Pondering with Purpose Podcast

Introduction Brokenness is an expected part of life. If I were to take a quick mental survey of the poeple in my life I could think of people who have had to make hard moves, experienced divorce, the loss of a family member etc. It eventually happens to all of us. If you haven’t been there yet, you will, I promise. It is in those seasons that the questions so often comes “God where are you?” How d...

The following is an adapted version of my teaching at Patmos Reality Discipleship July 2026 through the letter to the Ephesians. This is the final installation in an eight part series through Ephesians. In this entry I continue to discuss this spiritual evil that we face and how to face it. In the previous entry, I talked about the armor of the Lord has given us. Introduction Have you ever had the...

The following is an adapted version of my teaching at Patmos Reality Discipleship July 2026 through the letter to the Ephesians. Introduction As we look at this section of Ephesians, it is helpful again to have the whole picture in mind. This overview post of Ephesians by the Bible Project puts each part in perspective. The whole first half of Ephesians is about the Gospel story. The second half i...

This is an adapted version of a presentation I gave in class on April 13, 2026 Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. I want you to imagine yourself in a world, a Roman world run by the forum bells, your day, your time, highly structured and organized. The bells signal the time for work to start. The bells signal the time for lunch....

Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! This post is public so feel free to share it. Introduction: My dad has some friends that he likes to go on trips with. They will go to a cabin or go camping and they have a lot of fun. He often comes back from those trips and tells me what they did. He came back from a trip recently and he was telling me all that he did and he said, “We raked, we chopped...

Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Mirroring this Reality Think back to the game you would play growing up where you would mirror what someone else was doing. They would raise their right hand and you would raise your left. They would wink and you would wink. Do you remember? So my point is that when I ask someone to mirror me, t...

Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This post is adapted from my teaching at Patmos Reality Discipleship on Ephesians 4:1-5:2, Summer 2025. Introduction: Before reading, take a minute to watch this helpful treatment of the literary structure of Ephesians by the Bible Project So we are moving into the second half of the letter of E...

This post is adapted from my teaching at Patmos Reality Discipleship on Ephesians 3:1–21, Summer 2025. Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Introduction: I love a good mystery. Whether it’s a detective novel or a film like Interstellar , there’s something compelling about a story where something hidden slowly comes into view. You s...

Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This post is adapted from my teaching at Patmos on Ephesians 2:1–22. Introduction Clarity often comes through contrast. A light bulb shines brighter in a dark room. Food tastes better when you’re truly hungry. Rest feels deeper when you’re exhausted. Ephesians 2 works the same way. Paul shows th...

Image by Zack Gross (2023) Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. This post is adapted from my teaching at Patmos on Ephesians 1:1–23. Whenever I introduce a new book to my students at church, I love starting with a visual. So before diving into Ephesians, watch the BibleProject overview video. As it plays,notice the major themes of...

Image by Zack Gross (2025) Thanks for reading Pondering with Purpose! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. INTRO: I want to talk about an experience that I am sure everyone can relate to. It is a particularly prevalent experience in high school, but not limited to that timeframe. It is the experience of someone telling us something, parents, teachers, pastors, grandparents,...

This is a recording of my message on Haggai & Zechariah for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO : * Remodel a house, renovate vs remodel       SPOKE: (BibleProject) * What are some dominant themes in Zechariah?  * Watch: Book of Zechariah Summary: A Complete Animated Overview HUB: Renovate or Remodel  * H...

This is a recording of my message on Habakkuk & Malachi for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO : * Who has ever struggled with doubt?  * Personal doubts       SPOKE: (BibleProject) * What are some dominant themes in Habakkuk?  * Watch: Book of Habakkuk Summary: A Complete Animated Overview HUB: Respondin...

This is a recording of my message on Obadiah & Nahum for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO : * Who likes a story of kings and queens?  * We like royalty and it is this cool other thing because we don’t have kings and queens anymore. But I want you to imagine that we did have a king and his castle was in...

This is a recording of my message on Amos & Micah for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO : * Has anyone here ever thought about running a marathon? You guys know that Josh Antioho did an Ironman. It was super enlightening for me to watch him train, prepare and complete that ironman. It made me realize ho...

This is a recording of my message on Joel & Zephaniah for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * Limbo activity. The bar doesn’t get any higher. You either submit to the bar by bending or you get hit and forced down.  * You have a choice: how you experience the bar. One is positive and one negative but...

This is a recording of my message on Samuel for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * Who is the greatest leader you guys can think of? Fictional or real. * How would you describe them? Confident, sure, competent?  * Those are the things that human’s look for in a leader but in the Scroll of Samuel we...

This is a recording of my message on Joshua for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * Who here has ever ridden the train? It’s fun, its novel.  Fun fact - I had a dream that we did a JH trip on a train 2 weeks ago.  * Are trains easily or quickly stopped? No   * That’s why railroad crossings are so dan...

This is a recording of my message on Deuteronomy for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * Think back to when you were a little kid.  * The first time you were crossing the street with your parents  * They held your hand and taught you to “look both ways before you cross the street”  * As a little kid...

This is a recording of my message on Numbers for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * What comes to your mind when you hear the word Rebellion?  * I think of Star Wars. Anyone else? The Empire and the Rebels.  * What do we know? SPOKE: Rebellion/Faithfulness Numbers (BibleProject) * Watch for what the...

This is a recording of my message on Leviticus for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * If I gave you the opportunity, who here would want to go to space?  * How about the Sun? What a cool opportunity! * Holiness of the Sun - BP video concept SPOKE: Holiness: Leviticus (BibleProject) * Pay attention t...

This is a recording of my message on Exodus for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * Toy story * Woody escapes first  * Then goes back and  rescues Buzz * It’s this elaborate plan but Buzz doesn’t come. * So Woody goes back and takes down Pharoah - I mean sid.  * But then once they have escaped they h...

This is a recording of my message on Genesis for our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Below is my outline for those who would like to follow along. INTRO :  * Beauty and importance of partnership  * Pairs figure skating * So cool when they are in sync and they lift each other in the air but if they get out of sync things can go south fast * Imagine if this dude let go of h...

This is a recording of my intro message to our Old Testament Survey series to the ABF Junior High Group. Originallly recorded August 31, 2023. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit zackgross.substack.com