Category: Podcast

The Impossible Love of God Meets Our Impossible Climb of Faith



Hello beloved friends!

This is the second part of a series called “Faith Struggle: The Messy Uphill Climb of Faith.”

The message is titled: The Impossible Love of God Meets Our Impossible Climb of Faith

It’s about moving forward in our Christian walk by grace instead of guilt.

Stream here or download directly here!  Save it for a car ride or work-out, or listen before you sleep.

 

The Scripture is Hosea 1-3.  Some things I talk about are: What church service looks like to an atheist outsider, manipulative preacher tactics and guilt-trips, the prophet Hosea as a Korean Drama, and how my first pastor uppercut my stubborn heart with grace.

To stream other podcasts, click here.

Be blessed and love y’all!

— J



Loving The Unlovable Is Not Very Lovable



 

Hello beloved friends!

This is the first part of a new series called “Faith Struggle: The Messy Uphill Climb of Faith.”

The message is titled: Loving The Unlovable Is Not Lovable

Stream here or download directly here!  Save it for a car ride or listen before you sleep.

 

The Scripture is John 13:34. Some things I talk about are: Three Reasons why it’s so hard to love people, when pastors get road rage, why God has commands for sex and money, Jesus breaking Judas’s toe, and God ripping off the roof of your church.

Be blessed and love y’all!

— J



The Singular Passion of God’s Glorious Story

 

Hello beloved friends!

This is a message I had the privilege to preach at the Refuge Full-Gospel Retreat.

The sermon is titled: Your Life-Movie: The Singular Passion of God’s Glorious Story

Stream it here or download it directly from the podcast here!

 

In this message, I talk about our one passionate mission here on this earth.  The Scripture passage is Philippians 3:12-16.

Some of the things I talk about are: The power to edit your own life-movie, Four Obstacles That Stop Us From Total Passion for God, how to raise $20,000 to fight human trafficking, and sitting with Jesus in a theater watching a replay of your life.

If you’ve been blessed by the podcast, please consider leaving a review on iTunes!

Love y’all and be blessed!


— J.S.



For my podcast, click here:


Quote: Glory and Weight


To glorify something is to throw your entire weight into that particular thing, and it’s also to say to the world that it is critical to your existence. When you glorify something, you’re telling other people, ‘This is giving me meaning and value and affirmation.’ So if God already has all the glory: it only makes sense to glorify Him. It’s the single most important thing you could do with your life.


— J.S. from this message

The Relentless, Reckless, Furious Glory of God


Hello awesome friends!

This is a message I had the privilege to preach at one of my favorite churches ever. They’re a wonderfully joyful and responsive congregation.

The sermon is titled: The Relentless, Reckless, Furious Glory of God.

Stream here or download directly free here!

 

In this message, I talk about the Glory of God, what it means it glorify Him, and how.  The passage is John 3:25-30.

Some of the things I talk about are: The guy who always kills the joke, that time in sixth grade I told the prettiest girl in school that I liked her, and that moment Jesus comes back with a sword out his face and his head on fire. Plus a spoken word performance.

If you’ve been blessed by the podcast, please consider leaving a review on iTunes!

Love y’all!

— J



For my podcast, click here:


The Sloppy Truth of Discipleship


Hello beloved friends!

This is the second sermon I preached at a wonderful church in Huntsville, Alabama (the first sermon is here).

It’s titled, The Sloppy Truth of Discipleship.

Stream here or download directly here!

 

In this message, I talk about the joyful mess of making disciples and the difficulties of the Great Commission.

Some of the things I talk about are: When Jesus uppercuts drug addicts, the hyper-spiritual attitude in the awkward Bible study, and what separates the church from every other place in the world.

If you’ve been blessed by the podcast, please consider leaving a review on iTunes!

Love y’all!

— J



For my podcast, click here:


Quote: Pages of the Sky


“God is holy, He is glorious, He’s powerful, He’s awesome, He holds the universe in the palm of His hand. But even though God is way above us and sits on a throne in control of everything — He punched a hole in the pages of the sky and He wrote Himself into the story of humanity. The feet of the Son of God touched the dirt of the earth and He became one of us. And he didn’t just get crucified, he didn’t just go to a cross: his whole life was a crucifixion. He was tempted, persecuted, hungry, tired, he was weak, just like one of us. Then when he went to the cross, he made this exchange called grace, where he said, ‘Your sin for my life. One of us has to pay the cost.’ And Jesus, our friend, said, ‘I will.’”


— J.S. from this message


A Living, Breathing, Pulsing, Dirt-Filled Faith



Hello beloved friends!

I had the privilege to preach at a wonderful church in Huntsville, Alabama.

The sermon is titled: A Living, Breathing, Pulsing, Dirt-Filled Faith.

Stream here or download directly here.

 

In this message, I discuss real relational intimacy with our Father — about a faith that is bigger than just church. The passage is John 15:9-17.

Some of the things I talk about: The time my dad saved my brother from drowning on a tricycle, how the homeless helped me love Jesus, that time Jesus busted a drug ring, and the greatest Christian I ever met.

Love y’all!

— J
















For my podcast, click here:


Keeping Faith In Our Crazy Up-And-Down-Ness



This is a sermon I preached recently at a very lively church about the crazy up-and-down journey of our faith. The text is 1 Kings 18-19, about my favorite prophet Elijah.

Some things I talk about are: The time I tried out for a Nickelodeon TV show, feeling forced to say ‘Praise God’ to keep up the Christianese, the first step to quitting porn, and the best wedding kiss of all time.

You can stream it on my Tumblr here.

You can also check it out on iTunes or download it directly here.

Love y’all!
— J



Quote: Horizon


“If God is infinite and we are finite beings, then encountering God is not some arbitrary standard or goal line and then you’re done. God is more like the horizon. What happens when you reach for the horizon? It keeps getting away from you. So reaching God in your life will always be to some extent an insurmountable process. Even in Heaven we will not fully, finally get there. On the way to that horizon, it’s going to be difficult — it’s a jagged, ragged, uphill climb, and God has grace for that. God had grace for the Israelites in the wilderness, God has grace for you today. And I know that it’s hard, but reaching for that horizon of God is the most awesome journey you could possibly ever be on. And I believe that when Jesus is center, when you have that intimacy with him, then from him is where the wellspring of all life flows.”


— from this message


Quote: The Mountain


You’re going to have a mountaintop experience where you see God and you finally know Him for who He is. But what I think church tends to do is make you feel like you’re supposed to be on fire all the time and you should always feel that. It’s not true. When you suddenly get into that valley, that really dark discouraging place, God is saying, ‘In the valley, remember the mountains. Remember when you were there with me. Remember that time you experienced Me and I was so real to you.’

If just that little bit of your mountaintop experience can come into your valley period, that’s what’s going to help you to hold on. That’s what will get you through your very shakeable faith. No one ever told me this in church: but when I read the Bible, I know it’s not supposed to be an everyday rocked-out Christian life. There are days that will be rough, but just those few times in your life: remember how God spoke to you.


— from this message


Quote: Two Options


We’re just a bunch of broken people, we all struggle, we all experience this gap, so there are two options on how we can treat it. One: I can do what the world does, and I can beat you up with rules, religion, and performance. I can shame you into change, but that’s going to be like laying down bricks — it’s a lot of shape but no soul. It’s just bricks, not real growth. The second option is we can allow the grace of God to love us to a better place; we can grace each other to a better place than we were. Those are the only two options. You might say, ‘Won’t they abuse that?’ — but the only other option is to shame them, and that won’t work. It’s only the love of God that will be enough to tenderize your heart.

— from this message

Quote: A Process


“Faith is a growing process and it took me a long time to get that. If you haven’t worked with broken people, homeless people, drug addicts, porn addicts, if you’ve tried to disentangle and recalibrate their brain — it’s a hard process, a long process. I’m afraid a lot of preachers who know nothing about grace — all they know about is guilt — they’re going to just say, ‘Change, change, change!’ But broken people take a long time for the pieces to come back together. No matter who you are, you got some kind of brokenness, emptiness, missingness in you, there’s a feeling everyday of, ‘I’m just not getting this God-thing” or “I just suck at living this life.’ I want to give you a little bit of freedom and say: God absolutely loves you, and there’s nothing that you can do that will change His heart for you.”

— from this message


When You Want To Quit: Just One More Step

Continuing the teachings on the Book of Proverbs: Seeing From God’s Side.
This is a short summary on the sixth and final sermon, titled “He Falls Seven Times, Stands Up Eight: Perseverance.”
Summaries for part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, and part five here.

Proverbs 24:16 says, “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.”

There’s a moment when you want to quit everything. I don’t mean you physically remove yourself from school, work, family, or church, but you can mentally check out. It’s possible to quit without quitting.

Usually the four reasons we mentally quit are:

1) Blaming others: “If it weren’t for these people and this place, then …”
2) Burn-out: “I’m just exhausted, they got me doing too much.”
3) Guilt: “I’m not good enough, I keep failing, I messed it up.”
4) Discouragement: “Everyone hates me. No one is encouraging.”

It’s possible that all these things are true: it’s everyone else’s fault, we’re burned out, we’re guilty of things we shouldn’t be doing, and we’re discouraged. It would make sense to quit.

So how do we keep going? How do we stand up on the eighth time after falling down seven?

Continue reading “When You Want To Quit: Just One More Step” →