Happy Feast Day of Saint Nicholas! Today, we’re diving into a fascinating blend of history, literature, and theology. We’ll explore how the life of Saint Nicholas—the historical figure behind our modern Santa Claus—serves as an enduring example of hope and selfless living. And for the literary fans, we’ll compare Saint Nicholas with a unique character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Tom Bombadil.

Finally, we’ll tie it all together with how the season of Advent invites us to embrace hope and live boldly for Christ.

Today, as we journey through the Advent season, we’ll take a fascinating look at how the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, beloved author of The Lord of the Rings, illuminate the themes of anticipation and hope. We’ll also reflect on how Advent mirrors our longing for the second coming of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of every promise and the ultimate answer to our deepest sorrows. Stay with us as we bring together the wisdom of Tolkien, Scripture, and voices like R.C. Sproul and Charles Spurgeon to enrich our hearts in this sacred season.

In this episode, I will briefly explain the value that reading fantasy (specifically Lewis and Tolkien) can have for Christians.

After a two-week break, let's turn our attention to the prophet Jonah who, despite all his attempts to flee from God and blame God for his circumstances, was met only by mercy and charity.

In this episode, I walk through the extraordinary story of Elijah on Mount Carmel and the events that followed. Using his life and his example, I discuss how common hopelessness, loneliness, and fear are to the human experience, and how these can lead us to doubt in the promises that we have been given as men and women of God.

Depression, though it feels unnatural and foreign to the person suffering under it, is something like a worldview. In this episode, I argue that the depressive state may be far more insightful than some believe, and can thereby be used as a catalyst for prayer and fasting. I am not arguing that anyone should just pray the depression away, though let us continue to pray to that end. I offer this argument, not as a cure, but as a canary in the mine: the source or object of depression may be pointing us toward real needs in the world. All of creation groans, and so do Christians - inwardly groaning for Christ. How do those groans direct us to better love and serve our neighbor?

In this episode, I make the theological argument for depression by arguing that the fall is real, which means sin is real, which means sin affects people, which means a person's body and mind are affected by sin. To do this, we look at a number of passages to establish the idea of total depravity - namely Romans 5:12,19; 3:23; 11:32, Micah 7:2-4, 1 John 1:8-10, and Titus 1:15-16.

If we can agree that sin affects the body through things like disease, illness, accidents, etc, why then can sin not also affect the mind? I argue that this is exactly what sin does, and just like I can be a Christian and still suffer bodily decay, so too can I still be a Christian and suffer from mental illness.

It's important to know what we're talking about. In this episode, I briefly define depression and walk through 5 of the common causes of depression before ending with a description of what it is like to suffer from depression from someone who is living through that even now.

Can a Christian have depression? There are many in the Church that have argued that Christians cannot be depressed because the "joy of the Lord is their strength" and where the joy of the Lord is, depression cannot dwell. In this series, I am going to argue that yes, Christians can have depression and will be making this argument from a theological perspective, using biblical examples, and examples from Church history. In doing so, I hope to encourage those who may be suffering from depression even now, and to also encourage those who have a loved on who suffers from depression.

In this episode, I outline my basic premise, and fill you in on the basic structure of what this series will look like. If things go as I hope and plan, this is going to be a 10-part series. And it is important that we take this kind of time because, as I argue here, I believe that the idea that Christians cannot get depressed is one of Satan's greatest tools against the Body of Christ.

There often comes a time in a Christian's life when leaving a church becomes necessary. But if the reason for leaving isn't something as straightforward as because we're moving cities or states, or because there has been some horrific abuse, how do we do this? Can we just change churches because we don't like it there anymore? In this episode, I discuss some of the reasons why you might want to leave a church, and then discuss the importance of leaving well.