The Bible has little to say about deacons, and yet they play a crucial role in the life of a local church. How should we understand the role of a deacon and what does that look like in the church. Can anyone be a deacon? Do they have any governing authority? Are woman allowed to be deacons?

Recently, there was some online church drama featuring a sword swallower, a men's conference, and Mark Driscoll. In this episode, Mike and Nathan talk through some of the details of this controversy in order to best understand how the church deals with attractional events and public church discipline.

How do we know someone is qualified to be a pastor? Is there a divine feeling or simply a desire for the office? What does the role of a pastor look like? In this episode of Focused on Christ, Mike and Nathan discuss the role of an elder and why it matters to the local church.

Teaching on Elders and Deacons: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5v3wwpWU9EfSjD4T3_iiCPqhEMM6k-7h

What leadership roles do we see in the Bible? How are we supposed to understand the roles of apostles, prophets, and teachers in light of God's full revelation. In this episode of Focused on Christ, Mike and Nathan discuss some of the key roles God ordained for guiding his people. Are they all still active today and what part do they play in the local church?

God has established authority for our good, yet there are times that authority can be abused. This is why Jonathan Leeman described authority as God's "good and dangerous gift." In this episode, Mike and Nathan discuss both the benefits and the struggles of authority in the local church.

There seems to be an increase in people who confess true biblical faith in Christ alone, yet struggle with assurance of salvation. If I am a new creation, why do I still struggle with sin? How can I know that I am saved? In this episode, Pastors Nathan and Mike discuss what it means to be "in Christ" and why they important biblical reality is a means of confidence, hope and joy.

Stories of heros and superheros are replete with men and women who bring about justice and peace to a broken world. This desire for world change is real and while Superman may help in the comics, God has chosen His church as the means to bring about incredible change in our world - but it looks very different than the movies. In this discussion, Pastors Nathan and Mike talk about the churches role in evangelism and how that relates to transforming the brokeness of our world by way of the Gospel.

One of the purposes of the church is to edify followers of Christ by way of sacrificial love and service. While that may be easy to say, what happens when we're dealing with individuals who drive us crazy or have offended us?

One of the purposes of the church is to exalt God, but do we truly understand what this means and how we are to accomplish it? What are some of the issues keeping individuals and churches from this task and do we see many churches today succeeding. In this episode, Pastors Mike and Nathan discuss some of the misunderstandings about the church and how we should view the purpose of God's people.

#bible #jesus #church #gospel #exalt #glory #god #ecclesia #satan #hope #spirituality

Song of Solomon is a very detailed love poem in the Bible that many adults ignore and kids read through and snicker. What does this beautiful story of courtship and marriage have to do with Christ? Is this book of the Bible just a manual for intimacy or is it something more? In this episode, Pastors Nathan and Mike talk candidly about this often misunderstood book of the Bible.