Cultivated

On today's episode of Cultivated, Zach takes some time to examine another theologian in the "Know Your Theologian" series. This episode centers on the life and work of Dr. Herman Bavinck, a Dutch Reformed theologian who most notably was Abraham Kuyper's successor at Free University. Bavinck's classic Reformed Dogmatics just became fully translated in English only a mere 7 years ago. What did Bavinck contribute to our understanding of the Christian faith? Find that out along with key resource recommendations on today's episode.

The discipleship model of Epaphroditus is drawn out by Paul to close the second chapter of Philippians. In this passage we get to see the honorable qualities of Epaphroditus and his ministry. What does Paul mean when he calls Epaphroditus a "brother," a "worker," and a "soldier?" Zach spends some time discussing the relationships between Epaphroditus and us, and ultimately, Epaphroditus and Christ.

As a pastor once said, "Each Christian should have three things–A Timothy, a Paul, and a Barnabas." Who are the Timothys, Pauls, and Barnabas' in your life? As we dig into Paul's mentor relationship with Timothy near the end of Philippians 2, Charles helps us examine the characteristics of true discipleship.

This is a sermon from 1857 in which Charles Spurgeon preached on Philippians 1:21. He addresses what it means to live for Christ, to die with gain, and why and how we can improve in these matters today.

We are familiar with the passage in Matthew 5 where Jesus calls his disciples "lights of the world." But how does that look practically in our everyday lives? Charles walks us through Philippians 2:14-16 where Paul also recognizes our "lighting" of the "crooked and twisted generation" we live in, and how we walk in that attitude.

Paul continues in his letter to the Philippians, drawing off of Christ's example of humility and showing the church and believers everywhere that we obey God on the basis of fear and trembling. What does this fear look like? And where do we get the ability to work and will for His good? Zach unpacks these two verses in this week's episode.

In reading Scripture, it is easy to skip over transitional words and phrases. But when we step back and connect the dots, we see that words such as "therefore," "so that," and "to the" are helping us give the acts of the Bible purpose. As we continue our study of Philippians, Charles outlines these three words or phrases from Philippians 2:9-11 that indicate Christ's ultimate purpose.

Most Christians do not deny that God is powerful, that He is Creator, and that everything happens by His will. But when it comes to someone like megachurch pastor and celebrity Joel Osteen, can we honestly say that God put such a person in that position? If God is for His glory above everything else, how could He let Joel Osteen preach on Sunday mornings, and let such people sit under his false teaching? Zach and Cody are here to discuss the sovereignty of God, how God ordains and uses preachers like Joel Osteen, and why going on a cruise ship with Joel would be kind of fun.

Are we doing a better job on mission in our backyards, or overseas? Certainly a multi-faceted questions with a lot of discussion points to think about. In today's roundtable, Zach and Cody take some time to discuss their experiences on the mission field, what they see in how the Church is approaching domestic and foreign missions, and how we can improve both of these areas of ministry.

In coming to one of the most popular passages in the book of Philippians, Zach sets up how to live in gospel humility. To do that, we have to focus less on the vicious cycle of application and start focusing on the theology of the Incarnation. That will be the spark to our understanding of the importance of living humble lives. Today we'll talk about the purest form of humility in the example of Christ.