Beer with Jesus Podcast

Jesus told us to wait for his return and be ready. We've been waiting a long time, but are we really ready?  We share our thoughts about the end times and why the idea of Jesus' return sparks fear more than hope for most of us. If Jesus really was coming back by Friday would we celebrate or panic?

How does faith really benefit you when you're a follower of Jesus? If we're being honest you have to admit we can usually get along OK without "functional faith." Sure, you have to have faith for your ticket to heaven, but that's not the kind of in-the-trenches-daily-living-on-the-edge kind of faith we're talking about.  We talk about the challenge of trusting and holding on to functional faith in the ups and downs of life. 

"Jesus, teach me to love myself and I'll change the world." Abi Stumvoll prayed this prayer as a teenager. Jesus took her on a wild ride and showed her first how much he loves her. It was his love that gave her power to get past her religious upbringing and see how letting Jesus love you is the key to loving yourself, your neighbor and God.

I grew up thinking that prosperity and being spiritual were mutually exclusive. Christians who had money were not as devoted as those who did the "important" work inside the church or as missionaries.  The "Prosperity Gospel" teaches that faith and confession will get you the health and wealth you want. After all, Jesus wants to bless you. The real prosperity gospel is about having both faith and contentment. The way to increase is by managing what you already have and being thankful.

Seems like everyone talks bad about the Prosperity Gospel. We take a look at the "word of faith" movement and discuss it's faults and merits.  

Jesus was accused of being a glutton and drunkard, a friend of people in low places. You don't often see pictures of Jesus partying. Usually he's praying, teaching and looking somber. But he spent a lot of time just hanging out, eating with friends and attending parties.  And Beer with Jesus isn't as original as it might seem. God commanded the people of Israel to bring the tithe and throw a party each year. And beer was on the menu!

Spoiler Alert! Santa isn't real. Sorry if you didn't already know this.  A short episode with my comments about a pastor who decided to "tell the truth" about Santa in a Texas shopping mall.  Standing for the truth isn't worth much if it's not wrapped in mercy and grace. That's what Christmas is all about.

One of our hosts (me) hates Christmas. Another (Patrick) loves Christmas. Even the constant yearly arguments to "keep Jesus in Christmas" get annoying. Sure, we want to remember Jesus, but don't make me feel obligated. The forced festiveness of the Christmas season is too much to bear.  We're drinking Sweet Baby Jesus beer in honor of the season. And we talk about how we cope and/or celebrate the birth of Jesus

You could go to hell if you don't behave! For over 1600 years this is the Church's ultimate tool to control it's members. No one wants to go to hell. But what if God was more scary than hell?  In our last episode we talked about the holiness of God. We continue our conversation and explain how the holiness of God makes hell necessary. Hell may be God's final act of mercy to those who want nothing to do with him.

Where is the holy if the Holy Spirit lives inside us? People who encountered God in the Old Testament were scared to death by his holiness. You could die just by touching something holy. Jesus feels safe in comparison. He invites us to hang out and have a beer with him. And he's in you and me via the Holy Spirit. So where is the holy now?  The mystery is that he can still "show up" in more holiness even though he's already in you. 

You may think pastors have everything all together in relationship with Jesus. But growing up in church as a preacher's kid doesn't mean you're free from struggles with shame and being religious. Pastor Matt Purkey shares the lessons he learned when Jesus called him to start a church and then close it after several years. And how Jesus freed him from the performance trap. He had become a full time minister and a part-time follower of Jesus.

What do you do when you feel as if Jesus let you down? You pray and do all the "right" Christian things but you still feel a roaring silence from heaven. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit seem nowhere to be found. It's as if you invited Jesus to the pub for a beer and he stood you up. Not even a text to say "Sorry. I can't make it." We discuss how the silence of God feels and what we do about it. Those of us raised in church are too religious to be honestly angry about the silence. So we hide our anger behind "religiously correct" prayers and believe that somehow God doesn't see our heart.

Jesus is on my side! Don't you usually feel like you have common sense beliefs and attitudes? Of course! No one holds on to ideas they think are wrong. And, if you're like me, you tend to think Jesus agrees with you. So you and I tend to only hang out with people who agree with us and Jesus. But Jesus hangs out with the people on the other side too. And they think he agrees with them on their issues. Joel Sharpton is my guest this week. He talks about the twists and turns his life in Jesus has taken and how listening to those who hold different opinions can help us keep growing.

The accepted Christian party line says the "fear of the Lord" means a deep respect. But a close encounter with God's glory shakes us to our roots.  We discuss how Jesus can be both the friend you have a beer with as well as God the Son, who is pretty scary.   

Why do Christians get performance anxiety when they meet other Christians? Because Christians judge each other by how religious the other one is and whether he or she has the right flavor of doctrine. Living life as a Christian could be just like the Olympics, with a panel of judges scoring and ranking you to see how well you measure up.

Getting Jesus perspective and hearing him speak to you will change your life forever. Our guest, Laurie Goddu, is a transformation coach, helping people to get unstuck by hearing Jesus speak to them in language they can understand. You'll find comfort and insight in her words of wisdom about how to listen for Jesus talking to you.

Jesus' voice is more often than not a gentle whisper. You miss it if you're not paying attention. Why doesn't he talk to us in ways we can know, without a doubt, what he's saying? We're on location at Barley's Brewhaus talking about what Jesus has been telling us lately.

We aren't doing our job! Christians are taught to withdraw from the world and stop doing a long list of don'ts and start doing a lot of "Christian" dos. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to convince other people to do the same. We question whether this approach is right. And we throw in discussion about Pokemon, Ouija boards and Donald Trump for good measure.  

What did Jesus really command us to do. Most Christians believe it's to love God with our heart, soul and strength and to love our neighbor. We explain the error of this belief and dig in to what Jesus meant when he said, "I'm giving you a new commandment."  

Knowing about Jesus isn't the same thing as knowing Jesus. Christians work hard to learn about Jesus so they can act like him. After all, we're supposed to become like Jesus. But we're like Elvis impersonators. We can get the moves and the look down pat, but we don't really KNOW Jesus. We only try to act like our belief in who Jesus is.