Pastor and author Dustin Benge framed the theme of this passage with these words - “The world is not falling apart.  It’s falling together into God’s sovereign plan.” God is in control, no matter what your circumstances in life may be. No matter what your circumstances are, God is sovereign over them, and the time he has placed you in for this moment is a gift - And in eternity, He will set right everything that has gone wrong.

The theme for the episode is "“True joy comes not from our striving, but from God’s giving.”  We so often get caught up in experiencing the gifts God gives us, we forget the Giver.  There’s a place in your heart that only God Himself can occupy. Knowing Jesus is the most important thing, the one thing, the good portion. I John 4:19 says: “We love because he first loved us”. We love God, because God gave us the gift of Christ on the cross – We love God because He gave us a gift that won’t fade away – He gave us Himself.

Life is short.  Life is repetitive.  Life can be difficult. Ecclesiastes teaches us that life is just a breath.  Knowing that, all of our work and efforts and striving can leave us feeling empty - which is exactly what the writer intends.  This book compels us to understand the emptiness of our short, repetitive, difficult lives, so that we can fill ourselves with eternal truths.  Empty cups aren't a bad thing - They're just waiting to be filled.

So how do we approach this life from a Biblical perspective? How do we "fill our cups"? Solomon, the writer of Ecclesiastes encourages us with this overarching theme -  “Don’t just think in the now – because now will be gone soon. Focus on forever. That’s what really matters. Remember God in everything you do. Enjoy life, and enjoy God.”  

Paul spends the first 11 chapters of The Book of Romans explaining the Gospel, how men might be saved, and the theological implications of this. He closes that portion of his letter by bursting into an explosion of praise. In the text, doctrine blooms into devotion; theology (what we teach) gives birth to doxology (an expression of worship); and Paul’s passion for truth is laid bare for us all to see – Paul is passionate for one thing and one thing alone – the glory of God, as expressed in the person of Jesus Christ. In these lines, Paul gives us distinct reasons why God is of inherent value, full of glory, and worthy to be worshiped.

In the Book of Matthew, Jesus asked His disciples a poignant question - "Who do you say that I am?"  In this episode of Fort of the Broad, we let Scripture speak for Scripture to answer the most important question we could ever answer - a question that not only impacts how we live, but our eternal disposition, as well.

John 21 is the epilogue to The Book of John, sort of a post-credits scene that gives the viewer insight into what's next for Christ's followers both corporately, and as individuals.  The text gives us a portrait of what the church will look like, and what disciples are called to do - "Feed Jesus' sheep." Frederick Bruner wrote , “Jesus entrusts very human people with his mission, people just like Peter; namely, problematic human beings: errant, sin-marred, but sincerely repentant human beings who confess their sins and want to be real Christians. Our Gospel is teaching us on its final page that Jesus takes people who qualify exactly as much as Peter does; people who have failed; sometimes, quite awfully.” The thing that qualifies Peter and people like us to feed Jesus’ lambs, to be a part of Jesus’ mission to the world to transform the lives of other problematic, errant, sin-marred human beings is looking inside yourself and understanding you have nothing to offer – but what you have, you’ll give.

In this episode of "Fork of the Broad", we look at the resurrected Jesus' encounter with His disciples at Galilee - The disciples have toiled all night and failed miserably in their efforts, but when they encounter Christ, everything changes.  We've all experienced these "misty moments" in life, when we've experienced failure, and we aren't sure what we should do next.  In breaking down the text, we see instructions on what we should do when we don't know what we should do.

In this episode of "Fork of the Broad", we discuss John 20:19-29 - The story of Jesus' meeting with the disciples and "Doubting Thomas" after His resurrection from the dead.  In this encounter, Jesus offers proof of the peace with God He came to deliver - the scars in His hands; a purpose in life - a story to tell about Him; and He offered them a place we can take our doubts, anxieties, and fears - We can bring them all to Jesus. Jesus' death and resurrection offers us deep meaning and security in life! Enjoy listening!

John MacArthur wrote of the resurrection, “You need to understand that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ is not just a feature of Christianity, it is the main event." As Christians, we hear lots of sermons on the cross, but outside of Easter Sunday, we tend to place much more emphasis on the cross than we do the resurrection.   As we prepare to delve into John 19-20, the burial and resurrection of Jesus, we dive deep and let Scripture speak for Scripture to explain the eternal and temporal ramifications of the resurrection of Christ.

In this episode of "Fork of The Broad", we explore one of the cornerstones of our faith - The crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  The cross not only represents the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy, but also the finished work of atonement through the blood of Christ.  In ways that God only can, He takes something tragic and evil (the death of Christ), and uses it for good (the salvation of multitudes).  Moses begged to see the glory of God in his time, but in Christ, we see what Hebrews 1:3 describes as "the radiance of the glory of God" - the brightest shining example of the goodness, mercy, and grace of our Lord.