Mission Upside Down

Having begun our podcast “Mission Upside Down” in July, 2020, we have decided to take a break. The Lord has been bringing us into new phases in our lives and leading us to new projects. One project is the potential planting of a new church in the greater Toronto area. May the Lord Jesus continue to turn us and our world “upside down” by the gospel!

When Jesus was born, a host of angels sang about glory to God and about peace on earth. If there’s anything that should characterize believers and our life together in the church, it should be our peaceful relationships.

These are days of strong political opinions and sharp disagreements. Not only in society, but also in the church. In this episode we’ll learn about repairing our relationships and deepening our friendships.

The New Testament clearly teaches that each church must be supervised by pastors and elders. What isn’t so clear is whether local churches should belong to broader church assemblies and yield to decisions made by these assemblies.

God instructs us in the tenth commandment not to covet the wrong things. It’s a call to discover our deepest desires. Jesus rightly observes, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart.” Where is your heart?

In our heated political climate today, it’s easy to speak wrongly to people. And about them. The ninth commandment reminds us how God wants us to guard our words carefully.

Why are we tempted to steal, cheat, and defraud people? The words of Jesus and James explain our motives for violating the eighth commandment.

In the seventh commandment God not only prohibits adultery, but all types of sexual immorality. In this episode we explore how God safeguards our marriages and multiplies our joy as we obey Him.

Jesus interprets the Ten Commandments in a deeper sense than the Jewish rabbis. He applies them not only to our actions but also to our attitudes and motivations. Thus, under the Sixth Commandment we are judged guilty

Children must respect and obey their parents out of love for Jesus. A special promise applies to those who do. Today we explore the fifth commandment.

In the fourth commandment, God’s people are told to remember the Sabbath day. It’s the 7th day of the week, corresponding to our Saturday. Why do most believers no longer worship on the Sabbath? And how can we apply this commandment today?

Like the first two commandments, the third one is also a prohibition. We are prohibited from using God’s name in unbiblical ways. Not only will we learn some of those wrong ways, but we will consider how to use God’s name rightly.

The second commandment is about our worship of God. We must not represent God by any images, or other visible means. We also consider two opposing ways to decide what to include in our worship services.

For believers, the main use of the Ten Commandments is known as the normative use. That is, God’s laws are the norms, the standards, for living thankful lives once we are saved. We also explore the meaning of the first commandment.

In popular thinking, laws are regarded as bad things. People think that laws get in their way, restricting their freedoms. Indeed, some human laws are bad. God’s laws, however, are perfect and are given for our benefit.

It’s easy to over-simplify the commands in these verses. That if only believers could wave a kind of magic wand, all their worries will disappear. In this episode we try to carefully interpret and apply important biblical teachings.

Continuing our look at Philippians 4, we ask if it’s possible to be rejoicing always. It really depends on our definition of biblical joy, and, most importantly, the meaning of our being in the Lord Jesus.

No local church is perfect. That’s because it is made up of imperfect believers. In a new series on Philippians 4 about Christian joy, we set this topic in its proper context. The Apostle Paul writes honestly about some of the struggles in that congregation.

We look at three more masks that men wear, according to Lewis Howes: the aggressive mask, the joker mask, and the know-it-all-mask. For better and deeper friendships, we must start to remove these masks.

Scientific studies show that the #1 factor in ordinary human happiness is our social relationships. That includes our friendships. From a book written by Lewis Howes, we will explore what gets in the way of close friendships.

Most men aren’t good at being open or vulnerable. We look at some reasons for that. In addition to (perhaps) having spouses and extended families, men need friendships with other men.

Several books in the Old Testament refer to God’s friendship with the people He has redeemed. We will take a quick survey of several Biblical texts. We also consider some practical steps for building deeper friendships.

The night before he was crucified, Jesus spoke at length about his love for his eleven faithful disciples. He specifically called them his friends–his deeply-loved friends. In today’s episode we begin to examine the biblical concept of friendship.

In the second part, the pastors discuss other matters connected to funerals. Among other things, they talk about the difference in tone and emotion at the funeral of an older believer compared to someone much younger, about typical words spoken at the gravesite, and so on.

From time to time, pastors are asked to lead funeral services for people in their church who have died. In this episode two pastors talk about their experience in leading funerals–both the challenges and the blessings.