Complementarianism is the idea that men and women have different complementary roles within marriage and church leadership. In this episode, Kenny explains the concept and how it ought to play out.

Recommended

The Accidental Feminist: Restoring Our Delight in God’s Good Design (by Courtney Reissig)

Men and Women, Equal Yet Different (by Alexander Strauch)

Biblical Foundations for Manhood and Womanhood (by Wayne Grudem, Bruce Ware, John Piper)

The Apostle Matthew records some interesting words for us, words that came from the mouth of Jesus praising his cousin and fellow rabbi John the Baptist.

“Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11).

In response to these words, Kenny received an email question from a listeners asking why Jesus gave such high praise to John the Baptist. In this episode, Kenny answers this question, explaining John the Baptist’s role in the ministry of Jesus, and giving us insight into how this applies to believers today.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah declared that the Messiah would be born of a virgin and that He would be called “Immanuel” (see Isaiah 7:14). So with that in mind, why did Mary name her son “Jesus” instead of giving Him the name “Immanuel”?

In this episode, Kenny answers this question, and makes clear the meaning of the name Immanuel and its overall significance.

In this episode, Kenny interviews web developer, writer, blogger, and podcaster Josh Armstrong about being intentionally and purposefully culturally relevant and the importance of avoiding just being “casually religious” in our modern contexts. Josh and Kenny also talk about the importance of every Christian seeing themselves as “missionaries” in their own cultural context, no matter where in the world they live.

Recommended

Follow Josh on Twitter: @pfaithjourney

In Genesis, there is a group called the Nephilim. There has been much speculation as to who this group was. Many evangelicals believe that this group were the offspring of fallen angels whom had sexual relations with human women. But is this what the Scripture says?

In this episode, Kenny interviews author, apologist, podcaster, and philosopher Tyler Vela to talk about the Nephilim and what the Holy Spirit is actually teaching us when we read through a passage like Genesis.

Tyler Vela studied Philosophy and English at California State University, Sonoma. He also earned a Bachelors degree in Biblical and Theological Studies from Moody Bible Institute. Currently, Tyler is working towards a Masters of Biblical Studies at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte).

Tyler is the host of The Freed Thinker Podcast and blog and is a frequent guest on many Christian and skeptical podcasts and forums.

Recommended

Subscribe to The Freed Thinker Podcast: www.thefreedthinker.podbean.com

In this episode, our host Kenny interviews theologian and leadership expert Kenneth Freire about the primary differences between spiritual gifts and natural talents. We all have strengths and abilities, but Freire says that understanding which category your strengths fall into will be key in helping you figure out your life’s callings.

In this episode, Kenny interviews author and broadcaster Erik Guzman about his new book “The Seed” and they dive into a great discussion about a variety of matters related to “messy spirituality” and the Gospel. This interview is one of the most unique interviews that our podcast has produced. Erik is super funny, transparent, raw, and encouraging.

Get a Copy of Erik’s book: “The Seed: A True Myth“

On every major issue, doctrine, or point of theology, there are a variety of views and perspectives. Even within Protestantism there are many differing opinions and conclusions.

In episode 101, Kenny discussed whether or not every area of theology and doctrine were of equal importance; making the point that some genres of theology are more important than others. In that particular episode, Kenny explains that he holds to a concept of “open-hand” issues versus “closed-hand” issues; in essence, we embrace the simple idea that some Christian doctrines are essential and extremely important, while some others are not as important and there can be room for disagreement among faithful believers in those areas.

In response to that episode, Kenny received an e-mail from a regular listener asking how we determine what are the closed-hand issues and what are the open-hand issues? Basically, how do we determine the importance of a topic? In this episode, Kenny tackles that topic, explaining the history of how Evangelicals have come to the consensus of what are the closed-hand issues.

The Jews in the first century were meticulous record keepers, in particular with genealogies. The primary reason this was important was because they were awaiting their Messiah, whom they believed would be a descendant of King David. When we look through the Gospels of the New Testament, we see two different genealogies for Jesus.

In this episode, Kenny explains why there are two different genealogies. The first is recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. He wrote to the Jewish people to highlight Jesus’ legal and judicial claim to the throne of David, so they would have been concerned with Jesus being the legal heir. The second genealogy we see in the New Testament was written by Luke, recorded in his Gospel, but written to show Jesus’ biological relation to King David, as he wrote to a Roman Gentile audience that would not have cared about the Jewish throne nearly as much.

Addiction is a very sensitive topic that impacts the lives of many people. People can find themselves being addicted to drugs, sex, alcohol, tobacco, food, gambling, compulsive spending, approval, attention, adrenaline, and many more.

In this episode, Kenny talks about addictions, and whether or not God can heal them. Kenny makes clear that addiction has strong power of how we make decisions, addictions are always rooted in some idol or some form of sin in our lives, but God’s grace and power can deliver us from any addiction.

Recommended

Redemption (by Mike Wilkerson)

Recovering Redemption (by Matt Chandler)

Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction (by Mark Laaser)

Addictions (by Edward Welch)

How People Change (by Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp)

Life Together (by Dietrich Bonhoeffer)