Bible Thoughts - Coram Deo Church: Recent Episodes
Coram Deo Church
Join Pastor Rusten Harris from Coram Deo Church for Bible Thoughts - a podcast dedicated to taking small bites out of God's word and just chewing on them for a bit. The more obscure the passages...the better.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten continues looking at Bible passages on labor, work, wealth, and economics. In the opening pages of Genesis, God forms the original and foundational economic unit: the household. Pastor Rusten explores the particular roles of men and women in the household.
We often think about the fourth commandment only as a command to rest on the Sabbath day, but it is much more than that. It completely reshapes our understanding of why we work and what our work is for. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten explores how this commandment to rest is also a commandment to work.
Does the Bible have anything to say about my career and my workweek? In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at the beginning of the Bible story when God first creates humanity in his image. At that point, God gave them a vocation that fit that image, what many theologians call "the cultural mandate" or "the dominion mandate." This has profound implications for our careers and labors.
God made the world in such a way that little things add up. A field bears fruit after many steps of cultivation and care. We mature by walking step-by-step in Christ. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten begins a series on a biblical view of work and vocation. He starts by looking at Proverbs 24:30–34 and considering the Bible's teaching on habits. He discusses the importance of cultivating holy habits that are in step with the Spirit as we grow into the likeness of Christ.
Crucial to the witness of the Church in the world is maintaining the distinction between the Church and the world. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten takes a look at Paul's commands in 1 Corinthians 5:9–6:5, which are increasingly controversial in our world today.
The Gospels often say that Jesus fulfills prophecy, but we don't always understand how. For example, how does Jesus fulfill the prophecy "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Matthew 2:15)? In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers how the birth of Jesus fulfills some of these prophecies and why that gives us good reason to celebrate this Christmas.
Within the Church, there are good kinds of unity and bad kinds of unity. There are good kinds of division and bad kinds of division. While the goal is that the Church be united in the same mind and the same judgment, this doesn't happen automatically. We must pursue proper unity and strive towards this goal. In this Episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten takes a look at 1 Corinthians and considers how Paul addresses the factionalism that was present there.
The church in Corinth was a mess! Divisions, incest, and drunkenness at the Lord's Supper are a few of the problems we learn are going on there. Yet Paul expresses his gratitude to God for them, and even says he is confident Jesus will sustain and be faithful to them. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers the reality of God's grace and the messiness of Church.
Jesus commands his disciples to love their enemies because he wants them to reflect the kindness and love of God expressed in the Gospel. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at this section of Jesus' "Sermon on the Plain" in Luke 6 and considers what it means to love our enemies.
The letter of Jude is a letter of warning. It seeks to convict, equip, and strengthen its readers to stand against the temptations of unbelief, sexual immorality, and rebellion against God's authority. It encourages God's people to persevere in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. But the power that makes all this encouragement possible is found in the last two verses of the letter. In this Episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten finishes the letter of Jude by looking at its concluding doxology, where we learn that Christ holds us and keeps us from stumbling.
There is a sense in which the gospel of Jesus is both "against the world" and "for the world." This isn't just a theoretical tension, but a tension that shows up in our relationships and lives in tumultuous ways. It is a tension that we are called to walk through in faith and the love of God. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers the letter of Jude, specifically the call on the church to persevere in times of increased tension.
Who doesn't want to be liked? Who doesn't want to be thought of as wonderfully winsome and radically relevant by all people? It's a temptation for the church today, and it's been a temptation in the past as well. So, Jesus warns his disciples of it. What might it mean if everyone speaks well of you? Jesus compares this situation to the false prophets that went before, and he pronounces his "woe" upon them. But how does this square with things like the expectation that pastors are to "be well thought of by outsiders" (1 Corinthians 9:22) or Paul's method of becoming "all things to all people, that by all means I might save some" (1 Timothy 3:7)? In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Jesus' warning and considers these questions.
The doxology we often hear at the end of the Lord's Prayer, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen," may not have been part of the original prayer. But it uses language that has calls back to a prayer of King David in 1 Chronicles 29. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten takes a look at King David's prayer and considers why we ought to pray doxologies.
After Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for forgiveness, he teaches them to pray, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at the last petition of the Lord's prayer and considers what temptation is and why Jesus teaches us to pray for God to deliver us from it.
When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray, he also teaches them to pray for forgiveness. Did Jesus intend for us to pray this every day? What does Jesus mean by "debts"? Why does this petition comes with a qualification ("As we have forgiven our debtors")? In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten picks up the series on the Lord's Prayer to consider the petition "Forgive us our debts" and what it means for us today.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten takes a break from the Lord's Prayer to consider an observation from the book of Job and its similarities to the life of Jesus. The suffering of Job and Jesus are both preceded by God's delight in each of them.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers what it means to pray for God to give us our daily bread and how daily bread might remind us of manna in Exodus. When Jesus teaches us to pray "Give us this day our daily bread," is he teaching us to live hand to mouth? Should we not save, or should we wait passively for God to provide for us? Rusten also goes on and on about how much he loves homemade bread.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers what it means to pray for God's kingdom to come and his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. How is this prayer consistent with the biblical view of redemption? And what does it look like for God's kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven in light of the Great Commission?
We tend to think that prayer is only a practice for the sake of spiritual health, or that prayer doesn't do anything because "God is sovereign, after all." In this episode of Bible thoughts, Pastor Rusten continues looking at the Lord's Prayer with the petition "Your kingdom come, your will be done." Here, Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for God to change the status quo. He also teaches his disciples to pray this way because God delights in this way of changing things.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at part of the Lord's prayer and considers what it means to ask God to hallow his name. What does "hallowed" mean anyway? And why is this the first thing Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for?
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at the introduction of the Lord's prayer and considers what it means that Jesus teaches us to address God in our prayers as "Father." We usually miss how astonishing it is that Jesus teaches us to pray to God as Father. We often assume a familial connection to God, but don't understand the depth and the cost of what the words "Our Father" mean. Nor do we remember the grace Jesus shows us by inviting us to pray them.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Jeremiah 44 to learn from an example of pragmatism gone awry. The Bible is not pragmatic when it comes to prosperity. Prosperity sought intentionally without God is a curse, and will fade into a wasteland. Prosperity that comes through faithfulness to God is a gift he loves to give. Yet prosperity is never the determining factor of faithfulness.
Why do some hear the Gospel and respond with faith while others disbelieve? It can be tempting to "practice cunning or tamper with God's Word" to make the Gospel less offensive or more palatable. But we must remember, like Paul, that we do not proclaim ourselves; rather, we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Psalm 100 and considers the joy of gratitude and the hope that we have because of God's steadfast love.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Ezekiel 37:1–14 and the valley of the dry bones. God confronts this seemingly hopeless situation, rescuing the dead bones through the power of his Word. God loves to do wondrous things through his Word because it demonstrates his glory.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Matthew 18:15–18 and considers Jesus’ teaching on Church discipline, and the context of this teaching. Church discipline gets a bad rap and, sadly, many churches seem to slight or ignore Jesus’ words to the detriment of God's people. The reality is that Jesus gives us this instruction because he loves us. We ought to pay closer attention and heed what he says.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers Ezekiel 33:7–11 and the responsibility that God gives Ezekiel to warn his people of their wickedness and to turn to God. God warns them because he desires that they would repent and live. It's God's warning, but it is Ezekiel's responsibility to carry it.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers how God provides for the poor and the sojourner through the gleaning laws for landowners. He also considers how these laws show us one of the main ways God cares for the poor: by providing them with the dignity of work.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Acts 26:22–29 and considers how Paul's mission to proclaim the gospel confronts those who are in political office, and how we might think about Christianity, the state, and religious liberty.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Ezekiel 13:8-14 and considers this question: What is the difference between a false prophet who says "'Peace' when there is no peace" and the peacemakers who Jesus says "will be called the sons of God"?
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten looks at Ezekiel chapters 8-9. This particular passage tells an eerie story of God showing Ezekiel the abominations and idolatries that are taking place in Judah, and what God is going to do about them.
If you don't fear God, you will fear man—whether that means craving the approval of man or fearing what man might do to you. Fearing man or death over and above God always leads to slavery. But if you fear God, you will fear little else. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers the rescue of God's people through the Red Sea and how it was, by all human measures, a statistical and algorithmic impossibility for Egypt to be conquered and for Israel to be saved.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers a couple of the specific ways that Jesus is mocked while being crucified and what those ways reveal to us about our sinful condition. What does Jesus mean when he says that he is "the way, and the truth, and the life?" (John 14:6)
It is worth considering why Jesus did not simply die a simple, clean, dignified death when he bore the sins of his people. Instead, Jesus dies the heinous death of crucifixion: an execution that aimed to remove any and all dignity of the person being executed. In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers a couple of the specific ways that Jesus is mocked while being crucified as well as what they reveal to us about our sinful condition.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers the final plague in the Exodus story. In the warning to Pharoah, God makes it clear that this plague will come upon everyone from Pharaoh who sits upon the throne down to the slave girl who sits at the hand mill. Here, in this plague, we see how the holiness of God and his judgment comes upon all sinners without distinction. It doesn't matter if you are a king or if you are oppressed and marginalized. God's holiness is not satisfied by those conditions. Under his holiness, all sinners are leveled and the only distinction that matters is the blood of the Lamb.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers the way that God leads his people like a father through the pillars of cloud and fire after the Exodus. This somewhat humorous and redundant passage reveals both the childhood of God's people and the Fatherhood of God. Children need instruction and here in this passage, God displays himself as a father that leads his children by the hand as they learn to walk. Once again, this passage reveals a reality that is ultimately fulfilled in the coming of Jesus who brings us into the family of God so we can call God our Father.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers Mordecai in the story of Esther. This guy gets in trouble for refusing to pay homage to Haman. He's like the lone guy in the crowd in that famous photo who is not giving the "heil Hitler" sign. Thus begins the story of conflict between the Jews and Haman. When Haman complains to Ahasuerus he makes the point of calling out that "these Jews" follow a different law than the Persians. Here we learn where the conflict often lies between God's people and the world they live among: God's law.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers a small word from the book of Isaiah. In this passage, Isaiah paints a picture of the adversaries of God as those who are trapped in a dream. In their dream, they believe they are healthy but in reality, they are starving and thirsty. How might shape the way we consider the adversaries of God?
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers the story of Shiphrah and Puah in Exodus chapter one. The slaughter of Hebrew boys could have been safe, rare, and legal if the midwives had only compromised and followed Pharaoh's direction. Instead, their rebellion leads to Pharaoh weaponizing his entire citizenry. What is God's response to their pragmatic oversight? Apparently, he blesses them. What might we glean from the story of these two brave midwives?
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers how the fear of God is key to living in the midst of tumultuous times. The idea that God should be feared above all else seems crazy to the world, but what the world doesn't realize is that the fear of God is the key to freedom and living in hope. The world stumbles on this, but this is a sanctuary for Christians.
In this episode of Bible Thoughts, Pastor Rusten considers the story of Jesus' Transfiguration in the Gospel of Matthew. While perhaps this is a strange passage, what if the best way to understand what is going on in the Transfiguration is to consider it alongside echoes of similar moments in Scripture?