Continuing the Conversation

We are back again to discuss the repeated question, "How do I know that I am saved?" This one comes out a lot in discussions with people but is not often stated out loud as much as it is thought. What are the assurances of our salvation? The answer lies more in Who Christ is than something we do. 

We are back at it again and are answering the question, "What is the Gospel?" People may have differing opinions on what it is and how it changes our life, but it is not complicated. We are sinners saved by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. We are saved because of God's good grace to us. Jesus paid the debt we owe, and it is through his victory over death that we have life! All to him we owe. Also, getting older is not all it's cracked up to be, but wisdom is pretty cool. 

This episode Josh, Regan, and Mark discuss identity and what the Bible has to say about it. Who are we? Who are we if we are in Christ? What am I going to do in my life? Neil Anderson said, "We may not always live what we profess, but we will always live what we believe." He is saying that what we believe will shape what we do. What do we believe about ourselves? We need others to help us see who we are, but most importantly, we need to know whose we are. We need the words of someone greater than us, who sees more than us, and who has the authority over us, in order to accurately see who we are. 

Josh, Mark, Regan, and special guest Darrel discuss the book of Judges in the Old Testament. It is a difficult book to read but it so clearly shows the ramifications of our own sins. We continue the conversation from Judges that we have had in our community groups. It is meant to show us the need for a Savior because a lot of the stories in this book are gruesome. This book points us to look for the ultimate deliverer in Jesus Christ. He is the one who will not just deliver Israel from oppression, but will deliver man from the bondage of sin and death. 

Last episode we talked about different methods of reading God's Word and this week we are discussing how we read differing letters and books within the Bible. The Bible is not solely a textbook for academic insight. It's not just laws and regulations to follow, but a collection of writings that point to one thing: who God is. The Bible shows us the heart of God and His heart is most seen in Jesus Christ. Jesus says, "if you've seen me, you've seen the Father." The more we read the Bible, the more we can see that it is pointing us to the Son of God. 

Josh, Regan, Mark & Hannah are back again to help answer the question: How should we read the Bible? This is the first of two weeks on how we can read the Bible. This week we are focusing making time to read it and methods in which we can read, such as the S.O.A.P,  S.O.U.P,  or P.U.R.R. methods. While these are good ways in which we can take in God's Word, the most important part when reading it is allowing it to lead us to worship the King! 

Regan talks with Anna about how she has seen the Lord work in her life! Anna shares about the importance of prayer, community, and The Word when walking through doubt. Our value and worth comes from the words of Christ alone and he calls us his children. 

Josh, Hannah, and Mark discuss: reasons for why we should read the Bible, why people neglect to read the Bible, and what we can do if we try to read and don't get anything from it. This is the beginning of a  series on Reading the Bible and this week we are focusing on the question WHY. Next episode(s) we will focus more on HOW to read God's Word.

Josh interviews Brandon about how God used some challenging circumstances to move Brandon's heart to love Him more.

Regan asks Emily about how she has seen the Lord work in her life throughout college and what she is seeing the Lord do now!

Josh, Mark, and Regan discuss Romans 12 and what the Bible calls sanctification. The Lord is after our heart and sharpens us to look more like Christ. 

Mark, Josh, and Regan are back at it again in answering the question: how do I suffer well? This question comes out of Romans 5 and is part of what we have been reading in our community groups the last few weeks! 

Josh interviews Cam to hear his story about how he came to Christ. Cam also graciously shares with us  what he has seen the Lord do in his life from high school through this past year.

Josh and Regan interview Jim Lee who is a servant at heart and a group leader in Gather! Jim loves Jesus and shares great insight on a few different questions on dating.  

We had a Q & A panel a few weeks ago where our people asked great questions on dating. These questions today are ones that were asked but we didn't get to the night of the panel. If you didn't come to hear everything that night, you missed it. Our panel of married couples knocked it out of the park, but...this is just a little taste of what you missed. We will have more questions next episode!

Josh talks with Anna about her story and how through struggle she began to see God's Word as vital to life. We all struggle and have fears, but the Bible routinely tells us to "fear not" because there is a Savior who has "overcome the world" (John 16:33). God's Word brings peace and comfort despite the circumstances or situations we may find ourselves in.

In this episode, Maddy joins Josh and Mark to talk about how we should view work, how our culture views work, and how the Bible teaches us about work. While talking about work, they also talk about when to rest. We need to rest for work, instead of resting from work! 

Josh, Regan and Mark discuss the importance of living a life that reflects Jesus Christ. How we  measure if we are reflecting Christ well is by looking at how Jesus lived.  He went up on the mountain to pray, spent time with his disciples, and ate with tax collectors and sinners. This triangle is a tool to help us assess how we are living in relationship with God. 

Mark, Regan, and Josh discuss the Learning circle (Kairos circle) and how it is a helpful tool to use after big impactful moments. We often ask two questions in these kinds of heavier moments in our lives: what is God saying and what am I going to do about it? We need help in processing both of these BIG questions. The goal of going through the Kairos circle is to learn from the moment and move forward. The Church helps us process in light of past experiences, what is the next right decision to make? We cannot observe or reflect fully without using God's Word to guide us. 

Regan interviews Anika to hear about what Christ has done in her life! We long to hear what God has done and is doing in people's lives. 

This week we look at the previous study on Galatians and wrap up what we saw in the last 3 chapters. We also focus on the fruits of the Spirit and how they are results of a life in Christ. 

Andrew shares his story of how the Lord used community to bring life to his faith in Jesus Christ!

Mark, Josh, and Regan discuss what our church and young adult community has been reading the past 5 weeks in Galatians. 

Regan interviews Elizabeth to hear her story of how she trusted in Christ! Elizabeth also shares about how to she had to lean in to Christ after her parents divorce. 

Josh interviews Jackson Couch to hear how he came to faith in Christ, when he sensed the call to be a missionary, and how he got involved at Lakewood in Gather!

Regan interviews Carson Roush on how community has impacted her life and walk with Christ. She shares with us how she can see that the Lord is still good despite difficulties, transitions and quarantines. His Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path!

Mary Beth Bailey joins us in this episode as we discuss this season of Advent. We talk about what it is and how it actually helps us wait well today. Our culture is not good at waiting and being patient, but we serve a God who is extremely faithful and will do what he said he will do!

Josh talks with Michelle about her experience with overseas missions and how that led her to be involved with one of our Gather community groups!

In this episode, Josh, Regan and Mark continue the conversation our community groups had this past month about being Satisfied in Christ. Is he enough for us? If everything else in this world was gone would we still treasure Him? We often times look for satisfaction elsewhere in this world, but Jesus addresses these desires we have for other things and says he is the "living water" and we will never thirst again. He tells us that he is enough in John 4 and John 6.

Kip Wright joins us as we discussed content from our weekly community groups. We've been talking about God's Will and used the book Just Do Something in our groups. We discuss two hot topics young adults face most often, marriage and vocation. 

Josh interviews Grayson on how the Lord has used biblical community to impact and grow his faith! We cannot do life alone and need one another to "stir us to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some" (Hebrews 10:24-25). There is a real fleshly pull to draw away from community and to do life on our own. It may seem feasible at first, but over time we begin to see the need for others to hold us accountable. 

Regan catches up with two of our Gather girls who are living in Croatia for the next 9 months! We love to hear the stories of how God works to send people out to share the good news of Christ.  

We believe in sharing what God has done in our lives with others. Josh talks with Maddy about her life and how she came to faith in Jesus Christ while in college! 

Dr. Tyler Smiley joins our podcast to talk about the Armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6 and the difference between a campus ministry and the church. 

Mark and Hannah gave us some insight into how to love one another in a marriage. They also give some insight for young adults to begin to learn how to come under authority. The word submit isn't as bad of a word as our culture can sometimes makes it. Christ came to die for the Church and he submitted to the will of the Father, so through Him, we can. 

In this episode we discussed the process of knowing what worship music to listen to. There are some songs that are fun to sing, but we don't want the music to shape all that we believe. That is the Word's job. We also discussed the richness of chapter 4 of Ephesians and how we should follow Christ. 

Can you over serve in the Church? Is burnout real? How do I know what to say no to and what to say yes to? We address this question because it happens more often than people think within the Church.  We Continue the Conversation from our Gather Community Groups on Ephesians 3 and discuss more of what Paul prays for the people in Ephesus in Eph. 3:14-21. 

In this episode we discuss reasons why young adults need to be in a church. The church is more than a house of worship. 

This week we are Continuing the Conversation from our Gather Community Group's discussion on Ephesians 1. There is so much to talk about in that chapter that we couldn't discuss it all in one sitting in our groups. We also ask the question, "What do I look for in a Church?" because Ephesians talks about the body of Christ.