As Bold As Lions Podcast

Send us Fan Mail This week's episode takes a look at the concept of a hardened heart.  We see this throughout Scripture and really it's a posture we can knowingly or unknowingly fall into if we aren't in right relationship with the Lord.  Certainly we see the hardening of Pharaoh's heart in resisting God's call to free His people.  We also see Israel itself hardening its h...

Send us Fan Mail Coming to the end of Jonah, we look for a tidy wrap-up and conclusion to a short book that has many twists and turns.  But perhaps the question we want answered most, "What happens to Jonah?" is left unresolved.  We see through this chapter that Jonah still has a deep sense of pride and contempt in regards to the Ninevites.  We see that God provides something for Jonah (...

Send us Fan Mail By Jonah 3, we see the prophet hearing the call of God, reinstated, and ready to go to Nineveh.  We know Jonah went into the city and preached repentance.  We know also that everyone in the city, from the king down to the citizenry, repented and fasted.  By the end of the chapter, we see that God relents from His decision to destroy Nineveh.  From this chapter alone, we learn much...

Send us Fan Mail In this second installment of Jonah, we see Jonah praying a prayer in an unlikely place:  within the belly of a fish.  We know from the first chapter, Jonah's disobedience landed him here.  But even as this place has brought him to his knees, Jonah's plea is not rejected before God.  Through the 10 verses of Jonah 2, there is a Psalm-like longing and hope within Jonah. ...

Send us Fan Mail This is the first episode of a 4-part series on Jonah.  This series looks at the life and ministry of Jonah in regards to his reluctant obedience as a prophet of God.  In this first episode (corresponding with Jonah Chapter 1), we see Jonah's flee from God's call.  We see his disobedience causing consequences for Jonah and even the men on the ship (innocent bystanders to...

Send us Fan Mail For this year, spending some time in meditation in December led me to a word I don’t often think about or even use on a regular basis.  But it’s a word that has profound meaning.  It is the word attune .  I believe God is calling me/calling us to be attuned to Him in 2024.   I had to do some digging to figure out what attune/attuned means.  Even though I’ve used it before and had...

Send us Fan Mail As we wrap up 2023, we take a moment to pause and reflect upon this year and the meaning of Christmas.  We consider it all afresh again and what it means personally for our lives.  We also take that posture into the new year; knowing that 2024 will bring its own challenges and difficulties.  How will we pull away and continue staying in a place where we quiet our souls in rest wit...

Send us Fan Mail This week is a bit movie review and a bit Bible study.  With the famous Christmas movie, It's A Wonderful Life as our backdrop (the BEST Christmas movie BTW), we look at the spiritual applications of our own lives (the presence or absence thereof).  George Bailey got a rare chance:  to see what it would be like if he had never been born.  Do we consider the weight of our live...

Send us Fan Mail OK, it probably needs to be said if you haven’t picked up on it by now:  I love Christmas music.  I start to listen and even share Christmas-music-related things in November...could even start as early as October.  Yeah, I'm that guy and you can call me crazy.  For me, this year was the opportunity to finally get some of these songs recorded and released out into the wild.  A...

Send us Fan Mail Is it possible to see the miracles, signs, wonders, and conversions seen in the early Acts church today?  Today's podcast seeks to find the key that unlocks these things; assuming they are real and still for today.  When we walk in the Spirit, we live with the ability to listen to the Lord's voice and obey.  As we do, we must know Scripture well enough to stand on the tr...

Send us Fan Mail Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.  Colossians 3:16 Last year in November, Derek did a series of episodes titled "Things I'm Thankful For..."  Today's episode is an extension of that thought, turning it around and a...

Send us Fan Mail Apathy is a word meaning "lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern."  Spiritually-speaking, it is a dangerous road to go down.  There may be seasons in which we feel a pull towards apathy in our lives.  Left unchecked, we can succumb to a number of things.  But if we recognize those seasons, what are some ways we can be spurred on to grow in Christ?  Today's episode...

Send us Fan Mail He [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through.  And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.  And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature.   So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way.  And when Jesus came...

Send us Fan Mail  "Each of us is given the exact same amount of seconds, minutes and hours per day as anyone else. The difference is how we redeem [them]. … You cannot count your days, but you can make your days count.”   Billy Graham As we finish this "Raising The Standard" series, we are stopping at an important category...and one that the greater society can often neglect.  The r...

Send us Fan Mail Moving along through the path of a man's life, we next stop at the years of "career and family man."  The point at which this phase starts may change from man to man.  But the years are marked by marriage, raising a family, holding down a job, buying a home, and many other important milestones.  This is most likely the majority of where a man will spend his days.  I...

Send us Fan Mail “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.”  John F. Kennedy  As we work our way through this series, we are first stopping at the age of men youngest and most impressionable:  those young adult (high school/college) and single men.  Yes this is a large age group to cover.  Yes a lot happens in these years.  But there are some common tenets these younger men must adhere...

Send us Fan Mail He raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.”  Acts 13:22 We are spending the next several weeks on the podcast talking to a specific audience:  Christian men.  If there is a demographic within the church that I have felt most specifically called to reach, it would be Chri...

Send us Fan Mail blind spot:  an area where a person's view is obstructed.   I believe; help my unbelief!  Mark 9:24 Today's episode is a look at blind spots...areas in our faith that keep us from deeper levels of trust and devotion to Christ.  Identifying these areas is a process we continually take before the Lord, asking Him to examine our hearts and reveal any wayward thing in our li...

Send us Fan Mail Rounding out this series on Sharing Your Faith, this episode looks more specifically at those who we should be sharing Christ to.  If we have a sphere of influence (immediate or expanded), we ask ourselves "Do they know Jesus?"  Sometimes that answer presents itself!  But we pray through that and if there is an open door, we take that opportunity to share our faith and t...

Send us Fan Mail This next episode in Sharing Your Faith dives into our own story of faith in Christ.  Namely, who were you before and after meeting Jesus and what happened at the moment you encountered Him?  This is important to know and be able to relay to others.  Your story is uniquely yours.  No one can take it from you and no one can argue against what Christ has done in your life.  It'...

Send us Fan Mail John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Beginning a new series on sharing our faith, today's episode takes a look at Jesus and outlines some of the basic, core truths that we hold about Him.  These truths are something we must cling to as we think about evangelism and telling others about Christ....

Send us Fan Mail O Christ be magnified Let His praise arise Christ be magnified in me O Christ be magnified From the altar of my life Christ be magnified in me When thinking about this week's podcast, I started to think about a song that’s been on my mind — a lot.  In the year or so past since our church introduced it, the song has just grown on me.  You may already be aware of it and have no...

Send us Fan Mail We are looking at the life of Paul today and his example as a believer who did not "play it safe" with his faith.  In Paul, we observe a faith that was not comfortable, convenient, or cliched.  It was all-in and with abandon to anything else that this life could offer.  This type of faith often clashes with our "Americanized Christianity" and as today's me...

Send us Fan Mail There has been a lot that has happened within the greater culture which has had ripple effects on the church since COVID.  Today's episode looks at the sobering reality:  church attendance is down, giving is down, and ministry in general has taken a hit...much of it still a fallout from all we experienced within 2020 and beyond.  But within this season lies great opportunity....

Send us Fan Mail The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.  Nahum 1:7 Being we're about 1/2 way through 2023, it seems appropriate for me to do a bit of a "spiritual gut check" in terms of where things are headed with AS BOLD AS LIONS and life in general.  It's an opportunity for me to hit the PAUSE button and I encourage you t...