The 180 Church Podcast with Dr. Sammy and Friends

6 Keys for Your 2023 with Dr. Steve Brown

Dr. Steven Brown, President of Arrow Leadership, helps usher in 2023 with five key reflective takeaways to approach and even thrive in the new year. Whether we are optimistic, anxious, or ambivalent at the starting line of the year, the letters of Paul to the church of Corinth in the gospel offers several applicable measures to take courage in the Father’s faithfulness, deepen hope in His strength, and entrust our lives to Him. Dr. Brown encourages us and fellow believers to walk this journey together, with our hands in the Fathers, so that others may know the love known to us from Jesus.

The Stunning Proclamation of Christmas

Dr. Darrell Johnson, Teaching Fellow at Regent College, breaks down the Nativity proclamation in order to reveal its true significance: the birth of a new world leader who would bring with Him a new social order. An angel of the Lord made this proclamation first to shepherds - who were some of the lowliest in society at the time - thereby signaling that in the new social order, the least among men would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. The Christmas story thus marks a radical shift for mankind, one which brings utmost grace and joy. "Do not be afraid," the angel said to the shepherds, for the birth of Jesus meant the coming of the sovereign Messiah, who would give new life to this world and all its people.

Before the Adventus: The Great Departure

In the very first Christmas, before Jesus's arrival here on Earth, there was the Great Departure: Jesus had to empty Himself and leave the Father. In doing so, God made an immense, painful sacrifice out of great love for us, fragmenting Himself for the first time to send His only son to us. In a similar vein, we are called to love others, even if it means making sacrifices, and even if it means departing from our everyday comforts. Indeed, Christmas is not only a season of joy and celebration, but also a call for us to be a blessing to others and, in turn, represent Jesus to the world.

Khesed

When we make claims about God’s character, we imply that God is within human comprehension. But if major theologians admit to the impossibility of completely understanding God, how are we able to actually know Him? At moments when God chose to reveal Himself to people, we read a Hebrew word, Khesed, which is used to describe His kindness and love towards the Israelites. Though the meaning of Khesed can be lost when translated to English, further reading into Scripture shows that Khesed is God's love demonstrated by His fidelity to a people who rebelled against Him and expanded to all of humanity through the words of a wounded savior. When we forget and fail to understand God’s relationship with us, Khesed is a reminder of how merciful and generous He was to us.

Success In the Call vs Success In the World

Central to the brimming urban centers that draw many people far and wide is the allure of success. The notion we have of success in culture can take on a multitude of shapes and forms, but at its heart we observe its self-aggrandizement. For the believer and seeker who is navigating the corridors of culture and its picturesque success, what does it mean to be successful in our spiritual calling? The mark of success for the gospel calling appears vastly different and against the grain of the culture, because it points unambiguously to the success of Christ, the Savior.

The Voice From the Middle of All Things by Dr. Darrell Johnson

Dr. Darrell Johnson, Teaching Fellow at Regent College, helps us make sense of our present through an unseen reality revealed by John's vision of God in the book of Revelations. For many of us, things can seem apocalyptic when there's pain in our present circumstances and fear of the future, but when we are feeling discouraged, we remember the two commands that the God's voice gave to John: to not be afraid, and to look at Him. When we orient ourselves to the great unseen reality of His rule and reign, we thus experience a true apocalypse - the revelation that we can be encouraged because Jesus is on the throne.

The Bible Made Simple (Part 3)

In the third installment of the "The Bible Made Simple" series, we explore one of our greatest problems when interpreting the Bible, that we generalize it, and use it without considering its original context. This is dangerous, as the text of the Bible can then be used to justify all kinds of injustices and falsehoods. Instead, we must realize that the Bible is about Jesus, and not about elevating old cultural norms, nor about predicting the apocalypse. The Bible before Christ is always prospective, heralding the coming of Christ, and the Bible after Christ is almost always retrospective, looking back to His life, death, and resurrection. Only by grounding ourselves in Christ and His love can we truly appreciate and glean meaning from the Bible.

Back to The Bible Made Simple Series

Coming back to “The Bible Made Simple” series, we focus on the foundations on which the Bible is written. The Bible’s origins wasn’t subject to supernatural claims such as a book fallen from the sky, but was written by humans, divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit, yet subject to human anthropology. Though the Bible being a human invention can make it seemed flawed, to trust in Scripture doesn’t mean ignoring reason to place our faith in some fantastic claim about its origins. We are also placing our faith in a process when the Church thought critically about God’s story for us. So the good news is we can trust in the Bible’s foundations as a literary work that can not only allow us to acquire knowledge about God, but also help us enter His presence.

When You’re Weary From the Call

As we find ourselves living out the call in our day-to-days, week after week, year-in and year-out at our workplaces, with our families, friends, and our communities, weariness and burnout often seep into our bodies and spirit. When bombarded by life under extraordinary circumstances, how we rest is not only revitalizing to our faith, but could make all the difference for us to endure and experience breakthrough with our call. How do we experience rest when weariness gets a hold of us in living out our calling? Perhaps a few practical countermeasures are in order to address that we all sometimes need a pick-me-up of hope and help from the Father.

GOATS

To truly abide in the presence of God requires that we address our sin through atonement. Throughout the Bible, we see a recurring motif of atonement by way of two goats: one goat is sacrificed and bled out to purify sin, and a second goat bears man's confession of sin and is exiled away from the presence of God. We see this motif paralleled by people - like Cain and Abel, or Isaac and Ishmael - as well as in the ritual of animal sacrifice carried out throughout history. However, over time, we became calloused and forgot the ritual's significance; and no matter how many times we offered up sacrifices, our hearts remained far from God. Mercifully, God gave man the ritual of sacrifice not as a permanent solution, but as a promise - that He would ultimately offer up Himself as the blameless scapegoat, and that He by His own doing would bridge the gap between us through His Son Jesus Christ.

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