Chasing After Jesus: Recent Episodes
Matt Parsons
This podcast originally came from a desire to give my team something on a regular basis to encourage them in their pursuit of Jesus. I previously tried many platforms to try and accomplish that goal but had very little success. Then the idea for a podcast came to mind, given it's widely available distribution of content, and here we are. I figured since it will be available on the most popular platforms, I might as well make it public so that anyone can, hopefully, be encouraged to follow Jesus in their every day lives.
Fall is just around the corner and if you’re like my wife, you’ve probably already decorated the house and/or have, at least, been binging all the pumpkin-flavored things that are now available. Or, if you’re like me, you’re prepping for hunting season. Today I talk about my broken bow sight and how it reminded me that something so small, when left unchecked, can cause so much damage.
There are things that add to your faith and there are things that take away from it. Today we are looking at the qualities Peter tells us to add to our faith — the foundation of our identity in Christ — and what each quality practically means.
Since the Age of Enlightenment began, people started elevating logic and reason above everything else. Unless something could be empirically proven or logically concluded, it was not considered truth but nonsense, and not worth our time or attention. Not much has changed since then. People, even devout Jesus followers, still elevate logic and reason causing some to fall into “deconstruction.” But with all the differing “evidences,” where do we look for truth? What is considered reasonable or logical? How do we discern truth from deception?
Do you ever wonder if the church is what it’s supposed to be like? If the Church is not a building but is made up of believers, then what should the church look like? We really see a large picture of what the church should look like in the second chapter of Acts. The crazy thing is that it shows us what we should look like as individual believers as well.
When we pray we often feel like if God doesn’t say yes, then we can’t accept that or be satisfied with that, or even that God has let us down. We may even worry about what we’ll do if He says no. But when God says no to us, what really happens is that it gives us the opportunity to say You are Lord and I am not; to say Your will and not my own.
What’s the point of prayer if we don’t hear from God? Do you give time during your prayers to listen for his voice? Do you start by asking him if he has anything to say to you? What if you are missing the voice and direction of God simply because you forgot, as most of us often do, to take time and listen? Or what if you’re not hearing (or mishearing) because you don’t recognize God’s voice?
“Be encouraged, your sins are forgiven.” I think it’s safe to say that we are only encouraged when we are comfortable. Can you separate the two? Can you be uncomfortable and still be encouraged? How much encouragement do we expect out of this life in this body? Are we living for this world or Heaven? I’ve been praying that God would make Heaven the most real thing in my heart. I don’t want it to seem like a fairytale land that only exists in my mind with false promises of a better future. I want it to be, in every way, a reality that puts everything else in it’s place — a reality that puts all of my circumstances in the correct perspective.
In a culture where self-care is such a buzz word and such a priority, we have to understand that most of us get it wrong. Self-care does not mean self-indulging. But that’s how we often treat it. Self-care, on the contrary, is simply caring for yourself. You do this the same way you would care for a patient, or your child, or a friend. It’s about making yourself better. Indulging your every desire to try and lick your emotional wounds back to health is not only ineffective and couterproductive, but damaging and sinful.
We tend to desire the things of this world more than we desire God or what God wants for us. And we tend to be blind to the blessings that come from truly giving our lives over to him like Jesus commands us to in Matthew 16. The problem is that by holding onto our life or the things in our life, we are trading the blessings of God for the false blessings of this world. We need to let go and give our full lives to Jesus.
It’s difficult to lose a friend. We can't help but miss them and the ways they impacted our lives. Memories fill our minds and interrupt our days with laughter and tears. We struggle with the “why” behind them leaving this earth sooner than we want but there’s something we need to remember in situations like this. In our mourning, we need to remember hope.
As a Christian, there has historically been a list of words that we can’t, or shouldn’t, say. But why? Does the Bible specifically mention those words? Do those specific words possess an inherent evil? Does society play a role in those words? That’s what we will talk about today.
We all drive cars. We all wear clothes. We all use technology. We all shop at the grocery store. We live in houses. We use the English language. We utilize electricity and running water. Etc. There are SO MANY ways we look like “the world.” So what does it mean to be IN the world but not OF the world?
The only thing worse than going through difficulties in life is going through them alone. The great thing is that one of God’s promises is that He will always be with us, especially in difficult times. Don't waiver. Hold tight. Trust God.