Anthology Church Audio Podcast: Recent Episodes
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Our first message for our Classic Christmas series and the first week of Advent is on Advent Hope from Isaiah 9:1-7.
Jesus closes a section of the sermon by saying all the ethical commands of God are summed up in the Golden Rule, and opens the conclusion by stressing the exclusivity of His Kingdom. We explore this in Matthew 7:12-13.
As Jesus wraps up His Sermon on the Mount, He encourages us to continually come to our gracious Father who longs to provide what we need when we ask, seek, & knock. We explore this in Matthew 7:7-11.
In Jesus’ famous teaching on judging others He commands us not to take the seat of the Ultimate Judge and to fight the hypocrisy of finding serious fault in others but none in ourselves. We explore this in Matthew 7:1-6.
To cure our daily anxiety and worry, Jesus asks us to consider God’s gracious provision for lesser things of the world to understand how He lovingly provides for us, and to fix our minds on His kingdom priorities. We explore this in Matthew 6:25-34.
As Jesus shifts from private religious practice to how we live in the public world, He zeroes in on what we treasure, what we behold, and who we serve. We explore this in Matthew 6:19-24.
Jesus assumes His followers will make a regular practice of the spiritual discipline of fasting, but like charity and prayer we will make every effort to be seen not by others but by God alone in our fasting. We explore this in Matthew 6:16-18.
In the famous Lord’s Prayer the Lord Jesus gives us a model prayer to be followed regularly, setting our hearts on His kingdom and our daily dependence on our Heavenly Father. We explore this in Matthew 6:5-15.
To begin His vital teaching on prayer Jesus says we must resist all attempts to craft our prayers for the praise of other people, and instead should cultivate a private practice of prayer when no one else but God is around. We explore this in Matthew 6:5-15.
The sermon enters into a new section with Jesus commanding us to not be religious hypocrites, beginning with charity. Our giving to those in need is to be in secret as much as possible, with the goal of pleasing God alone. We explore this in Matthew 6:1-4.
Perhaps no more radical teaching of Jesus exists than that on how we should treat our enemies. That is, we are to never personally retaliate, but instead are to seek a positive response of love towards those who hate us. We explore this from Matthew 5:38-48.
Jesus’ ethical teaching on the promises we make in marriage and in our daily lives points us to being people of impeccable integrity in a world of broken promises. We explore this in Matthew 5:31-37.
Jesus teaches His disciples that the tree of adultery begins at the roots of lust, and the hyperbolic language He utilizes demonstrates our need for vigilant Kingdom-focused purity. We explore this from Matthew 5:27-30.
To open His instruction on Kingdom Ethics, Jesus points us to how serious unjust anger in our hearts is, how it leaves us open to divine judgement, & how we must be diligent to settle all anger-related disputes quickly. We explore this in Matthew 5:21-26.
Jesus says our Kingdom Witness is to be both salt and light to this world, preserving that which would otherwise decay and giving light into places of darkness, with the effect of leading people to praise God. We explore this in Matthew 5:13-20.
In the Beatitudes Jesus pronounces unexpected blessings that are meant to reorient our lives as His disciples around a different way of living; around the way of the Kingdom. We explore this in Matthew 5:1-12.
The Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ most intensely practical teaching for anyone seeking to live out the way of the Kingdom of God, yet the demands of its ethics point us to only One who can ultimately fulfill it. We explore this in Matthew 4:23-5:12.
The resurrection of Jesus means a new world, a new you, and a new future are all now possible and can be ours. Indeed, Easter means God is making all things new. This is our Easter 2022 message from Luke 24:36-40, 2 Corinthians 5:16-19, and Revelation 21:1-5.
On Palm Sunday the crowds went out to crown Jesus as king and ask him to save them. It’s an ironic coronation, because five days later they will all abandon Him while He is saving the world. We explore this in John 12:12-26.
In the conclusion of Jude we are instructed to actively keep ourselves in the love of God, to remain in the very eternal and unchanging kindness and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ until the day when He finally returns. We explore this in Jude 17-25.
The Letter of Jude gives example after example of why to avoid false teachers and those leading people into wrecking their faith; because they will incur the fierce judgement of God. We explore this in verse 5-16.
The Letter of Jude teaches us that we have an eternal and unchanging faith, but one that must be guarded against all errors to either side. We explore this in the first 4 verses.
The Letter of 3 John teaches us how to partner with and support those who are taking the good news of Jesus to places of need.
The Letter to Philemon teaches us that our spiritual family status as sons and daughters of God supersedes all other ways we think about and live out our earthly relationships.
Racial reconciliation matters today because of our own unique history with racial injustice, our current times, and mostly because the cross of Jesus alone can bring true and lasting reconciliation. We explore this in the Letter to Philemon for a special Racial Reconciliation Sunday.
2 John teaches us that walking in truth means rejecting false teaching and abiding in the teaching of Jesus as we continue to love one another.
Like the penultimate act of a play, we are living in the accomplished victory of the Kingdom of God, inviting people into the forever banquet of the King. We explore this from Luke 14:12-24.
After the completed work of Jesus in the gospels the Kingdom of God begins to expand as new hearts believe the good news through the new Spirit-filled people of God. We explore this in Acts 10.
The work of Jesus on the cross and through the resurrection represents the climax of the Biblical story and the most important moment in all of history. We explore this from John 19:16b-30.
In the Gospels, Jesus is revealed as the Messiah, the coming King promised to Israel, but His Kingdom does not look like every previous expectation, and that’s good news for us all. We explore this from Luke 4:16-30.