Save My Darlings

No pain, no gain! Pain is just weakness leaving the body! These are just a few ways that people describe the process of growth. There's something about nature that demands pain, suffering, and death for new life to come about. And, of course, that's at the center of the Christian story about God. In this episode we take a deep dive into that rhythm, how it is exemplified in Scripture, and what it means for us right now as we enter 2026.

One of the fun things about the Christmas story is how odd it all is. Of all the things to tell about the birth of the supposed true King of the world and the fullness of God in human flesh, the events of the Christmas story with miraculous conceptions, shepherds, and a mad king trying to kill a child are pretty weird choices. As far as the Magi go, what if I told you that it picks up a theme from Jonah and Isaiah, shows a kind of grace we almost never hear about, and shows us how to make the gospel good news again? Listen to find out more!

If God exists, isn't it weird that he doesn't just act in a way that's obvious so that everyone will believe? Good question. Isn't it also weird that Zechariah literally had an angel tell him what was going to happen and he *still* didn't believe it? What's going on? Why do people have a hard time believing and why doesn't God do a better job making himself visible? Listen and find out!

Skeptics largely do away with the gospel accounts of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. They're too fanciful or they aren't told by anyone who was there, etc., etc. Today we look at a little tidbit from Luke 2 that strongly indicates the opposite. It makes us think that no, Luke isn't lying. And if Luke isn't lying about this, what else is he being truthful about?

A lot of times we're not sure if we're doing what God wants or if we're a part of what God is up to. Once Mary knew that she was, she sang a song of praise that gives us some solid signs, helping us to discern where we're at. Bottom line? God likes to shake things up. Listen to find out more!

On Sunday, we saw that part of doing things the Kingdom Way requires God to intervene with grace. In Joseph's case, that was an angel in a dream. But most of us don't get anything like that, or at least not very often. So how does God talk to us? What is his will? How do we find out? We cover all that and more in this week's episode!

Christians have lots of disagreements about "eschatology," or what is going to happen in the future, what heaven and hell are like, etc. Who's right and why does it matter? We deal with those issues in this episode.

What happens when you start catching fish (bringing people into the Kingdom of God)? Chaos, disaster, and challenge, that's what. It's awe-inspiring and beautiful, but man it's wild. Peter found that out when Jesus told him to go fishing. Today, we look at what to expect here at Coast Bible Church as we obey Jesus' command to go fish. Maybe more importantly, we will see what we need to do to handle the fish when they land in our nets.

The "prosperity gospel" is the belief that you can get what you want materially by doing and giving (especially for and to God). Want that private jet? Work hard and give to gospel mission and you'll get it! Well, Jesus doesn't say that. But it is enticing because it is a half-truth. In this episode we pick apart prosperity spirituality and the Scripture that gets used to promote it and show what is actually true and what is actually a better way.

On Sunday we talked about the importance of finding someone who has what we want and learning from them. What we didn't explore is the extent to which our various characteristics and proclivities count as "spiritual gifts" and what we should do with them. Well, we address that here and we get to be super nerdy while doing it! Bottom line: you may be more spiritually gifted than you realize. Listen to learn more!