Netarts Friends Church Podcast

Luke 11:14-27Regression: "the act of going back to a previous place or state; reversion to a chronologically earlier or less adapted pattern of behavior and feeling; reversion to an earlier mental or behavioral level".Whether we are talking about soil, systems, or your soul, the story of regressions can be found. We look for external solutions to internal problems. We try really hard to clear out space, only to find it filled in with something even worse. The nervous system takes people back to what it knows: old patterns, old behaviors, default modes, and old narratives. Credits:Aristotle, Ian Cron, Steve Cuss, Edwin Friedman, Helen Keller, Robert M. Coates, Kenneth Tanner, Fred Craddock, Alan Culpepper, Richard Rohr, Teresa of Avila, Charles Duhigg, Greg Boyd.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(04/13/25)

Luke 11:5-13If you cannot open up your deepest longings, your disappointment, sadness, grief, and hope- it you cannot bring them into the open before God, then how can you pray? Credits & Sources:Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Craig Keener, Richard Rohrbaugh, Bruce Malina, Henri Nouwen, Marsha Linehan David Garland, Alan Johnson, Alan Culpepper, Veli-Matti Karkkainen, Kenneth Bailey.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(04/06/25)

When it comes to your spiritual life, do you carry a sense of insecurity, and failure? Do you feel like you aren't doing it right, like you should be doing it better, differently, or that you should be more like someone else? Is it hard to even admit to yourself how much this resonates? This episode explores how much of a natural you already are, and why this is crucial to recognize. Credits & Sources:Lewis Smedes, Greg Boyd, William Barber II, Richard Rohrbaugh, Bruce Malina, Tim Geddert, Fred Craddock, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Justo Gonzalez, Craig Keener, Kenneth Bailey, David Garland.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(03/16/25)

Luke 10:38-42Have you ever felt like you have lost your smile? Like you are chasing a smile that somebody is never going to give you? This episode is the story of Myra's smile. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(03/09/25)

Luke 10:25-37This episode explores the massively courageous act of becoming a neighbor, which involves coming to understand what someone else thinks, what they feel, and what they want/need. It involves being moved by this. Caring....enough to do something....And that is terrifying.And to Jesus this is the path to life. Credits & Sources:Tim Geddert, David Garland, Justo Gonzalez, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Kenneth Bailey.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(03/02/25)

Luke 9:57-62This episode will help you explore the layers and complexities of your deep desires for a happy life, a secure life, a successful life, a connected life, a life lived to the full, an abundant life, a life that brings the best out of you, a life that truly works in the long run. It won't answer all your questions, but it may help uncover conversations you need to have with yourself, with others, and with the Spirit of God. Credits & Sources:John Walton, Victor Matthews, Mark Chavalas, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Tim Geddert, Fred Craddock, Craig Keener, David Garland, Justo Gonzalez, Brian Ross, D. W. Chapman, Donald Kraybill, Clarence Haynes Jr., Eugene Peterson.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(02/23/25)

Luke 9:51-56We were all born into a set of stories that affect the way we interpret reality. The affect the way you ask and answer the question, "Am I safe, or am I in danger?" Sometimes we get stuck in a cycle of playing and replaying stories that cause us to rehearse and replay negative emotions. The feelings amplify. We double down. Our thinking becomes distorted. Our ability to think creatively falls away. We are only looking for people or evidence that will confirm what we are already saying. This gospel story explores the way Jesus goes about freeing us from these mental loops. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(02/9/25)

Luke 9:37-50You mean well. This world means well. We really do. And yet the good news that Jesus declared for the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, and the oppressed does not always arrive. Desperate people beg for help, and sometimes no help comes. The path of love gets stopped up, much like a twisted hose. What is it that can reopen the path of love? Credits & Sources:Kenneth Tanner, Donald Kraybill, David Garland, Joel Green, Justo Gonzalez, Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Fred Craddock, Stephen Grcevich, Holiday Rondeau, Hans Selye, Don Riso, and Russ Hudson. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(02/2/25)

Luke 9:23-37; 2 Corinthians 3:13-18History is littered with stories where atrocities of every kind were justified with Christian language and even by quoting the Law and the Prophets. We may want to distance ourselves from these stories, but we easily slip into seeing people and events in our life without any thought of the face of Christ. Credits & Sources: Greg Boyd, Brian Zahnd, Jonathan Kirsh, Andrew Holt, Miguel De La Torre, Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Fred Craddock, N.T. Wright, David Garland, Kenneth Tanner, William Blake, Simone Weil, Marilynne Robinson, Richard Beck.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(01/26/25)

Luke 9:18-27We spend so much of our life not living in the now. We are stuck thinking about our past and reacting to right now out of old wounds, old fears, and old pain. We are paralyzed not only by what bad things could happen in the future, but also by our dreams. When life doesn't look the way that we had dreamed that it would look, we aren't sure how to live in the now. Credits & Sources:N.T. Wright, Eldon Fry, Mark Baker, Justo Gonzalez, J. Dennis, Donald Kraybill, Joshua J. Mark, Craig Keener, Fred Craddock, Tim Geddert, Steve Bradt, C.S. Lewis.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(01/18/25)

Luke 9:1-6;10-17Wouldn't it be wonderful if every time life presented us with opportunities to do something good and noble, or to help with something crucial-those opportunities were completely uncomplicated, calm, convenient, and aligned perfectly with all of our other life priorities and goals? Wouldn't that be nice? But so often, that's not the way it is. This episode wrestles with this reality, and what the Spirit of Jesus might be whispering to us in the midst of it all. Credits & Sources:Jan Richardson, Brian Ross, Fred Craddock, Steve Cuss, Justo Gonzalez, Tim Geddert, Alan Culpepper, David Garland, Tim Chester.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(01/12/25)

This Christmas episode is an exploration of the family of Herod (father and son) and the family of Jesus (village and relatives). It's an exploration of the things that haunt you, and what Jesus may or may not have to say in the midst of it all.Credits & Sources:Malcom Guite, Fred Craddock, Alan Culpepper, Craig Keener, Justo Gonzalez, Helen Bond, Kenneth Tanner, Brad Jerzak, N.T. Wright, Brian Zahnd, Morten Hørning Jensen, J. Richard Middleton. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(12/22/24)

Luke 9:1-6;10; 10:1-17The title is a quote that Bilbo says in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. There's a kind of learning that simply cannot be accessed by books or by thinking harder. It happens on adventures. Sometimes the adventure you find yourself on is a journey OUTSIDE of yourself into vulnerable territory. Sometimes the adventure you find yourself on takes you INSIDE yourself into vulnerable territory that you have not yet navigated but need to. Either way, you will never be the same. This episode works towards an understanding of the Spirit of Jesus who sends us on adventures still. Credits & Sources:Perry Phillips, Steve Cuss, Brian Ross, J.R.R. Tolkien, Edwin Friedman, Eric Versluis, Mark Baker, Craig Keener, Leonard Sweet.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(12/15/24)

Luke 8:40-56An extraordinary story of two different people from the same community, whose lives could hardly have been more different...and the Jesus who met them both where they were. This is one of those stories that causes folks who don't believe in Jesus at all to say...."I wish it was true because that story is beautiful." How can you not love Jesus? Credits & Sources:David Garland, Craig Keener, Moises Silva, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Ephriam the Syrian, Thomas Oden, Anders Runesson, Tim Geddert, Alan Culpepper, Mary Ann Tolbert, Bernard Ott, Justo Gonzalez, Fred Craddock, Marvin Wilson, Edwin Yamauchi, Mary Marnach, Shannon Laughlin-Tommaso, Mayo Clinic.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(12/07/24)

Waiting is what happens when life doesn't look the way you want it to look.... until the time that it is remedied. Waiting can be excruciating. It is so hard to not know what's going to happen. How long? When you have no idea if you are running a sprint or a marathon you have no idea how to pace yourself. This episode offers hope for those who find themselves waiting. Credits & Sources:Alan Kreider, Steve Cuss, Lynn Jost, Nathaniel Carlson, Eldon Fry, Desmond Tutu, Casey Gwinn, Chan Hellman.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(12/01/24)

John 17:13 & Hebrews 12:2Have you ever noticed that when you are taking yourself, and everything very seriously that your joy and gratitude diminish and go away? Have you ever noticed that some of your most joyful moments and thankful moments are also moments when you were caught up in being playful? This episode explores the relationship between these things and considers the way that joy comes to us. Credits & Sources:Ken Shigematsu, Lacy Finn Borgo, Steve Cuss, Edwin Friedman, Philip D. Kenneson, C.S. Lewis, Scott Peck, John Chrysostom, Thomas Aquinas, Gerard Manley Hopkins.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(11/17/24)

Luke 8: 26-39Why is it that every time we seemingly defeat an enemy, we have not defeated the fear that infects humanity? Is every enemy real, or an illusion? What is it that elicits fear and hatred within humanity? What is it that seems to have a diabolical genius at knowing what everyone fears the most and creating mascots of that fear in ways that turn humans against one another and against creation? Credits:Murray Bowen, Michael Kerr, Roberta Gilbert, Steve Cuss, Trent Voth, N.T. Wright, Joel Green, Tim Geddert, Alan Culpepper, Fred Cradock, Malka Z. Simkovich.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(11/17/24)

Luke 8:22-25 & Acts 27-28:10Have you ever found yourself on a ride you didn't want to be on. It's any experience where things take a sudden dip, twist or turn and you realize, "I didn't sign up for this. This isn't what I thought it was going to be. I want off this ride. I didn't choose this destination." But there is no magic button that gets you off the ride. You just have to hold on for dear life, praying that you live through it. This episode helps you grapple with your experiences of finding yourself on a ride you didn't choose. Credits and Sources: Tim Geddert, David Garland, Alan Culpepper, Andrew Shaffer, Brian Ross. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(11/10/24)

Luke 8:19-21Family. Your strongest emotions. Your highest highs. Your lowest lows. The people with the most capacity to hurt you or support you. Your most complicated but important relationships. The memories you play the most. Your identity, values, traditions, physical health, development as a person, and resources and all so deeply connected to family. As you live your life connected (or disconnected) to family, what is it that Jesus says and does that could offer perspective, help, and hope? Additionally, this episode includes some introductory helps for keeping a healthy soul during election chaos. Credits:Rodney Stark, Brian Zahnd, Brian Ross, Steve Cuss, Richard Rorhbaugh, Bruce Malina, Craig Keener, Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Fred Craddock, Scot McKnight, Dan White Jr., Debra Hirsh, Josephus Flavius, William Steuart McBirnie, Frederick Dale Bruner, Richard Bauckham, Gerhard Lohfink.Sermon by Aaron CarlsonFor more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(11/2/24)

Luke 8:16-18When you find yourself in the darkness would you rather try to SEE your way through the darkness, or LISTEN your way through the darkness? You strain your eyes to see your way through the problems and questions of your life. The episode explores the parable (paradox) of Jesus that invites us to redirect all of that problem solving energy from our EYES to our EARS. What does it mean to learn to listen for light? Might you find something different than you expected, but what you truly needed? Credits & Sources:Jan Richardson, Leon Morris, David Wenham, Craig Keener, Richard N. Longenecker, Morna Hooker, Gordon Franz, Elaine A. Phillips, David Garland, Jeff Tacklind, Moises Silva, Scott Peck, Klyne Snodgrass. Sermon by Aaron CarlsonFor more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(10/27/24)

Luke 8:4-15Recent data says that on average a thought only lasts 9.2 seconds before you are on to the next thought. What is it that causes a tiny little thought to grow and become something life-changing? What challenges and hurdles does a tiny little thought have to overcome to actually become life changing? What's going on when a tiny little seed of a thought becomes so much a part of who you are that you come to see yourself differently based on this tiny little thought- that is now a very important part of your identity? Credits & Sources:Julie Tseng, Jordan Poppenk, Frederick Dale Bruner, Eugene Peterson, Jean Sulivan, Fred Craddock, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Justo Gonzalez, David Williams, George Akerlof, Daniel Ariely, Robert Cialdini.Sermon by Aaron CarlsonFor more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(09/22/24)

Luke 8:1-3Who am I? What does it mean to be me? People wrestle with this question when they are young, in adulthood, through midlife crises, in retirement, and even at the end of life. We find ourselves trying to be someone we are not. Copying someone else. Believe our inner critic. Riddled by anxiety and self-doubt. Slaves to ego and pride. Bombarded by voices telling us that we are what we own, we are who other people say we are, and we are what we accomplish. We slip into daydreams wishing we had someone else's life. This episode helps you wrestle with this question: "Why weren't you...you?" Credits & Sources:Leonard Sweet, David McDonald, Brennan Manning, Steve Cuss, Craig Keener, Joel Green, Donald Kraybill. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(09/29/24)

What do you do when your heart is in the right place despite your deficiencies, brokenness and flaws, but it isn't enough? Others are focused on your past. They only see the negative and what you are currently “getting wrong”. What do you do when your best isn’t enough?Credits & Sources:Kenneth E. Bailey, Craig Keener, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, David Wenham, Luise Schottroff, Edwin M. Yamauchi, Marvin R. Wilson, Moises Silva, Seth M. Rodriquez, Tim Geddert, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Fred Craddock, Tim Chester. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(09/22/24)

But what about "goodnewsing"? There are a myriad of reasons that a lot of Christians don't intentionally practice any kind of evangelism, and there are many non-Christians who hope a Christian won't try to evangelize them. This episode explores the ways that regular people actually come to faith in Jesus.Credits & Sources:Brian Ross, Leonard Sweet, Brian Zahnd, Tim Geddert, Dallas Willard, Saint Anthony of Egypt. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(09/15/24)

A lot of people want God to prepare the way for them. They want God to lead them. There is a kind of knowing, a kind of wisdom that God wants you to catch, but you can't catch it by standing still. This episode explores the way God prepares the way for us, and how we respond and catch what God is doing. Credits & Sources:Leonard Sweet, Justo Gonzalez, Fred Craddock, Walter Brueggeman, Alan Culpepper, David Garland, Tim Geddert, Tim Chester, Robert J. Karris. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(09/08/24)

Why is it that we say one thing, but if we could peel back the layers of the onion, if we could look for the thing underneath the thing, if we could get to what is actually going on- We would find something else. Our deeper questions are often much more simply and much more vulnerable. Why is it so hard to say the thing underneath all the layers to begin with? What does Jesus do when you are praying one thing, but Jesus knows there are more layers to be peeled back, there's a different question at the bottom of it all?Credits & Sources:Vern Hyndman, Eugene L. Lowry, Brian Ross, Steve Cuss, Alan Culpepper, Justo Gonzalez, Tim Geddert, Fred Craddock, David Garland, Joel Green, Donald Kraybill, Greg Boyd, Esau McCaulley.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(08/25/24)

You long to be seen. You long for someone to feel the way that the world hits you. The way it hits your body. But people only partially see you. You end up having to explain yourself. You have to tell people what happened. You have to tell people how it feels. All of that can be so exhausting. Words fall so short of capturing the way it actually hits you. You can end up feeling like you have to justify the ache you feel for compassion. You feel like you have to earn compassion. Or worse, you feel undeserving of compassion. This episode explores the ache we all feel for compassion.Credits & Sources:Steve Cuss, N.T. Wright, Brennan Manning, Craig Keener, David Garland, Fred Craddock, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Alan Culpepper, Justo Gonzalez, Tim Geddert, Joel Green, Darrell Bock, Bessel Van Der Kolk, Joshua A Krish, Edwin Yamauchi, Roland K. Harrison.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(08/18/24)

Are there moments in your life that take Jesus' breath away? Are there moments in your life that cause Jesus' jaw to go slack, and cause him to marvel in the wonder of your faith? And...are any of those moments the times that you would expect Jesus to be impressed, or are they completely....other? What might it do within you to hear Jesus say, "You have such incredible faith!"Credits and Sources:Justo Gonzalez, Alan Culpepper, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, David Garland, Craig Keener, Tim Geddert, Bob Ekblad, Nijay Gupta, John F. Defelice Jr., N.T. Wright, Matthew Bates, Eldon Fry.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(08/04/24)

The storms that knock you down come from unexpected places. Sometimes you are flooded by circumstances. Sometimes by emotions. There are storms you never imagined and weren't prepared for. Sometimes they are big. Sometimes they are small. Sometimes they pile up. Everyone gets the storm they weren't prepared for. This episode explores what Jesus has to say about your experiences of getting flooded, getting your feet knocked out from under you, and collapsing into an ugly version of yourself. Credits and Sources:Charles DuHigg, Edwin Friedman, Brennan Manning, Dallas Willard, John Gottman, and Lee Camp. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(07/21/24)

What do you do when the way you are showing up in the word is putting a bad taste in other people's mouth (and even in your mouth)? What do you do when the same struggle or problem keeps on coming up in your life over and over again? This episode helps you explore the things you are storing up in your heart and how they are affecting you. Credits & Sources:Steve Cuss, Bessel Van Der Kolk, Elvin Semrad, Brian Ross, Christian B. Miller, Adam Grant, C.S. Lewis, Heidi Tillotson, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Sheryl Crow, Karl Barth, Rich Villodas.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(07/14/24)

This episode will help you explore your own internal world, how you are thinking about the people you want to judge the most, how you relate to what Jesus has to say, and what Jesus might have to offer that could change everything. Credits & Sources: Steve Cuss, R. Robert Creech, Murray Bowen, William R. Herzog, Gerhard Lenski, Scot McKnight, Craig Keener, Donald Kraybill, Alan Culpepper, Ian Cron, and Marsha Linehan.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(07/07/24)

Transactions are the bedrock of social functions. They are what make the world go around "Buy. Sell. Exchange. Barter. Trade. A Favor for a favor. I'll give you this in exchange for that." What happens when love is reduced to a favor for a favor, and do we even realize when this is happening? This episode explores how immersed our thinking, motivations, behavior and relationships are in transactional dynamics and what Jesus has to say about all this. Credits & Sources:Brennan Manning, Fred Craddock, John Gottman, Silvana Mici, Owen Kessler, C. Hazan, P.R. Shaver, E.J. Finkel, C.M. Hui, K.L. Carswell, G.M. Larson, M.S. Clark, J. Mills, X.B. Arriaga, C.R. Agnrew, Donald Kraybill, Allan Culpepper, David Garland, Brian Ross, Brian Zahnd. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(06/09/24)

This episode will stretch you. No matter what you think about whether or not violence should be considered as a potential solution, no matter what you think about all of the problems in the world, if you would engage these words of Jesus seriously-they would change you. Credits and Sources: "Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed" by Philip Hallie, Preston Sprinkle, Holocaust Encyclopedia, Scot McKnight. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(06/01/24)

Notice, there's an asterisk on the title. We come as far as we think we can come, as far as we want to come, as far as we were told we could come, as far as we are able to come. This is where all of the real story telling happens. When we come, we show up with a history, a mess, with very human problems, and with everything that makes us human: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Credits and Sources:Dale Allison Jr., Moises Silva, A.J. Swoboda, Scot McKnight, Frederick Dale Bruner, Greg Boyd, Alan Culpepper, Justo Gonzalez, Bruce Malina, Richard Rorhbaugh, Tim Geddert, Eugene Lowry, David Garland, Fred Craddock, Donald Kraybill, Martin Luther King, Josephus, Ambrose of Milan, Jelly Roll. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(05/18/24)

Life is full of forks in the road and choices. We pray and we choose. Sometimes it seems crystal clear what we should do, and sometimes it doesn't. What do you do when you pray your head off, and then make a choice, you invest, you love, you risk everything; and then everything that could go wrong-does go wrong? What do you do then? What do you tell yourself? Credits & Sources:Vern Hyndman, Frederick Dale Bruner, Augustine, Josephus, Dan White, Debra Hirsh, William Steuart McBirnie, Richard Bauckham, E.J. Schnabel, Megan DeFranza, GerhardLohfink, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Tim Geddert, David Garland, Fred Craddock, Justo Gonzalez, Donald Kraybill, C. David Jones, Nils von Kalm.  For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(05/04/24)

Everyone wants their interpretation of Scripture to be THE interpretation of Scripture? It's a human tendency that is centuries, even millennia old. Who gets to interpret Scripture and actually has authority to say, "This is what this story means!"Credits and Sources:Edwin M. Yamauchi. D. Instone-Brewer, Ambrose of Milan, Mishnah, Richard Rohrbaugh,Bruce Malina, Justo Gonzalez, Greg Boyd, Fred Craddock, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Craig Keener, David Garland, J. Ellsworth Kalas, Brian Zahnd, Brad Jersak, Donald Kraybill, BDAG, Louw and Nida. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(05/04/24)

What do a gardener, a ghost, a distant observer, and a foreigner all have in common? And what does this silly little riddle have to do with the nitty gritty of real life? In what way do we find ourselves living in this silly little riddle all the time? For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(04/18/24)

What do you do when things feel too far gone? When you feel blocked from what your heart is thirsting for? When it feels like the snowball has rolled to far down the wrong side of the mountain? When you are just trying to survive, cope, and self-soothe? Credits & Sources:Mark D. Baker, Eric Miller, Robert Linthicum, Sherri Nozik, Moises Silva, Louw and Nida, Brian Ross, Eugene Lowry, Alan Culpepper, N.T. Wright, Tim Geddert, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Scot McKnight, Donald Kraybill, Justo Gonzalez, Greg Boyd, Fred Craddock, Tim Chester, Joel Green, BDAG.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(04/18/24)

This Easter episode explores the different kinds of stories that people tell about what's going on in the world. Credits & Sources:Brian Ross, Justo Gonzalez, Francis Spufford, N.T. Wright, Bessl Van Der Kolk, ACE Study, OHCHR,IDMC, The World Bank, World Poverty Clock, Lisa Cron, Kenneth Tanner, Jacopo Pasotti, Elisabetta Zavoli, Worldhunger.org, International Labour Organization.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(03/31/24)

Easter mini-series Part Two.We all have blind spots. We can't conceive of anything different. This episode walks you through the ideas about suffering that the disciples of Jesus could not begin to imagine differently, and also invites you to reflect on what you believe about suffering, and how that might be impacting your experiences of suffering. Credits & Sources:Moises Silva, David Steinmetz, Brian Ross, N.T. Wright, Ellen David, Brad Jersak, Richard Hays.  For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(03/24/24)

This one includes an Easter challenge/experiment that I hope you will engage. It has been the practice that has opened many people's eyes to see Jesus, reality, Scripture, and this entire world in a whole new way. If you feel like your life story or this world's story isn't going where you wish it was going, this short series and the experiments suggested are worth your time. Credits & Sources:David C. Steinmetz, Ellen F. Davis, Richard Hays, Matt Vincent, Tim Chester, Carlos A. Rodriguez, Alan Culpepper, Robert Karris, Richard Rohrbaugh, Bruce Malina, Donald Kraybill. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(03/17/24)

Have you ever done something with the very best of intentions, but most people think you made a complete mess? Part of the human experience is feeling misunderstood and misinterpreted. Like nobody really gets you. If you have a friend who's super intelligent, but they can't interpret you, how deep can that friendship go? We all long for someone who interprets us, and can see what's under the surface, our deeper intent, our true meaning. We long for relationships that run deeper than data. We long for someone to interpret us. Credits & Sources:Nijay Gupta, N.T. Wright, Leonard Sweet, Craig Keener, David Garland, Eugene Peterson, Fred Craddock, Joel Green, Justo Gonzalez, Tim Geddert, Alan Culpepper, Brian Zahnd, Johannes Louw, Eugene Nida, Brad Jersak, Moises Silva, Mark Baker, Greg Boyd.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(02/25/24)

This episode explores many dimensions of the experience of ancient lepers. It also explores the ways that we think of "lepers" similarly to how we think of "leopards" or other zoo animals (as something exotic, endangered, or extinct) rather than thinking of them as the kind of person we will probably see every day of the week. In what way does this way of seeing the Gospels and the world cause the teaching of Jesus not to gain the traction it is meant to have in our lives? Credits & Sources:Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Joel Green, Fred Craddock, David Garland, Darrell Bock, Leonard Sweet, Ben Witherington, Mark Strauss, Frederick Dale Bruner, Moises Silva, Donald Kraybill, Nicole McNichols, Greg Boyd, David DeSilva.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(02/18/24)

This isn't only Simon Peter's story. Your story is wrapped up in this story. Over and over in a hundred different ways the Spirit of Jesus beckons you: "Follow me." What does this mean to you? This episode isn't meant to "tell you what to do." It is intended to help you find your place in this story and listen to Jesus calling you to follow him today. Whatever happens next is up to you. Credits & Sources:Gerhard Lohfink, Scot McKnight, Moises Silva, C.S. Lewis, Leonard Sweet, Brian Ross, Bill Wilson, Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Richard Rohr, Thomas Merton, Craig Keener, David Garland, Kenneth Bailey, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Anthony Blair.  For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(02/11/24)

We all assess threats. We all have a limbic system. We all struggle to regulate our emotions and our bodies at times. We move into attempts to escape reality, or control reality. Either way we chose, the farther we go into these tendencies, the more our life happens at the expense of others. What way does Jesus show us out of this vicious cycle? Credits & Sources: Kenneth Tanner, Leonard Sweet, Tim Jennings, Robert Fryling, David Garland, Louw and Nida, Tim Geddert, Alan Culpepper, Joel Green, Craig Keener, Scot McKnight, Nicole Specter, Ashley Olivine, and Brian Zahnd.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(02/04/24)

Our world can explain almost anything. It doesn't matter whether you are wrestling with an addiction, a parenting struggle, financial struggle, weight loss, relationship struggle, or something else; you hear in a million different sound bites every day that whatever help you need can be found in yourself. "Just access these tools. You just need this information." Information is so important, and so necessary and good.....AND... sometimes we still don't find the help we need.What then? Credits & Sources:Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, Craig Keener, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Bill Wilson, Justo Gonzalez, Thomas Merton, Mark Baker, Joel Green, Christian Miller, David Garland, Brian Ross, Brad Jersak, Richard Rohr, Brian Zahnd, Gordon Fee, Paul Eddy, and James Beiby.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(01/21/24)

If you could receive a heartfelt apology, an expression of genuine remorse, and real efforts to repair the situation from anyone; who would you choose? What happens when you long for that apology, but there is no apology? How do you cope, and does it help?Credits and Sources:Brian Zahnd, Brennan Manning, Jean Anouih, R.B. Chisholm Jr., Joel Green, Craig Keener, John Delahouse, Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Bruce Malina, Richard Rohrbaugh, Darrell Bock, Kenneth Bailey, Greg Boyd, Kate Murphy, Mario Gollwitzer, Milena Meder, Manfred Schmitt, Kevin Carlsmith,Timothy Wilson, Daniel T. Gilbert. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(01/07/24)

Nobody wants to think of themselves as gullible. But what if the most difficult temptation to face and often the most destructive, is the temptation that you don't recognize as a temptation at all? This episode explores the final temptation of Jesus in the wilderness, and how we encounter aspects of this same temptation in everyday life. Credits & Sources:Donald Kraybill, Tim Geddert, Alan Culpepper, David Garland, Craig Keener, Joel Green, Justo Gonzalez, Darrell Bock, Frederick Dale Bruner, Henri Nouwen, N.T. Wright.Music Credits: Tyler Chester, Michael Gungor. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(12/17/23)

What if there was a magic button you could push and suddenly people saw things your way? Everyone has people they wish they could change. Their goals for change can be "oh so good" and they fail to even realize that their method of pursuing those good goals is "oh so diabolical." This is the temptation on the mountain that Jesus encountered and rejected. Credits & Sources:William R. Herzog II, Gerhard Lenski, Marva Dawn, Philip Zimbardo, Josh Schneider, Ed Grabianowski, Saul Mcleod, Robert Sutton, Greg Boyd, Vicki Haddock, Jonathan Becker, Deborah Gruenfeld, David Fitch, Donald Kraybill, Richard Beck, Tim Geddert, N.T. Wright, David Garland, Justo Gonzalez, Lee Camp, Allan R. Bevere, Dacher Keltner, G. Ward.For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(12/10/23)

Life is full of difficult, bizarre, and dark experiences and we wonder, "Is God testing me? Is this a temptation or dark attack? Or is this just all happening because of natural causes?" This episode explores your experience, and Jesus' experience of all three of these. Credits & Sources:Ilene Strauss Cohen, Marva Dawn, William Stringfellow, N.T. Wright, Greg Boyd, Joel Green, Alan Culpepper, Tim Geddert, Justo Gonzalez, Darrell Bock, David Garland, Henry Louis Gates Jr. For more information or to support this podcast visit www.netartsfriends.org(12/3/23)