Netarts Friends Church Podcast

Luke 19:11-27 We are living in a time when the names "God" and "Jesus" are claimed by all different kinds of people who either claim or truly believe that their angle, actions, and agendas truly reflect the kingdom Jesus declared. This is nothing new. It's something Jesus dealt with as well. This episode explores what Jesus had to say to people who presumed that his kingdom would function in the s...

Luke 19:1-10 Underneath their hard exterior, how many wish they could find their way to a different life but are uncertain of what it might mean to let go, to take a leap into that new life. If I make this change, am I still just going to end up alone? Will there be enough? Am I enough? Can my web of broken relationships ever be whole? Credits and Sources: Kenneth Bailey, Louis Schotroff, Donald K...

Luke 18:35-43 None of us like the feeling of living differently than we said we were going to live, and yet we all know this feeling. This one isn't only about New Year's Resolutions. It's about the moments you live through without realizing that this is your moment to shine, to practice what you preach, to have integrity. It's about the importance of being connected to a Jesus who stops and recog...

Christmas 2025 This episode explores how it changes the Christmas story when we remember that none of the characters knew what was going to happen next. Sermon by Aaron Carlson For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org (12/21/25)

Luke 2:8-18 (Advent) This episode explores your experiences of joy. It helps you stop beating yourself up when you aren't experiencing much joy, while also helping you open yourself up to receive joy. Credits & Sources: Kenneth Bailey, Joel Green, Moises Silva, Tim Geddert, Richard Rohrbaugh, Bruce Malina, Craig Keener, Raymond Brown, C.S. Lewis. Sermon by Aaron Carlson For more information or...

Luke 18:31-34 You could say that this one is about death and dying and so nobody wants to listen to it. But it is much more than that. It's about how underneath all culture warring, underneath all worldview defense lies a sheer terror: We are all enslaved to the fear of death. That fear infects everything. What does it mean to follow Jesus and walk towards an inevitable death without being enslave...

Luke 18:15-30 So many people see the rich in the powerful in one of two ways. They either see them as the posterchild of success and they secretly envy them. Or they villainize them as corrupt oppressors. Neither view looks through the eyes of compassion. Jesus sees what few others see about what riches and power are doing to them. This one explores the way that Jesus speaks out of compassion for...

Luke 18:15-17 This episode explores why reconnecting with your younger self is crucial to healthy spirituality. Credits and Sources: Eugene Peterson, Andrew Root, Kara Root, Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Hartmut Rosa, Lacy Finn Borgo, Ken Shigematsu, Justo Gonazalez, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, David Garland. Sermon by Aaron Carlson For more information or to sup...

Luke 18:9-14 Do you know that part of you that dearly wants to be right? Do you know that part that doesn't want to need any fixing, any correction, any help? Do you know that part with a chronic need to impress others. Do you know that part of you that known that you can't fix you? It's the part that knows that you keep trying to make it better and solve things, but somehow you have stuck pattern...

Luke 18:1-8 Life hits us with so many opportunities to just give up. We all know the feeling. "Nothing I do is going to change anything. Why am I trying any more? I'm just banging my head against a wall. This is an unsolvable puzzle, an impossible problem. This is an incompatible relationship. I have no control over this." What difference does it make if prayer is the alterative you choose to givi...

Luke 17:20-37 You can see that life you want on the horizon. But the more you chase after it, the more you exert control, plan, strategize, threat manage, self-preserve, rush, cling, and try... The further it retreats. It slips out of your grip. It dissolves. It disappears and leaves you feeling empty and alienated. Jesus says, "Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses thei...

Luke 17:11-19 When life turns upside down sometimes we realize what we were taking for granted. We realize that there were things we treated as important that simply are not important. There are things that are important, but we treated them with little regard. It's strange how a crisis can take controversies, prejudices and polarizations that feel like they matter so intensely...and suddenly they...

Luke 17:1-10 Both Jesus and the Pharisees wanted people to change. They used the same tool to seek change. But they used that tool in opposite ways. That tool was table fellowship. The Pharisees withheld table fellowship as a means of changing people. Jesus extended table fellowship as a means of changing people. What does it mean to participate in the kind of community of change that Jesus create...

Luke 16:19-31 What happens when you get so far inside of your own experience that you cannot see from someone else's perspective. Call it a funk, tunnel vision, an echo chamber. Whatever it is, their experience, their perspective, their needs become invisible to you. All you can see is your pain and what you want. They might as well be a million miles away. And the farther you go into the experien...

Luke 16:1-15 Figuring out your relationship to money, wealth, stuff, and things can be tricky. It's complicated!!! This episode explores some stories Jesus tells as a way of possibly helping you discern your own heart and desires related to income, money, wealth, stuff, and things. Credits and Sources: Ryan Shellenberg, Ched Meyers, Paul Trudinger, William R. Herzog II, Justo Gonazlez, Alan Culpep...

Luke 14:25-35 This episode tells Melvin's story. The story of a man who didn't know himself, who didn't know what he wanted, a man who's like was constantly zigging and zagging to chase approval and avoid threats. Credits and Sources: Roberta M Gilbert, R. Robert Creech, Steve Cuss, Robert Cialdini, Rodney Stark, Tim Geddert, Moises Silva, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, David Garland, Mark Baker...

Luke 14:12-24 What do you do when you've invested yourself in a relationship. They signal that they'll be there for you, that you can count on them, they are on board with your project. And then..... Just when it counts the most, they are a NO SHOW. They give you a lame excuse. They prove that you are not as important to them as they acted like you were. What then??? What do you do with your wound...

Luke 14:1-6 This episode invites you to consider the parts of who you are that don't need quick fixes or simple solutions. They don't need a quick pat on the back. They presence that isn't going away. A knowledge that you aren't alone in this. You need held. There are parts of who you are that have given everything they can give, but you can't overcome it. You need healed. There are parts of who a...

Matthew 7:12-14; Luke 13:22-35 This episode explores the ways that the Golden Rule (treat others the way you want to be treated) is quite possibly one of the most difficult things to actually live, even though we talk about it as if it were super basic and easy. It looks at how Jesus speaks into this experience. Credits & Sources: Tim Geddert, David Garland, Brad Jersak, N.T. Wright, Brian Zah...

Luke 13:18-21 Is there anything more going on in this universe than meaningless particles and atoms just bouncing into once another and colliding, hurtling through space? If the rule and reign of God is actually A THING in this universe, how do you know it? What is the experience like when God becomes REAL to you? To what can we compare it? This episode wrestles with a parable that Jesus told, and...

Luke 13:10-17 The tricky thing about your wounded and protective parts is that sometimes you don't even know which is which, or where the pain is coming from? All you know is that things are not exactly "working". This episode explores the way that Jesus engages your wounded and protective parts. Credits & Sources: Joel Green, Richard Lowery, Benjamin Foreman, Kenneth Bailey, Justo Gonzalez, G...

Luke 12:54-13:9 Our brains are incredible at recognizing patterns, reading signs, and interpreting events. Our brains figure out shortcuts. It's what makes us incredible!!! It's how we master skills. And it makes us vulnerable. In between every person and event you encounter, and whatever you say or do next, your brain is interpreting....and none of us interpret everything correctly. What does Jes...

Luke 12:35-53 Experiences of burnout exist along a continuum, from low-grade to severe. Is burnout a "you" problem, or an "us" problem? How do you cope when you feel trapped in a situation that feels like it set you up to fail? Most importantly, what might Jesus say or do in the midst of our experiences of burnout? Credits & Sources: Luise Schottroff, David Garland, Kenneth Bailey, Justo Gonza...

Luke 12:22-34 What good does it do to tell a worrier not to worry? Are they now free, or are they now thinking about worrying....or worrying about worrying....or feeling guilty about worrying....or worry about feeling guilty about worrying? If worry is one of the most universal experiences of people across planet earth, did Jesus simply shrug his shoulders and say, "Don't worry." (as if that would...

Luke 12:13-21 We experience emotional triangles all the time. Sometimes they complicate our life. Sometimes we think they uncomplicate our life. We involve a third person when the relationship becomes tricky. Sometimes we are the third person being involved. People tried to pull Jesus into triangles too. They tried to get him to tell someone else what to do. They tried to pressure him to TAKE A SI...