Wawasee Bible Podcast

Jesus is fully and eternally God in every way. He’s not merely like God or close to God, he is of the exact essence as the Father—one substance with him. The New Testament book of Hebrews opens by presenting Jesus as the radiance of the glory of God, not a mere reflection, but the source of glory as he himself is fully God. In this way the Son reveals the Father perfectly, purifies sin completely, and gives his people security, courage, and confidence to draw near to him and one another as he has drawn near to us.

A key phrase of the Nicene Creed is that Jesus is "begotten, not made." Jesus is not a created being, a lesser god, or a spiritual middleman between us and the Father. He is eternally God—begotten, not made—and he took on true humanity without ceasing to be fully divine. Because Jesus is fully God, he can truly reveal the Father; because he became fully human, he can truly represent us; and because he died and rose again, he can truly bring us to God. Faith in Christ is not trusting someone who merely points the way, but trusting the eternal Son who crossed the gap, dealt with our sin, and opened the way home to the Father.

The gospel is not something the church invented — it is a deposit entrusted to us, with the expectation that we will receive it personally, guard it actively, and pass it on faithfully. This was Paul's charge to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:20–21. The Nicene Creed, born out of the Arian controversy at the Council of Nicaea (325), is one of the church's great historical examples of receiving, guarding, and passing on the deposit.

Jesus is a sure and steadfast anchor who holds you steady in life’s storms (Hebrews 6:19-20). In Romans 8:31–39, Paul stacks up a series of rhetorical questions to drive home a settled assurance: God has proved he is for his people by not sparing his own Son. Even when real opposition comes, and even when the accuser brings true charges, the verdict for those in Christ is already in: you're free and clear because God has justified you, Jesus died and was raised for you, and he now intercedes as an advocate for you. So what could possibly separate you from the love of Christ? — Nothing! God proved he is for us, satisfied every charge against us, and nothing in creation can undo it.

Even when life is full of beauty, there’s a deep ache that tells you something isn’t the way it’s supposed to be—an ache that shows up in suffering, loss, and the way both our bodies and the world itself seem to “groan.” That brokenness can be traced back to sin entering the world through Adam and Eve, bringing fear, shame, futility, and death into human experience and even into creation itself. But by God's grace, something better is coming and Jesus's resurrection is the proof. The question, then, isn’t whether God will keep his promise, but whether or not you belong to Christ through repentance and faith. Even though we suffer and groan with creation, something better is coming, and God's Spirit & purpose guarantee it.

Romans 8 opens with the breathtaking announcement that anyone who is in Christ Jesus has “no condemnation”—a final legal verdict where not only are the charges for our sin dropped, and the due sentence has already been fully paid by Jesus! But even in light of this incredible truth, the reality is many Christians keep living like a pardoned person who chooses to stay in their prison cell, weighed down by shame, self-doubt, comparisons, and accusations from the enemy. If you've trusted Christ, then Jesus has freed you from all condemnation and you are now indwelt by the Holy Spirit—so live as a son/daughter who is led by the Spirit.

God’s law (the 613 commands given through Moses) is good even though it can’t save or make anyone holy: it names sin, exposes what’s really going on in us, and tells the truth we often try to soften or relabel. The issue isn’t that God’s commands are flawed—it’s that there’s a “traitor within us,” a sinful nature that pulls us toward what we know is wrong, creating an inner war where we do what we hate and fail to do what we want and know is right. Because the problem is within us, only someone from outside can help, only Jesus Christ. Jesus did what no one else could ever do, he fulfilled the law, took our sin on the cross, overcame it in his resurrection, and gifts his righteousness to us to free us. God's law is not the problem—it is good, the traitor within us is, and Jesus alone can rescue us.

In Romans 7, Paul paints a picture of a “first marriage” to the law that ends in death, and a “new marriage” to the risen christ that produces fruit for God; you can’t keep dragging the old relationship into the new one without creating constant inner conflict. The law itself isn’t the villain—it’s holy and good—but sin inside us twists it, using commands to stir up rebellion and expose what’s really going on in the heart (like coveting). That exposure is meant to drive you toward grace, because sin kills but grace abounds, and obedience becomes something that grows out of love rather than guilt.

Grace doesn’t mean people are free to sin without consequence; it means they’ve been rescued from sin’s rule and brought under a new master. Everyone ends up serving something: either sin, which promises freedom but grows into bondage, shame, and ultimately death, or obedience to God, which flows from a changed heart and produces righteousness, sanctification, and eternal life. Those who are in Christ are genuinely made new, called to live like who they now are rather than returning to what never truly gave life. There are two masters, two kinds of fruit, and two very different outcomes.

For many of us, evangelism can feel like a huge weight and completely undoable—often because we tend to think it’s all on us. The truth is that God does the work, we just need to be faithful to share our story and his story. Each week we’re looking at both God’s part and our part in being Ready Storytellers. This week we look again at our strategy of “P.E.A.R.L.” as we wrap up our series. Because God brought you back to himself in Christ, live as a Ready Storyteller—available and intentional—looking for open doors to reveal Christ.