Unshaken: A Discipleship Podcast

Jesus Christ is the Head over the body of the church. It's His church. He's the One in charge. Pastors need to be like Moses, in touch with Jesus and receiving His direction and guidance. Pastors need to be leading the church in such a way that the people know the Lord is in control. (p. 24)

Christian service always begins with God's call. This calling equips God's people to minister and serve as "unto the Lord" rather than for the praise of man or for earthly gain. We also look to the Book of Acts as the model for the church with the four basic functions of the early church being the teaching of the Word, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. Churches that operate in this form will see God meet every need as they walk in obedience to the will of God by the Holy Spirit.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

This season we delve into Dietrich Bonhoeffer's seminal work, The Cost of Discipleship, exploring its theological depth, historical context, and enduring relevance. Each episode unpacks key themes, chapters, and concepts, offering listeners a structured journey through Bonhoeffer's call to radical Christian living.

"We must see the world as our enemy, not our friend. And we must see our calling as more than just keeping ourselves undefiled by the world. Rather, we must develop a love for Christ that is greater than our love of sin." (p.259)

"We need to be resolute but understanding, firm but also wise. We take our example from Jesus. 'When he was reviled, he did not revile in teturn; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to the one who judges justly' (1 Peter 2:23). We don't have to shout louder than others when we stand our ground. We just need to know that we are being faithful to our Command and King. Like Martin Luther, we should be willing to say, 'Here we stand, we cannot do otherwise.'" (p.243)

"Political correctness divorced from common sense has discouraged people from taking care to wisely discriminate against harmful and dangerous ideologies and influences. The fear of being on the wrong side of discrimination issues drives some people to buckle and make foolish decisions. One of our great faults as a nation is that we don't know how to properly discriminate; so the fear that we could be accused of discrimination makes even our security services bow to the winds of political correctness." (pp.218-219)

"The radical Islamists know that terrorism can work against their strategy; it is best if they maintain their 'stealth jihad,' insisting on what they see as their rights... Leftists and Islamists are well aware that their designs for society - which for both involve drastic transformation - are anathema to most Americans. They have to advance their cause in stealth." (p.209)

"No system of economics is perfect; all have flaws, all need correction. Because of our fallenness as humans, we are only capable of seeking that which is best, not that which is perfect." (p.199)

"Socialism by its very nature encroaches on the freedom of the church and its ability to be generous with gospel ministries... In a nutshell, it is the supremacy of the state of over the individual. It's when the government takes ownership of the means of production and promises to redistribute wealth in what is claimed to be a fair-minded way." (p.178)

"Only when we recognize the human heart's propensity to deception are we able to help others see their problems from a divine perspective. Remember, those who walk in darkness do not see things as they are, but rather, see things the way they want them to be. 'The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble' (Proverbs 4:19)." (p.172)

"Perhaps nowhere do we see the work of Satan in America as clearly as we do in the sexualization of children - destroying their identity, confusing their gender, and creating unresolved guilt and self-hatred. Jesus warned, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea' (Matthew 18:5-6)." (p.156)

"We must distinguish truth from error, half-truths from lies. Each of us must ask ourselves what we are doing to advance the truth not just in our churches, but among our friends in the culture who are being misled. We must not only know the truth but ask, 'Am I willing to speak it and act on it?'" (p.153)

"People don't realize that love can be sinful; it can be evil. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, they did not stop loving. Rather, they just stopped loving God, turning to love other things. They became lovers of themselves." (p.145)

"Any cause can appear legitimate if it is tied to some noble idea. Even evil, if packaged correctly, can appear to be good, and good can be packaged as evil. Isaiah wrote, 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!' (5:20)." (p. 131)

"There are two ways culture attempts to intimidate Christians. One is to criminalize what they say or do, and the other is to shame them. Many Christians will not be talked out of their faith, but they will be mocked out of it. Shame will cause many Christians to retreat into silence... Free speech does not mean that we speak judgmentally to our nation as if we are free from our own weaknesses and sins. We give reason for the hope within us with respect, meekness, and fear." (pp.121, 123)

"Institutions that once favored free speech are now limiting speech, arguing that this right is unfair, unjust, and insensitive. They say that free speech should be allowed for some groups but not others... these days, hate speech is often defined as the speech of a political opponent with which one does not agree." (pp. 107-108)

"The gospel does what CRT cannot do. The church has an advantage that CRT does not have: We believe that the root cause of evil is not only external systems, but rather, the sin that lies within every human heart. Therefore, we strive for commonality among the races, not accentuating the differences. At the foot of the cross we confess that there is common ground between all the racial and ethnic diversity in the world. We stand together as sinners confessing our common need of personal redemption. We see the source of evil not outside of us, but within us. We acknowledge, as someone has said, that we don't have a skin problem, but a sin problem." (p.96)

"In the purely secular application of CRT, redemption is viewed as separating a group from oppressors, not as the need to be freed from sin by the gospel of God's saving grace." (p.85)

"Those who are privileged have a responsibility to help those who are less privileged. If they don't, they are accountable to God for it. However, we should not live with the illusion that we will ever achieve equality in income, lifestyle, or achievements." (p.77)

"God loves diversity, especially when it is brought together into a mosaic of unity in Christ. Racial and ethnic animosity is sinful and denies the inherent dignity of all persons, and it is particularly sinful within the body of Christ. We as Christians should be on the forefront of giving leadership to unity in the midst of diversity, and we should work toward love and acceptance rather than racial division and suspicion." (p.73)

"We must carefully listen to the way secularists interpret our history and discuss differences with fellow believers in light of biblical truth as we strive for the unity we have in Christ. This is a time for displaying the multinational community that God has called us to be." (pp.63-64)

"We must listen to each other as we talk about the injustices of our shared history, acknowledging that both repentance and forgiveness are necessary. But then we must move on, or we will never be able to make progress in race relations... Our calling and privilege is to represent Christ at this turbulent moment in history." (pp.55, 60)

"The failures of the past must be acknowledged, and forgiveness and reconciliation are the way forward." (p.51)

"This is not a time for us to hide behind our church walls, but rather, to prepare ourselves and our families to stand bravely against an ominous future that is already upon us. We must interact with groups and individuals giving 'a reason for the hope' that is within us, and doing it with 'gentleness and respect' (1 Peter 3:15)." (pp. 36-37)

"By locating the problem as only the external systemic oppression between classes and by ignoring the biblical doctrine of original sin and individual responsibility, [Marx] sent his followers on a path of endless and unresolved conflict." (p.25)

"Too often, compassion is used to override our better judgment and approve of ungodly lifestyles. We tell ourselves that we don't witness about our faith because we fear offending someone; we are silent in the face of political and moral decline because we want to be thought of as nice and not judgmental. We don't want to let people know that the way into the kingdom is narrow and there is a cost to following Jesus." (p.17)

Chapter 7. (pp. 71-79) "If anyone was entitled to relax, or seek refreshment, it was our holy Master. But he used his own time to pray. It is not that we are too busy to pray but that the flesh is still too insistent on satisfaction."

Chapter 7. (pp.67-70) "Oh, for multitudes to be awed into an awareness that the Most High dwells still in the midst of his people!"

Chapter 6. (pp. 60-66) "Imitation of Jesus Christ is needed. He was feared by the Pharisees whose mouths he stopped. But he was meek and lowly of heart to sinners, approachable by outcasts and children. Selflessness was displayed in his bearing. May God make it a leading feature in his ministers' comportment!"

Chapter 6. (pp. 57-59) "Our Good Shepherd has become the model for under-shepherds. His great concern is the good of the sheep. A good shepherd gives himself to the sheep."

Chapter 5. (pp. 51-56) "If the woman were anxious to yield to her God-given head in the home, and the man were ambitious to serve her comfort and welfare as being his own flesh, there would be no room for contention and strife."

Chapter 5. (pp. 47-50) "By his moulding of human personality and his fashioning of the institution of marriage, the Potter has defined limits within which men and women may find marital satisfaction and happiness."

Chapter 4. (pp. 37-45) "Christian liberty... does not suggest that you may do anything you wish with God's creation. But it teaches that there are things which you are free to enjoy and use as you serve the Lord."

Chapter 3. (pp. 31-36) "Not one man has ever sacrificed for his Lord without being richly repaid. If the cross is only contrasted with earthly pleasures lost, it may seem hard and threatening. But when the cross is weighed in the balances with the glorious treasures to be had through it, even the cross seems sweet."

Chapter 2. (pp. 23-29) "Bearing a cross is every Christian's daily, conscious selection of those options which please Christ, pain self, and aim at putting self to death."

Chapter 2. (pp. 19-23) "It is an absolute impossibility to be a Christian without self-denial. Whether you live in a Christian land or in a culture hostile to God's Word, you must bear a cross. The only way to avoid the cross is to follow the world to hell."

Chapter 1. (pp. 11-18) "Becoming a Christian involves a complete re-ordering of priorities. Once self was first and God second, or third, after other men. But now my thoughts bow to his Word above my private opinions. My feelings and desires take second place to his will. I love him and choose to please him rather than myself."

Chapter 1. (pp. 7-10) "Self-denial is a vital link between doctrine and devotion on the one hand and between devotion and practice on the other. The truth that I am a foul rebel and that God is the author of amazing grace leads to the devotional act of self-denial, which in turn must demonstrate itself in daily living."

Chapter XXIII. (pp. 336-348) "The grand object of the Christian ministry is the glory of God. Whether souls are converted or not, if Jesus Christ be faithfully preached, the minister has not laboured in vain,"

Chapter XXII. (pp. 321-335) "'Give not thy heart to all words that are spoken' - do not take them to heart or let them weigh with you, do not notice them, or act as if you heard them. You cannot stop people's tongues, and therefore the best thing to stop your own ears and never mind what is spoken."

Chapter XIV. (pp. 192-204) "Remember, that God has come unto us, not to exalt us, but to exalt Himself, and we must see to it that His glory is the one sole object of all that we do. 'He must increase, and I must decrease.' Oh, may God bring us to this, and make us walk very carefully and humbly before Him."

Chapter XIV. (pp. 185-192) "To us the presence and work of the Holy Spirit are the ground of our confidence as to the wisdom and hopefulness of our life work."

Chapter IX. (pp. 134-139) "A people hungering after righteousness, and a minister anxious to feed their souls, will act in sweetest harmony with each other when their common theme is the Word of the Lord."

Chapter IX. (pp. 131-134) "We must give out of our very souls, in the words which naturally suggest themselves, the matter which has been thoroughly prepared by us as it possibly could have been by a sermon-writer;"