Podcasts

A New Birth - John 3

Jeff · Working with the Word

Most people know, or perhaps can even quote, John 3:16 - but what is the context of the Golden Text of the Bible? Jesus' whole conversation with Nicodemus provides the backdrop for this verse and more fully unpacks its meaning. We also dive into what it means to be "born again" and how the Son of Man must be "lifted up" like the bronze serpent. This chapter is rich with teaching! Resource Credits The Christian Standard Bible Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bib

Episode #57 - What Will It Take To Wake Up?

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail I am a heavy sleeper, and really struggle to wake up. Sometimes Kylie literally has to shake me to wake up. So when I was supposed to link up with the guys to go golfing on Labor Day at 5:45, I made sure to set extra alarms. However, I woke up to the sound of someone pounding on my window at 8:30 to check on me. Yikes. Well...so many are walking around today while they are asleep spiritually. No matter how many times Jesus calls to try and wake us up, we continue in our stubborn ways. What will it take to wake you up? #SetYourMindAbovePodcast

SUFFERING (part 1): with guests Matt Bassford and Keith Stonehart

Hal Hammons · Citizen of Heaven

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Life in Christ is still life on earth. And that means hardship — sometimes beyond what we think ourselves capable of bearing. And in that moment, we can lean into God or run away from God. My guests this week have chosen the former, and we are all the richer for it. Matt Bassford, well-known hymnist, is the preacher for the Jackson Heights church of Christ in Columbia, Tennessee. Keith Stonehart preaches for the Fultondale church of Christ in Fultondale Alabama. Their perspective on suffering will inspire you to praise God for His bles

Can we Really Understand the Bible?

Mark Roberts · Monday Morning Coffee with Mark

Smarter Not Harder

Kris Emerson · Excel Still More

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Hard Work is good. Everybody knows we should be working hard. However, it is not the best thing. It is not the first or most important thing. The better thing is to Work Smart. Wisdom in our pursuits, strategy in our path, is way more important. Plenty of people grind and get few results. For some reason, they keep grinding, and it doesn't do any good. In fact, it leads to giving up. We can do better. But we have to be humble enough to admit: "maybe I'm not doing this the best way it can be done." Let's do a little resear

Psalm 21

Tommy Peeler · Carefully Examining the Text

This and the previous psalm are both usually called "royal psalms." These psalms are linked by the Hebrew word for "salvation" in 20:5, 6, 6, 9; 21:1, 5. The word "king" is used in 20:9; 21:1, 7. The "right hand" appears in 20:6; 21:8. Psalm 21 begins and ends with a mention of the LORD and His strength 21:1-7 The LORD is source of all the king's blessings and strength 21:8-12 The enemies are conquered Are the "you" and "your" words a reference to God or to the king? Whichever view we take may not be that important if we understand that God was the source of all the king's strength and HIs vic

Episode #56 - When Cost Is Not A Factor

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail I was pumped up this year for my favorite team, the Oregon Ducks, to be traveling near us to play Ohio State. I really wanted to go to the game, so I looked into tickets and thought about going - that is until I saw the price. Goodness! That kind of money is not worth dropping on a game, I have a family to think of first. I would do anything for them, but not football. Well...how much do we value Jesus? Is cost not a factor when it comes to following him, or are we only willing to sacrifice and work when it's for something we want? May we deny ourselves, take up our cross, and

Reading the Bible...on Facebook

Kenny Embry · Balancing the Christian Life

Send us Fan Mail This week I wanted to talk to three people from an online group of Bible students. The argument I hear a lot is social media is largely dangerous. However, this group is doing something many thought impossible. I talk to Logan Dawson, Donna DeHoog and Katie Philippi about what they've learned and how they've gotten to know other Christians in a Chapter a Day Group (Excel Still More a Chapter a Day). See how they're becoming better Christians one chapter at a time. Support the show

Episode #55 - Rumors, Gossip, And Fake News

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail Earlier this week, a horrible rumor was going around town in Stanford, KY that one of our elders wives had passed away. After just a few minutes of digging and phone calls, I discovered that was most certainly not true. It's crazy how these kinds of rumors get started through gossip. Well...gossip is warned about repeatedly in Scripture. Just because something is true does not give us the right to share it, but especially when something isn't true. More often than not, we enable deceit to continue because we do no due diligence to find out the truth of a matter, we just share

Episode 122 - "Engage Your Brain"

Ryan Joy · Bible Geeks Podcast

Fight Back Against the Devil’s Attacks Why does Satan want us to think we’re alone? How is overcoming temptation like dealing with mosquitoes, or like a hard-to-open jar lid? This week’s Cross Training focuses on resisting the devil. So in a new segment, we do a fantasy-style draft for our A-Team of “Resistance All-Stars” — Bible figures who stood firm against the devil. We learn about Satan’s strategies from his temptation of Christ and his conversation with Eve. And we share some personal experiences and insights from our fight against the Evil One. The Big Idea: We CAN overcome temptations,

Psalm 20

Tommy Peeler · Carefully Examining the Text

This is called a royal psalm because of the emphasis on the role of the anointed- vs. 6- and the king- vs. 9. Key words in the Psalm: "answer" in vs. 1, 6, 6, 9 "victories" "saves" "saving" or "save" are all from the same root word in vs. 5, 6, 6, 9 The word "name" is used in 20:1, 5, 7. The people had great hopes for the king- II Sam. 21:17; Lamentations 4:20 The king's responsibility is to trust God and to remember Him- vs. 7 Some trusted in horses and chariots but battles were won by God's power Psalm 33:16-17, 20 Psalm 44:2-3 Deuteronomy 20:1-4 Joshua 24:11-12

Episode #54 - We're All Gonna Die

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail This morning our daughter looked at Kylie and myself and said, "Maybe one day when I grow up I will die too." It was the first time Ava has asked about death, so I took the opportunity to talk about where death came from and what happens when we die. The fact of the matter is we're all gonna die. Well...some will even die again, something that Scripture refers to as the second death. The question you must ask is this: when you die, will you live again? If you know Jesus, the answer to that question is yes. If you don't know him, I beg you to please listen to this important war

Episode #53 - God, Our Caretaker

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail It looks like I am finally on the mend, and in no small part due to the effort of my loving wife who cared for me all weekend. As hard as being so sick this weekend was on me, I know it was hard on her because it tripled her responsibilities. But she did it without complaining, because it was a labor of love. Caretakers due the same for those who cannot care for themselves, they pour themselves out to serve others out of love. Well...God is our caretaker. We think about how difficult it is for us to deal with life on this earth, but how hard is God's job to "solve all the worl

Jesus Makes Himself Known - John 2

Jeff · Working with the Word

Jesus does two important things to make himself known in John 2, but both events are very different from one another. What did Jesus want His disciples and the world to know about Him at the very beginning of His ministry? At the same time, according to verse 24, Jesus did not open Himself entirely to be completely known - why? And how should we respond to all this? Resource Credits The Christian Standard Bible Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® a

MORE BEARS: David the shepherd. "Daniel Boone" (2). The man-eater myth. Sierra West.

Hal Hammons · Citizen of Heaven

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I don’t typically do sequels. But the Bears episode was well received, and I still have Daniel Boone on the brain, so I decided to revisit one of my favorite mammals this week. We will discuss whether children should take on big game, how Boone’s name got on all those trees, the story of the giant maneater that wouldn’t die (either the story or the bear), and how meeting a bear changes your daily routine. Hal Hammons is the preacher for the Lakewoods Drive church of Christ in Georgetown, Texas. He is the host of the Citizen of Heaven p

August 2021 - Q&A Morning

Mark Roberts · Monday Morning Coffee with Mark

Deep Abiding Peace

Kris Emerson · Excel Still More

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks! Peace within the soul is a joy to all who have it. But with the darkness of the world and the uncertainties of life, many live with only passing moments of peacefulness. Christ has promised you so much more. He wants to house something in your soul that abides, that stands the test of time and life itself. Today we will talk about what that peace is, what cannot replace it, and how to build the real thing in your life. - How would you define the word "peace"? - Is this even attainable in the physical world? - If you are s

Episode #52 - Don't Set Yourself Up To Fail

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail Guess who has strep again? Goodness, this cycle of someone in our house not being sick just seems to be unending. Ever have that happen? Where no matter what you do, some past injury or some sickness just keeps coming up out of nowhere and you can't figure out why? Well...that happens to all of us spiritually too with sin. We all have that one thing you can't seem to kick, and keeps popping back up as you struggle to kill it. Why? Well, I think sometimes it's because we don't set ourselves up to succeed, but rather we set ourselves up to fail. You can't play with fire and not

Psalm 19

Tommy Peeler · Carefully Examining the Text

C. S. Lewis called it the greatest poem in the book of Psalms. 19:1-6 The heavens are declaring the glory of God If creation overwhelms us and leads us to stand in awe, how much more should we stand in awe of the Creator HImself. 19:2-4 They bear constant testimony to who God is. They speak a language with no words but they speak a language that has no limits or boudaries. 19:4-6 The glory is shown in the sun bursting forth from its chamber. 19:7-11 God's glory in HIs special revelation of Scripture The law of the LORD... is perfect.. restoring the soul This structure is found 6 times in vs. 7

The power of one, a conversation about a year of podcasting

Kenny Embry · Balancing the Christian Life

Send us Fan Mail You'll have to indulge me this week. I'm talking to four podcasters I know ONLY as voices on earbuds and faces on a screen, but they have all become important to me. This week, I talk to Kris Emerson from Excel Still More, Hal Hammons of Citizen of Heaven and Jeff O'Rear and Emerson Brown of Working with the Word. We talk about why podcasting as a platform is powerful, what works, what doesn't, and what it's meant to us. Thank you for joining me on this journey. I'm looking forward to another year of podcasting dangerously. Support the show

Episode #51 - Things Are Backwards

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail My daughter got this new coloring set for her birthday that is unique. The coloring surface (a large play mat) activates when it comes into contact with water, which is what the pens hold. One of hers ran out, so I tried to fill it up. However, the caps screw on the wrong way - it's not righty tighty, lefty loosey. It's all backwards. Well...the problem is that so many things are backwards in our world right now because of sin. We call that which is evil good and good evil, and God will bring judgment as a result. But what about our own lives as Christians? Do we do the same t

Episode 121 - "Pay Attention!"

Ryan Joy · Bible Geeks Podcast

Live With Readiness and Vigilance Sometimes life feels like a game of dodgeball as we’re constantly on guard for Satan’s attack. This week we’re continuing our discussion about watchfulness with Jesus’ warnings to servants waiting at their master’s door. We go deep on defensive and offensive watchfulness, stopping along the way to think about preppers and sleepers. How can we keep routines from causing us to sleepwalk through life? How can we cut through the noise of life and focus on what matters? And why do our kids struggle to pay attention when given even the smallest tasks? Let’s get read

Psalm 18- Part 2

Tommy Peeler · Carefully Examining the Text

In this royal psalm, David acknowledges that all he is and has is from God. 18:3 He hears David's call and rescues him 18:16 He drew him out of many waters 18:17 He delivered him from the strong enemy 18:18 The LORD is his stay in time of calamity 18:28 The LORD is his lamp 18:29 By God's strength he performs heroic acts 18:30 He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him 18:31 The LORD is his rock 18:32 The LORD girds him with strength and makes him blameless 18:33 He makes his feet strong 18:34 He trains his arms for battle 18:35 God's right hand upholds David 18:36 The LORD enlarges his st

Psalm 18: Part 1

Tommy Peeler · Carefully Examining the Text

This is viewed as a royal psalm, a psalm about the king. David composed it after deliverance from his foes according to the heading. Look at how he describes his relationship with God in vs. 1-2. 18:1-3 He loves the LORD 18:4-6 The crisis from which the LORD delivered him 18:7-15 The LORD's dramatic intervention to rescue His servant and judge His foes 18:16-19 The LORD drew David out of the waters

Episode #50 - Rotten Potatoes

Set Your Mind Above

Send us Fan Mail There was a musty, terrible smell coming from our pantry. We at first thought it was an onion that had sprouted, but it turns out it was a rotten potato. It was hidden among the good potatoes, and we finally located the source when it started secreting liquid. When we went to remove it, it exploded and destroyed everything around it. Yeah, nasty and gross. Well...church discipline is even more messy if not handled appropriately. A rotten heart that is engaged in open sin, when tolerated, will destroy a church. We must remove that which is evil from among us, though with love,