Podcast appearances and mentions of Justin Bieber

This week we had to dedicate a big chunk of the episode to Leonardo DiCaprio's press tour because..OF COURSE! Plus the Zac Efron and Nina Dobrev dating rumors and the yacht jaunt. We get into Justin Bieber headlining Coachella, Charli XCX's wedding, and wrap things up with a recap of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City episode 2. Comment your thoughts, Rammies! Created and produced by Claire Donald and Tess Bellomo For more RAM, go ⁠here.⁠ Join our premium channel for 3 bonus eps a month ⁠here⁠ and save 15% when you buy annually! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this insightful episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, hosts Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb begin their series on Jesus's parables by examining the Parable of the Sower (or Soils). This foundational teaching from Christ reveals why some hearts receive the gospel message while others reject it. The hosts unpack the four soil types Jesus describes, exploring what each represents spiritually and how these patterns continue to manifest today. They emphasize that while the parable reveals different responses to the gospel, it also provides comfort for believers engaged in evangelism, reminding us that outcomes ultimately depend not on the sower's skill but on the condition of the soil—a condition that only God can prepare. This episode offers both theological depth and practical encouragement for Christians seeking to understand the various responses to the gospel message in their own ministry contexts. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Sower serves as a hermeneutical key for understanding all of Jesus's parables, as it directly addresses why Jesus taught in parables and provides the interpretive framework for understanding their purpose. The parable reveals four types of responses to the gospel (represented by the four soils), but only one that leads to genuine salvation and fruit-bearing. The focus of the parable is not on the sower's skill or the seed's quality but on the condition of the soil—emphasizing God's sovereignty in salvation while encouraging continued evangelism. The "rocky ground" hearers represent those who initially receive the gospel with joy but have no root system to sustain them when trials come, often resulting in what we might call "deconstruction" today. Christians should expect varied responses to gospel proclamation and not be discouraged when the seed appears to be wasted on unresponsive hearts, as this pattern was predicted by Jesus himself. The parable provides a warning against shallow faith while encouraging believers to develop deep spiritual roots that can withstand persecution and trials. Genuine conversion is ultimately evidenced by fruit-bearing, not merely by initial enthusiasm or religious affiliation. Understanding the Soils The Parable of the Sower presents four distinct soil types, each representing different responses to the gospel message. The first soil—the path—represents hearts where the gospel makes no impact whatsoever; the seed simply bounces off and is quickly snatched away by Satan. This illustrates not merely outward rejection of the gospel, but also intellectual non-comprehension. As Tony explains, this doesn't necessarily mean active hostility toward the gospel but could simply be indifference: "It may not be someone who has like a closed fist, 'I hate the gospel, I hate everything about God,' but for some reason they're just not [interested]." This parallels Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." The rocky soil represents those who initially receive the gospel with enthusiasm but lack depth. Their faith appears genuine at first but quickly withers under pressure or persecution. This phenomenon is particularly evident in what we often call "deconstruction" today—where someone who appeared genuinely converted falls away when their faith is tested. As Jesse notes, "I think what I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind...what's the length of time here? Is it possible that somebody could be in this place...which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end?" The parable reminds us that immediate joy at receiving the gospel is not necessarily evidence of saving faith, and it calls us to examine whether our own faith has sufficient depth to withstand trials. The Comfort of Realistic Expectations One of the most encouraging aspects of this parable is how it calibrates our expectations about evangelism and gospel ministry. Jesus teaches that when the gospel is proclaimed, we should expect varied responses—including outright rejection—not because of any failure in the message or messenger, but because of the condition of human hearts. This provides tremendous comfort for believers engaged in evangelistic efforts who might otherwise be discouraged by apparent failure. Tony highlights this point: "This parable is not about the skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed...The point of the parable...is that it has to do with the soil itself." This understanding frees us from the pressure of thinking we must somehow perfect our evangelistic technique or presentation, while also removing the false guilt that can come when people reject the message we share. Furthermore, the parable encourages continued, generous sowing of the gospel seed. As Tony observes, "We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this seed everywhere that he can." This reminds us that our responsibility is faithful proclamation, while the results remain in God's sovereign hands. Memorable Quotes "The Parable of the Sower teaches really that the gospel call goes out to all... but only those who God regenerates, that good soil, are gonna receive it savingly and will bear fruit." - Jesse Schwamb "Just because our experience of Christianity and our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that it felt real and genuine and rooted for [those who later fell away]... There's a caution there for us." - Tony Arsenal "The exhortation built into this is that we need to seek that root. We don't get to determine what kind of soil we are on an ultimate level—that's God's election and his secret providence. But on a horizontal level, in our experience of things, we have agency, we make decisions. We seek to be rooted or unrooted in the gospel." - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:36] Introduction and Greetings Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 462 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I am Jesse. Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast of Good Soil. Hey brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. Well, will you look at us? Look at us. It's finally and officially begun. And that is this conversation. [00:01:00] Kickoff to the Parable Series Jesse Schwamb: This episode is really the kickoff, well, the first parable that we're going through together, starting a long conversation that I think is gonna bear much fruit, if you will. Yes. Maybe 30, maybe 60, maybe a hundred times. Lord willing. It's gonna be great. And we're starting off with a doozy. Yes. Actually, maybe this is like the granddaddy of all the parables because we're gonna hear Jesus tell us something about the word of God and how it's received among different hearers. And this is so fantastic. It's the only place to begin because this is truly some eternally contemporary words. Yeah, it's, this is the parable that's continually verified under our own eyes. Wherever the word of God is preached or expounded and people are assembled to hear it, the sayings of our Lord in this parable are found to be true. It describes what goes on as a general rule in our congregations in the world. Anytime the word of God goes out, what a place to begin. So we're gonna get there. It's gonna be great, don't you worry, dear listener. [00:02:04] Affirmations and Denials Jesse Schwamb: But of course, before we do that, it's our tradition, our word that's spoken is always something in affirmation with something or in denial against something. So I say to you, as I always do, Tony. What do you have for us on this episode? Uh, an affirmation or denial. Tony Arsenal: This is an affirmation. I'll try to keep it nice and short and tight. Uh, I am affirming everything that comes with the fall. It's the air's getting crisp. The season, the, the pumpkin. Yeah. Not, not the fall. With the, let's, let's, let's clarify. I'm affirming everything that comes with autumn. So, uh, the air's crisp, the pumpkin spice is flowing, the leaves are starting to come down. Although, as a New Englander, I feel like I might be a little disappointed this year they're saying that it might not be as vibrant because we've been under a bit of a drought. But, uh, I, I'm all for all of it. Sweaters, gimme like a nice cozy scarf to put on and like a, I don't know, like a stocking cap. Gimme some flannel. I'm just ready to rock and roll. I'm, I'm, I'm done with summer and I'm ready for fall and yeah, that's, that's the whole thing. That's the affirmation. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. [00:03:09] Autumnal Delights and Debates Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. It's speaking of like eternally or seasonally contemporary. That is so good. Plus I would say like the fall or autumn. The best adjectives, doesn't it? Yes. Like including like the word ottum. Yes. Like, that's just a great word that we, we do not use enough of. So this season, loved ones dropping a tum in there because Yes. It's just such a good word. Tony Arsenal: And I, I know people hate on the pumpkin spice and uh, there was a rev, I think I've said this before, it's re revolutionized my understanding because I used to get so mad because I was like, this doesn't even taste like pumpkin. It's not pumpkin flavored items, it's pumpkin spiced. Flavored items. So it's the, the spice you would use in pumpkin pie is the spice that they're talking about. So people complain that you're just putting nutmeg in things. And to that, I say yes, that's the point. You just start adding nutmeg or pumpkin spice or cloves or all spice or whatever it might be. The point is we're using the same spices that you would use for making a pumpkin pie or some other sort of fall. Delicious fall. Pumpy squashy, goodness. Jesse Schwamb: You got that right. This is a classic case of don't hate the player. Hate the game. Tony Arsenal: It's true, it's true. And if you don't like it, if you don't like pumpkin spice, then just don't talk to me at all. I'm just kidding. Still get pumpkin spice. Like you can go to Starbucks and get the same, same coffee you always get. You don't have to get pumpkin spice, you don't have to drink pumpkin beer, you don't have to do any of that. The all the stuff is, all the normal stuff is still available. They don't tell you you can't have it. Nobody is opening your mouth and pouring it down your throat. So just calm down, order your normal drip coffee and move on with your life. Jesse Schwamb: Speaking of polarizing autumnal type things, I don't know if we've talked about probably, we have talked about this and I've just forgotten. Where do you land on the whole. Cotton, uh, sorry. Candy corn, not cotton candy, but candy corn. Tony Arsenal: I, I feel like we have talked about this and my perspectives may have changed over the years. I'm not a big fan of candy corn, but I will eat it until I vomit. If you put it in front, I think is the, is the consensus that if there's a bowl of it in front of me, the first thing that I will do is I will break off two little white tips of the ca uh, candy corn and stick them on my fangs and pretend to be vampire. Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. Tony Arsenal: And then I will eat the remainder of the pound and a half of candy that's in front of me until I throw up. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And I know there's some difference between like candy, corn and like the little pumpkin confectionary ones. Yeah. Some people prefer those over others. And then this is not even to talk about the whole debate between when it comes to Reese's Peanut butter cups and Oh yeah. The pumpkin variety of those and No, all that stuff. Tony Arsenal: No. Mm. Jesse Schwamb: No. To those? Tony Arsenal: No, to those. The, the shaped, the shaped, uh, Reese's Peanut butter objects, I suppose they're not cups at that point. Uh, they use a different kind of peanut butter. I dunno if you know that, but they use a different peanut butter. So they, they actually do taste different than the actual didn't know that says peanut butter cups. Um, it's either a different kind of peanut butter or a different kind of chocolate. But one of the primary substances, uh, not in the Aristotelian sense, uh, one of the primary substances is different. And so it does actually taste different. It's not as good. And then the balance between the chocolate and the peanut butter is off. It's, it's not good. I'm a, I'm a peanut butter cup. Uh, I like to say aficionado, but I think probably snob would be a better. A better term for it. Jesse Schwamb: Listen, you'll, you like what you like by the way, only on this podcast, only, I think among long-term listeners, would it be necessary to clarify that you do not mean substance in there was six alien sense. Tony Arsenal: That's true. That's, that's definitely true. Well, Jesse, that is where we are. Enough about my, uh, fall. Uh, food preferences. What are you affirming and or denying? Tonight, [00:07:02] Musical Recommendations Jesse Schwamb: I'm gonna also come along with you on it with the affirmation, and maybe while you're drinking that PSL or you're searching for that candy, corn, you might like, want something to put into your ears that isn't us, that's a little bit more melodic. And so I'm affirming with the, this time and age in which it is all about curation. That's often a lovely thing. I use Spotify for all of my music consumption, and they just fed me like a really interesting playlist that I would never have thought of as a category, but I've really been enjoying, it's called Math Rock. And I saw, and I thought I'm, I'm usually kinda like dubious of the Spotify playlist because like they're kind of out there for me generally. But I thought to myself, well, this is an interesting port man too. Like, I like math. I like rock, and the description was complex rhythms and mesmerizing loops. So I thought, I like complex rhythms. I like loops that continue and mesmerize, so the check it out for yourself. If you're looking for something that's like, it's enough to be interesting while you're working on something, but not too interesting. So that distracts you. This is apparently the jam. So yeah, it's like just really interesting rock oriented, mostly instrumental music that is like. Really motivating, but again, not interesting enough to really distract you from the task at hand if that's not your thing. The other thing I would recommend, I know you'll join me in this, Tony, is that poor Bishop Hooper released a new album this week. It's called The Serpent and the Seed, and this one has a ton of tracks on it, like 18 or so, and it, it as well is a unique mix of both instrumental, really lovely, beautiful pieces and then some that carry more vocal and melodic stuff that's kind of their customary jam. Both of 'em are great. They both do have kind of an an autumnal vibe, if I'm honest. Now I'm thinking about it. It's really the perfect compliment to whatever it is that you're consuming that has that pumpkin spice in it. So math, rock, the serpent and the seed. There you go. Tony Arsenal: I'm trying to synthesize. I mean, math and rock are like two of Jesse's favorite things. So I'm trying to synthesize what it would be like to scream the quadratic equation at someone with some sort of like slightly off cadence, dissonant guitar rift underneath. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. Tony Arsenal: I feel like there's a Me Without You album out there somewhere that that's exactly what it is. But Jesse Schwamb: yeah, probably there should Tony Arsenal: be at least. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there, there absolutely should be. And I'm with you. I'm willing to work on that album. That's a great idea. Like just, it's just an album of mathematical equations and like the deep mysteries of life, you know, listen, math is beautiful. Numbers are stories. There's, there's so much there. Yeah. You had me at Quadratic, so I, I think we've, we've given people a lot to enjoy in this fall season. It's true. Tony Arsenal: I, I. I couldn't solve a quadratic equation to save my entire life at this point. Uh, I took introduction to logic when I got to college 'cause I couldn't remember how to multiply fractions on the entrance exam. That's fair. So that's fair. So that was, that's my experience with math. But right Jesse Schwamb: now the internet wants to keep serving me videos about, you've seen like all these tests, like these entrance exams for like Harvard or like the Ivy Leagues, other Ivy Leagues, and it is all these random things, you know, like we're solving for like two variables, terminally, and there is some kinda like expon explanation to it. Um. Yeah, I guess that's what I've become and I watch 'em all. They honestly get me every time. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not gonna watch that. And then I'm like, oh, I'm definitely gonna watch that. So it just happens. It's great. Tony Arsenal: I love it. Meanwhile, meanwhile, YouTube is desperately trying to get me to watch Season six and Cobra High. And it's very quickly gonna be succeeding. I think the next time Netflix has a, has a promotion where I can get a cheap month or something like that, I will definitely be binging Cobra Kai. So I feel like our YouTube algorithms are very different. Jesse Schwamb: Very different. Yeah. Very different. Certainly in, um, there is a commonality of, of the mysteries of the world and. [00:11:06] Introduction to the Parable of the Sower Jesse Schwamb: In some way, that's what we're talking about in this entire series. And yeah, if for some reason you didn't hear a conversation from two weeks ago where we really set the table, I think for what a parable is, why Jesus uses parables. As far as I remember, you correct if I'm wrong, it was the definitive conversation about why the parable is not just peace wise in Jesus' teaching, but really why it's the centerpiece. Yeah, we talked about that at great length. So now we're really ready to go. If you didn't hear that, I highly recommend you go back and hear that. 'cause there's so much. I realize as we, we looked at this parable of the sower or better like the parable of the soils, that we could do a whole series on just this bad boy. Such not just like wide interpretation, but wide application. So much for us to really chew on and then to really come back to and chew the could. So we're gonna have to be probably every time a little bit self-editing and brief. So if you're just yelling at your device, why aren't you talking about this thing? There's a great place for you to yell into or maybe just calmly and very politely suggest rather than the void, you can join our Telegram group. Telegram is just an app for, it's kind of a conversational tool and platform, and if you're looking for it and I know that you are, don't, why would you even fool yourself? It's, you can find it by going to T Me Reform Brotherhood. There's a whole channel, there's a bunch of channels there, a bunch of little conversations that we have compartmentalize. There's one just to talk about the episode. So as we go through this, my encouragement to everybody is track with us, get your scriptures out. Come along with us in the actual journey of processing this. Do spend some time processing it with us. And then when there is inevitably that thing, they're like, why didn't you talk about this? You know, a great place to converse with others and us about that would be in the Telegram Chat. So T Me Reform Brotherhood. So enough of that, let's get to it. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there's, there's some, um, there's some logic that would say we should have just rather than doing an Introduction to Parables episode, we should have just done the parable, because this parable does really follow, it really does form like an introduction to all of Christ's parabolic teachings. And, you know, it's, no, it's no, um, mystery either in God's providence or just in Matthew as being a, a, you know, somewhat genius level composer of, of a work of literature in putting this parable first, because you're absolutely right at the top of the show that this parable really is. Almost like the hermeneutical key for all of the parables. Not just for in terms of like understanding the parables, it doesn't do that so much. But in understanding the purpose of the parables and more importantly, explicitly in the middle of this, Christ explains why he teaches in parables. So we covered that a lot last time, so we're not gonna, we're gonna skip over that middle section 'cause we don't need to rehash that. But this really is the granddaddy of all the parables. It it is, um. It is Christ's teaching on why he uses parables in action. It's the application of his own theology, of parables, if you want to call it that. Uh, in principle. And he is gracious enough that in this very first parable, he actually gives us the interpretation, right, which is, is not entirely unique, um, in, in the gospels, but it is not always the norm. There are a fair number of parables where Christ just drops the parable and leaves it there, um, for both his immediate listeners to figure out and then also for us to figure out. We're not given the inspired interpretation, but this one we are given the inspired interpretation. And Jesse, I had to laugh because, um. Just as you get really, really upset and worked, worked up about when people say Christ's body broken for you. Uh, it just drives me nuts when people call this the parable of the soils. 'cause Christ gives it a name, right? So, so we'll talk about that too. And I, I'm, I'm mostly playing, like, I'm not gonna jump through the screen at you or anything like that, but that's the, one of the other unique features of this parable is that it's given it's, it's given a name. Um, and that's part of the interpretation is that in most cases, parables have a primary figure or a primary point that's being made. And if you get that primary point wrong or that primary figure wrong, um, you tend to get the rest of the parable wrong. In this case, Christ graciously tells us who the parable is about or what the parable is about, and then later on when we get to the, the next parable or a couple parables down, um, he actually tells us more about the parable through some other teaching as well. [00:15:38] Reading and Analyzing the Parable Tony Arsenal: So, Jesse, do you have that text in front of us? Do you wanna go ahead and read that first chunk? That's the parable itself. Jesse Schwamb: I do, let's do it by the way. Uh, maybe somebody should keep track. Here's a fun little game of how many times we say parable or parabolic. And of course, whenever I hear parabolic, I always think, of course there is like something of great hyperbole or allegory, but I often think of, uh, parabola, which to your point, Tony, I think you're just doing this for my sake now, and I love, this is an exponent oriented equation. Of course, it's a like a canonical section, which can only be creative mathematically by pronunciation again. So thank you for that. I thought you just did that for me, so Tony Arsenal: I have no idea what you just said. You might as well have been speaking like Hindu. Jesse Schwamb: It's fantastic. Well, let's, let's get to the actual, the best word, the word of life. And this is from Matthew chapter 13. Beginning just at the start of the chapter. That same day, Jesus went out of his, uh, house and sat beside the sea and, and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables saying. A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprung up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no roots, they were it away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. So on a surface level here, the, the parable is straightforward, right? We have a very straightforward picture, which is, is common for most of the parables, that it's not some sort of unusual, crazy out there situation that's being described. It's a common scenario from everyday life, uh, that doesn't tend to have sort of like. Mythological legendary kinds of characteristics. We have a simple farmer who is out sowing his seeds. Um, some of the commentaries we'll point out, and I don't, I dunno how accurate this is or isn't, but I, I saw it in, in a couple different commentaries. So I'm inclined to, to believe it that our model of farming, uh, in sort of a western world or, or maybe not western world, but in a more, I dunno, technologically advanced world, is to teal the ground till the ground first, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: And then to scatter seed. And it was much more common in the ancient world to actually scatter the seed kind of, uh, promiscuously and then till the ground. Um, I don't know the reasons for that. I'm not a horticulturist, but, um. The, the, one of the critiques that I've heard, and it's funny when people try to critique Jesus is 'cause they're always proven wrong, but one of the critiques I've heard is like, no farmer whatever would ever do this. Like, no, no sower would ever just throw seed on the ground, but this actually is the way they would've done farming. So he's, he's taking an everyday scenario that everyone would've been familiar with. Right. Nobody would've been like, oh yeah, that doesn't make any sense. They would've just said, oh yeah, of course you just throw the seed on the ground and then you come back around later and you do what you need to do. So it, it was really a scenario where some of the seed would've fallen on the path. And we're not talking about like a road next to the farm, but a lot of times the, the field had sort of, um. They're probably called like convenience trails is what they're called now. But people would travel through the, through the paths, and so there would be an area that's already walked, walked on that's a little bit easier to traverse. And eventually that area would turn into a pathway. So it was, it was kind of turned into sort of like hard clay turf that you couldn't get the seed into anyways. And then there would've been areas where, um, there was rocks under the surface. Most of our fields that our farm fields have been tilled and prepared and have been worked over, that the stones had been removed. But it wasn't always like that in the ancient world. And then you would've had areas where there was, uh, there was other vegetation, thorns, weeds, other kinds of plants that would've made, made it difficult for the crop to sprout and to bear fruit. So we have a very common scenario. There's nothing surprising about this. There's nothing out of the ordinary. It's just a simple farming metaphor that Christ employs here. Jesse Schwamb: And in some ways that's very consistent of course, because we have these very ordinary, normal things that God is using as a means of explanation for something that is very extraordinary, very supernatural. So we have the natural coming into play, not just as a representation, but to really demonstrates, illustrates and impound both in structure and form. This idea of what it means for the gospel to be communicated. And I'm with you, my understanding is in most ancient world. Those, those fields, we tend to think of them as fields and often the reference that way were like more like these narrow strips of land separated by these paths and you have this farmer casting the seed like very liberally. And not only that, but I think what's interesting right on the face. Is we see that there are basically four potential outcomes here and only one of those outcomes, 'cause we're already understanding this to mean the sowing of the sea, which is the word of life, which is the gospel message. Only one of those outcomes results in kingdom growth. There's a ratio of three to one. There's three times as many poor outcomes. In other words, there's all of these various ways in which we find that the seed is not rejected or does not result in the intended fruit. But there is just one path, one narrow kind of way in which it does result, and then it results in kind of various outcomes in terms of like the magnitude of the fruit or the plants that result from this planting. But as a result of that. I think what's really interesting to me right on the face is that we're seeing, like you said, there is a sower. He's casting the seed deliberately, he's coming on the path and he's just throwing it out. And in that narrow strip of land, there are all these different soils. And so right away we see if you're, if you're a farmer, you're understanding something about, it's not about the skill of the farmer in the casting of the seed. It's not even about the, the skill of the seed to grow. It's about the soil itself. And so again, we have this as three times as many potentially poor outcomes as there are for the one that results in this grand harvest. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And the one thing about this that might be, might have been, and, and again, some of the commentators are, are split on this, but might have been a sort of unexpected, um, element. And, and this is something we do see with, uh, with the parables, is there's usually some sort of, um. Unexpected or dramatic or turn of events kind of element, usually towards the end of a parable that would make, would, should be a subversion of expectations. Right? Right. And so the, in this instance, um, a yield of 30 times or, or 60 times or a hundred times, all of those yields would be crazy high yields. Um, you know, I, I, I think there are some plants, some of the commentators will make, make a point that there are some plants where like a 30. A 30 yield is normal. Um, but a 30 or a 60 or a hundred times yield of a crop is, is not the expectation. And so I think in, in a scenario like this, the reader or the listener is prepped by the fact that there are three, uh, negative outcomes and only one favorable outcome. To assume that the crop yield is not going to be great. Right? And then the reality is the crops that do sprout the crops that land on the good soil or the seed that lands on the good soil. Not only is it productive, it's so productive that it actually outpaces and kind of compensates for the lack of productivity or the lack of fruitfulness of the other three. So it's, it's three different, uh, it's four possible outcomes and then three levels of fruitfulness. And so this parable does sort of cause the listener or the hearer to think about, um, and start, you know, from the very outset, think about what does, what does it mean that the seed landed on the path and was stolen away by the birds? What does it mean that it sprouted quickly and uh, but didn't have roots and so it withered away in the sun? And what does it mean that, you know, it sprouted among thorns and so it couldn't bear fruit. And then I think the implied, um, the implied question that's being forced here because the parable does start out, you know, saying there was the sower, the sower, um. Sowed this seed out. He doesn't introduce this the same way he normally, he normally does or commonly does, right? Jesus often will start the peril ball by saying something like, the kingdom of God is like, right? Or you know this. This is like that. This, he just starts out saying like, a sower was out in the, in the field sowing seed. So the, the listener is not primed to know what the comparison is necessarily, but I think part of that is that now they're forced to ask what is the comparison? And I don't think it's much of a stretch. And again, this is why parables are so kind of paradoxical is it's not a difficult, when we get to the interpretation, it's not difficult to see the interpretation. Right, right. It's, it's easy to understand that the parable here, the metaphor is, is different reactions of, of some sort to. To a given thing, right? It's, it's different reactions to an investment of some sort. There's an investment of seed and in some instances it just doesn't take, in other instances, it takes and it doesn't sprout, and in other instances it sprouts, but it never fruits. So when we get to the interpretation, Jesus is gonna give us the clarity of what that investment is, and then who are, or what are the outcomes and what do they mean? In, in our, you know, in our thought process of what the kingdom of God is like. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, so let's do it then. [00:25:44] Understanding the Soils Jesse Schwamb: 'cause what we've got here is we basically have, each soil is representing some type of here. So we've got four heres but only one true believer. So it's probably behooves us to go through all of them and really kind of chat through. And maybe what we can do is try to bring some of our own practical application to each of these. I've been really meditating and pondering that, trying to think if this is practical for us, then how can we understand how each of these are being manifest all around us? And of course the intention here is not to like name people that we think fall into each of these four little groups, but more so to think about how we might understand people who do fall into each of these groups. And that is to say that. Each one of these, well, the, the first three rather, that these ones in which they're, the soil is in some degree suboptimal. I, I don't know that it means that it's always that way, for instance. So we might think of people that fall into those categories, but the Lord may be moving or working in them to move them into that fourth category. And of course, he's done that with ourselves, so we know that that's exactly how he operates. Um, and it's, I think it's good for us to remember that. I think there's a lot that's scary about this first soil, this idea that. The seed just bounces. So we get no uptake whatsoever in this one. But the other ones, at least you get a little satisfaction that there's some kind of reception. There is a receipt of that word. And the reason why I find this one to be so troubling is because these who hear it in the first case, they don't understand and they don't esteem it. And Christ is very clear to say that the seed itself doesn't sit there long. It bounces. So there's a, there is a literal hardness. That's reflected in that clay soil or that path, which is down trotted. And it's hard because of perhaps this constant lack of belief, this constant and unrepentant hearts or lifestyle, but it would be enough if it just kinda bounced off and sat there. But the fact that it's snatched away that the birds come and take it away, that Satan himself has an active and powerful role in influencing all of those who are hearing this word. And I think that hardness of heart may not just be manifest in, say, like an unrepentant lifestyle or this kind of clench fist against God on the inside, which is of course true of the natural man. But more than that, that anything that would take us away from true belief. So that is even any kind of our religious system or belief, any kind of philosophy, any kind of other worldview I think is in mind here because we know the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And so. What he's doing in that sometimes happens first and foremost in the mind, manifested in the heart and then in our behaviors. So if he's stealing away this word by replacing it with something that is false, that is not true, that destroys, that pulls us away and moves us away, then this is very scary. He has a real power, which we talked about. I don't know, like maybe six or so episodes ago. It's worth listening to, I think. And so what I find here that is really traumatizing upfront is the involvement in particular of the sinful man under his own mean estate. That is, that it's clear that the natural man cannot conceive of the things of God without regeneration, and Jesus makes it abundantly clear. He's, he's basically saying what Paul says later on in First Corinthians when he writes, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, does not accept them. So again, there's no agreement. There's no, even an intellectual ascent does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one for who is understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ, so there is no mind of Christ, which is, it's a horrible way to live life. And so in that space we have both the natural man, his total depravity, unable to pull himself up by his theological bootstraps or philosophical bootstraps or his intellectual emotional bootstraps to even discern what the way in which the world really actually is. And then in in, I say in addition to that, we have the devil himself waging war and attacking by pulling away that seed. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I have a little bit of a different take on this and I think this is what I am looking forward to in this series. Is there, there is gonna be. [00:30:01] Understanding the Parable of the Sower Tony Arsenal: Different, uh, different understandings that probably all fall and are all compatible, but all fall within a acceptable range of understanding. Here, you know, I, in, in reading some of the commentaries, Calvin makes the point that all four of these different types of seed represent people who in some sense are open to the gospel. They're, they're open to, he, he makes the point that this is not talking about the, the person who like refuses to hear the gospel at all, who like won't even come into the church. This is a person predominantly who is, is exposed to the word in some sense, probably in view as someone who's among the people of God who's in the, in the, in the physical body of the people of God who's among Christians or among those hearing the word. And for whatever reason, the, the, the seed doesn't, uh, it doesn't even get into the soil. Right, and he compares, Christ compares, um, this not to somebody who is hardhearted, but to someone who doesn't understand, right? That there's an intellectual element to this, right? You think of, um, you know, you think of somebody who hears the scripture and probably understands outwardly what it means, but doesn't ever comprehend it internally. They don't ever really, they don't ever really let it penetrate into their, into their hearts. Um, so it's been sewn into their hearts, but it doesn't actually take root in their hearts in any other sense. [00:31:38] The Role of the Soil in Receiving the Word Tony Arsenal: And this is what's a little bit different from, from the other ones that we're gonna see in all of the other cases. The seed takes root, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: It actually penetrates the ground and begins to grow. Um, it, this is a seed that never even makes it that far. And so it may not be someone who has like a, who necessarily has like a closed fist. I hate the gospel. I hate everything about God, but for some reason they're just not. And when we say for some reason I'm talking, obviously I'm talking la you know, horizontally. Um, we know that the reason that they don't have an open heart is 'cause the Holy Spirit is not open to their heart. But for whatever earthly temporal reason, the word just doesn't penetrate. It bounces off of them. It just doesn't get there. Not necessarily because they're outwardly hostile to it. They just maybe are not interested in it. And so this is where I think that. Along with the evil one, snatching it away. That's actually like one in the same thing. Is, is part of what I think this is getting at is that the, the, the only reason that the, um, that Satan can snatch away the word from their heart or what has been sewn into their heart is because their heart has not received it. And so it's that sort of dual function and, and maybe it's kind of like, almost like, uh, in Exodus, you know, God hardening the heart and then Pharaoh hardening the heart and those two things are happening, you know, by means of concurs that God is doing it in a divine sense. I almost feel like this is an instance where kind of like the, the census or, or with job where Satan is the one who is doing it, but it's ultimately attributed to God as well. It's the hardening of the heart, but it's also the hardness of heart. Um, all of those things are playing a dynamic, but ultimately the point here is that there are those who the word is preached to. [00:33:30] The Sower's Responsibility and the Soil's Condition Tony Arsenal: Um, you know, we will find out in, in a little bit later, like, the sower is Christ in, in these parables here. It's not, it's not generally the sowing of the word. It's Christ who is sowing the word. It's the son who is sowing, uh, the seed of the word. And we can think about that either during his own ministry. This certainly was, um, was true of his own ministry on Earth, that there were some who just did not receive the word and they just, it just bounced off of them. But then also as the son sows the seed through his people, down through the church age, through history, whether it's in the Lord's Day service or personal, witnessing, personal, you know, um, evangelism, it's still God who is sowing the seed. It's still the Lord who is the sower of the seed. But even in that context, there are still some who just don't receive it. So I think what you said earlier is really, is really spot on. This parable is not about. The skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed. Right. And I think sometimes people read this and they, they look at it as though it is actually the sewer's fault. What a dumb sower. He sowed it on the path. Of course it's not gonna take root. That's not the point of the parable at all. The point of the parable, and we learn it just right, this very first one, is that it has to do with the, the soil itself. Which is why, you know, I, I kind of joke about calling it the parable of the soils, and that's a fine way to refer to it. And most of these parables could have multiple different, you know, accurate titles as well. But the point of the parable, or the main point of the parable is that the soil itself is what determines the outcome. Again, you know, we, we don't need to get into all the theological details of how the soil becomes, what the soil is. This show has the word reformed in the title. You can figure out that we're gonna say, well, God is the one that prepares the soil. And that also just fits with the, with the a parable here, right? The good soil is only good because it's been tilled and prepared by the sower ahead of time, right? So I think that's, that's spot on. And, and you know, as I think about the people I know in my life, um, it's very easy to get discouraged when you try to so seed to, to follow through on the metaphor when you try to so seed and it feels like it bounces off. But we shouldn't be surprised at that. We shouldn't be surprised when someone is just not interested because Christ in his very first parable tells us there are people out there like that. That doesn't mean you don't sow the seed, it doesn't mean you don't continue to spread the seed the way that the sower does. And the reason for that is that some of it is going to take, take root, some of it is going to take root and bear fruit and you are not in charge and you don't control which one does which. We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this, so this seed everywhere that he can. [00:36:26] The Reality of Hardheartedness Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there is something there that I think is comfortable about this hardness of the soil, because I think sometimes we underestimate that the normative position of man is to be antagonistic toward God. That's not to say like we're talking about in their every action they take, they're going to refuse to hear the gospel or they're going to fight vehemently or out outwardly against it. But it's true that everywhere we find the scriptures, whether it's this other metaphor about God, again, doing this great surgery, of taking out this height of stone, which is of course hardheartedness or whether we go to like Romans three, where Paul says that there's no one who understands, there's no one who seeks God. So we understand that the default position is, one, nobody's seeking after God. Two, that God is too threatening to us. He threatens ourself. He threatens our ego, he threatens our own way. He threatens our contingency, all of which we try to fight against, like to our own dismay. And you know, basically. You know, it's willing, suspension of disbelief. But it's interesting and I think comforting here that what he's saying is, is exactly what you've just said, which is do not he, he'd almost say like loved ones. Do not be surprised when you find that people are just not that interested. They're just not into the gospel. Because your default position is to be a gospel abuser. To be a covenant breaker. And so because of that, there's just a natural hardness. And that hardness, I think he has to draw out. He has to say it's gonna bounce and Satan's gonna snatch it away because it would be, it's too easy to look at those who are just like vehemently opposed to the gospel that wanna debate. You wanna shut you down, wanna yell at you, wanna put signs in your face, wanna spit on you. That's too easy to be like, well, of course. Those people are not gonna receive it. But what about the quiet people who just don't care? Or, yeah. What about the people who are too caught up in their way of life or their simple behaviors or their patterns, or again, just what? What about those? What about the Mormons? When they come to your door and you can speak into your blue in the face about what Paul says, like the gospel plus anything is anathema, and they're just kinda like, yes. Yeah. Totally. That's fine. Totally down with that. And you're like, yeah, but you're doing, you're doing that very thing. This is great comfort to know that even those situations where you're not at war explicitly with somebody, that it's still comforting to know that this is going to happen. And also I think it's a great reminder that apart from God, apart from that changing of the soil, as you said, Tony, we would be those same people. That's in fact where we start. I, I don't say that. Like there's a progression here. We find in the, from moving from one to four. There is though something like you've said, where it's just interesting that Jesus shows us the very kind of shades of this. And I think, again, we gotta get out of our head like the, the temporality of this or like, well, what length of time are we talking about? Like when we get to the second one, which we should move on to. And there is some sprouting of the seed. Like how much time are we talking about? Like if it's two weeks, are they in camp two, if it's three weeks, are they moved out of that into some other, one of the other schools? Uh, I think it's just to show us that there are really, again, four hearers, one believer, and we can see clearly what the one believer looks like. It's a little bit more difficult to maybe sometimes discern what the other three look like, but it gives us hope and encouragement and basically just a sense of like, this is the way the world works. To know pres positionally, that when we go out, and like you said, I love this already, this is a major theme, is speak the gospel to all people. I mean, in this way, the gospel is for all people. Because Jesus' saying, do not cast the seed here. Go and look at that narrow path and find out, try to keep it off the, the hard ground. Do not let the devil snatch it up. It just says, throw and seed, throw and seed. And so we have to keep doing that stuff. [00:40:10] The Challenge of Shallow Roots Jesse Schwamb: So let's get to number two. What, what? Yeah. What say? Yeah. Tony Arsenal: Let me read it here. This is in verse, uh, 20 and 21. Here. It says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the world, immediately he falls away. So thi this is the person who, um, who has some sort of outward conversion experience, right? It's a person who receives the word, he receives it with joy, um, and appears to sprout, right? This is seed that has taken hold and has, uh, you know, the, the, and we, we can see that it has taken hold. So it's not just some hidden seed that has roots and never breaks the surface. Right. It's a, it's a, it's a plant that has made its way into the soil. It has taken roots of some sort. Um, but the roots are shallow. The roots never actually get, uh, deep enough to, to be able to survive the sun, right. In the, the original parable, it's, it's baked by the sun. And, you know, this is, um, I think what what we're gonna see is maybe to sort of preface your question, and I think probably this is gonna be one of those two parter episodes, even though we planned it to be one parter episode. Um, I think what we're gonna see here is that you can't actually know whether someone is. The hard rocks is the rocks or the thorns. Right? Un until, until all is said and done. Right. Right. And that's part of what's difficult is you, you want to look at a parable like this, and this is where I think maybe this is a good sort of like caution against overinterpreting, the parables, right? Christ is not trying to give us a rubric to identify who is what. Jesse Schwamb: Right. He's Tony Arsenal: not trying to give us like a litmus test to say like, that person is the hard soil. That person is the rocks. That person is the thorns. And you know, this reminds me, I, I recall, I, I dunno how many years ago, it was a couple years ago when Kanye West was going through his like Jesus phase, right? And he, everyone was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that Kanye is a Christian and he's writing this album called Jesus. Jesus Saves. And, and I, I just remember saying at the time, like, guys, there's a parable of the soils here. Like we should be. Um, we should be joyful that it, it appears that this seed is taking root, but there are lots of different outcomes when the seed takes root. And it's funny because I, I don't, I don't remember what episode this was and please don't go look it up 'cause that's a waste of everyone's time. But I remember when that conversation happened and I don't know whether there was an affirmation or a denial or what context came up in, but I remember contrasting him to Justin Bieber. And it's ironic, right, because I actually just read on Twitter today. Let me see if I can find the post during the next time you're talking. Justin Bieber posted this really amazing, theologically astute, mature kind of statement on Twitter today. And I think at the time, if you had asked me, um, is Kanye more likely to be the good soil or Justin Bieber to be the good soil, I would've said Kanye. Right? Just because he's, he was older, he is a little bit more established in himself. Um. Justin Bieber was still very young. He was, he was sort of like all over the place personality wise. He seemed to be changing radically. And it just goes to show like, you can't tell. And, and I'm not even saying right now like, this is, this is where it gets difficult. I'm not even saying right now, Justin Bieber is good soil, although I did right. Retweet his quote and did hashtag good soil. Almost aspirationally, right? But we can take a look at someone's life in retrospect and say, this person is bearing fruit, or this person is not bearing fruit. And, and that's really where this particular, um, type of soil goes. It's not so much the fruit, it's the sprout. And I think when we look at a situation like Kanye and, and. There's hopefully still a lot of life left for Kanye, and that means there's still hope for a con, a genuine conversion and bearing fruit that keeps with repentance that does not appear to be what had happened at the time. Right? He's gone totally off the rails at this point. So we pray for that. We hope, we hope for better things for him. Um, but. At the time, Kanye was, is he, he's going by Y now. I don't even know what to call him anymore. But Kanye was a sprout that grew up with great joy quickly. And what we found through time is that it appears that he, when he was, although maybe he fits better into the second, this next category that we'll have to push off till next week, I think. But either way, like he appeared to have sprouted, he appeared to have taken root and ultimately did not actually bear fruit. And that's the defining feature of these first three ones. It's not so much about what happens with the seed. Does it get in the ground? Does it not get in the grow? Does it sprouts, does it not sprout? It's ultimately about the fruitfulness, right? The final, the final phase of the parable, the final, um, the final type of soil is the one that produces fruit. So we'll get to that in detail, but that's what we need to think about. And again, like I said, it's not as though crisis saying like, all right, here's this checklist of ways to determine whether someone's conversion is correct, is true or not. Because we can't know that until after the fact and well after the fact. We also can't know that it's valid until after the fact. What I think this parable, broadly speaking, gets at is that we have to look at every situation and realize that there are these different possible outcomes. And although I don't know that this is explicitly part of the parable, it also sort of points us to the fact that like, because it's not a foregone conclusion about what's gonna happen, maybe there's also something we can do about it. Right? Right. Maybe when we realize someone might be on the rocky soil. Whether we, we have some reason to believe that or we just want to get out in front of that possibility, maybe there's still room to actually get in there and, and move the seed to a different soil, I guess might be a better way to use the metaphor is to, to just take the seed somewhere else or to till the soil, to get the rocks out of the soil. Although this is not talking about like rocks in the soil. It's talking about a layer, probably a layer of bedrock. Like Yes, exactly. Just under the surface. Jesse Schwamb: Right? So Tony Arsenal: there is an immutability about these, these different categories of, of people, and again, this is where like overinterpreting, the parable can get to be problematic, but we, we see that there are these categories, we can't necessarily know which one of these categories a person is in when they have some sort of outward expression of faith where they've received. I think we can tell the difference between that first category. Someone who just has not received the, the gospel at all, has not received the word of God at all, right? Like it's just bounced off of him. It's made no impact. I think we can see that that's a relatively straightforward, um, situation for us to assess. And of course we can't see someone's heart, but it's, it's usually pretty outwardly, readily available to us that they just have not received the word in any means. Right. When we get to these second two categories, that's not the case. We're talking about two different categories of people who have received the word and it has begun to sprout. It has begun, it actually has sprouted, not just begun to sprout, but it's sprouted. Um, I just think we need to be really careful to sort of not place someone in an immutable category until after we've seen what's gonna happen. Yes. Really across their whole life. Jesse Schwamb: Yes. [00:47:41] The Importance of Deep Roots in Faith Jesse Schwamb: I'm glad you brought that up because we really have to remember that in the last three instances, you cannot tell from the soil what the outcome will be. So it is a little bit, I'm with you, kind of a misnomer in the translation. This idea of like rocky soil. Yeah. If it were truly like rocky soil, the way that probably most of us in the Western think of it like soil mixed with gravel, right? They're probably, the sewer would be like, why would I throw it on there like that? That doesn't make any sense. Certainly again, if you're looking for that, that really fertile, well tilled ground, the one that looks promising, you wouldn't do that. So more than likely, I'm with you. We're talking about like a hired limestone layer that would've been like a few inches below, and as the sun would come down, my understanding is of course, like that limestone would heat up. It'd be like the perfect warm environment for like a seed to immediately like spring up with some hope. And that's exactly I think what Jesus is after here. It's this idea that the seed springs up immediately. People receive the message with joy. There's been no root or development to deeper moist soil though, because it doesn't exist. It gets blocked out. But inci incidentally, like the heat of that rock bed actually is the thing that causes it to germinate and produce at least a sprout really, really quickly. But as soon as like any kind of other heat comes upon it, because it cannot not grow deeper because it cannot set the roots, because it cannot get enough water from deep down, then it's going to be quick to die. I think we see this all the time. Maybe we even see this to some degree, not exclusively and in the same kind of magnitude in our own lives. But you know, we may listen to a sermon with pleasure while the impression produced in us is like only temporary, short-lived. You know, our hearts can be like that stony ground. Sometimes it may yield like a plentiful cop clap of warm feelings and like good resolutions and good vibes. How often do we hear that language? But all this time, there may be no deeply rooted work in our souls. And that first like cold blast of oppression or temptation may cause like all of that to go away. What I see interpret it from this particular group and, and this the one that follows it very much the same is like a conversion to religion. So here where this is where I firmly, like, I think we have a class, and this might trigger some people, but I'm gonna say it anyway. We have a class for this to me is deconstructionism. Yeah. And I think what I've, I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind is that. I'm not sure that we have to be so concerned in this, this metaphor or this great parable about like what's the length of time here? So for instance, is it possible that somebody could be in this place where there is this hard layer of rock, which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end. Yeah, where somebody has heard the gospel message has come into the life of the church and finds that this is generally a pleasant way to believe and to live and to express these ideals until maybe they have a strong voice somewhere or they're confronted with the fact that this, their message now is not very tolerant. And so as soon as there comes against them, this push that maybe what you're saying is too exclusive, that all of a sudden there really is a manifestation that there's no real root there. Yeah, there was no conversion. There was a conversion to religious principle and ideas and insomuch as those things didn't push too much against whatever objectives they had. Not even like going after what happens in the the third instance here with all the pleasures of life and all the temptations of the flesh, but just that there is some challenge. To what they believe and that it would be continually lived out in their actual lives, meaningful enough that it would impact behavior, change their mind, and continue to make them outspoken about the thing in which they're setting their roots into that if those things would cause the death of. That sprouts, then to me, that's where we find deconstruction isn't falling. And so in that case, again, it's comforting because it's not a matter of actual conversion as it were. It's not a matter of actual regeneration that hasn't actually occurred. There's plenty of reasons to come alongside and to give the gospel some kind of favor or to give it some kind of acquiescence because it's good on its own. There are lots of things that are good about it, but the rootedness in that is not merely in the outward manifestations of all the benefits of the gospel. It is getting Christ, as we've said. Yeah. And if we're not abiding in Christ, then we will necessarily die. In fact, Christ says elsewhere when he speaks to himself that even every bad branch that does not bear fruit, the father prunes and throws away. And so here we find that happening. It's, this is traumatic, it is dramatic, but this is where I think we see oftentimes Christians really get unnerved and sometimes it really, I think, rocks them when they see people who've had, like you said, Tony, like some professional faith. And I remember us talking about Kanye, and I remember us saying like, I think you and I were cautiously optimistic. We said like, this is fantastic. God does this very thing where he transforms people. And then we see in the long term, in the long run, the manifestation of that transformation, not in just merely as sinner's prayer or some expression of knowing something about the gospel intellectually, but the living it out so that the plant itself grows up in Christ to know of his great love, and then to share and abide in that love where it bears fruit. And so here I find this again, to be just very comforting because I think we see this a lot and our nerves, a lot of Christians, but I think Christ is giving an example here to say, do not be a unnerved by this. [00:53:10] Encouragement for Sowers and Believers Tony Arsenal: Yeah, maybe one last thought and then we, we can push pause until next week when we come back to this parable. Is. I think it's, there's two words in this, um, this little, these two verses here that really stick out to me. There's the, the word immediately, right? Yes. He immediately receives it with joy. That word is repeated later on when he immediately falls away. So there is a, um, there's a, a sense of suddenness to this, to this kind of, I'm using quotation marks if you're not watching the YouTube to this quotation or this, um, conversion experience, right? I think we all know people who have kind of the slow burn conversion experience, right? That's not to say that those people may not be, um, on hard soil or rocky soil. Right. But the, the person that we're talking about in that crisis talking about is the person who hears the word and has every appearance of an outward, radical, outward conversion of joy. And then joy is the second word that that shows up here. One of the things that drives me crazy, you know, maybe just to, to riff off the, the deconstruction, um, narrative a little bit is it drives me crazy when some sort of, um, high profile Christian falls away from the faith or deconstructs or falls, you know, into deep sin and then abandons the faith or has a tragedy happened in their life and whatever reason they abandon the faith. There's this tendency particularly among, I, I think sort of. I don't know if like, there still are young restless reform Christians out there, but I think it's still a valid descriptor. Kind of like the, I'm trying not to be pejorative, but sort of like the surface level tulip is what I call them, like the five point Calvinists who like heard an RC sprawl sermon one time and think that they are like the def, they're the definition of Calvinism. There's this tendency among that demographic that when somebody falls away from the faith to act as though everything about their experience of Christianity was somehow like an act like it was a, it was a, it was a play they were putting on, they were deceiving everybody. Right. That's that's not real. It's not the, it's not the way that it actually works and, and. I think the, um, the flip side and the caution for us in that is that just because our experience of Christianity and our, our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that like it felt real and genuine and rooted for Derek Webb or for name, name your key, you know, Joshua Harris, name your big profile deconstruction person of the day. Um, there's a caution there for us and I think that's the caution here in this, um, in this, I dunno, part of the parable is. Just as this is saying, the reason that the person falls away immediately is because there is no root in them yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away, right? The cause of this is because there is no route that ca

Halley and Jaz are finally back on the couch after a whirlwind couple of weeks, and this episode doesn't hold back. Halley shares the full story of her week-long hospital stay after a brutal ulcerative colitis flare-up that left her in constant pain and doubting herself. from gaslighting her own symptoms to finally realizing she needed urgent care, she opens up about the mental toll of chronic illness, the long nights in the ER, and the fear of potentially losing her colon.the episode balances heavy and hilarious as Halley recounts absurd hospital moments: nurses melting plastic into her food, the fight for a private room, and doctors giving her conflicting diet advice. Jaz keeps the energy steady, while also finding humor in the chaos. together, they highlight what it's really like to navigate a health crisis, from anxiety spirals to unexpected gratitude when the right medication finally works.but it's not all hospitals and IV drips. as the besties dive back into their usual blend of life updates and pop culture chatter: golf trips to Wisconsin, moving drama, TikTok spirals, Kylie Jenner lip combos, and the possibility of seeing Justin Bieber headline Coachella. it's an episode that feels raw, real, and ridiculous: a mix of health diaries, best friend therapy, and the kind of unfiltered chaos that makes Delusional Diaries your favorite.Timestamps0:17 - Back on the couch 1:04 - Halley's hospital visit 20:24 - Getting gaslit30:35 - For the pod only 40:02 - Coachella, lip liners, & Lizzie McGuire44:46 - Dancing with the Stars week 1 52:34 - Hair journey & our favorite productsLinks DraftKings: code DIARIESNuuly: code delsuional for $28 off your first monthQuince: quince.com/delusional to get free shipping and 365 day returnsWayfair: wayfair.comWinx: hellowinx.com/delusional for 25% offSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Deion Sanders opens up about his deeply personal cancer battle and his son's start in the NFL. Plus, a 50-plus-year-old plane wreck is now a viral tourist attraction. Why some locals call it “the Justin Bieber effect.” And some leaf peepers told to stay home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On today's 9.23.25 show we talked about Christmas making an early comeback, a freak car accident, 'Love thy Nader' show on NEtflix, Cardi B reveals she is still married, Travis Kelce was fined for a certain hand motion, financial intimacy with your friends, updates on Niners injuries, garden floral wedding dress code, Justin Bieber almost said 'no' to performing at Coachella and more!

Dominic Fike (Euphoria, Rocket, What Could Possibly Go Wrong) is a singer, musician, and actor. Dominic joins the Armchair Expert to discuss growing up around high-functioning relationships in Florida, how being raised by addicts factors into having a big heart, and wanting to cry when he thinks about the points of departure he's found with his family. Dominic and Dax talk about having that friend in his head that never lets him be different, how somatic therapy has helped him give form and a voice to his shadow, and starting to make his own music under house arrest. Dominic explains signing a multi-million dollar record deal while incarcerated, what it was like recording with Justin Bieber, and why when you go to treatment everyone gives you the grace to change at the same time.Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Watch new content on YouTube or listen to Armchair Expert early and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/armchair-expert-with-dax-shepard/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We have Border Patrol to thank for one of Justin Bieber's biggest hits, and Camila Cabello did a pretty cool thing for a fan that recognized her at a bar in Iowa. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode: On this episode: On this episode: Welcome to episode 381 of The Rise & Grind Podcast! Roderick & Cari break down Cardi B's brand-new album ‘Am I The Drama?' with early projections coming in between 125–150K first week. They also dive into Jay Electronica's triple drop — ‘A Written Testimony: Leaflets', ‘Act II: The Patents of Nobility', and ‘A Written Testimony: Power at the Rate of My Dreams EP.' In news, Justin Bieber is set to headline Coachella, Lil Durk's trial is officially pushed back to January 2026, D4vd makes headlines, and the FTC sues LiveNation & Ticketmaster. Intro: The Gap Band- You Dropped A Bomb On Me Roderick | Chance The Rapper- Space & Time Cari | Polyester the Saint- CRUISE CONTROL   Subscribe to Apple Music now to hear all of the new albums & tracks we discuss: https://apple.co/3NgdXW

Julie Zhuo is the former VP and Head of Design at Facebook (now Meta), author of the bestselling book The Making of a Manager, and co-founder of Sundial, an AI-powered data analysis company. Also, my first-ever podcast guest over 3 years ago!In our conversation, we discuss:1. The three core manager skills that translate directly to managing AI agents2. How her team uses AI to learn new skills 10x faster3. The “diagnose with data, treat with design” framework for balancing gut and data4. Why hypergrowth AI companies have terrible data infrastructure (and why it doesn't matter)5. How to give feedback that actually lands—including Julie's exact script for difficult conversations6. What Julie's teaching her kids about an AI future (hint: it's not coding or STEM)—Brought to you by:Mercury — The art of simplified financesDX — The developer intelligence platform designed by leading researchersPostHog—How developers build successful products—Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/from-managing-people-to-managing-ai-julie-zhuo—My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/172723725/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation—Where to find Julie Zhuo:• X: https://x.com/joulee• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-zhuo/• Website: https://www.juliezhuo.com/• Newsletter: https://lg.substack.com/• Sundial: https://sundial.so/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Welcome back, Julie!(05:18) The success of The Making of a Manager(08:41) Why AI will make everyone a manager(11:38) The future of management roles(14:00) Empowering teams with AI(21:30) Specific roles being accelerated by AI(26:53) Data analysis in AI companies(32:02) The role of data in design(37:21) The evolving role of managers in the AI era(40:22) Embracing change and uncertainty(42:14) Timeless lessons for managers(49:03) Balancing strengths and weaknesses(57:49) Building a feedback culture(01:05:33) Creating win-win situations(01:09:27) Being aware of your own energy and conviction(01:12:12) Navigating disagreements with higher-ups(01:15:57) AI corner(01:20:08) Contrarian corner(01:23:14) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Julie Zhuo on accelerating your career, impostor syndrome, writing, building product sense, using intuition vs. data, hiring designers, and moving into management: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/episode-2-julie-zhuo• Waymo: https://waymo.com/• How we restructured Airtable's entire org for AI | Howie Liu (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-we-restructured-airtables-entire-org-for-ai• Cursor: https://cursor.com/• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell• Inside ChatGPT: The fastest growing product in history | Nick Turley (Head of ChatGPT at OpenAI): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-chatgpt-nick-turley• Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff• OpenAI's CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai• Anthropic's CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger (co-founder of Instagram): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next• The Magic Loop: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-magic-loop• Dunning-Kruger effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect• Eric Antonow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonow/• Methaphone: https://methaphone.com/• Replit: https://replit.com/• “Baby” by Justin Bieber on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/6epn3r7S14KUqlReYr77hA• Kingdom Rush: https://www.kingdomrush.com/• Dr. Becky on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drbeckyatgoodinside• Emily Oster on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@profemilyoster• La La Land on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80095365• Granola: https://www.granola.ai/• Matic robots: https://maticrobots.com/• Limitless pendant: https://www.limitless.ai/• How I AI: https://www.youtube.com/@howiaipodcast—Recommended books:• The Making of a Manager: What to Do when Everyone Looks to You: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Manager-What-Everyone-Looks/dp/0525540423• High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884/• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values: https://www.amazon.com/Zen-Art-Motorcycle-Maintenance-Inquiry/dp/0061673730• Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values: https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Business-Build-through-Values/dp/1622032020• Good Inside: A Practical Guide to Resilient Parenting Prioritizing Connection Over Correction: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Inside-Guide-Becoming-Parent/dp/0063159481/—Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com

Can you see us this week? Yes, you can! Jodi and Nora embark on their first ever full video episode to bring you just the absolute best of the best in culture. They start off with a big beautiful Emmys roundup (4:08), including everything ‘The Pitt,' the incredible news that Taylor Frankie Paul is the new ‘Bachelorette' (21:51), and a quick check-in on what fresh hell ‘9-1-1' is cooking up over on cable (32:31). Then they look at two very bizarre full grid Instagram posts from two of our most prolific posters: Justin Bieber's family values poster (44:46) and Club Chalamet's 5 paragraph essay about why she thinks Kylie and Timmy have broken up (54:20). Finally, Joanna Robinson joins the pod to reach catharsis and closure after the finale of ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty' (1:02:21), before Jodi and Nora each share their personal obsession of the week (1:29:36). Hosts: Jodi Walker and Nora Princiotti Guest: Joanna Robinson Producers: Sasha Ashall and Belle Roman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, we've got a packed slate of trending stories, unforgettable moments, and thought-provoking debates:- Jimmy Kimmel's suspension—what happened and why.- Keke Palmer surprises everyone with a kiss for Sean Evans.- Molly Qerim exits ESPN, while Stephen A. Smith keeps securing the bag.- Remembering Hollywood legend Robert Redford.- Sarah Jessica Parker makes headlines again.- Did Disney really manipulate jokes in a comedy special? We break it down.Plus: Our takes on modern dating—what's the best way to flirt, do women actually care about your shoes, and what's really up with Justin Bieber?It's culture, comedy, sports, and real talk—all in one productive conversation.Tap in to Episode 601 of the Productive Conversations Podcast—available now on all podcast platforms and YouTube.Jimmy Kimmel Suspended (4:15)Keke Palmer and Sean Evans Kiss (19:10)Molly Leaves ESPN (25:11)Stephen A Keeps Getting Money (38:07)Sarah Jessica Parker (39:50)RIP Robert Redford (42:45)Disney manipulates jokes in comedy special (47:48)What's the best way to flirt? (51:20)Do women care about your shoes? (1:01:12)The Beibs (1:06:12)--------#trending #podcast #sports #news #entertainment #culture --------Best way to contact our host is by emailing him at productiveconversationspodcast@gmail.com or mbrown3212@gmail.comThis show has been brought to you by Magic Mind!Right now you can get your Magic Mind at WWW.MAGICMIND.COM/ PCLT20 to get 20% off a one-time purchase or up to 48% off a subscription using that code PCJUNE. Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/productive-conversations-with-matt-brown/id1535871441 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7qCsxuzYYoeqALrWu4x4Kb YouTube: @Productive_Conversations  Linktree:https://linktr.ee/productiveconversations

                                                    BLACK SHIRT MIXTAPE                                                       **Episode 105**                                                              Join host Jesse Karassik aka @heyyyyy_jesse as he takes you on a 2 hour sonic journey playing mixtape inspired tracks in a variety of genres- all for your listening (dis)pleasure!   Tracklisting:   1. Is It Always Binary...Soulwax 2. Raoul (edit)...Snapped Ankles 3. The Bay (Purple Disco Machine edit)...Metronomy 4. Poison...The Prodigy 5. Time to Pretend...MGMT 6. Something You Can't See...Desert Sessions 7. Half Man Half Amazin' (feat. Method Man)...Pete Rock 8. Jenny Was A Friend of Mine...The Killers 9. Another Life...Alabama Shakes 10. The Cutter (Live)...Echo & The Bunnymen 11. A New Flame...Simply Red 12. Still In Love Song...The Stills 13. We Almost Broke Up Again Last Night...Sabrina Carpenter 14. SPEED DEMON...Justin Bieber 15. Unbelievable...Notorious B.I.G. 16. Thats When Ya Lost...Souls of Mischief 17. Follow Excitement...Rizzle Kicks 18. KIWI...stoop lee, Datsunn, Curtis Roach 19. Go Back (feat Damon Albarn)...Tony Allen 20. Atlantic...Keane 21. Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer...James Blake 22. Under California Skies...Vicious Vicious 23. Help Me I Am In Hell...NIN 24. Know Your Enemy (live)...Rage Against The Machine  

Justin Bieber is headlining Coachella next year and negotiated his own big pay day for it… Plus, the “Dancing with the Stars” cast is stacked this year, but there's one “star” that turned it down over “creative control”… we'll let you guess who and tell you when we come back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nora and Nathan chat about some music and pop culture news from the week, like the 2026 Coachella lineup, which surprisingly features Justin Bieber as a headliner (1:00); Charli XCX's second wedding in Sicily, featuring Matty Healy (15:07); and whether or not Taylor Swift was really at the Chiefs game last Sunday (25:26). Hosts: Nora Princiotti and Nathan HubbardProducer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kaelin tells us how big Justin Bieber's payout for headlining Coachella! Plus, Fred tells us a fun fact about water!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kaelin has more details regarding the teen found dead in D4vd's car. Also, Justin Bieber is going to make $10 million for headlining Coachella!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In todays Glossy’s, Queen Camilla reportedly shuns Princess Kate during a conversation with Melania outside Windsor Castle, while Colin Farrell shares a light-hearted story praising Margot Robbie and her kindness on set. Justin Bieber lands a $15 million Coachella deal and jokes about his beard growth on Instagram. Plus, Travis Kelce gives a glimpse into his wedding planning with Taylor Swift during a chat on his podcast.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jimmy Kimmel’s comments about Charlie Kirk have reportedly gotten his show pulled off air indefinitely, and Donald Trump is claiming Jimmy Kimmel Live! is officially canceled. Meanwhile, Jerry from Ben & Jerry’s leaves the company, and it’s now just Ben’s Ice Cream. In the Glossy’s, Colin Farrell admits Margot Robbie turns him on. Justin Bieber bags a solo $10M Coachella deal and prays over his beard, and Travis Kelce is already spilling Swiftie wedding tea. We get obsessed with Trump’s state visit—Kate next to Trump at dinner? Camilla and Melania at the same table? The crowns, the jewels, the menu?! Plus, Kris Jenner’s MAC stunt goes viral, Elton John turns his kneecaps into jewellerySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Continúan los ataques entre la familia Aguilar y hablamos en exclusiva con Emiliano Aguilar quien abrió su corazón y confesó sus dolores, sus arrepentimientos, su rabia y los deseos respecto a su familia.Y además en El Gordo y La Flaca: Isabella Ladera demandó a Beéle por la divulgación de un video íntimo de ambos que ha estado circulando por internet. Karol G intentó pasar desapercibida en su natal Medellín pero desató la locura entre sus fanáticos."Candelita" José Iglesias, el pelotero de los Padres de San Diego está promocionando su nuevo sencillo como cantante. 

FALL TOUR TICKETS > www.barstoolsports.com/events/bestshowonearth. Intro (00:00-11:09). Coachella announces full 2026 lineup with headliners Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter & Karol G (12:25-31:09). ‘Love Island USA's' Iris & TJ are seemingly back together (32:18-36:09). Harry Styles & Zoë Kravitz continue to be spotted all over (36:10-39:05). ‘Camp Rock 3' has started filming (39:06-45:31). PopCorner voicemails: Bachelor Cruise?, Hot take about albums having too many songs, Jen Affleck on ‘Dancing with the Stars' + more! (46:27-1:04:20). Interview with ‘Love Island's' JaNa Craig - talking the support she's received from her fellow islanders, filming ‘Beyond the Villa,' dream opportunities + more! (1:05:15-1:41:13). CITO LINKS > barstool.link/chicks-in-the-office.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/chicks-in-the-office

Dave and Chuck the Freak talk about a confusing clip from Below Deck, the ‘clock it' slang trend, what's something you secretly like but pretend to hate?, cruise ship returned to shore after brawl left passengers hospitalized, man caught secretly recording women in Target, company who bought out Publishers Clearing House will not honor prizes, you can't trust Tesla's self-driving mode at train tracks, peach and eggplant sculpture controversy, Dave speaks French, cheating scandal in World Stone Skimming Championships, death of Robert Redford, Colin Farrell dropped F-bomb on live TV, Menendez Brothers court case turns against them, Boys and Girls Club donations spike after Emmy's, Justin Bieber prayed for his facial hair, drunk woman drove wrong way on freeway and blamed husband, burglars in bikinis, ladies robbed guys they met on dating apps, couple running rub and tug out of home, guy robbed massage parlor in middle of getting massage, footage of acrobat falling at circus, seniors posing for calendar to raise money, worker throws plate at security guard at Benihana, man tried to rob lady but is stopped by roommate with samurai sword, pantsless man steals ambulance, commercial flight got too close to Air Force One, teens arrested harassing people in clown masks, person responsible for stealing unreleased Beyonce music found, MGK spoke to Harvard students, Wendy's switching lettuce, and more!This episode of Dave & Chuck is brought to you in part by Profluent http://bit.ly/4fhEq5lSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"I Kissed a Girl" de Katy Perry inicia 'Buenos días, Javi y Mar'. Jose Real informa sobre protestas de sanitarios y el informe de la ONU sobre un genocidio en Gaza. España no irá a Eurovisión si asiste Israel. Los adolescentes usan YouTube e IA para aprender, a diferencia del pasado con enciclopedias. Fernando introduce el término 'sraking' (salir con alguien menos atractivo). Justin Bieber, Manuel Turizo, Roby Williams, Beyoncé, LeAnn Rimes, Pitbull y Ne-Yo suenan en CADENA 100. Oyentes comparten cómo desconocidos les alegraron el día. Se destaca que comer huevos ecológicos 'Ruja Mar' es cardiosaludable y que plantas como el aloe vera mejoran el sueño. Se debate sobre quitar las pantallas a los hijos debido a problemas de salud mental. Álvaro de Luna presenta su música. El 18 de octubre se celebra el concierto CADENA 100 por ellas. Se invita a jugar con Silvia sobre qué animal elegiría para su cuerpo y qué personaje de Disney le cae fatal. Finalmente, Beyoncé interpreta ...

Nick revisits one of Jay Pharoah's funniest original creations from his Saturday Night Live years: Principal Daniel Frye of Booker T. Washington High School. While Pharoah is best known for his uncanny impressions of Barack Obama, Chris Rock, Denzel Washington, and more, Principal Frye proved he could also deliver side-splitting original characters. The sketches feature the Principal's absurd morning announcements, with help from guest hosts like Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate, Kerry Washington, and Anna Kendrick. Nick shares behind-the-scenes details about how the character came to life, and even tells the story of how Justin Bieber nearly derailed one of Frye's funniest appearances. It's a tribute to one of SNL's most underrated cast members and a reminder of just how funny Jay Pharoah's tenure really was. [EP 141]

Justin Bieber doesn't need an agent to score a seven figure deal ----- LimeWire is who bought the Fyre Fest brand ----- Former "Love Is Blind" contestant Stephen Richardson is suing the show for alleged labor violations

Justin Bieber BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Justin Bieber is once again at the top of pop culture headlines this week as he has officially been announced as one of the headliners for Coachella 2026, marking his first time headlining the iconic music festival. Sharing top billing with Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G, Bieber will take over the main stage on Saturday April 11 and again the following weekend, riding a wave of anticipation and fanfare. This comes on the heels of the release of his two new albums this year, Swag and Swag II, both seen as a significant evolution from his earlier work. Swag showcased an experimental side, moving away from the expected Bieber formula, enlisting indie collaborators and exploring more personal themes. Swag II, dropped just last week, added another 23 tracks, bringing fans a total of 44 new songs in this era alone. Some critics have called out Swag II for quantity over quality, yet the commercial gambit has paid off: Swag just surged back into Billboard's top five, propelled in part by fandom streaming both albums and bringing Bieber's new era back to the spotlight. Bieber's new business acumen has been widely noted. According to Rolling Stone, he cut his Coachella deal personally with Goldenvoice, netting himself $10 million across two weekends and bypassing traditional agency fees. Celebrity Net Worth now pegs his fortune at $200 million, further buoyed by past ventures like his Drew House fashion line—which he recently exited, declaring it no longer reflects his personal brand—and support for his wife, Hailey Bieber's skincare brand Rhode, which was acquired for a reported $1 billion by e.l.f. Beauty this spring. Social media lit up over his headlining news. Hailey Bieber was among the first to react, posting the lineup to her Instagram Stories with the ecstatic caption “BIEBERCHELLA!!!!!!!!! :)” She and Justin, who just celebrated seven years of marriage and their son Jack's first birthday, have remained very much in the public eye, drawing admiration for both career and family milestones. In terms of public appearances, Bieber made headlines earlier this month with a surprise drop-in at a pub in Ontario, wowing fans and sparking a viral TikTok moment. While there has been industry chatter about whether Bieber's ambitious double album strategy reflects commercial calculation or creative burst, what is clear is that he remains a dominant force, shaping the story of pop music and celebrity business alike.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

Justin Bieber BioSnap a weekly updated Biography.Justin Bieber dominated entertainment headlines this week with his groundbreaking Coachella 2026 announcement that sent shockwaves through the music industry. Good Morning America reported that the pop superstar will headline the iconic festival alongside Sabrina Carpenter and Karol G, marking his first time as a main headliner at the desert gathering scheduled for April 10-12 and April 17-19, 2026.What makes this announcement particularly noteworthy is how Bieber secured the deal - Rolling Stone revealed he negotiated directly with festival promoter Goldenvoice without an agent, earning a staggering 10 million dollars over two weekends. Industry insiders are calling it a groundbreaking move that showcases Bieber's newfound business savvy and independence. The timing couldn't be better, as he's riding high on the success of his experimental albums Swag and Swag II, both released in 2025.Wife Hailey Bieber immediately showed her support on Instagram Stories with an enthusiastic post declaring "BIEBERCHELLA" complete with excited emojis. The Rhode skincare founder's public endorsement adds to what's clearly a celebratory moment for the Bieber family, especially after they recently marked seven years of marriage and their son Jack Blues Bieber's first birthday in August.Behind the scenes, Bieber has been making major business moves. IMDB reports he recently parted ways with longtime business manager Lou Taylor and hired Johnny Depp's financial advisor Edward White, signaling a strategic shift in his financial management approach. This comes after he sold his music catalog to Hipgnosis for over 200 million dollars and severed ties with his fashion brand Drew House in April 2025.Celebrity Net Worth now estimates Bieber's fortune at 200 million dollars in 2025, more than double his 2017 net worth. The Coachella deal represents not just a career milestone but a triumphant return to major festival headlining after years of personal struggles and career recalibration. With Swag climbing back into the Billboard 200's top five following the announcement, Bieber appears to be entering what sources describe as an exciting new era where he's fully in the driver's seat of his career.Get the best deals https://amzn.to/3ODvOtaThis content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI

(Airdate: 9.17.25) Today we're heading back to Barbieland — or at least the rumor mill — as talk of a Barbie sequel heats up, with Matthew McConaughey teasing he's ready to play “King of the Kens.” Then we dive into The Pitt, and why Warner Bros.' is being sued over the hospital drama that's being called the next ER. And finally, Justin Bieber is having a holy moment over his own beard growth — yes, he literally prayed for it. Voted 6th Best Entertainment News Podcast! Because being #1 is soooo overrated. And @HalleBerry Listen to the daily Van Camp and Morgan radio show at: https://vancampandmorgan.com/stations buy us a coffee    

Coachella 2026 Announces Lineup with Headliners Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, and Karol G (PEOPLE) (21:19)Reba McEntire Shares How Late Stepson Brandon Blackstock's Kids Are Supporting Each Other Through His Death (PEOPLE) (28:16)Dakota and Elle Fanning, Together at Last: On Growing Up, Finding Love, and Making The Nightingale (Vanity Fair) (31:38)Demi Lovato Announces Ninth Album ‘It's Not That Deep,' Shares Release Date (Variety) (37:00)Love Island's Iris Kendall Steps Out Hand-in-Hand With TJ Palma After Pepe Garcia-Gonzalez Split (E! Online) (46:58)Dear Toasters Advice Segment (52:24)The Toast with Jackie (@JackieOshry) and Claudia Oshry (@girlwithnojob)The Toast Patreon Toast MerchGirl With No Job by Claudia OshryThe Camper & The Counselor Lean InSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In a preview of this week's Pop Pantheon: All Access episode, Louie and Russ get together to share their experiences of seeing Lady Gaga's epic Mayhem Ball World Tour, before diving into their thoughts on new albums from Justin Bieber and Jade. To hear the rest of the this episode plus receive weekly bonus episodes of Pop Pantheon, gain access to our Discord channel and so much more, subscribe to Pop Pantheon: All Access at the Icon Tier. You can also subscribe for the audio only directly in the Apple Podcasts app.Note for iOS users: Subscribe using your desktop or mobile browser, not the iOS Patreon app, for cheaper rates on Pop Pantheon: All Access.

Everyone's Rubbish! So's Producer Henry... He had to escalate an issue to BBC Operations after he did something silly in a lift! Plus, Marianne tries her hand at Yesterday's Quiz, Amber gets a surprise birthday call and Justin Bieber features in All The Latest Things! Oh... And there's 100 days until Christmas!

It’s been a banner year for Dijon: Lending talents to Bon Iver’s SABLE, fABLE, contributing to Justin Bieber’s SWAG, and an upcoming role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Batter After Another. But all of the above takes a backseat to Baby, his long-awaited follow up to 2021’s Absolutely. It’s an album made at home and mostly in isolation (save for contributions from his new family and a few notable musical kindred spirits). Crucially, it retains the deliberate introspection fans have come to expect. “Yamaha” is a highlight from the LP (out now), capturing a slice of quotidian life.

Stacey writes a dramatic, over-the-top anthem for Munro's hockey team—and let's just say it might be better suited for WrestleMania than the local arena. She also picks a fight with ChatGPT about body positivity (spoiler: the robot claps back). Meanwhile, Kayla is devastated and furious after missing an A-list couple casually hanging out just three minutes from her house. We also break down the jaw-dropping new documentary everyone's talking about. And finally, Stacey goes from being an insecure mess with her dogs at home to having an embarrassingly dramatic burst of confidence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Stacey writes a dramatic, over-the-top anthem for Munro's hockey team—and let's just say it might be better suited for WrestleMania than the local arena. She also picks a fight with ChatGPT about body positivity (spoiler: the robot claps back). Meanwhile, Kayla is devastated and furious after missing an A-list couple casually hanging out just three minutes from her house. We also break down the jaw-dropping new documentary everyone's talking about. And finally, Stacey goes from being an insecure mess with her dogs at home to having an embarrassingly dramatic burst of confidence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Chargers beat the Raiders yesterday. The Bucks beat the Texans yesterday. The Red Sox play the A's tonight at Fenway Park. Today is the first of a two-day meeting of the fed to see if they will cut the interest rate. The suspected killer of Charlie Kirk will appear in court for the first time today. Reports say that a deal has been reached to save Tik Tok in the US. Isreal is taking over Gaza City. Coachella lineup includes Sabrina Carpenter and Justin Bieber headlining. Serena and Venus Williams are starting a new podcast. The Red Bull cliff diving starts this week in Boston.  

Justin Bieber, Karol G, and Sabrina Carpenter are headlining Coachella. Lil Nas X is in treatment after his arrest.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

✨ Marisa Lauro, Global Music Marketing Executive & Founder of High Note Creative☁️ Advice for breaking into music and entertainment marketing☁️ What it's like leading Marketing campaigns for artists like Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes, Rihanna and more☁️ Career insights from 18 years at a major record label☁️ Navigating leadership challenges early in your careerJoin the Sky Society Women in Marketing private LinkedIn group.Follow Sky Society on Instagram @skysociety.co and TikTok @skysociety.co

Grammy award winning songwriter and producer, Jordan Reynolds (“Tequila, “Speechless” Dan + Shay & “10,000 hours” Justin Bieber & Dan + Shay), joins the Songwriter Soup crew to discuss a songwriter's search for a hero, A.I., studio aesthetics, and the subtle care that comes from making a slow cup of coffee for cowriters. Jordan, a music row staple and everyone's favorite conversationalist, is a perfect way to start off season three-ever continued, now on YouTube!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hannah Einbinder being an Emmy winner just feels so correct to me. We're recapping the 77th Annual Emmy Awards, the 2026 Coachella Lineup, the Dreamgirls Broadway revival, and more! Follow us on InstagramSubscribe to our SubstackChapters:00:00 Introduction05:45 New Music Releases 16:51 Dreamgirls Broadway revival set for fall 202621:12 Taylor Frankie Paul is the next Bachelorette 26:28 Justin Bieber, Sabrina Carpenter, and Karol G to headline Coachella 2026 32:17 77th Emmy Awards Recap 43:50 Yes and Mess of the Week

Today we’re diving into everything Coachella: the 2025 line-up featuring Sabrina Carpenter, Justin Bieber, Karol G and more (plus the Aussie skit that caught Sabrina’s attention), then taking a nostalgic walk through the festival’s most iconic moments. Think Beyoncé’s history-making “Beychella” set, the mind-blowing Tupac hologram, Florence Welch’s infamous ankle break and that unforgettable Madonna-Drake kiss. LISTEN: Love a walk down memory lane? Listen back to a walk through Emmy History. Once you’ve devoured this morning’s celeb stories, get your daily news headlines from The Quicky here. Plus new podcast Watch Party is out now, listen to our deep-dive into The Summer I Turned Pretty on Apple or Spotify. THE END BITS Support independent women's media Follow us on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook. And subscribe to our brand new Youtube channel. Read all the latest entertainment news on Mamamia... here. Discover more Mamamia Podcasts here. CREDITS Host & Producer: Ash London Executive Producer: Monisha Iswaran Mamamia studios are styled with furniture from Fenton and FentonBecome a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Episode 86 the Roundtable crew is back from hiatis with hot takes about the YouTube ban, Class reunion, Wtf is Retrograde ? New Music reviews on Mariah The Scientist, Giveon, Justin Bieber, The Clipse, Who in the Female Big 3?, Latto & Ice spice drop new music after their previous beef. Should more artist take this approach?, Star Vs Superstar vs Icon, Breezy Bowl w/ Summer Walker & Bryson Tiller. Do you like remake songs?, Is Sza a Icon?, YOUNG THUG accused of snitching and being a chatty patty. Will these allegations ruin his career? Should Mariah LEAVE HIM? Did young thug steal Mariah the scientist moment at the bet awards?, Ladies if your man gives u 100 dollars at the casino u win 80k how much u giving him?, How long should the first conversation be on the first phone call?, Ladies do strict men turn you on?, The comment “One Thing your baby daddy will do is embarrass you”  SHANNY EXPLAIN LOL, Did women or men kill nightlife?, How long do you need to adjust to get into a relationship?, Men can tell if you was with a real man and more..... Follow Us at @RealRapRoundtable on @Rinsrealrap  (Rins Real Rap) https://www.youtube.com/@rinsrealrap  Rin Loco @RinLoco  Dapper Don @Dapper_Donssc  Shantell @Shantell_______ Kier @Kierpatrice   Executive Producer: Tyrin "Rin Loco" Bynum Co-Producer: Shantell Williams  2025 Blueprint Projects LLC

Hey Tinies! It's time for a post-wedding debrief. Melissa's back from a gorgeous trip to Greece for Emily Champion's big day where Toby managed to lose his passport and ID... again. Meanwhile, Sophie's been out partying at The Fat Badger and the girls share their predictions for The Summer I Turned Pretty finale. Will Belly and Conrad finally end up together?! In celeb news, Justin Bieber's dropped a new album, Hailey's still killing it and we're obsessed with Jack Blues Bieber. Plus, our fave Love Islanders Molly and Tom are engaged! In this week's dilemmas, one Tiny is living her own The Summer I Turned Pretty - caught between a holiday crush and her current boyfriend. Should she follow her heart or play it safe? Another listener is fuming after her boyfriend told her he'd ordered her a birthday present, but it never showed up. Is she overreacting if she calls him out? Enjoy the episode x Credits: Exec Producer: Jemima Rathbone Producer: Helen Burke Assistant Producer: Rhoda Abrokwa Video Editor: Lizzie McCarthy Social: Laura Coughlan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's guest is one of the most sought-after hitmakers of the last decade. A Grammy-winning producer, songwriter, and guitarist whose genre-bending work has shaped the sound of modern music. From rock legends to pop superstars, he's collaborated with Justin Bieber, Post Malone, Ozzy Osbourne, The Rolling Stones, Dua Lipa, Miley Cyrus, and more — earning The Recording Academy's Producer of the Year award and cementing his status as one of the most in-demand hitmakers on the planet.And the writer is... Andrew Watt!In this episode, Watt opens up to Ross about the relentless drive, bold creative leaps, and collaborative ethos that fueled his journey from bar gigs and $100-a-week tours to producing global anthems.Listeners will learn:How to build trust and chemistry in the studioWhy great producers prioritize vibe and artist comfort over gearHow to manage egos, collaboration splits, and team dynamics at the top levelThe real stories behind hits like Let Me Love You, Havana, Señorita, Stay, and PeachesHow to survive imposter syndrome and stay creatively free under pressureChapters0:00 - Andrew Watt: The Hitmaking Legend1:12 - From Bieber to Ozzy: Watt's Epic Journey2:20 - Studio Sparks: Watt's Energy vs. Circuit's Chill4:47 - Rock Gods: Producing Pearl Jam & Stones8:02 - Post Malone Meets Ozzy: A Game-Changer9:31 - Rainbow Bar Magic: Ozzy & Post's Collab14:54 - Greece Hustle: $100/Week Tour Life19:14 - Why Watt Never Quit Music24:44 - Guitar to Glory: Cody Simpson to Bieber27:01 - Music Truth: Results Are Everything28:52 - “Let Me Love You”: Bieber's Wild Ride39:52 - Pop Hits: “Havana” & “Wolves” Secrets42:02 - Dream Team: Ali, Brian & Pop Gold46:21 - “Havana” Moment: Camila's Mic Drop48:27 - Post Malone: Instant Bond & Real Talk50:06 - Imposter Syndrome: Honesty in the Studio51:17 - “Stay”: Post's Non-Pop Masterpiece56:22 - “Peaches”: Justin's Jam with Shawn & Hailey58:38 - Demos That Hit Hard: Watt's Emotions1:00:36 - Lady Gaga: Crafting a Visual Epic1:02:15 - Bruno & D'Mile: “Die with a Smile” Magic1:06:34 - Prank Call Chaos: The Tobias Mix-Up1:12:11 - Prank Aftermath: Industry Drama Unleashed1:19:17 - Heartfelt Loss: Watt's Tribute to a Friend1:20:16 - Ozzy's Advice: Be Kind on the Way UpThis season of And The Writer Is… is presented by the National Music Publishers' Association (NMPA) — the voice of American songwriters, composers, and music publishers.And The Writer Is...Hosted by Ross GolanExecutive Produced by Joe London and Jad Saad Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

SaVon and Alex kick things off with jokes and a reminder about the headphone giveaway before tackling a Patreon listener question on the greatest true freestyle artists (2:09). They finally give Joey Bada$$ his flowers, unpacking his 20-v-1 diss-track run, the label delays at Columbia, and the underwhelming 9K first-week numbers for 'Lonely at the Top' while debating whether his single “Dark Aura” had enough punch (13:00). A rapid-fire new-music segment covers Justin Bieber's surprise 'SAWG II,' Ed Sheeran's soulful 'Play,' and Atlanta's rock newcomers The Paradox, sparking laughs as they imitate the raspy rock vocals and talk about Black artists reclaiming rock's roots (28:30). They then call out DJ Khaled for his polished but empty PR answers in his sit down with Fat Joe and Jadakiss (43:00). Wrapping up, they dive into Young Thug's heartfelt Instagram apologies and his seven-minute tribute track “Man I Miss My Dogs,” dissecting his Big Bank interview about loyalty, the rift with Gunna, and the difference between being a provider and a true leader—before closing with reactions to Cardi B's rollout strategy and the big expectations for her next body of work (1:05:20). Subscribe to our Patreon for ad-free, early access to main episodes, exclusive episodes each and every Tuesday, and much more! - www.patreon.com/NeedToKnowPodcast Book your next podcast recording at Need to Know Studios TODAY - https://needtoknowstudios.com/ Join our Twitter/X Community to chop it up with us about all things Need to Know - https://twitter.com/i/communities/1777442897001910433 The Need To Know Podcast Social Handles https://www.instagram.com/needtoknowpod/ https://twitter.com/NeedToKnowPod https://www.tiktok.com/needtoknowpod SaVon https://www.instagram.com/savonslvter/ https://twitter.com/SavonSlvter Alex https://www.instagram.com/balltillwefall/ https://twitter.com/balltillwefall

This week, Armon is joined by multi-media music journalist, on-camera host and PR executive, Tallie Spencer. The duo begins with a quick LUNCH BREAK - Tallie's opinions on season five of ‘You' (5:35) and her sports fandom (8:20) - before diving into the CHAT - Leon Thomas' place in R&B (10:42), Young Thug's leaked jail calls (14:23), Drake's ICEMAN EPISODE 3 (26:15), Justin Bieber's ‘SWAG II' (41:44), and Tallie's top albums of the year (48:40). Next, Armon asks Tallie some questions about what it means to be a #RealLover (54:32) and introduces a rapid fire segment to get to know Tallie better (1:06:37). For the BOARD MEETING (1:09:08), Tallie speaks on her childhood, college years, navigating the entertainment industry, her current ventures, and much more! As always, the episode closes with the SLIDE DECK, which going forward will only be available on Patreon - patreon.com/staybusypod Stay Busy with Armon Sadler⁠ https://www.instagram.com/staybusypod/⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/staybusypod⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@staybusypod⁠ Armon⁠ https://www.instagram.com/armonsadler/⁠⁠ https://twitter.com/armonsadler⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Fall!!!!!! I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!! Taylor Swift is officially engaged to Travis Kelce and the world has gone off the rails everywhere else. Cardi B's in court, Logan Paul and Nina are fighting in a taxi, Meghan Markle is insufferable yet again in her With Love, Meghan Season 2 show, and Justin Bieber dropped a new album. Meanwhile, news took a dark turn. Ukrainian refugee, Iryna Zarutska, was fatally stabbed on a Charlotte train by a man with 14 previous crimes on his record, there was a murder at Burning Man, and everyone wore garbage on the red carpet at VMAs. In between, I talk Cory's birthday weekend, UFC fights, my hyperfixation meals, DIY electrolytes, and why I'm disturbingly dependent on ChatGPT. Plus, my hot takes: why Dubai chocolate and Chinese Labubus feel like industry plants, and why “classing it up” in your 30s doesn't have to mean buttoning all the way to your chin.REVIEW THE SHOW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ https://open.spotify.com/show/4ijzUBunTIHgVmahB0ISEN BECOME A PATRON! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/tjms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ KEEP IN TOUCH!INSTAGRAM »⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/jacquelinemonroe/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TIKTOK » jacqueline.monroe EMAIL THE SHOW!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ tjmsshow@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ MY MUSIC GUY⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://soundcloud.com/robmonmusic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ SPONSORSSpotify for Podcasters

Today On With Mario Lopez – We get to our final round of #Emmy predictions, honor your Comment of The Week, dig into Justin Bieber's new album 'Swag II' in the music minute, the latest buzz and a fresh Fake Debate!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WATCH THE PODCAST HERE: https://tinyurl.com/jjrpodcast It's been another 7 WEEKS since we last checked in with Noah and Lenora. This week, it's LIVE STREAM STYLE (with edits lol because they procrastinate) but you get an exclusive behind the scenes phone call with Noah's Grandma and Mom, Winnifred. WE FILMED IT ALL! It will make more sense if you choose to WATCH US, aside from just listening to the audio, but the audio one is fine too if you prefer it. Lenora BROKE UP with "that STEVE guy" and Noah wants to give Justin Bieber's new album a FIGHTING CHANCE! If you trust our pop opinions, hear us out! Plus, California was a vibe and Lenora got a TRAMP STAMP!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FALL TOUR TICKETS > www.barstoolsports.com/events/bestshowonearth (00:00-3:48). Fran isn't sure about Ria's big nail decision (3:48-16:37). Olivia Jade & Jacob Elordi are seemingly still together? (17:39-25:27). Glen Powell's fake muscle GQ shoot (25:28-33:41). Gigi Hadid says she auditioned for the live-action ‘Tangled' (34:31-40:03). Hilary Duff is making her return to music (40:04-42:40). We're loving Justin Bieber's ‘SWAG II' (43:53-49:25). PopCorner voicemails: Has Hulu found replacements for the Kardashians?, Christopher Briney deserves the Jacob Elordi treatment, Too many vinyls from Taylor Swift? + more! (50:31-1:13:34). CITO LINKS > barstool.link/chicks-in-the-office.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/chicks-in-the-office

This week, Louis is joined by Smith Sisters Live co-host Mariah Smith to discuss the VMAs, Sabrina Carpenter's new album Man's Best Friend, Lady Gaga's new music, Justin Bieber's Swag II, the Wuthering Heights teaser, and Hollywood's most legendary celebrity families. They're also joined by writer/director Nicholas Stoller to discuss season 2 of the AppleTV+ comedy Platonic.Subscribe to Keep It on YouTube to catch full episodes, exclusive content, and other community events. Find us there at YouTube.com/@KeepItPodcast

Kaleb is back on the pod and we are CHATTINGGG. We've seen your comments and it's time to respond… We talk about fall vibes (yes to nutmeg, no to matcha!), the amish lol, Justin Bieber's new album, why I'm maybe ready to move to Vermont, and how Kaleb is surviving law school while low-key stressing.