The label "evangelical" has shifted and evolved over time to a place in our present day when the term comes with all sorts of baggage - from cultural and political connotations to even racial and patriarchal assumptions.

In this 3-part series, Pastor Jay and Matt Gilleskie discuss the word in order to help the Bible Church navigate some complex cultural circumstances by clearly staking out our identity as an evangelical church.

In Part III, they address the following questions:

1. What do we mean when we say that CHBC is an "evangelical" church?

2. What kind of "evangelical" do we aspire to be, in particular? How do we get there?

The label "evangelical" has shifted and evolved over time to a place in our present day when the term comes with all sorts of baggage - from cultural and political connotations to even racial and patriarchal assumptions.

In this 3-part series, Pastor Jay and Matt Gilleskie discuss the word in order to help the Bible Church navigate some complex cultural circumstances by clearly staking out our identity as an evangelical church.

In Part II, they address the following questions:

1. What are the most helpful definitions of the term "evangelical"?

2. If we could set forth one positive definition, what might we say?

3. Who is an "evangelical" according to our definition (institutions, people, denominations, theological traditions, etc.)?

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

- A representative work by Francis Grimke: "The Negro: His Rights and Wrongs, the Forces for Him and Against Him"

- "The Faithful Preacher" by Thabiti Anyabwile

- "Plain Theology for Plain People" by Charles Octavius Boothe

The label "evangelical" has shifted and evolved over time to a place in our present day when the term comes with all sorts of baggage - from cultural and political connotations to even racial and patriarchal assumptions.

In this 3-part series, Pastor Jay and Matt Gilleskie discuss the word in order to help the Bible Church navigate some complex cultural circumstances by clearly staking out our identity as an evangelical church.

In Part I, they address the following questions:

1. Why is it important to define the term "evangelical" in our day?

2. Why is it so hard to do so?

3. What definitions have been offered in the past and in our present? (No value judgments!)

Jay and Matt discuss the upcoming week's sermon on 1 Peter 4:7-5:4. This passage continues the theme of last week's sermon: waiting on the Lord through suffering. They discuss why Jay chose this text and how you might prepare to hear the word preached this Lord's Day.

Matt is joined by Martin Shin to discuss Martin's recent sermon, which kicked off our advent season. They discuss the way to real joy and how God uses the local church to edify his people (plus what Martin misses most about Argentina and how he came to know the Lord, among much more).

How does Satan parody marriage through contemporary practices of dating and sexuality? How does he parody joy through the false promises of money, ecstatic experiences, and debauchery? The Evil One works through various aspects of our culture to enslave us and keep us from the good of God's design. Thanks be to God, who has delivered us from the dominion of sin through Christ. Now that we are free, how do we identify the distortions of the Evil One? Jay and Matt discuss the practical payoff of these questions in this episode.

SHOW NOTES:

In this episode, Jay and Matt get practical. How can I begin to pray? How can I pray more? What next steps can I take at CHBC to pray more, individually and together? How do I discern my vocation and how I can serve the purposes of God's kingdom? They take up all of these questions and more in this episode. We hope it's helpful!

Show Notes:

"A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World" by Paul Miller

Roddy and Matt discuss last week's sermon on prayer that transforms the church, focusing on practical suggestions for cultivating a life of prayer that results in good works.

We mentioned a few resources in the podcast:
- The Joshua Project: https://joshuaproject.net/
- Lead: 12 Gospel Principles for Leadership in the Church, Paul David Tripp: https://smile.amazon.com/Lead-Gospel-Principles-Leadership-Church/dp/1433567636
- Register for the Wednesday prayer night: https://biblechurch.life/community-dinner-and-prayer-service

Jay is back this week to discuss his most recent sermon on serving and protecting the creation from Genesis 1-2. He and Matt talk everything from "Patagucci" to Jonathan Edwards to theological ethics. Conservative Christians generally don't give much attention to the stewardship of creation as a biblical theme. How should we think about stewardship? What forces in our modern world work against a proper use of creation? How do Sabbath and stewardship interrelate? Listen as Jay and Matt discuss and apply to CHBC.

SHOW NOTES:
- Jonathan Edward's "Personal Narrative" of his conversion: https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/JonathanEdwardsPersonalNarrative.pdf
- "Hearing God's Words: Exploring Biblical Spirituality" by Peter Adam: https://smile.amazon.com/Hearing-Gods-Words-Exploring-Spirituality/dp/0830826173

Recommended Works by Wendell Berry:
- "Jayber Crow" by Wendell Berry: https://smile.amazon.com/Jayber-Crow-Wendell-Berry/dp/1582431604
- "Essays: Home Economics" by Wendell Berry: https://smile.amazon.com/Home-Economics-Fourteen-Wendell-Berry/dp/1582434859
- "Poetry: This Day: Collected and New Sabbath Poems" by Wendell Berry: https://smile.amazon.com/This-Day-Collected-Sabbath-Poems/dp/1619024365

On this episode, Matt asks Ryan about his aims for the recent sermon on ethnic division and reconciliation. How can our church move forward together? They discuss the importance of being captivated by the biblical story of reconciliation and the necessity of prayer as the fuel for reconciling work. We hope you'll join us in prayer as we seek to be "perfected in love" (1 John 4:18).