Burning Hearts with Rachel Herbeck

One of the most challenging teachings of Jesus is to rejoice when we are hated and reviled. Today we discuss how we lean into persecution and rejoice in our hardships.

Continuing with the blessings and woes, Jesus speaks about those who are mourning and those who are hungry. We examine our own hearts to ask the question – are we spiritually hungry? Or are we filled with worldly things?

Jesus teaches about those who are poor both materially and spiritually. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us lean into a deeper poverty of spirit.

As Jesus dives into the blessings and woes, we learn what He values and are challenged by the values of the Kingdom of God and how different they are from the kingdom of the world.

This week we dive into Luke 6, particularly where Jesus begins to teach his disciples in the form of blessings and woes. We see how Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom, bringing the Kingdom of God to invade the kingdom of the earth.

Jesus proclaims to the people that He is the fulfillment of the messianic mission stated in Isaiah 61. Today we discuss how Jesus’ ministry still applies to us today and we ask for the faith to raise our expectations that Jesus can set us free and open our eyes today.

In Luke 4, Jesus famously proclaims the messianic prophecy of Isaiah 61 in the temple. Here we see that Jesus is the anointed one, the one Isaiah spoke of who will come to proclaim good news to the poor.

Today we see that Jesus actually went into the very synagogues that he attended to teach the people, and as he teaches people glorify Him. We begin to reflect on the true power of Jesus’ time of public ministry.

As we seek Jesus in the Gospel of Luke, we see that people knew about Him and had heard about Him. The report about who He was was growing! This begins to show us truly how people responded to Jesus’ divinity throughout His time on earth.

This week we begin to ask the question, how do we seek Jesus? We dive into Luke 4 to see what Jesus was up to during His public ministry and we read that He was anointed in the power of the Spirit.

Jesus gives us the ultimate model of discipleship, that we should have the mindset of humility that He had and become obedient to the Father even to the point of death.

As we desire to grow in humility and imitating Jesus, we are encouraged to stay open to the work that God is doing in us and not close ourselves off to the work of God.

Building on our episode yesterday, today we discuss how keeping our eyes on ourselves does not bear fruit. Paul encourages us to look, to keep our eyes on others, to look at the needs, feelings and desires of others before our own and to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus.

One of the main thing that separates us from Christ and one another is a preoccupation with self. As we receive God’s love, we grow in our ability to see the needs of others.

This week we dive into Philippians 2 where Paul discusses how to cultivate unity within the body of Christ. We receive an encouragement from Paul to love each other, not with our own strength but with the same love of Christ.

The culmination of Jesus’ call to love is not to love those who love us, but to actually love those who persecute us. We ask the Holy Spirit to convict our hearts in regards to the ways we are loving those we struggle with.

A love that is genuine rejoices in hope, is patient in trials and constant in prayer. Today we discuss how we grow in each of these areas.

As followers of Christ, we read today that we are not only called to love each other, but we should have affection and fondness for others. Paul instructs us in this by encouraging the Romans to outdo one another in showing honor.

One of the elements of loving like Christ is to love with a love that is genuine and sincere. Today we are invited to examine our hearts and see how genuine our love is, asking Jesus to purify us.

In Romans 12, we read about the marks of a true Christian. Christ calls each and every one of us to a high standard of love. Jesus fills us with His Holy Spirit so that we can love like he loves.

Stephen’s witness of martyrdom is incredibly inspiring. As we wrap up our week, we reflect on him offering his life to Christ and truly witnessing to the glory of God until the very end.

In his debate with the Jews, Stephen calls out the religious leaders saying they are stiff necked and resist the Holy Spirit. Today we discuss how we discern how bold and direct we should be as we preach the Gospel. As we call on the Holy Spirit, we receive help to say and do what we are supposed to.

Stephen is able to be bold, calm, and unafraid because he is filled with the Holy Spirit. We ask the Holy Spirit to fill us in a deeper way and show us where we are called to preach the Gospel.

As Stephen preaches the gospel, the Jews rise up against him and stir up opposition against him. We reflect on what our response is when we are opposed for the Gospel and we ask God for the grace to be unafraid and anchored in Him.

This week we discuss the first reading from Acts that the Church gives us the day after Christmas. We focus in on the importance of the Church presenting us with the martyrdom of St. Stephen right after Christmas day.

Christ is the true light of the world. He shines in the darkness, bringing us each new life for all of eternity. Jesus calls us to receive his light and then go out and reflect his light into a dark and broken world.

Christmas day has arrived and we reflect on the reality that Jesus comes to us today. And as He comes, in himself He brings true and eternal life. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us receive this life in a new way.

As we enter into Christmas eve, we continue our discussion of John 1. We read how everything was made through the Word and see how’s God’s love creates. It overflows and desires to give of itself, resulting in the creation of the world and of us.

We continue through John 1 today as we reflect on the reality that Jesus has existed with the Father from all of eternity. Because of this, we have existed in God’s mind, totally and completely loved.

We begin this week of Christmas with my guest, Katey Norman. We discuss our advent preparations and John 1. As we walk through this week, we ask the Holy Spirit to build in us anticipation for Jesus’ coming as the Word made flesh.

Finally we see that God doesn’t want to just rid us of bad things, but He desires that we be filled with supernatural charity that is part of our relationships with others. As God transforms us, we become more like Him and we change not only for eternity, but in our communities as well.

We see Paul inviting us to put more things to death in us, including anger, malice and wrath. We focus in a unique way today on malice, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten our hearts of any ways that we have held onto internal hostility toward others.

Today we focus on the Church’s teaching regarding the wrath of God. We see God’s wrath and good, holy, and just – not a state in His mood or losing His temper.

As we examine Colossians 3, we see that putting to death what is earthly in us is a call to action. God’s Spirit moves in us, giving us power to grow, power to change, power to be made new. But we are challenged and convicted to engage our wills – to truly respond to god’s conviction with action.

Today we begin to look into Paul’s teaching in Colossians 3. Because we have such a powerful identity in Christ, we are commanded to put to death what is earthly in us so that we can have access to the new life God has given us.

Jesus who is Lord and Teacher shows his meekness and humility through washing the disciples’ feet. He invites his disciples to do the same, to take the lowest place and to serve one another with all meekness and humility as well.

The washing of the feet prefigures Baptism. Jesus tells Peter that unless he washes his feet, he has no part in Him. Jesus washes us clean so that we can be incorporated into His body and a part of God’s family.

Jesus serves His disciples and takes the form of a slave as the one who washes people’s feet. This is an image of what He does when he leaves his heavenly throne, taking the form of a slave and ultimately cleansing our sins through his blood.

Jesus was secure in his identity as the beloved son of the Father. From this place he served and fulfilled his mission – this place of being loved by the Father. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us walk and live secure in our identities. 

As we begin the Last Supper discourse, we see Jesus in John 13 serving his disciples in a radical way. Today we discuss that Jesus knew his hour was at hand and in his final hour he chose to serve.

Today, we see how Paul suffers for the gospel and communicates to the Romans that the thing that will give us a crown in Heaven is suffering with Christ.

As we strive to put to death things of the flesh, we need to root ourselves in our true identity as sons and daughters of God. Paul shows us how to internalize this truth each and every day.

Paul instructs the Romans to put to death the things of the flesh and to live a life in the Spirit. Today, we examine how to put to death our flesh in order to live lives under the reign of Jesus.

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in each one of us. Today, we discuss what happens when God’s resurrection power is at work in us.

This week, we walk through Romans 8 and discuss what it truly means to be justified through faith and sanctified through the power of the Spirit.

Paul teaches us today that our new life in Christ is a life lived by faith in the Son of God who loves us and gave Himself up for us. The guiding principle of our lives becomes faith in Jesus Christ.

We are crucified with Christ and, as we die with Him, our new life is found in Him. We are raised to new life and He lives in us. Today we see what it truly means that Christ lives in us.

Today, we see the heart of the Galatians 2: through our baptism we have been crucified with Christ. The true life of discipleship is dying to our flesh to live with Christ.

As we continue in Galatians 2, we examine the truth that we are dead to sin and alive to God. We ask the Holy Spirit to help us live in that identity, truly alive in Christ Jesus.

This week, we begin to dive into Paul’s famous passage from Galatians 2 where he discusses being crucified with Christ. In today’s episode, Paul warns us that if we rely on our own strength, we will end up in sin.