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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology – the fourth in our “Wild About Jesus” series – we’re going to talk about how Apostle Paul compared the Christ to the dude who started that whole fig-leaves-for-pants trend when he referred to our Savior as the “Second Adam.” Which sounds like he was casting Jesus as a sort of new and improved “version” of mankind, doesn’t it? Like adding Christological chorizo to queso or something to make it better. But that’s not Paul’s point at all, y’all. Instead, his systematic compare-and-contrast language leads to the theological truism that Jesus was God’s original gameplan to redeem humanity all along. We’re going to be pounding nails to shore up some awesome doctrinal scaffolding today y’all, so please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or trying not to fall over while peeling off a pair of Spanx in the narrow stall of a public restroom, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us. 

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology – the third in our “Wild About Jesus” series – we’re going to talk about the fact that Jesus is a proven historical figure. In fact, there’s overwhelming evidence about the work and person of Jesus Christ from numerous non-Christian sources from the earliest centuries of the Common Era! In his book, The Reason For God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, pastor and theologian Dr. Tim Keller writes about a man who told a pastor he’d be happy to believe in Christianity if the pastor could give him a watertight argument for its legitimacy. The pastor replied, "What if God hasn’t given us a watertight argument, but rather a watertight person.” Dr. Keller goes on to say that faith and certainty grow as we get to know more about Jesus – who He is and what He did. If someone you love has serious doubts about the historicity of Jesus and you feel like you’ve hit a dead end when it comes to talking with them about Christianity, today’s conversation might help you re-engage with them. So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or changing the oil on your John Deere, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Ally, Dr. Howard and me! 

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology – the second in our “Wild About Jesus” series – we’re going to dive deep into the Christological doctrine concerning our Savior’s absolute deity and His perfect humanity, which is summed up in the term – hypostatic union. That fancy phrase dates all the way back to the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD, where it was determined that the Son of God was of the exact same substance as God the Father, as well as being indisputably human simultaneously! That despite our Redeemer’s habit of hugging on lepers and hanging out with disreputable sinners so as to save them, His compassionate relationship with flawed humanity in no way meant Jesus was a lesser form or diluted derivative of Yaweh. Dr. J.I. Packer says it best: He took humanity without the loss of deity. This truism is a foundational wall of biblical orthodoxy, y’all so please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or hand-painting quail eggs, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Ally, Dr. Howard and me!

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology – which is the very first episode of our second season so please forgive Ally, Dr. Howard and me if we sound gob-smacked with grateful joy but we just can’t help it because we’re over the moon that we get to continue this adventure with y’all - we’re going to begin an 8-week series that revolves around our Redeemer so we’re calling it “Wild About Jesus.” We’re gonna put the “Christ” into “Christocentric” baby! Now for those of you who’ve just recently joined this spiritual shindig, please know our goal here on Back Porch Theology is to dive into substantive biblical exegesis and spiritual formation but not be too stuffy in the process. That’s why we call it Back Porch Theology – because while you can hang with your friends on the front porch, those places tend to be all neat and tidy in light of their visibility to neighbors and passersby. But the Back Porch is a place where you can totally relax with your closest friends and talk and rock to your heart’s content. Plus, remember the Greek root words of theology are theos, which refers to God, and logos, which refers to words or conversation. So theology was never meant to be a boring, academic pursuit, it was meant to be lived! The bottom line is, here at BPT we’re all about having honest, biblically sound conversations about God, punctuated by lots of stories and a belly laugh or two - it's a pretty safe place to learn more about our Creator Redeemer and hopefully lean more fully into your relationship with Him. So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or cutting your own bangs, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!

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Back Porch Theology Goes Home-Christian Tour to Israel-March 21-31, 2023

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to sift back through the rapture and rupture of our first year of podcasting – we can hardly believe this is our 52nd week of BPT! We’re going to revisit some really cool theological concepts like orthodoxy, orthopraxy and orthopathy and I will surely mispronounce a multi-syllabic term or two because if you’ve spent even a short amount of time hanging out on the proverbial porch with us, you know that bloopers are a big part of our repertoire! But there’s a biblical method to our happy madness today as well, because in Revelation 12, the evil one is depicted as an angry dragon because our Savior’s sword is poking out of his nasty, scaly chest so that lying lizard knows his time is short. Revelation 12 also explains that the devil is defeated by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. In other words, when we talk about the good things God has done and is doing, we effectively plunge King Jesus’ sword deeper into his evil chest! Therefore, Ally and Dr. Howard and I are going to thoroughly enjoy some lizard torture today, because we’re gob-smacked by the grace God has lavished on us, as well as the gift of community He's given us with y’all and we can’t wait to TEST-TI-FY all about it! So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or doing the Electric Slide with your small group, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!

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@BackPorchTheologyPodcast
@LisaDHarper
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Back Porch Theology is sponsored in part by Dwell Bible App. Save 30% off Dwell for Life at DwellApp.io/Lisa Harper. 

Back Porch Theology Goes Home-Christian Tour to Israel-March 21-31, 2023 

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology Ally and I are beginning 2023 with fresh resolve to lean more fully into the love of Jesus Christ! Our goal is to grow in our devotion to God, as well as to have more wisdom regarding how to prune that which (and those who) diverts or distracts us from Him. According to recent polls, losing weight is a perennial top ten New Year’s resolution and I hope to drop a few pounds myself…but man, how much more fulfilling would it be to drop ten or fifteen pounds of toxic, emotional baggage, y’all? So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or still peeling off the Spanx from that New Year’s Eve party, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard, Belle and me!

Follow Us On Instagram!

@BackPorchTheologyPodcast
@LisaDHarper
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Back Porch Theology is sponsored in part by Dwell Bible App. Save 30% off Dwell for Life at DwellApp.io/Lisa Harper. 

Back Porch Theology Goes Home-Christian Tour to Israel-March 21-31, 2023

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to dive into the joy-saturated stories of Anna and Simeon, two geriatric saints who never gave up hope that they’d meet the Messiah before they met their Maker. And we’re going to compare and contrast the solo Simeon warbled after meeting 7-week-old baby Jesus with Mary’s Magnificat – the gorgeous praise chorus she sang after Gabriel gave her the shock of a lifetime by proclaiming that although she hadn’t graduated from high school yet, Yaweh had chosen her to carry the Christ! You’re gonna be so stoked when you find out how those two ancient songs reveal the supernaturally comforting Trinitarian-nature of that first Advent! This episode might just help banish your post-Christmas blues better than chips and queso, y’all – which is a huge endorsement coming from me. So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or secretly dragging your Christmas tree to some vacationing neighbor’s backyard burn pile, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard and me!

Follow Us On Instagram!

@BackPorchTheologyPodcast
@LisaDHarper
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Back Porch Theology is sponsored in part by Dwell Bible App. Save 30% off Dwell for Life at DwellApp.io/Lisa Harper. 

Back Porch Theology Goes Home-Christian Tour to Israel-March 21-31, 2023

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to peruse the 400 Silent Years between the Old Testament and New Testament – which is formally called the Intertestamental Period – when God’s voice was not recorded. It’s tempting for us to associate silence with sadness, even badness, especially during seasons like Christmas when it seems the world around us is in an emotionally noisy, celebratory mood. However, biblical narrative kicks our assumption to the curb because over and over again in Scripture silence is the prelude to a miracle. Plus, learning to trust God’s sovereign mercy while waiting in the quiet often led to a wonder that far exceeded our ancestor’s faith. Abraham and Sarah became parents to Issac – the beginning of the theocracy of Israel – when Abe was 100 years old and surely at least a smidge deaf in one ear; Issac and Rebekah prayed for children for two decades before giving birth to those infamous twins, Jacob and Esau; Manoah and his wife gave birth to Samson when they were so old, they were on daily statins and wearing bifocals; and when Elizabeth got pregnant with John the Baptist – the human symbolism of Christmas Eve because he was the forerunner of the Christ – she was advanced in age, meaning she’d spent long seasons wondering if God was immune to her anguish. The deepest hope often grows in the darkest places. So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or bridling a reindeer, of course – and come hang out on the porch with Alli, Dr. Howard and me!

Follow Us On Instagram!

@BackPorchTheologyPodcast
@LisaDHarper
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Back Porch Theology is sponsored in part by Dwell Bible App. Save 30% off Dwell for Life at DwellApp.io/Lisa Harper. 

Back Porch Theology Goes Home-Christian Tour to Israel-March 21-31, 2023

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During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to explore a passage in Luke and expose the awe-deprivation that has permeated modern Christendom. Then we’re going to take off our spiritual Spanx and have a real and raw conversation about how we can recover the wonder we used to have at Christmas when we were absolutely undone by the truism of Immanuel – of God. With. Us. Remember when your eyes welled up whenever you sang, “Hark the Herald Angels Sing, GLORY to the newborn king?” What happened to the starry eyes we used to have only for Jesus? One of my spiritual mentors, Pastor and Professor Scotty Smith, wryly observed that far too many Christ-followers are like Cinderella with amnesia. Some of us have forgotten that believing in Jesus swings the door wide open to a glorious adventure and mystery greater than our imaginations could possibly conjure up! We. Have. Been written into the lead role of an epic, divine love story called Christianity, y’all – which as Sir C.S. Lewis exclaimed: “Is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.” Our jaws should still be hanging open over the inscrutable fact that the only true God who CREATED THE WORLD WITH HIS WORD condescended from glory to make His grace accessible to us! Today is our wake-up call to WONDER… so please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or trying to superimpose your mother-in-law’s head on that dancing digital elf, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!

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Back Porch Theology is sponsored in part by Dwell Bible App. Save 30% off Dwell for Life at DwellApp.io/Lisa Harper.

Visit donate.accessmore.com and give today to help fund more episodes and shows like this.

During today’s conversation on Back Porch Theology we’re going to talk about some of the less prominent features – the “tucked away treasures” in the Christmas story that illustrate the fact that nothing and no one is insignificant to God. Even the quietest - often overlooked - details of this love story we call the Bible bellow the attentive compassion of our Kinsman Redeemer! From Joseph’s gentle and generous assent to becoming an adoptive father, to the astral projection that compelled a crew of wise men to pack their bags and begin a 1,000 mile trek to meet a foreign toddler, to the royal specificity of an ancient substance called frankincense that’s still royally pricey today if you’re one of those passionate essential-oilers, the minutia of Christmas was miraculous. And while they weren’t loud, blow-your-hair-back kind of supernatural stuff, the finer points of the birth narrative we’re perusing today changed the course of history. Reminds me of what a wise dude named Zechariah said a long time ago, “Don’t despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin.” If you’re feeling unseen, irrelevant, or unappreciated today, be encouraged this one’s especially for you! So please grab a cup of coffee and your Bible – unless you’re driving or untangling Christmas lights in the attic, of course – and come hang out on the porch with us!

Follow Us On Instagram!

@BackPorchTheologyPodcast
@LisaDHarper
@AllisonAllen
@Jim.Howard.Co

Back Porch Theology is sponsored in part by Dwell Bible App. Save 30% off Dwell for Life at DwellApp.io/Lisa Harper.