GRINDIT podcast

Paul left Timothy in Ephesus to confront some issues the church was having and we dig into all of these issues looking at what we know about the church given to us in scripture. Timothy was a young man that Paul had converted to Jesus and he had traveled with Paul on his journeys as he started new churches and visited churches he established in the past. Timothy would be a little intimidated by wh...

Paul writes a letter to a young man that he pointed to Jesus and after accepting him as his Lord and Savior, Timothy joins Paul in his travels as he starts churches and visits the ones he had already established. The point of Paul writing this letter is because there are issues beginning to crop up with the Gentile church in Ephesus and Paul is going to leave Timothy in Ephesus to confront the iss...

Paul writes a letter to a young man that he pointed to Jesus and after accepting him as his Lord and Savior, Timothy joins Paul in his travels as he starts churches and visits the ones he had already established. The point of Paul writing this letter is because there are issues beginning to crop up with the Gentile church in Ephesus and Paul is going to leave Timothy in Ephesus to confront the iss...

Paul ends his letter like he started it, by telling the church, “May the God of grace give you peace...at all times...in every situation. The church at Thessalonica has gone through severe persecution since it started and they have lost loved ones because of it. They have to wonder what is coming next...Will they make it through the next day? Will they make it through the night? Are they going to...

Paul is going to give some final thoughts to the church at Thessalonica as he wraps up this short letter in chapter 3. He tells them to avoid any brother or sister in Jesus who doesn’t live according to his rules and the example that he set before them. What rules? What example did he set? He tells them he could have eaten their food for free but they all worked hard day and night and paid for eve...

God’s grace allows us the opportunity to hear the gospel and believe the gospel. God’s grace gives us time to accept Jesus and live for him, even while people reject Jesus, doing their own thing, every second they live they are given grace because they have breath in their lungs and have the capability to accept Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross for our sins. But someday, that grace is...

The church at Thessalonica has another concern about the return of Jesus so Paul writes a second letter to help them understand but in this letter, he causes confusion for us today! How? Because of what he says to them about the man of lawlessness and him being revealed some day; how this man will even sit in the temple of God! How can this happen when the Temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD...

God’s grace allows us the opportunity to hear the gospel and believe the gospel. God’s grace gives us time to accept Jesus and live for him, even while people reject Jesus, doing their own thing, every second they live they are given grace because they have breath in their lungs and have the capability to accept Jesus and the sacrifice he made on the cross for our sins. But someday, that grace is...

Can we fully know and understand what grace is and what grace brings us. I’ve heard it said grace is God’s Redemption At Christ’s Expense as well as, grace is God’s unmerited favor. What does that mean? How do we explain what grace is? I’m not sure we can fully but we try our best in this podcast. Paul starts out chapter one with grace and he ends it with grace. There’s a lot of things sandwiched...

After discussing Jesus’ return with the church at Thessalonia, Paul offers some final thoughts for them, encouraging them to stick it out with Jesus and follow the Spirit’s leading. In these thoughts, he gives another “This is God’s will for you...” He tells them to be thankful in ALL circumstances...could you imagine being persecuted, seeing your loved ones die for following Jesus, and then a man...

After discussing Jesus’ return with the church at Thessalonica, Paul offers some final thoughts for them, encouraging them to stick it out with Jesus and follow the Spirit’s leading. In these thoughts, he gives another “This is God’s will for you...” He tells them to be thankful in ALL circumstances...could you imagine being persecuted, seeing your loved ones die for following Jesus, and then a ma...

There has been person after person trying to predict when Jesus is coming back. They have sold books, made videos, movies, tv programs, etc talking about Jesus’ return. We talk about it in this podcast because Paul talks about it to the church in Thessalonica. He does so because he wants them to be encourage by it. They had lost loved ones to persecution and they thought they would never see them...

Sex sells and it’s everywhere. The enemy has taken something God designed between a husband and wife to enjoy, to procreate, and has twisted into something evil, sinful, that separates us from a Holy God. Even people who claim to follow Jesus have been duped by his deceitful scheme and, like a spider web, they have become entangled and wrapped up so tight they can’t escape. But they can if they ar...

Paul says God’s will for us is to live holy lives and stay away from all sexual sin. The podcast was so long for this part, we made it into two podcasts because we talk in depth about what it means to be holy and how we are made holy by our faith in Jesus. We are to be different from the world around us, we have been called out and filled with the Holy Spirit! God lives inside of us, changing us f...

A question every follower of Jesus asks is, “What is God’s will for my life?” Well, you don’t have to wonder what God’s will for you is any longer because Paul reveals it in chapter 4! He says, “God’s will is for you to be holy...” Wow! Just be holy and you are doing God’s will but what does that mean? We talk about it in today’s podcast as well as the next two. It was a long discussion so we spli...

Paul tells the church at Thessalonica, “And may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow, just as our love for you overflows.” The motivating factor for serving Jesus is and should always be “love.” Jesus told his disciples the people would know we belong to him because the love we have for one another. Paul says his love overflows for the church at Thessalonica...

Paul sends Timothy back to Thessalonica to check on them. He wanted to know if their faith was still strong or if the tempter had gotten the best of them and they had quit following Jesus. By the way, Timothy, a fairly new convert to Jesus, would be going alone. Is there any fear in Timothy? If so, he didn’t let him stop him from doing what Paul asked! He went to Thessalonica, he met with the beli...

Could you imagine being a church that was being persecuted, you’re seeing your loved ones tortured, even killed for following Jesus, and the man who brought the gospel to you writes a letter of encouragement and during his letter, he says this, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and...

One thing the early church had as a part of its DNA was persecution. Jesus told his disciples they would face it, he faced it, and after Acts 2, they faced it. Jesus even warned Paul he would be persecuted as he travels around taking the gospel to the Gentiles...and he was the very one who led the charge when it comes to persecution! He was there at the stoning of Stephen and he says he gave his a...

When we look at what Paul says about the church at Thessalonica, it puts the American church to shame. This church was facing severe persecution yet they worked hard and did loving deeds. The Greek word for “deeds” is kopos and it means they toiled and labored, even against opposition, to the point of exhaustion. They made such an impact for the kingdom that Paul said everywhere they go, people ar...

The church at Thessalonica started in Acts 17. Paul and Silas made their way there after getting run out of Philippi. Luke says Paul reasoned with the Jews at the synagogue for three Sabbaths while most historians say Paul stayed there for about three months. He was run out of Thessalonica as well and went to Berea. However, that three month period made a huge impact there! The men and women who c...

This is a concept I have heard all of my life and it has been completely out of context. What does Paul mean when he says, “You reap what you sow?” Is he saying like these ministries today, “If you sow money into my ministry and make me rich, you will receive a big ole blessing from God later.”? 100% no! That is not what he is saying at all! He is telling the church at Galatia to quit being concei...

Every child dreams of becoming someone, something great, especially boys. We have a drive to hunt and conquer, to rescue the damsel in distress! We set out on a quest to become a hero, to win that battle! We set goals, we discipline ourselves and work hard to conquer them. Unfortunately, too many times we get so caught up in the quest and forget about the people around us. In fact, far too often,...

We were asked to speak at Authentic Church during the Joel series. This is part 2 of a 2 part sermon.

We were asked to speak at Authentic Church during the Joel series. This is part 1 of a 2 part sermon.