Jesus At 2am - A Humorous, Intelligent Look At The Bible, Church History & The Life Of Faith

Letting go of Egypt - saying goodbye to the past, to the familiar, to habit (however deadly it may have been) - is one of the most difficult tasks of the life of faith. And it is one of the primary purposes of the wilderness. In this episode we find Israel 3-days into her exodus journey, already longing for the (comforts?) of Egypt and questioning - again - the goodness of God. It is a deeply honest look at the human condition, as Israel discovers once more that her God is with her (and with us!).   The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:  Exodus 16:1-30 (NRSV)   To find out more about Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and how you can help those recovering from natural disaster, CLICK HERE.   Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Israel has been saved by the mighty hand of God!...only to find herself in the "wilderness." (Always in scripture, a place representing isolation, emptiness, and fear.) It's not quite the picture of deliverance she had in mind. And yet, as Israel will discover, the wilderness is where the best spiritual formation happens. It is there that we are forced to confront our complete dependence upon God and God alone. And it is in the wilderness that God meets us with compassion and with a new call to his service. The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:  Exodus 15:22-27 (NRSV)   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

One of the great lessons Israel has to teach us is how to respond to salvation, what to do when we have been rescued. Israel's response? A psalm of praise. But this is not just a song about the powers and virtues of God, giving The Almighty his due. Rather, the poem is a means of both expressing thanks and memorializing events. It allows Israel to deepen her relationship with God in the present and to rehearse the events of salvation in the future (as many moments of desperation are yet to come). The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:  Exodus 14:26-15:21 (NRSV)   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

At last God makes good on his promise to save. Israel is set free from Egypt and flees into the desert...only to discover that she is quickly trapped between the Red Sea and the fast-approaching army of Pharaoh. And it is a situation everyone who sincerely follows God will face - the moment when, unless God personally intervenes on our behalf, we are most certainly doomed. In this episode we join Israel on the shores of the Red Sea wondering if our faith has been a horrible miscalculation! The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:  Exodus 14:5-25 (NRSV)   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Few stories in scripture are more historically or morally questionable than the story of the Passover. Did YHWH truly put to death all the firstborn of Egypt??? And if so, how can we possibly consider God good, much less loving??? In this episode we examine the Passover, its place in Israel's salvation, and the instruction is provides for living as God's people. The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is:  Exodus 11:1-12:13, 21-36 (NRSV)   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Before we can surrender to God's care and leading, we must first be (mostly) convinced that God is devoted to us and capable of securing our welfare. And in the ancient world, way a deity demonstrated both power and devotion was by means of partisan action - working demonstrably on behalf of their followers. In this episode, we examine YHWH's plagues upon the Egyptians and what they are intended to reveal about the strength and faithfulness of Israel's God. The biblical passages quoted in this sermon are:  Acts 1:6-8 (NRSV) Exodus 6:1-9; 7:14-25; 8:16-19 (NRSV)   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In the end, there is only one way to know for sure if God is active in the world and in your life: risk. Not random danger, but obedience to a call. It turns out that God's revelation is often paired with a command to "go...," and to risk, and thereby to discover that God is present. In this episode we look at God's appearance to Moses in the burning bush and the accompanying call to speak to both Israel and to Pharaoh - both sojourns into danger. But it is here that Moses learns "I am with you!" The biblical passage for this sermon is: Exodus 2:23-3:22 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Learning to see God in our own lives is much like learning to see God in the story of Moses's birth. At first glance, God appears quite absent - nowhere to be found as his people face great trial. And yet, upon closer inspection, God's fingerprints begin to emerge everywhere. Where first we saw only indifference, slowly, deeply attentive care comes into focus. And we see that God has been active in our rescue all along. In this episode we learn to see behind the scenes - where God is always at work.   The biblical passage for this sermon is: Exodus 2:1-15 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The journey of faith and surrender to God's leading begins not in strength, but in weakness, in captivity - slaves to forces too great for us to overcome. It is there that God meets us and declares again the promise of salvation. In this episode we begin where the exodus began - with God's people enslaved to Pharaoh, crying out for deliverance. And we recognize this physical captivity as a symptom of our larger captivity to sin itself. And we also discover captivity will not have the last word!   The biblical passage for this sermon is: Exodus 1:1-22(NRSV). Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The ultimate work of the life of faith is to surrender ourselves to God, to entrust all that we are and all that we possess to his care and leading. The question is: HOW??? How do we overcome the countless resistances we have to placing ourselves in God's hands? The short, answer is: reluctantly. But there is hope! God has a long history of bringing broken humans into relationship with him. So in this series we begin at the beginning of that work, the exodus. In this episode, we meet the God who saves. The biblical passages referenced in this sermon are:  1 Peter 2:9-10 (NRSV) Genesis 17:1-8 (NRSV) Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The purpose of studying what we don't believe is to define more clearly what we do - with the ultimate goal of obedience (and the healthy relationship with God, self and other that comes with it!). In this series's concluding, hopefully non-heretical episode, we look at Jesus's call to put faith into action, and I offer some practical advice on writing a personal statement of faith (a more helpful exercise than you might imagine!). Ready to work on your own statement of faith? You can download my Short Guide to Writing a Personal Statement of Faith HERE. The biblical passage referenced in this sermon is: Matthew 7:15-27 (NRSV).  Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Protestantism brought much needed reform to the 16th century church, not least its call to return to the Bible as the primary source of authority. But it wasn't long before debates raged about the interpretation of the Bible. And rather than resolve their differences, many Protestant determined to split from the others to form what they considered a truly faith church. In this episode, we look at the habit of division has continued for 500 years - in direct contradiction of the Bible we claim to obey. The biblical passages referenced in this sermon are: Ephesians 4:1-6 (NRSV) 1 Corinthians 5:11-13 (NRSV) Luke 5:29-32 (NRSV) Matthew 13:24-30 (NRSV)   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

God is not an American. Nor an Italian, German, Brazilian, Australian...nor any other nationality. And yet, many a political state has woven into its cultural mythology the belief that God has set them apart to exercise divine authority on earth. In this episode, Ian looks at the dangers of nationalism and the horrifying example of Nazi Germany. He goes on to find hope in the bravely written Barmen Declaration, a stark reminder to the church that the Kingdom of God belongs to no nation.   Check out the Theological Declaration of Barmen HERE.    Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

While some (distorted!) strains of Christianity seek to escape this age (cf., Gnosticism, Docetism, etc.), others dream of a comfortable life within it. Divine blessing takes the form of safety and secular - from protection against disease to owning luxury jets. This is "the prosperity gospel," and while it is hardly new, it has made quite a resurgence lately, especially in the US. Here, Ian Farrell looks at the promise of divine blessing and a love that does not always lead to luxury. The texts used in this sermon is: Psalm 23 (NRSV)   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

What must I do to be saved (by Jesus)? Is there a prayer that must be said? A doctrine that must be affirmed? A morality that must be adopted? Good deeds that must be done? The classical Protestant answer is: Grace alone! (...Which is generally followed by a prayer that must be said, doctrines believed, sins avoided and charity done.) It is all part of the church's historic struggle with Semi-Pelagianism - the belief that we are saved by grace....mostly, with just a little extra effort required.   The (unusually high number of) texts used in this sermon are: John 12:44-47, Matt. 7:21-27, Rom. 4:1-5, James 2:18-24 and Acts 16:25-34 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

We seem to be experiencing a shift in contemporary western politics away from a competition of ideas in pursuit of the best solution to our problems and towards a tribalism that seeks power for its own sake and is more and more willing to regard (some) people as a means to a larger political end. In this special sermon - preached 24 June 2018 - we examine again the meaning of kingdom citizenship and the allegiances it demands - particularly our loyalty to Jesus his command to compassionate love.   The texts for this sermon are: Deut. 24:14-22 and Matt. 25:31-46 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Why should Christians regard themselves as bound to any sort of moral law? After all, the full defeat of sin has been accomplished in Christ. And our personal salvation is by grace alone. So why, being set free from the law, would one choose to still to obey it? Indeed, might it not be a surest sign of trust in Jesus's sin boldly, proving my confidence in his love and power??? This is the antinomian (Gk: against-law) debate and it not only raged in the early church, but is alive and well today...   The texts for this sermon are: Romans 3:19-26 and 6:15-23 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

How are we to understand the forgiving and compassionate ministry of Jesus against the backdrop of Torah and some of the harsh punishments demanded by God of sinners? An answer offered by Marcion of Sinope (2nd cent.) was simply that there exits 2 deities - essentially a harsh God of the Hebrews and a more compassionate God of Jesus. And while most of us would quickly reject Marcionism when presented this way, it turns out many of our views of salvation - and indeed our worship - are quite Marcionite! The texts for this sermon are: Lev. 24:10-23 (NRSV), Matt. 5:38-48 (NRSV) and Rom. 7:4-25 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

When and where did evil begin? And is God responsible for it (if God created everything...)? In this episode we look at one attempt to preserve God's innocence and the unintentional heresy that results from it: Manichaeism (the argument that good and evil have always been present, forces locked in perpetual combat). What we discover is that such an attempt to get God off the hook only distorts our understanding of sin - what it is and how it must be defeated.   The text for this sermon is Gen. 1:26-2:3.   Want to support the podcast?  CLICK HERE for ways to help! Want to connect?  You can send e-mail here. Or find me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

  When the going gets tough, the faithful get...incredibly tempted to build golden calves (i.e., to call upon pagan deities). Like Israel at Sinai, we don't intend to abandon the covenant God of Israel entirely. We just...want some immediate help and think another, more local deity might be willing and available. In this episode we examine the heresy of syncretism - the mixing and matching of various deities to serve our purposes. If you've ever worn your luck socks, you know what I mean. ;-) The text for this sermon is Exodus 32:1-6 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast? For 3 key ways you can help, CLICK HERE! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.