“Everything you’re looking for can be found in Jesus!” This is the quote Dr. Seth Postell of One For Israel shared with me when we met at a banquet in September of 2019. It’s simple, but its impact has been profound in my life. Seth is a professor at Israel College of the Bible and co-author of the astounding book Reading Moses, Seeing Jesus: How the Torah Fulfills its Goal in Yeshua. In this episode we cover everything from immigrating to Israel to mandatory army service to purification laws to the current projects at the Bible College. And of course, we talk about how Jesus is the only answer to every question we’ve ever had – and it’s true, no matter our background! Jewish, Arab, Palestinian, Christian, this interview will touch your heart no matter where you live.

Mentioned in this episode:

One For Israel

YouTube ministry of One For Israel

“I Met Messiah” videos

Reading Moses, Seeing Jesus: How the Torah Fulfills its Goal in Yeshua by Seth Postell, Eitan Bar, and Erez Soref

Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle by Dan Senor and Saul Singer

Israel College of the Bible

God gave us a community to do this following Jesus thing with and that community is called Church. And, in some ways church is like a group exercise class at your local gym. We’re together, working, and learning from each other and an instructor the art and science of following Jesus and loving Him and … Continue reading Episode 022 – Church is Like Group Exercise Class

God gave us a community to do this following Jesus thing with and that community is called Church. And, in some ways church is like a group exercise class at your local gym. We’re together, working, and learning from each other and an instructor the art and science of following Jesus and loving Him and people well. Let me know what you think! Send this one over to your friends and start your own discussion!

Thank you for listening! Also, if you haven’t already done it, would you leave a review for the podcast on iTunes? I really value your feedback and opinion.

Mentioned in this episode:

The book of Ephesians

The Message version of the Bible

Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality by Donald Miller

Episode Transcript:

Intro

Alexis (00:44):   

Hi, this is Alexis Busetti and welcome to That Makes Total Sense!  So I

want to talk about church today. We’re going to get there in kind of a

roundabout way, but I want to talk about church.

So recently I was at the gym and I went to one of those

group exercise classes and it reminded me of church, which sounds crazy, but

follow me. So I was at one of those group exercise classes, you know the ones

I’m talking about. Even if they’re not in your regular workout routine, you

know the ones, you can do everything. Even at my gym they actually still offer

those like old school step aerobics classes. But you can do, you know,

kickboxing or yoga or now they have those new like aerial silk things that hang

from the ceiling. Anyway, I wasn’t doing any of those. Just so you know, this

particular class where I had this like epiphany was a barbell weight lifting

class. 

And this is, I’ve taken this class more than once and it’s

still usually leaves me sore like for days after.  Like so sore that I’m left asking myself what

in the world I did and I’m thinking, why did I cause myself such misery? But

anyway, it was in the middle of this barbell class (probably when I was trying

to mentally distract myself from my shaking muscles) I started realizing in a

lot of ways this was just like church. Okay – so minus the limping that I knew

was going to come afterwards, at least I hope. But this was like church.

So the subject of church has been heavy on my heart lately

because our family recently transitioned our church home. And I know that may

not sound like a huge deal to a lot of people. But the truth is that my husband

and I have been married – we have four kids – we’ve been married for over 16

years and we have only to two different local congregations over the course of

our entire lives together. Like even before we were married. So before we were

married and then through the first eight years or something, we were married, we

belonged to this particular church in our old state where we used to live. And

then when we moved to where we currently live, that’s actually when we changed

our membership. So we actually only moved churches at that time because we had

moved states. And so, I understand that’s kind of — we’re kind of an anomaly

as far as that goes, because going through this and talking with my friends,

you know, about their journeys and what does it look like to belong to a church

home for them. I realized that most people do tend to move a bit more than we

did, but that, that was just our story. 

So this transition for us, that started several months ago

really made me take a look a long, hard look at church in general, church as a

whole. I started to understand it in different ways. I started to really pray

and ask God about it. In fact, I was reading a bit of Don[ald] Miller this

morning. I love the book Blue Like Jazz

and he was talking about changing churches and said he read Ephesians like four

times in The Message version [of the

Bible]. And I’m like, Oh my goodness!

What I love most about Annie’s story is it screams REDEMPTION! Annie grew up not unlike many other girls her age in the Midwest. When she imagined what her future would hold, “call girl” wasn’t included in her wildest dreams. But that’s exactly where she found herself. As she tells us in this interview and … Continue reading Episode 021 – Annie Lobert, Hookers for Jesus

What I love most about Annie’s story is it screams REDEMPTION! Annie grew up not unlike many other girls her age in the Midwest. When she imagined what her future would hold, “call girl” wasn’t included in her wildest dreams. But that’s exactly where she found herself. As she tells us in this interview and wrote in her incredible memoir, Fallen: Out of the Sex Industry & Into the Arms of the Savior Annie lived as a prostitute in Las Vegas for over a decade. But that was just the beginning of her story. Jesus miraculously rescued her from life inside sex trafficking and showed her true life. In turn, Annie didn’t waste any time seeking out others in need of love and the encountering same Rescuer.

While we don’t use any explicit language, the subject matter and themes in this episode are definitely for older audiences, so you might want to listen away from little ears.

You don’t want to miss out on this story or connecting with Annie! Check out her work with Hookers for Jesus, the organization Annie founded to continue her ministry and Destiny House which was built to be a refuge for women coming out of the sex industry,

All the single ladies (and gentlemen)! This is a conversation you do not want to miss! Tiffany is a single client and friend and she is CRUSHING it when it comes to her relationship with money #relationshipgoals. Tiffany is a business owner, home owner, and a strong woman of God who has positioned herself to … Continue reading Episode 020 – Money Conversations with Tiffany

All the single ladies (and gentlemen)! This is a conversation you do not want to miss! Tiffany is a single client and friend and she is CRUSHING it when it comes to her relationship with money #relationshipgoals. Tiffany is a business owner, home owner, and a strong woman of God who has positioned herself to be a life-long learner in all of these areas. While she’s had ups and downs like the rest of us, she stays encouraged and counts her wins. Trust me, married or single, you’re going to learn a lot from this episode!

Mental health struggles within the church aren’t usually included in the popular topics of conversation, but that is changing in no small part thanks to organizations like The Grace Alliance. In this episode I host Casey Pruet of The Grace Alliance and she talks about the importance of helping the church serve one another inside … Continue reading Episode 019 – Casey Pruet with The Grace Alliance

Mental health struggles within the church aren’t usually included in the popular topics of conversation, but that is changing in no small part thanks to organizations like The Grace Alliance. In this episode I host Casey Pruet of The Grace Alliance and she talks about the importance of helping the church serve one another inside the church who are experiencing mental health challenges. You are going to want to take notes on this one and share it with your loved ones who may find themselves in need of the very gifts and services offered by The Grace Alliance. Connect with Casey on her blog, or read her popular articles, including this one on self-care, at FamilyChristian.com

Emmanuel, the invisible God, being with us is a hard concept to grasp for us humans. We’re used to being around things we can see, more specifically, things that look kind of like us. But God, who is entirely “other,” came to earth to show us who He is, so we would never have to … Continue reading Episode 018 – Emmanuel, God With Us