The 180 Church Podcast with Dr. Sammy and Friends

The Joy accompanied by the arrival of the Christmas season is also subtly marked by the departure of days past. Christ’s arrival in the first Noel brought promises and joys of new life, but simultaneously came with grief and loss as a result of his transition from divinity to humanity. Much like how Christ experienced joy alongside grief on that first Christmas, the joy we experience in following...

Joy can be experienced in the midst of sorrow; it’s an attitude we adopt not because of our circumstances but because of our hope in God’s love and promises. Psalm 98 captures the joy of our response to Advent, because Jesus’s arrival was anything but exuberant and lofty—it was quiet, humble, and subtle. He is the reason to share this joy boldly this season.

As we enter into Advent this year, we reflect on the hope God gave us through the birth of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Luke, when Mary receives news that she will give birth to the Son of God, we see that this is God's blessing and the fulfillment of His promise to redeem His people. That God would come in the flesh meant radical change for the entire world as well as in each of our personal li...

David Brooks, New York Times Opinion columnist and author of "How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen", discusses the importance of knowing others on a deeper level, emphasizing the challenges of consoling friends when our words fall short. Brooks highlights recognition as a fundamental human need and posits that its absence can be devastating. In order to affir...

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, we are given two examples of people who need grace. The younger son sought freedom and abundance through wild living, only to come back to his father penniless and dejected. He had the right reasons, but did the wrong things. On the other hand, the older son stayed by his father's side, but he did so with bitterness and self-righteousness; this led him to reject...

With the holidays quickly approaching, we remember that the most wonderful time of the year is accompanied with some of the busiest times of the year. With the quick succession of events, the busyness of our day-to-day, and the overwhelming number of obligations that can pile up on our plates, the necessity of sabbath rest comes into frame. It can feel difficult to carve out time to rest amidst th...

In shifting our attitudes around money and generosity from a question of how much to give to a question of how much to keep, we can set financial goals that encourage a healthy, God-glorifying relationship with money. There is nothing wrong with accumulating resources and using them for what we need or even want, but hoarding excess wealth without a clear purpose is a dangerous habit. Ultimately,...

We often react anxiously to stressful circumstances when they arise, but our responses to them are not involuntary—they’re learned processes. Catastrophizing, or reverting to imagining the worst outcome in given events, is one of those learned processes we respond with which reflects a deeper rift in our understanding of who God is. In Mark 4, we see a contrast between the disciples catastrophizin...

Many of us struggle with mercy not because we have bad intentions, but because it's a hassle to go out of our way to help others. Just like the priest or the Levite in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we pass by, thinking someone else more qualified will help. However, Jesus calls for all of us, not just a select few, to display the radical generosity that He had for us when He died on the cross...

As we get older, our fears multiply to a point of omnipresence, and our worries can feel suffocating because of how much of our attention they take. To deal with our anxieties, we often resort to various unhealthy coping mechanisms, which may not rid us of our problems. However, the good news of the gospel emphasizes that we have a God who, like the calming presence of a caring parent, wants to pr...

In the course of the Christian life or in one’s investigation of faith, the thoughts and considerations for how we should live a life in Christ brings about the question of, “how?” Through the many voices, iterations, and interpretations of how we should live our lives, it’s worth noting that the systems set in place through adherence to the truth in the scriptures and of the faith experience intr...

If spiritual poverty results from a poor vision of God, then spiritual wealth results from having spiritual confidence. The prodigal son returns to his father because he has confidence that his father loves him and will not turn away from him. Likewise, God invites us to approach Him with shameless audacity in knowing we are deeply loved by Him, as well as shameless intimacy in wanting to be close...

How often do we say we believe in God, but do not trust Him enough to provide for us? If we face difficulties, whether minor or major, and believe that God will not help us, thinking we have only ourselves to rely on, we are suffering from a poor vision of who God is. This poor vision is not only a shame, but it is also dangerous, as it leads to spiritual poverty, lack of faith, mistrust, and bitt...

We are often aware of God’s promises for us, but sometimes there are temptations that influence us to make plans of our own instead of waiting for His promises. In the moment, it can feel as if we’re struggling too much for God’s plan for us to be worth it, so we start to lean towards our own plans. The truth is, even if we can’t see the entirety of God’s plans, sometimes God will put us through a...

Who does the kingdom of heaven belong to? Jesus encountering the rich young ruler in the gospel of Matthew leads us to consider his question of whether good deeds would help him gain eternal life. However, the reasoning that heaven is for good people who keep commandments is challenged by Christ who, previously, in the presence of children, stated that the kingdom belongs to them - those who depen...

Our lives are informed by more than just psychosocial factors; they are impacted by the degree to which we accept truths about God's character and our identity in Him. As long as we fail to trust that God will give us better than what we can get ourselves, we will succumb to self-fulfilling prophecies about how our lives will fall short of our dreams. The truth is, we are children of a Father who...

In the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant, Jesus warns us that if we do not forgive others, we will experience pain and torture, just as a wicked servant would from a rightfully angry master. This may seem forceful, but the real question is, what is going on in our hearts if we cannot bring ourselves to forgive others? Heaven and Hell are both as much directions as destinations. If we constantly ha...

Many of us may dismiss resistance and suffering as a natural yet unexpected part of life. We should expect resistance, especially when we are trying to share the Gospel to others, because there is also a spiritual force - known as the enemy of God - that is at war against us. When the enemy inevitably tries to discourage us in our moments of triumph, joy, and spiritual breakthrough, we should reco...

People are involved in every community that we are a part of: people who are ontologically and by nature flawed. Conflicts can arise from unmet expectations, and pettiness finds its way into relationships. However, despite the petty conflicts that can arise from mismatched expectations, every opportunity to bear with one another as Paul states in Scripture, is an opportunity to grow in love. As pe...

Forgiveness is foundational to the Christian faith. Being a disciple of Christ means more than just accepting forgiveness for our sins because Jesus died on the cross for us; it means we also forgive others when they wrong us. But extending forgiveness to others doesn't come naturally, and when we're hurt or angry, we tend to revolve our lives around what happened instead of surrendering it and mo...

In today's success-driven society, we are pressured to be calm and collected no matter the situation, in effect repressing our emotions. However, doing so is not only difficult, but also dangerously unhealthy. In fact, it is perfectly normal, and even biblical, to express our emotions. That said, we should also avoid the other extreme and allow our emotions to run rampant. Instead, we should exper...

The Church is commonly seen as an institution for a community of believers with its own rituals and flaws. Sometimes we are blind to the true beauty of the church because we forget to see it as more than just an imperfect community. Instead, it is the bride of Christ, something Jesus was willing to die for, and indestructible throughout its many iterations in history because of its eternal charact...

Beneath the surface of our sincere and well-intended ideals also lies expectations. In the human experience, mismanaged expectations can often lead to disappointment, especially in the case of the church, where many of us hold unrealistic ideals of how the Christian community should be built. However, the church is not built by our ideals, but by the work of a sovereign God and the love of his son...

The discipline of the book is essentially the discipline of learning. The Word of God, in all its forms, is not a relic of time long past but a living expression of the gospel and the enduring wisdom of the Holy Spirit. Following Christ means being formed in our new identity in Him and donning a new way of life, and therefore it's crucial that we learn and re-learn to wholly digest the gospel for...

Often in life we make mistakes, and when we do it's easy to fall prey to thinking that we are fundamentally inadequate and incapable of growth. However, we should not let our mistakes define us. Instead, we should rip down the harassing thoughts telling us that we cannot improve, work our thoughts back to Christ, and thus replace the harrassing thoughts with God's truths, because in truth, God has...