The 180 Church Podcast with Dr. Sammy and Friends

Advent: The Messiah Complex

In today’s episode, Pastor Lydia and Joe discuss how the gospel saves us from the third dark proclivity: The Messiah Complex. Evidently, the purpose of the church and how it lives out the gospel has little to do with any one outstanding or extraordinary talent or personality, but how the abilities of many are called to be one body and come together to serve as the church and make disciples of all nations. This episode offers listeners insight on how we can embrace our calling to discipleship, the gift of limits, and servant leadership.

Advent: Peace in the Pandemic

How do we learn to grasp true peace during this Advent season? Tune in every Sunday @12:30PM to find out!

Selective Discipleship

This week's podcast features Pastor Lydia and Joe covering 2 of the 3 dark proclivities that the gospel saves us from: pride and unchecked autonomy. Evidently, these two barriers to the believer stunts their spiritual growth and points to a common theme of how a lack of self-awareness contributes to the harm we cause others and ourselves. The gospel exists to save us and to challenge our immunity to change, but without a plan to foster our spiritual growth, surely we plan to fail. What strategies are in place for Christ-followers to surrender pride and autonomy, so that we might truly live? By an awareness cultivated by accountability and a clearly defined leadership.

Self-Righteousness: Pride

Oftentimes, it is not entirely obvious how the Gospel works to save people and make a definitive change in our lives if we aren’t aware of what we are being saved from and why we seek change. Self-righteousness and pride tend to place blinders on the weak points and blind spots in our lives that not only harm others, but also self-inflicts it. The truth in the Gospel sheds light on the areas that are shrouded by pride and allows permission for the Holy Spirit to intervene by revelation, save us from ourselves, and change our lives definitively.

Pentecost: It's Our Turn Now! "Polarity and Prejudice"

Building up to this point in time, forces like social media have accelerated the divide between Americans — illustrated by the many in cities who celebrated the election results, while others protested and walked away in defeat. We tend to categorize ourselves under narrow identity terms and political affiliations, which makes us more prone to judge others. However, we forget that the church calls us to unity. During a time of continual conflict and disagreement, the gospel corrects our prejudices by helping us understand that though we are all flawed, God sees everyone as deserving of dignity and recognition despite our fallen nature.

Day In The Sun: Sunday Brunch

With the curtains closing on a tumultuous arc in American history and a tense presidential election, the United States is apprehensive of what the future holds. Former President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address, given during another time the nation was split, is still relevant today: a call for malice toward none and charity for all. This invokes the gospel message that appeals to a better nature, forgives sinners by grace, and redeems the broken with love. There is real, actionable work to be done to heal a divided nation. There is hope for resolution found in forgiveness for those who hurt us, generosity and care for our enemies, and love for our neighbors despite disagreement.

Pentecost: It's Our Turn Now! "Pocket Jesus - Breaking Selective Discipleship"

In this podcast episode, Pastor Lydia and Joe's conversation covers the value of integrity over a personality ethic, and a deeper look into why at times God's calling and purpose for our lives falls to the wayside of our priorities. The "Pocket Jesus" analogy is a much needed reminder of how at times we may just have our priorities out of order and are amnesic regarding our call in life: to lead to Christ and become like Christ. In opening up the discussion about the need for a return to integrity and reexamine our alignment to God's vision and purpose, we pick up where we left off in pursuing God's design for wholeness and pristine perspective about the purpose of our discipleship and faithfulness.

Pentecost: It's Our Turn Now! "Building Life-Giving Friendships"

In the Social Media era, friendships have been ill-defined by follower counts, convenience, and entertainment value. But even though our culture perceives connection differently now, the spirit of true friendship remains alive in the biblical paradigm and hopes to bring out the best of us and our relationships. During a tumultuous time where friendships and connection are more important than ever, the gospel calls us to not only surround ourselves with life-giving friends, but to be that friend along the journey as well.

Day In The Sun: Family Picnic

It's tempting to view our current political atmosphere and the mishandling of the pandemic as consequences of poor leadership. But what we value as a society — personality, charm, and success by any means necessary — points to the real root of the problem: that preoccupation with the self has brought us to where we are today. Though we can blame and replace our leaders as a temporary fix, the parable of the house on the rock teaches us that it takes a new foundation of integrity to upend the paradigm of normalized selfishness. It may be difficult to live by a character ethic, but that is why we need God to love us through our journey of living with integrity, so that instead of selfishness and sin, we perpetuate wholeness and value.

Pentecost: It's Our Turn Now! "What To Remember When Sharing the Gospel Feels Like a Chore"

In today's podcast, Pastor Lydia and Joe talk about what how we can nostalgically remind ourselves of the serendipitous moments at times mission feels like a chore. For many believers, we can find ourselves checking the box of our faith obligations, but we may very well miss the powerful things that God is at work in if we forget how that very same power changed our lies and fellow friends along the journey. It is the vision of God, his calling for you and I, generally and specifically, that reminds us once more of where the gospel met us and fuels how the good news can reach others.