Beyond Sunday: Recent Episodes
Maranatha CRC
Each week, Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman talk about the past Sunday and give practical ways to bring what you heard on Sunday into the rest of the week.
In this, the last Beyond Sunday Podcast, Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul reflect on the history of Beyond Sunday’s start as a blog post on the Maranatha website, its transition to a weekly devotional and then its final iteration as a podcast. We also reflected on Matthew 28, the passage from Easter Sunday, looking at the three sections: The Truth, The Lie and The Commission, and how these three impact us today. Some of the resources mentioned in the podcast include: Cold Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Werner Wallace; Evidence That Demands a Verdict By Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell; and The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.
Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman once again go Beyond Sunday, to look a little deeper into Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where He announces His kingship. In this episode we explore how people then, and now, fail to see Jesus as who He is. We also look at the meaning of why He is riding on a donkey and not a war horse, and the importance of coming to faith in Jesus now, not later!
Taking up the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Pastor Paul and Josh explore the idea of hope in time of judgement, faithful living as a result of belief in Jesus (rather than a set of things to do in order to prove worthiness of salvation), and discovering and using our gifts (talents) for God. Check out these resources: Greg Koukl’s www.str.org, Kevin DeJong’s book, Just Do Something and Zach Eswine’s book The Imperfect Pastor, Discover your gifts survey: FaithAliveResources.org/DiscoverYourGiftsSurvey.
This past Sunday, Josh Sweetman preached on several verses from Lamentations. We too are living through a season of lament, not only due to the pandemic, but also as a response to sin in us, in others, in this world. Joined by Pastor Paul, together they discuss lament, sin, salvation, hope and the sovereign and forever reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour!
After challenging Jesus’ authority, Jesus challenges the Pharisees by forcing them to consider that tax collectors and prostitutes were entering the kingdom of heaven before them. This week Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul go Beyond Sunday to explore the meaning of this passage and how it applies to us today.
Episode 26
Why did Jesus curse a fig tree so that it withered immediately? What does the fig tree represent? What is the correlation between faith and fruit, and how does fruit provide assurance? In Episode 26, Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman explore the answers to these questions and more!
Once again, Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul go beyond Sunday, diving into the Word of God. Concluding the six-week series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we discuss the topics of judgement, asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer, and what we are praying for, and giving consideration to the Golden Rule and the narrow gate and the narrow way.
In episode 24, Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman dive into Matthew 6:19-34. Most of our conversation focused on anxiety and worry, and Jesus’ command, “do not worry.” Such a command can seem simple, or even simplistic. But when taken in the context of Jesus’ loving care and provision, it is the right response. We also explored what kind of attitude toward earthly treasures Christians ought to have.
Welcome to Beyond Sunday Podcast episode 23! This week Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul Van Stralen tackle the second set of “You’ve heard it said… but I say to you…” statements by Jesus. Covering, divorce, oaths, retaliation, loving our enemies and being perfect as God is perfect, we engage with many questions people ask about our faith in Jesus Christ! This week’s episode references the CRCNA’s statement on Divorce and Remarriage, the Lord’s Day 37 of the Heidelberg Catechism as well as several articles of the Belgic Confession. Check it out!
“You’ve heard it said… But I say to you…” in his sermon on the mount, Jesus raises the bar of expectation for keeping God’s commandments. Our temptation is to make less of God’s commands, by making more of ourselves, thinking we’re better than we really are. Jesus gives us a dose of reality and tells it like it is! This week Josh Sweetman (Maranatha’s Youth Director) and Pastor Paul Van Stralen (Maranatha’s Lead Pastor) wrestle with Jesus’ teaching. We cannot live according to God’s law, but Jesus did! And Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, enables us to live in His righteousness and power!
Episode 21
In our second Sunday studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we studied the Beatitudes, the eight attitudes that Christians are expected to have, as people made alive in Christ. In this episode, Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul go Beyond Sunday to discuss such things as: what holds all the beatitudes together? What does the word “blessed’ mean? How do these apply to the church: in North America, outside North America? And finally, “Does the church reflect these blessings today? We hope you’ll be blessed by listening, and please leave your questions and comments on this Facebook post, or via email at: mcrcleth@gmail.com!
For the next several weeks, Josh and Pastor Paul will go Beyond Sunday in studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. This episode explores such things as the disciples reaction to Jesus, how did the crowd hear the sermon, and what is the geography like? Also referenced in this episode were the Bible Project’s Matthew Part One video and Greg Koukl’s article, Never Read a Bible Verse. Go Beyond Sunday by checking out the links!
Pastor Paul and Youth Director Josh kick off 2021 with episode #19, going Beyond Sunday by diving into Romans 12:1-2 and renewal of our minds. In this episode, we discuss worship, work, the ordinary, the mundane, and how we can think about everyday tasks as worship, by incorporating prayer, devotion, thoughts, and attitudes in our lives, 24/7/365.
In this episode, #18, Lead Pastor Paul and Youth Director Josh dig into one of Joseph’s qualities--his faithful discipleship. We answer such questions as, how do we, who were born into sin, live faithfully? How do we deal with sin and temptation to sin? How does the Holy Spirit work in and through us?
This week Chris Vanderberg joins Josh as they discuss Matthew 1, spiritual practices, and waiting during the season of Advent!
Episode 16 goes Beyond Sunday by jumping into Jesus’ genealogy. This record of real people in Jesus’ family tree, shows us that everyone is just like us, sinners in need of a saviour!
Beyond Sunday Podcast Episode 15 wraps up the sermon series on Joseph, considering such things as being filled with the Holy Spirit, forgiveness, how to handle temptation, how to focus on Christ, and the relationship between forgiveness and consequences. Tune in for a sneak peek into Advent!
Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul once again go Beyond Sunday into Joseph’s life. In this episode, we tackle such things as dreams and visions, faith and actions that arise out of faith. How Christian faith is filled with hope, assurance and conviction (confidence)!
Pastor Paul and Josh are back together again, to dig into what we studied on Sunday, going beyond Sunday to see how God’s sovereign rule gives us comfort and hope in trying times. That knowledge spurs us to share the hope we have in Christ Jesus with others, sharing the gospel--the good news--in a time when good news doesn’t get much air time at all.
In this week’s episode, we dig deeper into God’s Word, taking what was learned Beyond Sunday, into our week, by answering a question we received on Sunday. The question was: “Knowing that God has been sovereign throughout all of history and remains sovereign as our Lord and Creator, taking examples from Joseph’s life, translate that into how we should live recognizing that same sovereignty as we traverse our lives in this present world? Let us know in the comments section how well we did.
We go beyond Sunday by digging deeper into God’s Word: Pastor Paul and Shawn Corliss dive into Hebrews 12:18-29 looking at our reasons for being thankful, how we can live thankful lives, and how Joseph’s attitude toward God equipped him to face every challenge. The Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord blessed his work, in order to bring about His purposes. Tapping into Shawn’s experiences in the Canadian Armed Forces, this podcast covered a lot of ground! Enjoy!
Going Beyond Sunday by digging deeper into God’s Word: Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman dig into Genesis 39:6b-23, looking at Joseph’s response to Potiphar’s wife. She gave into her temptation; Joseph did not. In this episode, Josh and Paul discuss how to deal with temptation, how to live out identity in Christ, what kinds of spiritual practices, accountability and relationship building we can do in order to keep our focus on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith!
Going beyond Sunday and digging deeper into Galatians 3. Special guest joining Pastor Paul is Shawn Corliss.
We go beyond Sunday by digging deeper into God's Word! This week we discuss Galatians 4. Also in this episode, regular program hosts Paul Van Stralen and Josh Sweetman share about how this podcast came to be, and the key points that come out of Galatians 4!
We go beyond Sunday by digging deeper into God's Word! This week we discuss Galatians 5. This week Pastor Paul is joined by Shawn Corliss, discussing false teaching, false gospel. https://unlockingthebible.org/2017/11/beware-these-seven-counterfeit-gospels/
We go beyond Sunday by digging deeper into God's Word: Galatians 6. Josh Sweetman is joined by Pastor Paul in discussing restoring brothers or sisters who are caught in sin.
We go beyond Sunday by digging deeper into God's Word: Pastor Paul and Josh dive into the building blocks of faith formation (Discipleship): I Belong, I Know and Understand, I Have Hope, and I Am Called and Equipped.
We go beyond Sunday by digging deeper into God's Word: Pastor Paul and Shawn Corliss dive into Genesis 37, looking at Joseph: the Dreamer, and the Slave. Pastor Paul started a new series on Joseph on Sept. 20. We weren't able to record last week, so this week we're covering two Sunday's sermons! Enjoy the conversation!