speaker-0: And so, what this pat what that passage is telling us is that the way that transformation happens, and this is a theme that is developed all throughout Paul, the way that transformation happens is by staring at the glory of Christ and being transformed into the image of Christ by staring at the glory of Christ as his glory shines forth from the text of Holy Scripture.

speaker-1: Hey, it's episode 114 of the Adding Color Podcast. And I'm delighted to welcome in a guest who is a friend of mine that we as a church have been blessed to support as he and his family were overseas. Dr. Sam Parkinson is with us today and also going to be preaching at Ascend Church this Sunday. And just delighted to have you, Sam, and to welcome you back, I guess, to the States, even though you've been here. for a few months. but would you just share with our listeners when I've said that you've been global and back to the States, just just walk us through where were you, what were you doing, and how did God bring you and your family back to Kansas City?

speaker-0: Yeah. Well, first let me just say thank you for having me on the podcast and for having me come and preach at at I said it's no small thing to share the pulpit and I always considered it a great privilege to get to come and and bring God's word to God's people. So yeah, so really grateful and grateful as well for the years of support that you guys have have given to us. yeah, it it it means a lot and it's it has been a true partnership for the gospel. And even though it's not continued, it's we, we've come to the end of that season of life and ministry. we pray that the fruit of that the seeds that were sown in that in that season and that the investment of that ministry continues to bear fruit for even more years to come. So Yeah, but we we so for the last four years, we have been serving as I've been a professor of systematic theology and church history at a seminary in the Arabian Peninsula called the Gulf Theological Seminary. It is a fully accredited seminary, still there, still active. faculty that we were serving with are still over there serving. so it's a fantastic institution. I have nothing but good things to say about it. It's a seminary that started eleven years ago at as a ministry outgrowth of a local church in Dubai called Redeemer Dubai. And over time the that ministry grew and turned into a fully fledged seminary. So there's multiple faculty and staff. and it's broadened to now include not just a campus in Dubai, but also a campus in Abu Dhabi, which is what we went over there to to to do. I I moved over there in part to serve as the director for a new campus in Abu Dhabi. And so yeah, so fantastic seminary, fantastic opportunity. it was the the first and only so far as we can tell evangelical seminary ever to exist in the Arabian Peninsula. And The UAE, the the uniqueness of the UAE is what made the ministry so unique itself. So the UAE, it's right in the heart of the Middle East. It's in the heart of the 1040 window, which for those that aren't familiar with that term, this is missions missions jargon for right basically this period the or this place on the geographical map of the world. that is the most densely populated and most underreached for the gospel. And so the UAE is right in the middle of that. but it's also a really diverse place, a a very international place. So only about fourteen percent of the population are local Arab Emiratis. Everybody else are expats from all over the world. And so we, you know, we're we're rubbing shoulders with our Emirati Muslim neighbors and friends there, but also other Arabs from the surrounding region, some of our neighboring countries, and then people from all over the world. So we had peop a lot there's a big population of Indians and Pakistani and Filipino and from all over the African continent. So our church, for example, that we were members of the membership had forty eight different nationalities represented in the membership. So it felt a little bit like Revelation seven, every Lord's Day, that we got to gather together at Singh. And

speaker-1: That is not the reality at a Cent church and I would imagine not at an A C.

speaker-0: Yeah, not at Amayus either. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. So it was a really special time. that spread, that that demographic was pretty typical of the student body at GTS as well. So I had students from all over the world in my classroom, and th they had a a massive hunger for God's Word. I think they were keenly aware of the fact that If they weren't going to get theological training from that seminary in those classes, they weren't going to get it at all. So the scarcity of resources made the privilege of theological training so much more apparent for those students than I find is typical for America. So so that was that was a an amazing time. Our the whole idea there was for us to be not only missionaries but also a mission sending force. Okay. So we were able to pour several years of theological training within the context of close knit seminary partnerships, local church partnerships that is. so the the the seminary GTS was was just as much for the church as Midwestern Seminary. That's kind of the slogan for Midwestern Seminary where I'm serving now. our slogan is for the church. GTS is also for the church. the board of directors were comprised of all local church pastors in the UAE. And and we had really close connections with those those churches. So it was the seminary providing theological training at on the technical side in partnership with local churches that were raising up leaders, some lay leaders and some vocational church leaders in the church. With the idea of sending them out with you know, the the equipment that they received in that period of several years of rich theological training to go plant and pastor churches and serve in churches all over the world. And in the four years that we were there, we did get to see quite a bit of fruit in that regard. We get to see friends sent out to plant churches, some in the UAE, but others outside of the UAE. I was just catching up with a friend recently who is he's planting a church in Angola, Africa, his home country, a Portuguese speaking church there in Angola. And he was one of my students, and another brother that is currently in Ethiopia planting a church and and Trying to train up guys locally there to s to reproduce the kind of training that he received in the UAE there in that context. And that church has also partnered with GTS, the the seminary that I served with to provide on the ground training there in Ethiopia as well. Wow. So yeah, it was a really cool opportunity. We felt like We were very privileged to be there for four years. And for me as a professor, it was very gratifying for me to be able to draw a straight line between the things that I was doing in the classroom and the, you know, formalized discipleship that I was giving to those students and then the global impact. you know, it wasn't it wasn't multiple degrees of, you know, separation. It was very direct. It was Here we are in this context and these are students that are gonna go back to their home countries or elsewhere to plant yeah, gospel preaching churches. And so yeah, that that's what we were doing. And now I'm back in Kansas City. Sorry, go

speaker-1: Yeah, before before we started recording, you mentioned that it was a a difficult transition for your family and for you, but you sensed that God was drawing you back to Kansas City. You mentioned for the church and Midwestern and that's one of the things I'll tell you and I'll we'll put a link in the episode notes to Midwestern. If you are here in Kansas City and you want to get some incredible training or you wanna support those who are getting trained, to be able to be sent out, Midwestern is a phenomenal institution. for that, but you sensed, Sam, that God was drawing you back and you and your family worked through that. And so you've landed in Kansas City. what are you doing at Midwestern? what are you able to see as parallels with God using you in GTS and in the UAE and then preparing you for such a time as this?

speaker-0: yeah. Yeah. Well I I am a Midwestern graduate. Before moving overseas, I I earned my MDiv I PhD from Midwestern Seminary. taught at Midwestern as an instructional faculty while pastoring at a at a local church here in Kansas City called Emmaus. And so I kind of cut my teeth on ministry and theological training here at Midwestern. So my whole paradigm for what a seminary should do or or you know what it's good for has been shaped by Midwestern seminary. and that idea for the church really is part of the DNA of the seminary that we we kind of our conviction is that we only deserve to exist insofar as we are bolstering up and serving the church and what her mission is to make disciples of all nations. And to baptize them in the triune name. that's that's the mission of the church, not the mission of the seminary. And pastors are raised up and and qualified and you know, placed in ministry context by the local church, not not by seminaries. And so we see ourselves as as sort of a ministerial role to serve the church. And so that was my paradigm. that I received from a for what a seminary exists for all the way back, when I earned my degrees here and my theological training here. And it was a very kindred seminary for me to go. It was a very natural philosophy of ministry to go from Midwestern to GTS and now back to Midwestern. So yeah, so I I I do my heart is indelibly knit. to the nations now and a in a unique way, I think, ha because of the context that we've been serving in. And so I'm hopeful that we would still maintain you know, a a meaningful connection to that seminary and that this seminary and that seminary can forge a you know strong relationships. there has been something like that already kind of in the works in terms of different scholarship opportunities for GTS MDiv grads to come and do their PhD work at Midwestern Seminary. not for free. So just to clarify, not entirely, but you know, I sa some some way to kind of, you know, for these two seminaries to kind of work together. So yeah, so my current role here is very similar to the role that I had there. I taught systematic theology and church history there. And my my title here is assistant professor of systematic theology, church history and philosophy. So I teach all of those things at all levels of the of the you know, the seminary, doctoral, masters and undergrad. I teach all of those classes at all of those levels, but in that order, primarily systematic theology and then change history and philosophy. and then also I I have I have been tasked to start an honors program for Spurgeon College. so that's something I'm also pretty excited about next fall is when fall of twenty twenty seven is when that program will start with its first cohort of ten students. And it's a two year program where we just kind of walk through the the great books of the Western Canon and kind of look at it from a Christian point of view. try to glean spiritually from authors both you know Christian and non-Christian that have for better or worse shaped so much of our imagination in Western civilization. And so yeah I'm I'm excited about that program as well that that undergraduate honors program. So if there's any parents here who have sharp students that would be interested in a two year great books program to come alongside their college degree then I am very much interested in talking with you about that and and yeah, would love to to have your students apply. So

speaker-1: Well, and what I love about that is, Sam, you really are bringing this to a point I wanted to take this episode. And that is we probably have, I would say, maybe three categories of listeners because you've been talking a lot about academics. You've been talking about seminaries, you've been talking about undergrad, mdivs, doctoral work, talking about church history. And and some some people might hear that and say, Yes, sign me up for that. I've never never been able to pursue any studies in those categories. And then there might be others who say, been there, done that. I'm just all about ministry and the local church. And then there might be others who just say, no, I knew you were going to go academic because you introduced a professor as your guest of this episode. But what I love about you, Sam, anytime that we've had the opportunity to interact is that you you see that there's not this false binary. There's The academic pursuit, whether it's formal at a school or whether it's in our own lives, it's a a study of something to discover and gain understanding and then mastery over that subject. There's nothing better and worthy of that type of a pursuit than God's word that points us to Christ. And so as you're thinking about that academic world that you're so much a part of. And then some of our listeners that may not be in that academic world or might be interested potentially, what is the value of looking at God's word as a resource worthy of investigating and studying?

speaker-0: Yeah, well it is it is through God's word that we are confronted with the living Christ. A another parid paradigmatic, passage for me in terms of understanding ministry and and specifically preaching ministry, is Second Corinthians three, twelve through four-six, this whole passage where Paul is talking to the Corinthians and he's contrasting his ministry and the new covenant ministry with the old covenant ministry. And specifically he's contrasting his ministry with with you know so-called super apostles that make much of Moses in particular and to and kind of diminish the significance of Paul and the message that he preaches. And one of the things that Paul develops in this passage is this idea that through that that the the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ shines From the text of holy scripture, specifically in that passage, he's talking about Moses. He's talking about

speaker-1: Otestament.

speaker-0: the Pentate, the Old Testament. And what he says is whenever Moses is read, meaning publicly in a synagogue setting, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, that is, unbelievers, those that do not believe in Christ. A veil lies over their farts, and it's only through the spirit that that veil is removed. And then he goes on in in verse 18 to say, and we all with unveiled face, holding the glory of the Lord, are transformed into that image from one degree of glory to another. And and chapter four, verse six, he tells us what that image is. He says that the image is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And so what this pat what that passage is telling us. Is that the way that transformation happens, and this is a theme that is developed all throughout Paul, the way that transformation happens is by staring at the glory of Christ and being transformed into the image of Christ by staring at the glory of Christ as his glory shines forth from the text of Holy Scripture. Now, what that what that passage does not tell us is that that makes the Enterprise of reading, somehow easy, or something that doesn't require any work, that doesn't require careful attention and even corporate attention. again, that that that passage is talking about the the immediate context of the text being read and the glory of Christ being shown forth is talking about. the text being read in the context of corporate worship, of a corporate gathering. So what that tells me is we need other Christians too to help us to see the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ as it shines forth from God's holy word. And so that's where study tools, the tradition of of Christian contemplation on God's Word, all of these things become very helpful for us. Because we understand, in light of all of that, that the text of scripture is not this individualistic thing that God has given to individuals. It is his self revelation that he has entrusted to his people, to his church. And so it is incumbent upon us to read the text of scripture, not only as individuals, but with other people, both present and past. You know, so this is where church history comes in. In the process of trying to understand the text, we invite people from past generations to come and sit down with us and show me Augustine. What did you see from this text? That doesn't mean you have to agree with him about everything, but his insights are going to be helpful for you because he's part of that same communion of saints that we are all a part of. And so, yeah, this is how transformation happens, is by looking at the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through the text of holy scripture. And to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ through the text of Scripture is an endeavor that actually does require work and study. I love that.

speaker-1: I'm smiling. So if you're listening or you're watching the video, you're gonna see me smile as Sam was unpacking that those 2nd Corinthians three and four passages, because there's so much of that, Sam, that I think brings us into the local church. So the help of studying is in kids' ministry as lessons are being shared, student ministry, small groups, soul care, the preaching of the word every week. And so we we gather together. to get that assistance. But then as you said with GTS and with Midwestern to send ourselves out into our daily lives in the cubicles and in the classrooms and in in their neighborhoods, taking what we study in God's Word and the Christ that we behold and sharing it with others in the way we live and in what we speak. And so this Sunday you're going to be s preaching at Ascend. You're going to be preaching through the transfiguration, an amazing passage. Want to ask one question and then anything you want to share. By way of teaser, by the way, this will be posted after you preach. So hopefully listeners will be familiar with what you preached by the time they listen to this. But you're coming to a passage where there's three accounts, if I remember correctly, in the four gospels of the transfiguration. And so you're preaching Mark's version. How do you, as a student of God's word, and for maybe somebody that might be listening who's studying the gospels and says, I've read the feeding of the five thousand over here, and there might be different details. How how do you approach an an event that's recorded in one particular gospel that's also recorded in other gospels and just be able to navigate through understanding the text that Mark is writing here, but then connecting the dots with other accounts?

speaker-0: yeah, that's a great question. I I I I think that that is the right question to ask because there is authorial integrity, right? There there's like Mark wrote Mark's gospel, not Matthew's or Luke's. Mark has his theological conversation partners. church tradition has Just ha has recognized Peter as the overseer of Mark's gospel. He's the primary s witness. But Paul as the com the theological conversation partner. if you take Mark, the author of Mark to be John Mark. Okay.

speaker-1: John Mark, okay.

speaker-0: Yeah. Which I I I happen to to take that view. So there's there there are a lot of these things that kind of go into it, but Mark wrote Mark's gospel, not Luke's and And not Matthew's. And so on one level, you have to take into consideration what is Mark trying to do with his account of this. Now, discrepancies or it in terms of details don't account to error or pr problem or something like that. And this is maybe a larger point about the way that scripture is inspired, but it doesn't come down to us by fiat, like the way that Muslims believe the Quran. comes to Muhammad, these sayings that are given to Muhammad that he's supposed to just disseminate to his followers verbatim. It's a direct message. There's there's no that's not the way that inspiration works in Holy Scripture. God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, inspires human beings to write in such a way that they are truly authors. So every word that Mark wrote Is Mark's word. And yes, every word that Mark wrote is God's word as as well. So this is as the that's what makes this book so supernatural. It's not supernatural that it just kind of plops down from heaven. It's he is inspiring through the minds and and styles and particularities and personalities of the human authors. And so what that means is we should be asking, what is Mark trying to tell us? By putting this detail after that detail, that kind of thing, it by including this detail but not including these other details. so what is he what is he trying to tell us? But also given the fact that all of Scripture has a single divine author, it's also appropriate for us to look at that same passage and say, What is God trying to tell us with this more well rounded account of different details coming from Matthew and From Luke as well. And what is God doing by inspiring John in such a way that he didn't include this episode of the transfiguration, Right. and there's a sense in which you can say John's gospel as the gospel of light is the most transfiguration gospel. That's good. yeah. It's the the way that I like to say it is, you know, Peter, James, and John go up with Jesus on to the holy mount and they see Jesus transfigured in light and John just never leaves. And that's that's why he's the the author of the yeah, his gospel is the gospel of Christ's light. It's all over the gospel. that's but yeah so all of those questions are appropriate. Yeah. Yeah.

speaker-1: That's good. Okay, so just with a couple minutes left, you've got Mark nine. You're gonna preach the transfiguration. Are there maybe one or two, maybe nuggets that you aren't necessarily going to share in your sermon that you can share with us to add color to this amazing passage?

speaker-0: Yeah, I would just say in terms of we talked before the podcast about kind of one of the goals is to sort of help people understand how to do how to approach kind of studying the scriptures. And I'll say, you know, one of the things that th this passage, I will mention this in the sermon, but this passage and this episode in Jesus' life has not really occupied that big of a role in the imagination of the evangelicals. But we're the exception to the rule in terms of Christian tradition and other Christian traditions. so historically and also just thinking about different Christian traditions out there. We're the minority for not placing a large emphasis on this. and so there's a lot that we can glean from kind of reading through in church history how have different church fathers and medieval doctors and even reformers reflected on this text. Where what are they seeing? What are the different things that they're seeing? But the the thing that you'll find as you do that is the biggest aid to understanding this passage is a strong familiarity with the whole Bible. So what that means is what is the most practical thing that you can do to try to understand a passage like Mark nine or, you know, Matthew seventeen, the transfiguration. The most practical thing you could do is read it over and over again and read the whole Bible over and over again. And there there's there because there are certain themes that this passage is so rich that the only way for you to get a full picture of what's going on here is for you to have the so much of the whole Bible just kind of ready at your fingertips. So Moses and Elijah are mentioned here. Well, who are those guys? Why why are they mentioned? There's all sorts of questions that are raised about this and church tradition has given different answers for why Moses and Elijah rather than you know Joshua or Elisha or you know some of these different characters. why these figures? Why did Peter want to like set up a tent? Why did Jesus bring just these three people? Why a mountain? You know, why light? What what is the father saying? this is my beloved this this is my son, listen to him,

speaker-1: You're gonna answer all of these on Sunday, right?

speaker-0: Not all of them satisfactorily, but they are questions that are helpfully answered by relating this passage to so many other similar passages. So one of the things I will bring up in the sermon or have brought up in the sermon, if you're listening to this after the fact, is that both Moses and Elijah are brought up on the same mountain, Mount Horeb, so Mount Sinai. It's not the same mountain as the tr Transfiguration, but they're the same mountain, they're brought up. They're both hid it in the cleft of a rock. They're both asking to see the glory of God in some way, shape, or form. They both receive a revelation of the glory of God, but one that is accommodated and veiled, and they both respond by hiding their faces, covering their face with a veil. So that tells us a a lot, right? You know, that that The this whole journey up a mountain to see the glory of God, getting an accommodated vision of the glory of God, and then responding in a particular way, by the way, is the same way that the three apostles that Jesus brings up with him respond. so, but I say all of that to say one of the temptations that people will have when they listen to a sermon that kind of touches on a whole bunch of these different things is Wow, it must be nice to have the kind of expertise to be able to see from this text what nobody else could see from this text. And I want to to sort of dispel that myth and sort of say the way that you are able to see all of these things really does not come from any way other than just getting the Bible into your veins. Amen. To to to to become the way that Spurgeon describes John Bunyan. That when you pick it when you prick him, he leads bib line on a fiber just comes out of your veins when you when you get pricked. That's the way. So the when you're reading this passage and it's like, that reminds me of this other passage over here. Or the way he said that makes me think of this other passage over here. Those connections might not be imaginary. And if church history is any indication, most of them aren't. So if you're saying like what is the one thing that's happening in this passage, you can't answer it. the question that way, because there's so many things. You're you're so much you're invited in this single text and the single episode of Jesus' life into the whole story of God's salvation of his people. Wow.

speaker-1: Sam, we're gonna have to bring this to a close. But listeners, listen, I hope you not only listen to this episode, but you also listen to Sam's message. I can't wait, brother. I'm so looking forward to you unpacking this text and taking us all throughout scripture so that we can better understand Christ and love him more. So thank you. Thank you for your ministry. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for the partnership and thank you in advance for coming and preaching.

speaker-0: Yeah, thank you.

speaker-1: Thanks, brother. Thanks for listening. Hey, this is yet again another episode of the Add in Color Podcast, endeavoring to give you tools to equip you to be able to better understand God's character, the human condition, and God's plan for redemptive history. Let's keep studying this amazing book together and learning it to understand and reflect Christ even more. Thanks so much for listening.