Sweet Jesus

Join me and Scott as we talk about a road trip I recently took to St. Cloud, MN from way down here in Southeastern Louisiana.It involved the homeless man that used to sleep on our bench - Axel!

Join me and Scott as we take a look at Matthew 13:44-46!

Join Scott and I as we talk about how important small things are in the Kingdom of God.

So...We did a podcast...But the recording? Well...listen in for a minute or two and find out how to get the whole thing.

Join me and Scott as we continue to take a look at the parables of Jesus and the hard to understand and hard to apply teachings of Jesus. We take a look at Luke 14 and discuss the cost of discipleship on an appropriate day: the day Dietrich Bonhoeffer died.

Join me and Scott as we dig into Luke 5:33-39. What does wine have to do with the kingdom of God? What does new wine and old wineskins have to do with anything?We were kind of wondering the same thing. Listen to us try to sort through it all!

Join me and Scott as we dig into Jesus' parables. Why did Jesus speak in parables? What do they mean? We aren't too sure about many things, but we gave it a shot. Hope you enjoy!

Join us as Scott and I talk about whether Jesus laughed or not. Inspired by a Jonathan Pageau YouTube video where he tries to answer a question from his audience, we felt we needed to add our 2 cents! :)

We're trying to figure out what we talk about next. We jump ALL over the place. We had fun and we hope you do too!

Join me and Scott as we think through the date we celebrate Christmas, Santa Claus and more random thoughts about the upcoming holiday.

Bruce and I continue our trek through the book of Acts, examining the way God uses his people for his primary purpose - mission! The Holy Spirit arrives on the scene in Acts 2, and he makes all the difference!

Join me and Mark for another fun conversation. We talk A.I., conflict in the Church, anger, authority, telling the truth, and explore some of the controversies regarding the two natures in Christ. Come along for the ride! PS - we got started later than planned and had to have a bit of an abrupt ending. But that just means PLENTY to talk about NEXT time! :)

Well, we finally made it to Rule 12! Join me and Scott as we explore what crucial life lessons are contained in this rather odd named rule. It may be just in time to help you more fully celebrate turkey day!

Join me and Scott as we go through Rule 11 from Jordan Peterson's book, "12 Rules for Life."

Join me as I sit down with Allana Chris as she shares the anti-human trafficking work of The Little Tree Project.

Join me and Scott as we go over Rule 10 from Jordan Peterson's "12 Rules for Life - An Antidote to Chaos."

Join me and my friend and co-author, Bruce Jaeger, as we talk about Acts 1:1-8 and the role all Christians are called to as witnesses of Jesus Christ.

"Assume the person you are listening to might know something you don't." - Jordan Peterson Join me and Scott as we talk about the importance of listening.

What do college papers, saying no to a drunk, and totalitarianism have in common? Join us and find out!

There was SO much to go over in Rule 7 that we felt we needed to come back and do another podcast looking at the problems of Christianity. Join us!

Join me and Scott as we look at Rule 7 of Jordan Peterson's book, "12 Rules for Life." Life is full of suffering, but what's the answer for living in a world like this? Tune in and find out!

I've heard a lot of concern about the idea that people are "sinners" or the people, young and old, are "evil." I've wanted to lay out a few Bible passages. But some other connections have come up over the past few days and I wanted to dig into God's call to serve and love the poor.

"Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world." That's what Jordan Peterson advocates in Rule 6. Scott and I are digging into the idea and seeing how it jives with Scripture. Join us!

Just like many other churches, our congregation is dealing with a bit of a fiscal crisis. So, a great time to do another "Throwback Thursday with a Twist" where we think about how God has helped us in the past to give us the hope and strength we need to trust him for the present and future.

Join us as we talk about Rule 5, "Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them." It's a tough topic with some harsh realities, but an important and timely one. Tune in and join us. Get the book too! WAY more in the chapter.

Join me and Scott as we discuss Rule 4 in Jordan Peterson's book, "12 Rules for Life." "Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today."

Pastor Brock Cain and I discuss the last portion of the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed and "the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting." We talk a lot about death, grief, the true hope of the Christian, as well as just how much God loves our bodies and how we should too.

Join us as we talk about Rule 3, "Make friends with people who want the best for you."

Brock really wanted to clarify some things on forgiveness so we dove right in! Join us as we discuss what forgiveness is - and isn't!

Join me and Scott as we sit down to discuss Rule 2 from Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life: Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. We end up taking a lot of detours but found it to be a fun conversation revolving around this helpful, even CRUCIAL idea.

Join me as I reflect on a funeral for one of our CDC students and the attempted assassination of former President Trump. Also, check out a podcast I created a few years ago that includes a sermon from a funeral for an infant I did 4 years ago. It's episode 2 so you have to scroll back a ways. I will try to include the link below. I hope it helps if you are wrestling with the biggest question we wrestle with in times like that, "Why?!" https://open.spotify.com/episode/1veX9aaIjsyJhEC0qTHJmF?si=J58p1P2pSKK05anMdNYOVA&nd=1&dlsi=1e5c124270f5468d

Join me as I sit down with Pastor Brock Cain from Lutheran Church of the Pines to discuss the Third Article of the Apostles' Creed, focused on the Holy Spirit. In this episode we focus on the Church and it's role in our lives. There's a lot of harsh realities that have shaped how many view the Church and the local congregation. We try to address them all head on. Join us and let us know what you think!

Join me and Scott as we talk about the benefits of facing the world with courage and confidence, based on Jordan Peterson's book, "12 Rules for Life."

Meet my friend Scott Lewis! He shares his unexciting journey to faith in Jesus, as well as how he stumbled upon the work of Jordan Peterson. That's important because Scott and I will be looking at Jordan Peterson's book "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos." Join us!

Brock is back for a brief introductory conversation about the Holy Spirit and the crucial role the HS plays in our path to faith and salvation in Christ.

Join me as I sit down with Pastor Mark Renner, author of "Curious Cases: A Series of Short Pastoral Case Studies." We're taking some selections out of his book and pondering some of the challenging situations we face in ministry and in the world. We jump all over the place and I think there are some topics we should probably dig deeper on in future conversations. But the heart of the conversation is the extent to which Christians should care for the poor and why. Join us and let us know your thoughts!

Join me as I sit down once again with Pastor Brock Cain to pick up where we left off a LONG time ago with the Apostles' Creed. We talk primarily about the "new obedience" and how we live in response to a salvation won for us and given to us freely as a gift.

Join me as I sit down with my friend, Bruce Jaeger! He is the brains behind our new book, "Open ARMS: Connecting People to Jesus." Listen in as we talk about his background, experience, and the inspiration for this practical guide to living a life focused on witnessing to the love of God for all people in Jesus Christ.

Join me as I sit down with friend, pastor, and now AUTHOR, Mark Renner. He has a new book out filled with case studies of actual, real life situations that have occurred in his life and ministry, and others he has known. It will help Christians everywhere be better equipped for facing the messiness of life and ministry. But as you'll hear, Pastor Mark also hopes it will help us reach people outside the Christian community that see us as out of touch with the real world. It's a wonderful conversation about grace, forgiveness, and the power of Jesus to work in this world even through messy people and situations. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Here are some thoughts I had in response to some conversations I've been having with people about Christian mission and Multipli, an organization that is helping train people to reach others with the love and good news of Jesus.

Join me and Brock Cain as we talk about the redemptive work of Jesus and our need for rescue. The episode gets cut short rather abruptly. Our apologies! But some time duty calls! We'll pick back up again soon. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Join me and Brock as we pick up with the Second Article of the Apostles' Creed. This one's all about Jesus. Who is he? What is he made of? Is he just some dude looking to stir up trouble with some provocative teaching? Or is he more than that? We get into all kinds of cool stuff here. Loki even makes an appearance, if you happen to be a Marvel fan. But it all is ultimately about Jesus because...well, Jesus is sweeter!

Join me and Pastor Brock Cain as we finish up our discussion on the First Article of the Apostles' Creed. This is about recognizing our dependence on God, being thankful, serving, and a dirty word in our day and age, "obedience!" Join in as we wrestle with these important aspects of the Christian faith. We pray you will be as blessed to listen in as we were to have the discussion.

After an extended break, Brock is back and we are wrestling with suffering. If God is provider and protector how do we deal with the fact that life is so full of pain and misery? This is an important topic for Christians and skeptics alike. Tune in and see how important it is for us all. If you have comments or questions, please email us at: jesusissweeter@gmail.com

Join me as I hear about how the Lord rescued Sidney Dusang for planting the seeds of Christ's Kingdom!

Join me and Brock as we continue our analysis of the Apostles' Creed. We engage a little bit with the somewhat controversial topics: God as Father (as evidenced by the "Sparkle Creed" from a couple of weeks ago), death as an enemy, evolution as a weak, flawed, and incomplete theory, and science in general as wholly inadequate for explaining life as we know it. It's a wild ride, but we definitely had fun. Join us! If you enjoy it, make sure to like, comment, share, subscribe, etc.

Brock is back and we are tackling the Apostles' Creed. This is mostly an introduction to the Creed. But we tackle all kinds of interesting topics that come up as we consider its place in the life of faith. Join us as we explore things like the Trinity, how we worship, and the humility all Christians should have when we consider the truths we hold dear.

Hey Y'all! Listen in as my daughter interviews me and my wife about our recent publication. I have so much more to say about why we did this and the connections to what I believe the future of church work looks like. But this is a good start for now. Plus it was fun for me, Heather, and the kids. Maybe they have a future in podcasting! :) Nobody's Nola is out on Amazon now and available in select locations.

Join me and Pastor Brock Cain as we tackle the least pleasant topic there is: judgment and hell. Honestly, I think we both hated this and assume many of you will too. But is God the one with the problem? Or the Bible? Or are we the ones with the problem? Does our worldview fall apart without this? How can a loving God "send" people to hell? I don't know for sure. I'm not sure Brock is either. But as we discussed, there sure seems to be a place for this. It just may not look like what we think.

Join us as we get to the end of the Ten Commandments and turn back to the real issue behind them all - our hearts. Coveting is an unhealthy inclination of the heart to have what others have. Coveting disrupts the contentment God desires for us. Join me and Pastor Brock Cain as we explore this topic together.

Pastor Brock is back and we are talking about reputations and words. Reputations are far more precious than we may realize. The 8th Commandment tells us to be careful what we say. When we speak we hold our reputations in our hands. When we speak about others, we hold their reputations in our hands. Join us as we explore this topic and see how it applies to our everyday lives.