OneLife Nashville: Rare but vital conversations about Jesus

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As the Assyrian armies draw near, the people of Judah begin looking for security in all the wrong places. Instead of seeking God, many turn to mediums, spiritists, and necromancers in hopes of finding guidance, protection, and answers from the dead. In Isaiah 8:19–22, Isaiah warns his disciples not to follow the crowd down this path. His argument is both profound and ironic: Why consult the dead o...

In Isaiah 8:16–18, the prophet Isaiah stands at a critical moment in Judah's history. Assyria is rising like a flood, judgment is approaching, and most of the nation refuses to trust the Lord. Yet Isaiah is commanded to bind up the testimony and seal the teaching among his disciples. In the midst of uncertainty, he chooses to trust the promises God has given him and leads a remnant community t...

In Isaiah 8, the prophet describes a striking paradox. The same God who becomes a sanctuary and refuge for Isaiah becomes a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, a snare, and a trap for many in Israel. Why the difference? In this episode, we explore the truth that God Himself does not change. Instead, the way we experience Him is often shaped by the condition we are in when we encounter Him. Isai...

In this episode, we explore a most personal and intimate moment in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 8:11-18. Unlike many prophetic passages that focus primarily on public proclamation, this section reads almost like a private journal entry or poetic diary of God speaking directly and personally to Isaiah about Isaiah himself. Isaiah tells us that “the Lord spoke to me with a strong hand upon me,” reveal...

In this episode, we explore Isaiah 8:1–11 and the looming invasion of Judah by Assyria during the reign of Ahaz. We examine the prophetic role of Isaiah and even Isaiah’s wife as living signs announcing God’s coming judgment upon Judah’s rebellion and misplaced trust. The Assyrian armies would overflow the land like an overflowing river, bringing devastation and loss. Yet remarkably, the land is s...

What did Isaiah really mean when he spoke of a “young woman” bearing a son called Immanuel? And why does Matthew quote Isaiah 7:14 as a prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus? In this episode, we explore the fascinating Hebrew vocabulary behind one of the most debated passages in the Bible. We examine the nuanced meanings of the Old Testament terms na-arah, almah, and betulah, and discuss how each...

What happens when a king refuses to be fathered by God? In this episode, we step into the historical world of Isaiah 7 by tracing the story through the political and spiritual timeline of 2 Kings 16:1–18. Rather than treating Isaiah’s encounter with King Ahaz in isolation, we reconstruct the sequence of events surrounding the Syro-Ephraimite crisis—when Syria and Northern Israel threaten Judah—and...

What do you do when the pressure is real, the threats are mounting, and every option feels like a compromise? In this episode, we step into the political and spiritual crisis of Isaiah 7:1–8, where the prophet Isaiah confronts King Ahaz at a moment of national panic. The expanding empire of Assyria looms large, pushing smaller kingdoms into desperate alliances. Northern Israel and Syria attempt to...

In this episode, we step into the tension of Isaiah’s encounter with God in the Book of Isaiah, specifically his question in Isaiah 6:11: “How long?” This question emerges in response to a sobering revelation: Israel will not return to the Lord to be healed. Isaiah is not just asking about time—he’s asking about the duration of their resistance. God’s answer in Isaiah 6:11–13 reframes the entire s...

In this episode, we step into the commissioning moment of Isaiah 6:8–10 and wrestle with one of the most provocative dynamics in prophetic ministry: judicial hardening. When the prophet Isaiah responds, “Here am I, send me,” he is not being sent into a neutral environment. He is sent into a people already formed—already shaped—by a long history of resisting the word of God. His message will not si...

In this episode, we step into the awe-filled moment of Isaiah’s temple vision in Isaiah 6:4–7. Everything changes as Isaiah comes face-to-face with the holiness of the Lord. In the presence of the utterly different, unique, and pure Lord, Isaiah doesn’t need to be told he is unclean. He naturally becomes aware of it. He says, “Woe is me… I am a man of unclean lips.” Created in God’s image, there i...

In this episode, we explore one of the most theologically significant moments in Scripture, Isaiah’s vision of the Lord in Isaiah 6:1–8, which is set within a moment of national crisis. Isaiah dates his vision to “the year that King Uzziah died,” who had brought economic strength and military success to Judah, but his reign ended in judgment after he arrogantly entered the temple to offer incense,...

In this episode, we take a careful look at Isaiah 59:1–8—a passage often used to support the idea that God withdraws from us when we sin. But is that really what Isaiah is saying? We begin by confronting a common misreading of Isaiah 59:1–2. While many assume that sin causes God to separate Himself from us and hide His face, Isaiah actually turns the diagnosis in the opposite direction. The proble...

Isaiah opens his prophetic book not with abstract theology, but with a devastating diagnosis. In Isaiah 1, the relationship between God and Judah is framed as that of a father and his children—but something has gone deeply wrong. “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.” What should have been a story of growth, maturity, and participation has instead become a...

In this introductory episode to our Isaiah series, we explore how Isaiah functions as a microcosm of the biblical story itself. The book of Isaiah has long been called a Bible within the Bible - and for good reason. With its 66 chapters mirroring the 66 books of Scripture and its structural division into 39 chapters followed by 27, echoing the Old and New Testaments, Isaiah offers a sweeping visio...

In this episode, we explore one of the most debated prophetic texts in the New Testament: Amos 9:11–12 and its citation by James in Acts 15:12–17. At first glance, something seems off. The wording in Acts doesn’t match what many of us see in our English translations of Amos. Why? Because James is quoting the Greek Septuagint (LXX), not the Hebrew Masoretic Text. And the differences between those t...

Before we step into the fire of Amos’s oracles, we step back into the story. From the beginning, God’s vision has always been the advancement and maturation of human nature, drawing humanity into deeper participation in His own life. Within that grand design, Israel is called God’s “firstborn son” (Exod. 4:22), chosen not for privilege alone but for responsibility. Israel is meant to be the older...

In this episode, we dig into Hosea 13:14 and its surprising afterlife in 1 Corinthians 15:54–57, where Paul turns an ancient oracle into a triumphant proclamation of resurrection hope. Hosea 13:14 has a significant amount of ambiguity in its wording. In the Hebrew text, key verbs related to ransom and redemption —and even the tone of the passage itself—can be read either as a promise of deliveranc...

In this episode, we slow down and sit with one of the most tender—and haunting—passages in the prophets: Hosea 11:1–4, and its surprising reappearance in Matthew 2:13–15. Hosea portrays God not first as judge or ruler, but as Father . Israel is called God’s firstborn son, lovingly summoned out of Egypt so that he might be protected, taught, and patiently raised into maturity. The imagery is intima...

In this episode, we step into the vivid and surprisingly medical world of Hosea 6:1–6, where Israel’s unfaithfulness is not treated primarily as a legal violation, but as a condition—a sickness that has left God’s people wounded, struck, and in need of healing and restoration. Through Hosea, God portrays himself not as a distant judge, but as a skilled craftsman and healer. Like a stone mason work...

The book of Hosea is one of the most emotionally intense and theologically rich prophetic books in the Old Testament—and its opening chapters give us a lens for reading everything that follows. In this episode, we explore Hosea 1:1–2:1 as a paradigm for the entire book. From the very beginning, Hosea alternates between devastating bad news and breathtaking good news—prophecies of judgment and disc...

In Gospel of Matthew 12:38–39, Jesus responds to the religious leaders’ demand for proof with a sharp rebuke: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign.” Why does Jesus pair seeking signs with adultery—and what does that reveal about the human heart? This episode explores the unsettling logic beneath Jesus’ words. We unpack the curious inclusion of “ adulterous,” showing how the relent...

In this episode, we step back and read Matthew 12:38–42 within its much larger narrative context—stretching from Matthew 11:1 through 12:45—where Jesus is not merely confronting individuals, but placing entire cities, generations, and even nations under the lens of divine judgment. Matthew carefully weaves together a sustained argument: when God sends a prophet empowered by the Spirit, the respons...

In this episode, we explore one of Jesus’ most unsettling comparisons: the repentance of Nineveh in the days of Jonah—and the refusal of Jesus’ own generation to repent at His preaching. The Ninevites were outsiders to God’s covenant. They had minimal exposure to God’s law, no Israelite temple, no Israelite prophets, and no spiritual heritage from the God of Israel (that we know of) to lean on. Jo...