theCHURCH Sermon Podcast

To constantly expose yourself to, be surrounded by, and filled with God’s word helps you not only recognize but be totally sure of God’s presence in any and all situations.

We are called by Jesus to bring people to Jesus by bringing Jesus to the people. How? By being like Jesus among the people. So that they can see your life and give glory to our Father in heaven.

What do Dante’s Inferno, the King James Bible, Greek mythology, Augustine, fart jokes, and Tommy Boy have in common?

Unfortunately, they all ended up in our conversation about hell.

In Episode 6, Part 1 of The Deep End, we ask a question most Christians assume has a pretty obvious answer: What actually happens to people who reject God?

Then things get complicated.

Because the Bible uses words like Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and Tartarus—and they don’t all mean the same thing. So what did Jesus actually mean when He warned about hell? What is Revelation’s Lake of Fire? Does the Bible teach eternal conscious punishment? Does “the wages of sin is death” mean… actual death? And have Christians always agreed about any of this?

We put three historic Christian views of final judgment on the table—eternal conscious torment, conditional immortality, and universal reconciliation—and ask each of them to explain the passages that don’t fit neatly into their system.

Fair warning: there’s a decent chance you’ll have a Tommy Boy moment somewhere along the way:

“Did I eat paint chips as a kid?”

But underneath all the Greek words, Church Fathers, fire, death, judgment, and theological arguments is a question that becomes a lot less academic when the unbeliever has a name:

Can I trust God with the eternal destiny of someone I love?

And that’s where Part 1 takes us into the deep end.

What does it take to pull you away from what God has called you to do? In Resolve, Nehemiah shows us how to recognize distractions, protect our God-given priorities, and stay faithful when fear, criticism, and even good opportunities tempt us to come down from the work. Know what matters. Stay focused. Keep building.

The greatest risk to God’s glory revealed is a people at war with each other.

What do the Rapture, the Antichrist, giant dragons, Left Behind, mansions in heaven, a thousand-year reign, and hiding under your bathtub have in common?

Apparently, they’re all part of trying to figure out how this whole thing ends.

In this episode of The Deep End, we wade into the wonderfully uncomplicated world of end-times theology. Is the Rapture actually in the Bible? Could Jesus return at any moment? Is Revelation a play-by-play of events still to come—or have we been reading someone else’s mail like it was tomorrow’s newspaper? And when Jesus returns, are Christians leaving earth for heaven…or is the Bible’s ending actually about heaven coming here?

Along the way, we tackle the tribulation, the millennium, the Antichrist, Revelation’s seriously strange imagery, why Christians disagree about almost all of it—and why some of us grew up secretly hoping Jesus would wait until after the game to come back.

But underneath all the charts, timelines, beasts, trumpets, and arguments is something we may have missed:

The end of the biblical story isn’t supposed to scare Christians. It’s supposed to give us hope.

Jesus wins. Death loses. Creation is restored. And God dwells with humanity.

It’s the end of the world as we know it.

And we feel fine.

What do Abraham, circumcision, an olive tree, 23andMe, the modern state of Israel, and Canadians have in common?

Against all odds, they all made it into this episode of The Deep End.

We’re wading into one of the easiest topics Christians ever discuss: Israel. What could possibly go wrong?

What does the Bible actually mean by “God’s chosen people”? Is biblical Israel the same thing as the modern nation of Israel? Did the Church replace Israel? Was the creation of Israel in 1948 a fulfillment of prophecy? Does “I will bless those who bless you” mean Christians—or America—are biblically required to support the modern Israeli government? And where do Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus fit into all of this?

To get there, we go all the way back to Abraham, work through Jesus and Paul, take an unexpectedly long detour into circumcision, do a little horticulture in Romans 11, and eventually make it to 1948.

And underneath all of those questions is an even bigger one:

Can God be trusted to keep His promises?

This one may challenge some things you’ve been taught. It may confirm others. And there’s a decent chance somebody is going to send us an email.

Welcome to The Deep End.

Real Questions. Deeper Answers.

God's glory shines through us best when we are one with Him and one with one another. In the fight, in the pain and in the victory.

What does it actually mean when we say “God is with us”? If God is everywhere, is He somehow more present in a church building? Why could Moses talk with God but not see His face? Why does getting too close to God occasionally seem… hazardous to your health? And what do Eden, the Tabernacle, the Temple—and somehow a submarine—have to do with any of this?

Starts With You | God Through Us | Ernie Jaurique | 8-23-26 by Pastor Ernie Jaurique