True Vs. Truth Podcast

We get real about super celebrities and viral social media influencers this week, and dive deep into the kingdom perspective on fame and money. An elevated platform to show your talents and increased wealth to reward hard work can be a gift and blessing from God. However, it’s important that we don’t fall victim to idolatry and covet our Earthly possessions over the gifts God is promising us in Heaven. Instead, consider how the blessings in your life should be used to bless others, and use the privilege of your status to elevate God’s word and Christ’s love above your own worldly wants.

Timecoded Guide:

• [00:50] Introducing the corrupting concept of fame & explaining Matt’s NFL experience
• [03:07] Diving into Danielle’s experience in Entertainment PR & feeling sympathy for celebrities suffering from their fame
• [06:48] Going viral online & our need to overshare to detrimental levels just for attention from others
• [10:16] Filling the void of dissatisfaction in life & changing our perspective on what it means to “be great”
• [14:09] Tithing to bless others & pouring out your cup of blessings onto others

Conflict is inevitable, even when we try our hardest to avoid it. It turns out, God doesn’t ask us to avoid conflict. Jesus himself didn’t shy away from conflict when necessary, and preached that conflict resolution requires loving your neighbor and trusting in God. This week, we break down conflict— between spouses, between parents and children, between friends, and between fellow Christians— and discuss what conflict resolution really looks like when we follow God’s word and listen to his will. 

Timecoded Guide:

• [01:09] Conflict from a kingdom perspective & fighting fair for God
• [09:53] Abusing someone with the truth & the issue with arguing to “win”
• [16:20] Teachable moments with conflict & growing through conflict resolution
• [25:29] Partner/spouse conflict & different levels of faith in a relationship
• [29:41] Learning from past traumas & explaining how that shapes your conflict actions

Hope Darst, mother, musician, and worship leader, joins Danielle on a girl’s only episode to talk about girlhood, womanhood, and motherhood— all from a kingdom perspective. While parenting today is overwhelming enough, Hope explains how to weather storms and cope with changes in your family and faith through relying on God’s word and focusing on lordship. From challenging perspectives to healing from failures, Hope tells all in this introspective episode on how women do it all by not doing it all.

Timecoded Guide:

• [00:50] Believing in childhood and struggling with faith in high school  and college
• [06:37] Not stopping at just salvation and actively working towards lordship 
• [13:04] Parenting through feelings of failure and shame 
• [19:10] Inspiring confidence in children as they grow up and experience puberty
• [28:15] Pivoting and changing as a mother in a busy world

We tackle purpose from a kingdom perspective this week, and break down the ways in which people get their purpose wrong. God has a purpose for each and every one of us, and our gifts and talents are given from God to guide us on our journey to discovering that purpose. Instead of “manifesting” our own destiny, we dive deep into the Word to better understand how to seek our purpose and how to remain open to hearing God’s calling in our lives, no matter what. 

Timecoded Guide:

• [00:48] Learning the kingdom perspective of purpose 
• [06:49] Stewarding your gifts and talents in the ways God intended
• [12:56] Understanding how the pandemic has changed our ideas around purpose
• [19:11] Trusting in God’s purpose and knowing the Bible won’t return void
• [21:55] Waiting on the Lord with an open heart and a willing mind

Jamal Johnson, one of the pastors at Progressive Baptist Church and Biblica partner for Reach4Life, joins us in a conversation about culture. The culture of our country and our community doesn’t often align with God’s word, leading to groups of people, especially Black people in America, to pull away from going to church or being active Christians. Tackling the tough topics of racism, slavery, politics, sexuality, and gentrification, we break down the broad topic of culture using Christ as our guide.

Timecoded Guide:

• [00:00] Introducing Jamal & discussing the Black community’s exodus from church
• [09:09] Seeing through the myth of the “white man’s religion” to find Black people in the Bible
• [19:16] Finding a church of sound doctrine and exploring churches online
• [27:07] Understanding the intersection of culture, church, and sexuality
• [38:09] Separating church and state in politics, but voting with God’s word in mind
• [46:00] Knowing and loving the church, even though it is imperfect 
• [52:33] Helping the next generation through church-community collaboration

This week, we take a step back from our social media and consider Christ’s opinion on the online world we have created. Between Instagram stories, TikTok trends, and Facebook discourse, our experiences online have begun to bleed into our personal lives, relationships, and faith in God. We break down how we find a healthy influence of Christ in our time on social media and how we can encourage our children to make better decisions online through engaging in Christian, child-safe spaces.

Timecoded Guide:

• [01:59] Seeing how social media has evolved from original intentions to present day culture, especially with how we connect and who we connect with
• [04:36] Impacting our friendships and relationships negatively through lying or pretending to be someone we’re not on social media
• [10:55] Understanding that our influence is supposed to be leveraged for God, instead of used corruptly or inappropriately on social media for fame or attention
• [15:31] Falling victim to online identities and losing touch with our identity as Christ followers and as imperfect humans
• [19:27] Creating a balance between online presences and in-person connections with our children, friends, and family 

This week, we dive into the hot topic of mental health. With the pandemic bringing more awareness to mental illness and our need for human connection, discussions around mental health skyrocketed in popularity and led to a lot of opinions that didn’t take faith into account. Keeping in mind that we can’t pick “one or the other” when healing ourselves mentally, we have an insightful discussion about generational trauma, mental health at church, and putting our worries with God for a healthier mental state.

Timecoded Guide:

In this episode, Matt and Danielle cover:

[01:18] Mental health as a prominent conversation in culture and how people have chosen “one or the other” with mental health services and going to church

[04:52] Understanding mental health as it relates to trauma, especially in the Black community in America, where racism still deeply affects lives and families

[09:37] Struggling with mental illness and bullying in childhood and how trauma can teach our children hatred towards others or themselves

[14:04] Finding a place for mental health in the Christian church and encouraging the church to reach out into the community to help struggling Christians

[19:33] God’s perfect will and the transformation God is willing to show each one of us when we put our faith and trust in Him as our savior

We continue our discussion of the kingdom perspective as the topic of marriage shifts into the topic of parenting. Parenthood requires discipling your children and teaching them how to have a relationship with God. As social media, books, movies, television shows, and even podcasts expose our children to so many different difficult topics, it’s important that we remember to communicate, to discipline, and to give our children the answers to their questions through God’s word.  

Timecoded Guide:  

• [2:18] Conveying expectations and disciplining clearly and effectively 
• [7:03] Giving guidance and ensuring success through discipline  
• [10:10] Being an approachable and communicative parent  
• [13:25] Discipling your children and the role of a father 
• [17:44] Understanding that both kids and adults change as we grow up 

This week, we celebrate Juneteenth and explain the importance of a holiday centered around Black Americans. With an emphasis on freedom and allyship, we encourage our non-black friends and neighbors, especially our fellow Christians, to delve into our history, educate with important well-rounded resources, and understand the black experience in the United States beyond the context of slavery.  

Timecoded Guide: 

• [02:07] Understanding the colors & culture of Juneteenth 
• [08:48] Including Juneteenth in tangible ways  
• [11:22] Celebrating our history personally in our family  
• [12:25] Learning black history as American history  
• [14:03] Acknowledging racist systems and being a good ally 

We’re joined by Lisa Fields, Founder and CEO of Jude 3, for a discussion about community and context. Apologetics often get lost within the Black community, and many of the most prevalent religious spaces are filled only with white male voices. As a black woman, Lisa founded Jude 3 to equip the African American community in the area of apologetics. Today, she shares her current and upcoming projects with us, along with giving us some insight on being Black apologetics ourselves.  

Timecoded Guide: 

• [03:03] Lisa’s personal journey in faith & the Black experience in religion 
• [07:35] Starting the conversation about Black Apologetics  

• [09:05] Creating curriculum & answering the community in Jude 3  
• [16:41] Teaching children about God beyond their school education 
• [25:43] Jude 3 & the power of context in Christianity