That's A Good Question

With our new monthly publishing schedule, there is a lot to cover in this episode. Buckle up and come along for our survey of the latest headlines from a Pastoral perspective.

Our last episode aired the very week that the FBI searched former President Donald Trump's home in FL with a subpoena to confiscate documents that the president had but which belong to the government, some of them classified at a very high level. In this episode, we discuss what has transpired since.

In this episode we discuss the unprecedented news this week of an FBI search warrant executed on a former President's residence and we answer some listener submitted questions.

In this episode we reflect on what we've accomplished in nearly 100 episodes of TAGQ which means we reminisce a little about what was going on in 2020 when we began, AND what it was we were trying to address for which we thought a podcast would be a good method of communication.

In this shorter episode, we add to last episode's discussion of the 1/6 Committee's findings and highlight some of the most recent facts revealed in the hearings. We also point to TAGQ 31 from 1/9/2021 in which we discuss the events of 1/6 while they were still fresh in our minds. TAGQ 31 - Why did the Capitol Riot happen?

This week the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on our nation's capital met for the eighth and final SCHEDULED time. An attempted disruption of our governmental process should concern us as citizens, but more so as Christians since it can have effect on our mission. In this episode, we discuss how and why.

Is it true that all judgment is off limits to Christians? If so, what of other passages that tell Christians to make judgements? It's common to misapply statements the Bible makes or even sometimes attribute to the Bible things it doesn't say. Join us this episode as we review a few of the "Greatest Hits" when it comes to misapplication of the Bible. Books recommended in this episode: The Most Misused Verses in the Bible: Surprising Ways God's Word Is Misunderstood by Eric J. Bargerhuff Decision Making and the Will of God: A Biblical Alternative to the Traditional View by Garry Friesen

In this episode, we address an inquiry by one of our viewers who asked about the apostle Matthias in the Bible, and his contribution to the early church. To answer that, we address the broader question, “What Will the Apostles Be Doing in Jesus's Kingdom?”

Just yesterday, the Supreme Court released its Hobbs decision which overturned the 49-year precedent of Roe v. Wade. So, as of right now, abortion is no longer a constitutional right. In this episode, we discuss what that means, practically, and then spend some time discussing when and why Christians would seek to impose our version of morality on others.

We conclude our discussion related to the latest news in the 3 years plus investigation led by John Durham as well as several other noteworthy topics including the January 6th Hearings that should have conservative Christians reevaluating our trusted news sources and recommitting to apply biblical standards of truth to our news consumption and political commitments.

Back after a two week break, we discuss the latest news in the 3 years plus investigation led by John Durham as well as several other noteworthy topics from the past few years that should have conservative Christians reevaluating our trusted news sources and recommitting to apply biblical standards of truth to our news consumption and political commitments.

In this episode, we conclude the discussion we began in episode 89 of the viewer submitted question, “What Is The Church Of Christ Denomination?”. Articles referenced in this episode: Water Baptism And Salvation: An Abbreviated Word Study (Part One) Water Baptism And Salvation: An Abbreviated Word Study (Part Two) John 3:5 And The Life-Giving Work Of The Spirit

In this episode, we address the issues surrounding the leaked Supreme Court opinion in a highly anticipated abortion case.

In this episode, we discuss the viewer submitted question, “What Is The Church Of Christ Denomination?”.

We all consider the resurrection to be good news because, it obviously means that death has no ultimate hold on those who are in Jesus – His resurrection is a precursor to ours – that means WE will be raised. But in the Bible the death of Jesus is often spoken of in positive terms too, and we don't normally think of any death as a good thing, especially one that was a murder, and a murder of a completely innocent man on top of that! But we call the day Jesus died ‘Good Friday', and we likely take that name for the day for granted as Christians. But for anyone who is not very familiar with Christianity it would be very reasonable to wonder, "Why do you call it that? What's so Good about Good Friday?" That IS a good question and so we've made it our question for this episode, “What's so Good about Good Friday?”

In this episode we discuss some issues Pastor Ken has been rethinking and we issue some retractions.

Just this week the issue of defining male and female came up in a very significant way during the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson. She was asked by Senator Marsha Blackburn, “Can you provide a definition for the word 'woman'?, and after a short back-and-forth, Jackson ultimately said: “No, I can't.” “You can't?” Blackburn asked. “Not in this context. I'm not a biologist,” Jackson said. This occurs in the context of our culture grappling with things like who can use which public restrooms and allowing biological males to participate in female sports. Since it's prominent current issue, today we want to answer the question, “How Should Christians Think About Transgenderism?”

We pick up where we left off last episode, answering the question, “How Can I Understand the Bible?” People often say things like, “That's JUST your interpretation”, as if that's the same thing as saying, “That's JUST your opinion.”. But contrary to what many people think, interpreting the Bible is NOT the same as simply expressing your opinion about something that it says. Book Recommendation: The Old in the New: Understanding How the New Testament Authors Quoted the Old Testament by Michael J. Vlach

Is the Bible hopelessly obscure? Is it's teaching subjective such that it cannot be truly known? Is it just up to each of us to arrive at what we THINK it means? In this and our next episode we discuss the questions, "Can I Understand the Bible?" and, if so, "How Can I Understand The Bible?”

It's the two year anniversary of the beginning of Covid-related shutdowns across the country and so much has happened. It's a good time to take a look back and review what we've learned.

The news this week has been dominated by events in Eastern Europe with Russia invading its neighbor, Ukraine. In this episode, we discuss how things got to this point, what happens next, and why this matters to us as Christians.

In this episode we discuss current news items including the recent filing by John Durham, Special Counsel for the United States Department of Justice.

You hear the term in the news and even in popular conversation about politics and culture to refer to conservative Christians but do you know what it means? That's our topic in this episode as we continue our discussion about the question, "What is Evangelicalism?" "Who Is John Stott?" NYT article mentioned in this episode: https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/30/opinion/who-is-john-stott.html

You hear the term in the news and even in popular conversation about politics and culture to refer to conservative Christians but do you know what it means? That's our topic in this episode as we discuss, "What is Evangelicalism?"

Whether you're struggling with doubts about your relationship with God or you are sure you're a Christian but would like to improve your ability to present the Gospel clearly, we think you'll benefit from our discussion of the question, "How Do I Know I'm a Christian?". Links to the resources on our website mentioned in this episode are below: The Bridge Connection Form If you've accepted Christ as your savior or would like to know more about how to do that, we'd love to help. Please reach out to us using the contact information linked above.

We "pull the curtain back" again this week as we discuss the behind the scenes work of Pastors... answering the question, "What Do Pastors Do All Week?"

Join us for our 2021 Year in Review, Part 3 as we discuss the religious and doctrinal topics we covered over the last year.

In this episode, we stretch a two-part year in review series into three so that we can cover breaking news related to one of the political topics we've covered in 2021. In our first episode of 2022, we'll recap our spiritual and ministry related topics of 2021. NOTE: At frequent points in this video you will hear the computer fan and other audio distortion. We apologize for the poor audio quality in this episode as we had to use the audio recorded by our computer's built-in microphone.

We begin a two-part year in review in this episode by recapping some of the political topics we've covered in 2021. Next episode we'll recap our spiritual and ministry related topics of 2021.

Lot's of developments related to court cases in the news over the past two weeks. So, in this episode, we discuss the question, "What About Rittenhouse, Arbury, and the Abortion Case?"

We continue the discussion of discipleship in this episode. Below are several key ideas mentioned in the discussion... Acts 2:38-47 points to three experiences the very first church in Jerusalem had, as pointed out by author Gene Getz: Learning experiences with the Word Relational experiences with one another Witnessing experiences with the world We talked last episode about how a church can be structured to facilitate corporate witnessing/evangelism. In this episode we talk about what needs to be present in a church for effective discipleship – learning and following – to occur. There are seven progress reports in the book of Acts, documenting the advance of the Mission, but regularly tying it to the multiplication of churches, because the churches are where the disciples are made. – see Acts 2:47; 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20; 28:30-31. We believe that churches must place the emphasis on discipleship that the Great Commission demands and that Scripture and history have modeled. We think that a discipleship plan that can do that must be... Intentional — refers to a deliberate plan to make disciples. Church-centered — means the local church is involved in reaching and maturing disciples. Evangelistic — requires the local church is structured to make contact and communicate the gospel to unbelievers and the unchurched. Inclusive — entails that those who come to Christ and his church are disciples and are urged to participate. Progressive — necessitates that the disciple is moved forward to the next steps of growth. Wholistic — creates opportunities for education, relationships, and ministry.

Sometimes evangelism is viewed as individual activity that Christians carry in their personal lives. Sometimes evangelism is thought of as what happens at church when we pick just the right music and the Pastor delivers a powerful Gospel presentation to reach the seekers we've drawn into the meeting. But evangelism is the mission of the local church in which individual activity and our corporate efforts each play an indispensable role. That's the topic of this episode as we consider the question, "How Can Churches and Individual Christians Evangelize Together?"

In this episode, we revisit some recent headlines to discuss "What's the Latest with Durham, the Election, and the 1/6 Commission?".

In this episode, we discuss the question, “How Should Christian Relate to the Culture?”.

Many Christians have been tempted to be fearful over the past many months because of things they're hearing from certain news sources. In fact, we talked about some of those fears just about seven months ago, just two months after the inauguration of Joe Biden as we were concerned about how afraid some Christians were based on what we were hearing and reading. In this episode, we revisit some of what we said back then because the things we get worked up about change so quickly that we forget what it was we were afraid of once the new boogeyman begins to be touted by our chosen news sources.

If all you know about Satan is gleaned from some Christian broadcast media, you might be giving the Devil more than his due. Learn why in this episode as we discuss viewer-submitted question, "What Can Satan Do to Christians?".

It's important that we're careful about what WE teach, but also that we only endorse teachings of others that are consistent with the Bible. That means there are times at which we might need to keep our distance from someone because we're concerned about what they're teaching, even if they're Christians. But that's troubling to consider because if we're Christians then we want to be unified not divided. So it raises the question for today's episode, “What Things Should Christians Divide Over?”

In this episode we discuss the initial report released by the AZ election audit, Ravi Zacharias Ministries, and media ministries in general.

In this episode, we answer more viewer questions and discussion current news items from a Biblical perspective.

We're off this week but have a recommendation for you while we're gone.

This week we continue looking at recent topics from the news including the new Texas law essentially banning abortion and the withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan.

We're starting something new that we plan to do at least once each month, at the end of the month, but perhaps more often as events warrant, and that's to offer what we hope is a biblical perspective on current events. To put it generically, we'll be asking, “How Should I View the Latest News?” Today we discuss the current events going on in Afghanistan.

This episode we continue our discussion we began last episode to answer a question from one of our viewers, "How Can I Have Personal Peace?"

This episode we continue to go through our mailbag, and today we're going to answer a question from one of our viewers, "How Can I Have Personal Peace?"

In this episode, we continue to go through our mailbag. A viewer recently asked, “How does our God-given purpose translate to every thought, word, and action, word, and even things like the food we eat, and our health?” We've summarized that question as, "How Do We Bring All of Life Under the Lordship of Christ?"

It is important for our own personal understanding of who God is and our testimony to the world around us that we have a right understanding of what the Bible says about slavery. So in this episode, we discuss the viewer-submitted question: “Does the Bible Condone Slavery?”

We continue answering viewer -submitted questions this episode and talk about the question, "How Should Christians View Cancel Culture and CRT?" Download the David French article we mention in this episode here.

In this episode we begin discussing several recent questions from our viewers. We cover three viewer-submitted questions in this episode: "Why don't we recite "The Lord's Prayer" in church?" "Does the Bible Allow for Life on Other Planets?" “Who are the church fathers and what relevance do they have for us?”

We're off this week as Pastor Larry is traveling but we're not leaving you empty-handed. See you next week for our regularly scheduled episode!

This episode we discuss a question from our viewing audience about cremation and whether it's biblical and therefore something a Christian can consider. Download the paper Pastor Ken mentions on the subject of cremation here.

We've talked a lot about what God says about the church and its mission in recent episodes. In this episode, we discuss how to structure a churches ministries to best pursue that mission.