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

If the church has a favorite heresy, it is likely that of gnosticism - the belief that the main problem with the spiritual life is that we have bodies. They seem to be forever getting in the way of pure spiritual pursuits, dragging us back into the baser elements of our nature. If only we could rid ourselves of the flesh! It was an idea first offered by Plato and has been incorporated into the church nearly from the beginning. In this episode we look in depth at gnosticism and why it is so dangerous.   The text for this sermon is Colossians 2:6-12 (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.

One of the best ways to learn good theology is to study historically bad theology - to see where we tend to go astray (after all, there are really only about 10 true heresies, we just manage to repeat them in every generation). In this episode, I give a short introduction to the idea of "heresy" and then examine the first official heresy of the church: Arianism. It was the debate over Arianism (325 AD) that led to the Nicene Creed and the first formal doctrine of the Trinity. The text for this sermon is Luke 24:44-53.   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Gospel of Luke ends with a series of new beginnings. First, Jesus's reveals his resurrection to his disciples in a manner that would have constituted certain proof in the ancient world. It is also a sign that the age of salvation has begun, and with it, a new mission for Jesus's disciples. Where once they were followers, now they are witnesses sent to every corner of the earth - a mission, it turns out, was always part of the plan of salvation! And it is a mission to which we, too, are called. The text for this sermon is Luke 24:36-53 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

On a spring Friday, somewhere around the year AD 29, two kingdoms (Love and Evil) went to war - a battle brewing since the Garden of Eden. And Evil appeared to have won...briefly. And then it lost everything! In this episode we arrive at proof of Love's victory - an empty tomb and a resurrected Jesus! It is also the moment of Luke's grand reveal (his whole narrative has been building to this). It is a sermon about the first Easter, preached on Easter Sunday 2017. The full text for this sermon is Luke 24:1-35 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

By every visible measure, Good Friday marked the moment love lost. In Jesus, God himself had entered into creation to free his people from their bondage to sin...and in their sin they (we!) crucified him. In this episode we examine the events leading up to and including Jesus's death - events that surely prove Jesus failed. ...And yet, amidst Jesus's suffering and persecution, we see love at work. Indeed it might just turn out that this is what creation needed all along.  The full text for this sermon is Luke 22:63-23:49 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Never doubt the power of sin in the world. It led one of Jesus's closest friends to betray him. Led another to deny they'd ever met. It led Jewish authorities to demand an execution of one of their own, and caused the crowds to shout, "Crucify him!" of the one they'd cheered with "Hosanna!" less than a week before. In this episode we walk with Jesus through his final night, beholding sin in all its power. And - in Jesus - we see love that will not surrender. The text for this sermon is Luke 22:24-62 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

It is the night of Jesus's defeat (or so it would seem). He will soon be betrayed into the hands of his enemies and crucified. But there is one event left in his ministry - the celebration of the Passover (the symbol of Israel's release from her captivity and the night of her salvation). In this episode we take a deep look at the Jewish Passover traditions and what they reveal about the last Supper and the events of Jesus's last night with his disciples. Text for this sermon is Luke 22:1-13 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Jesus's public ministry concludes with warnings of divine judgment upon Jerusalem. He foretells the destruction of the Temple and gives instructions to his followers as to how to survive the impending disaster. And it is with these teachings that Jesus effectively seals his fate. His prophetic declarations have raised the ire of the religious leadership - challenging their authority - and, like many prophets before him, he will be put to death. It is a story about the end of the age...2,000 yrs ago.   Text for this sermon is Luke 20:21-21:28 (NRSV). Here is a link to an artist's recreation of the (Herodian) Temple. Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Teaching in the Temple, Jesus continues to press the question of loyalties - a direct provocation of the Jewish sect of the Sadducees (leaders of the Temple).   Text for this sermon is Luke 20:20-40 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Having arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus very publicly travels to the Temple and begins to teach. It is a direct confrontation of and threat to the Sadducees (the Jewish sect governing the Temple). It is effectively Jesus's last stand. Here on the mount where heaven and earth meet, Jesus will either persuade Israel to return to her first love, or he will seal his fate as a martyr. In this episode we look at Jesus's teaching in the Temple and why it is that God's people will persecute their own messiah. Text for this sermon is Luke 19:47-20:19 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

At last Jesus makes his entrance into Jerusalem - a scene loaded with symbolism of conquest and deliverance for Israel. Yet as we examine the story in detail, the foreshadowing of death and destruction come into view. This is a heartrending passage - one filled with hopes that will be dashed. Kleenex is highly recommended. Text for this sermon is Luke 19:29-46 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

As Jesus prepares for his final journey into Jerusalem, he tells the gathered crowd a terrifying story about a nobleman and his 3 slaves. And we'll just say that things do not end well for at least one of the slaves! (Really, really not well.) Our challenge is to interpret the parable: Who is the nobleman?  Who are the slaves? And what lesson are we to learn??? In this episode we explore three options and discover there are no easy answers. But part of the work of maturity is learning to live with ambiguity. Text for this sermon is Luke 19:11-28 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Having just called his followers to an unbounded trust in God and love of other, Jesus now puts those very actions on display - healing a man who is blind, and forgiving the notorious sinner, Zacchaeus. In this episode, regular contributor, Ian Farrell, explains - with incredible humor and historical insight! - the nuances of this moving set of stories. It is an sermon not to be missed! Text for this sermon is: Luke 18:35-19:10 (NRSV).   Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

In the strange alchemy of the Kingdom of God, the first shall be last, the way to be rich is to be poor, and the height of maturity is the faith of a child. In this episode we look at Jesus's responses to parents seeking his blessing upon their children (over the disciples' objections!) and to a powerful man's question about how to enter the kingdom of God (he is told to sell everything!). It turns out they have much in common, and both have to do with coming to God in weakness and need. Text for this sermon is: Luke 18:15-34 (NRSV). The book I mention in the intro is Chasing Francis by Ian Morgan Crom. It's a good-for-your-soul kinda read.    Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

According to Jesus, prayer is an essential element of the life of faith, love and relationship with God. And yet for most of us - the original disciples included - prayer is both a struggle and a mystery. Often we pray and "nothing happens." So does prayer affect anything? Is there some special formula to prayer we are missing, some technique we must be taught? In this episode we examine two of Jesus's parables on prayer, and learn something about the importance of annoying God into submission. The text for this episode is Luke 18:1-14 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The great theologian Johnny Cash once wrote: "You're so heavenly minded you're no earthly good."  Only Jesus said it better. In this episode we look at the temptation to be so focused on the hereafter that we miss the presence of the kingdom of God in the here and now (and our call to embody it!). It's no minor risk - a point Jesus drives home with references to such disasters as the great flood in the days of Noah, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah! (Surely there's a gospel song in there somewhere...) The text for this episode is Luke 17:20-37 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

What does it look like - in practice - to love self? And is such love truly godly? (Isn't love of self was the very definition of selfishness, and that love of God and others are the true virtues?) In this episode we look at Jesus's encounter with 10 lepers who take the risk to ask for mercy (always a safe bet with Jesus), and discover that love of self leads to God and ultimately to others. It's a profound look at healing and how we are transformed by compassion. The text for this episode is Luke 17:11-19 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Maturity in the life of faith requires the ability bear unresolved tension, to live amidst truths that seems to contradict each other. In this episode we examine three (more) declarations of Jesus that - at first read - appear terribly uncharitable. But as we study more closely, we discover a depth of love and grace we would never have seen had we not been forced into paradox. The text for this episode is Luke 17:1-10 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

How ought we interpret Jesus's call to decisive loyalty (and the warnings that accompany them)? Is eternal, conscious torment truly the punishment that awaits the disloyal? In this episode we examine one of Jesus's most disturbing parables, indeed one of the texts from which the church historically derived the picture of hell. And while such anguish may not be what Jesus intends to express, he is very much calling people to a decision: We must choose towards which age we direct our lives, and the choice matters. The text for this episode is Luke 16:14-31 (NRSV). Want to support the podcast by giving to Canvas? Here's a quick link to give online. Donations in any amount are a huge help to us and tax-deductible (in the USA) to you! Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here. or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The Bible is filled with warnings about the dangers of wealth - a danger stemming from wealth's capacity to make promises. From political power to personal security to utter self-sufficiency, wealth claims it can set us free from anxiety and fill our hearts with meaning. And it's a lie. In this episode we look at Jesus's parable of the "Dishonest Manager." What we discover is that just as our loves will shape our habits, so our habits shape our loves. We would be wise to choose our habits carefully.  The text for this episode is Luke 16:1-13 (NRSV). And - as mentioned in the intro - if you'd like to support the podcast and the ministry of Canvas, here's the quick link to give online. It's a huge help to us and tax-deductible!   Not already subscribed to the podcast? Here’s the quick link to iTunes! Want to connect? I’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mail here, or follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.