Things Above

This particular episode is a teaching from Matthew 28 that I prepared and shared with a small group of players during the 2019 season. We had spent the last several months going through the gospel according to Matthew, and so I wanted to wrap up that series with a bird’s-eye view of the entire account so that we could see the big idea that Matthew is trying to present to his readers. A big reason that I wanted to do this is that I wanted to challenge some of our popular ideas and preconceived notions about what the gospel is all about. Many people in the church hear gospel and think of Jesus dying on the cross so that we could be forgiven by God and go to heaven when we die. I wanted to challenge that way of thinking. The bigger picture of the good news about who Jesus is and what he is doing in this world has transformed my life and the way that I view the world. It’s changed my approach to how I teach the Bible to my children, and it’s changed the way that I pray and what I find myself praying for. So, I am

This episode is a teaching from Matthew 23 that I shared with some players at a small gathering during the 2019 season.  In this teaching, Jesus is warning is his own followers and he is pronouncing judgement against the leadership in Jerusalem. In their own efforts to do what they thought was pleasing to God, God’s own people were blind to the fact that they were rejecting him in the process. That is a very sobering reminder for all of us.   This was a difficult message to prepare for and not the kind of message that you get excited to share. But it was a good reminder to me of what God truly wants from us; it really is more about a real relationship than a religion.  Thanks for listening!For more resources, check out www.upi.orgSupport the show

This episode is a teaching from Matthew 20 that I shared with some players at a small gathering during the 2019 season. In this teaching, Jesus is clearing up some misconceptions that his own disciples had about belonging to his kingdom and exactly how the kingdom of God was going to go about exercising power, overcoming evil and conquering the world. In this particular teaching to his disciples, Jesus directly challenges our normal ideas about power and redefines greatness and status in a way that was just as revolutionary then as it is today.  This was a good reminder for myself and just like most of Jesus’ teachings it has challenged me in the way that I carry myself at home and when I'm around other people. I think we as men especially need to hear what Jesus is saying in this teaching and respond to it with a new approach to all of our relationships. Thanks for listening!Support the show

This episode is a teaching from Matthew 18 that I shared with some players at a small gathering during the 2019 season.In this teaching, Jesus is answering a question that many of us might ask today and he shares a story that should rattle us a little bit. Jesus is laying out a requirement for those who belong to his kingdom movement and he wants to make sure that his followers get it. What Jesus teaches us here is clear and straightforward and it has me checking myself to make sure I’m obeying him in this area and being the kind of man that he wants me to be. We all need to embrace what Jesus is teaching here and the world would be a better place if we all did.Thanks for listening!Support the show

This is the fifth and final episode in our series titled, Son of Man. In this episode, we are going to look at the story of the man named Daniel and how his story helps us better understand who Jesus saw himself to be and how all this should impact our lives today as Christians.When you think of the teachings of Jesus, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? For some of us, we might think about his command to love God and to love our neighbor. We might think about the golden rule and to treat others like we want to be treated. We might even think about his great commission to go and make more disciples from all the nations on earth. However, as important as all of these things are for us as Christians, all of these things are different aspects to the one big thing that Jesus was teaching about more than anything else — the kingdom of God. Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This is the fourth episode in a five-part series titled, Son of Man. In this episode, we are going to look at the story of the man named David and how his story helps us better understand who Jesus saw himself to be and how all this should impact our lives today as Christians.As you study the life of King David, it’s not too hard to see why his story receives so much attention and admiration among the people of Israel throughout history and even still today. But as great as he was, his story doesn’t end near as well as it started. His life as king quickly becomes littered with pride, controversy, sex scandals and even the murder of one of his most loyal men. As great as he seems, David is unable to conquer evil, and his descendants don’t do any better. Fortunately, a new king was promised, and that king was going to fulfill one of the most important promises in the entire biblical story.Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This is the third episode in a five-part series titled, Son of Man. In this episode, we are going to look at the story of the man named Moses and how his story helps us better understand who Jesus saw himself to be and how all this should impact our lives today as Christians.We’re going to start this study after God delivers his people out of Egypt and then see how God reveals his plan to have a people for himself and to give his people guidelines for how to live as a community that shows the rest of the world what he is like. And we will see how Jesus is the prophet greater than Moses who has come to fulfill the Torah and to transform our hearts by putting the Holy Spirit inside of us. Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This is the second episode in our five-part series titled, Son of Man. In this episode, we are going to look at the story of the man named Abraham and how his story helps us better understand who Jesus saw himself to be and how all this should impact our lives today as Christians. We’re going to start on page one of the Bible again and then see how God initiates a plan to rescue and restore his blessing to his creation through the family of Abraham. And we will see how Jesus is the descendent of Abraham who invites all people from all nations to follow him in faith and to join him in extending God’s blessing to the rest of creation.Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

In this episode, we are going to kick off our series by looking at the story of the man named Adam and how his story helps us better understand who Jesus saw himself to be and how all this should impact our lives today as Christians. We’re going to start on page one of the Bible and see how God’s plan for his creation is that it would be run by obedient humans who would rule over the creation on his behalf. We will see how Jesus is the New Adam who has retaken the throne over creation and who restores us back into being creatures made in the image of God.Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

The Bible is a book that tells the one big story of how the Creator is rescuing his creation through the Christ. In this series, we are going to look at five different different human figures from the Old Testament story and see how their stories foreshadow what would eventually be fulfilled in the Christ of the New Testament.NOTE: In this introduction, I mention wanting people to gain an appreciation for the Bible as a unified story that leads to Jesus. It should be noted that this is a phrase taken from the mission statement of the team at The Bible Project. Check out their website and their podcast here.   Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This episode is the seventh and final message in a 7-part series on Genesis 1-11. Over the last two episodes, we’ve been exploring the problems with this world and why we all have this instinct that life in this world should be different. In this final episode, we are going to look at the solution to this problem.As we examine this final section in our study, we will look at the problem with Babylon, the promise given to Abraham and the promise fulfilled in Jesus. I hope this message is helpful to you, and I hope that this entire series has given you a fresh perspective on the goodness of our God and on the rest of the story that the Bible is telling.It is in this episode that we see the roots of the remarkable story of God’s unfolding plan to rescue, reconcile and restore his creation that we as rebellious creatures have ruined.Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This episode is the sixth message in a 7-part series on Genesis 1-11. In this episode, we are going to see how this downward spiral of corruption that began in Genesis 3-4 keeps going until we get to a place where we are told that, “The Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth” Hopefully this episode will be very helpful in providing context and will give us a better understanding of Noah and the flood than many of us might have. Due to the popularity of the story and the way that it’s often portrayed in children’s book, many of us grow up with a confused idea about what Genesis is really trying to tell us in that story.  So many people think of the flood story as being a result of God’s anger, but as we will see in this episode, this story actually begins with God’s sadness and grief. Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This episode is the fifth message in a 7-part series on Genesis 1-11. In this episode, we are going to explore one of the most profound questions that humans have been asking for thousands of years - What’s wrong with this world and why do I feel like it should be different? Regardless of your worldview or your beliefs, I think almost everyone is in agreement that there are things in this world that should be different. We all have this thing inside of us that seems to be telling us that this world is not what it should be.Unfortunately, the popular views of modern science cannot give us any sort of rational answers for why we feel this way nor can it offer us any real hope that these feelings are going to one day be resolved. But the Bible has its own conclusions.  Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This episode is the fourth message in a 7-part series on Genesis 1-11. In this episode, we are going to be exploring the meaning of work and look at the answers that Genesis provides for - Why are we here and What is our purpose in life?For many of us, when we think about the Garden of Eden, we have this idea that humanity was meant to just hang out and enjoy this garden paradise with nothing else to really do except to eat, drink and enjoy the experience. And we often assume that the world was perfect until humanity ruined it and so now because of that we are forced to work to survive. But as we’ll see, this idea is not the picture that Genesis gives us about life in the garden. When we read the Genesis account, we see that not only is it offering revolutionary ideas in the ancient world about God, creation and humanity, but it is also offering what would have been a revolutionary perspective towards work and humanity’s purpose in this world.  Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outr

This episode is the third message in a 7-part series on Genesis 1-11. In this episode, we will be looking at the creation account in Genesis 2 where the tone of the text changes and the focus shifts more onto the human beings and the Creator as their Lord.Regardless of our worldview or spiritual beliefs, most of us are willing to admit that there is something uniquely different about human beings that sets us apart from all other creatures, and we can sense that there is a purpose behind our existence.So in this episode, we are going to explore the answer that Genesis gives concerning what it means to be a human being, and we will identify the three basic relationships that every human being was made to embrace and experience.   Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai LinneSupport the show

This episode is the second message in a 7-part series on Genesis 1-11. In this episode, we will be looking at the creation account in Genesis 1.When many of us read Genesis 1, we do so with a modern perception of the world that is different than the ancient perception of the original readers. And so, we need to ask ourselves whether or not the original audience of Genesis 1 would have read the creation account in the same way that we often read it today. This message might challenge some of the things we've always believed or just took for granted about Genesis 1 so I would encourage all of us to listen to this episode with an open mind and then hopefully it will at least inspire some of us to go and do some extra homework on the incredible story that Genesis 1 is telling. The very first chapter of the Bible introduces us to the Creator who brought order and meaningful life to this world and who now rests as the Sovereign God over all of creation. Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; O

This episode is the first message in a 7-part series on Genesis 1-11 that we did earlier this year in our Thursday morning men’s group here in Atlanta. In this series, we will discover how Genesis gives us answers to some of the most basic questions in regard to the meaning of life and our purpose here on earth. In this first episode, we’re going to dive right into the controversy of how Science has impacted how we read Genesis and whether or not Genesis and Science are in opposition to one another. We will talk about how reading the Bible is a cross-cultural experience and discover how Genesis is very similar but also profoundly different than other ancient creation stories. Genesis is not primarily addressing the questions of modern science; it is primarily confronting the beliefs of the ancient world in which it was written and revealing that the God of the Bible is the one true God over creation who has a special plan for humanity.Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa Sharn; Outro by Shai Linne

I thought it would be good to start the podcast with a quick introduction that gives you a little bit of who I am and why I wanted to start this podcast. I also bring up the strange idea of whether or not the apostle Paul would podcast. Thanks for listening!Music: Sprites by Rosa SharnSupport the show