Heavy Branches Podcast

Is there any legitimate connection between faith and reason? Why does Paul reason from the Scriptures with the Jews, but not as much with the Gentiles? When we share the gospel, how do we know where to start? The Berean Christians are called noble-minded because of their eagerness to receive and study the word of God. In what ways can today's church learn from the Bereans? Why must we relate to Go...

While there are many different strategies for church growth used today, how did the church grow in Acts 16? What does it mean that the Lord opened Lydia's heart to respond to the gospel? Did God force her heart to obey Him? What is the Holy Spirit's role in evangelism? How should Christians respond and react to suffering and persecution today? Are our songs filled with the gospel today? Why was th...

What is legalism, and how can people be legalistic with the gospel? In what sense is faithfulness a condition for salvation? Does this mean we must reach a point in our life where we no longer sin against God? What should disagreements look like between brothers and sisters in Christ? How does the freedom that we have in Christ allow us to live differently than before? Jacob and Tanner discuss the...

What does it look like to speak the gospel boldly, relying upon the Lord to help us? How is our hope in eternal life different from our hope in our favorite sports team to win a championship? Why must we relate to God as Creator before we ever relate to Him as Savior? How does this dynamic affect the way we share the gospel with others and attempt to make disciples of Jesus Christ? What two main o...

What is the Restoration Principle, and why is it important in the church today? How can we have unity in truth without swinging the pendulum too far in one direction? Why is false doctrine so often discussed in the New Testament, and how should we handle false doctrine today? What does being a man after God's own heart have to do with obedience to the Lord? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics an...

How can we confront someone with the gospel without being confrontational about it? What lessons can we learn from the fervent prayer that was made for Peter by the church? Does the church's prayer life today model the church's prayer life as we see it in the book of Acts? How can God be both loving and holy? Does one side of His nature win over the other in certain situations? Jacob and Tanner di...

How did the Jewish Christians finally figure out that the gospel was for the Gentiles as well as the them? What does it mean to Biblically be a good man or woman? How does that differ from what our society says makes a person good? What lessons can we learn about being a good man from Barnabas? What does it actually mean to be a Christian? What did the church of Christ in Antioch look like, and wh...

Is sincerity towards God enough on its own for a person to be saved? What was the purpose of Peter's vision from God, and how does that connect with the Holy Spirit falling on Cornelius and the other Gentiles there? What does it mean for us today that God does not show partiality? Why is it so important for all of the conversion accounts in Acts to be consistent in the way that they happened? If C...

Why did Jesus tell Saul to enter the city so someone could tell him what to do, instead of just telling him what to do Himself? What is God's role and man's role in evangelism? Why was Saul baptized before even eating after not having food for three days? Why was it so hard for the disciples to accept Saul? Should we view new Christians different from their old life once they come to Christ? How a...

Can anyone ever be too deep in sin to be converted to Christ? How should we view people who are aggressively opposed to Christianity? What do we learn about the Holy Spirit from Simon's encounter with Philip, Peter, and John? Christians are often encouraged to share their faith, but struggle knowing how to. What practical tactics can we learn from Philip's evangelism with the Ethiopian Eunuch? Jac...

Why was Stephen martyred? What significance did Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and David have to Stephen and the council? What lessons can we learn about bearing fruit from Stephen's final moments in life? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics and more as they go through Acts 7.

How should church leadership balance attending to physical and spiritual needs? Is one persons role in serving more important than another? What connection do faith and obedience have? What kind of man was Stephen, that the council recognized him as a messenger from God? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics and more as they go through Acts 6.

What led to Ananias and Sapphira sinning and lying to the Holy Spirit? Why does the world know all about what the church is against, but nothing about what the church is for? What could our impact on the world be if they knew what Christians were for? What exactly are Christians for? In what ways is Christianity about going from death to life? How can people live with no fear of death? Jacob and T...

Do all roads really lead to Rome? Are all religions and denominations just different ways to get to heaven? Would people be able to tell that you have been with Jesus? What kind of education and training do you need in order to be effective for Christ? How important is our level of conviction about the hope we have in Christ? In what ways does the early Church still need to be restored? Jacob and...

How should the local church meet needs of people in the community? Should we be meeting physical needs, spiritual needs, or both? What can we learn from the different titles of Jesus used throughout the New Testament? What role does repentance play in the salvation process? What must we do in order to understand what the Bible teaches about how to be saved? Can we learn everything there is to know...

How did the first Christians live after they were baptized and added to the Lord's Church? Who in the church were devoted to their new life in Christ? What were they devoted to? How can we be devoted Christians today? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics and more as they close out Acts 2. 

Why were the apostles baptized with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost? Why was Peter's first gospel sermon so convicting for the Jewish audience there? How could they know for certain that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ? When the crowd was convicted by the gospel, and believed that the gospel message was true, what were they told to do in order to be forgiven of their sins and saved...

What happened on the day of Pentecost? How were the apostles able to speak in tongues? What is the purpose of speaking in tongues and other miracles done in the Bible? Do people still speak in tongues today? How far was the gospel intended to be spread? What kind of people should we be sharing the gospel with today? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics and more as they go through Acts 2:1-13.

Jesus called His apostles to be witnesses for Him in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the Earth. How does this relate to evangelism and missions in the church today? Are Christians today devoted to prayer, like they were in the Bible? Are there still apostles today? What qualifies someone to be an apostle? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics and more as th...

What makes Acts so important to the Restoration Movement as we seek to restore New Testament Christianity? Why is the book of Acts important for us as Christians today? What are some of the key themes of Acts? Who wrote the book of Acts? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics and more as they introduce their new series through the book of Acts. 

What is the canon of Scripture? How were books chosen to be included or left out of the Bible we have today? Can we be certain that the Biblical texts we have today contain the same message as when they were originally written? What does it mean for the Bible to be inspired, inerrant, and infallible? Does the Bible contradict itself? Should Mark 16:9-20 really be in the Bible? Can we truly be conf...

How do know for certain that Jesus existed, died on the cross, and then rose from the dead? Is eyewitness testimony a valid form of evidence? What are the leading arguments skeptics use to explain away Jesus' resurrection? Do these ideas hold any weight when examined? What are some key pieces of evidence that support the resurrection of Jesus? If we choose to believe Jesus really rose from the dea...

Do we have any evidence to prove the existence of God? How does faith intersect with reason and logic? Is apologetics just something for Bible scholars and preachers to be equipped with? What are the classical arguments for the existence of God? How should Christians handle doubts in their faith when they face uncertainty? Is Christianity the intellectually inferior worldview? Jacob and Tanner int...

Just how significant is Jesus' resurrection to our faith? How does His resurrection give us the power to live a new life, free from the power of sin? How can the resurrection of Christ give us certainty and confidence that Jesus really was who He claimed to be? What role does conviction play when we hear the meaning of Scripture? Where does faith come from, and what does faith produce? Jacob and T...

What is the significance of Jesus' crucifixion? Why did Jesus get put on the cross? What are the differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant? Is baptism essential for salvation? What about the thief on the cross? How did Jesus satisfy the wrath of God? Jacob and Tanner discuss these topics and more as they go through Luke 23.