Resident Strangers

In this week's episode Steve and Rich cover something that is crucial for believers to understand. It has a lot to do with our identity and our security in Christ. It is also something that is heavily debated amongst Christians even to this day. Eternal security is what is being discussed and if you haven't listened to the last two episodes on salvation, we would highly encourage you to...

On Resident Strangers this week Steve and Rich pick up discussing the question Sarah threw in last week; what happens to babies when they die? Since we're born alienated from God how do we process things like infant death and those who die with severe mental handicaps? We think this part of the conversation will fill you with hope and a better understanding of God's grace. They then shif...

This week on Resident Strangers Steve and Rich begin covering a very weighty and important topic. This week's episode is all about salvation. Everything that has been discussed on this podcast so far has almost been leading to this very point. Man apart from God, left to himself, is without hope. There is no denying that there is a need for salvation. The Bible tells us that every single one...

Steve and Rich continue their discussion on humanity starting off with the topic of sin nature. Rich immediately goes into why he thinks the phrase "sin nature" should be renamed and thought through differently. His reasoning has to do with translation of the original words and understanding of scripture. Don't worry, Rich and Steve break it all down for us. Another question that co...

On today's episode Rich and Steve are diving into the crown jewel of creation - humanity. It seems as though all creation points to being a place for humanity to flourish in. How incredible to think that we as humans are made in God's image. But does being made in God's image specifically point to physical bodies? What does it mean to have a soul? Steve and Rich break down what bein...

Happy Birthday to our co-host Rich! 🎉🎉 This week, Steve and Rich continue the discussion on angels and demons, mainly focusing on the characteristics of Satan. One of the major ways that Satan attacks is through lies and that can appear in a lot of different ways. We see this first in the Garden of Eden when the serpent asked, "did God really say that?" Steve points out that in Ephesia...

This week on Resident Strangers Steve and Rich open a discussion about angelology - angels and demons. Unfortunately, most Christians get their understanding of these topics from culture. However, Rich does point out that when it comes to studying angels and demons in the Bible, we don't have many passages that are super clear. Though there can be important things to learn from studying angel...

Steve and Rich continue last week's discussion on eschatology, the rapture, the Millennial Kingdom and Jesus' return. If you didn't listen to last week's episode, we would highly recommend that you do that before diving into this week's conversation as there is a lot of context you'll need. Today's episode starts with Sarah sharing a cringey story from 8th grade,...

This episode is the first part of eschatology, the study of things to come. This will be a two part episode so make sure you listen closely and plan to come back next week! Two major topics are covered being the Millennial Kingdom and the rapture (can you see why we needed two parts?). From a doctrinal perspective this is one of the most important things we're covering as it goes to how you v...

Happy New Year! Welcome to the first episode of Resident Strangers in 2024. Steve, Rich and Sarah join together to talk about new year traditions and of course how to start the new year centered in the Lord. In some ways New Year's Day is just another day, right? But it is certainly a good excuse to become self-reflective and think about what God has called us to be. As followers of Christ, i...

Merry Christmas from us at Resident Strangers! This will be the last episode of 2023. But don't worry! Steve, Rich and Sarah will be back in January 2024 with some great episodes to kick off the new year. Christmas Day will be here before we know it and in this episode Steve and Rich encourage everyone not to miss the importance of Christmas in that it is when Jesus came for us. If you think...

Steve and Rich are back to it this week talking about the ascension. This is a very theologically significant event. The first thing that is significant about the ascension is the fact that His work in salvation was completed. The ascension also reminds us that heaven is a place - Jesus had to go somewhere! The future hope provided through the atonement is seen through this. Furthermore, the ascen...

Happy Thanksgiving! With this episode being released the week of Thanksgiving, Steve and Rich wanted to take a moment to talk about the practice of thanksgiving from a theological perspective. Is Thanksgiving a Christian holiday? Something we do know is that somewhere along the way Christians did have a desire to set aside specific and intentional time to give thanks to God for His blessings. As a...

This week Steve and Rich continue their discussion on the resurrection, specifically highlighting the incredible value it has. The latter part of 1 Corinthians 15 is referenced throughout this episode so we would encourage you to familiarize yourself with it. How does the resurrection affect your life today? Can you answer that? The resurrection affects everything about our lives. It is crucial th...

Today on Resident Strangers Steve and Rich are covering the hallmark of the Christian faith and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Have you ever thought about what it would mean if Jesus did not rise from the dead? It is not possible to overstate how important the resurrection is for all of Christianity. This is a central issue of our Christian faith that cannot be comprised or disputed. St...

Welcome to a very spooky episode of Resident Strangers - just kidding. How should Christians think about Halloween? We're breaking that down as today's episode is being released on October 31st. Are you someone that turns off your lights when trick-or-treaters come around or do you engage your neighbors and participate in a God-honoring way? Both viewpoints are discussed and shockingly t...

Steve and Rich continue last week's discussion on the atonement. If you didn't listen to last week's episode, we would highly recommend you do that before diving into this week's conversation. As the listener you hopefully understand that the atonement accomplished reconciliation with God and purification and cleansing from sins. Some common questions are, why did Jesus even ha...

This week, Steve and Rich are talking about the fact that Jesus died for us and for our sins. It's the atonement. What it accomplishes is reconciliation with God and purification and cleansing from sins. Rich goes over some theories on how it is that Jesus' death brings these things but what is important to remember above everything else is that when Jesus died, He died in our place as a...

Let's face it. Even as Christians and followers of Jesus, we don't always get along. There can be different viewpoints within the Christian faith, and it can sometimes create confusion and division. Does all theology have the same level of importance? Steve and Rich get into that today on our 10th episode of Resident Strangers. We can do our very best to study and figure out the right an...

This week's discussion on Resident Strangers starts with asking the question, "who is Jesus to you?" Was Jesus just a good teacher? A good man? Or was (and is He) more than that? In essence, was He a liar, lunatic or Lord? Rich takes us from the personal aspect of Jesus to the deeper theological reality. So much of what differentiates Christianity from other belief systems is what t...

Tuesday is here which means it is time for another episode of Resident Strangers! This week Steve and Rich are diving into one of the most important points on our doctrinal statement (linked below) as they discuss who Jesus is. This is such an important topic to talk about because as Steve says if you get the truth of who Jesus is wrong you are going to get it all wrong. To begin, how do we unders...

This week on Resident Strangers Steve and Rich answer a few questions they received about last week's episode on the Holy Spirit. Sarah actually kicks off the episode with a question and story about an old college roommate who was questioning her salvation because of a perceived lack of work of the Holy Spirit. The question being, is speaking in tongues the only evidence for salvation and the...

The part of the trinity that can feel like the hardest to understand is the Holy Spirit. That is what Steve and Rich are tackling this week on Resident Strangers. Who is the Holy Spirit? Is it even a person? How is it present in our lives? What does it mean for those of us who have relationship with Jesus? These questions are answered, and the discussion ultimately turns toward how the Holy Spirit...

Steve and Rich continue the conversation this week on who God is. Both have received many questions about God and who He is over the years but the one that is the most common is how to know the will of God for our lives. The majority of the conversation is spent on how to know God's will and how to live that out each day, even if you feel like you've made a wrong decision. Rich wraps up...

This week on Resident Strangers Steve and Rich do their best in answering a pretty big question: who is God? This is the second item that appears on the Doctrinal Statement of Desert Springs Community Church (you can click to link below to view the full doctrinal statement). Right away Rich gets into what the trinity is. Whether you've heard the egg analogy, water analogy or any other kind of...