Restitutio

One of the great concerns that many of us pastors have about our churches is the lack of community. So often people come, sit for a while, and leave without making any real connections with others who are present. In other cases, a self-centered, spectator mindset leads to cynicism and misery, which, in turn, degrades or divides the community. I originally delivered this sermon back in January of 2022 at a weekend event called Revive, shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic subsided. It was a time of intense partisan politics, accusations of racism, and much civil unrest. Rather than focuses on what to do, I preached on what not to do. Hopefully you find it helpful.

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Greg Cheney grew up in Texas where he joined the Independent Fundamental Baptists. In his twenties, he felt a call to ministry, which resulted in ordination and serving in three Baptist churches. After an unpleasant five years in ministry, Cheney found himself in the corrections industry. At this point, with no remaining institutional ties, he began questioning his beliefs on a variety of subjects. This is his story.

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Who is the child Isaiah prophesied about in the famous line, “For unto us a child is born”? Although most Christians see this as a reference to Jesus, we should first ask what this meant to Isaiah and his original audience seven centuries before Christ. When we do, we see that this prophecy was actually about deliverance from the Assyrian Empire and an unprecedented, miraculous military victory. Even so, Jesus also fulfilled aspects of this prophecy in his ministry, and I believe he will fulfill the rest when he comes again.

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Today we’re promoting a couple of upcoming events in 2026. First up is the inaugural conference near Sydney, Australia for the Unitarian Christian Alliance. This will be a weekend of scholarly presentations as well as practical workshops. In what follows I chat with several of the organizers for the event, including Matthew Bradley, Jeff Deuble, Andrew and Vivienne Johnstone, Ali Steer, and Kerry Weinholz. After that we’ll hear some comments on recent episodes and then I’ll give information about our upcoming winter event here in New York, called Revive. I hope I can see you at one of these events, or some other time in 2026.

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Metaphysics Mike talks about his recent debate with Al Garza over the question is Jesus Yahweh. In the four-hour ordeal, two aspects of Garza’s unusual belief system made for a confusing and frustrating discussion: (1) Garza believes that Yahweh is not a name but an attributive title asserting eternality, and (2) he thinks the Syriac Peshitta and Aramaic Targums have primacy over the standard Hebrew and Greek Scriptures that virtually all Christians recognize as the foundation of our faith. In this debate review we talk about Mike’s experience and how he handled these curve balls and I give some suggestions of my own.

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Here’s the original debate video in all 4 hours of its glory.

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After graduating from Caltech with a degree in physics, Scott Sperling pursued computer science and ended up working in rocket science. He’s also been a Christian for decades and has applied his analytical mind to Bible study, especially on his website ScriptureStudies.com. In this interview I ask him about his paper, “A Hypothesis for the Mechanism of Bodily Resurrection” in which he explains how God can raise the dead on the basis of DNA and the neural connectome. He does not see any need for the existence of an immaterial soul or dualism to account for biblical resurrection.

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Heroes of Faith Series

Ezra stood at the precipice of history. God’s people had returned to the land after a traumatic seventy years in exile. They had begun rebuilding, but they had already–perhaps unknowingly–taken steps that would land them back into idolatry. Ezra’s stand for God changed the course of history. Not only was he a man of great faith who taught the Bible with clarity, but he also was a revivalist who inspired repentance and fidelity to God. In today’s episode, listen in to consider important lessons from Ezra’s life that can help you in yours today.

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Heroes of Faith Series

The book of Esther tells the story of a tragedy turned into a miraculous deliverance. But even more than that, it teaches us about courage. There are times in life when remaining faithful to God may cost you everything. What will you do if you find yourself in that kind of situation? I hope you will be like Esther who resolved to do the right thing “And if I perish, I perish” (Esther 4.16). In this sermon, we continue our heroes of faith series by considering Esther, a true role model for us today.

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Heroes of Faith Series

How does your faith affect you at work? Of course, there’s the classic verse about working heartily unto the Lord, but beyond working hard, how does your faith affect you at work? Today in part seven of our Heroes of Faith series, we’re going to look at the life of Daniel. Although he was a prophet of great significance, he also worked for the government in an incredibly difficult time. By considering how he navigated the workplace, we can learn much about how to live out our faith at work.

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