The Bible Lab

In this week's episode Pastors Ryan and Jake discuss how the story of Elizabeth in Luke 1:39-45 teaches us about the Joy of Jesus

The stories that surround the Christmas story in Luke 1-2 are stories of ordinary people swept up in an overwhelming story. Why did God choose them? Only He knows, but the text suggests to us that each of the characters we read about was a person who demonstrated true faith. They weren't the most gifted, significant, or important, but God involved them in His work because their hearts were full of faith. In this week's episode, Ryan and Jake discuss the meaning and everyday practice of Biblical faith will studying the text of Luke 1:5-20

As we head into the advent season, Pastors Ryan and Jake take an in-depth look at the story of Simeon in Luke 1 and how it helps illustrate to us the hope of Jesus. The first week of Advent remembers that Jesus' coming was the announcement of a powerful hope for humanity. Hope that the curse of Adam would be broken and that we could walk in freedom from the power of darkness. Check out this week's episode as we share why we can look ahead to the future with hope because of Jesus!

Out of all the letters in the first couple chapters of Revelation, Jesus saves His harshest feedback for the church in a city called Laodicea. The problem is their faith has gotten lukewarm. Even more than some of the important issues that were happening in other churches, Jesus singles out this as perhaps the greatest spiritual threat to the Church. In this week's episode, Ryan and Jake unpack how to leave lukewarm faith in the dust.

The book of Revelation is scary and complicated, isn't it? Not so fast! John introduces this book as a revelation given by God to SHOW His servants. It's not meant to hide or confuse! It's a thrilling saga of Jesus' victory over the cosmic forces of evil, and if we will take a step back to understand its big picture imagery we'll find that it's not scary at all, but rather an electrifying source of hope as we live faithfully for Jesus.

Discipleship is a word that gets used a lot, almost to a fault. What is it? How can it be possible both to be a disciple and to do discipleship? In this week's episode, we examine Jesus' call to discipleship in Matthew 16:24-26 and learn about Jesus' call for us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him.

One of the most genius parts of God's design for the Church is that the Holy Spirit gives every believer the power to create beautiful things for King Jesus. For generations, Christians were creators of art, music, architecture, and many of the things that shaped the direction of western civilization. What happened? A theological shift that began to convince believers that the return of Jesus was only a year or two away. How do we correct the short-term thinking that's gotten us here? Join Ryan and Jake as they discuss Matthew 24:45-51.

When can we expect Jesus to return? According to Jesus Himself, that's a great question. In Matthew 24, Jesus shares the shocking answer that not even He Himself knows. What He does share is that it will be a lot like the days of Noah. In this episode, Ryan and Jake break down the best ways that we can prepare for that day, whenever it may be.

At first glance, the text of Matthew 24 looks like it would make a great end-of-the-world movie. But beneath the cosmic-sounding language is are important messages to His people, if we have ears to hear it. In this episode, Ryan and Jake break down this important passage and tell us why we can take Jesus' promises to the bank.

Jesus was never shy about confrontation, and no one was the target of His confronting criticism more than the religious establishment. While many might take his words to be "anti-religion," they're anything but. Jesus doesn't reject ALL religion, just DEAD religion. In this week's episode, Ryan and Jake discuss how Jesus' warnings (woes) to the religious leaders should cause us to take a long look at our own hearts!