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206. [Lent Study] Lust, Gluttony, And The Lie Of More
Lust and gluttony don’t start in your body, they start in your story about what will finally make you feel okay. We go after the deeper question behind the habits: what am I trying to soothe, and what am I willing to cross to get it? We pick up our Lent teaching series on the seven deadly sins by naming why these two are so persistent. Drawing from John Cassian, Augustine, and Aquinas, we talk…
205. [Lent Study] The Seven Deadly Sins - A Conversation
Our phones have trained us to escape the moment, and the cost is higher than wasted time. Emily and I talk candidly about the seven deadly sins as more than extreme “bad people” problems and how moralism can distort sin into either self-righteousness or quiet despair. Drawing from the wisdom of the early church fathers and the desert mothers and fathers, we name what many of us feel but rarely…
Restlessness has a way of disguising itself as normal. Sometimes it looks like scrolling before we even get out of bed. Sometimes it looks like a packed calendar and a “successful” life that still feels hollow. Today we name that ache for what it is: acedia, the ancient spiritual struggle the early church called the noonday demon. We walk through the meaning of acedia as more than laziness. It is…
What if the reason we feel stuck isn’t a lack of effort, but the wrong target? We take a hard look at moralism—the checklist faith that rushes people through spiritual “levels”—and show why it can’t heal the heart. Instead, we trace a slower, deeper path where sin is seen as disordered love and distrust of God, and where union with Christ restores what rules cannot. We start by challenging the…
What if the sin you confess isn’t the sin that’s driving you? We draw from the early church’s wisdom on the seven deadly sins to diagnose the roots beneath our most familiar habits. Rather than chasing quick fixes, we ask the harder question: what's your motivation behind the things you're doing? We start by reframing confession. Overwork, gossip, withdrawal from church, and short tempers with…
The heavens open over the Jordan and a voice calls Jesus “Beloved.” Moments later, the Spirit leads him into a wilderness where every shortcut beckons. That tension—identity affirmed, then instantly tested—anchors our journey through Matthew 3–5 and frames a richer understanding of Lent as a season of honest formation, not hollow performance. We explore how the early church guarded truth by…
Hope doesn’t live behind us; it’s being prepared ahead. We dive into Advent as a season of patient, forward-looking formation, pushing back on the rush to celebrate early and the nostalgia that quietly tells us the best days are gone. From Mary’s courageous yes to the early church’s costly love, we trace a simple thread: God meets us in the middle of ordinary life, and hospitality is how hope…
What if the way we tell time shapes the way we love God? We trace the deep roots of Advent and Candlemas to show how the early church used feasts to form memory, kindle joy, and carry light from the sanctuary into ordinary homes. Along the way, we meet Anna in Luke 2—a widow of great age whose quiet devotion becomes a loud sermon about steadfast hope. Her story pushes back on the myth that only…
What if the pace you live at is starving the person you’re becoming? We explore why a culture of acceleration cannot produce a deep soul, and how real spiritual formation requires a slower, steadier path. Using a simple visual of four concentric circles, we show why the inner life—personal growth, healing, and spirituality—sets the ceiling for everything public and visible. When the outer expands…
197. [Philippians Study] The Biggest Threat to Your Ministry
What if the biggest reward for your life isn’t a title or a win—but the people who cross into eternity because you stayed faithful and chose unity over pride? We dive into Philippians 4:1–3 with a clear lens: joy follows the mind, unity fuels mission, and spiritual maturity is measured by how quickly we reconcile rather than how loudly we insist we’re right. We start by tracing Paul’s…