YOU Podcast

Developing relationships and friendships online has become commonplace, but what happens if one of those persons refuses to meet? A documentary series on TV investigates just such online-only relationships. Suspicions arise that the person refusing to meet isn’t who he pretends to be. Unfortunately, most cases are heartbreaking because the person being deceived is in the dark about the relationship.

We long to connect with others who will accept and love us authentically.

We long to connect with others who will accept and love us authentically. Many who feel they have no success in relationships turn to the internet as a way to connect with someone else. This documentary reveals the desperate need to find someone who will honor others.

Trust is a major issue in our society. The show is indicative of a culture plagued with identity theft, child abductions, trafficking, scams, and selfish ambition. Our culture is severely lacking in trust, but fortunately there’s an answer. His name isJesus. A trusting relationship with Him provides the promise of an eternal future with One who can always be trusted.

My prayer life has had ebbs and flows since becoming a believer. When I first received Christ, I had ample time to pray. As life got busier with marriage, children, work, and ministry, prayer became more challenging. Though I prayed daily, it required focused effort. I remember feeling as though I had to fight through distractions in order to spend time with God. By no means was my struggle due to a lack of desire, but as life changed, so had my schedule, making it necessary to be more intentionally intimate in my prayer time.

Many people struggle with prayer not only because it requires being intentional, but also about what to pray for other than our personal needs. Praying without ceasing is possible because there’s much to engage God about, most importantly, those who don’t know Him.

As followers of Christ, it’s vital we follow Jesus’ example. He focused much of His prayer time on those who didn’t know Him. As His ambassadors, His expectation is for us to do the same.

One of the most familiar passages of Scripture in the New Testament is the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). Christ finished the work God had given Him to do on earth, and right before He ascended to heaven, Christ commissioned His followers to make disciples. He commanded them to go into the world and replicate themselves. Every Christian is the product of that command. We are disciples that followed disciples who had followed disciples, and so on, beginning with Christ’s disciples.

This study is about the fulfillment of that mandate to make His disciples. It begins with sharing the gospel of Christ and is the responsibility of all Christians, yet many have not taken it upon themselves to do the work. Some believe sharing Christ is not their calling, others are fearful, and still others just don’t know what to do. This study will help to do away with the things that prevent us from obeyingChrist’s command to make disciples.

In six sessions, we will be challenged and encouraged to share Christ with the lost. We will be reminded of what the Great Commission is all about and that prayer as a practice invites God and His power to join us in this work. A reminder of the details of message will be laid out. We will understand that the way we live and simple conversations can also be ways to share Christ. Finally, when we have done all we can, we will learn to trust God to do the rest. Ultimately, it is the decision of people in response to the gospel. We just need to be ready to share Christ.

We experience major milestones in life that we often look forward to. For example, graduations mark an accomplishment. The graduate has passed all the requirements and tests and is ready to step out into the real world!

The birth of a new baby is another such milestone. Parents embrace this joy with a touch of nervousness, hoping to make the right choices and to be good parents.

Retirement is yet another milestone. The thrill of “slowing down” to have more time for family, ministry, travel, and activities can be coupled with questions about finances and health.

Whether you experience all three of these milestones or none of them, one major milestone awaits humanity: one day Christ will return to earth to establish His eternal kingdom. Even followers of Christ can view this event with both excitement and trepidation. We might wonder, What will it be like? Life will definitely change, and for those with a relationship with Christ, it will only change for the better!

New Orleans is known as a city of never-ending parties, but it also a city of parades. Getting married? Have a parade. Celebrating a birthday? Have a parade. Celebrating because it’s a Thursday? Have a parade.

Everyone sees the parade and hears it (and often are inconvenienced by it). Parades aren’t meant to be subtle and quiet. The people in the parade do what they can to draw attention to something they consider worth celebrating.

The Holy Spirit’s role is a lot like that parade but for a greater reason. He works tirelessly to magnify the work of Jesus. He works in and through our lives to draw attention to Someone worth celebrating. He empowers us to do the work of ministry, equips us to make a difference in the world for God’s glory, teaches us to understand God’s Word, and so much more. Since the role of the Holy Spirit is so important, why do we spend so little time talking about Him? As He prepared to die on the cross, Jesus gave His disciples and us great insight into this too-little-discussed Person of the Trinity.

The idea that we could communicate without being in the same room seemed impossible—until Samuel Morse showed what a telegraph could do in 1837. The idea that those telegraph messages could be transmitted without a wire seemed impossible—until Guglielmo Marconi demonstrated wireless telegraphy in 1895. The idea that voices could be transmitted without wires seemed impossible—until Reginald Fessenden did it in 1901.

We could go on and on about how people have taken innovations to the next seemingly impossible level. Here we are today using smartphones—tiny computers—to transmit our voices and information around the world.

While we might marvel at science and the amazing things we once considered impossible, one thing remains impossible for us. We are unable to raise a dead person to life. But thanks be to God that what is impossible for us is not impossible for Him. This session will assure us that new life is possible when we trust in therisen Christ.

Creating hair bows, changing the light in the oven, crocheting scarves for the homeless, updating a bathroom faucet, capturing a hermit crab on the loose in my house, and cooking a restaurant-quality steak—these are skills I learned to do by watching a DIY TV shows or online videos. We have become a nation of do-it-yourselfers, and more and more people are being motivated to tackle major updates and repairs without calling a trained professional. Whether you’re trying to install a water heater or change the dome lights of your car, it’s very likely someone has created an online video showing you exactly what to do.

It feels good to be able to fix something on your own. Even if it took you four times longer than the professional. But we can’t fix everything. No matter how hard we try or how many videos we watch, humanity cannot fix the sin problem that separates us from God. Only one Person was able to accomplish this. The Crucifixion is a reminder that forgiveness of our sins is possible because of the sacrifice of Jesus.

If you are a parent, you know every child toddler goes through the stage of saying the word no to most every instruction. This is a normal developmental stage. No one teaches kids to do this because it is something we all are born with. We all are born with the desire to say “no” to authority so we can do whatever we want.

By saying “no,” we are rejecting the authority of the person to whom we are responding. Kids can love their parents deeply, but in that moment, they are rejecting the authority of their parents. From birth, all of us are good at rejecting the authority of our parents. We are also adept at rejecting God’s authority, saying no to what He wants and doing instead what we want. It’s called sin, and we are born with a sin nature. Saying no to our parents often led to punishment, and the same is true when we say no to God. And no amount of good on our part will cancel out our punishment.

In this session, we will discover we are sinners, and on our own, we can do nothing about it. Thankfully, God did not leave us in this state.

As we become adults, we know firsthand that responsibility increases, and owning responsibility is a marker of maturity. Responsibility is not a bad thing! In fact, God has built responsibility into us. He gave it to us when He put us on the Earth. He coded us for it and gave us the tools to carry it out. And it is up to us to recognize what that responsibility is—and carry it out.

We now have a clearer understanding of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It’s time to learn more about His purpose for creating humanity. To do so, let’s go back to the beginning in Genesis 1.

“Do my beliefs really matter?” We may be tempted to ask ourselves this question because we live in a world that has become open to and tolerant of a variety of worldviews. Some people attempt to find a common ground with others by declaring, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you sincerely believe it.” But what we believe does matter! Our beliefs make a difference.

This study looks at core truths central to the Christian faith that have been revealed in the pages of Scripture. Without these truths, life loses all meaning and hope. But within these core truths, we discover the character of God, the nature and work of Christ, who we are, and where we are going— truths that point us to a right relationship with God. Knowing these truths is more than an academic exercise; as we trust what God has revealed to us, our faith impacts how we live both now and for eternity.

During this study, we will be reminded of these fundamental elements of our faith:• God has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God created us to serve and honor Him.• We are sinners, and on our own, we can do nothing to solve our sin problem.• Forgiveness is possible because Jesus died on the cross for our sins.• We experience new life when we trust the risen Christ.• The Holy Spirit indwells and empowers Christians.• Jesus will return to establish His eternal kingdom.

As believers, we need to know what we believe, so we can represent God well in the midst of a culture of unbelief and religious error.