Beyond Sunday

In this, the last Beyond Sunday Podcast, Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul reflect on the history of Beyond Sunday’s start as a blog post on the Maranatha website, its transition to a weekly devotional and then its final iteration as a podcast. We also reflected on Matthew 28, the passage from Easter Sunday, looking at the three sections: The Truth, The Lie and The Commission, and how these three impact us today. Some of the resources mentioned in the podcast include: Cold Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Werner Wallace; Evidence That Demands a Verdict By Josh McDowell and Sean McDowell; and The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel.

Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman once again go Beyond Sunday, to look a little deeper into Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where He announces His kingship. In this episode we explore how people then, and now, fail to see Jesus as who He is. We also look at the meaning of why He is riding on a donkey and not a war horse, and the importance of coming to faith in Jesus now, not later!

Taking up the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), Pastor Paul and Josh explore the idea of hope in time of judgement, faithful living as a result of belief in Jesus (rather than a set of things to do in order to prove worthiness of salvation), and discovering and using our gifts (talents) for God. Check out these resources: Greg Koukl’s www.str.org, Kevin DeJong’s book, Just Do Something and Zach Eswine’s book The Imperfect Pastor, Discover your gifts survey: FaithAliveResources.org/DiscoverYourGiftsSurvey.

This past Sunday, Josh Sweetman preached on several verses from Lamentations. We too are living through a season of lament, not only due to the pandemic, but also as a response to sin in us, in others, in this world. Joined by Pastor Paul, together they discuss lament, sin, salvation, hope and the sovereign and forever reign of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour!

After challenging Jesus’ authority, Jesus challenges the Pharisees by forcing them to consider that tax collectors and prostitutes were entering the kingdom of heaven before them. This week Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul go Beyond Sunday to explore the meaning of this passage and how it applies to us today.

Episode 26

Why did Jesus curse a fig tree so that it withered immediately? What does the fig tree represent? What is the correlation between faith and fruit, and how does fruit provide assurance? In Episode 26, Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman explore the answers to these questions and more!

Once again, Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul go beyond Sunday, diving into the Word of God. Concluding the six-week series on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we discuss the topics of judgement, asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer, and what we are praying for, and giving consideration to the Golden Rule and the narrow gate and the narrow way.

In episode 24, Pastor Paul and Josh Sweetman dive into Matthew 6:19-34. Most of our conversation focused on anxiety and worry, and Jesus’ command, “do not worry.” Such a command can seem simple, or even simplistic. But when taken in the context of Jesus’ loving care and provision, it is the right response. We also explored what kind of attitude toward earthly treasures Christians ought to have.

Welcome to Beyond Sunday Podcast episode 23! This week Josh Sweetman and Pastor Paul Van Stralen tackle the second set of “You’ve heard it said… but I say to you…” statements by Jesus. Covering, divorce, oaths, retaliation, loving our enemies and being perfect as God is perfect, we engage with many questions people ask about our faith in Jesus Christ! This week’s episode references the CRCNA’s statement on Divorce and Remarriage, the Lord’s Day 37 of the Heidelberg Catechism as well as several articles of the Belgic Confession. Check it out!

“You’ve heard it said… But I say to you…” in his sermon on the mount, Jesus raises the bar of expectation for keeping God’s commandments. Our temptation is to make less of God’s commands, by making more of ourselves, thinking we’re better than we really are. Jesus gives us a dose of reality and tells it like it is! This week Josh Sweetman (Maranatha’s Youth Director) and Pastor Paul Van Stralen (Maranatha’s Lead Pastor) wrestle with Jesus’ teaching. We cannot live according to God’s law, but Jesus did! And Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, enables us to live in His righteousness and power!