Onward in the Faith

The Better Covenant of Hebrews 9

Context is king. When we don't understand what the author and his audience understood, thought about, and believed, it's nearly impossible to understand what's really being said. This episode is a teaching I did in Hebrews 9 where I dig in to what this Jewish audience believed about the old covenant, tabernacle, high priest, and blood offerings made every day. By understanding why these things were so important to them, we can better understand why the author spends the rest of chapter 9 using language for Jesus that keeps calling back to these old covenant things.

 

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Saylorville Church & Gospel Centered Recovery

 

Scripture used: Hebrews 8:13, Hebrews 9

 

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Give Your Family the Best Side of You

We all have family routines. When we're around the same people day after day, year after year, we get into a familiar groove of living and interacting with them. For too many of us, one of those common routines involves giving our families the worst side of us. We are patient, tolerant, and even enjoyable with friends, coworkers, and people at church, but behind closed doors we put our sin natures on full display.

 

This episode is a difficult one. None of us want to confront that reality, and many don’t want to let go of the anger, criticism, and quarreling that's become a normal part of their family routine. But if we truly believe that God has given us our families on purpose, we want to honor them as our greatest opportunity to serve God through our earthly relationships. My prayer is that this episode will encourage and equip Christians to do give their families the best side of them.

 

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Anger Begins with Idolatry (article & podcast)

 

You can find this episode's original article here

 

Scripture used: Ephesians 4:31-32, Psalm 51:10, John 15:5, 11, Philippians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 12:9

 

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Is the Church a Hospital, Country Club, or Hospice?

"The church is a hospital, not a country club." This episode uses this metaphor to help us better appreciate one of the purposes of our pastors and the local church. However, I also look at treating the church as a hospital that brings healing, rather than a hospice where we have no hope of recovery.

 

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You can find this episode's original article here

 

Scripture used: Mark 2:17, 1 John 1:8, Ephesians 4:11-12, 30, Galatians 6:2, Romans 8:13, Hebrews 5:12-14, Romans 3:10-12, Romans 6:23, Colossians 3:8-10

 

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Checking Our Salvation with Hebrews 4

When we hear the call to salvation, it's easy for us to assume that's talking to other people; visitors, people struggling with sin, or those who have simply never heard the gospel before. This episode is from my teaching in Hebrews 4, which calls all of us, even people who assume they've been saved for decades, to examine what we trust for salvation.

 

Link to the video: GCR - Hebrews Chapter 4

 

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Saylorville Church

 

Gospel Centered Recovery

 

Scripture used: Hebrews 3:18-4:13, Genesis 1:28-31, Colossians 1:16, Romans 6:23, Colossians 1:21, Galatians 6:7, Matthew 25:46, Ephesians 2:8-9, 1 Peter 3:18, Galatians 2:20

 

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Should Christians Go to Church on Christmas?

Is the choice between attending church or keeping our Christmas tradition as difficult as it seems? Does one unfortunate conflict on our calendar really matter? In this episode I discuss why Christ made church vital for His followers, then equip us to understand how our time commitments, struggles, and compromises reveal our true priorities. This is by no means an easy episode, but it will be valuable.

 

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You can find this episode's original article here

 

Scripture used: Hebrews 10:24-25, Ephesians 4:11-12, Colossians 3:16, Acts 20:7, Matthew 6:21, Ephesians 5:15-16

 

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Why Don’t Our Bibles Have Other Books?

We know why we have our current 66 books of the Bible, but what about all the others? This episode provides a high overview of some of the most popular books included in the Roman Catholic or King James 1611 Bibles, explains why they were rejected, and gets a bit more specific about the book of 1 Enoch.

 

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You can find this episode's original article here

 

Scripture used: Jeremiah 36:4, Matthew 27:52–53, Genesis 6:4, Genesis 5:18-24, Hebrews 11:5

 

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How Did Our Bible Get 66 Books?

Can we trust the 66 books of our Bible? How do we know we aren't missing other books? What about the claim that people manipulated the formation of the Bible to fit their agenda? This episode gives a high overview of where we get the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament.

 

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What is the Bible? Podcast episode

 

Logos articles on the Septuagint: Part 1 and Part 2

 

You can find this episode's original article here.

 

Scripture used: 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:20-21, Numbers 23:19
 

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Outro music by LesFM from Pixabay

Itching Ears and 2 Timothy 4:1-9

What did Paul mean by itching ears? How do we surround ourselves with people who will tell us what we want the Bible to say? And, more importantly, how do we protect ourselves from seeking them out? This challenging episode digs into 2 Timothy 4:1-9 and exposes the difference between choosing to pursue truth and choosing our preferred truth.

 

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GCR at Saylorville Church

 

False teachers mentioned: Bill Johnson from Bethel, TD Jakes, Liberal Theology, Todd White, Pentecostalism, Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Christian Nationakism, Q-Anon, Doninionists, Roman Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses

 

Psychology series

 

Psychology says: we’re basically good - were victims - we don’t love ourselves enough - we save ourselves from unhappiness - our greatest need is happiness, self-acceptance, or freedom

 

God says: we’re basically wicked - we choose to sin - we love ourselves too much - we must be saved from sin by Christ - our greatest need is to love and serve Christ

 

Alternative to psychology: Biblical Counseling (note that this is different from Christian counseling)

 

Examples from “Google and Confirmation Bias”: tattoos, weed, sexuality, LGBTQ+ support, alcohol, lose salvation, look at porn, believe evolution,  do ____ before marriage, support abortion, have female pastors, go to church

 

Takeaways:

1. Gods word is our highest authority, so we want to read AND study it
2. Failing to know the Bible lets us get truth elsewhere
3. We want our lives to be marked by a pursuit of truth and a rejection of the lies we want to believe

 

Scripture used: 2 Timothy 4:1-9, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 1 Timothy 1:3-4 and 4:7, Titus 1:12-13,  Ephesians 5:11, Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:10-18, Romans 6:1-23, James 1:14-15, 2 Timothy 3:2, Romans 3:21-26, Galatians 2:20, Acts 4:12
 

Outro music by LesFM from Pixabay

Understanding Prayer by Using the ”Lord’s Prayer”

For some, prayer can be as difficult as it is important. We know we should do it more, but without a good understanding of what prayer is and why we do it, we're unlikely to see much success in doing it regularly.

 

This episode digs into what is commonly called "The Lord's Prayer," looking at the things Christ modeled and why He may have chosen those specific things. In the end, the goal of this episode is to help you better understand what you believe about God, prayer, and your purpose as a Christian in this world. By understanding those things, I think prayer will start to make a lot more sense.

 

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You can find this episode's original article here.

 

Scripture used: Matthew 6:5-15, Matthew 6:24-34, 1 Peter 5:6–7, Exodus 15:11, Romans 8:28, James 1:13-14, James 4:4, 1 Kings 22:1-26
 

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Outro music by LesFM from Pixabay

Does God Have a Sense of Humor?

If we look beyond the duck-billed platypus, do we have any evidence that God has a sense of humor? Join me for an absurdly thorough look at what God has revealed about Himself to see if we can glimpse this aspect of His perfect character.

 

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You can find this episode's original article here.

 

Scripture used: Genesis 1:27, Matthew 23:24, Matthew 16:18, Luke 22:54–62, Daniel 5:23, Isaiah 46:6–7, Job 41:1–6 

Job article

Open theism article

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Outro music by LesFM from Pixabay