Topeka Bible Church EXTRA

TBC's Missions and Leader Development Pastor, Jim Congdon, takes to the pulpit to teach on Numbers 20. Moses is struggling to control his temper as he leads the Israelites who continually disobey God. Jim has come up with distinct lessons to take away from Moses' challenges as a leader. Jim sadly could not join the podcast to go over his sermon but Teresa, Jason, and Alan go over their t...

Student Ministries Pastor Jeremy McGrath takes to the pulpit to talk about Numbers 19 which is full of symbolism. Rebellion leads to death. Failure to cleanse yourself results in death. But what if it did not have to? Purification is simple and available to everyone. This includes the Israelite's then, and us now through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Jeremy joins the podcast to talk more abo...

Two rebellions begin arming the Israelites in opposition to the authority of Moses and Aaron given by God. A task is then given to Korah, the leader of one of the rebellions, and his followers. They are to put incense before the Lord and then God will choose who is to be set apart as a leader. God becomes angry and plans to wipe the rebels out, but Moses and Aaron plead for mercy towards them. How...

In this month's bonus episode, TBC Lead Pastor Connor Kraus discusses a chapter that will not be covered in the current sermon series on Numbers. Chapter 12 informs us about Moses' elder brother Aaron as well as Miriam who take issue with the way God is doing things through Moses. God becomes angry at this and Miriam is struck with leprosy. Connor talks about the significance of this cha...

The Israelites finally approach the Promised Land but are afraid of who they see occupying it: Giants. Rather than trusting God, they cry out in fear and doubt. The Israelites even think they should go back to Egypt instead. God is angered by this and curses the current Israelite generation to death in the wilderness over the next 40 years. This judgement from God can make many who hear it uncomfo...

The Israelite faith in God is getting weaker as they are hungry, afraid, and desire what little they had as slaves in Egypt. Even Moses is struggling to understand how God will be able to take care of everyone. God responds to these doubts by sending an incredible amount of quail to feed everyone and the Israelites begin to lust over it. God responds to this with a plague for they continued to rej...

The Israelite's preparation is about to come to a close and the journey is going to begin. God then takes the form of a cloud in order to lead them through the wilderness. God's guidance was not straight forward however. He instead used the journey as a way to prepare the Israelites for the Promised Land. The Israelites were supposed to learn to completely rely on God through this proces...

This month's bonus episode, TBC Lead Pastor Connor Kraus discusses some chapters that will not be covered in the current sermon series on Numbers. Chapters 7 and 8 go into more detail about the Levites, their sacrifices, and more. Next, Teresa interviews  TBC Student Ministries Assistant Lori Tennyson to talk about a wonderful but difficult experience she had from the mission trip to New York...

What does it take to live a Holy Life? Continuing our sermon series in Numbers with chapter 5 & 6 with 4 key lessons. The chapter starts with people needing to leave the main Israelite camp due to a lack of purity. Everything unclean must be removed from the camp. What is "the camp" now? Our life. The passage is also very clear that when you commit a sin against another it is as if y...

There were a lot of do's and do not's when it came to respecting the holiness of God while the Israelites were wandering the wilderness. The consequences for not handling the Ark Of The Covenant correctly were so severe that it would result in death. But why? These rules show that following God brings life, but rejecting God brings death. It seems intense but God's holiness is part...

TBC Lead Pastor Connor Kraus starts a new sermon series this week on the book of Numbers. The book of Numbers is worth caring about because it shows God's love to his people, the simple fact that it is part of the Bible, and that knowing the Old Testament is important for a better understanding of the New Testament. The book starts with a census as the Israelites are wandering through the wil...

When life becomes hard, it is easy to take the road of burnout and bitterness. Pastor Connor takes us to the book of Ruth to look at the experience of Naomi. Naomi loses everything and urges her two daughter-in-laws to leave her as well so they can live their own lives. She returns to her home in the Promised Land after many years and she is questioning why God is doing all of this to her. However...

"Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?" The past two weeks on burnout have been focusing on the Old Testament, but Pastor Jim is taking us this week to John the Baptist in the New Testament. It is hard to imagine John the Baptist doubting Jesus after all of the preaching and preparing he did, but after he experienced massive burnout, it caused him to doubt thi...

This month's bonus episode, TBC Lead Pastor Connor Kraus talks about the trending topic of revivals due to the recently ended 2 week long Asbury Revival that took place at Asbury University. A lot of people bring praise to the movement while others bring criticism. Connor talks about what is the most important things to come from revivals like this and what we can learn from it. Next, we incl...

Burnout comes from a life situation with a long term problem. You cannot just sit back and relax to hope it all goes away. Lead Pastor Connor Kraus returns to the pulpit to bring the example of Moses directly after God rescued Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Many of the Israelites complained about the lack of food and even said they should go back to Egypt. Moses' Father-In-Law, Jethro, war...

Burnout can be classified as when the flame of your life is sputtering out. This can include anything from faith to marriage to work life. Pastor Jim kicks off this new short series by relating this problem of burnout out to one of the greatest heroes in the Bible: Elijah. After Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal, he felt that there would be a resurgence of people following after the true god Ya...

We have finally hit the last chapter of 1 Corinthians. Paul has finished his main points but we still have a few more takeaways about being a part of God's Kingdom. The first is that we are to be good stewards and give generously. The second is to follow God's timing and being willing to adapt to it. The third is to do everything in love. The fourth is to serve others first. The fifth is...

How can two things which should never be connected be bridged somehow? Just look at the size and complexity of bridges going over large rivers and chasms. Just as hard to grasp is our transformation from this body to the next. Our body is to go from corrupted, dishonored, and weak to without corruption, glorified, and strong. Paul explains that for now our body is from dust and will go back to dus...

This month's bonus episode brings back TBC Lead Pastor Connor Kraus to talk about an interesting thing Paul says in 1 Corinthians. What does Paul mean when he calls himself the "least of the apostles?" Next, we include another segment from the Women's Ministry Expresso talks. This testimony comes from Madeline Key who spoke back in January. We conclude this month's Extra-E...

TBC Student Ministries Pastor Jeremy McGrath takes to the pulpit this week after an exciting weekend event with the students. He continues the series he went through with the students which is on friendship. Loneliness is a big problem and continually growing in the world. Maybe to combat this we need to rethink our friendships. An overlooked aspect of friendship is to have a shared goal. The obvi...

A lot can be gained from understanding the resurrection better, especially when our culture is filled with the imagery of zombies and ghouls. The people in Corinth had a tough time understanding this part of the Gospel too. The resurrection of Christ and our own future resurrection is essential to the Christian faith however. This knowledge should affect us day to day since it should change our en...

There is a big difference between people who use their gifts to build themselves up versus those who build up the church. So what does it mean for the church to be "built up?" First, the foundation of the church must be Jesus Christ. So, to build upon the church, you must be building up the name of Jesus. Those in Corinth however wanted to make their own name great instead by using their...

Faith, Hope, and Love - but the Greatest of these is Love. Pauls take a quick detour in his letter to Corinth immediately following his words on Spiritual Gifts. His first main point is this: No matter what position, gifts, or skills you possess, you need to have love, or it will be for nothing. So how can we take love and apply it to ourselves? Paul describes what love is in action: patient, kind...

This month's bonus episode brings back TBC Lead Pastor Connor Kraus to talk about a divisive topic in Christian culture: Divorce. His lengthy talk includes many aspects including reasons for divorce, remarriage, and more. Next, we include another segment from the Women's Ministry Expresso talks. This testimony comes from Amber Littell and does feature heavy topics such as sexual abuse. S...

What are spiritual gifts and how are they to be used? There are many types of gifts and services but they all come from the same Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in Christians and grants these powers to be used to help others. Gifts are diverse but every Christian has one and often times more. The diversity of gifts and people under Christ makes the church body of Christians strong. There are m...