Patterns of Truth Podcast

Welcome to our 26th episode of Patterns of Truth Podcast. Today we are revisiting prayer, but with a different thought in mind:

Praying in God’s will.

Is there a wrong way of pursuing prayer? How do we reconcile the difference between God’s delight and our desires? How does Psalm 37 play into all of this?

Host Patricia, regulars Peter, Krista, and guest Steve Campbell are here to discuss those questions and more. We will be learning not only from our speakers’ personal experiences but also from the Word of God, Old and New Testament, to see what it means to pray confidently and in God’s will.

Thanks for listening to this podcast on prayer! Check out another podcast on the same topic, Pray Without Ceasing featuring guest blogger Elyse Casimir. We would love to hear from you, whether it’s your own experiences with God and prayer or a question you might have; if you have a question, submit it through the Ask a Question tab on the website. See you next month for another Patterns of Truth Podcast!

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Join Peter in the Bahamas as he interviews Billy and Leah Slater at their kitchen table!

The Slaters were both called individually—Leah in ’94 and Billy in ’95— to serve God in the Bahamas nearly thirty years ago, neither knowing exactly what would happen when they left their hometown in Wisconsin. 

Hear about the work they started out with at the Adventure Learning Center and Ranfurly Home for Children, how they went from friends to sweethearts, and how their home, “The Castle,” became a transitional home to help teens and young adults.

As Billy and Leah share the work they’ve been doing and the life they’ve been living in a place most think of as tropical bliss, we get to see “the flipside of paradise,” as Leah calls it; the people they’ve come alongside, the day-to-day challenges, but also the encouragements. 

If mission work scares you, just like it does for many of us, take encouragement from the advice we get from Leah and Billy: 

Start small, start where you’re at, get involved, and see what happens. 

Thanks for listening to another Patterns of Truth Podcast, where we enjoy sharing not only what God shows us in His word, but also the work He is doing through normal people in every part of the world. If you enjoyed this podcast, check out some of our other interviews below:

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What’s the harm in calling Jesus “Yeshua” if that is how His name was said in Hebrew or Aramaic? What about “Meshiach” or “Messiah?”

What’s the harm in calling the Lord Jesus by this accurate title?

Welcome to another Patterns of Truth podcast!

Joining Peter at the mic today are Q&A bloggers Daniel and Aaron and a new member of our team, Deewan. They’ll be discussing the Sacred Name movement (also the Hebrew Roots movement) and its impact on us in North America and elsewhere in the world.

To start us off, let’s take a look at some of the basic questions—

—before we dig deeper into the topic and learn from Scripture and our guests’ personal experiences.

So often, the English language is described as “weaker,” and words that hold deeper meaning in other, more ancient languages seem to lose their potency. So, if English-speaking believers just call Him “Lord Jesus,” have we unintentionally disrespected Him? As Christians, we should revere God and the Lord Jesus, and throughout the Bible, we see how important the names of God are; even in the New Testament, many followers of the Lord Jesus call Him “Lord” instead of just “Jesus.” What can you say about the modern practice of referring to Him as “Jesus” without the title of “Lord?” Have we been unintentionally irreverent? Have we diminished the sacredness of His name? 

As Millennial and GenZ Christians, should we adjust our language? Does it matter to God if we do so or not? Is it legalistic to follow the pattern that is found in the Bible – and encourage our peers to do so as well?

Let’s take a look!

Thanks for listening with us; we hope you, like us, were able to take away something from this podcast and be challenged in how you speak about the Lord Jesus. If you’re interested in reading up more on this topic, Daniel and Aaron have both written Q&A posts for Patterns of Truth on this topic:

Check these great articles out and share them with a friend! 

We hope this discussion made you think, gave you some answers, and maybe, piqued your interest so you dig deeper into the topic. Ultimately, our goal is to start conversations, stimulate curiosity and engage our critical thinking. What’s the point? To grow closer to the Lord. See you next time!

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On this last episode recorded in 2022, we asked a bunch of people this question.

What has the Lord taught you in 2022?

Some of the answers included how to listen to others and talk about the Lord, profound thoughts in scripture, about forgiveness, getting into Gods word, personal identity, and many responded that the Lord also taught them patience. We’ll ask YOU the same question! Write your answers in the comments and let us know.

Thanks for joining us this year on the Patterns Of Truth podcast! We hope it has been helpful to you and a source of encouragement for your life. If it has, please rate us on Spotify, and leave a review on Apple Podcast. It really does make a difference and helps introduce the Patterns Of Truth podcast to more people that could benefit!

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Joining Patricia and Krista in a special interview, once again, is Brian Reynolds! He recently (as of the recording of this podcast) returned from a trip to Poland, Romania, and several other Eastern European countries.

Now typically, our podcasts focus on finding the Patterns of Truth in Scripture and how they apply in our lives, and the majority of our listeners and readers hail from North America so our applications usually focus on that demographic. But as Patricia says,

So that’s what we’re doing today! Brian, who was a guest in one of our earliest podcasts, is a full-time servant missionary who serves the Lord in many ways. Brian has been to the country of Romania several times prior to the pandemic, and this summer he had an opportunity to spend three and a half weeks in Romania and Poland respectively, to share the Gospel and teach God’s Word to the people in these countries.

We hope you enjoyed listening to our interview with Brian, and that you were encouraged by the ways God has been working in these countries at “such a time as this.” If you want to check out our previous interview with him, check it out here! 

The post Reynolds’ Wrap: Foiling The Devil In Eastern Europe appeared first on Patterns of Truth.

“He never does anything purposelessly.” 

Welcome to another Patterns of Truth podcast! Joining Peter in today’s conversation is our special guest Peg Sawires, also known to many as “Aunt Peg.” She’s a wonderful, encouraging woman who’s led quite an adventurous life. In this podcast, we’ll get to hear a bit of her story.

“‘Do you mean to tell me I can know my sins are forgiven?’ He said, “Yes, you can know!” And he invited me to sit beside him, and he explained.” 

As Aunt Peg began sharing her testimony (3:30), her experiences highlighted how important it is for people to hear a clear, personal gospel message. That Christ died for each of us to make atonement for our sins individually, that His death and resurrection aren’t something generic and abstract but that they have a powerfully personal impact. She grew up knowing the general story, but it never answered the deeper questions and convictions she had from a young age. It was through her brother bringing her to a bible study where someone took the time to talk with her that she finally found the answers she’d been searching for.

From there, Peter dives into Aunt Peg’s eighteen years serving the Lord in Africa (6:26). We get to hear about how the Lord led Aunt Peg to the Republic of Congo (at the time Zaire) to teach the Bible to students at a missions school. And throughout the podcast, we continue to hear about how God reaffirms His desires in our lives if we look to serve him. We hear examples through financial hardships, times of danger, times of suffering, and times of joy:

During our conversation with Aunt Peg, there’s a theme question (asked at 12:18); and it’s a question pretty much all Christians have wondered at some point.

Aunt Peg answers* Peter’s initial question and then, throughout the rest of the podcast, shares examples from her life and time in the Congo that show God’s desire to share His Will with us. The Lord doesn’t just tell us what to do or expect us mindlessly to do as we’re told. He wants us to trust Him and see how He encourages us with His provision and care, even when we’re given difficult tasks.

We hope you enjoyed this interview with Aunt Peg as much as we at Patterns of Truth did. Her experiences and words of encouragement have given us a beautiful example of how God leads. Thanks for joining us!

*Comments shared by Aunt Peg are not intended to be teaching in nature, but are based on her experiences.

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Whether you create art or “enjoy artistic work” as Roy does, every one of us finds something to be captured by when it comes to art. But what is art? More specifically, can art – visual, performance, digital, literary, etc. – and Christianity go hand in hand?

But what is art?

In this episode entitled “Art for God’s Sake,” we’ll discuss the above and more with today’s podcast team of Patricia, Roy, Peter, Krista, and Aaron Vienot (one of our bloggers, check out some of his posts here). 

Art can be found in anything. From the beautiful architecture Roy witnessed on his vacation in Europe this summer to Peter’s fascination with the beautiful design God puts into a human kidney, we see beauty all around us. But as Christians, how should we view art? Is it okay for us to contribute our own abilities … and should we?

As our podcasters touch on their own involvement in the artistic community (3:33), illustrated Bibles (7:35), knowing what kind of art to produce and/or consume (8:47), the power of music (9:27), and what biblical principles to follow (35:35) there is one essential thing to remember:

God is the Creator— in fact, that’s one of His names! Even though everything He created has a function, it’s all beautiful. That is one of the ways we can have a deeper connection with Him, simply by appreciating and participating in the artistry He has created all around and in us.

As always, we want to take a second look at what we think we know about the Christian life and see what the Bible actually says. The point? To better navigate and find a pattern for the reason why we live our lives before God. If you liked our podcast, check out some of our other posts and episodes, and if you have a question for our team or something you’d like to hear us talk about, reach out through the Ask a Question tab. Thank you for joining us today at Patterns of Truth!

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This episode is called “Desperate for the Right Person” and we will be dealing with the topic of dating, courting, match-making, marriage – all-of-the-above that is related to finding lifelong companionship as a Christian. 

true love, the excitement, the struggle, heartbreak, the recovery, the love songs

This is a topic people continue to be fascinated with because of the possibility of true love, the excitement, the struggle, heartbreak, the recovery, the love songs that seem to capture everything we are feeling. Then there’s the part where we discover our preferences, desires, and needs in a partner, and, also, uncover things about ourselves in the process. Like everything else in our lives, God cares about how we go about finding “the right person,” and how we live if that journey results in marriage. 

As always, we want to take a second look at what we think we know about Christian life and see what the Bible actually says. The point? To better navigate and find a pattern for the reason why we live our lives before God. 

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What is the multiverse?
A multiverse?
Multivers-es?

It’s quite a hot topic of discussion. Films like Back to the Future and Star Wars, and books like The Cosmic Jackpot and The Privileged Planet, are examples of works, both literary and cinematic, that humans have created to explore ideas like “Are there worlds outside of our own?” and, “How did all of this happen?”

Today’s Patterns of Truth podcast team is Roy, Peter, Patricia, and new guest Daniel. And our topic is—yep, you guessed it! Multiverses. Though the world inside our bodies is an endless realm of study, we’re still fascinated with the world(s) beyond ours. 

Our team touch on what the different types of multiverses are as defined by scientists, the motivation for developing the multiverse theories in science, and what the evidence has to say.

But this begs a few follow-up questions. What do multiverses have to do with us as Christians? Should we even be talking about them, and how should we be involved in the conversation? How can we so easily believe other worlds exist and not acknowledge that God exists? Most importantly, how can we point this conversation towards the Gospel?

We hope you enjoyed this Catkiller podcast (don’t worry, no cats were harmed in the making of this episode). “Catkillers” are podcasts where we dive into a topic related to the Bible to understand it as much as possible. Check out our other Catkiller podcasts below:

listen to these and others on our site patternsoftruth.org/podcasts or where ever podcasts can be found!

If “All This Talk of Multiverses” has raised more questions for you, submit them on our “Ask a Question” tab, or join the conversation in the comment section and share your thoughts with us!

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Concluding our Be a Witness series, our conversation today includes Peter, Roy, Patricia and guest Rob Lederer talking about reaching out to the STEM audience.

Our “Be a Witness” podcasts are a mini-series we’ve done to talk about how we can be a witness to people who have experienced Church Hurt, Sexual Abuse and the LGBTQ+ community. Reaching the STEM audience is our final installment in the series, and if you haven’t yet, be sure to check out the previous episodes.

Rob, a retired high school chemistry teacher who studied evolutionary biology, Roy a PhD in psychometrics and someone fascinated with astronomy and particle theory, Peter a pharmacist and teacher of pharmacy students, and today’s host Patricia dig into a fairly intimidating group of people to witness to (or so we sometimes think).

Dive into our podcast as we tackle the following questions:

There are many misconceptions about the scientific community and Christians—and even about Christians in the scientific community, and it’s unfortunate that these misconceptions exist. That it’s believed we have to “check our intellect at the door” in order to believe Scripture, or that science needs to be feared because the Bible won’t hold up to scientific scrutiny. We hope that this podcast starts helps you as you enter these conversations, and that it reminds you to find the patterns of Truth found not only in Scripture, but in the world that God created.

Thanks for listening along to the final “Be a Witness” podcast. Join the conversation and share your own experiences in these situations. Have a question? Go to our ‘Ask a Question’ section and submit it! We prioritize each Q&A submission and desire to provide well-researched, thought out answers to encourage, equip, and enable our listeners/readers to search the Bible and grow closer to God.

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