Crucial Productions

Dr. Kevin finishes John 2 and starts on chapter 3.

Peter learns that God has made all things clean in Jesus. This has huge implications for the church.

This week we read John 2:18-22. The disciples only understood Jesus after the resurrection. The Holy Spirit leads Jesus’ disciples into the truth just as Jesus promised. As a bonus we discussed the divinity of the Holy Spirit and the Athanasian Creed.

People ask various questions and then we study John 2:13-17.

How did we get the Bible? How do we know what we have is God's Word? How do we know we can trust what we have? That's the topic of discussion on today's podcast.

We know we can't influence our own salvation. That's entirely up to God. But can we influence someone else's? Can we be so winsome that they convert, or such a jerk that they reject the faith entirely? That's the question Peter and Kevin tackle this episode!

Numbers as symbols and Jesus is better than the Old Testament washings. And God alone saves through Jesus. And it’s Easter. Christ is risen!!

Dr. Kevin starts on John, chapter 2 today. The six days of creation. Jesus at a wedding, but the bride is missing. Jesus seems a bit blunt with with mother. But He’s really talking about His death.

We always get it backwards. We take a word we know, and when the Bible uses that same word to describe God, we think we know what it means. But what if that isn't how it works at all? What if that approach sends you on a wild goose chase straight in to idolatry?

Jesus is the ultimate teacher. His disciples learn from Him and speak as He did. Nathanael reminds us of Jacob. But better. And Jesus explains that He is the God who was seen in the OT.

How can we say that you can be assured of your salvation while at the same time saying that you can lose your salvation? This is a contradiction. How do we resolve it?

This week we discuss the baptism of Jesus and who you can trust to tell you the truth about Jesus.

There are many ways to talk about baptism. Some good, some bad and some downright awkward. And then there are the times we speak of baptism in a way that not even Scripture speaks.

John the Baptist faithfully witnessed to Christ. He is the one foretold in Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1. But Jesus is the fulfillment of the promises of the OT. The Lord is in His temple.

How do we know God? John 1:18 teaches that Jesus is fully divine and the one who was seen in the Old Testament when people saw God. John's Gospel portrays Jesus as the one who reveals God.

How does one begin explaining the Trinity? And where do we look in Scripture to see it? By now, it shouldn't be any surprise that Peter and Kevin are going to start with Jesus!

We discuss John the Baptizer as a faithful witness, God’s character in the Old Testament, especially in Exodus 33-34, and Jesus as grace upon grace.

Forgiving someone is hard. It's even harder when that person refuses to repent of their sin against you…or to even admit that they sinned at all! What is a Christian do do when this happens? Peter and Kevin talk through where the rubber hits the road in applying Law and Gospel to this situation.

The eternal Word in human flesh. God and man. Divinity sanctifying human flesh. In Jesus, God comes to forgive our sins and to grant us eternal life with Him in the flesh. The glory and exaltation of God is tied to the cross of Jesus Christ. All for you.

One thing you'll hear Lutherans talk about a lot: rightly distinguishing Law and Gospel. But what does this mean and why does it matter? Is it really that big a deal? Um...yes! It's actually a matter of life and death!

We're back from our Christmas break with a new question to help you wrestle with what you believe and why. Talking through Romans 6 and what freedom truly means.

We discuss God's will that we become His children. We also discuss individualism, and some questions that we don't know the answer to. Sunday morning Bible study at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Fenton, Missouri. Taught by Dr. Kevin Armbrust.

We continue to discuss John's prologue ... This episode includes discussion of reliable witnesses, the Body of Christ vs. individualism, and the centrality of the cross.

We continue to study John's prologue ... Jesus is the light and life of all mankind. He is the light that defeats darkness.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Learn about Jesus as the eternal Word of the Father, through whom all things were created. John presents the pre-incarnate Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, as the Creator in the beginning. This does not negate God the Father, but teaches the proper view of the Trinity, that there is one substance and three persons, as explained in the Creeds. Sunday morning Bible study at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Fenton, Missouri. Taught by Dr. Kevin Armbrust.

In this class, we examine the Gospel of John as a whole, concentrating on its author, date of writing and place in the NT canon. We also examine John 20:30-31. Sunday morning Bible study at Our Savior Lutheran Church, Fenton, Missouri. Taught by Dr. Kevin Armbrust.

God is a cosmic abuser. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is just one example of this. So say the critics and skeptics. But is that what is really going on with Mary? Or is it perhaps that we have an overdeveloped sense of our own autonomy and freedom? Pastor Kevin Golden of Village Lutheran Church in Ladue, Missouri, joins us for this special Christmas episode.

Much has been made about whether Christianity and Judaism have the same God. And if you don't look at the question through the lens of Jesus, you will come up with the wrong answer.

Praying. So easy to do. So easy to get wrong. But also so easy to get right! Easier than you might think, so settle back and listen in as Peter and Kevin teach on prayer and answer some listener questions about it.

How far do we go to share the Gospel? Do we break laws? Do we risk death or take huge risks? What about those who have never heard the Gospel? What happens to them, even if they never even had a chance to hear it and reject it? Peter and Kevin discuss a current event and look at it through the lens of Jesus.

What hope do we have when a loved one dies with no apparent faith in Christ? Peter and Kevin talk through this very difficult question and also clarify what it means to trust Jesus and not the historical event of the Resurrection.

Pastor Peter Ill of Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, Illinois, is back to continue the conversation with Peter and Kevin about trust, this time tackling scientism, rationalism and modernism.

It might be subtle. It might be accidental. It creeps up on you. One day you notice you have trusted something other than Christ. Or something else along with Christ. Today, Peter and Kevin have a special guest, Pastor Peter Ill of Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, Illinois, to talk about biblicism, fundamentalism, creationism and fideism.

Trust is a fickle thing when it comes to us humans. We’re willing to trust anything and anyone except the one we’re supposed to.

This week Peter and Kevin dig a bit deeper on what it looks like to discuss doctrine through the lens of Jesus by answering a listener question about rebaptism.

Last week Peter and Kevin made a claim that the Bible is all about Jesus. Most Christians would agree with that, but sometimes the order in which we read the books of the Bible makes it hard to see that. So here's a reading plan that can help.

Crucial Conversations is back! And we're experimenting with a new format. But the best part is that this episode is full of Jesus. Today, Kevin and Peter talk about how we read Scripture. It's all about Jesus, but it's easy to forget that.

New Lutherans go through some difficult phases coming from American Evangelicalism. The first phase is accepting that this is more than a mere symbol. The second phase is figuring out how to tell their families they can no longer commune together. The joy of being united under their new confession is tempered by the division it has caused in their family.

In our Western context baptism is a work. An ordinance. Something we do out of obedience alone, but which works nothing in us. An outward sign of an inward commitment. And because we are good Lutherans, what do we do? Get triggered! “It’s not a symbol, it saves! It’s not our work, it’s God’s work! It’s not obedience, it’s grace!” But there’s another way to engage…without being triggered.

As we look at the remaining petitions in the Lord’s Prayer, it seems like we are presenting God with a list of demands! But last week we talked about God’s will being done…and NOT ours. So what gives? How do we understand prayer rightly when asking God for things?

Do we really know what prayer is? Is it a conversation with God? Is it manipulating God to our will? Or is it a futile gesture that is nothing more than virtue signaling in a crisis? We begin our look at the Lord’s Prayer with these questions.

“I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” Words of genius? Words of insanity? Maybe both?

We’ve learned that we cannot keep the 10 Commandments, no matter how we try. Thus we need the Creed to tell us where to look! Tonight we look at the first two parts of the Apostle’s Creed - God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. Everything we believe is related to the three persons of the Trinity, so let’s study well!

In the same way that breaking each commandment is breaking the first, breaking each commandment also breaks the last one. Our love of ourselves really comes home to roost tonight as we finish up the Ten Commandments and cover 7-10 all in one episode.

Tonight we have a very special roundtable discussion on the Law. What is it? What is it not? How does it function? How do we rightly distinguish it? What happens when we get it wrong? What happens when we get it...right?

We think it's simple to love our neighbor. Or to at least make a decent attempt at it. But if we are honest, what we really love is ourselves! This week we talk about the 4th, 5th and 6th Commandments and what Luther and the Scriptures have to say about them.

It’s a double feature kind of show! Two Commandments in one. The Second, where God teaches us about our words. And the Third, where He teaches us about His Word. Join us as we continue our study of the Large Catechism and learn to think like confessors.

You shall have no other gods. Simple, right? Clear, and yet we are so creative in finding ways to break this commandment.

[share title="Share this Post" facebook="true" twitter="true" google_plus="true" linkedin="true" pinterest="true" reddit="true" email="true"] Teaching you to think like a Confessor! In this episode we cover the Large Catechism from the Preface through line 29 of the First Commandment. Or, if you are following along in the Concordia Reader's Edition, 2nd Edition, that would be pages 351-361. Our host is Peter Slayton, executive director of Crucial Productions. Our pastors are Peter Ill and Merritt Demski. To follow along with our reading plan each week, join us in The Grokmoot over on Facebook. www.facebook.com/groups/TheGrokmoot