Deeper

Self-control in our spiritual lives is very similar to that necessary when starting a workout routine. How do we start good spiritual disciplines in a way that helps us sustain it long-term? 

Gentleness is a super important filter for all our actions, but it's not one we like to use. Our culture tells us that gentleness is weakness, but Jesus talks often about the subversive power of gentle words and actions. Has gentleness ever solved systemic injustices? Is there ever a time to use a "whip" (metaphorically or literally) in defense of the faith or in an effort to bring Christ's kingdom? 

Reliability (or Faithfulness, depending on what term you want to use) is easily lost and difficult to gain. How can we recover lost reliability? 

In what feels like an especially charged election season, it can be very easy to get caught up in our politics and forget that we are Christ-followers first and foremost. So, in this special episode, Dan and Austin talk about the mindset to bring into our research on candidates, Christlike responses to our candidates of choice winning and loosing the elections, where we can find hope when politics let us down, and how we should treat people who vote differently than we do. 

Brief apology: There were some errors during production that resulted in some inconsistent audio speeds. Though we did our best to rectify, there's only so much we can do short of re-recording the whole episode. Hopefully it is a minor distraction at worst. 

Sometimes we get so caught up in our defense of the faith that we can do more harm than good. How do we know when to engage our apologetic mind? And how can we tell if our generosity is really self serving? 

When we are told to make every effort to live at peace, it means CONSTANTLY be making every effort. ANd not just with people we like, but with people we dislike and disagree with. What can we do to make sure we are relying on the Peace of God more than the peace this world offers? 

Joy is so much more than mere happiness, it's a whole lifestyle and attitude. What can we do if we are struggling to find joy? How do we recover if we've lost all our hope? 

Pastor Eric Everhart sat down with Austin and Dan for his first ever Deeper podcast, where we asked him about freedom, uncomfortable love and botany (briefly). 

On this special "double feature" episode, Austin and Dan talk about the last two weeks' sermons! They discuss dangers to salvation and the challenge of underestimating our spiritual resumes, and then turn to our "Danger Zones" and ways we can identify dangeorus situations before we find ourselves caught up in them. 

When we go through big challenges, we often find ourselves in similar seasons as Noah did - seasons of darkness, hope, planning for the future and an arrived destination. Though we aren't at our final destination as believers, we are given tools to navigate these seasons better. What are they and how can we use them well?