This episode closes the Start Strong series by asking a question many believers quietly carry: if we are no longer under the law, what keeps us from drifting back into sin? In Galatians 5:13–24, Paul’s message is both freeing and searching: true faith does not lead us to use freedom as an excuse for sin, but to become people who increasingly love what is good. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Why Paul wrote to the Galatians and how he answers the claim that grace leads to moral collapse 
• What Paul means by “the flesh” and why self-reliance can never produce true holiness 
• How freedom from the law is not freedom to sin, but freedom to love and serve others 
• Why a changed life does not earn salvation, but does testify to the reality of saving faith 

By the end of this episode, listeners will better understand why the Christian life is not sustained by fear, technique, or external pressure, but by God’s Spirit at work within us. It is an encouraging reminder that holiness grows not from trying harder in our own strength, but from trusting the God who changes broken people from the inside out.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

This episode explores why believers can have real confidence that their hope in God will not fail. In Romans 5:1–11, Krisan Marotta explains that salvation does not rest on the strength of our love for God, but instead on God's love for us.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

•  What it means to have peace with God 
•  Why biblical hope is not wishful thinking, but confident expectation 
•  What Paul means by “the hope of the glory of God” in Romans 5 
•  Why believers can rejoice even in suffering 
•  How trials test faith, produce endurance, and strengthen assurance 
•  Why the cross proves that God will not abandon his people halfway 
•  How God’s love and the gift of the Holy Spirit guarantee that hope will not disappoint 

After listening, you’ll better understand why the Christian life is not sustained by your own strength, but by God’s faithful love. This episode offers comfort for anyone who fears falling short, showing that the God who reconciles sinners to himself is also the God who brings them safely home.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

This episode explores how the Holy Spirit gives believers real assurance that they belong to God. Looking closely at Ephesians 1:13–23, Krisan Marotta explains that the Spirit is not only the fulfillment of God’s promises, but also God’s seal of ownership and his guarantee that he will bring his people safely into their promised inheritance. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

•  What Paul means when he says believers are “sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” 
•  Why hearing and believing the gospel are central to receiving this assurance 
•  How Old Testament promises in Jeremiah and Joel help explain the Spirit’s role 
•  The threefold meaning of God’s seal: authenticity, ownership, and protection 
•  Why the Holy Spirit is described as a pledge or down payment of our inheritance 
•  How Paul’s prayer in Ephesians points believers toward wisdom, revelation, and lasting hope 
•  What it means to have the “eyes of your heart” enlightened to see the value of God’s promises 

After listening, you’ll have a clearer understanding of why the Christian’s confidence rests not in feelings, rituals, or circumstances, but in God’s own work through the Holy Spirit.

  Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

You can look faithful on the outside and still be building your life around the wrong treasure. In this epsidoe, Krisan Marotta walks through Matthew 6:19–24 and shows how Jesus exposes the false security of worldly wealth, approval, and success. The real issue is not simply money, but whatever we cling to for meaning, safety, and hope instead of trusting the promises of God. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

•  What Jesus means by “treasures on earth” and “treasures in heaven” 
•  Why earthly treasure always fails, while God’s promises endure 
•  How your treasure reveals where your heart truly is 
•  What it means for the eye to be “healthy” or “bad,” and how spiritual blindness distorts what we value 
•  Why serving both God and money is ultimately impossible 
•  How the Pharisees modeled outward religion while still chasing the rewards of this world 
•  What it looks like to entrust your future to God instead of building your life around what you cannot keep 

After reading, you’ll have a clearer picture of what Jesus is warning against in the Sermon on the Mount and why this warning matters for every believer. This post invites you to examine what you are really living for, to see the emptiness of temporary treasure, and to fix your hope on the one treasure you can never lose.

 Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Authority and submission often feel like problems to solve or power struggles to survive. In this episode, Krisan Marotta explores Colossians 3:18–4:1 and shows how Paul reframes those relationships through the gospel. Rather than asking how to protect ourselves or get our way, Paul calls us to live as people who belong to Christ, acting in every role with humility, responsibility, and trust in God.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• What it means to do everything “in the name of the Lord Jesus”
• How the gospel reshapes relationships involving authority and submission
• Paul’s teaching for wives and husbands, and how responsibility differs from worth
• What children and parents are called to in a relationship shaped by love and wisdom
• How Paul’s words to slaves and masters speak into the realities of work and leadership today
• Why every human role is ultimately accountable to the Lord Christ

After listening, you’ll have a clearer framework for thinking about authority, submission, work, and responsibility in light of the gospel. 

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

In this episode of Wednesday in the Word, Krisan Marotta returns to Genesis 2:15–25 to recover a biblical vision of marriage—not as a checklist of moral rules, but as God’s beautiful design for human intimacy and flourishing. By watching how God creates Adam and Eve, Krisan shows why marriage is God’s wise provision for a need we were made to have: the need to know and be known in a uniquely human relationship. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Why God says it is “not good” for Adam to be alone—even before sin enters the world
• What it means for Eve to be a “helper fit for him”: truly corresponding, matched, and human
• How Genesis presents marriage as God’s gift and design, not a human invention we can redefine
• The three foundational commitments of marriage in Genesis 2:24: leaving, holding fast, and becoming one flesh
• How “specialness,” “permanence,” and shared life reshape everyday tensions—including chores, priorities, and conflict
• Why the Bible frames sexuality as an expression of covenant faithfulness: chastity before marriage and fidelity after

After listening, you’ll come away with a clearer, more compelling picture of what marriage is meant to be: a covenant where two people reorder life around one another, stay committed through hardship, and learn to live as “we” instead of “me.” Most of all, you’ll be invited to see God’s design not as restrictive, but as the path toward the intimacy and security our hearts were made to seek. 

 Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

In this episode of Wednesday in the Word, Krisan Marotta walks through 1 Corinthians 6:9–14 to answer a question many believers quietly carry: If I still struggle with sin, does that mean I’m not truly saved? Paul’s warning is sobering, but it’s not meant to crush the repentant struggler. Instead, it exposes the danger of self-deception and clarifies the difference between stumbling into sin and settling into it as a way of life. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Why Paul says “do not be deceived,” and what kind of deception he’s warning the church about
• How to understand the “will not inherit the kingdom of God” list without denying either grace or the reality of ongoing struggle
• The crucial distinction between momentary failure and a life characterized by settled, defended unrighteousness
• How Titus 3:3–7 helps explain what it means to be “washed,” “justified,” and “sanctified”
• Why “all things are lawful” can become a dangerous misuse of the gospel when it’s used to excuse sin
• Paul’s correction to the “food is for the stomach” argument—and why the body matters to God, including the hope of resurrection

After listening, you’ll have a clearer framework for examining your own heart without despair or denial: not whether you’ve ever sinned, but whether you’re willing to repent, be taught, and move toward the Lord. 

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 8 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity. 

Do you ever feel like a trial has you cornered, like you have to choose between trusting God or taking matters into your own hands? In this episode, we walk through James 1:1–8 and learn why James can say to “count it all joy” when life gets hard. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Who James is, why his voice matters, and what we know about his role in the early church
• What James means by “trials” and how pressure reveals what we truly trust
• Why perseverance is so valuable
• How “perfect and complete” means mature faith reaching what it was intended to become
• What “wisdom” is in James 1:5
• Why God gives wisdom “generously…without reproach,” even to the immature and struggling
• What it means to ask “in faith” instead of being double-minded

By the end, you’ll have a clearer, steadier way to think about hardship: not as random pain or a spiritual failure, but as a proving ground where God strengthens faith, grows endurance, and teaches wisdom.

  Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 7 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity. 

In 1 Corinthians 12:1–3, Paul speaks to a church that’s confused about what makes someone “spiritual.” The Corinthians had started treating dramatic experiences—especially speaking in tongues—as proof that God was truly at work. 

Paul redirects them to something far simpler and far more decisive: the Spirit’s work is shown in a person’s confession and conviction that Jesus is Lord, not in how impressive their worship looks or how extraordinary their experiences feel. 

 In this week’s episode, we explore: 

• Why the Corinthians’ pagan background shaped their expectations of spiritual “signs”
• What Paul means by “spiritual things” in 1 Corinthians 12:1
• How Paul identifies the real mark of the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer
• Why “Jesus is Lord” summarizes the heart of the gospel message
• How modern Christians can repeat Corinth’s mistake 
• What true spirituality looks like in ordinary life: work, family, faithfulness, and daily obedience

By the end of this episode, you’ll have clarity and relief: the Spirit’s presence isn’t measured by flash, intensity, or spiritual comparison. 

 Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 6 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity. 

In Matthew 10:40–42, Jesus makes a startling connection: the way we welcome His people reveals the way we welcome Him and, ultimately, the God who sent Him. This episode clarifies what it means to “receive” Jesus in Scripture, showing that it’s not a passive feeling but an active choice to accept, listen, and embrace His messengers and message. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• What “receive” means in the Bible and why it implies deliberate welcome rather than passive contact
• How receiving Jesus’ disciples reflects receiving Jesus Himself (and the Father who sent Him)
• What it means to receive a prophet “in the name of a prophet” 
• Why Jesus links “reward” to salvation and mercy
• Why Jesus calls His disciples “little ones,” and how humility and dependence shape true faith
• How welcoming a disciple with something as small as a cup of cold water carries eternal significance
• What your response to Scripture (the apostles’ words) and to fellow believers reveals about your heart toward God

After listening, you’ll have a clearer, more biblical understanding of what it means to “receive” Jesus and why faith shows up in concrete, everyday welcomes.

 Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast