Netarts Friends Church Podcast

Luke 18:1-8 Life hits us with so many opportunities to just give up. We all know the feeling. "Nothing I do is going to change anything. Why am I trying any more? I'm just banging my head against a wall. This is an unsolvable puzzle, an impossible problem. This is an incompatible relationship. I have no control over this." What difference does it make if prayer is the alterative you choose to givi...

Luke 17:20-37 You can see that life you want on the horizon. But the more you chase after it, the more you exert control, plan, strategize, threat manage, self-preserve, rush, cling, and try... The further it retreats. It slips out of your grip. It dissolves. It disappears and leaves you feeling empty and alienated. Jesus says, "Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses thei...

Luke 17:11-19 When life turns upside down sometimes we realize what we were taking for granted. We realize that there were things we treated as important that simply are not important. There are things that are important, but we treated them with little regard. It's strange how a crisis can take controversies, prejudices and polarizations that feel like they matter so intensely...and suddenly they...

Luke 17:1-10 Both Jesus and the Pharisees wanted people to change. They used the same tool to seek change. But they used that tool in opposite ways. That tool was table fellowship. The Pharisees withheld table fellowship as a means of changing people. Jesus extended table fellowship as a means of changing people. What does it mean to participate in the kind of community of change that Jesus create...

Luke 16:19-31 What happens when you get so far inside of your own experience that you cannot see from someone else's perspective. Call it a funk, tunnel vision, an echo chamber. Whatever it is, their experience, their perspective, their needs become invisible to you. All you can see is your pain and what you want. They might as well be a million miles away. And the farther you go into the experien...

Luke 16:1-15 Figuring out your relationship to money, wealth, stuff, and things can be tricky. It's complicated!!! This episode explores some stories Jesus tells as a way of possibly helping you discern your own heart and desires related to income, money, wealth, stuff, and things. Credits and Sources: Ryan Shellenberg, Ched Meyers, Paul Trudinger, William R. Herzog II, Justo Gonazlez, Alan Culpep...

Luke 14:25-35 This episode tells Melvin's story. The story of a man who didn't know himself, who didn't know what he wanted, a man who's like was constantly zigging and zagging to chase approval and avoid threats. Credits and Sources: Roberta M Gilbert, R. Robert Creech, Steve Cuss, Robert Cialdini, Rodney Stark, Tim Geddert, Moises Silva, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, David Garland, Mark Baker...

Luke 14:12-24 What do you do when you've invested yourself in a relationship. They signal that they'll be there for you, that you can count on them, they are on board with your project. And then..... Just when it counts the most, they are a NO SHOW. They give you a lame excuse. They prove that you are not as important to them as they acted like you were. What then??? What do you do with your wound...

Luke 14:1-6 This episode invites you to consider the parts of who you are that don't need quick fixes or simple solutions. They don't need a quick pat on the back. They presence that isn't going away. A knowledge that you aren't alone in this. You need held. There are parts of who you are that have given everything they can give, but you can't overcome it. You need healed. There are parts of who a...

Matthew 7:12-14; Luke 13:22-35 This episode explores the ways that the Golden Rule (treat others the way you want to be treated) is quite possibly one of the most difficult things to actually live, even though we talk about it as if it were super basic and easy. It looks at how Jesus speaks into this experience. Credits & Sources: Tim Geddert, David Garland, Brad Jersak, N.T. Wright, Brian Zah...

Luke 13:18-21 Is there anything more going on in this universe than meaningless particles and atoms just bouncing into once another and colliding, hurtling through space? If the rule and reign of God is actually A THING in this universe, how do you know it? What is the experience like when God becomes REAL to you? To what can we compare it? This episode wrestles with a parable that Jesus told, and...

Luke 13:10-17 The tricky thing about your wounded and protective parts is that sometimes you don't even know which is which, or where the pain is coming from? All you know is that things are not exactly "working". This episode explores the way that Jesus engages your wounded and protective parts. Credits & Sources: Joel Green, Richard Lowery, Benjamin Foreman, Kenneth Bailey, Justo Gonzalez, G...

Luke 12:54-13:9 Our brains are incredible at recognizing patterns, reading signs, and interpreting events. Our brains figure out shortcuts. It's what makes us incredible!!! It's how we master skills. And it makes us vulnerable. In between every person and event you encounter, and whatever you say or do next, your brain is interpreting....and none of us interpret everything correctly. What does Jes...

Luke 12:35-53 Experiences of burnout exist along a continuum, from low-grade to severe. Is burnout a "you" problem, or an "us" problem? How do you cope when you feel trapped in a situation that feels like it set you up to fail? Most importantly, what might Jesus say or do in the midst of our experiences of burnout? Credits & Sources: Luise Schottroff, David Garland, Kenneth Bailey, Justo Gonza...

Luke 12:22-34 What good does it do to tell a worrier not to worry? Are they now free, or are they now thinking about worrying....or worrying about worrying....or feeling guilty about worrying....or worry about feeling guilty about worrying? If worry is one of the most universal experiences of people across planet earth, did Jesus simply shrug his shoulders and say, "Don't worry." (as if that would...

Luke 12:13-21 We experience emotional triangles all the time. Sometimes they complicate our life. Sometimes we think they uncomplicate our life. We involve a third person when the relationship becomes tricky. Sometimes we are the third person being involved. People tried to pull Jesus into triangles too. They tried to get him to tell someone else what to do. They tried to pressure him to TAKE A SI...

Luke 12:1-12 Within each of us are hidden thoughts, emotions, patterns, and desires asking to be fed. What would the results be if you really did get all that you are looking for? What would be the inevitable trajectory of those desires? Credits and Sources: Joel Green, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Justo Gonzalez, Heidi Tillotson, Kenneth Tanner, C.S. Lewis, Brian Ross, Tim Geddert, Nathaniel...

The title says it all. Luke 11:37-54 Credits & Sources: Alan Culpepper, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Joel Green, David Garland, Lisa Cron, Steve Cuss, Brian Ross. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org (05/04/25)

Luke 11:29-32 Our brains are wired to detect patterns, to look for connections, to read relationships, and interpret the meaning of things. We do it all the time. It’s part of being human. You look for signs when you feel uncertain. When you feel lost, stuck, small. When you don’t know who you are. When you feel alone. When you don’t feel seen or known. When you want to be right. When you want to...

This episode is about the way sin infects and distorts our ability to see. Credits and Sources: Miroslav Volf, Herbert McCabe, Steve Cuss, Brad Jersak, Brian Zahnd, Mark Baker, Ian Cron, Daniel Taylor, , Cornelius Plantinga, Brian Ross, Jr. James Bryan Smith, Anchor Bible Dictionary, Eric Miller, Book of Common Prayer. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org (0...

Luke 11:14-27 Regression: "the act of going back to a previous place or state; reversion to a chronologically earlier or less adapted pattern of behavior and feeling; reversion to an earlier mental or behavioral level". Whether we are talking about soil, systems, or your soul, the story of regressions can be found. We look for external solutions to internal problems. We try really hard to clear ou...

Luke 11:5-13 If you cannot open up your deepest longings, your disappointment, sadness, grief, and hope- it you cannot bring them into the open before God, then how can you pray? Credits & Sources: Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Craig Keener, Richard Rohrbaugh, Bruce Malina, Henri Nouwen, Marsha Linehan David Garland, Alan Johnson, Alan Culpepper, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Kenneth Bailey. For more...

When it comes to your spiritual life, do you carry a sense of insecurity, and failure? Do you feel like you aren't doing it right, like you should be doing it better, differently, or that you should be more like someone else? Is it hard to even admit to yourself how much this resonates? This episode explores how much of a natural you already are, and why this is crucial to recognize. Credits &...

Luke 10:38-42 Have you ever felt like you have lost your smile? Like you are chasing a smile that somebody is never going to give you? This episode is the story of Myra's smile. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org (03/09/25)

Luke 10:25-37 This episode explores the massively courageous act of becoming a neighbor, which involves coming to understand what someone else thinks, what they feel, and what they want/need. It involves being moved by this. Caring....enough to do something.... And that is terrifying. And to Jesus this is the path to life. Credits & Sources: Tim Geddert, David Garland, Justo Gonzalez, Alan Cul...