The Gospel According to Maddie

Welcome back my friends!!!!!!This week, we’re diving into Acts 15, where the early church faces the question of the century: Did Gentiles have to become Jewish and follow the Law of Moses in order to follow Jesus?Paul and Barnabas travel to Jerusalem, Peter gives a very spicy speech about grace, James proposes a way forward, and the apostles send an encouraging letter to the Gentile believers.And then comes probably my least favorite part of the story so far...I'll let you find out for yourself :(But next week...Paul’s second missionary journey begins!

Paul and Barnabas finally hit the road for the first missionary journey!! ...and this episode gets crazy FAST.We’re following the route through Acts 13–14, unpacking why Paul always heads to the synagogue first, how he adapts his message for Jewish and Gentile audiences, and why Luke keeps playing with the question of who truly sees what God is doing.Also: holy shit, Paul is a genius.Love y'all, THANKS FOR WATCHING!!!-Maddie & Drew

Happy Monday and welcome back to Summer with Saul! ☀️📜After Saul's encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus, his story takes a pause...for years... In this episode, we explore what happened aside from Saul during those "missing years," why the early believers struggled to trust him, and how one man, my guy Barnabas, helped change everything.We'll also travel to Antioch, one of the largest and most influential cities of the Roman Empire, where followers of Jesus were first called "Christians." AND we get to explore Peter meeting with Cornelius, the famous vision that challenged long-held assumptions about who belonged in God's family, and why Antioch became the launching point for a movement that would spread throughout the Roman world.Thanks so much for watching, and welcome to another episode of Summer with Saul! 🌞

Paul sets out for Damascus convinced he's defending God.He arrives blind.In Episode 4 of Summer with Saul, we follow one of history's most famous conversions, but we don't stop at the story. We explore what Damascus was actually like in the first century, why Saul believed he was doing the right thing, and how one encounter on a dusty road changed not only his life, but the future of Christianity.Along the way we discuss:• Why Saul traveled to Damascus• The historical city of Damascus and its importance• Paul's conversion in Acts 9• Paul's own retelling of the event in Acts 22 & 26• His personal reflections in Galatians• Ananias and the restoration of Saul's sight• Physical blindness vs. spiritual blindness in Luke's writingWhether you've read this story a hundred times or you're hearing it for the first time, our goal isn't to tell you what to believe. It's to explore the history, culture, symbolism, and context surrounding one of the Bible's biggest turning points.

Saul of Tarsus is one of the most controversial figures in Christian history.Before becoming the Apostle Paul, he was a Pharisee who approved of Stephen's execution and began hunting followers of Jesus. But why?In this episode of Summer with Saul, we finally get to know Saul. We explore first-century Tarsus, Roman citizenship, Jewish education, the Pharisees, Gamaliel, and the centuries of history that shaped Saul long before the road to Damascus.Join us as we continue our journey through the Book of Acts and discover the historical world that produced one of history's most influential figures.

Last week, we built the world Saul would one day walk into. This week, the story truly begins.We explore the birth of the early church in the Book of Acts, the meaning of Pentecost, why thousands of Jews were gathered in Jerusalem, the first miracles of the apostles, and how the message of Jesus spread across the Roman Empire almost overnight.Then we meet Stephen. One of the church's first leaders. A brilliant speaker. A fearless witness. (A true badass in Maddie's opinion) His confrontation with the Sanhedrin becomes one of the most powerful moments in Acts, and it ends with the first Christian martyrdom.Standing quietly in the background is a young Pharisee named Saul.The rest of history is about to change.🎙️ Welcome back to Summer with Saul.-Maddie & Drew

Welcome to Episode 1 of Summer with Saul! ☀️📜Before we can understand Paul, we have to understand the world he lived in.In this episode, we're stepping into the first-century Roman Empire to explore what life was really like when Jesus and Paul walked the earth. We'll talk about Rome, the Jewish diaspora, emperor worship, the different Jewish groups, the Gentile world, and why this moment in history became the perfect setting for the message of Jesus to spread.Basically by the end, you're going to feel like you've just stepped into the Roman Empire circa 40 AD. Much love my friends, see you next weeeeek!!!!-Mad

Some episodes are carefully planned.This is not one of those episodes.This week, Drew and I somehow end up talking about Jesus, Dungeons & Dragons, bald eagles, Vampire Diaries, neighborhood block parties, Ecclesiastes, hot dogs, and what it actually means to be "chaotically good."Underneath all the chaos is something we've been thinking about a lot lately:What does it look like to stay human in a world that constantly asks us not to?If you've ever felt like faith is supposed to look more like love than rule-following, pull up a chair...because we aren't very good at following rules...😅☀️ ALSO!!!! At the very end of this episode we officially announce our Summer with Saul series! Beginning next week, we'll be traveling back to the first century to follow the life of Saul (Paul, Spaul, Spaulding) and explore how Christianity spread throughout the Roman Empire and eventually worldwide.If you're excited for the journey, make sure you're subscribed.Thanks for hanging out with us. ❤️ - Madski & Drewski

This week we're all over the place... We talk about Ozempic, nicotine addiction, breaking autopilot habits, whole foods, healing the body, advertising, Tesla, government weirdness, veterans, moral injury, paddle boats, milk, marsupials, and why the world feels like it's completely lost the plot.Has the plot been too lost, or do you think we will get back to a more harmonious place?

This week started with a simple idea:"It doesn't matter."Then somehow we ended up talking about bad days, chiropractors, sheep farms, wolf domestication, AI, addiction, bacon propaganda, self-driving cars, America, and whether we're all giving too much power to things that don't deserve it.Maybe that's the point.The amount of power a bad day has over you is often the amount of power you give it.Happy Monday, we love you all :)- Maddie & Drew