The Sinner and The Saint

We are back for a pop-up podcast. . . we get personal today and share where we've been, what we have learned and where we are now. 

For everything that happens in life—there is a season, a right time for everything under heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1 (VOICE)

The Gist

It's been a fantastic six and a half years, but we are saying good-bye to the podcast. Time for a new season, new beginnings, and a new journey together. We are excited to see what God does. 

The Gist

We tackle the reasons why people often leave the church. It can be complicated. Misconceptions, misunderstandings, personal hurt and insecurities, misplaced anger, and unanswered prayers. The list can go on and on. 

Scripture

Explore me, O God, and know the real me. Dig deeply and discover who I am. Put me to the test and watch how I handle the strain.
Examine me to see if there is an evil bone in me, and guide me down Your path forever. Psalm 139:23-24 (VOICE)

The Gist

Anger can be seen as taboo, but what if we looked at it as a map, as Julia Cameron of The Artist's Way describes it? The tricky part about anger is it's usually guarding another emotion (some of those emotions can be good and some not so good). 

Instead of fighting the anger or dismissing it, try sitting and answering some questions that may help you find your way to the real emotion behind the anger. 

We usually become angry when something we love is being threatened. What am I protecting? What in me feels threatened? If my anger could speak honestly, what would it say? What needs to be made right? What am I grieving?

If our anger leads us to greater honesty and a fuller return to God's presence, then even this difficult emotion is a gracious invitation rather than a burden to fix. 

Digging Deeper

Lamentations 3:40 says, Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the Lord. 

Take this formula - Examine - Test - Return and sit with your anger, asking:

Examine - observe what's there - What am I feeling? 

Test - discern what is true - What is this anger revealing? 

Return - respond to what God reveals - Now what? 

Scripture

So now, my beloved, obey as you have always done, not only when I am with you, but even more so when I can’t be. Continue to work out your salvation, with great fear and trembling, 13 because God is energizing you so that you will desire and do what always pleases Him. Philippians 2:12-13 (Voice)

The Gist

This week we discuss what happens when we assume what pleases God without actually reading Scripture or engaging in deeper thought. You will be surprised at what we discover:

We forget God doesn't model unconditional access. 

We confuse not seeking revenge with not protecting ourselves. (Luke 4:29-30, John 8:59)

We confuse peacekeeping with peacemaking. (Matthew 5:9)

We forget the commandment to love doesn't cancel the command to discern. (Matthew 10:16)

We forget forgiveness and reconciliation aren't the same thing. (Romans 12:18)

We forget boundaries can be an act of love, not a failure of it. (Proverbs 22:24-25)

Digging Deeper

Where are you trying harder instead of trusting? 

What boundary are you avoiding in the name of love?

What does pleasing God actually look like for you this week?

Scripture

Now all of us, with our faces unveiled, reflect the glory of the Lord as if we are mirrors; and so we are being transformed, metamorphosed, into His same image from one radiance of glory to another, just as the Spirit of the Lord accomplishes it. 2 Corinthians 3:18

The Gist

This week we take a different approach to the podcast and walk you through a series of questions you can use to sit with God and discover more about the chapter you are currently in, just closed or about to begin. 

Beholding - being ready to perceive what is about to come to you. It happens when we stop trying "to hold" and allow ourselves to "be held". We aren't gathering information about God, but instead entering into a mutual space with Him and experiencing utter gratitude and joy, putting all personal preferences and judgment aside.  

Digging Deeper

What did you learn in the last chapter?

It is far more interesting to "Title" your chapter at the end of the chapter...What would you name your last chapter?

How are you beginning the new chapter?

Scripture

“Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 (ESV)

The Gist

“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10 maybe this isn’t a command to quiet your mind — it’s permission to stop holding everything together. 

In this episode, we explore what happens when we truly know He is God, and we are not: the pressure to control outcomes falls away, identity stops being something we construct, and anxiety loosens its grip. 

Then we dig into the difference between action from striving and action from rest — one flows from scarcity and grips outcomes, the other flows from fullness and holds loosely. Striving produces results; rest produces fruit.

Digging Deeper

Where in your life are you unconsciously trying to “be God” — controlling outcomes, fixing people, securing the future — instead of trusting He already holds those things?

Jesus never said, “Strive and bear much fruit.” What’s one area where you’ve been striving for fruit instead of resting into it?

Think of a conversation or moment of ministry that felt like it happened through you rather than from you. What was different about your posture going into it?

The diagnostic isn’t how you begin, but how you feel when you can’t tell if it landed. Sit with that this week — notice one moment where you don’t get the feedback you wanted, and ask: am I depleted, or still full?

Scripture

Eternal One: I was ready and willing to help before anyone even asked.
        I was found by people who did not seek Me;
    I showed My face and said, “Here I am! I am right here!”
        to a nation which did not call on Me. Isaiah 65:1 (Voice)

The Gist

We often say “we found God” or “we went searching for answers” — but Isaiah 65:1 flips that script entirely. God says, “I was ready and willing to help before anyone asked… I showed my face and said, ‘Here I am!’” to a people who weren’t even looking for Him. In this episode, we unpack the illusion of the spiritual seeker: the restlessness that drives us to prayer, the hunger to open scripture, the ache we can’t quite name — none of it starts with us. It’s evidence God already spoke first. We’re not advancing toward God; we’re growing our capacity to recognize the voice that’s been calling our name all along.

Digging Deeper

Where in your life right now do you feel restless, dissatisfied, or hungry for “more” — and what if that ache isn’t your searching, but evidence God already spoke first?

Think of a moment of spiritual clarity you’ve had (a verse that landed differently, unexpected tears, a word that stuck). Have you been treating that as something you achieved, or can you receive it as a gift you didn’t earn?

Augustine said our hearts are restless until they rest in God. Where do you see that restlessness showing up as God’s fingerprint on you, rather than your own effort to find Him?

Recall a “dry season” in your faith. What would change if you believed it wasn’t God’s absence, but His deeper work — withholding the felt sense of finding Him while doing something unseen in the waiting?

If you stopped framing faith as your search and started seeing it as your growing capacity to recognize a voice that’s always been speaking — what would you do differently this week?

Scripture

7 Jesus’ instructions were clear:

Jesus: Fill each water pot with water until it’s ready to spill over the top; 8 then fill a cup, and deliver it to the headwaiter.

They did exactly as they were instructed. 9 After tasting the water that had become wine, the headwaiter couldn’t figure out where such wine came from (even though the servants knew), and he called over the bridegroom in amazement.

Headwaiter: 10 This wine is delectable. Why would you save the most exquisite fruit of the vine? A host would generally serve the good wine first and, when his inebriated guests don’t notice or care, he would serve the inferior wine. You have held back the best for last.  John 2:7-10 (VOICE)

The Gist

It's interesting how Jesus's first miracle was turning water into wine. He was the world's first #1 bartender. Today, we talk about how being a Christian is a lot like being a great bartender. 

Here are just a few:

Serving people where they are, not where you wish they were or where they wish they were. 

Listen more than you talk. 

Don't water down what you are serving. 

Presence is more important than performance. 

You won't want to miss this episode. Our final conclusion: Live Like a Good Bartender!

Digging Deeper

Think of a time someone served you exactly where you were — no judgment, no agenda to fix you first. What did that feel like, and how did it change how you understood God's hospitality? 

What's the difference between softening your tone and diluting your truth? 

Where in your own life — with God, with your kids, with friends — are you performing instead of simply showing up? 

How might this metaphor change the way you walk into your next hard conversation? 

Scripture

"Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He Loved us and offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God!" Ephesians 5:2 NLT

"Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other for love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Peter 4:8

"Love each other deeply, as much as I have loved you." John 15:12 TPT

Matthew 5:14-16 MSG

The Gist

Melissa's turn...and she lets it rip!  Today, we take a deeper look at a topic Melissa has been overlooking or shying away from and she tells us how she really feels - Passionately and from the heart.

The enemy has us divided on topics that are not salvation issues. We scream from the roof tops at one another while the world is watching and wondering, "Why in the world would I want to hang with them?"

The Bible is clear...we are to LOVE ONE ANOTHER as He loved us.

Does love really win? 

Digging Deeper

Do our conversations, actions, and reactions reflect the love, humility, mercy of Christ?

What area of your life have you allowed the enemy to divide and conquer?

Who in your sphere of influence can you show the love of God to?