Embracing Brokenness

Everyone has a story. In this series, we introduce you to God's people sharing God's stories in each of their lives. Craig tells of his incarceration and how Jesus met him in that place and changed his life. Listen in and be blessed by the amazing ways that God intersects our lives, in the good, bad, and ugly. But He gets the glory in our story.

If we don't talk it out, we'll act it out. What does it mean to be a peacemaker? What does the Bible say about conflict, and how we should best resolve our differences? We dig deeper into the subject of peacemaking on today's video podcast.

Brokenness is the state in which we enter this world. No one escapes the ravages of sin. What we do with that is paramount in our healing journey toward wholeness in Christ. On today's podcast, Michael Kurtz joins Steve to have a conversation on what it even means to embrace your brokenness and why you would even yield to the notion that embracing our condition of brokenness is a good idea. Music...

God is at work all the time. That means many different things to many different people. What often is missing in our understanding of that truth is the ability to notice Him. To notice Him in nearly every aspect of our lives as Believers. He wants to be in relationship with us constantly. Not just in an emergency. Even in the simple things. In today’s podcast, Steve discusses hearing from God from...

It’s been a rough couple of years. Most of us have experienced some level of trauma around a host of issues that can go unnoticed – until – something sets us off.  What is that something for you? What pushes your buttons and elicits an unexpected reaction?   Sometimes the reaction may be termed an overreaction. Many times our responses to the simplest annoyances can have severe consequen...

For many of us, the notion of dying to self is a foreign one. What does that even mean? Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Luke quoting Jesus said, "And he said to all, 'If anyone would come...

In today's Podcast, we examine the sometimes devastating fact that we believe lies about God. When lies are adopted as truth the consequences show up in dysfunctional behaviors and in ways that lead to confusion and mistrust. God is not a God of confusion. He's a God of Love not fear. We are created in His image and with His attributes. Those attributes have become distorted by sin and an enemy th...

Being tempted is not a sin. Being tested can be challenging. How we respond to temptations and testing defines us. We must understand that we were not made for this world. We were made to exist in perfect harmony with Him. That is the only way toward wholeness and freedom in Christ. We have an enemy bent on taking us out. We must not be complacent about that fact. Don’t let the enemy win. Don’t le...

Garnering and harboring excessive wealth is something that has been nibbling at my conscience for a while. I can’t escape the gnawing feeling. The unfathomable amount of money resident not only in this country but around the world and the huge disparaging gap between those with and those without is striking. God has a lot to say about finances in his Word. In fact, money and possessions are the se...

In this final podcast episode on Identity Matters , we focus on safe people. We all desire to have close relationships with people we trust. People we know that are willing to battle it out in life by our side and have our backs. What would you consider to be attributes of safe people? We'll explore this topic in detail and more as we wrap up this series of teaching on the all-important subject of...

In this podcast, we cover the topic of intimacy with God through hearing His voice. What might that look like for you?  Is it through scripture, others, that still small voice inside you namely the Holy Spirit? Does God speak to you through circumstances or unique moments in time? It's a topic not often discussed in church but one of the most critical parts of our spiritual journey toward who...

Every day we experience brokenness in the form of consequences as a result of what is often called, original sin. When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil all hell broke loose. Literally. Satan got exactly what he wanted.  Here's the good news. God always wins. He's the Creator of all and knows all. He wired each of our brains to heal from wounds that have...

In case you weren't aware of it, a war broke out in Heaven on the heels of creation. When Lucifer rebelled and took 1/3 of the angels with him he landed on planet earth. Unfortunately, we then became the target of his evil ways and have been dealing with the consequences ever since. In this podcast, Steve talks about the impact that Satan has on our identity as he reviews the sequence of events th...

When it comes to matters of identity it's vitally important that we understand who we are. Not just how we view ourselves but more importantly how God sees us. After all, He did create us in His image and likeness - with traits and characteristics that model His goodness. All was distorted when we decide we wanted to be like God. But restoration is coming.  In this episode, we go deeper into...

In our second of a multi-podcast series on Identity, we examine how critically important it is to understand who God is and why what we believe about Him really does matter. Much of our impressions of who He is and how He sees us are formed at a very young age. How that translates into our day-to-day lives forms our ability to grow in our faith and in the knowledge of what a loving relationship wi...

Identity Matters seem to be one of the hottest topics on the planet and has been for some time. At Embracing Brokenness Ministries we teach, speak, and write about this subject matter on a regular basis, and is at the heart of our ministry.  On this week's Podcast you're introduced to an 8-week curriculum that is presented in person and will be online at some point in the future. Our prayer is tha...

In today's Podcast, Steve had the privilege of speaking with J.R. Woodgates. The author of Daily Light on the Prisoner's Path , and former Voice of America on-air personality. J.R. graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in broadcast journalism. He enjoyed a long radio career, internationally for 27 years at the Voice of America, locally in Washington, DC for 13 years at WETA part-tim...

Choices have consequences. Some are more devastating than others. In today's podcast, Steve shares more about his own healing journey that started some 30 years ago with a 90-day stint in Federal Prison. A lifelong believer in Jesus was tempted by what the world had to offer and it landed him in a very precarious situation. But redemption awaited. He only needed to look up and lookout. This is the...

In today's podcast, we discuss the consequences of sin that so easily befell us. Steve begins and ends with Colleen presenting in between. They look at a different perspective on how behaviors in this life are linked to the decisions made by our ancestors, Adam and Eve. Wounds inflicted by others, and our own bad choices left us in a bit of a predicament. But God gave us a choice to return "back t...

In our first video podcast on Spotify, recorded during a recent class Steve taught alongside Colleen, he shares his story in testimony to the grace that God poured into his life many years ago, continuing to do so every single day. We jump right in without an intro and outro to this episode. Please provide feedback on your experience with this podcast on video through Anchor and Spotify. If you're...

World events and the Russian invasion of Ukraine are cause for all Christ-followers to pause and pray for those impacted by this crisis. From the people of Ukraine and Russia to the world leaders engaged in a resolution toward peace. Steve introduces us to a guided prayer from John Eldredge, as we together ask God to intervene in this horrific situation.

Chaos and a spirit of confusion reign among us all like we haven't seen for quite some time. Look at COVID. Look at Ukraine and the aggression being shown by Russia.  How do we interpret what's happening around us in a productive and meaningful way? As Believers in Jesus Christ, there is only one way to do so even though the enemy of God's people has other plans. In Part 2 of this 2 Part seri...

You may recall a song The Temptations made famous years ago entitled Ball of Confusion. It's not a stretch to equate that same title to conditions on the ground on this ball of dirt we call planet earth. Chaos and a spirit of confusion reign among us all like we haven't seen for quite some time. How do we interpret what's happening here in a productive and meaningful way? As Believers in Jesus Chr...

How we view God has a tremendous impact on how we view ourselves and others. He certainly is the Great Script Writer. We see familiar scenes from our life stories in every good film. From the foundation of the world, He knew each of us. Unique in our gifting and eventual calling in this life.  Our beliefs are formed at a young age. If we would recognize God as a God of love our relationship w...

Have you experienced a setback lately? Setbacks may be defined in various ways but the word itself conjures up negative thoughts. There's not a human being walking the planet that hasn't experienced some sort of setback. How should we respond? Can we grow through them and come out the other side a better person for it? We'll answer this and other questions in this podcast with a real-life example...