Amity Podcast with Jono & Lauren: Recent Episodes
Jono and Lauren Macfarlane
A husband and wife, striving for amity, sit down and talk through ministry life, theology, books and family.
Amity (noun): "friendship, mutual understanding and peaceful harmony, especially between nations."
In this episode we talk through the question of whether Christianity is a religion or a relationship. Folks will more often lean to the relationship side and describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious" or having a relationship with Jesus but no need of the religion. We chat through these view points and look at portions of James 1, Acts 11, and more.
We discuss this famous spoken word YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IAhDGYlpqY
Jono has preached on this topic from Acts 11 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ILjId7qGo0
Our Instagram page can be found here https://www.instagram.com/amitypodcast/
We're back! Or at least, we're trying to be! We've missed podcasting, but in this season of our lives, it takes very intentional time and planning to make it happen. We want to be here, but we can't promise a specific schedule right now. If you're still here, we thank you so much for listening.
On today's episode we discuss one of the books Jono has read in recent months. Henri J. M. Nouwen's "The Wounded Healer" may seem like an odd choice, but Jono talks through how this short book was helpful as a pastor and is a recommended read for others pursuing ministry.
We never meant to take a 9 month break from recording, but here we are, back again! We talk a bit about what we've done and experienced over the last 9 months and a little about the future of this podcast. Mini series/seasons are in the works! But the bulk of our conversation is walking through the timeline of the Covid pandemic in NZ, what our ministry response has been and how it's affected our church. It gets uncomfortable at times. These are stressful things to talk about for both of us. And we bare our souls a bit about how discouraging this season has been. Our episodes won't all be this long, but this should catch you up to where we've been and where we're at. We'd love for you to join us going forward.
Sometimes we don't have a topic at hand in order to do a deep dive, but we're always reading, thinking and talking. So this is the first episode in an irregular series where we just open our front door as it were, and allow you a glimpse into our conversations.
We talk about reading fiction, preparing to study and preach sermons, and more! We then spend quite a lot of time discussing the topic of "common grace" and end by talking about some of Jono's reading on authoritarianism, power and abuse in the church.
Thanks for listening!! If you have any topic suggestions, comments or questions, contact us via our instagram @amitypodcast
Check out the Kaisis podcast series on Common Grace https://kaisis.buzzsprout.com/1660195/8640216-the-kingdom-of-god-and-common-grace
We recommend Dr. Diane Langberg's book "Redeeming Power: Understanding Authority and Abuse in the Church."
We're back! Or at least we hope we're back. And we're talking through the topic of knowing God's will. This is a topic Jono has preached on several times but we find it's a frequent question on people's minds. We hope this episode can encourage you as you walk in the grace and freedom God has blessed you with.
We recommend checking out the Kaisis podcast' especially their episodes on Common Grace https://kaisis.buzzsprout.com/1660195/8640216-the-kingdom-of-god-and-common-grace
Kevin DeYoung's book :Just Do Something" is also a helpful resource on this issue.
While the word "lament" is a common one and widely used in even secular contexts, we think it's a discipline that's not practiced as much within the church as we need it to be. Lament is biblical, helpful and even necessary for our journey through the trials of this world. We hope you are encouraged as we talk through Psalm 13 and the issue of how we bring our distress and complaints to the Lord.
We mention the book "Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy" by Mark Vroegop and the book "Gentle and Lowly" by Dane Ortlund.
We also recommend listening to the Theology Gals episode on grief http://theologygals.com/2020/06/grief/
And these podcast interviews with Tish Harrison Warren https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/cultivated/tish-harrison-warren-how-grief-is-our-companion-in-christia.html and https://thelaymenslounge.com/tish-harrison-warren-real-talk-on-prayer-in-everyday-life/
Pre-marital counseling has become quite the norm for churched couples seeking to get married. But is it truly essential? Is it actually helpful? We discuss why pre-marital maybe a good idea and how we walk through it with couples, a bit of our own experience with pre-marital, and why relationship, mentoring and even counseling AFTER the wedding is really the most helpful. While there's no perfect marriage book, we do recommend "The Meaning of Marriage" by Tim and Kathy Keller.
We began this episode planning to get to our topic, but we ended up just talking. So 7 minutes in we decided to just go for it! Here's a taste of what we talk about. We do share some big news for our family, Jono goes on a bit of a rant and we discuss the book "The Great Sex Rescue" by Sheila Gregoire.
Listen to the interview Theology Gals did with Sheila Gregoire here http://theologygals.com/2021/05/the-great-sex-rescue-with-sheila-gregoire/
And check out Sheila's podcast here https://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/category/snippets/podcasts/
This episode is part sermon look back and part topical because we've been meaning to do an episode on the subject of SINGING. Specifically, corporate singing. Our foundational passage is Colossians 3:15-16 as we talk though the whys, whats, and weirdness of singing.
Watch the sermon here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAZyWmZYnF0&t=2378s
Guess who's baaaack?! It's us! Here we are, trying to get back in the podcastinng groove after a busy few weeks. We catch you up on bits of our lives, and then jump into a conversation on leisure, hobbies and the importance of rest amd relaxation. We reference a Crossway article from Shona Murray which can be found here https://www.crossway.org/articles/5-myths-about-leisure/ and also recommend digging up some Martin Luther insights on the topic of work (vocation) and leisure.
Aaaand we're back! A short break from the podcast due to travel turned into a longer break, but here we are getting back in the groove. We're looking back to 2 sermons ago; Jono's second-to-last sermon in the Gospel Culture series, on the image of God. We both find this topic so mind-blowing and exciting (as you can see from the length of this episode!). We hope this episode gets you thinking, studying, and even talking about this truth more. And ultimately, may it lead us all to love God and love neighbor.
If you'd like to watch the sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwSenjketV8
Or just listen to the sermon https://www.buzzsprout.com/4016/8531140-genesis-value-1-27
Let's talk about church discipline.... whew. Really the heart of what we're discussing is restoration, and it fits right in with the rest of the Gospel Culture series Jono has been preaching through. We're not doing a big deep dive in this episode, so we suggest listening to the actual sermon for more in-depth study on the topic, and on the passage (Matthew 18).
Listen to Sunday sermons on https://www.buzzsprout.com/4016 Watch the sermon here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhUJ017O-_s
Recently some of our church homegroups had a discussion night to talk through the "Four-Fold State of Man" so we thought we'd record an episode on the same topic. We're using Puritan Thomas Boston's (1676-1732) language, and Boston was expounding upon Augustine (354-430). We don't mention any other specific resources, but if you'd like to read Boston's full work , you can find it on Monergism https://www.monergism.com/human-nature-its-fourfold-state-ebook and there's a super succinct podcast episode here https://www.5minutesinchurchhistory.com/bostons-fourfold-state/
How do we view the Christian life? How do we view our time here between the cross and Jesus' return? We begin our episode by quickly defining our terms, because "over-realized eschatology" is a mouthful. We then dive in to the ramifications this mindset has for how we view corporate worship, how we live the Christian life and especially how we struggle, and even suffer. We are immensely thankful to Michael Horton for all his writing on this topic and we specifically reference his book "A Better Way." Monergism has a great selection of books and resources on the "Already/Not Yet" tension in which we live https://www.monergism.com/topics/eschatology/already not-yet
It's time for another sermon look back! We continue talking through the Gospel Culture series, this time we're touching on Christian liberty. It can be a dicey topic in many circles, and we're not here to give you all the answers. As you listen to/watch the sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2sPEiu4mmI and listen to this episode, our aim is that you can study Paul's words in Romans 13 and 14 (and the rest of Scripture!), and exercise your freedom in Christ within the boundaries of loving God and neighbor.
In this 2nd part covering Lauren's testimony of growing in faith and doctrine, we try not to get too bogged down in details like the first episode. So consider this a super condensed version of the last 10+ years. We tried to focus on the hope and joy Reformed doctrine has brought as our understanding of the Gospel, grace, the church, and God's character have both expanded and deepened. The Lord has used His church, His word, the blessing of being married to one another, and even the trials we've faced together to grow our faith and deepen our love. Let us know via our instagram if you have any further questions or would like clarification! And in the coming weeks we'll be delving into Jono's edition too so stay tuned!
We're going to delve into our Christian testimonies and our trajectories of doctrine and life as believers. In this first episode, Lauren talks through her childhood up through her first year at Bible College. This is a mix of personal story and how struggles with sin and lack of assurance played a role as growing up. You'll hear bits of specific doctrines mentioned, but over the next several episodes as we each share our stories, we'll fill in some missing gaps and explain more where we are now, together. If youve listened through some of the earlier episodes you'll have a pretty good idea where we are, but here's a bit more about where we've come from.
We're discussing the fifth message in our Gospel Culture series from Ephesians 4:25 and 29, and it's all about speech. While there's nothing particularly new in what we're talking about, these issues of the heart and tongue are truly some of the most prominent in our daily lives as Christians. And so, reminders are always helpful!
Catch up on the sermon here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc9oEPpJKgM Paul Tripp also has a great video that brings home some points about what makes bad language bad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uya9IXpwy4I
Buckle up folks, it's a long ride! We knew this episode might get away from us a bit, there was just so much to cover. You may find it helpful to take a break or two or if an hour-length episode doesn't intimidate you, grab a coffee and settle in. In this episode we look at two contrasting ways of approaching doctrine and Christian living; pietism (or pietistic evangelicalism) and Confessionalism. Jono has previously preached on this theme so we're using his contrasting points as our talking points in this conversation. Check out our instagram feed for the written points and the resources linked below for further research on this topic. For a time code reference, at 48:15 we deal with our final point and then spend the last 10 minutes wrapping up (and Jono preaches a mini sermon on Colossians 3).
Theocast has covered so much helpful ground on this issue and has a podcast, free courses, primers and articles on many topics relating to pietism, assurance, faith and more https://theocast.org/freeresources/ Theology Gals has a few episodes on Law & Gospel, here is one example http://theologygals.com/2020/01/the-importance-of-understanding-law-and-gospel/ The book "Ordinary" by Michael Horton is hugely helpful.
We continue on in our Gospel Culture sermon series at Christ Sanctuary. This week Jono preached on two sections from Romans; Romans 12:10 and Romans 15:7 on the topics of Welcome and Honour. In this sermon look back we're trying something a little different and spend less time recapping the sermon, and a little more time on application or some things that didn't quite make it into the sermon. Let us know what you prefer!
You can watch the sermon on Christ Sanctuary's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49-z0U45jSY
And during the episode we recommended an episode of the Kaisis podcast https://kaisis.buzzsprout.com/1660195/8259125-the-kingdom-of-god-and-finding-a-good-church
Well folks, we're going THERE. And by "there" we mean, parenting. This was a requested topic that we were at first reluctant to talk about because... we're not experts and every family is different! So as we once again sit down at our kitchen table for a chat, we seek to share some big-picture principles for how we parent and set family culture. There's very little how-to or actual application in this episode; we just want to be encouraging to you and urge you to do your own research, have your own conversations and make your own goals as you are guided by the Lord and His Word.
While we mention a couple parenting books in this episode, we're not going to link any of them in this episode as there are so many good ones out there to choose from, though no single one is perfect. We do however recommend checking out the https://www.risenmotherhood.com/podcast for many helpful episodes, resources and blog posts. As well as http://theologygals.com/episodes/ and their episodes on parenting, "Parenting Teenagers" and "Parenting in the Pews"
A fun extra episode We've gotten a couple questions about how/why we made the decision a year and a half ago to move out of town and get a "lifestyle block" or little "homestead." This is just a little chat on the process of buying our property, how we wrestled through some of the pushback, and what we enjoy about living the rural lifestyle (the animals!)
If you like pictures of animals, scenic views, and want to keep up to date with our homesteading adventures, feel free to follow along on instagram @upthefarlane
We put Jono a little out of his comfort zone and ask him to tell his story of hearing loss from childhood. If you know Jono as an adult you might not realize the extent of his deafness, or know the full story. So have a listen and hear him discuss what happened and how it shaped his childhood and his adult life, his attitude about it all, and his perspective about it as a Christian.
As Ray Ortlund has said, Gospel + Safety + Time is the way forward for Gospel Community. We talk through Jono's sermon from 1 John 1:1-9, continuing on in the Gospel Culture series. There is so much we could say on this topic, but in this episode we touch on some of the reasons why we as believers might hide in darkness, what makes the church safe for sinners, and how actually saying the words out loud "I want to walk in the light" can be incredibly helpful and powerful.
If you didn't catch the sermon or would like to listen again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKqdPyTWMQk
It's Jono's turn to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly...pieces of advice that is! Our conversation journeys through talks of pastoral platform building, common sense lessons when you want to learn something new, and then a more personal delve into one of the hardest decisions he's ever made. Once again, it's ministry and marriage; two of our very favourite topics to talk through together!
Jono began a new sermon series at Christ Sanctuary, and started it off with a sermon on Gospel Centrality. So in this episode we discuss his 3 main points: The gospel is historical, the gospel is covenantal, and the gospel is cosmic. Our minds get a little blown since this is a topic you could discuss without end! LIsten to the sermon here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjD7ZsMeqHs
If you have any comments or questions, message us on our instagram amitypodcast
On this episode we talk about a piece of bad advice, which provides a jumping off point for our conversation about ministry and marriage. Then we talk about the good advice and how its shaped our view of friendship and mentorship. And next week week we'll talk though some bad advice + good advice that Jono has received.
Some reccs mentioned in the episode: Christine Hoover's "By Faith" podcast https://www.christinehoover.net/podcast-1 and specific episodes on friendship for moms https://www.christinehoover.net/podcast-1/episode/30fef50a/emily-jensen-and-laura-wifler-on-friendship-for-moms and loneliness and friendship https://www.christinehoover.net/podcast-1/episode/30521e9e/lore-ferguson-wilbert-on-loneliness-and-friendship
Aimee Byrd's book "Why Can't We Be Friends?" from P&R Publishing
We look back to Jono's sermon on a very familiar text, Psalm 23. As we talk about the pastoral imagery in this psalm, we thought we'd just enhance that by adding in sounds of roosters and birds throughout. This is what happens when we record in the middle of the day! As we worked through Jono's sermon, we mostly focused on the Christo-centric nature of the psalm, and Jono walked us through how he concluded his sermon. What a powerful, refreshing way to think through such a notorious, frequently-quoted chapter of the Bible.
To listen/watch the sermon, visit Christ Sanctuary's youtube page https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGDL_aihOZk
Wrapping up our 2-part little interview with the last 5 Qs... Things you might want to know about your pastor but maybe haven't asked. Some of the topics in this episode have us getting quite vulnerable and the conversation was cathartic in a way. But we hope our thankfulness for our church family and the Lords work in her midst shines though. There's no place we'd rather be!
This is part 1 of our time together going through questions inspired by the blog post here http://www.tom-talks.org/blog/2018/12/5/ten-questions-you-want-to-know-but-may-be-afraid-to-ask-your-pastor We enjoyed working through these questions and hope it helps you get to know us a little better, especially in the context of ministry. While we do have a circle of people in our lives who know the answers to many of these questions and would not hesitate to ask us more, maybe you're someone who's just always wondered yet never asked. Thanks for listening.
We did it! We kept this episode short AND we finished the Sermon on the Mount! We discuss Jono's sermon from Matthew 7:24-29 and then do a little recap of our takeaways from the series through the SOTM (and inadvertently have nearly the answers).
You can watch the sermon here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcWYPrcCnOA Podcasts mentioned: https://kaisis.buzzsprout.com/ and http://theologygals.com/2021/03/the-kingdom-of-god-with-todd-and-osbaldo-kaisis-podcast/
In this episode, we (mostly Jono) discuss our church's recent decision to change the Statement of Faith. Yes, this was a requested episode!
Jono explains what the change was, and then we talk about the pastoral, missional, doctrinal and personal reasons this change was made. While these podcast episodes are largely informal, there were years of study, prayer and discussion before this decision was reached and obviously a more formal process of bringing it before our church and working it out as members with the elders. All of that process would be impossible to condense into one episode, but we hope we've hit some of the main points here. We don't have any specific recommendations to mention in this episode, but feel free to reach out with questions on our Instagram page.
We look back on this past Sunday's sermon from Matthew 7:15-23. This is a sobering and heavy topic, and we get a bit worked up as we talk about wolves, false teaching, and predators within the church. We touch on the horrific details that have come out of the investigations into the late Ravi Zacharias' life and ministry, and though we went longer than we'd planned, we hope you can wrestle through some of these heavy issues alongside us.
Watch the full sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4TZDcqUXJU
Statement from the RZIM board https://www.rzim.org/read/rzim-updates/board-statement
More on the RZ investigation https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/february/ravi-zacharias-rzim-investigation-sexual-abuse-sexting-rape.html
Jono and Lauren discuss one of the latest books Jono has finished; "Faithful Doubt: Habbakuk" by pastor Travis Scott from White Blackbird publishing.
-A thorough and helpful book review from Timothy Padgett https://breakpoint.org/faithful-doubt-a-book-reflection/ -Check out the book: https://www.storied.pub/books/faithful-doubt -Another article on the topic of faith and doubt from Laura Wifler https://wellwateredwomen.com/faith-in-seasons-of-doubt/ And check out Laura's instagram https://www.instagram.com/laurawifler/?hl=en for more of her writings on the topic of doubt. - -
We begin our weekly mini-series called 'Sermon Look Back' where we take the time to talk through some of the previous week's sermon. This gives Jono the opportunity to deep dive into some points that maybe he didn't get to cover as much as he would've liked, or discuss some questions/objections.
Here we look back on the sermon entitled "Enter by the Narrow Gate" from Matthew 7:13-14
You may here some audio disruption thanks to a child opening a door, and the dog bursting through the cat door.... it's real life, and we're just a couple of parents sitting at our kitchen table!
We finish the episode by reading a lengthy quote from the great Dr. R.C.Sproul. Excerpt from "Reason To Believe" pages 41-43
Watch the sermon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma60_FdCBUA
EDIT: this first episode is a bit of a car crash, if car crashes could be awkward and not know what they're doing. Maybe start with episode 2 or 3 We take the plunge and finally start a podcast! We've been talking about doing this for over a year, and here we are...2021, the year of the podcast! We start off light-hearted and a little awkward, go through some ice breaker questions and then get a little deeper as we talk about preaching, ministry life and church growth. We can't wait to unpack more of these topics in future episodes.
Podcasts we recommended in this episode: -Two Aged Sojourner https://twoagesojourner.com/ -the Glory Cloud podcast https://meredithkline.com/podcast/ -Theology Gals http://theologygals.com/ -Risenmotherhood https://www.risenmotherhood.com/
Books we recommended in this episode: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Faithful Doubt by Travis Scott