The Next Step Podcast

This episode of the Next Step podcast features a reading from chapter 6 "Treasured Possession" from the book Delight! Discipleship as the Adventure of Loving and Being Loved by Justin Rossow.

You can find other books by author Justin Rossow at his Amazon author's page.

You can see daily readings from Delight! weeknights at 8PM EST on Facebook Live or recording on the Next Step Community Facebook page. Find out more about the book or get a copy for yourself or for a friend (use this link to support Next Step Press): https://amzn.to/2ZuVC1E.

You can support the mission of resourcing next step discipleship by becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

We follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join The Next Step Community Facebook group and share your experience with the Delight! book. We'd love to hear from you at Next Step Press.

Season 4, Episode 4 of the Next Step podcast features a reading of chapter 5 "Desirable Delight" from the book Delight! Discipleship as the Adventure of Loving and Being Loved by Justin Rossow.

You can find other books by author Justin Rossow at his Amazon author's page.

You can see daily readings from Delight! weeknights at 8PM EST on Facebook Live or recording on the Next Step Community Facebook page. Find out more about the book or get a copy for yourself or for a friend (use this link to support Next Step Press): https://amzn.to/2ZuVC1E.

You can support the mission of resourcing next step discipleship by becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

We follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join The Next Step Community Facebook group and share your experience with the Delight! book. We'd love to hear from you at Next Step Press.

This episode of the Next Step podcast features a reading of chapter 4 of Delight! Discipleship as the Adventure of Loving and Being Loved by Justin Rossow.

Try saying, "Alexa, play the podcast Find My Next Step!"

The author is reading from Delight! weeknights at 8PM EST on Facebook Live. You can see daily recording on the Next Step Community Facebook page. Find out more about the book or get a copy for yourself or for a friend (use this link to support Next Step Press): https://amzn.to/2ZuVC1E.

You can support the mission of resourcing next step discipleship by becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

We follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join The Next Step Community Facebook group and share your experience with the Delight! book. We'd love to hear from you at Next Step Press.

This episode of the Next Step podcast features a reading of chapters 2 and 3 of Delight! Discipleship as the Adventure of Loving and Being Loved by Justin Rossow.

The author is reading from Delight! weeknights at 8PM EST on Facebook Live. You can see daily recording on the Next Step Community Facebook page. Find out more about the book or get a copy for yourself or for a friend (use this link to support Next Step Press): https://amzn.to/2ZuVC1E.

You can support the mission of resourcing next step discipleship by becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

We follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join The Next Step Community Facebook group and share your experience with the Delight! book. We'd love to hear from you at Next Step Press.

This episode of the Next Step podcast features a reading of the Introduction and Chapter 1 of Delight! Discipleship as the Adventure of Loving and Being Loved by Justin Rossow.

The author is reading from Delight! weeknights at 8PM EST on Facebook Live. You can see daily recording on the Next Step Community Facebook page. Find out more about the book or get a copy for yourself or for a friend (use this link to support Next Step Press): https://amzn.to/2ZuVC1E.

You can support the mission of resourcing next step discipleship by becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

We follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join The Next Step Community Facebook group and share your experience with the Delight! book. We'd love to hear from you at Next Step Press.

When Season 2 of The Next Step Podcast was first released, we skipped hymn 3 in Ponder Anew: A Hymn Journal of Trust and Confidence. At the time, our guest was unavailable, so this Episode 3 was recorded months after the original intended release date.

Our guest, Dr. Reed Lessing, served as Professor of Old Testament at Concordia Seminary before going back into the parish ministry. He was unavailable back in June because he had just taken a call to serve as Professor of Theology at Concordia University, St. Paul.

Dr. Lessing, a pastor and Hebrew scholar, has written scholarly commentaries on Jonah, Amos, and Isaiah, and just finished writing a commentary on Jeremiah. He joins author Justin Rossow to talk about he hymn, "Great is They Faithfulness," and especially the verses in the Old Testament book of Lamentations on which the hymn is based.

After a brief orientation on where exactly we are in the Old Testament Story, you'll hear Dr. Rossow pray and Dr. Lessing read the verses from Lamentations  found on page 25 of the hymn journal. The ensuing conversation covers quite a bit of Scriptural territory, and is focused on God's compassion.

After that deep dive on the theology of God in the Old Testament, Justin will read the devotion on page 26, Reed talks about God's faithful character. Because God's character doesn't change, God actually can change from Law to Gospel when it comes time to relent from bringing calamity.

In another scriptural tour de force, Lessing and Rossow explore the Hebrew for repent (shuv) and relent (nacham) and how God invites us to repentance, relents from judgement, and refuses to relent from the promise we have in Jesus.

Before the interview is done, Justin asks Reed about any small next step Jesus might be inviting a theology professor to take as a new school year starts. Lessing's answer is a study in dependence on Jesus.

This recording was made possible in part by the generous support of Next Step Patrons. If now is the right time for you to make a commitment to the mission of resourcing next step discipleship, please consider becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

The intro and outro music for Season 2: Ponder Anew was arranged and performed by Brendan Knorp. All rights reserved.

Professor Theodore Hopkins teaches theology at Concordia University, Ann Arbor, where he also serves as Pre-Seminary Director. Verse four the hymn It is Well WIth My Soul says, "O Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight..." That's the focus of our conversation with Ted Hopkins today.

After a brief intro, you'll hear author Justin Rossow pray, and Dr. Hopkins will read the verses from 1 Corinthians 13 found on page 117 of the hymn journal. They'll discuss those verses and what they mean for us as we follow Jesus. Some vocabulary similarities take the discussion to Luke 24 and the Emmaus Road disciples who will eventually recognize Jesus in Scripture and in the breaking of the bread.

Dr. Rossow will read the devotion on page 118. In the course of the discussion that follows, you will hear Hopkins and Rossow talk about how Paul can say that love is greater than faith. Philip Melanchthon comes up as an important figure of the Reformation. Melanchthon wrote the defense of the Augsburg Confession, known as the "Apology of the Augsburg Confession" or just "The Apology." Not the "I'm sorry," kind of apology; rather a "You misunderstood: I meant this!"

Article IV of the Apology (on Justification) deals with how Roman Catholic theologians were insisting that salvation comes from knowledge of God (faith) plus love expressed in things like prayer and following the Ten Commandments. Citing the Apostle Paul, Melanchthon and the Lutherans argued that salvation comes through faith (trusting the promise) alone, apart from works of love or works of the law.

So Lutherans might naturally think that faith is greater than love; and if you are only talking about how you are saved, that's pretty good theology. But, as Dr. Hopkins points out, "We can be so busy saying Love doesn't justify that we don't listen to Paul say Love is the greatest of these."

You can read more of what Professor Hopkins has to say about the ways in which you can say love is greater than faith in this sermon: The Greatest of These Is LOVE?

Ultimately, this conversation gets back to a tension: we already have salvation, and we have not yet received salvation as fully as we will when Jesus comes again. This Already/Not Yet dynamic is clearly seen in verses 3 and 4 of It is Well With My Soul.

This recording was made possible in part by the generous support of Next Step Patrons. Today we recognize two sisters, Kristi and Scott, for their ongoing support of our mission and ministry.  Thank you, Scott and Kristi, for helping us equip others for their next step following Jesus!

If now is the right time for you to make a commitment to the mission of resourcing next step discipleship, please consider becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

Like the Emmaus Road disciples, we follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join The Ponder Anew Facebook Group and share your part of the story Jesus is shaping in your life. Big or small, those stories help us look for Jesus at work in our lives, as well. We'd love to hear from you at Next Step Press.

The intro and outro music for Season 2: Ponder Anew was arranged and performed by Brendan Knorp. All rights reserved.

"O God, our help in ages past / Our hope for years to come..." The hymn at the center of Episode 11 looks to God's action in the past, and God's promise for the future, as a way of entrusting our present circumstances to our present God.

Pat Maier, one of the founders of Visual Faith™ Ministry  and the illustrator for Chapter 11 of the Ponder Anew: A Hymn Journal of Trust and Confidence, joins author Justin Rossow to talk through the art and theology of this week's hymn. You can find the related material beginning on page 103 of the book.

After a brief introduction, Pat will read the verses from Psalm 22 on page 107; you may recognize verse 1: Jesus quotes this verse from the cross (and is probably invoking the entire Psalm) as he experiences the darkness and abandonment of Good Friday.

Pat and Justin will talk about the Psalm and then discuss the movement and the meaning of Pat's artwork on page 105. You'll also hear Justin read his devotion on page 108, and the two will discuss the "bonus verses" of the hymn found on page 110.

One of the striking features of this chapter is the Triptych Prayer Experiment on pages 110 and 111; Pat and Justin will talk a little about the history of the triptych in the history of religious art and also specifically about the details of this illustration.

Before the two are done, they will think through what next step Jesus might be inviting them into this week. Whatever next step you are taking, you can be confident in God's activity in your life and trust that Jesus is acting for your good right now.

In the introduction, Pat and Justin talk about family: Pat was expecting a fifth grandchild, and has since been blessed by the birth of Ella Bliss; Justin's family tested negative for the Corona Virus, and thus he was able to preach at his friend's installation. (You can read a version of the sermon here: Treasure, Where You Least Expect It.)

Pat Maier was also our guest for Season 1, Episode 7 of the podcast: Go to Dark Gethsemane. You can read more from Pat  by visiting  https://community.findmynextstep.org/author/patmaier/.

This recording was made possible in part by the generous support of Next Step Patrons. Today we recognize Richard and Deanna for their ongoing support of our mission and ministry.  Thank you, Deanna and Richard, for helping us equip others for their next step following Jesus!

If now is the right time for you to make a commitment to the mission of resourcing next step discipleship, please consider becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

We follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join  the Facebook Pop Up Group sharing this hymn journal experience here: The Ponder Anew Facebook Group. 

The intro and outro music for Season 2: Ponder Anew was arranged and performed by Brendan Knorp. All rights reserved.

Season 2 of the Next Step Podcast focuses on the resource, Ponder Anew: A Hymn Journal of Trust and Confidence, brought to you by Next Step Press.

"Come, Though Fount of Every Blessing" is the hymn focus of Episode 10, especially the verse: "Here I raise my Ebenezer..." Eben-Ezer is Hebrew for Stone of Help and comes from the story of the Old Testament prophet Samuel in 1 Samuel 7.

That Stone of Help caused us to seek out a rock expert: Pastor Matt Hein, Senior Pastor at NewLife Community Lutheran Church near Flint, has an advanced degree in geoscience as well as theology.

After a brief intro, you'll hear author Justin Rossow pray, and Pastor Hein will read the 1 Samuel 7 verses found on page 97 of the hymn journal. The two friends will discuss those verses before Justin turns the page to read the devotion "Here I Raise My Ebenezer."

In the course of the conversation that follows, you will hear Matt and Justin talk through some other significant "rock" passages in Scripture and wonder about the connection between rocks, creation, and remembering. They will touch on Joshua 4, 1 Kings 18, and Ephesians 2 as well as the passage from 1 Samuel 7.

You are a living stone; you have God's Word on your heart and on your lips. Your life is a place where the transcendent God touches creation. Your God is present with you, and our lives become memorial stones: you get to tell the story of God's work in your life.

Because we follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, you also get to ask people to tell their stories. The stories of Jesus' faithfulness in the past become the springboard for joining Him in His mission for the future.

This recording was made possible in part by the generous support of Next Step Patrons. Today we recognize two sisters, Judy and Joan, for their ongoing support of our mission and ministry.  Thank you, Joan and Judy, for helping us equip others for their next step following Jesus!

If now is the right time for you to make a commitment to the mission of resourcing next step discipleship, please consider becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

You can see the Stone of Help faith experiment lived out in this video post: Rock of Help Video Tutorial. We invite you to join The Ponder Anew Facebook Group and share with us a story of how Jesus showed up in your life. Big or small, those stories help us look for Jesus at work in our lives, as well. We'd love to hear from you at Next Step Press.

The intro and outro music for Season 2: Ponder Anew was arranged and performed by Brendan Knorp. All rights reserved.

Season 2 of the Next Step Podcast focuses on the resource, Ponder Anew: A Hymn Journal of Trust and Confidence, brought to you by Next Step Press.

Episode 9 focuses on the hymn,"Come Unto Me, Ye Weary" and the Scripture, devotion, and faith experiment beginning on page 83. Leo Sánchez, Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary—St. Louis, will open us with prayer and then share the readings on page 87 with author Justin Rossow. A conversation of Jesus asleep in the storm will lead directly into the devotion on page 88.

In the course of the conversation, you will hear Leo and Justin discuss "rest" in two senses: (1) literal sleep as an act of trust and (2) the spiritual rest of hearing the Word and addressing the Lord in prayer. You can see both kinds of rest in the life of Jesus. Jesus doesn't live up to my standard of being busy all the time; instead Jesus finds time for work, rest, and delight in the Spirit.

Leo talks about these three areas of our Christian life as the Garden (where we labor), the Mountain (where we receive from God and worship), and the Playground (where we experience delight in God's creation). Human beings were created in God's image, and we image God not only as stewards of the earth, and so in our labor, but we also image God as people who delight in the creation.

All that talk of "delight" points back to the introduction of Ponder Anew, where we talked about the Hebrew word for playful delight: Sha-ah! You can hear Justin's conversation with Lead Illustrator Valerie Matyas about sha'a' in the first episode of this season of the Next Step Podcast, and you can hear author Justin Rossow read from his forthcoming book, Delight!--Discipleship as the Adventure of Loving and Being Loved in the special bonus episode 3B: Joyful Delight.

Dr. Sanchez was also our guest for Season 1, Episode 5 of the podcast: Go to Dark Gethsemane. Leo talks more about rest, work, and play in chapter 7 on the Devotional Model in his book Sculptor Spirit: Models of Sanctification from Spirit Christology.

This recording was made possible in part by the generous support of Next Step Patrons. Today we recognize Jon and Ken for their ongoing support of our mission and ministry.  Thank you, Ken and Jon, for helping us equip others for their next step following Jesus!

If now is the right time for you to make a commitment to the mission of resourcing next step discipleship, please consider becoming a Next Step Patron today. To see different options for support, visit https://www.patreon.com/findmynextstep.

We follow Jesus better when we follow Him together, so we invite you to join  the Facebook Pop Up Group sharing this hymn journal experience here: The Ponder Anew Facebook Group. 

The intro and outro music for Season 2: Ponder Anew was arranged and performed by Brendan Knorp. All rights reserved.