Faith Episodes

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...

So much has transpired in Luke 10. In this episode, the 70 disciples have returned exceedingly joyful. This section of Luke really covers complete gospel theology including: Sovereign sending — Christ initiates the mission. Sovereign harvest — only God prepares hearts. Kingdom authority — delegated power over the enemy. Satan’s fall — the kingdom invades the domain of darkness. Correction of joy — salvation, not success, is the foundation. Sovereign revelation — the Father reveals to whom ...

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...

We step off our Red-Letter journey for a second. We may do more of this depending on feedback. In today's world, we learn through a variety of different media. Some think watching the Chosen is akin to reading the Bible! It is not but I won't begrudge anyone watching that series. There are far worse places you can go and hear what sounds like Biblical knowledge. But the media-scape pays attention to what you pay attention to. So it is not hard for other disinformation to cross your path. YouT...

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...

The Bible warns of deceptions. I'm not so sure a lot of Christians are ready for it. Today, we jump off the Red-Letters and jump into a rabbit-hole over 4 million people have ventured! We take a YouTube video and apply our Berean Filter to its claims. Look: just because something is cloaked in "science" or even used and documented by the government entities does make it any more real, though many people believe it. Here's the video we're launching this podcast discussion from. Video Title:...

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...

What we heard in parables is now fully out in the open. Coming off the transfiguration, in the disclosure of His death and resurrection, Jesus now spells it out in plain English. What is fascinating is not the revelation itself, but how the disciples take it. They are clearly disturbed by the revelation and don't know how to process it. I think sometimes when we read the Gospels, we leave our empathy on the table and look at scripture from a purely intellectual vantage point. And of course we ha...

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 ...

I loved resting on this passage and digging into it. The full weight of what is happening comes to life when we understand the context and the setting of Caesarea Philippi. We spent some time tracing who they really thought Jesus was and importantly, how they got to their conclusions. From the context and the history, we can also discern how much Peter's confession reveals and what he still has yet to learn. We also took the same question beyond scripture and asked the same thing about religion...

Sometimes the fly on the wall gets the best perspective! We're in a synagogue on a Sunday, of course, and a woman has been coming to this place for 18 years. Everything we see here smacks of cliche'. Jesus healing on the Sabbath. The religious leader of course not having it - though there's not much he can do about it. So, as we went through this passage, we started asking some pretty serious questions. What I love about the Bible, is for every question, there's an answer! Notes for Sickne...

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/

Almost every encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees becomes a teaching moment for Jesus and a learning one for us. It starts off simple enough. Jesus and His disciples sat down to eat. The religious elite seem mortified that they did not wash their hands. Jesus has just the opening he needs. As we were studying this, the surface level stuff became pretty obvious. By now in our red-letter journey, it is almost redundant. Jesus calls the Pharisees out on their hypocrisy... again. This time h...

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'...

Jesus and the disciples are leaving a full day. They never seem to have time to rest. After the feeding of the 5000, Jesus instructs his disciples to take the boat over to their next destination. Jesus dismisses the crowd and retreats to the mountain to pray. After waiting a bit, the disciples move out without Jesus. They encounter rough waters and find themselves struggling against the waves and the wind. Jesus crosses the water on foot. This miracle cements the notion that Jesus is the Son of ...

The Disciples have returned from their mission. They've seen Jesus over the course of about two years perform every kind of miracle. They've seen Him calm the storms and cast out a Legion of Demons. He's turned water into wine. Now, before they've even had time to reflect on the meaning of their recent mission. With the help of a young boy, Jesus is going to show it to them the meaning of discipleship and giving. Notes for Even the Smallest Offering Episode Link:

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...

As we walk with Jesus, we constantly see a stark contrast. We see the helpless, the blind, the sick, the demon possessed being healed. We see the Pharisees and the Scribes deny the very deity of the one who is healing these people. Today we seek to understand why the thoughts and ideas of the Jews of the day split into these two camps. Hopefully we begin to see how these miracles speak to the glory of God and we even recognize meaning of why sometimes the healing doesn't happen. We should never ...