Scripture Talk by Grace Church

In this, the last episode of at least this form of Scripture Talk, it's all about Christian community. Western Christianity makes a big deal about our personal salvation. Certainly, we need to form a deep, personal, and saving relationship with Christ, but that is meant as a point of embarkation - not arrival. Our relationship with Christ is meant to draw us closer to God and God's people. For the final time, Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy look deeply into Godly community and this thing we call church.

Revelation is not just weird creatures with even weirder numbers of eye balls, death, destruction, and eventual victory. It opens with a section that's a lot more like Paul's letters with God passing messages, through John, to various churches. In these brief letters, there's both encouragement for what they're doing well and challenge on where they still need to grow. It's God talking in a mode that we all should know well. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy recognize that we can all see ourselves in these same journeys and need to hear the challenge alongside the praise,

So much of the Gospels feel like a fantasy land to us. We know that they tell of true events, but their ability to directly access Christ in a tangible way - to walk with him, talk with him - is so far from our own faith experience. The Road to Emmaus, in Luke 24, is different though. Yes, they talk directly to Jesus but only recognize him at the last moment. This is a faith experience that we can have, where we realize in retrospect, that God was there with us the whole way. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy point out that this is also an experience that we are meant to have together.

It's Pentecost, once again. We are reminded that the Spirit is with us, once again and that miracles are possible, once again. Since that same Spirit is with us and that it never went away, we can know that things can always get better. We may feel like the world is getting away from us, but that is our own lack of faith in God. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott, live from the Texas Annual Conference, pull our eyes back to inherent optimism of the Christian faith.

Jesus rises to Heaven, but the story of God's people keeps going. It's not that Jesus is gone. It's that he's given us the power that we may keep the mission going. Earthly kings keep the power. Jesus gives us away and gives us the opportunity to be apart of the greatest story ever told. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott focus in on our continued mission as God's people.

You ever wonder where is this whole thing going? When you're thinking of devoting your life to something, it's important to consider what's its end goal. What's the vision statement? Saving the world? Conquering the world? Curing cancer? Making money for shareholders? The end of Revelation is God's vision statement - everyone at peace, everyone having what they need, everyone at one with God. However, this being God, it's more than a pie in the sky future. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy remind us that this outcome is already guaranteed.

Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit? To the average Jewish Christian, circa shortly after Pentecost, this still would have seemed mildly crazy. They'd been trained, since birth, that only a narrow band of people got a connection with God. To see the Holy Spirit jumping that barrier was a show of just how powerful God's new way of doing things was. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy discuss that this ability to jump across boundaries is a hallmark of God's work in the world.

Jesus ran into skeptics in his own time. He knew that you're never going to satisfy everyone because at the core of faith in God is still an act of faith. For some, no amount of miracles or declaring himself the Messiah was going to be enough. That's true in our own time. People trip over the leap of faith. However, Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott challenge us as Christians to not be the thing that people trip over on their journey towards Christ.

If Christianity has been doing one thing consistently for the past 2,000 years, it's radically changing lives. Behavior change is one of the hardest things to do as any teacher, psychologist, or public health officials can tell you, yet stories, like that of Paul in Acts 9, is a common thread throughout human history. If you judge something by its fruit, then one of the Holy Spirit's consistent impacts has been lives turned around. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy point out where the proof is in this pudding.

Doubting Thomas? Really? Is that the take away here? It seems more that Jesus is calling out all the disciples for having the easy avenue to belief. They get to literally see Jesus, to walk with him, and to eat with him. Instead, it's a warning that belief is going to get harder from here. That their task will be to lead a world to belief that do not have the same advantages that they had. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy connect with their task because it's become our task - making disciples in a skeptical world.

Upon leaving the Last Supper, Jesus goes on a journey. He's betrayed by a friend, arrested by his enemies, subjected to series of ridiculous show trials, tortured, killed, and buried. John 18-19 give us the most detailed window into the physical and emotional pain that Christ endures. However, in examining the climax of Christ's earthly life, we have look past the mere facts of what happened and go to the motivation behind it all. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy pull our focus to that fact that he went through all of that because of us and for us.

Jesus enters Jerusalem in triumph. His followers celebrate. The crowds gather. The authorities grumble. For us, as Christians, it's the cue for the climax of Jesus's earthly story, and he begins this climactic week with a spoiler of the ending - his ultimate victory and is kingdom on earth. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy remind us that, when God puts God's mind to something, there's no doubt that it will be accomplished.

Paul is a man who will flourish at whatever he sets his mind to, and Philippians 3, we get rare testimony by him as to his accomplishments. According the Judaism of the time, he lived a close to perfect live. He did the right things, studied the right things, and dived deep into the right groups. If anyone could look at their religious accomplishments and believe that they'd earned their place at God's table, it's Paul. Instead, it counts it all as nothing because Jesus is all that matters. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy talk about our failed attempts at earning grace and our deep need for discernment.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son deserves its place in the scriptural Hall of Fame. It's a beautiful story of God's grace that looks at humanity as we are and shows the depth and power of God's love for us anyways. Despite being 2,000 years old, it connects today as well as it did for its original audience, but we often leave out its true depth. There's celebration, and challenge. It was aimed at sinners and Pharisees. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy push us to look at the message behind both of the brothers.

Our world can be a sea of temptation, and human beings are often convinced that no one has ever felt what we've felt. So, when we run up against temptations, we give ourselves that excuse of - "no one could possibility resist." Paul puts the lie to all of that. Everyone is tempted, but through the power of God, no one has to give in. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott lead us to set our relationship with God as our guiding light.

All life is interested in survival. Animals, bugs, plants, and humans each do what they need to do to physically make it. For humanity, there's a yearning for a deeper level of existence than subsistence. We long for purpose, depth, and meaning. From a theological perspective, this is our built in instinct to seek God. Pastor Trey and Pastor Scott push us all to seek that rather than looking in all the wrong places.

Jesus goes off into the wilderness fasting the whole time. Satan shows up at his weakest possible moment and tempts him. The fascinating thing about these temptations is that none of them are objectively bad. They're just not what God wants for Christ. Jesus is able to send the devil packing because he has an absolute commitment to the will of God. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy see the embedded challenge for us all to do the same.

Jesus takes the core of his crew up with him to a mountain top, and they get an all timer of a spiritual experience. Moses and Elijah show up. God speaks. Christ glows. You can understand why Peter wanted to stay, but they don't. Instead, the dive straight back into difficult ministry and failure. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy connect the transfiguration and a call to ministry that maybe, we're supposed to do something with all that power.

Forgiveness is a powerful thing. To not give it is to purposefully destroy your own soul. To not receive it is to live without closure. Aren't we glad that God, in Christ, does not withhold forgiveness? The story of Joseph and his brothers nestle forgiveness in a more decidedly human realm. Joseph received great harm, but does not return it. Instead, he forgives and saves God's people. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy challenge us all to forgive even as we can never expect the same of another.

Connecting with God makes a tangible difference in more than just our afterlife. A relationship with God and truly seeking after God within that will lead us in the places that God needs us to go and will lead us to God's peace. To live a life without God means that we miss out on all of that and are stuck instead with merely our own limit set of resources. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy recognize the very human temptation to do things on our own but also our need to repent from that.

Paul has a far different view of Christ than the disciples, who knew the earthly Christ directly. His encounter with Christ happens on a more spiritual level, but it also brings about a much bigger transformation. He is the mirror image of Judas. Judas went from being Christ's friend to his enemy. Paul went from being Christ's enemy to being one of his greatest advocates. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy help us seem ourselves in Paul as one who can be transformed by a spiritual encounter with the risen savior.

Humans yearn for purpose. This is not a strictly religious passion. You don't solely learn about a need for purpose from a pastor or a Sunday School teacher. There's something far deeper in the soul that says, “there most be more to this life.” That voice is part of how God wired us to seek out our calling, and what Jeremiah 1 connects us to is that we've had the purpose laid out by God from the beginning. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy tease out the often convoluted way that we come to our Godly purpose.

Nehemiah captures this wonderfully hopeful moment in the history of God's people. They landed themselves in exile because of their own behavior, but now, they're back. They rebuild Jerusalem, and in chapter 8, gather around and recommit themselves to God's law. It's an image of God's grace playing out on a national scale. They've been given this second chance. Pastor Trey, Pastor Scott, and Stacy dive into why they needed this chance, what they did with it, and what we can do with ours.

As John tells it, turning water into wine isn't just a miracle of Jesus, it's his first public revelation of his glory. It's a miracle rooted in joy, celebration, and community. It paints a picture of Jesus as a person who met people where they were and sought to bring them together. This looks distinctly different from how a lot of Christianity operates in the modern day. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott attempt to point us in this more Christ-like and joyous direction.

The Magi get their own Christian holiday, Epiphany, and that in some traditions is almost as big as Christmas itself. They are the first Gentiles to bow down and worship Christ, and they even get to play in a role in keeping the Christ child alive. Just like Mary, Joseph, the Shepherds, and the City of Bethlehem, they signify that some different is happening here. The people who should be excited. the hierarchy in Jerusalem, aren't. Instead, a band of outcasts, Gentiles, unwed mothers, and ordinary folk welcome a savior for all. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy invite us all to join this same band of misfits.

Of all the texts covered on this show, we keep coming back to John 1. Even trying to present a wide variety of texts, inevitably, we find ourselves back to John's opening words laying out the big picture of who Christ really is. All scripture matters and can tell us something about faith, God, and ourselves, but in a book of important words, John 1 contains some of the most important. It gives us the most explicit explanation of who Christ is and why that matters so much. It's a thesis statement for the divinity and grace giving sacrifice of Christ.

What must it have been like to raise the Messiah? Luke gives us the only insight into that, and in it, Christ looks remarkably human. It's the story of a 12 year old boy who freaks is parents out by not being where they expect him to be. It shows the human Jesus learning, growing, and already showing signs of what is to come. It's a reminder that even for Jesus, life is a journey. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott examine that the joy that comes in this snapshot of a young savior.

If the Gospel of Luke was a musical, Mary gets the opening number. It's not just that she gets the first long speech, but that what she says sets up all that is to come through Luke, Acts, and beyond. The Magnificat is all about God fulfilling God's grand promise to set things right, and she phrases it in the past tense. The show has started, and because it's started, we can be confident how it will end. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy sing Mary's praises as the exemplar of our own faith.

Bethlehem looms large in the Christian imagination. Especially if you only go to church a couple times a year, it might be one of two city in the Bible that you can name, but in the reality of first century Judea, it's just a small farming town on the outskirts of Jerusalem. It's the City of David, but that didn't make it rich or important. So, why is the Savior born there, as Micah foretells? Maybe, God values something more than early greatness. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy talk through what this wildly different value structure can mean for us.

The birth of Jesus upends everything, and one man was chosen to be the herald of that: John the Baptist. John got his own herald: his father, Zechariah. This work of heraldry declares that John is indeed important, but it's because of what Christ will do and how he will witness to it. Zechariah's song is also a song of realized hope - the child that he had hoped for and the savior that he has been awaiting. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy show how this song can become our song as well.

A fig tree blooms. Summer is coming! We are so programmed to think of the end of the age as something terrible, but Christ describes it as momentary disruption followed by summer (not winter). We celebrate this kind of incoming age every year. Christ's life was its own apocalyptic event. It ended an age and brought in a new one. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott examine how we are better off in this age than we were before, and what that might mean for the age to come.

In the face off between Jesus and Pilot, both of them were rulers. Pilot represented the greatest earthly empire to date. Jesus represented a kingdom so out of this world that Pilot couldn't comprehend it. Through this conversation, Jesus makes clear which kingdom you want to be a part of. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy delve into the stark difference in kingdom and ruler.

All things (not just all good things) come to an end. We know that the Bible contains a lot about the End Times, but often, we misunderstand what they mean. We link them with disaster movies, where all of humanity is destroyed, but the end of all things, in Scripture, is always the chance for God to do something wonderful and new. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy look at Christ's prediction that the Temple will fall and seek the hope that it has for us.

What we need to believe is simple enough. God is real. God loves you. God gave us Christ who died for us. We can have salvation through that sacrifice. However, the next level question from there is far more challenging. Why did that sacrifice work? Why is that what gives us access to God's grace? This is where the Letter to the Hebrews comes in. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy dig through Hebrews' occasionally dense logic to get at the true nature of Christ.

We ran into some truly horrific technical issues with our first attempt to get this episode up online, but here it is in its originally intended form. Ruth is a headline figure in Scripture. She's in King David's family, which means she's in Christ's family. She's also a Moabite woman, who would have been as social reject by God's people at the time. What makes her a pillar of faith? It's her choices. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy look at how Ruth chooses God and how we can do the same.

Man cries out. Jesus hears him. Man gets healed. Man begins a journey following Christ. The Gospels contain a lot of healing miracles, and Mark's Gospel is particularly focused on them. This one's different, though. It tells us more about the healed than the healer. It shows us a model for our own Christian journey. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy examine how we should walk based on how this man walks.

We sing a lot about how we know God personally. How God walks with us, and talks with us, and tells us that we are God's own. Do we stop and think about who we are actually walking and talking with? That's the challenge of Job 38 - to take in the utter magnitude of God's greatness. God, in responding to Job, stretches out the true breadth of God's power. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott guide us all into to stare into the true nature of God.

The bits where Jesus talks about money are some of the most feared sayings in the Bible. Most Christians know them deep inside, and most Christians don't follow them to the extent demanded by Christ. It's one of the reason that we're so sensitive around church based money talk. The story in Mark 10, where a rich man walks away unable to give it all up, is certainly in that category of terrifying challenge. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy examine the inescapable nature of this Scripture.

Job is an ancient poem about an equally ancient question. Why do bad things happen to good people? The human brain loves the idea of, "do good, get good" and "do bad, get bad." However, our reality seldom lines up that cleanly. In a faith context, the question rests even more uncomfortably. If God is good, why do bad things happen to God's people? Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy dive into Job, who he is, and how he sets a faithful example of navigating a painful world.

Esther is one special lady, and the Book of Esther is an equally special story. It's a book that definitely in the Bible, but God is not a direct character nor really directly referenced. For Esther, then, to be more than just a hero story, we have to think deeper about how God actually works in the real world. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott lead us to look for God in hidden places that are also right in front of you.

Once again, our good friends, the Disciples, are the wonderful fools that can give us hope. Jesus talks to them about his sacrificial death. They argue about how will be the most important - missing the point entirely. If there's hope for them, then, there's hope for us. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy lean into that hope and the joy that came come in God's upside down world.

God parts the Red Sea, defeats Pharaoh Pharaoh, and let's God people go. Moses is not the hero of this story. God is. God beats the super power with the uncontrollable force of the sea. God does the impossible. Pastor Trey, Pastor Scott, and Stacy link this to our own impossible situations and our own times of holding out for hope. God is there in those as well.

When we faced with tough challenges, enemies, impending doom, fight or flight kicks in. Our brain dumps all kinds of chemicals. We want action. When King Jehoshaphat found himself in that kind of situation. He prayed. He found rest in the Lord. He knew who battle really belonged to. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy discuss how all our battles are really that same way, and how we should rest in the Lord.

A lot of people worry that they are unworthy of God's grace that they've messed up too many times or can't seem to ever get it together and be perfect. Truth is that they're right. None of us are worthy. None of us can get it together on our own. The true Good News of Jesus Christ is that we don't have to do it our own . Christ died for us even though we are unworthy. Christ welcomes us in no matter who we were before. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott celebrate what this means for us now and forever more.

Fun fact: all Christians are a dwelling place, a living temple for God, here on earth. We can live and move in the world as living testimonies to the reality of heaven and how it can be experienced right here and right now. In Christ, all the barriers that exist between us and others can come down. That's great news - maybe some of the best news ever! Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy delve into the thorny question of why then don't we live like it more often?

We can't begin to picture what Christianity would look like without Paul. God clearly called the right person, who was a combination dogged missionary, highly scripturally literate, deeply obedient to God, and a tremendous writer to boot. Yet, Paul started out the enemy of Christianity - not a friend. It took the work of Christ and a brave Christian named Ananias to bring Paul from enemy to evangelist. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy look at the Road to Damascus as a model for Christian love and evangelism. (Also, stay tuned after the episode for some thoughts how reaching out to skeptics.)

Seek and you will find! Knock and the door will be opened! The gate is narrow! Few will go through it! The Sermon on the Mount can give you whiplash. Those four statements happen within 7 verses of each other. They feel like contradictions, but often, Jesus asks us to search deeper within our souls to realize that they are both true. If we seek, we will find - the narrow gate of obedience. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy seek to find the truth in between the seeming contradictions.

Our universe is a beautiful and ordered machine. Scientists spend their entire lives trying to fathom small corners of it, but God created it in a moment, put it into motion, took a step back, and called it “very good.” The entirety of creation is God's canvas. Humanity holds a special place in that as the only piece of creation done in God's image. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy attempt, at least, to fathom for themselves what it all means.

God can help us through whatever we need to get through. God is there for us in any circumstance. We often look for earthly circumstance to change in order for us to find peace, but that's not the reality. The message of Philippians 4 is that no matter what broken stuff might be happening around you, you can find your peace in God. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott connect simplicity in life and simply relying on God.

God as the potter and us as the clay doesn't just mean that God made us once and then stopped. A potter starts with a lump of clay and slowly (and occasionally forcefully) shapes it into something beautiful. If it starts to get a little out of shape, the potter will work it back into shape. It's the same with our journey in God. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, and Pastor Scott talk about what it means for God to actively shape our souls.

God and God's people have not always had a smooth relationship. God has always been faithful, but they people certainly haven't. Still, when the people run up against disappointment of their own making, it still hurts. Isaiah 64 is one of those places where the hurt bubbles up, and the prophet, speaking for the people, cries out. Pastor Trey, Sister Brandy, Pastor Scott, and Stacy explore how the people (and us) land in this predicaments and what it means that God sticks with us anyways.