Alignment Episodes

Feel like you're being a pest sometimes? God doesn't look at it that way. He loves your persistence! Never stop asking. I think if you read the notes today, you'll see how we like to read scripture. One might be inclined to just plough through a set of passages; but if you don't have thoughts and questions along the way, you probably are not reading scripture the way it was intended. As you read, let your mind wander into questions. If you're inclined to want to finish the passage, write down...

It's a subject that comes up again and again. "Once saved, always saved". And inevitably, embedded in that argument is "They went out from us, because they were not of us…” (1 John 2:19) leading to the response that if someone leaves the faith they were never saved in the first place. So, we tackle that head on. Let your discerning heart guide your faith. Sometimes, when you hear something like this, your inclination is to remain quiet. After all that's your preacher saying that (and it often is...

This was such an odd request that we had to pay attention. The request was to act in response to the main character - the Demon - in the movie Nefarious. Nefarious is a psychological horror film centered entirely on an intense conversation between an atheist psychiatrist, Dr. James Martin, and a convicted serial killer, Edward Wayne Brady, in a prison on the day of Edward's scheduled execution. The psychiatrist must determine Edward's sanity to decide if the execution can proceed, but Edward ...

How many times have you heard that we are created in the image of God? A lot, right? And more often than not, the person that speaks that phrase is conflating the meaning as if we are clones and replicas of God Himself. We want to dispel that myth. Notes for Bearing God's Image Episode link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/bearing-gods-image/

We hop off the red-letter journey today. A brother approached me to look at this passage from 1John 5:16. If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. This turns out to one of those cases where you just have to walk it slowly and it all makes sense. The bottom line is two people ...

I think most American's have read the Prodigal son and many fall into this trap: I certainly did. We see his failure and we think: "Well, that's not what I would have done.". Beyond the complete disrespect of his father, which we tend to skip right over - we leap to the American jugular and think: "You idiot!" - You had all that money and you didn't invest it? C'mon, own up to it. You were thinking that! I hope this podcast is as convicting to you if you had that thought as it was to me in do...

You know it as the parable of the lost cost. The title of the podcast will become more clear as we continue with these three parables: 1. The Lost Sheep, 2. The Lost Coin, 3. The Prodigal Son. You may never look at a found penny the same way. In fact, I would urge you to consider this. Start to create prayer prompts. This one is simple. The next time you see a penny on the ground, pick it up and whisper a prayer of gratitude to the one who found you. https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/ii3v883...

I'm betting if you look back at your own redemptive history you can recognize when it was that you got off track. I know I can. Perhaps if you're listening to this podcast and you can't think of a time when you strayed, you might want to reflect on where you stand today and make sure you are not on the Pharisaic side of the equation. In the modern sense, that person is one who says something like: " I'm a good person" with no caveats to your own depravity. That is one of the most dangerous po...

We are in Luke 10: 1-16 On its face, Jesus sending out the 70 is a straightforward mission. Or so I thought until I started asking questions! This is one of the deepest rabbit holes I've ever been down. I'm far from digging my way out of this one. However, what we are commanded as believers is obedience. You may not aways understand the why. It's kind of like when you were a kid and your dad told you to do something. Sometimes, you just did it. Sometimes, you wanted to know why. And sometimes...

Luke 14:25–33 stands among the most penetrating and demanding teachings of Jesus. After decades of studying this concept (not always in the Bible - I lived most of my adult life as an atheist), its weight still presses deeply, not because the English is startling or abrupt—though it is—but because the concepts Jesus sets forth cut to the very structure of human existence. The pivotal realization is this: Scripture permits no such thing as a “free spirit.” The notion of the untethered, self-gover...

We posted a debate on "Once Saved Always Saved" (OSAS for short) a while back and I'm not sure it resolved the tension. Today, we put on our Berean hats and jumped back into the scriptures to determine the validity of this popular doctrine. We decided to be more direct in this podcast, flush out the appropriate and debated scriptures, put on our Berean hats and dissect the issue with scriptural clarity. We also had to determine where this doctrine comes from. Knowing the history, and the "why...

I think we fall into this trap more than we're willing to admit. Factions within the church is one thing but we all want to believe that we are in the "right" church. As we jump back on the Red-Letter journey today, we see the disciples worrying about someone who is not in their group casting out demons in Jesus' name. They are put off by this. That same bias creeps into our own churches. Paul had to confront it directly. So, while the topical subject of these passages is casting out demons, the...

As we continue following the Red Letters chronologically, we arrive at Peter asking Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother. How Jesus responds is profound and as we dig into this, we start to see real evidence of how the Gospel and Jesus replaces the Law. It seems everything associated with the Law was a shadow, provisional even. In Jesus answer to this question, we see the transition of what was understood by the law to the permenance that Jesus covers. Notes for The Forgiven Episo...

After Jesus has held a child up as an example of who is the greatest in the kingdom, he expands the meaning of "child" to cover all believers. You are indeed a child of God. We're reading Matthew 18:6, Matthew 18:10, Matthew 18:14, Mark 9:42 and Luke 17:1-2. There's an interesting mention of angels in Matthew 18:10 and we dig a little bit into the role of angels in our lives. The passages focus on those that would cause one of His children to stumble. That got us to ask the questions. Who makes...

If you want to destroy a kids soccer game, load the benches with their parents! If you can picture the concept I'm reaching for, you'll also be able to picture what Jesus was teaching his disciples about being Child-Like. Jesus is aware of the conversations among the disciples; about who will be the greatest in the kingdom. Imagining the construct of that conversation will lead you to understand why Jesus uses a child as an example of greatness. None of the disciples would have considered the ch...

We've followed the disciples on this chronological red-letter journey so far covering a period of a little over a two year of Jesus' ministry. Through all of that, we have the benefit of the Bible, the New Testament and 2000 year's worth of commentary and still we find it hard to fathom what happens next! Some of us want to take Peter aside and say: "Dude, don't you get it!" Sometimes, we want to help Jesus turn the tables over in the temple! We want to wag our fingers at the Pharisees! Are w...

We just left Caesarea Phillipi where Peter proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah. Shortly after this, Jesus has a discussion to let His disciples know what MUST now happen. It is news the disciples are not quite ready for... though I can't imagine there ever being a good time to bring this up! We walk through this short passage in Matthew 16:21-23, Mark 8:31-33 and Luke 9:22 and then try to empathize with how the disciples would have received the news. We piece together what they had been taught from ...

We just saw Jesus proclaim to the Jews in Capernaum: "I am the Bread of Life". That caused quite a ruckus. From here, Jesus retreats into gentile territory for the first time in his ministry and encounters a gentile mother. It's only fitting that from the Bread of Life we see the crumbs of mercy. Notes for Crumbs of Mercy Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/crumbs-of-mercy/

It's easy to look at the scriptures and judge. It's better to look at the scriptures and learn. We often ask: "How could those guys have missed the Messiah?" He was standing right there, healing, casting out demons, raising the dead! Jesus had just fed a crowd of probably 10,000 people (5000 men plus women and children) and some of them came back and asked for a sign! Hello! We looked at what they knew. We looked at what their expectations were. We looked at scripture they would have been ...

The title is intended to be provocative. Of course A.I. is not the bread of life... however you don't have to go far into the web to discover many people that would disagree with you. As we were walking through the Red-Letter journey that we've been on, we are just leaving the scene where Jesus has fed the 5000. He sends his disciples onward. He dismisses the crowd and the retreats to the mountain. Later that evening, he heads to Capernaum taking the shortest distance, across the water. That'...

I think typically when this debate comes up in conversation it is initiated by someone who is worried about stumbling. So, let's get that off the table even before we begin the debate. We all sin! I think that your response to sin is the deciding factor. Do you sin in defiance? Do you have regrets? Do you want to fix what you did wrong? The fact that a person is worried enough to ask the question is a good sign! That person's response should be to confess to Christ and ask for forgiveness, which...

We live in a stress filled world. The two keywords in that sentence are "stress" and "world". Imagine your life if you could stop worrying so much about what tomorrow brings? In today's culture that sounds like a tall order. To chill out doesn't mean you have to slow down. It really comes down to the why behind your actions? If you're doing it because you're fearful about what would happen to you if you didn't, you need to consider your misplaced fear. Anxiety can be a trigger to understanding y...

This is convicting for a lot of Americans... but it doesn't have to be. God doesn't deny you your wealth. The question isn't about your money but what is it that you're relying on? Notes to Heavenly Retirement https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/heavenly-retirement/