In the Fire

In the Old Testament, much of Israel's life and much of God's mercy was brought about by the Law that God handed down to His people. Eventually, however, Jesus came to earth as the "fulfillment" of that law (as described by Jesus himself, as well as others such as Paul). In this episode, we take a look at exactly what it means that Jesus "fulfilled" the law. To do so, we read through some Scriptur...

If you are familiar with the Bible, you are probably familiar with angels - or at least of the fact that angels exist. But beyond that knowledge, what do we really know about angels? That's the topic of this episode of "In the Fire," where we dig into the origin of angels, the role and purpose of angels, and the importance of angels in the past, present, and future. Jump back into the fire and lis...

We're back! In this episode, we take a look at Romans 5:12-21 to see what Paul has to say about our condemnation and justification. Specifically, we spend some time talking about Adam, who ushered in the original sin of humanity, and contrasting that with what we see in Jesus, who redeemed humanity through his life, death, and resurrection. It is common to hear that Jesus is a "second Adam," and w...

There is no virtue that carries more significance in the Bible than love. It was out of love that God established his covenant with Israel and with us, and it was out of love that Jesus sacrificed his life for us. It is also out of love that we are called to live our lives here on earth. As Christians, we are to love our God and love others as we love ourselves. In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul devotes a...

As one of the Fruits of the Spirit, patience is a quality that every believer should strive to show on a daily basis. There are also opportunities to show patience each day, meaning that we constantly have chances to work on being patient in our own lives and to use it as a way to stand out to others in the world around us. In this episode, we discuss the value of patience as it is discussed in Sc...

When we take Communion to celebrate the Last Supper at church, what are we really celebrating? While there are likely plenty of people who ponder the significance of this moment in history each time they partake in the Lord's Supper, there are likely many, many more who don't give such deep thought to this event. In this episode, we take some time to read about the original Last Supper, as portray...

This episode of "In the Fire" takes a look at two of the most recognizable, significant, and memorized verses in the Bible: Jeremiah 29:11 and John 3:16. Not only do we discuss these two verses, but we take a greater look at the context surrounding the two verses and the greater story that they tell. Our conversation takes us through Old and New Testament and spans from the beginning of time throu...

In our last episode, we talked about the promise of the Holy Spirit, and what the Spirit means for our lives. This time around, we decided to follow up that episode with a discussion on what it actually looks like when the Spirit is in action - or, in other words, what it means to walk in the Spirit. To figure that out, we flipped to Genesis 5, where Paul details the Fruits of the Spirit. These ve...

Luke (the disciple)? Finding Nemo? The early Church? What do all of these have to do with each other? Well, in this episode, we dig into the first chapter of the book of Acts, where you'll hear us talk about all of these topics and much more! The book of Acts immediately follows the four Gospels and continues the story from where they leave off, as Jesus departs for Heaven and his followers take u...

What happens in the book of Philemon? Do you even know how to pronounce Philemon? If you didn't know the answer to either of those questions, you aren't alone! In this episode, we dig into this book, a letter that Paul writes to his good friend Philemon. In it, Paul discusses brotherhood in Christ, addresses the issue of slavery, and talks a whole lot about forgiveness. It's a short book, but one...

For this episode, we discuss a fascinating person. Solomon, king of Israel after the death of his father David, was likely both the wealthiest and wisest (besides Jesus) individual in the Bible, yet he is not talked about quite as much as he deserves! So today, we dig into his life a little bit, discussing the beginning of his reign, his request for God to grant him wisdom, how he used that wisdom...

Early in the Bible, we get a clear glimpse of God's wrath and judgment upon evil. This glimpse comes to us courtesy of Genesis 19, where we see the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah recorded in Scripture. In this episode, we go over the background of these cities, why they were destroyed, and how the entire story applies to our lives today. Join us in the fire to hear a LOT on this very intriguing...

One important part of any Christian's life is prayer. But you may wonder, why do we pray? And how? Those two questions, along with many others, are definitely common questions for believers. In this episode, we do our best to provide some insight into prayer by reading examples of prayers in the Bible. From Moses to Paul, and many others in between, there are many people in the Bible that provide...

During the Babylonian Exile, God's people were understandably in a time of confusion, pain, and uncertainty. Under the strong dominion of another empire, they likely felt hopeless and abandoned. However, not all was lost. God was at work in His people and in the empire of Babylon. During this time, He gave a vision to his servant Daniel, who recounts what he saw in the book of Daniel (chapters 7-1...

The Prosperity Gospel. You've heard of it. We've heard of it. But what is it? That's the question of the day for the latest episode of "In the Fire." In this one, we discuss what exactly is taught by the "Prosperity Gospel" and take a deep dive into where those teachings come from and what they mean. We also talk about the dangers of teaching and believing this flawed version of Christianity and t...

Throughout Scripture, God makes five covenants with His people (us!). This begins way back with Noah, who receives the first of God's covenants following the events of the Great Flood in the book of Genesis. After that, God makes new covenants with other key figures in the Bible, until Jesus makes the final covenant with his disciples - and the whole world - at the Last Supper. In this episode, we...

For our second ever Easter episode, we turn through various passages in Matthew and Isaiah where Jesus's death is foretold (both by Him and by prophecy) before looking at some later passages in Matthew to see those prophecies fulfilled in a sad, yet glorious way. Following our series on Jesus's miracles, this is the greatest of them all as Jesus gives his life on the Cross to redeem the sins of th...

As we continue our Miracles series and quickly approach Easter weekend, we take a look at Jesus's greatest miracle yet. In this episode, we discuss the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. In a story that foreshadows Jesus's soon-to-come death and resurrection, Jesus shows us his power over life and death by calling Lazarus, who was dead for four days, out of his grave. Not only do we see...

In this episode, we discuss one of the most unique passages in the entire Bible: the Transfiguration of Jesus. Taking place in Matthew 17:1-13, the Transfiguration represents one of the more significant moments of Jesus's life. In this glorious moment, we see parts of the past, present, and future come together as Peter, James, and John not only see Jesus in communion with Moses and Elijah, but al...

We're back! After a few weeks away, the three of us are jumping back in the fire to continue our series on the miracles of Jesus. This time, we look at one of the most incredible miracles out there - which is also one of the miracles that offers us the most context following the miraculous act. Listen along as we discuss how Jesus gave sight to a blind man and what that miracle means on a larger s...

Welcome back into the fire! This week we continue our series on Jesus's miracles by talking about one of the more fascinating miracles out there. Grab your Bible and flip over to Mark 5:1-20 and read along as we discuss the miracle where Jesus casts thousands of demons out of a possessed man and sends them into...you guessed it...a herd of pigs! What sounds like a crazy story actually has some ser...

We're back for our fifth episode in our series on the miracles of Jesus! Join us this week for a journey to the Sea of Galilee, where we get to read and talk about two more miracles: Jesus calming the storm and Jesus walking on the water. These classic miracles can teach us a ton about faith, hope, and the sovereignty of Jesus (and so much more!). Both miracles we discuss this week are from the Go...

Fun fact: There is only one miracle that is recorded in all four of the Gospels. You guessed it - the Feeding of the 5000! In this episode, we take a look not only at that miracle, but at another similar one, the Feeding of the 4000! You may be wondering, why does Jesus perform the same kind of miracle twice (and only within a few days of each other)? What are the differences and similarities betw...

We're continuing our series on the miracles of Jesus with this episode as we discuss the classic moment in Jesus's ministry when he heals the paralytic man who was lowered down through the roof of a house. There is a lot to unpack about this event, from the faith of the paralytic man and his friends to the way(s) in which Jesus heals the man to the back-and-forth between Jesus and the Pharisees th...

For the second part of our series on Jesus's ministry through his miracles, we take a look two more of Jesus's earliest miracles as they are recorded in the Gospel of Luke. Specifically, we read and discuss the moment when Jesus calls Simon Peter and some more of his disciples (highlighted by the miraculous catch of fish), as well as the miracle that immediately follows, when Jesus heals a leper....