In Greg and RD's season 2 finale, they hosted a live Q&A, where they answered their listener's questions. Below are the times for all of the questions in this episode.

2:20 - How do I share the Gospel with someone who has walked away from Christianity?

6:15 - What does the Bible say about marijuana?

11:20 - What does the Bible say about cremation?

14:05 - Does Greg have a history degree? How does Fellowship handle Biblical interpretation?

17:55 - Is the God of the Bible different than the god of Islam and Judaism?

21:58 - What is your favorite verse / what role does Scripture memorization play in your personal walk?

24:28 - If your child were starting to study the Bible on their own, what book would you recommend?

28:13 - What are the Biblical rules about marriage after divorce?

32:20 - What is the definition of legalism?

33:40 - How do you all handle conspiracy theories, particularly with COVID-19?

42:55 - Can you talk about Calvinism?

45:50 - If God has chosen who will be saved, why share the Gospel?

47:30 - Can you pray about something too much?

48:30 - How do I balance generosity and stewardship?

52:28 - Are there rewards based on works in Heaven? What are the different levels?

54:37 - What should my quiet time with the Lord look like?

58:02 - How will I be happy in Heaven if not everyone I love is there?

1:06:05 - Can you offer advice on someone who wants to pursue ministry, and what were your experiences with demonic dreams when you pursued ministry?

1:09:10 - How should we balance the tension of God being in control vs just doing things?

1:13:45 - How do we handle Christians being blamed for everything politically?

1:15:20 - How do you approach people who want to disregard the "difficult" parts of the Bible?

1:19:30 - What do you think about people claiming a prophetic word for someone they don't know?

1:23:00 - Amusing questions from Alex Jordan

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Because exile is one of the top themes of the Bible, RD and Greg explore this theme in today's episode. RD starts by sharing that exile does not take long to appear in the Bible; the first mention is Genesis 3. Greg jumps in by sharing exactly what they mean when they say exile, then discusses the exile of Abraham and Moses. RD asserts that these stories show that exile is an integral part of the journey that God has us on, in order to better hear Him. Greg reminds listeners that even Jesus went through exile.

These examples of exile in the Bible lead RD and Greg to talk about how we as Christians are exiles in this world because we are waiting to be reunited with Christ.

Greg and RD then spends some time talking about the Babylonian captivity before conveying how important exile can be, and what God might want to teach you through your exile. RD declares that exile is the grace of wrath because even in the midst of God banishing Adam and Eve from the Garden, there is hope (in Jesus) that one day we will be reunited with God.

From there, Greg and RD tie in their discussion on exile to what our world is going through right now. The two pastors wrap up this episode by sharing how exile can be a gift that God gives in order to bring awareness to His glory.

For more information on this podcast, visit podcast.fellowshipknox.org 

RD and Greg will be doing a livestream episode (most likely via Zoom) at the end of May. To submit your questions for this episode, email [email protected] 

RD kicks off the episode by sharing what evangelism actually is. Greg joins the conversation by talking about what Jesus says about Himself because as Greg and RD affirm, you have to believe in Jesus and who He said He was in order to evangelize to others. The starting place has to be your own faith, both pastors communicate, because the Holy Spirit has to be the one to guide you through evangelism.

RD then moves into a discussion of the different ways and people you will evangelize to, because learning people and being aware of your specific relationship with them, he says, is important to understand before witnessing to them.

Greg brings up how to present a vision of God's law in a time when so many people's ruling ethic is "Well that may be true for you, but it's not true for me." RD adds that we have to find a way to approach people who don't believe in God's laws, because using the argument that you just have to believe just because it's from God won't work for most non-Believers. If someone isn't a Christian, RD says, then they probably won't understand why the Bible is authoritative.

Greg references Mere Christianity as a way to show that every person is born with a moral "ought." He goes on to say that you can start evangelizing to someone based on this "ought." RD then responds by sharing that everyone needs to fill in the gap of their morality somehow, and evangelism is showing that person how to fill in that gap with Christianity. RD also asserts that it's not your job to convert someone, that's the Holy Spirit's job. Your job is to plant that seed and help them down that path with the Holy Spirit. Greg discloses that when we are sharing the Gospel with someone, we have to appeal to their sense of justice and show how God is not a "Santa Claus God" who lets things slide but instead is the epitome of justice, as well as mercy.

Greg and RD then spend some time talking practical things to do before and during evangelism, like studying the Bible and books about the Bible, and praying in the moment.

In closing, Greg brings up a quote by Tim Keller sharing that we are worse than we think we are, but Jesus is better than we could have ever hoped for.

For more information on this podcast, visit podcast.fellowshipknox.org 

RD and Greg will be doing a livestream episode (most likely via Zoom) at the end of May. To submit your questions for this episode, email [email protected] 

RD begins this new Bible series by giving some background on the book of Matthew before he and Greg dive into more detail. Greg then spends time talking about The Five Discourses (which is how the structure of Matthew is built), most notably the Sermon on the Mount. RD responds by stressing that the Sermon on the Mount, all of Matthew, and even all of the Bible shouldn’t be read just through the lens of what we need or should be doing to follow God, but also through the lens of what God has done for us through Jesus.

From there, Greg shares a little about the Olivet Discourse. Because this Discourse can be confusing, RD suggests that people studying it and all of Matthew might benefit from a study Bible.

Greg also brings up that some people get confused by the Gospels because they are all different from each other and feature different stories and timelines. However, Greg compares this to an analogy of four different people writing a book about why Abraham Lincoln was a great president; each of the writers are going to have different reasons or different stories to prove their points, but they all have the same subject and all agree that Lincoln was a great president. Greg brings that up because he says that the author of Matthew was trying to show that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, but the other authors of the Gospel are not showing that aspect of Jesus, so they are going to tell the story a little differently.

To end, Greg and RD spend some time looking at how the Gospel of Matthew ends and how Matthew talks about the Kingdom of God. 

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When we as a society need to be coming together more than ever, we are instead experiencing a culture war. While there has always been a culture divide in our country, it's more difficult to handle right now in the midst of COVID-19, which is why Greg and RD decided to talk about this in this week's episode.

To begin with, Greg gives some of the history of culture wars and discusses how we as Believers need to be thinking and walking through this. RD jumps in by agreeing that the church needs to rise and not pick a side, but define and redefine things, and take the posture of a servant. He also reminds listeners that the ultimate war is not between our culture disagreements, but between Satan and the Kingdom of God; we need to remember who the Enemy actually is.

In thinking about this, Greg expresses that we need to be loving our neighbors as ourselves more than we probably ever will again in our lifetime. RD concurs and says that you don't have to pick a side in the best way to handle COVID-19; you can think it's important to save the economy, and you can think it's important to have everyone stay at home. As long as we are first and foremost loving our neighbors in our actions, RD says, that's what's most important. Greg adds that it's in our nature to say that we have to choose between one thing or another, but that's not always the case.

In closing, Greg and RD emphasize that our actions have to be reflective of the fruit of the Spirit. 

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Greg and RD begin this episode by talking about the cross and its centrality of the Gospel, and what actually happens on the cross. RD first begins by discussing how the Gospels slow down during the chapters of Holy Week. Greg jumps in by explaining the Jewish timeline. RD then takes time to describe Jesus' actions during his last days and that Jesus knew what was going to happen to Him, but went through with it anyways.

This leads Greg to expound on the structure of sacrifices in the Jewish lifestyle, and RD points out why Jesus had to die in order to bridge the gap between us and God, and how Jesus declares, "It is finished" when He died. Greg then dives into talking about what actually happened on the cross, referencing James Beilby and Paul Eddy's book "The Nature of the Atonement: Four Views" as a great tool to research more on your own.

From there, Greg and RD spend some time looking at different theories about atonement. The first two theories are penal substitution and the ransom theory of the atonement. Greg lets listeners know that he personally struggles with the ransom theory because it teaches that Christ's death was a ransom paid to Satan. RD agrees and calls the ransom theory problematic, and references the Christus Victor as a better theory. He also references "The Cross of Christ" as a great book on this subject. Another theory that Greg and RD discuss is the moral influence theory.

Greg and RD wrap up this episode by talking more about sin and how Jesus suffered for us on the cross, and how we need to sit in the weight of that on Friday and Saturday.

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We live in a culture where Bibles can be found practically everywhere, but so many Believers don't really know how to study the Bible, or where to start. Greg starts the episode by comparing studying the Bible to being a gold miner; you can pick up your Bible and read here and there and find nuggets, but if you really want to get to the gold, you have to dig. RD joins in by reading from Psalm 1, and talking about how we expect a certain emotional experience when we read the Bible, which may not happen the way we think it will. He encourages people to read the Bible expecting to see God, regardless of the emotional experience you might have. Greg then references the season one Deep Dive that he and RD did about the Bible.

From there, RD starts a conversation about reading the Bible as you would any other book, and how important that is to see how everything connects. Greg agrees, and says that you have to learn how to read the Bible the same way you learn how to study in school; you didn't read PhD-level books when you were in third grade, you had to grow and study and learn how to understand that level. The same is true with the Bible, and Greg encourages newer Bible readers to start in the New Testament. RD also encourages people who don't like to read to still read the Bible; just because you're not a reader isn't a valid excuse to not read the Bible, he says.

Greg and RD then references several great resources to learning how to read the Bible, such as one by Matt Smethurst and one by Jen Wilkin. Along with these resources, RD asserts that while it's important to study the Bible on your own, it's also important to be studying the Bible with other Believers.

In studying the Bible, Greg explains the difference between inductive (starting from a specific thing and working your way up) and deductive (starting from big principles and working your way down or out). He says that it's important to understand the difference to know when you're bringing in your own morality or worldview to the texts of the Bible; you have to let the Bible set your definitions and standards. RD concurs and adds that we also need to be aware of the context in which the passage was written, and remember that the Holy Spirit didn't write the Bible to be confusing.

Greg takes the conversation to discussing all of the different translations of the Bible. RD mentions that he thinks the ESV and NIV are two of the best versions to read, and Greg asserts that a study Bible can be extremely helpful, especially for cross-referencing. Greg also references great commentary books on the Bible by Leon Morris, and RD suggests The Christ Centered Exposition commentaries. Talking about commentaries and translations leads RD to mention why he doesn't think you necessarily need to read the entire Bible in a year.

RD and Greg wrap up the episode by reminding listeners that you have to find what works for you, and what some people do in their times with God and reading the Bible might not work for you. But they also voice that you have to be disciplined in what works for you, and prioritize spending time with God and reading the Bible.

In correlation to the Gospel-centered sermons on Romans, RD and Greg take time to talk about the Gospel and what it really means to live Gospel-formed lives.

Straight away, RD and Greg share that the Gospel is the way we receive the news of what God has done for us through Christ, and the Gospel shows us the fullness of who God is. The Gospel, Greg voices, is the story of how God made us perfect through Jesus.

After asserting what the Gospel is and what it does for us, RD starts the conversation of how we need the Gospel because of our sin. From there, both Greg and RD discuss what sin actually is and why we desperately need Jesus. Greg also discusses propitiation and why it's important to understand the definition of this word.

This leads Greg and RD to talk about how the Gospel is powerful and true, but how we cannot just accept that Jesus died for us and then turn around and sin as much as we want or live however we want. We have to think about how the cross shapes our entire lives, RD asserts. Greg and RD also talk about the difference between "religion" and the Gospel, and how the Gospel is not filled with shame and disgrace, but instead shows us how desperate we are for Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. To this point, RD maintains that at the heart of the Gospel is a relationship. 

To wrap up, RD and Greg convey that we will always feel and notice a hole in our lives without Jesus and the Gospel. Greg ends the episode by reading from Ephesians 2 before RD prays.

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As a follow-up to their previous episode about the Coronavirus (COVID-19), Greg and RD talk more about how the church as a whole needs to react to the ever-changing situation of COVID-19.

RD starts the conversation by saying that this time in our world is an opportunity for the church to respond well. It's important, he says, to think about how we impact our neighbor and the people around us, and how we as the church offer both ministry and ministry opportunities to our communities. Greg jumps in by mentioning a tweet from Tim Keller that said, “If you & your church were to disappear off the face of the earth tomorrow, would anyone in the community around you notice you were gone?"

With this tweet in mind, both RD and Greg bring up some social media posts and other things they've seen from churches and Christians alike that reference Biblical passages like Joshua and 2 Timothy that talk about not being afraid. Greg warns listeners first that one verse does not make the entire Christian worldview, and second that these passages are specific to those situations, and while we should use them as encouragement, we can't take them as if God is speaking directly to us today about COVID-19; we have to remember the context when we read Biblical passages. RD agrees by explaining that while we have the same God as the God of both the Old Testament and the New Testament, we cannot expect the same results or the same miracles that God performed in the Bible. God might have a completely different plan for what is happening in our world today than the plan He had for the people and situations in the Bible.

In thinking about God's plan, RD and Greg loop back around to how we as the church should be responding. Greg brings up a great point that COVID-19 can and is showing us idols in our hearts. It's easy to cater to what's convenient, Greg says, but this virus and the things we are being asked to do right now is showing him that there are so many things that he and his family can live without. Thinking about this leads Greg to talk more about why we as a society are being asked to do things like social distancing, and he spends some time explaining how serious COVID-19 is.

After spending time talking about our current situation, both RD and Greg share ways they are encouraging and keeping their families and friends calm, and how they are trying to seek the LORD and use this time to grow closer to God and to trust Him completely, and not waste this time by just waiting for the world to go back to "normal." RD ends by sharing a verse telling us to keep our eyes on God, and Greg reminds everyone to seek opportunities to help each other out during these trying times. 

For more information on this podcast, visit podcast.fellowshipknox.org