Outside of Sunday

Welcome to the Outside of Sunday Podcast. This episode is the first book review for the podcast and our first book is - The Pilgrim's Progress.The Pilgrim's Progress is a classic Christian allegory. An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning. The Pilgrim's Progress is not only a Christian classic, but it has been described as the ultimate English classic, a book that has been continuously in print, from its first publication in 1678 to the present day. And despite the wide gap in time (almost 350 years) from the author to the modern 2023 reader it remains relevant. Not only relevant but helpful, inspiring, challenging and encouraging. The guardian newspaper (non-Christian newspaper) made it number 1 in their ‘top 100 best novels':“There's no book in English, apart from the Bible, to equal Bunyan's masterpiece for the range of its readership, or its influence on writers as diverse as William Thackeray, Charlotte Bronte, Mark Twain, CS Lewis, John Steinbeck and even Enid Blyton.” - The GuardianIf you are looking for a feel-good Christian book telling you how wonderful you are and how pleasant the Christian life is, or how to prosper financially as a Christian in the world this is not the book you are looking for. But I hope it's the book you find. The Pilgrim's Progress cuts to the heart of Christianity and if you let it, it will shape your Christian walk for the better. For full episode details go to: www.outsideofsunday.com

In this episode we are going to be looking at 3 sections/passages of scripture that people have been using to ‘prove' that the bible actually supports transgenderism. One is the creation account in Genesis, then its Jesus's comments on eunuchs which is found in Matthew 19 and finally Romans 12:2. Now it may or may not surprise you to know that some transgender activists are using certain verses in the bible as ‘evidence' that the bible supports gender diversity and transgenderism as a whole. These are not pastors or church leaders, they are activists who want to clear any objections to the transgender ideology and lifestyle. Now before we get into their arguments, let's start with the basics… I think we all realise that you won't find the word ‘transgender' anywhere in the bible. What we will find is plenty of text that shows us the biblical stance on the topic. This is good. And that's the bible for you - honestly, the answer to any question you have about life and faith, God has put it right there in that dusty bible on your bookcase, we just have to crack it open and have a proper look. One word - context. Context is sooooo important. And that's because just like we are going to look through and find the truth about transgenderism in the bible. Transgender activists are looking through the same bible, pulling verses out of context to ‘prove' that the bible actually affirms/supports transgenderism. As Christians we should look to the bible to shape our worldview and opinions, not take our worldview and opinions to the bible – and try to force them to fit by taking verses out of context and twisting the meaning of scripture. So let's start our investigation of the biblical stance on transgenderism by looking at the book of Matthew, chapter 19. In the first part of the chapter Jesus is asked by some Pharisees about divorce. And instead of immediately replying with his answer about the divorce issue he says this: Matthew 19:4 Jesus answered, “ Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,' So here we have Jesus, the person on whom Christianity hangs, affirming what is recorded in Genesis. Gender binary. That God created us male and female. Jesus is quoting Genesis 1:27: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. This seems like a pretty open and shut case right there. No gender spectrum, only a gender binary - male and female. Established by God in Genesis, affirmed by Jesus here in the book Matthew. For full podcast notes go to www.outsideofsunday.com

Welcome to this episode of the Outside of Sunday Podcast. Today we are going to talk about transgender ideology. What is transgenderism and as Christian parents, how do we handle this topic with our kids? Welcome back to the podcast Outsiders! If you've been listening for a while you will know, I am not one to shy away from controversial subjects and the transgender topic we have for you today is certainly controversial. Transgender or gender identity is a subject that has been getting more and more air time on social media and media as a whole. It has already started to be promoted in New Zealand schools, and it has become a celebrated social virtue to raise your child transgender.  As Christian parents we need to prepare ourselves for how we will tackle this subject with our own children. Because it will come up. It's not going to go away. Now before we get into all of that I think it's important to recognise our responsibility towards the people who identify as transgender.Straight off the bat; we should regard them just as we would any other unbeliever. They are our neighbours. Our responsibility is to love them. It can be easy to get caught up in the politics of the issue and look past the people who are involved. Think of the lost sheep, the lost coin (Luke 15) - those parables talk about the immense worth of those who are lost. The shepherd has 100 sheep and when one of the sheep gets lost he leaves the 99 and searches in the mountains for that one lost sheep. Same with the woman who loses one of her 10 coins. She turns her house upside down to find it. The lost have incredible value in God's eyes.A person who identifies as transgender has the same incredible worth in the eyes of God as you or I. They need the gospel and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Just as we all do.Now, I'm not saying that if a person identifies as transgender they can't be Christian. I think you can. You can come to Christ exactly as you are. But as the saying goes:“God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way.”We are all a work in progress, a continuing progress of sanctification - the end goal being for our lives to look like Jesus. For more podcast notes go to outsideofsunday.com

Welcome to this episode of the Outside of Sunday Podcast. This week we are asking the question - why go to church? And we will be addressing a recent scandal in the NZ church.With the COVID lockdowns shaking up how we do church, and more scandals coming to light within the wider Christian community. Why should we bother? My faith is in Jesus, not church. Wouldn't it just be better to hang out with our Christian friends on a Sunday and watch a message together on YouTube? Or even just at home on our own? Do a little bible reading and then get on with the day. Why go to church?I have been so tempted to do just that. Hang out with my Christian friends every Sunday, watch a message together online and just spend time in fellowship. We did do a bit of that over lockdown, but there's a reason why it stopped and why we don't do that every Sunday. There's no verse that says we have to go to church every week - so why should we do it? And what about the scandals? Why go to church when the pastor is just going to let you down?I've been praying about it for a while; what should I sayin this episode. Because I feel like I need to address what's going on with Arise church. This is not something I am doing lightly, I've been very prayerful about it and I feel like there is something to be said.We have all heard by now that the senior pastors of Arise have been facing a major scandal within their church, and have resigned. I'm not going to outline exactly what happened, the accusations are wide ranging, but it boils down to this: there were multiple, major moral failures by certain pastors and the victims of those moral failures have brought their stories to light through a secular journalist. This is a terrible thing. But it is good that this has come out. Sin should always be brought to the light. Ephesians 5:11-1311 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. James 5:16 16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.So yes, I think it's good that this has all come to the light. What is not good however, and what I find disgraceful about the situation (in addition to what we are hearing in the reports), is that it wasn't brought to the light by the ones who needed to confess, repent and face the consequences of their sin. The pastors themselves should have been the ones to expose their sin. Instead, it was brought to the light by an unbeliever - it's not only a shameful thing for the Christian community that it happened that way, it's a tragedy for those who are the victims. I can't even begin to imagine how alone, how unheard and how desperate the people affected must have felt to not be able to have their claims heard and addressed within the church. Everything should be brought to the light. I understand that the full extent of the abuse allegations have not been revealed because some of the victims were required to sign NDA's - non disclosure agreements. This is another thing I find absolutely disgraceful. No member of a church should ever be required to sign a NDA. There should be nothing kept in darkness. Bring it to the light, repent, face the consequences. It's important to note that there are campus pastors and people still in Arise who have nothing to do with all this, and who will now be facing a massive challenge to their faith. Pray for them, pray that they would seek the Lord, hunger and thirst for righteousness. Pray that dramatic changes are made to ensure this never happens again. But pray most of all for the victims, that the Lord would

CORRECTION: In this episode I talk about children accessing pornography on their school devices. The children were not viewing the pornography on their school devices, as far as I am aware. They were learning from school friends how to access that content at home, on the devices their parents allow them to use, in ‘incognito mode' and also learning how to delete their browsing history.I just have to start today by sharing something shocking with you. And this is a parent warning for the next few minutes so please don't let your children hear. My friend is on a NZ parenting group on Facebook, and she told me that a Mum posted in the group that her 7 year old child, who has a school iPad type device, has been using said device to watch hardcore, violet porn. The device had all the school approved internet protections on it apparently, but they kids were teaching each other, at 7 years old, how to find this stuff, how to go ‘incognito' and delete their browsing history after viewing the hard core violet porn. How absolutely devastating. Apparently the kids were also using the devices unsupervised at lunch time. Those are all the details I know but it is absolutely horrifying to me that a child, 7 years old, has been viewing something like that. Have you heard of the ‘power of first mention'? It's how the first mention, or the first experience of something, has power. Once you have that first mention, you will subconsciously compare everything to that first mention. If it was the first time someone mentioned drugs to you and they painted it as a wonderful, fun thing to do, then you will compare every other mention of drugs to that first mention. “Drugs are bad”, “Wait, I don't know about that, I've heard they are fun and wonderful.”. If it's the first mention of sex, and it's looking at violent pornography with your friends for fun at school, that is how you will understand sex it be. Not as something that is from God, that is Holy and good within the confines of marriage. Rather as something that is secret, hidden, violent, meant to hurt either you or the other person involved for selfish pleasure. Just awful. I hope that the woman's 7 year old get's counseling, as well as the other children who are involved too. Parents, we need to be so careful. So careful.   Today on the podcast we are not doing a bible study per se. Instead we are going to be talking about kids' content that contains witchcraft. As Christian parents, should we let our kids watch TV shows or movies that contain witchcraft? Should we not let them watch any at all? Is a middle ground ever possible when it comes to witchcraft in children's content? We are going to get into all of that today.Last week we had a chat about how my husband and I manage the content that our kids watch. That's not to say that how we do things is how you should do things, rather I hope that if you were listening last week that the episode gave you a chance to think a little deeper about what you do or do not let your kids watch. If you haven't listened to that episode I definitely want to encourage you to go back and listen to that first.My name is Christa, welcome back to the Outside of Sunday Podcast. This podcast is part bible study, part conversation, the goal being to encourage you to get outside of Sunday. Yes, go to church on Sunday, but don't save everything for that one day. Take your worship outside of Sunday, your bible reading outside of Sunday, your prayer life outside of Sunday. I'm not a pastor or a theologian, I definitely don't have it all figured out. But I love the Lord. I am passionate about His word and I want to spend my life bringing Him as much glory as I possibly can. I hope that this podcast can help you to pursue our Lord, and grow in your faith, outside of Sunday. To continue reading the podcast notes go to: www.outsideofsunday.com

For a little while now I've been thinking about doing an episode about the movie Encanto and have a chat about our kids and media consumption. Then last week I had the most amazing breakfast - it was amazing because it was at a cafe, it was kid-free and it was with quality friends. And while we were enjoying our breakfast we started talking about Encanto and our kids and media consumption. It felt like it was time. So in today's episode we're going to focus on our kids and media consumption, and in the next episode we will look at witchcraft in kids movies with a focus on Encanto, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe and The Princess and the Frog. So keep an eye out for that one.Ok, now before I start: this is not a bible study, this is not a parenting course, this is just a one sided conversation intended to help us to think a little bit deeper about what media we as Christian parents let our kids consume. This is not intended to be a judgment on your parenting choices. Let's just talk about it. To start; I know that not every Christian parent lets their kids watch movies, TV or perhaps not any screen at all. And are some Christian parents who are happy to let their kids watch pretty much everything and anything. I fall somewhere in the middle. Like I said; I'm not here to judge either way - it's your family, your rules. But I do hope that, no matter what side you fall on this issue, you will get something out of this episode.So, I let my kids watch TV shows and movies. I don't let them watch everything out there - we watch mostly G rated content and sometimes the big kids will watch a PG movie - it depends on what it is. But, is it ok for me as a Christian parent to do that? Or am I being too strict?I know that there are pastors who would probably teach that christian parents should not let any media into the home, or perhaps only 100% Christian content. Some might say it's actually good to let your kids be exposed to the culture of the world. I'm not a pastor so I'm not going to draw any line in the sand here but what I will say is this: it's not ‘Christian' to not let your kids watch any media at all, and it's also not ‘Christian' to let your kids watch whatever they want. ‘Christian' is being a follower of Jesus and a receiver of His gospel. Still, as Christians, we should use wisdom and ask the Lord for guidance on this issue. I mentioned earlier that I'm somewhere in the middle on this subject. What does that mean? Being in the middle ground for me means that my kids do watch Christian content but I also allow them to watch secular TV shows and movies, just not everything and anything. There are a few reasons why I'm a middle-grounder so why don't I just lay them out for you:I want my kids to be ‘in' the world, but not ‘of' the world, be part of the culture but not shaped by it.I want to help them understand non-christian worldviewsI want to use the secular TV shows and Movies they watch as a tool to help reinforce our families biblical worldviewI want to protect the innocence of their minds for as long as possible. That might seem like a tall order but that's what I want for my kids.I want them to be able to relate with their peers, to understand where their non-christian friends are coming from. I want them to see the gospel in Encanto (more on that next ep) and I want to shield them from things that would take away some of their innocence. I am so aware that my time with my children is precious and fleeting. My oldest is going to be 8 this year and I can already picture him as a teenager, finishing high school, getting a job and then moving out of home. And that's a good thing, we should want that for our children. But it also makes me very sad to think about.To continue reading this episodes notes go to: www.outsideofsunday.com

This is now the third and final part of our study of the Daughter of Zion. In part one we saw the Daughter of Zion's birth through the prophetic words of the prophet Isaiah. Although her past actions were sinful and full of idolatry, she comes to God in repentance and because of that God accepts her and sees her as His precious, pure daughter and he calls her Virgin Daughter Zion.In part two of our study we read about the betrothal of Daughter Zion. The Daughter of Zion has come of age. She is betrothed to a ‘Lord who will take delight in her'. A prophetic word about the coming Messiah, Jesus. But then, almost just as soon as the engagement has been proclaimed, Israel, Daughter Zion once again rebels and sins greatly against God. The bride has ignored her commitment to her future husband and has instead committed adultery repeatedly. Although He is willing to reconcile, the Daughter of Zion is not. She has rejected her husband-to-be. And so God issues her a certificate of divorce, and hands Daughter Zion over for just judgment. Israel is exiled and Jerusalem is destroyed. Zion, the heartbeat of Israel, is lost. The Daughter of Zion is no more.Welcome back to the Outside of Sunday Podcast. This is a podcast for women, a bible study and one-sided conversation to encourage you to get outside of Sunday. Jesus doesn't live in your church; His Holy Spirit lives in His people, in you! Yes, go to church, but don't save everything for Sunday. Take your worship outside of Sunday, your bible reading outside of Sunday, your prayer life outside of Sunday. I'm not a pastor or a theologian, I definitely don't have it all together. But I love the Lord. I am passionate about His word and I want to spend my life bringing as much glory to Him as I possibly can. I hope that this podcast can help you to pursue our Lord, and grow in your faith, outside of Sunday. Alrighty, let's get into the conclusion of our study of the Daughter of Zion. The heartbeat of Israel is still. There's no blip on the monitor. When we left our study last week we were in the book of Jeremiah. The book immediately following Jeremiah is the book of Lamentations. A book of lament. And it's pretty much all about the Daughter of Zion. A lament is a passionate expression of sorrow or grief. The anonymous writer is lamenting, mourning over the fall of Jerusalem, the Daughter of Zion. Listen to this:  Lamentations 1:4-6The roads to Zion mourn,    for no one comes to her appointed festivals.All her gateways are desolate,    her priests groan,her young women grieve,    and she is in bitter anguish.5 Her foes have become her masters;    her enemies are at ease.The Lord has brought her grief    because of her many sins.Her children have gone into exile,    captive before the foe.6 All the splendor has departed    from Daughter Zion.Her princes are like deer    that find no pasture;in weakness they have fled    before the pursuer.For more podcast notes check out www.outsideofsunday.com

It was during one of Israel's bleakest times that God chose to use this term, Virgin Daughter Zion, to describe His people as a precious, pure young daughter. And He reaches out and rescues her from complete destruction. Safe in the arms of her Father, Israel is saved.So what happens from here? Well the next time Daughter Zion is mentioned directly and indirectly throughout Isaiah, but we are going to pick up her story in chapter 62. And we are going to read it now, the next phase of her journey: Isaiah 62:1 For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,    for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet,till her vindication shines out like the dawn,    her salvation like a blazing torch.2 The nations will see your vindication,    and all kings your glory;you will be called by a new name    that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.3 You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand,    a royal diadem in the hand of your God.4 No longer will they call you Deserted,    or name your land Desolate.But you will be called Hephzibah,[a]    and your land Beulah[b];Hephzibah - my delight is in herBeulah - marriedAre you catching what's happening here? Let's keep reading:for the Lord will take delight in you,    and your land will be married.5 As a young man marries a young woman,    so will your Builder marry you;Your builder. Who built the universe? The earth? Mankind? Israel? The Lord God.And is it a coincidence that Jesus's profession was that of a builder? A carpenter?But, let's keep going:as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,    so will your God rejoice over you.6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;    they will never be silent day or night.You who call on the Lord,    give yourselves no rest,7 and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem    and makes her the praise of the earth.8 The Lord has sworn by his right hand    and by his mighty arm:“Never again will I give your grain    as food for your enemies,and never again will foreigners drink the new wine    for which you have toiled;9 but those who harvest it will eat it    and praise the Lord,and those who gather the grapes will drink it    in the courts of my sanctuary.”10 Pass through, pass through the gates!    Prepare the way for the people.Build up, build up the highway!    Remove the stones.Raise a banner for the nations.11 The Lord has made proclamation    to the ends of the earth:“Say to Daughter Zion,    ‘See, your Savior comes!See, his reward is with him,    and his recompense accompanies him.'”12 They will be called the Holy People,    the Redeemed of the Lord;and you will be called Sought After,    the City No Longer DesertedThe Daughter of Zion is coming alive before us. In the first mention of her from David in the Psalms and the first mention of her in Isaiah it was more

The first of a Bible study series on the Daughter of Zion. Episode 26 of the Outside of Sunday Podcast - available on Spotify and Apple Podcast. Something that I have been thinking about and studying over the break is the ‘daughter of Zion'. I was thinking about it because there's this song on my kids spotify playlist that just sings word for word Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”And I just did what I do - I got curious. Who is the daughter of Zion? Where else in the bible is the daughter of Zion mentioned? What does she symbolise? Is there any connection to Christ and the daughter of Zion? So I got to work and have been learning all I can about the Daughter of Zion. So that's what we are going to be going through together on this podcast for the next few episodes.So let's break it down for a bit; Daughter of Zion. ‘Bat Tzion' in Hebrew. It's a term of endearment. Basically it's a way to express love for Israel. The daughter of Zion is not one particular person, it's more like a loving personification of Israel. Zion, being a specific location, a hill in Jerusalem, the Holy city of Israel. So she could be the Daughter of Zion, Daughter of Jerusalem, Daughter of Israel - they're all basically the same.The first time the phrase is used was during the time of King Hezikiah, recorded in 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37. It was Isaiah who brought a prophecy, directed to the King of Assyria (Sennacharib), and in the prophecy he speaks of ‘Virgin Daughter Zion'. Now just to be completely clear, ‘Virgin Daughter Zion' is not referring to a specific daughter of Zion; Israel is the daughter. And Isaiah didn't coin the term, it's the name God chose to use for Israel in this instance and in 20 or so other instances across the Old Testament. But this is the first time that it's used.Virgin Daughter Zion. What information does that give us? Well we know that Zion is synonymous with Israel. ‘Virgin' is a symbol of purity. And ‘daughter' identifies the nation as the child of the Almighty God.And throughout the Bible, Daughter Zion goes on a journey. It's a journey that we can follow when we look at the different references to her across the Old Testament.So I'm looking forward to sharing that with you all in the coming episodes. Today we will be focusing on the birth of the daughter of Israel. The first recorded mention of her, as I said earlier, is in 2 Kings 19 and Isaiah 37 and the reason that both of these books record the first mention of the Daughter of Zion is because Isaiah was the prophet who brought the word of the Lord in the time of King Hezikiah and that's why it's recorded in 2 Kings as well as in Isaiah. So what's happening when God says this about Israel? Let's context.For more episode notes check out www.outsideofsunday.com

The Christmas season is upon us. I put up my tree last weekend and I'm not even sorry about it. It's definitely nice to have something to look forward to and celebrate. Last night I got to have a little thanksgiving dinner with some of the amazing young people in our church. Even though we don't celebrate thanksgiving here in New Zealand it's always good to be thankful. Especially when we are going through hard times. This has personally been the hardest year of my life but I still have so much to be thankful for.If you've listened to this podcast long enough you will know by now that a passion of mine is encouraging Christians to live their faith outside of Sunday. Outside of a 4-song worship set and a 30 minute sermon. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I love going to church! But if that's the extent of the pursuit of our relationship with Jesus; if the only time that we worship is in church, the only time we read the bible is in church and the only time we listen to a sermon is in church, then we aren't building our faith. We are spectators, not participants.And for the church of New Zealand, we are about to go through a trial, a new season. It's now more important than ever that we build our faith outside of Sunday.If you are a Kiwi you will already be aware that this Sunday is the last time any church with 100 or more members will be able to meet without some kind of separation or segregation of the congregation. The new traffic light, COVID alert system will start from the 3rd of December. At the lowest alert level - green - only groups of 100 will be allowed to meet at places of worship. If the alert moves up to orange, churches will be capped at 50 attendees. And if it changes to red, that number goes down to 25, up until yesterday however that number was all the way down to 10. The government announced the move up to 25 just today. Now, we don't know yet what alert level we will be at when this new system comes into play on the 3rd but whatever it is, church is going to look different. Now, if a church decides to require proof of vaccination, then at the green level there is no limit to the number of vaccinated people at a place of worship. Our church has decided to not require proof of vaccination so we will be capped at 100 church attendees in green, 50 in orange and 25 in red. So, for the next 6 weeks at least, the elders of my church have decided that we will be doing church online but together. We are being encouraged to meet in homes and have church together there. That's what the church I belong to has decided to do for now, every church in New Zealand will have their own decision to make on how they will handle these new mandates.So yea, it's a bit of a bummer. But I don't want to bring you a word of doom and gloom. I want us to look up. To see the possibility. And in that thanksgiving spirit let's see these challenges facing us and choose to be thankful through it all. Today I want to encourage you. And as always, our encouragement comes from the Word of God. I'm going to read a passage of scripture for us now and then we are going to look a little deeper and see what the Word has for us today.2 Corinthians 2:14-1714 But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15 For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? 17 Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.Let me give you a little background on this passage. At the time of writing this, Paul had a somewhat strained relationship with the church in Corinth. They we

This episode is for the Christians out there. I'm not going to go into the science of the vaccine; the medical advice either for or against. I'm not a doctor, you don't want me giving out medical advice. I think we can and should do our own research. So rather than go into all of that we are going to look into the Word of God together to see what guidance the bible has to give us on this matter. Should Christians get the vaccine? Let's go.

Let's just talk about God's wrath for a moment. We don't often talk about it much do we? At church or small groups, it can be a bit of an ignored subject. It's not nice to think about God's wrath. And it's so easy, the small number of times when we do think about it, to picture a mean, cruel God. And that doesn't seem to match up with the loving, merciful God we know. So we don't think about it much. But, we can't go through our Christian lives avoiding these hard subjects. Or in our bible reading, we can't only read the bits that make us comfortable and all warm and fuzzy inside. Yes, God is loving and merciful but He is also the judge of the universe, and there is a coming wrath. We have to confront ourselves with these difficult parts of Christianity, these difficult parts of the bible. John 3:36 - He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.Romans 1:18 - “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Romans 2:5 - “But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” These are some of the parts of the bible and Christianity that our flesh just recoils away from... what do you do when you come across something in the bible that you don't like, something that seems wrong to you? Let me tell you what we shouldn't do, first. We shouldn't skip past, we shouldn't get offended, we shouldn't lose our faith because we lack understanding on a certain aspect. But that requires humility. Being humble enough to be ok not knowing, not understanding something. Once we can start from a place of humility and then I'd recommend taking a moment to pray, ask the Holy Spirit to bring understanding. And then He's just going to download all information and understanding on the subject directly into your brain. That was a joke, unfortunately that's not how it works. What we really need to do is wrestle with it. Think about it. Look closer. Learn all that we can about it in the Word of God. Ask someone older and wiser in the faith about it. Look at different teachings on it. And if we do all that but you still don't have understanding, then it might be something we need to trust God on. Trust that God is good and that understanding will come in time. God might need to open our eyes to certain things in our own lives before the true understanding will come, or maybe understanding won't come until we are with The Lord in heaven. There are things I'm pretty sure I won't get the answer to until I get to heaven. And I'm ok with that. Could you be ok with that?But, there is still a lot that we can understand, this side of heaven, if we just actually take the time to try and understand it. So in saying that, let's talk about the wrath of God. How can we reconcile the loving God we know and who is often preached about, and the wrathful God in scripture? Listen for more...

This week we are continuing our study of Abigail and answering the question of whether wives should submit to their husbands. I think we can all learn something from Abigail about dealing with confrontation. It's funny because it doesn't seem like she is confronting David but she is. She just does it so carefully that you almost don't even notice that it's what she is doing.So what does David do, how does he respond to Abigail? Well, thankfully, he does what we all should do when we are rushing off to do the wrong thing: be humble enough to listen to sense. He listened and actually heard what Abigail was saying to him. And he actually thanks her for it. How many of us could say that we have thanked someone for pointing out or confronting us on our sinful behaviour?? Well actually technically David thanks God for sending Abigail to him. But I think that counts as thanking her too - David also asks God to bless her for her good judgement and he agrees with one of the first things she said to him - that the Lord HAD kept him from bloodshed that day. The Lord had kept David from bloodshed - by sending her. 

This episode we are going back into the Old Testament and actually, back into 1st Samuel. The last time we were in the Old Testament, we were looking at Hannah who's story is recorded in the first chapters of 1st Samuel. Today we are going to be learning about Abigail and her story that is recorded in 1st Samuel 25. It is the whole chapter but today we are just going to cover up to verse 19 and will continue the study in further episodes.

I'm going there. Don't shoot me. We are reading from 2 John this week and, for the second shortest book of the bible, there is so much to take home. 2nd John is actually the only letter of the New Testament that is addressed to a woman. Most of us will know, that the New Testament part of the Bible, is filled, first with the gospel accounts of Jesus - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And then the rest of it is filled with letters, and these are written usually to specific people or specific churches - and sometimes they are written just to the believers in general. But 2nd John, was written to a woman. And that makes it a little bit special for the ladies listening today.

It's been too long Outsiders, but your girl is back and ready to go! This week we are talking about struggling with sin and fixing our eyes on Jesus. I feel like I might have left you all on a bit of a cliffhanger in the last episode. So I've got some resolving to do…. One of the things I really dislike is when we Christians, have like this varnish on, where we don't be real, we don't talk about what's really going on in our lives. It's like, if we are having a hard time or a bad day, we can't let anybody see that - as if that's going to hurt the other persons faith or as if it means that I'm somehow doing a dis-service to Jesus. I feel like by doing that, and pretending that once you become a Christian from now on your life is just perfect, I think that is worse. Not only that, but it's also not actually biblical. In Galatians 6 it talks about carrying each others burdens, but how can we do that if we pretend to be perfect?

This week we are talking about what to do when everything in life seems to be going wrong and we are also concluding our study in Hannah.

We are taking a break from our study on Hannah to have a discussion about the Easter season.

This week we are continuing our study of Hannah, talking about the importance of sanctification and seeking the Lord in our grief.

This week we are beginning our study of Hannah, we examine why there is so much polygyny in the Old Testament and we ask why would God close a woman's womb.

A personal update from me on why there has been a bit of a longer Christmas/Summer podcast break than originally planned.

In this episode Jasmine and I discuss the summer heat, what we tell our kids about Santa and we look at Anna's role in the Christmas story.

In this episode I share about my recently tested plumbing skills, pursuing Jesus when you are sick, and we conclude our study in the book of Esther. 

This week we take a break from our study to talk with Leanne Ellis of Free Rain International. Leanne shares some powerful stories from her work in the sex tourism capital of the World - Pattaya, Thailand. We talk about her recently released documentary 'Common Not Normal', what trafficking looks like in New Zealand, and how to protect our children from potential abuse.

This week we are talking about bad days, a recent trip to the Dentist and we continue our study in Esther 8.

This week we are talking about the resurrection of Jesus and its evidences. We continue our study in Esther 7, my baby joins us part way through the recording, and we talk about practically pursuing Jesus in our lives.

In this episode I confess my terrible cooking background, I share about a morbid conversation I had with my 6 year old and we pick up our study in Esther 6. 

In this episode my wonderful friend Jasmine joins us. We talk about social media, what age our children will be when we let them have phones, and we continue our study in the book of Esther.

In this episode I share about a recent illness, we continue our study in the book of Esther but things don't go according to plan, and I also share about my dream about Jacinda Ardern.

In this episode I am talking with Kate Cormack, the National President of Voice for Life about euthanasia, voting and what Parliament really thinks of Jesus.

In this episode I'm talking with Kate Cormack, National President of Voice for Life on the subject of abortion, her work and the Pro Life role of the church.

This week, believe it or not, we are talking about kids eating poo. We continue our study in the book of Esther. I share about the time I didn't get flowers from my husband and we talk also talk about being doers of the Word, not just hearers.

In this episode I share my embarrassing sock problem, discuss bible school qualifications and continue our study on the book of Esther.

This is the first episode of the Outside of Sunday podcast. I share about my 1 year old's teething troubles, gush over the bible, talk about my view of Women's Conferences and we begin our study on the book of Esther.