Faith in Focus

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! This episode is a continuation of the teaching series Dennis gave on principles of hermeneutics. In this lesson Dennis and the participants in the lecture walk through a famous passage in the Bible and try to apply some of the lessons learned. They also discuss the concept of context and how important it is to know and...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode, which is a previous recording from a series of teachings given, Dennis introduces the concept of the literal, grammatical, historical method of interpretation. In this first lesson he discusses foundational concepts that are necessary to study the Bible properly. He discusses a concept from hermeneutics...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis is continuing his teaching on the book of Hebrews. In chapter 8 the author of the book of Hebrews is coming to the crux of his argument, namely, that of the New Covenant. In chapter 8 he discusses how the New Covenant is not like the Old Covenant. The reason there was a need for a New Covenant was...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis walks through Hebrews Chapter 7; one of the most crucial passages in all of the New Testament. This chapter explains how Jesus can function as our new High Priest, even though he can't legally be a priest under the Old Testament law. Our understanding of this truth helps to illuminate the fact tha...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! This episode is a teaching Dennis gave at his local church on the book of Joel. In it he discusses how in the Old Testament book of Joel God sent a plague of locusts that utterly devastated the nation of Israel. He did this in part because they had forgotten that God is Who He says He is. The judgment on the nation was...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In Hebrews 6 we have one of the most misunderstood verses in the New Testament. A verse that appears to threaten a person with the loss of their salvation. Dennis walks through the chapter and explains what this verse actually means in light of the surrounding context. The entire chapter, however, is an exhortation for...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! This episode is a continuation of a teaching through the book of Hebrews. In chapter 5 Dennis talks about the issue of Jesus being our high priest. This isn't an issue we think about too much these days because the concept of a priesthood, much more like a hierarchy of politics, is not something we relate to in our wors...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis sat down with his old friend Matt Blair as they discuss Mile's Stanford's book "The Green Letters." In chapter 4 of Stanford's book the topic of "Purpose" comes up. Nothing plagues believers more than wondering "what is God's will for me?" Dennis and Matt discuss this topic and the answer isn't as...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this pre-recorded episode Dennis sat down with his friend Matt and they are joined by one of their former Bible school professors, Rich Bruce, to discuss chapter two of "The Green Letters" on the issue of Time. Rich spent nearly two decades serving in Venezuela with New Tribes Mission (now known as Ethnos360) and the...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis is continuing his teaching on the book of Hebrews. One of the central points in the book is that we are no longer under the Old Covenant. Under the Law we were required to work, work, work, and this is because the atoning for sins was never finished. Hebrews, however, tells us that "Jesus sat down...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! This episode is a pre-recorded conversation from a previous podcast Dennis was a part of with his friend Matt. In this episode they are joined by their friend and former professor from their Bible school days, Josh Mathew. Josh is a missionary with Ethnos360 and he serves on staff, alongside his wife Tamara, at Ethnos36...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this teaching on Hebrews chapter 3 Dennis discusses the issue of looking to Christ and his faithfulness. In the book of Hebrews that Israelite people were going back to the Old Covenant Law which was inherently a problem because they were looking to their own faithfulness. This is the problem with living under the La...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! This episode is a pre-recorded conversation from early 2021 from a previous podcast Dennis was a part of. In this conversation Dennis is speaking with his good friend from college, Matt Blair and joining them is a professor of theirs from bible college, Dr. Michael McKay.  Taken from Cedarville University's page:  Dr. J...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this prerecorded teaching, Dennis continues his series in which he teaches through the book of Hebrews verse by verse. Hebrews is one of the greatest books of the Bible but it often gets overlooked, under-read, and misunderstood. In this episode Dennis teaches through chapter two of the book of Hebrews. If you have a...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis discusses the issue of conformity from Elliot Aronson's book "The Social Animal." In it, Aronson discusses how people conform through compliance, identification, or internalization. We've seen how this has played out in Covid policies over the last two years but we can see the same thing in the Ch...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this prerecorded teaching, Dennis begins a series in which he teaches through the book of Hebrews verse by verse. Hebrews is one of the greatest books of the Bible but it often gets overlooked, under-read, and misunderstood. In this episode Dennis gives an introduction to the book of Hebrews by discussing the histori...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis speaks from Mark chapter 9 where Jesus talks about humility and how we ought to have salt in ourselves which means we need to preserve the unity in following him. Dennis also ties this in with Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8 where Paul takes the same principles Jesus taught and then applies them to...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis looks at the life of a biblical character named Abimelech. This short account of a tyrant over the nation of Israel is given to us in Judges chapter 9. This man, the son of a famous judge of Israel, decides to assume the role of king in Israel and ends up being a tyrant. Murdering his brothers and...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis discusses Church history and how poor hermeneutics and incorrect biblical interpretation led to a doctrine called Apostolic Succession whereby the Church could insulate itself from false teaching. But in so doing it led to a belief that the Church leaders were infallible, just as inerrant in truth...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis discusses this word "wretched" and how it may not mean what we think it means and that confusion may...well...be making us unnecessarily wretched. He touches on how it's important to read different translations of the Bible so that you can catch when translators drop the ball or translate their bi...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis discusses the fact that we all have biases and presuppositions about nearly everything. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. What is not good is when we don't recognize what those presuppositions are or how they are formed.  In this episode specifically Dennis deals with this issue of security in s...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis discusses the concepts of "Law" and "Grace" but more importantly he clarifies that the distinction is more accurately described as a distinction between "The Flesh" and "The Spirit." He talks through some common misconceptions about "Grace" and "Walking according to the Spirit" as well as touches...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! This episode of Faith in Focus is a recording of a Bible teaching Dennis did at his local church. In teaching through the book of Mark, Dennis has taught on how Jesus breaks down racial divides and tries to model that to his disciples in Mark 7 and 8. In the Gospel we are shown God's view of race and the human condition...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis discusses how the Bible calls on Christians to love justice and how criminal justice reform should not be a Right/Left issue but rather a biblical issue. He touches on issues around the presumption of innocence, how the corporate press influences our belief in people's guilt or innocence, and how...

Have questions or comments about this (or a previous) episode, give us a text! In this episode Dennis discusses what the Bible says about the Christian's responsibility to be submissive to the government and what that looks like today. Our government in America is very different than the Roman Empire and the exceptionalism of American government adds a twist to how we apply Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2...