Real Life Church Podcast

You might expect the coming of God to earth to be announced in palaces and proclaimed by kings and attended by dignitaries - but then, only the wealthy, the well-to-do and the “winners” in life would feel like they were part of God’s plan and story. Instead, Jesus Himself was an outcast, born into an ordinary family. His birth announced only to the overlooked. Blessings came from the elderly and o...

For many hundreds of years the Jewish people lived as though God had chosen them, and only them. If you wanted to have a relationship with God, you had to go through the Jews, meaning, you had to become a Jew. This happened in spite of the fact that God had said from the beginning that He wanted to Jewish people to be a light to the nations of the world. But don’t be hard on them, we’re pretty exc...

If you’re not familiar, OG stands for Original Gangster 😆. It’s a slang term today for anyone who has done it before. Larry Bird is an OG. So is Terry Bradshaw and a whole host of others. The challenge for OG’s is that to be an OG you’ve got to also be old. And for many people in their retirement years life can feel like it’s slipped, or is slipping away. That might be how the elderly, widow, Ann...

Do you know the feeling of being picked last on the basketball court, or being one of the many people who just feel overlooked and unseen in the world? You may be a garbage truck driver, a wastewater operator, a fast food cook or a stay-at-home parent, but you feel like nobody. Imagine what it would be like to be overlooked by everyone except God. That’s the shepherd’s story... and it could be you...

There was nothing ordinary about the birth of Jesus, the promised Messiah. How could it be?! The God of creation partners with humanity to create a child who will save the world. Nothing about that is ordinary. But the circumstances by which God accomplished this were ordinary. An ordinary couple. A natural birth. A middle income family. A nationally rejected family line. If you feel ordinary, thi...

Jesus redefined the Passover meal to symbolize His ultimate sacrifice for our salvation, demonstrating faith-filled thanks in the face of impending suffering.

Gratitude should precede receiving from God, acknowledging His constant provision. God hears our prayers, not based on our goodness, but His love for us. Our prayers should align with God's glory and others' good, not just personal desires. John 11:41-42

Many Christians approach God as though He's never satisfied. Like God in heaven is just constantly looking at you and shaking His head. But when God looks at you He's not looking at your failure, your faults, your lack of faith, He's looking at a child He desperately loves. We need to see our relationship with God differently if we're going to be able to express thanks to God joyfully.

We're headed into Thanksgiving and Christmas and it's really easy to focus on our lack. We look at others and then look at ourselves and all we can see is what we don't have. But if we can't be grateful for what we have, even if it's only our life... this breath... the leaky roof over our head, if we can't be grateful for what we have we won't be grateful even if we have it all.

Why did God get so mad when Aaron made a gold calf and called it Israel’s god at the foot of Mt. Sinai? Or what was the big deal when King Jeroboam set up two gods in the Northern kingdom of Israel after their civil war? There’s a reason God instructed humanity not to create any gods in His image and it may not be the reason you think.

We should actively cooperate with God by sacrificially reaching out to others with the Gospel, being willing to go to great lengths to share the love of Christ.

Abandon distractions like the desire for wealth, living in the past, worrying about others' opinions, and focusing solely on our own plans. • Cooperate with God by committing fully to His mission and sharing the Good News. • Anticipate God's help in meeting our needs as we prioritize His Kingdom.

We're putting into practice what we've learned over the last 9 weeks as we tackle what Jesus was saying when he quoted from the Torah, "love your neighbor as you love yourself." Are we simply to love all the time no matter what? Is that love? Is it okay to hate someone or not and how we do we get to love if we start with hate? This should be fun!

If it’s true that the Bible doesn’t tell us what to think but how to think then maybe we need to rethink the letters of the apostles (Romans - Jude). These letters were written to specific people in specific places (most often) for a specific purpose. They are inspired conversations that help us apply Kingdom principles in the everyday places we find ourselves. They are not to be used as a way to...

Most people today believe that prophecy is about the future and uncovering some hidden information before it happens but that's not how the vast majority of prophets operated. The prophet most often showed up and shared a possible future outcome should the king or country continue their current course of action. That's not prophetic, it's perceptive. Understanding the original author, the audience...

We often read the Bible to learn how to live; how to please God. But the Bible is not just an instruction book on how to live any more than The Lord of the Rings is an instruction book on how to defeat Souron. The Bible uses different literary tools to engage us, to inspire us and to entangle us in a life long journey of relationship with our creator. Understanding wisdom literature and how it's u...

The more familiar you are with the organization of the process the better the outcome. The Hebrew Bible, called the TaNaKh, is the Bible Jesus used (at least the Torah and the Nevi'im, the Ketuvim came later). It contains the same books as our Old Testament only, they are arranged differently. The Hebrew bible is arranged to end with Chronicles, a book of hope and about the future promise of the M...

Part 2 covers chapter 3 in Marty Solomon’s book, Asking Better Questions of the Bible. The Bible was written for us, but it wasn’t written to us. It isa Jewish work from start to finish. It was written to and from a Jewish world working with Jewish assumptions and employing Jewish cultural influences. When we understand the literary devices the authors used we’ll better understand the God the Bibl...

Part 1 covers chapters 1 & 2 in Marty Solomon’s book, Asking Better Questions of the Bible. We read the bible best when we understand that we are literary tourists. The bible was written for us (as in humanity) but it wasn't written to us, English speakers in America. We can't truly understand the bible if we fail to try and understand the conversation the bible is having between the author and th...

Paul wraps up his first letter to this fledging church by reminding them to be strong because those persecuting them with will repaid when Jesus returns. But we don't have worry, we just have to wait and while we're waiting bring others into the light.

Sanctification, the journey to becoming more like Jesus, starts when we believe in Him and doesn't end until we encounter Him. A significant area of sanctification for Christian believers is sexual purity, abstaining from all forms of sexual immorality. Sexual immorality is described by the Bible as any sexual act outside the boundary God placed in the Garden of Eden - that only accommodates one m...

Terry will be filling in for Corey

Alan Funk will be filling in for Corey.

The new believers in Thessaloniki got a lot of things right, but they got a few things wrong. Paul and Timothy spent so little time there before being chased off they were unable to answer every question and teach much beyond King Jesus Gospel. Because of this Paul must correct some misunderstanding and offer some clarification to the things they thought they were doing right. In chapter 4 Paul us...

In Chapter 2 Paul begins to unpack what it means to be a part of the family of God for the new followers in Thessaloniki. He understands that family can be challenging but also that family is supposed to be caring and ultimately they help us be our best. But that doesn't mean that family won’t sometimes be a struggle. But when you’re a part of God’s family it’s not about me or you it’s about US.