risks and dangers associated with it. On the other side, we also discuss snowflake adoption and the opportunity it presents for Christians. Be sure to let us know what you think of this episode!
0:00 - Intro
5:19 - History of IVF
10:00 - Regulations
17:00 - Dangers and Risks
29:00 - Snowflake Adoption
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reformedrealtalk/
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!

Hopefully, this will be part one of a new series examining the Marks of a True Church. For this episode, we dive into what is the pure preaching of the Gospel. To help us with this we brought on Dr. Van Dam, emeritus professor of Canadian Reformed Seminary. 
We discuss what is preaching, how it differs from lectures and speeches, who can preach, and who is preaching for. We also hone in on what about preaching in a missional context - is the preaching for the lost or the found??
Be sure to let us know your thoughts on this episode! 
0:00 - Intro
8:40 - Preaching in the OT vs NT
15:30 - Calling to preach
19:20 - Lecture vs. Sermon
22:00 - Why is preaching a mark of the true church
27:50 - Structure of a sermon
35:30 - Preaching to the flock
40:30 - Room for interaction?
44:00 - Sermon Evaluating
56:00 - The tenure of a preacher
1:07:00 - Preaching in a missional context
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
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We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!

We got a good episode for you today! Dr. Mark Kelderman joins us today to chat about mental health, especially in light of the last few years. Dr. Keldmerman is a certified biblical counsellor with the ACBC (Association of Certified Biblical Counsellors) and IRBC (The Institute for Reformed Biblical Counselling). He served as the pastor of Heritage Reformed Church in Burgessville, Ontario for 13 years and continues to preach locally.
In this episode we also get into, what mental health is biblically, chemical depression vs. soul care, suffering and how we can help those struggling.
*If you want to learn more about Biblical vs. Christian Counselling, be sure to listen to episode 15 of Real Talk* 
 
00:00 - Intro
2:30 - Mental health pre and post covid
8:00 - Looking at mental health biblically
25:00 - Chemical depression vs. soul care
35:00 - What is peace?
36:00 - Fear, COVID and moral responsibility
41:00 - Mental health and spirituality
44:00 - Anxiety
45:30 - Secular practices
51:30 - Suffering and mental health
1:05:00 - Helping those who struggle
 
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reformedrealtalk/
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!

We back at it with another Real Talk Round Up. Reformed Perspective's editor, Jon Dykstra join us for this one to recap and discuss the last few episodes. We also discuss the cultural moment we find ourselves in and how to evangelize to those around us. Jon also shares some great book/biography recommendations and we've listed them here:
"A reason to read biographies is to see, and be encouraged by what God has done in other people’s lives. And then be challenged to consider, if He could use them, what could He do with you, if only you trusted Him to keep hold of you? You can find longer reviews of each book by clicking on their title." - J. Dykstra.
Top 5 biographies for those who love to read
Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken – WW II veteran Louis Zamperini survived enemy fire, being alone on a raft for weeks, and a Japanese POW camp, all the while being “unbroken.” But Who was keeping him so?
Brother Andrew’s God’s Smuggler – Dutchman dares to smuggle Bibles behind the Iron Curtain, counting on God to blind seeing eyes
Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place – Dutch woman and her family hide Jews during WWII, get caught and sent to concentration camps, and Corrie shows us how God was with her in it all
Kara Tippets’ The hardest peace – a pastor’s wife starts a mommy blog, then uses it to share her journey when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. She shows us how to die in the security, and to the glory, of God. Amazingly beautiful!
George Van Popta’s Man of the First Hour – for anyone with Canadian Reformed denominational connections this is a must-read. The story of the first pastor of the Canadian Reformed churches, and is as much a history of him and his family as of the founding of the denomination
Bonus: Rosario Champagne Butterfield’s The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert – lesbian university professor meets a pastor who asks her, have you considered you might be wrong?
Top 5 accessible biographies to get a person started reading biographies 
Susan K Leigh’s Luther: Echoes of the Hammer – graphic novel yes; superficial? No!
Todd Nettleton’s When Faith Is Forbidden – 40 true stories from the front lines about God using miracles and persecution to gather His people
Kim and Krickitt Carpenter’s The Vow – after a car accident leaves a wife with no memory of marrying, or even meeting her husband, she remains committed to the marriage vow she made before God.
Robertson McQuilkin’s A Promise Kept – Christian college president leaves his position when his wife is struck by Alzheimer’s. 
Matt Carter and Aaron Ivey’s Steal Away Home – a fictionalized biography of Charles Spurgeon and his friend, a former slave, Thomas Johnson – a pain-free way to learn about the “Prince of Preachers”
Bonus: Douglas Bond’s The Thunder – a fictionalized biography of John Knox, showing him to the be action hero, body guard, pastor that he was.
 
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reformedrealtalk/
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!
 

We're grateful to have ARPA's, Director of Advocacy, Mike Schouten join us for this episode to share about MAiD (medical assistance in suicide), its dangers and the work that ARPA is doing to fight against it. Mike also shares the personal advocacy work him and his wife did, after the parliamentary committee on MAiD asked them to share their testimony. This past May after a battle with cancer, their son Markus at the age of 18, passed on to be with Jesus. Markus' journey showed that there is a better way than requesting MAiD, for suffering truly unleashes love.
We hope this episode will not only educate you but inspire and encourage you to engage in your own real talk, especially regarding suffering in the life of a Christian and those in the world.
0:00 - Intro
3:40 - Mike’s family’s personal experience with suffering.
5:45 - Mike and Jenn’s testimony to the parliamentary committee on MAiD
27:20 - History highlights of
35:50 - Palliative care
40:00 - Reasons for Hope
49:00- ARPA’S work and messaging
53:47 - The March deadline
55:55 - What if the Conservatives come into power?
 
A BIG THANKS TO OUR OFFICIAL SPONSOR, TRIVAN! WE APPRECIATE YOU HELPING US MAKE THIS CONVERSATION POSSIBLE. BE SURE TO CHECK THEM OUT AT WWW.TRIVAN.COM 
To keep up with the podcast, check out our website: https://www.realtalkpodcast.ca/
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, clips, and more!  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReformedRealTalk
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reformedrealtalk/
We'd love to hear from you. Please send us your questions, comments, or other feedback at reformedrealtalk@gmail.com. Thanks for listening! If you liked what you heard, please share this podcast with your family and friends!