The Faith of the Father(s) w/ Karl Gessler

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Mark Pendleton was successful. He was well off and climbing the ladder to success. But he was not happy or fulfilled, in fact, he was deeply disturbed by the corruption he was witnessing in his industry. The industry was broken and Mark knew it. Mark himself was broken and he knew it. Mark experienced severe abuse as a child and it effected him throughout his life and nothing in all of his "success" was doing anything to heal him. Find out how Mark found healing in this week's Gospel For Planet Earth Podcast. You can also learn more about Mark's story, as well as many other stories from people with similar experiences of sexual brokenness when you visit Hiswonderfulworks.com. Listen, share with a friend, and comment below!SHOW YOUR LOVE! Become a Podcast Partner!Patreon.com/karlgesslerTHE GOSPEL FOR PLANET EARTH YOUTUBE:http://bit.ly/TheGOSPEL4PLANETEARTHYOUTUBEShare your thoughts on today's discussion and join the larger conversation on our Gospel For Planet Earth facebook page.www.facebook.com/TheGospel4earth

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Some people teach that God will ultimately succeed in redeeming everyone in creation and no one will remain in Hell forever. There are different forms of this teaching, generally referred to as "Universalism", but this is the general description. Some positions are certainly more in line with orthodox Christianity than others which abandon it altogether.I have great sympathy for those who want Universalism to be true. There is much sentiment within the scriptures that supports this desire. First of all, consider the fact that Genesis says that "God saw ALL that He had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31 emphasis added). Consider too that the Apostle Peter said that "it is not God's will that ANY perish but that should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:8-9)Then there is the most famous scripture in the world: "God so loved the world that He have His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16.  The key here is that the eternal life is for all those "who believe in Him". This is not to say that judgment or Hell is a matter of God being vindictive toward those who disrespect His Son. It is more that God will not rescue those who do not want to be rescued. Consider Jesus riding into Jerusalem, bursting into tears saying "if only you had known the things that make for peace. But now they are hidden from your eyes..." (Luke 19:41-44) Not everyone wants to be rescued.But this is not the time to sit smugly and look down our noses at all those "foolish people" who are simply headstrong and rebellious. We all have a story and some people's stories are absolutely horrible. The abuse, neglect, and evil that some people have experience is more than they might ever be able to communicate to someone else. It seems to me that most people would follow Jesus if they were truly exposed to Him for long enough. But there are not enough of God's people who look enough like Jesus to get the job done! Jesus said of the Israel of His own day "the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord to send our laborers into his fields..."  (Luke 10:2) Most of the Israel of Jesus' day did indeed reject Jesus. But what if there had been more laborers? The story might have been different. Does that mean that these unharvested people are all going to Hell? Not necessarily. Those in danger of Hell or judgment or whatever you want to call it, might be those of us who refused to be the laborers more than those who never had the chance to hear the good news. We will be judged by what we don't do as well as by what we do. Jesus wept for all to be reconciled to God. Do we do the same? Do we seek new ways to communicate God's love to people who don't know it or do we sit smugly by content in our own standing before God but unconcerned about anyone else's. I am not a Universalist but I do believe that judgment day will be stock full of surprises both good and bad.In this week's podcast, Susie and I are discussing the concept of Universalism. Don't forget to like, comment and share with a friend!

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The church in the Western world has been in decline for some time now. We are struggling to find traction within our culture. Even within the walls of our church buildings we have found our effectiveness deeply wanting. We often say with words that the Gospel is “powerful” and changes lives, but it seems as though we rarely see it. What is wrong? Why is it that the Gospel is changing lives in China, India, and the Middle East, but the Western world seems not to be able to care less? Could it be that we have lost the full Gospel message? What IS the message of the Gospel? Can you put it into a few words? Maybe this is just the problem. Maybe we have tried to sum up the Gospel into quick and easy sound-bytes and have lost it in the process. The word “Gospel” means “good news”. What is this news exactly? The only real way to answer this question is to the listen to the four original evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. What did they say was the good news? And is that news still relevant today? Will the Western Church be surprised hear what they have to say? I believe that we will. Find out why in this week’s Gospel for Planet Earth Podcast!

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"Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so...The most well know Bible verse in all the world is John 3:16:"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son..." This is truly an amazing message and yet, in our country, it seems to fall on deaf ears. Are we preaching this message enough? Or are we preaching one message in words and another message in deeds? What about the idea that the cross of Jesus displays God's love for us? Sometimes it seems that the message is that God is so angry with us, but took out His wrath on Jesus instead of us. This seems to conflict with the idea that God really loves us. It seems to imply more that God tolerates us because He has already vented His anger on Jesus. What is this "God is love" business really all about? Karl and Susie explore this and more on this week's podcast!Leave a comment and share with a friend!

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Getting Ready for JesusHow does one get ready for Jesus’ return? Empty your bank account? Untie your shoes? Get busy with evangelism? The real event of Jesus’ return is overshadowed in the Western world by popular, (but not necessarily Biblical), concepts of a rapture and cataclysmic final days of planet earth. The New Testament does indeed talk about Jesus’ return, or better said “re-appearing”, but not His “return” in the sense of Jesus being absent and a long way off in a place called heaven and then returning, as in travelling to earth, to take us away too. No, Jesus is already and forever present with His people. Jesus said at His ascension: “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” Matthew 28:20. The Church exists because the manifest presence of Jesus. She could not exist without His presence, though buildings and organizations could, but that is another story. The story that the four gospels writers want to tell is not about the world ending and Jesus returning to take us away from the burning wreck, but about God Himself returning to His temple. In other words, the returning referenced in the gospels is almost entirely speaking of God’s return to His temple and His people in and through the person of Jesus, rather than Jesus’ re-appearing or supposed “return” thousands of years later. What people needed to be ready for then was the return that was happening right before their very eyes. God was returning to His temple and to His people and to His world to renew them all and to bring about a righteous judgment so that there will be righteousness in the streets and healing in the land. The world was not ready for Jesus’ coming then, and it is not ready for the announcement of His presence and Lordship today. And the truth be told, that announcement is often been muffled and muddled by the misled concepts of the rapture and the end of the world. It’s my desire to re-claim the gospel message of God’s return in the person of Jesus that we find in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.In this week’s podcast, Karl and Susie discuss the concept of “Getting Ready for Jesus’ return”. Listen, comment below, and share with a friend! And don’t forget that our Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of Luke Conference is coming up in only 8 days! Register today!Meeting Jesus in the Gospel of LukeAugust 5, 2017Hendersonville Presbyterian Church699 North Grove St. Hendersonville NC 28792Registration is free, just call 828-553-2020 or send an email with the subject title “Registration” to [email protected]

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"Foxes have dens," Jesus replied, "...but the son of man has nowhere to lay His head."  (Luke 9:58)Is Jesus a homeless pilgrim? Is that what Jesus was advocating and what Luke wants to tell us? Of the vast majority of Christians, those who truly study their Bibles are few. But of the few that actually do spend time reading the Bible, very few ever read it in large chunks. We have been trained to read the Bible for private devotions, to spend 15 or 20 minutes reading the word and meditating on "what it means to me". This is a very worthy exercise and one I would commend to every person in the world, but it is not how the Bible was meant to be read. Most people take it for granted that Jesus is a spiritual teacher who shows us the way to heaven. Therefore, His teaching is about great timeless truth about how to get to heaven, how to be a better person, and how to order your spiritual life. But that is not what the Bible is about and it is not what the Gospels are about. The word "gospel" means "good news" and the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) are about something that has happened, whether you like it or not, believe it or not, or have ever heard about it before. These works are not about good advice, but about good news. These books are not about timeless teachings but about historical events that have changed and are still changing the world for good.Yes, some of the things Jesus teaches contains timeless truth, but the message of each gospel writer and of Jesus Himself is more impactful, more audacious and more challenging than that. Each gospel writer claims, in his on way, that Jesus has accomplished the establishment of a new reality, a new kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Because of this accomplishment, everything is to be re-shaped and re-evaluated. There is new hope, new possibilities, and a new Lord in town. But we miss much of this by reading the Bible in small, isolated sections. We fail to see the big picture, the drama, and the accomplishment that Luke and the other gospels writers are so eager to announce to us.In this week's podcast, Susie and I discuss Luke 9:57-62 and the merits of reading the gospels in bigger sections at a time, or even the whole thing in one sitting! This is in anticipation of our Meeting Jesus in Gospel of Luke Conference coming up on August 6th at Hendersonville Presbyterian Church 699 North Grove St. Hendersonville NC 28792. To register for free, call 828-553-2020.

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Before my Dad suddenly passed away at the young age of 49, he used to casually say that “one day it would be fun to have a radio show”. My Dad loved to talk to people, but I think the radio show was more or less a pipe dream. But for me, it was a very exciting and appealing idea. When my father passed at such a young age, I decided that I didn’t want to wait for “one day” and, by God’s grace and provision, I was able to launch out on a local radio show with my own program that ran once a week for about six months. This is how The Gospel for Planet Earth was born. It was very exciting and I perceive that it was a success even though it was short lived (Eventually, I decided that podcasts were more economic and flexible. However, there is still a possibility that I would do a radio show again). It was exciting and I learned a lot. Particularly, I became more convinced that there is a growing crowd of people out there in our Christian culture who are not satisfied with some or many of the answers that they are receiving from mainline Christianity. There are many answers that I believe mainline Christianity is not able to answer because of the simple fact that exactly what “the gospel” is has been lost. Mainline Christianity teaches that the gospel is about how sinners get forgiven and can be assured their place in heaven. But the gospel according to the four evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, is about how God established His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. Until we can recognize this and reorganize our scriptural interpretation around this fact, there are many answers that the church is giving that will fall flat in trying to scratch where it itches for those with serious questions in our churches and on the streets. This is the main reason why this podcast and blog exists.I have always been a candid person. But a true Christian must also learn to be candid with oneself as well, as Jesus warned that “the measure you use to judge others will be used to measure yourself.” (Matthew 7:1-3). I think that a huge key to asking good questions is learning to be candid with yourself. And this is also a MUST for good evangelism. So, for this week’s podcast, I thought I would dust off a show from the original radio program about seven years ago in which I interview myself. I think I am about due for another one of these as I trust I have grown since this recording. Maybe you have questions that you think I should be asking myself? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Please, listen, share, and comment below. This is a candid interview with myself on The Gospel For Planet Earth!

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This question has always been absurd to me. Where did we ever get the idea that homosexuality and Christianity are compatible? Nevertheless, is seems that many Christians today are in doubt about how to answer this question. The truth be told, many people within our christian culture seem to be unable to define proper sexual behavior at all. It seems that our culture wants to say, "Is any sexual practice illegitimate?" and many want to answer with a loud "NO!" But the silent majority is struggling, searching and hoping for answers. No boundaries is a reality and for good reason. A country without borders is a country that is about to be invaded by an enemy. How do we discern what is proper sexual behavior? In this week's podcast Karl talks with David Arthur who spent over 30 years of his life, previously, in homosexuality and transgender-ism. Please take a moment to listen, comment and share with someone who will benefit from this podcast!

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This week I have been in the studio working on a new music project, o for this week's podcast, I am dusting off the digital shelf to bring you a special podcast recorded with my wife last year concerning the doctrine of election. This was also recorded during the presidential election cycle of 2016.The popular Protestant doctrine of Election has been much contested down the years. Nevertheless, many aspects of this doctrine are the assumed standard for most mainline Evangelical Protestant denominations. There are some non-Calvinists or "Arminians", but they are not the dominant opinion in the American pulpits. Many people assume that if you are not a Calvinist, you are Arminian. I honestly know nothing of Jacobus Arminius except his name which I just looked up on Wikipedia! (Note to self: add Jacobus Arminius to reading list). Nevertheless, I have always had major concerns and have perceived many inconsistencies within the traditional Calvinistc teachings on election. In this podcast, I take a stab at explaining to my wife how I understand the Biblical doctrine of election. I am sure that this will not be my last attempt!Please, listen, comment, and share with a friend!

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Music moves us, Movements produce music, and the Church has always been full of music and movements. But which comes first, the music or the movements? Which movements from the past still effect us today? What are today's musical movements that are shaking and shaping the Church in the West? From the Wesley's to D.L. Moody and Ira Sankey, to Haight Ashbury and ​​the Jesus movement, to Passion and Jesus Culture, Karl and Ricky Gessler discuss these and other, sometimes unmentionable players, ( i.e. "Stryper") in the Christian music world and in the world of culture on this week's Gospel for Planet Earth Podcast. ​

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