Jack & John: Adventures in Faith: Recent Episodes
John
A veteran pastor and a family physician tackles the tough questions that challenge our resolve, our faith, and our hope.
"Discernment isn't knowing the difference between right and wrong, but between right and almost right."
Satan doesn't lead us astray with bold lies but with partial truths.
How do we recognize bad theology?
And what do we do about it?
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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The foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom.
The weakness of God is greater than man's strength.
In our ever-darkening world, we need the light of God's word.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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None of us is flawless. How can we be holy? What does it mean to be holy?
We do not make ourselves holy. Jesus makes us holy.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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So many things vie for our attention. Even this podcast, the ads in the sidebar, the notifications on your screen, your phone, the doorbell. So many things. When you're sinking or barely making it, it's easy to feel like you're drowning, losing ground, losing hope. Ready to give up.
But God hasn't given up on you. And as long as you have breath in your lungs, he never will. He is in pursuit like a father determined to find his lost child.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Sharing your faith can be scary and intimidating, but for some it can be life-threatening. I'm troubled by how casual and complacent I can be in my faith, and I'm challenged when I see the faith of believers who live under threats, who live through violent assaults, legal attacks, and false imprisonment. Even more, I'm inspired by their compassion as they look beyond the hate of those who persecute them, and instead of contempt, instead of cursing, they share the love of Christ, knowing as Jesus did, that those who persecute them do not know what they are doing. They do not know the love of God, who would become flesh and blood, live among us, then take upon himself the sins of the world.
I'm reminded of a song by DeGarmo & Key from the 80s. "I Don't Wanna Be a Casual Christian."
Thank you for joining us.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Church.
That word means so many different things and brings so many different feelings.
And so often, we get it wrong.
In our humanity, at least in some measure, we always get it wrong.
What does it really mean? What should it mean to us? How can we do our part to make it better, more meaningful, more impactful?
One thing I know. We can't do it alone, and we can't do it without a firm foundation, which is Jesus, our Cornerstone and our Capstone.
The Author of Life and the Architect of Creation should be the one to build the church.
Not a building.
Not a place.
But a gathering of people with a singular focus. Jesus Christ.
Thank you for joining us.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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This is our 122nd episode and the story stays the same and ever changes. Our God's mercies are the same and never-failing yet they are new every morning.
The day after Jesus fed thousands and walked on water, the people asked him for a sign.
Wow!
I picture a meme, a face-palm emoji, someone holding a sign that reads, "You had ONE JOB."
Jesus basically tells the crowd, "You're following me for the food, and you've missed the whole point. Fish and bread only last a few hours, then you've got to eat again. I'm giving bread from heaven that never ceases to satisfy."
We've got one job.
To believe in Jesus.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Sometimes God speaks to your heart when you need him most. I was restless and not sleeping due to self-doubt. When I finally surrendered to opening my eyes and giving up on sleep. I clicked on the verse of the day and read, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock."
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Join us for a quick dive into Isaiah Chapter 40.
Got a problem? God is bigger our problems.
Isaiah says that the nations are like a drop in the bucket in God's eyes. So many of the things we consider important pale when we think of what's important to God.
What is important to God?
You are.
How do we know?
He sent His Son to die for us.
He is more than able to more than we can ask or even imagine. The creator of all things, created you and loves you.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Someone asked that question saying, "We talk about the dead and say 'Rest in peace.' Why can't we live in peace?"
It's a great question because we all want peace. Even those who wage war want to live in peace themselves. They don't want war to come into their homes or communities.
Everyone is looking for peace.
In this episode, we talking about finding peace today and living in peace.
Thanks for listening.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jesus rebuked no one more severely than the religious leaders. Why? Because they lived as though they didn't need God. Their idea of right living came from following the rules as they defined them. They elevated themselves and looked down on everyone else. Jesus, on the other hand, humbled himself and became the servant of all.
"He who would be greatest among you must be the servant of all."
Thanks for watching.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John interview a dear friend who's husband passed five years ago. Her faith and hope in Christ have carried her through her grief, and she has learned to hold on to memories with joy that is greater than her sorrow. It started with making teddy bears for each of her grandchildren using her husband's old T-shirts. She has shared that gift with over four hundred children who've experienced similar losses.
Christ enables us to hold on to hope because his resurrection brought the promise of resurrection for all who believe in him.
Thank you for watching.
Special thanks to our guest, Amy Vaughn.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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A large part of following Christ is leading others in following him as well. Reggie Epps devoted his life to ministry. He was a senior pastor for more than 30 years and in youth ministry before that. In those four decades, he lead thousands of people to Christ and raised them up in Christ.
In this episode, Jack and John remember him and the legacy of faith to which he belongs.
The apostle Paul wrote these words to Timothy. "Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth." (NLT)
That was the ministry of Reggie Epps. Rightly dividing the word of truth and passing it on to future generations is his legacy.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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What is worship? Whom or what do we worship? WHY do we worship? HOW do we worship?
Before we worship, we need a reason. Imagine you're drowning, and you lose consciousness and sink into the cold murky water. You awaken days later warm, dry, and comfortable, listening to the steady beeping of a heart monitor that is telling everyone around that you're still alive.
Then a friend introduces you to the person who dove into those icy waters, pulled you from the depths, and breathed life back into your lungs.
What would you feel toward that person who risked their life to save yours?
Take those feelings and multiple them and multiple them again, because Jesus has done so much more for you, then multiple that by every life ever lived. He is the focus of all our appreciation, our surrender, our hope, and our love.
Pour those feelings on the one who poured out his life for you. That is worship.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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How do you find satisfaction in life?
How do you find life?
Would you start by reading Leviticus? That's a book I used to read if I was having trouble falling asleep. But there is life in that book. Jack and John unpack some beautiful truths from Leviticus and Romans.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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In the midst of "cancel culture" how do we create a healthy culture. Jesus calls his disciples the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He became one of us in a dark time in Jewish history. He was born into Roman-occupied Judea, a land that longed for peace and freedom. He grew up among people who longed for a leader to strike a blow against Rome and free the nation of Israel.
Jesus didn't defy the culture. He defined his own culture, his own kingdom. The culture mocked him, tried to discredit him, stone him, call him a fraud, and ultimately they turned him over to the rulers they'd hated since birth and pressed for his murder.
They canceled him.
Through his resurrection, he canceled death and invited us to a new life, a new culture.
Our challenge, in these trying times, is to create a culture of salt and light in the midst of bitterness and darkness.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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One of the toughest things is love. It's hard sometimes to love people. And of course, Jesus is our best example because God is love, right?
In Matthew, he says to his disciples, “Don't let your love grow cold. In the last days, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will receive a crown of life.”
Jesus demonstrated his love for us in this, that while we were still sinners, while we were still enemies of God, he died for us. He died for us.
That's his nature.
His nature is to love.
That's the nature that I want. And his death is the only way that we can change and be made different, that we can be transformed.
Because he died for us doesn't necessarily mean that he accepted all of our ways, but he certainly accepts us in spite of the fact that we are obviously sinners falling short of his glory.
Jesus affirms us, but he doesn't affirm everything about us. He doesn't affirm everything that we do or every wicked thought that we have.
Why does he affirm us?
Because he created us, and we are his.
Read John's blog post here.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined what the God has prepared for those who love him." 1 Corinthians 2:9
"Now to him who is able to who is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine according to his power working within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Jesus Christ throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20
We can only begin to imagine what it will be like in the new heaven and new earth. But trying to imagine it seems like a good thing to do. After all, the apostle Paul encourages us to "Set our minds on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God the Father."
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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What if everyone was kind?
What if everyone was trustworthy?
What if everyone regarded everyone else as important?
What if...
Fill in the blank. The list is never-ending.
So is the answer.
Jesus is the answer. Sounds ridiculous. Sounds simplistic. Well, it is, and it is.
It was so ridiculous that no one understood. They couldn't confuse him. They couldn't derail him. They couldn't silence him. It seemed like the only way to stop him would be to kill him.
That didn't work either.
Even death couldn't stop him.
"I am the way, the truth, and the life."
It's that simple.
Believing. Applying that belief to every part of our life, to every moment, every thought. That's the hard part.
What if we were kind?
What if we were trustworthy?
What if we looked at everyone the way Jesus looks at us--with love, compassion, and hope?
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jesus spent at least three years with his disciples. Three times we read about him telling them what's going to happen to him. As he approaches Jerusalem before the Passover, he tells them he is going to be betrayed, handed over to the chief priests, tried, convicted, and murdered. And he goes on to tell them he would rise from the dead.
They still didn't get it.
But one man did.
Join us as we discuss the thief of the cross.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Where do you find Jesus?
Where do you serve Jesus? Visit Jesus?
Jack and John interview the Indiana Field Director of Prison Fellowship and discuss a recent Hope Event from the Madison Correctional Facility.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Life isn't easy. It's a series of challenges, but we are not alone. We have the presence of our savior in our hearts and all around us. He gives us the strength, the desire, the motivation, and the hope to press on.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack pours out his heart in humble honesty.
We are called to love. It ain't always easy. It doesn't always come naturally, but if we look to Jesus and understand even a tiny bit of how much he loves us, then love becomes our new nature. Look to him and begin to think with his mind. Love as he loves.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Ann Coker is a dear friend. She married her husband Bill when she was still a teen, and they've been married 65 years. Bill was a pastor most of their shared life. He never considered his words particularly special, though many others did, including his wife. She and others asked him why he didn't want to convert his sermons into books, and he said there were already enough books.
Over the past few years, Bill has grown progressively demented with Alzheimer's disease. Now Ann has to make the big decisions, and one of them has been to convert Bill's life's work into books.
Ann spent much of her life as an editor and now a writer.
Join Jack and John as they interview Ann and uncover the beautiful story of her shared love and devotion for her husband and his words.
Learn more about Bill's works here.
Connect with Ann at al2.coker@gmail.com
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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There's a lot of talk about deconstruction. What is it? What does it mean? How should we respond?
Jack and John certainly don't have all the answers? They don't even know all the questions? But they firmly believe Jesus is the answer and our source for hope, love, and a forever future.
Thanks for joining us.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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So many things try to steal our joy. Jesus is the source of our joy. Jack and John share their experiences and the power of living in the joy of the Lord.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John review their favorite moments from the first two years of the podcast.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John discuss their favorite moments of the past two years from the podcast.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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It's hard to believe this is our 100th episode. Thank you for joining us on this journey. There are so many distractions that steal our attention. Our goal has always been to encourage you to keep your focus on Christ.
To further our mission, we welcome Gary Johnson this week. Gary is an elder at the Creek. Before becoming an elder, he had been their senior pastor since 1989. Gary now trains and equips elders for ministry through e2elders.org.
Our prayer is that our words are simply tools for the Holy Spirit, that God would speak to you through something we say or something he places on your heart as you listen.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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The agreement God has made with us is similar to a last will and testament. He gives us everything, and the will isn't executed until the testator (the one who makes the will) dies. And in the case of our relationship with God, the added twist is that the giver of our testament not only died to give us our inheritance but has offered us the inheritance of eternal life through his resurrection from the dead. Wow! Now that is good news!
Jack and John just touch the surface. To dive deeper into the meaning of the Bible Big Word, Covenant, listen to Mike's devotion on the New Covenant here.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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One of the common complaints about the Bible is that it's hard to understand because it's got so many big words, and it was written a long time ago. All true, but we are not alone. God has given us the gift of his spirit to lead us deeper into his truth, and he has given us each other.
Join us as Jack and John discuss more big Bible words.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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If you can say propitiation and know what it means, good for you. We have no budget for prizes, but your reward is in heaven. These big words are tough, but we are so thankful they are there, and we're thankful for what they mean. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. He stood in our place, took the penalty of a brutal death for us. He became sin, the object of God's wrath--for us. By his wounds, we are healed. By his death, we are made alive. By his resurrection, we are promised resurrection from the dead. He makes us righteous and justifies us in the eyes of God. Our job is to believe. Hebrews 11 - Abraham believed, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
Thank you for watching. Subscribe and receive a notification when new episodes are available.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Sometimes reading the Bible can be overwhelming, and big words can make it difficult to understand, especially with some older translations. Jack and John tackle some of the Bible's big words like propitiation and sanctification. Their hope is to deepen our understanding of those words and to help us appreciate why they are important.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Julia Renee is the worship leader at Trader's Point Christian Church: North Campus in Carmel, Indiana. She is also John's daughter. Julia has a heart for God and a passion for worship. Listen as she opens her heart and speaks her thoughts about Jesus, his church, and what it means to worship him.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Dr. John Caldwell has been in ministry for the better part of six decades. Even in his retirement from full-time ministry, he continues to preach most weekends. He has been a long-time inspiration to Jack and John, and he is a most-welcome guest. He began his ministry at Kingsway Christian Church with a message about Jesus, and he completed his ministry there with a similar message focused on Jesus.
I hope our interview will encourage and inspire you.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John interview a long-time friend, JD Miller. JD is a song writer, producer, Grammy award winner, and so much more. He is a musical wizard with a story too big to tell.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Happy New Year! This is a special episode with John and our good friend and engineer, Mike Bridgewater. Listen as Mike and John discuss setting goals as we head into the new year.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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It's that time of year. The songs. The lights. Our favorite Christmas movies. Parties with family and friends. Presents.
We all have our favorite memories of Christmas and hopes and dreams of Christmases to come.
Our greatest hope was born in a cave near Bethlehem. The king of kings, unheralded except to humble shepherds. He had no court to welcome him, entertain him, or even clothe him. He had his mother and Joseph. Not the grand entrance one would expect for a prince, but his humble birth brought hope to the world because God became one of us to show us how much he loves us and, ultimately, to save us.
Merry Christmas!
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Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Nothing in all of human history compares to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Our creator became one of us, lived among us, loved everyone he met, and changed the world with his words and his miracles. But none of his miracles changed the world for everyone like the miracle of raising from the dead.
Watch and listen as Jack and John discuss the final chapter of the gospel of Mark.
Thank you for listening.
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Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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The story seems to take a dark turn. Hope seems to wane. Judas betrays Jesus. Jesus is arrested. The disciples scatter. And Peter denies knowing Jesus three times.
But hope never dies. And the light remains even in the deepest darkness. As we read about Jesus approaching trial and resurrection, we know the outcome. We know that death could not hold him, and neither will it hold us. Jesus has given us one job. Believe.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John discuss Jesus on the cross. The crucifixion is truly the central focus of human history. Jesus's death on the cross was the final and ultimate sacrifice. He spilled his own blood to cover our sins once and for all.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John discuss the hours leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Where do we even begin to give thanks to our creator, our sustainer, the one who loves us and provides everything we need? Our challenge today is to pause and reflect on all that God has done for us. How much he loves us. How his love in us changes us, stretches us, and moves us to love others. Today and every day, let us give thanks to the author of life who welcomes us into his story.
Thank you for listening.
Subscribe to receive a notification when new episodes are available.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jesus is nearing his arrest and trial. Jack and John contrast the love of the woman who anoints Jesus with her tears and extravagant perfume with the hate of his enemies, including his own disciple, Judas.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John ask the question, "What really matters?"
Jesus walks outside of Jerusalem with his disciples and tells them the temple will be destroyed and prophesies about the coming troubles for Jerusalem and his disciples. He teaches us that the things of this world are temporal, but his kingdom is everlasting.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jesus in the temple. Jesus schools the Pharisees and establishes himself as the authority in their presence and before the people.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Join Jack and John on their journey through the gospel of Mark.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John continue their journey through the book of Mark. It seems the followers of Jesus continually find ways to focus on themselves and their worries. It was true during Jesus's ministry, and it's still true today. Jack and John explore the fumbles and foibles of the disciples and try to learn from their mistakes while they embrace their own and surrender their pride to the only one who is worthy, Jesus.
Huge thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer, JD Miller, our musical wizard, and Mt Gilead Church, our home to record.
Thank YOU for listening. We pray our efforts help you focus on Jesus the author, editor, and publisher of everything worth believing in.
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Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
For more on the triumphal entry, we recommend listening to episode 54.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
We would love to address questions or topics you think will help our listeners to draw closer to Jesus.
Contact: connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
We would love to address questions or topics you think will help our listeners to draw closer to Jesus.
Contact: connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
We would love to address questions or topics you think will help our listeners to draw closer to Jesus.
Contact: connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they continue to discuss Mark 9 and 10.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
We would love to address questions or topics you think will help our listeners to draw closer to Jesus. Please call us at 317-663-9390 or email us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they continue to discuss Mark 9.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
We would love to address questions or topics you think will help our listeners to draw closer to Jesus. Please call us at 317-663-9390 or email us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they continue to discuss Mark 8 and 9.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
We would love to address questions or topics you think will help our listeners to draw closer to Jesus. Please call us at 317-663-9390 or email us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they continue to discuss the Mark 8.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
We would love to address questions or topics you think will help our listeners to draw closer to Jesus. Please call us at 317-663-9390 or email us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they discuss the Mark 8.
How quickly his disciples forget, and we are just like them. He turns their doubting skeptical hearts toward himself, the God of the impossible who feeds thousands, heals the sick, drives demons, commands the wind, and inspires compassion and forgiveness.
Our hope is that our podcast helps you to come closer to Jesus, the understand him, to know him, to love him, and share him.
I you have questions or comments, call 317-663-9390 or email connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they discuss the Mark 7.
Throughout the gospel of Mark, Jesus demonstrates that he loves the outcasts, the foreigners, and the forgotten. He has compassion on the broken and forgotten.
I you have questions or comments, call 317-663-9390 or email connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
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Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they discuss the events in Mark 6 and 7.
I you have questions or comments, call 317-663-9390 or email connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
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Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they discuss part two of the events in Mark 6.
I you have questions or comments, call 317-663-9390 or email connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
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Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
Jack and John continue their journey through the gospel of Mark.
This week they discuss the events in Mark 6.
I you have questions or comments, call 317-663-9390 or email connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
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Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
Join Jack and John as they journey through the gospel of Mark.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
Join Jack and John as they journey through the gospel of Mark.
Thanks for listening. Please share this message with someone today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
So much is packed into this short book. Mark has established Jesus as God's beloved Son, equal with God, able to heal and forgive, able to command evil spirits, yet the Pharisees refuse to believe. He heals a man's withered hand on the Sabbath, and they can't even appreciate the miracle. They judge him for doing good on the Sabbath. Jesus demonstrates that he is Lord of the Sabbath and reminds them again that the Sabbath is for humankind and not the other way around. Finally he calls they out for blaspheming the Holy Spirit because they knew in their hearts that everything he had said and done was truth from God, yet they chose not to believe.
Listen as Jack and John uncover the richness of this short chapter.
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Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our behind the scenes guru, JD Miller our music man, and Mt. Gilead Church who provides our space to record.
The gospel of Mark wastes no time establishing Jesus as Lord. After Jesus healed the Leper at the end of Chapter 1, Mark tells us he had to leave the towns and go to the desolate areas because word traveled fast, and he was swarmed with people. Also the Pharisees had set their minds against him. In Chapter 2, Jesus comes home to Capernaum, and it gets crazy busy. He demonstrates that he is God by forgiving a paralyzed man of his sins. The Pharisees call "blasphemy" because he is saying he can forgive sins, to which Jesus says, "Which is easier to say 'Your sins are forgiven' or to say 'Rise, take up your bed and go home'?"
When Jesus calls Levi to follow him, he defies the Pharisees again, because they taught that tax collectors could not be forgiven their sins. But Jesus demonstrated otherwise. Not only can tax collectors receive forgiveness, they can be a part of God's family.
Listen as Jack and John explore Mark 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3.
Please share us with someone who needs to hear our message.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater who makes Jack and John sound good. He's still working on a way to make them look better. Thanks to JD Miller for your musical magic. And thanks Mt. Gilead Church for giving us a place to record.
Mark is the action-adventure writer of the gospels. He wastes no time but jumps right into the story. No genealogy. No philosophizing or reminiscing. No mystery. Just BAM! He gets right to it. John the baptist prepares the path for the Savior, and here he is and we're off and running. Jesus gets baptized in the Jordan river to fulfill all righteousness. The Holy Spirit descends. God speaks. Jesus fasts alone and is tempted by the Devil, then he begins his ministry.
Listen as Jack and John embark on another adventure of faith as they tackle the gospel of Mark.
If you're encouraged by what you hear, please share us with someone who needs to hear it.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater, the man, the myth the legend. When he's not out saving the world, he's working behind the scenes to make this thing work. Thanks to JD Miller, our musical wizard. And thanks to Mt. Gilead Church for providing a place for us to record.
Jack and John first introduced Dr. Adam Maclauchlan in Episode 33 then again in Episode 35. Adam is a devoted follower of Jesus, a husband, father, and physician. He is also a cancer patient. One year after the birth of his twin sons, Adam experienced some shoulder pain, got an X-ray, and ultimately discovered that he had stage IV lung cancer with multiple metastatic lesions. Friends, family, and believers around the world devoted themselves to prayer for Adam and his family. He is a miracle.
As a physician, Adam understands what the diagnosis means. There is no cure for stage IV adenocarcinoma with widespread metastases. The best one can expect from treatment is to buy some time--hopefully years.
That said, God is not bound by human conventions or constraints. The one who defied the storm on the Sea of Galilee can defy the storms in us. He commands the wind and the waves. He can command cancer as well. At time of hid diagnosis, Adam had a large mass in the right upper lobe of his lungs. Cancer infiltrated his lungs and spread to his brain, his spine, both scapulas, and some ribs. All of his testing revealed extensive, life-threatening disease, but genetic tests on the tumor revealed a weakness--a specific mutation that could be targeted by a daily oral medication.
As of the time of this recording, all nine of Adam's brain lesions are undetectable. The infiltrates in his lungs are gone. His spine, ribs, and scapulas are clear. And the mass in his right upper lobe has shrunk dramatically, and hopefully, it's just scar tissue.
Like all of us, Adam is in God's hands, and God has given him an eternal perspective and calm.
Listen as he shares his story with Jack and John.
As always, thank you to Mike Bridgewater, our engineer extraordinaire, to JD Miller, our musical wizard, and to Mt Gilead Church for putting up with us and giving us a place to record.
Please reach out to us. Please subscribe and share us with your friends or someone who needs to hear Adam's story.
Addiction isn't just something you see in the news or hear about at work or school. It's everywhere. It's so much more than drugs and alcohol. It's sex, porn, food, work. The list goes on. No, they're not all the same. Some addictions primarily damage the addict. Some damage everyone around the addict. But we are all of us are impacted by addiction.
Not all of us recover.
Jack and John interview Justin White.
Justin is the teaching pastor at Mt. Gilead Church. Listen as he shares his inspiring story.
You need to listen to this episode. Jack shares a deeply personal story of God speaking to his heart when he was in a dark place.
Have you ever heard a word from God or felt his spirit working in you or prompting you? Jack and John share personal stories of God doing just that.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church in Colosse to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden through the ages, now revealed to his saints. That mystery is the riches of his glory, the anointed king, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Listen as Jack and John discuss "Christ in you, the hope of glory." And spend some time in your Bible this week and read Paul's letter to the Colossians.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
Jack and John joust with Mark Frisbie, the director of Prison Fellowship in Indiana.
Why is prison ministry important?
How does it help us focus on Jesus?
How does it help others focus on Jesus?
Listen as Jack and John and Mark chew on these things.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
The day of Pentecost is fifty days from the beginning of Passover. It is also called the Feast of Shavuot (Feast of Weeks) because it occurs seven weeks from the second day of Passover. On this day, the children of Israel celebrate the first fruits of the grain harvest, and they remember God giving the Torah to his people.
When God gave the Torah, he brought fire from heaven to cover the mountain, and the mountain trembled at his voice. Following Jesus's ascension, on Pentecost, he brought fire from heaven and spoke to his children again through his apostles.
On Sinai, Yahweh said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.”
Fire on the mountain, fire before the people, and fire over the tabernacle meant the presence of God is in that place. Fire on the apostles was Yahweh on display in his people.
God with us became God in us.
Read more in Acts 2:1-41.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
The story of God with us is our creator loving us from start to finish and even before and after.
Imagine the creator of all things imagining you before the beginning of time. You are the object of his deepest affection. He created you with your mind, your own way of thinking, your own dreams and aspirations, your own vulnerabilities, and your own choice to ignore him and his plans. But his love is relentless and unending. So, he came to earth to meet you, to guide you, to forgive you, to fight for you, to surrender for you.
Our flawless king became the object of judgment for us. God made him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that we might become his righteousness.
When Jesus ascended to the right hand of God, he began the first step is establishing his kingdom in us. When he comes again, we will no longer be bound the curse of our sinful human nature but we will become like him in every respect. He will clothe us in the fullness of his spirit and with imperishable bodies.
He who descended to earth and ascended to glory will descend again as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
There is a lot of controversy over the week leading up to the crucifixion. And the controversies will persist long after our flesh has failed. But there are many things we can know with certainty. Jesus told his disciples to prepare for the Passover meal, and he gave them specific instructions. Regardless of the day of the week or the precise year, we can be confident that Jesus treated his last meal before his death as the Passover meal.
Jack and John dive into the traditions of Passover to discuss what the "last" supper may have been like. As you listen, imagine yourself preparing to remember the Exodus and the miracles of God's provision for his people who trusted that their belief and obedience would save them. Imagine what Jesus thought as he broke the unleavened bread, tasted the bitter herbs, and drank the wine. What did the disciples think? Why could they not piece everything together? John the Baptist had called Jesus the Lamb of God. The Father himself had spoken, "This is my Beloved Son." And Jesus had told them exactly what was going to happen. He was going to be tried before the religious leaders, and he would be murdered, but they still missed it until after his resurrection and appearance.
It's a lot to think about.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
From the time Mary and Joseph first returned to Israel from Egypt, they took Jesus and his siblings and traveled with their whole family to Jerusalem three times a year for Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot; also known as Passover, Pentecost (the Feast of Weeks), and the Feast of Tabernacles.
Passover is a seven-day feast. At the beginning of the feast, leaven is cleared from every house, and unleavened bread is consumed that whole week. It was at the beginning of Passover week when Jesus entered Jerusalem riding the colt of a donkey. Jack and John explore the story and the reasons behind it and what it means for you and me.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
Jack and John explore the stories of Job and Stephen. Both men endured great trials and exhibited great faith. Amid his suffering, Job never lost faith, never cursed God, and he looked to the distant future saying, "I know my Redeemer lives..."
Stephen told the story of Jesus woven through the priests and prophets from Abraham and Moses to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. He was murdered for his words. In his dying moments, he saw a vision of Jesus standing at the right hand of God the Father and he proclaimed what he saw to the crowd stoning him.
Even in our worst moments, even in death, Jesus is our Redeemer.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
On the very day Jesus rose from the dead, he appeared to two of his disciples who were walking home dejected. The man they thought would be king had been killed by the people they had hoped he would conquer. No battle. No resistance. Only surrender. Their presumed king followed his accusers like a naive lamb on its way to be slaughtered. Their dreams had died, but Jesus appeared along side them and asked them why they looked downcast.
Follow Jack and John as they journey along with Cleopas and the unnamed disciple on the seven-mile stretch from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
How in the world can we describe Jesus? I've never seen him, but I can describe him by his nature and by his word. Jack and John dive into the scripture to see what the Bible can show us about Jesus so we can catch a glimpse of him.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
Wow! Episode 50. When Jack and I started this podcast, we had no idea what we were doing. If you've been following us, you know that's still true. But we know one thing. Jesus is who says he is, and we can't go wrong when we focus on him. He is our creator, sustainer, redeemer, and so much more. He is our everything.
In our 50th episode, we discuss the fact that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He watches over us, leads us, protects us, and calls us his own.
Jack and John explore Psalm 23 and John 10.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
We could talk forever and never exhaust the depth of what it means to say Jesus is our Savior. Jack and John tackle this subject and hope it sparks a desire in your heart to dive deeper and get to know the Creator God who made himself one of us to save us from ourselves and so much more.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
Jesus is the lamb of God. We think of him as Creator, King, and Lord. Those roles are strong and powerful. But he is also the Lamb of God. That sounds vulnerable and weak. But the Lamb of God is anything but weak.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
Jack and John discuss the reason for a priesthood, the role of a priest, and especially the role of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, the one day of the year that the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place to offer sacrifice for himself and for the sins of all the people. Listen as the talk about what it means to have Jesus as our High Priest.
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
Jesus is King. He is the Son of David, the Beloved Son, the King of kings. Listen as Jack and John discuss...
Thanks for listening. Please reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
Our great king is many things, and there is power in his name. Over the next several episodes, Jack and John will dive into the names and titles of our savior king. We could spend years talking about Jesus and only skim the surface of the depths of the riches of wisdom and knowledge of our God, his great name, his spirit, and his power.
Thank you for joining us and we hope you stay with us through this journey of faith as we focus on Jesus...
Reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
It’s been said that “nobody but you can define who you are.”
Is that right? God has certainly given each of us a measure of autonomy and self-determination, but do we truly define who we are?
In this episode, Jack and John discuss our identity in Christ. We are his creation and the objects of his intent. How we define ourselves is not as important as how he defines us and what he wants for us.
Thanks for listening. For questions and comments, reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or leave a voice message at 317-663-9390.
Thank you, Mike Bridgewater for taking time away from saving the world to engineer and produce our podcast. Thank you, JD for your musical wizardry. And thank you Mt. Gilead Church for providing space for our recording.
There are so many things to distract us and draw our focus away from Christ. Jack and John discuss obstacles that keep us from Jesus and what it takes to overcome them.
Jack and John discuss the four agreements and help us see Jesus in each of them.
1. Always tell the truth
2. Always do your best
3. Don't make assumptions
4. Don't take things personally
Can you picture Jesus standing before the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate?
God has truly given his best, the blameless lamb of God, his beloved Son, the once-and-for-all sacrifice for all sin. Jesus stood faultless before the most powerful earthly ruler in Judea, and Pilate asks "What is truth?" while Truth stood before him.
When Jesus submitted to earthly judgment, when he lay against that cross and allowed the nails to pierce his flesh, he epitomized all four of the statements above. And "Don't take things personally" thoroughly resonates with his words from the cross. "Father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing."
Thanks for joining us on this faith journey. Hopefully together we can keep our focus on Christ.
Connect with us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com. Call us at 317-663-9390.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater, our engineer; JD Miller, our music wizard; Mt. Gilead Church, our host; and to you our listeners.
We jumped into 2020 with both feet and quickly sank into the mud of a year none of us had hoped for. We tip-toed into 2021, hoping it would be better than the year that felt like it would never end and couldn't end soon enough. I don't know. Was 2021 better? For some. Not so much for others.
But we are all longing for something new and better.
That is what Jesus has promised.
He will make all things new. The Greek word used for new implies a newness like nothing you've ever seen before or ever imagined.
This year, resolve to keep your focus on the One who makes all things new, including you and me.
Thanks for joining us on this journey of faith. It's been fun, getting this podcast started. Our hope is to keep it engaging and encouraging, and most of all to keep our focus on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
Thanks again to Mike Bridgewater, JD Miller, Mt. Gilead Church, and YOU our listeners.
Reach out to us at connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com or 317-663-9390.
And have a Happy New Year!
Somethings are too big to miss, but we somehow manage to miss them anyway. A big appointment. A test. An anniversary. A wedding. We've all been there. But one thing we don't ever want to miss is Jesus. Yet so many do.
In this episode, Jack and John explore the idea of missing Christmas. Who missed the first Christmas? When have we missed Christmas? Who is missing Christmas today?
What can we do to help everyone experience the presence of Jesus this Christmas... and all year long?
Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing us with someone who needs what you heard today.
We love to hear from you. Call us at 317-663-9390 with your questions or comments, or send an email to connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer and all-around behind-the-scenes wizard, to JD Miller for producing our music, to Mt. Gilead Christian Church for providing the space to record, and to our ever-patient wives who love us in spite of ourselves.
The story of God becoming one of us never ceases to amaze, and that is the story of Christmas. In this and the following two episodes, Jack and John discuss the Christmas story, its meaning, its power, and its wondrous hope for all of us.
We wish you a joy-filled Christmas season, and we challenge you to share the joy and the hope of Christmas with someone who needs joy and hope.
We are planning a question and answer episode in the coming year. We need to hear from you. Call us at 317-663-9390 with your question, or send your question to connect@jackandjohnpodcast.com.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing us with someone who needs what you heard today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer and all-around behind-the-scenes wizard, to JD Miller for producing our music, to Mt. Gilead Christian Church for providing the space to record, and to our ever-patient wives who love us in spite of ourselves.
Sometimes wisdom comes from unexpected places and from unexpected people. Listen as Jack and John share unexpected heartfelt wisdom.
Dr. Adam Maclauchlan shares his journey of faith. Adam is fighting stage IV lung cancer that has spread through his lungs, his brain, and his bones. He and his family are floating in uncharted waters. His doctors struggle to give him a prognosis because they've never seen anyone so young and healthy with his type of cancer. His life, like all of our lives, is in God's hands, but not all of us feel the reality and urgency to share the undying hope we have in Christ. I hope you feel a sense of urgency as you listen.
Share this episode a friend who needs it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Jack: I heard a story about a seven-year-old boy by the name of Steve Walla who lived in Missoula, Missouri. One day in elementary school, his teacher asked the class to write a paper on what they were thankful. Steve wrote, “I am so thankful for Thanksgiving this year. We get to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and Grandma makes homemade cherry pie. And I love to eat Grandma's cooking, and Grandpa drives a truck. And he also drives a bus and he drives some of the kids to school.
“And I just love being around Grandma and Grandpa, and I am so thankful that God has given me so many things to be thankful for. Three years ago, I got hit by a car, and I have been blind ever since, but I'm thankful to God for all of the blessings he's given me.”
The note was written in braille. Rather than complaining, we should look at God’s blessings.
Gratitude brings peace and happiness. When we focus on Jesus and what he's done, it's hard to be anything but grateful.
We need to be thankful in every moment, not taking anything for granted. It’s saying “thank you” to the clerk at the store. It's being patient when you're waiting in the line at the pharmacy and there are not enough people to do the job and you need to get your medicine.
It's being understanding and thankful, without expectation.
John: So much is driven by our attitude. In my first year of practice, I took care of this dear old man who had an exhausting list of problems. I mean, this poor fellow was so arthritic he could barely stand. He could barely walk. When he did walk, it was very slow and deliberate, and he had to use a cane.
He typically would have his other hand on somebody else because he was also legally blind. He had congestive heart failure. And the list goes on.
I was admitting him to the hospital for heart failure. As I'm doing his admission physical, I discover a mass in his belly. He had colon cancer. The surgeon said it was the largest tumor he had ever seen. I saw him the day after his surgery. He's lying in his bed, staring. He didn't know it was me until I spoke. “How are you doing?” His face beamed with the biggest smile. And I remember feeling so caught off guard. He's just had a big chunk of his colon taken out and he's got a big smile on his face. I said, “Well, you sure look happy this morning.”
“I didn't have to have a bag.”
He was grateful he didn’t have a colostomy bag. He latched onto the good. It wasn't because he was making a big effort. He had the gift of gratitude. Attitude is everything.
This Thanksgiving and every day, let’s be thankful for all that God has given us.
Jack: I remember my son, one Thanksgiving, when he was a young boy and we had him praying the prayer for the Thanksgiving meal and he was praying, “Lord, thank you for the turkey and thank you for the dressing and thank you for the gravy and thank you for the pickles and thank you for the olives.” And I looked up at him and he had one eye open and he was going around the table and he was thanking God for everything that he saw.
And I thought, maybe that's what we need to do. We need to pray with one eye open. We need to be thankful with one eye open, making sure that we're seeing all of the things that God has placed on our table.
What blessings we have! So, don't come complaining. Don't come begging. Don't come anxious or worried. You come before God with Thanksgiving and praise in your lips and with a heart of service as you live your life, I guarantee that peace and happiness will follow right on its tails.
Thanks for listening and sharing. Reach out at connect@jackandJohnpodcast.com. You can also call and leave us a voice message at 317-663-9390. Give us your name and say whatever your question or comment is. We would love to hear from you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
We live in jars of clay. But we are not the clay. We are born again by the Spirit of God through the blood of Jesus the Anointed One. He put to death our sins and shortcomings when he died a criminal's death. He buried our sins in the Earth and remembers them no more. When He arose triumphant over death, He made us forever alive and incorruptible.
Yet here we are. Eternal souls in jars of clay. Fragile. Brittle. Breakable. Sometimes broken. Sometimes destroyed and forgotten. But the real you, the real me, we live on and wait to raised to new life with Him forever.
This week, we introduce you to a dear friend who's temporal dwelling is in jeopardy because of widespread cancer. We believe in the power of God. We believe He is Almighty, Un-opposable, and Unstoppable. And we pray for His intervention and healing for our friend Adam. But only God knows for sure what He will do, and we trust Him no matter what because we win either way.
The apostle Paul said, "For to me, to live is Christ. To die is gain." It's a win either way.
But I don't want to lose my friend yet. I don't want his wife or children to lose him yet.
It's beyond hard. It's a soul-crushing ache like trying to stand against a Tsunami.
Yet that is what we do through the Holy Spirit of our Savior. We stand calm in the storm.
Thank you for listening. Share this episode with at least one friend.
Jack and John visit Stefanie Jeffers at the Dream House. You'll hear some visitors come into the house and in the background during our interview because the Dream House is alive with hope, and it is open for women struggling, recovering, overcoming. It's a place to feel safe, a place to belong, and a place to dream. It is a place where the love of Jesus is lived out.
In this episode, Stefanie invites us to dream with her as she discusses her vision for the Butterfly House a residential home for these women.
If you feel challenged to get involved. Please reach out here. And do not underestimate the power of your prayers. Prayer is NOT the last resort. Prayer is the first line of defense, and more, it's the first mode of attack. We are not in a defensive posture against our enemy, the Devil, we are on the offensive. Our prayers storm the gates of hell.
So pray.
Stefanie Jeffers is the founder and CEO of Grit into Grace, Inc.
She lives the story of transformation from grit into grace, from surviving by being hard-hearted to thriving by being broken-hearted by her savior who saw the pure gold buried beneath the dross of her life. Listen as she opens the door and invites you into a place where you can feel safe, and loved. A place where you belong.
God looks beyond our faults and sees our needs. He sees us where we are and where we're going. He sees greater potential than we can imagine. He loves us deeper and stronger than we can conceive. In this episode, we explore how God sees us.
“Shame is a prison, as cruel as the grave. Shame is robber and it’s come to take my name. Love is my redeemer, lifting me up from the ground. Love is the power where my freedom song is found…” These words begin the song "Ain't No Grave" by Cageless Birds and Molly Skaggs that was released in 2018. Give it a listen. It's a great song that will stay with you.
My friend Laci McClain inspired this episode. She is the embodiment of beauty from ashes, and she gave us permission to use her words and credit her. Thank you, Laci.
Shame is a powerful and horrible straight-jacket. It holds us captive. It keeps us bound up. It is a loud mouth liar… taunting us from the inside. It replays mistakes. It reminds us that we are not really lovable.
It convinces us, if they really knew who we are; if they really saw the real me, they would not love me; they would not want me; they would be ashamed and disgusted.
Shame causes us to put on a show, to wear a mask, to pretend we are someone else; Someone we “should be”.
The Word says that we can throw off our garment of shame (fear of being see and known in all the depths) and we are GIVEN a garment of righteousness (right standing with God).
Too often, I find myself attempting to put on the garment of righteousness over my shame. (That is super heavy and doesn’t fit right.) I find myself believing that I have to carry my shame because I deserve it. I’m the one who messed up. I’m the one who fell short. So this is my burden. I find it hard to lay my shame down and put on a pure clean robe that I didn’t earn. In my pride I find myself rejecting it at times- knowing that I could never earn such a position.
The truth is, I want to be able to earn it. I guess that is where pride is rearing its hideous head. However, love in Christ—the love that picks up my blood stained robe and puts it on as his own then places his perfect, new, spotless robe on my shoulders, and calls me worthy—that perfect love is the only place where I have ever found real freedom from shame.
Freedom from shame is not a one time event. It is a continuous process. It is a daily and sometimes moment-by-moment process. I have to choose to let go of my mistakes—the pain I have caused myself and others, and ultimately God—and put on what I did not earn. I have to accept that I will never be deserving of the righteousness that has been given to me. I will never be fully refined or arrived. My mistakes are not something to be ashamed of but they are something to learn from.
Shame wants to brand me and wants me to believe that I am only a combination of all my mistakes and accomplishments.
Love says something different. Love says I am a child, I am loved, I am wanted and accepted just as I am. It calls me higher but bends down low to meet me here, in the darkness of my despair. It tells me my mistakes, my weaknesses, my talents and accomplishments are only part of the journey to love.
We are so much more than what we do and what we have done.
If I believe I need to do more, I might be dwelling in shame.
If I believe I was made to be more, I might be growing in love.
Doing is always an overflow of being. Being loved, known and seen as I am—all of me—is the only way I can ever be truly free from the grip of shame. In that freedom, I can do the things that are being asked of me with out the pressures of perfection, performance, fear and a need to be seen, which are almost always partnered with shame.
Wow! Thank you to our friend Laci for those powerful words.
Dear friends, when Jesus looks at you, He sees you. He doesn't see your shame, your guilt, your vile thoughts, your past, your nakedness. He sees His beautiful child—a flawless reflection of himself.
I challenge you, look beyond your flaws and the flaws of others and look at yourself and others as Jesus looks at you.
We're totally psyched to share this episode.
Monica Kelsey is the founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes. After you listen to this episode, you will want to check out her ministry. I want to tell you everything, but you need to hear it from Monica. Her story is deeply personal and powerful, and all of that power and passion pour into her ministry of providing a safe haven for babies and a safe, shameless way for troubled moms to give up their babies in a safe, legal way.
No blame. No shame. No names.
Those three phrases are important to the ministry because they don't want to blame the young women. They don't want to shame them, and they want them to be able to maintain anonymity to ensure that no blame and no shame follow them. When you hear Monica's story you'll understand.
The reason we are drawn to Monica and her ministry is because focusing on Christ as our Creator and our Savior, we can't help but begin to understand a tiny bit of how much He loves us and values us. We are created in his image to be his imagers. That means we're all important. We are all significant. And we all mean so much to Him that He would choose to lay down His life for us.
Please join us and hear what Monica has to say.
After you listen, you may want to donate.
You may also want to buy Monica's book. Blessed to Have Been Abandoned: the story of the baby box ladyThanks for listening. Thanks for sharing.
Special thanks to JD Miller for creating our music, Mike Bridgewater for doing it all, and Mt Gilead Church for putting up with us.
One of my favorite people is a woman I met in Haiti. Her name is Matilde, which means mighty warrior. And that she is. She is no longer fighting in this realm but has journeyed on to join with the saints and angels in glory. Listen to hear her story and others.
For more about Matilde, click here.
Jesus is the master storyteller. He is the author, editor, and publisher of our faith.
And He's given all of us stories to tell. One of the things I love about doing this podcast is sharing our stories with you. I hope that this episode is like a fresh drink of ice-cold crystal-clear pure water for your soul.
Find joy in every day. Too often we strive for the unreachable--for perfection. But we're imperfect, flawed. And it's way too easy to find the flaws. We don't even have to look. Our flaws are obvious and striking. Joy, on the other hand, sometimes requires work.
But joy is like buried treasure. Sometimes the excitement and energy, and even the joy itself is in knowing it's there. It may be down deep, but it's there. We know it is. We can feel it. We want it. We crave it. And we are going to dig down deep and find it, and when we do, it will spring forth like a geyser erupting.
Find the joy. Share the joy. Then look for more joy and more people to share it with.
Thanks for being a part of us. It gives us great joy to share the greatest joy with you, the joy that comes from knowing God and knowing He loves us beyond our loftiest imagination and our wildest impossible dreams.
Do you ever hear something wonderful, not just good news but great news? It fills your heart 'til you can't stand it. The excitement swells inside, and you're ready to burst. You have to tell someone. You have to share.
And when you do, you bless others.
Yikes! We live in a scary world. Sometimes it can feel overwhelming.
But have no fear. Why? Because God is bigger, and He's got us in his arms. So, it doesn't matter what happens. The picture is much bigger than we can even imagine, and He sees all of it. When we know Him, when we know His nature--His love for us, we can live in freedom instead of fear.
Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing us with someone who needs what you heard today.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater our engineer and all-around behind-the-scenes wizard, to JD Miller for producing our music, to Mt. Gilead Christian Church for providing the space to record, and to our ever-patient wives who love us in spite of ourselves.
In episode 11, we discussed Jesus teaching his disciples how to pray. His instruction is traditionally called the Lord's Prayer. He taught his disciples to pray "Give us this day our daily bread." What does that mean? Give us what we need not what we want? Give us just enough to get by? Or does it mean give us everything we need AND You, Oh God, ARE everything we need.
When the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, they grumbled against God and against his anointed leader, Moses. "Did God bring us out of Egypt to let us die in the wilderness?" God heard their grumbling and answer by sending them manna every day. They could take just what they needed for that day. If they took more and tried to store it, it quickly spoiled. He gave it to them fresh, bread of heaven, every day, their daily bread.
When Jesus spoke about the manna which God had provided to His children, He said, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Jesus is the bread of life. He is our creator and sustainer, the One who gives us life.
You've likely heard the quote from Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God."
Jack and John go beyond the personal application to the deeper contest of God commanding the raging nations to be still and know that He is God. To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.
46 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Church means so many different things depending on where you are, who you're talking to, your life experience. It's all over the place. Church can feel like home, or it can feel like--you fill in the blank. In this episode, Jack and John explore what it means to be the church.
Matthew 24:12-13
"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved."
Jesus speaks his disciples about the end times. As they sit together on the Mount of Olives, they overlook the Kidron Valley and see the Eastern Gate and the Temple. Jesus tells them the temple will be destroyed, false prophets will come, and all kinds of bad stuff will happen, but he warns them to maintain focus on eternity, on Him, on the love that He inspires.
I saw a meme that said "God can't use you if you're empty" or something like that. What do think? I think God can do what He wants. I think God Can!
This week Jack and John relate some powerful stories of forgiveness. So powerful that we needed more than the allowable 4,000 characters. Click here for more.
Sometimes life is hard. Harder than you'd ever want to imagine. And life ends and leaves the living alone and emptied of soul and filled with grief. But we do not grieve without hope. Our hope lives. Hope is everlasting. And hope is real.
This week, Jack and John discuss the heartfelt words of a friend who shared the hope she felt amid her grief. Pepper Basham is a multi-published romance author who recently lost her brother. She shared her heart in two separate posts on social media and gave us permission to share them with you. Our prayer is that this episode brings hope to you if you are grieving.
"But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope."1 Thessalonians 4:13
God loves us with great intent and great abandon. He sets his mind on his lost child and casts off all distractions to seek and to save his lost lamb. Is it work for God to love us? Isn't love his very nature? What if we could love like God does?
When I'm discouraged, I have to find my focus, reset, and turn my thoughts toward Jesus. Pause and think about what he endured and why, then find your courage and find your joy. Because he did it for you and me. He endured the opposition of those who were supposed to be the spiritual leaders, those who should have loved him and welcomed his kingdom, but they despised and rejected him. They were the original cancel culture, and they tried to cancel Jesus.
But he endured their scorn, their hate, their judgment, their cross. Why? He did it for the joy set before him. He did it for you and me. Consider him. Consider his ultimate sacrifice and don't lose heart.
Special Thanks to Mike Bridgewater for running the technical aspects of our recordings, to JD Miller for writing and producing our bumper/intro music, and to Mt. Gilead Christian Church for providing the space for our recordings.
Even if you never attended Sunday School, you've probably heard someone quote John 11:35, "Jesus wept." It's the shortest verse in the Bible, but one that packs a punch. We think of God as strong and mighty, the all-powerful ruler of the Universe, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. But it's harder to imagine Him crying? What makes Him cry?
Everyone dies, but not everyone has the sullen opportunity to face it before it happens. It's hard to know how one might respond when the clock winds down. Some cry out. Some pray. Others rage against God or someone they once loved. Some withdraw, stop eating, stop speaking. They shut off the world and shut out everyone else.
As a pastor and physician, Jack and John have had too many encounters with those facing death. In Episode 12, Jack relays one such story that we hope makes a lasting impact and helps you focus on Christ, especially when it comes time to meet Him face-to-face.
Listen as Jack and John unlock and unpack the Lord's instruction on prayer.
Does it seem strange that Jesus' disciples had to ask him how to pray? I would have guessed prayer to be a normal part of first-century Jewish culture, but his closest followers asked him how to do it. I imagine they expected him to sound similar to one of the Pharisees. Big voice. Bold stance. Arms stretched toward heaven. But Jesus surprised them once again.
First, he tells them to say "Our abba." Abba was child-speak. Daddy. Dad. Not what they would have expected.
To an ancient Hebrew, God was so esteemed and so unique and holy that He seemed unapproachable to the point that they called Him Adonai or Lord rather than risk mispronouncing YHWH (Yahweh). Or they would refer to Him as The Name. To approach him physically only happened once a year, and only the high priest was allowed to approach, and he did so via the innermost part of the temple, the Holy of Holies.
That's only the first two words. Jack and John unfold and discuss each phrase of Jesus' instruction of prayer.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater for audio and video production, and to JD Miller for writing and producing our intro music.
We only scratched the surface of the story of the lost son in Episode 8. Today, we take a closer look at the three stories Jesus used to confront the scribes and Pharisees.
These teachers of the Law would have understood and related to the stories of the lost lamb and the lost coin. Any one of them, where they a shepherd, would certainly leave the rest of their flock secure in the fold to seek, rescue, and restore a lost lamb. The lamb was valuable and vulnerable.
Likewise, they would have understood the story of the lost coin. In the first century, it was customary for a Jewish groom to give his bride-to-be ten silver coins. She would cherish them and wear them as adornments to show everyone that she was devoted to him and him to her. These coins were precious, not just for monetary value, but for the value they demonstrated to her, and, as she cherished them and displayed them, they were precious for the value she demonstrated to her husband.
One lost coin would be like losing a diamond from an engagement ring or even losing the ring itself, and, in that first-century culture, it meant even more. It brought shape and reproach.
Everyone in Jesus' audience would have understood the value of that lost coin.
But, when Jesus spoke of the treacherous, wayward son, none could relate to him. He shamed himself and his father by wishing his father dead when he demanded his inheritance. The father owed him nothing and should have sent him away with nothing, but he gave him half of all he owned.
When the son finally returns and is welcomed, the Pharisees couldn't understand the father's attitude or actions. This son deserved nothing once again. He shamed his father when he left. He shamed him even more, and shamed himself, when he returned.
But Jesus saw it another way. The family is not complete until every lost child is home.
The Pharisees were home, but they were still lost. They moved about in the Father's house, but they were dead.
We come to life and become a part of God's family when we run to him in the abject humility of a lost son or daughter shamed and scorned by the world but loved and never forgotten by our Dad.
There is no greater pain for a parent than the loss of a child, and no greater joy than that child restored. Unimaginable joy.
"My son was lost, but now he is found. He was dead, and now he is alive."
Jack and John tackle a big topic this week. "God, where are you?"
When the world feels like it's falling apart, it's easy to wonder if God is there. Is He here? Is He listening, watching? Does He care?
Tough questions, and these questions bring to the forefront the character and nature of God. Who is He? What is He like?
In this episode, Jack and John scratch the surface of who God is and where is He when troubles surround us.
Special thanks to Mike Bridgewater for producing our audio and video and to JD Miller for writing and producing our music. Thank you to Mt. Gilead Christian Church for providing the space for our recordings.
Jesus told a story about a father and his two sons. The younger son asked his father for his inheritance. In first-century Hebrew culture, the son may as well have said, “I wish you were dead, so I can get what’s mine.” Those listening would have thought little of the son. I imagine the tension rippling through the crowd as Jesus spoke.
When He tells of the father giving his hateful son his full share of the inheritance, I picture the crowd squirming, fists tightening, some spitting on the ground. “How could any son do such a thing to his father?” and “How could that man give his treasure that fool. He is no son.”
A reasonable man would surely have sent him away with nothing and would have disowned him. But the gracious father gave his son half of all he had, then he watched him leave.
The young man left, but he not only left his family, he left his town and even his country. He spent his father’s wealth on pleasure, and when his money ran out, so did his friends.
I imagine a few smiles among those listening as Jesus told the story. “He got what he deserved.”
But life got worse for the young man and everyone around him.
Famine.
In Western culture, famine is a foreign concept. We’ve had moments when there were a few empty shelves, no toilet paper, our favorite restaurant was closed because one of the workers got COVID. But we’ve never experienced famine.
No food. Empty stores. Dried-up fields and wells. Everyone scrapes to survive. Everyone. Even the great depression did not match the gravity of a famine in the ancient world. They had no infrastructure to safely or effectively ship food across long distances. Even those who had prepared and stored grains and dried meats would only survive for so long. Famine meant desperation and a fight to survive.
The young man had nothing, no one, and nowhere to go. He found work feeding pigs.
As Jesus told the crowd about the young man tossing Carob pods to pigs, I expect there were knowing smiles and head nods. Feeding swine gave them one more reason to despise this wayward fool and one more thing to make him unclean and unworthy to enter the temple courts.
You could say he was unworthy to approach his father. He was even unworthy to approach his father’s house.
But his father waited, not for a wayward fool, but for his lost son. And as his son stared at the dried-out pods, he realized the pigs were eating while he was starving. Starvation brings the kind of delirium that makes dirt-covered, tasteless pods seem like food. The young man broke down. “These pigs eat better than me. My father’s servants eat better than me.”
No money. No food. Nothing and no one to call his own. He left that far-off country wearing the stench of defeat and made the long journey home. Having wished his father dead, I can’t imagine he expected any sort of welcome. He may not have even expected eye contact or entrance into his father’s house, but he hoped for food and a place to sleep.
I picture the father waiting, climbing to the rooftop each evening, watching the distant hill. Hoping. Praying. Finally, after who knows how many years, a silhouette crests the hill. His pulse rises. “My son!” It’s him. He hikes up his cloak and his robe and sprints toward him.
“Welcome home, my son.”
The lost son was found. The lost sheep was restored to the flock. And the lost coin was returned to the its set.
But Jesus hadn’t finished yet. He had directed these three stories to the Scribes and Pharisees who had ridiculed him for receiving sinners and eating with them. They were the older. They lived in the presence of the Father but didn’t know Him, didn’t love Him, and despised His love for His wayward son.
Even so, the Father loved them and opened His heart to their wandering hearts if only they would come home as well.
Jack traveled and sang for much of his career. As you can imagine, the road is full of humorous stories. I asked Jack to share one of my favorites. A funny thing happened beneath the baptistry. 😂
"Why Me?"
Do you ever feel like that? Or... "Why me all the time?"
Everyone suffers sometime, but why do some suffer more than others?
One of our listeners asked why some families suffer more than others.
We don't pretend to have all the answers, but we can certainly relate to the question and the surrounding emotions.
This episode is our attempt to empathize with the hurt, the hope, and the raw honesty behind the question and provide a tip-of-the-iceberg answer.
We start by looking at our savior, his suffering, his love, and his promises.
Special Thanks to Mike Bridgewater for running the technical aspects of our recordings. And special thanks to JD Miller for writing and producing our bumper/intro music.
Jack and John discuss The Chosen, a new groundbreaking video series that draws viewers into first century Israel.
Imagine what it was like. See Jesus for the first time. See the lame walk, a leper healed, sins forgiven. Water turned into wine—a wedding feast saved.
Hearts changed. Hope born.
Give us a listen and join the conversation with your comments and suggestions, and please share us with interested friends.
Special Thanks to Mike Bridgewater for running the technical aspects of our recordings. And special thanks to JD Miller for writing and producing our bumper/intro music.
Why is it so hard to study the Bible?
Is it so difficult? Not enough time? Not enough reason?
Is it that word? Study?
We all have our reasons, our excuses? But we live in an age when most people can have the Bible in their hands at any given moment on their phone. We have audio versions, podcasts, study Bibles, and every tool imaginable to help us dive in deep.
So let's cast off our excuses and dive in together.
In this episode, Jack and John share insights and stories to help encourage you to get out of the boat, forget your comfort zone. Walk on that water. Jesus is calling. Don't be afraid.
Yes, you might sink... You probably will sink... But He won't let you drown. He will lift you up, and He will plant your feet on solid ground.
Here are a few notes from the podcast:
· One of the most overlooked approaches to studying the Bible is also one of the best and most important, and that is to pray and rely on the Holy Spirit to guide you.
· John 16:13 “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”
· Ideas for studying the Bible:
Step 1: Observation—What does the passage say?
Step 2: Interpretation—What does the passage mean?
Step 3: Application—What am I going to do about it?
There are tons of helpful resources on the web. Here's one.
Special Thanks to
Mike Bridgewater for recording each episode and doing all the technical stuff.
JD Miller for creating, producing, and engineering our music.
SHOW LESS
Thank you for sharing some of the verses that have impacted your lives. In this episode, we want to share those with you.
Here are a few of them.
· Galatians 6:14 “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
· Hebrews 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness, no one will see the Lord.”
· Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
· Philippians 4:13 “I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”
God gives me the strength I need to make it through whatever comes.
· Psalm 34:18 “The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
Thank you for listening. We want to hear from you. Share your inspirations. Let us know what you would like to hear from us, or what you'd like us to share with others.
God bless you. May His grace and peace be upon you. May your heart and mind belong to Him, and may you take captive every distraction, every thought, and focus on Him.
Special Thanks to
Mike Bridgewater for recording each episode and doing all the technical stuff.
JD Miller for creating, producing, and engineering our music.
SHOW LESS
Anxiety extends beyond pandemic proportions. Everyone on this planet experiences it. Everyone. No one is immune. And there is no vaccine.
I've asked patients on occasion what they would do if Jesus was with them, in the flesh, every day. What would you do? Would you feel anxious? If the one who heals the sick, feeds the thousands, and raises the dead was beside you, guiding you, teaching you, physically with you every day, would you feel anxious? Would you have anything to worry about?
Jesus' followers were with him every day, in the flesh, for three years. They witnessed more miracles than they could record.
But at least eleven times, Jesus asked them "Why are you worried?" or commanded them "Don't worry" or said "Let not you hearts be troubled."
If those who followed Him those three years felt anxious, why should you expect anything different?
In this episode, we explore anxiety and how to understand it and attack it.
Thanks for listening and sharing.
Over the years, we've met so many people with so many experiences. As the ups and downs of life shape and reshape us, we often find ourselves clinging to certain verses as a source of hope and strength. One verse that hit home for me was Psalm 34:18. When I was 24 years old, I was in my third year of medical school. My wife was teaching third grade, and she was 32 weeks pregnant. We were given tickets to the Indianapolis Symphony.
I had just finished the easiest and most fun week of medical school, a solid week of doing nothing but examining healthy newborn babies. The point of the week is to solidify the complete newborn exam in the budding doctors' minds so it becomes automatic and is never forgotten.
Amy and I enjoyed a nice dinner then went to see and hear the Dukes of Dixieland, Hoagy Carmichael's nephew, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. During the concert, Amy experienced a few painless contractions. We thought little of it, enjoyed the rest of our evening, and settled in for a good night's rest.
We awakened early as Amy began to experience painful and increasing contractions. Too early. Not ready. Never ready for what came next.
When we arrived in labor and delivery, the nurse greeted us with a smile that faded as soon as she checked for our baby's heart beat.
Our glass slipper shattered, and it wasn't even midnight yet.
The heartache of that moment, the moments that followed, and the days that felt like years was more than we thought we could bear. I couldn't even express how I felt.
Until I read that verse.
"The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit."
"Broken-hearted" wasn't enough to describe how I felt. "Crushed in spirit" resonated. It seemed my spirit had been pulverized and trampled, but God was there. He knew our pain. He felt it. He endured it. He shared it. And He was close to us and carried us through.
That's what a life verse is. You find your deepest, darkest heartache, and even there, you discover God is with you.
Whether you're in traffic, on your way to pick up the kids, on a plane, mowing the grass, or waiting for a friend, find a comfy seat. Picture yourself in a good friend's living room on a sofa that feels like home. You're going to meet some new friends who just want to talk about life and love and why we're here.
Jack is retired pastor with over fifty years of wisdom and experience. John is a physician with a heart for those who hurt. They are long-time friends who enjoy each other's company and conversation. Their podcast is an invitation to join them. Have a seat and kick off your shoes and your worries.
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