The Cost of Discipline. In this episode, we sit with St. Athanasius and his writings on the life of St. Antony. How did Christians in the 4th century view spiritual warfare and affliction? What is the relation of discipline to prayer, piety, and resisting temptation? What did 4th century Christians think about virtues and vices, and whether they were (or weren’t) related to the Christian life? Is it better for Christians to seek a place of solitude or community when focusing on heavenly things versus worldly things? How does Mammon factor into this? What does Scripture teach about the evil one, demons, dark powers, and evil spirits? Do we as modern Christians agree with Athanasius and Antony’s views about spiritual warfare, and if not, why? This and much, much more on this week’s episode.

As Alive As You Need Me to Be. In this episode, we sit with Rev. Dr. Kurt Marquardt and listen as he teaches us about theosis, deification, justification, Christology, myth and ethics, materialism and rationalism, sacramentality, vocation, relational versus philosophical exegesis, sanctification, glorification, and much, much more.

Let your soul grieve, yes, but don’t let it be eaten alive by worry.

Sure Shot. In this episode of Banned Books, we read Rod Rosenbladt’s essay, Christ Died for the Sins of Christians Too. We talk about theological mentors, the Reformation, law and Gospel, justification, sanctification, the Church, and where we find our comfort at all times, in all places.

We confuse salvation and vocation in our quest to determine who is in control of our salvation.

Humility kills pride. So “humble yourself before the Lord,” as James writes (Jas 4:10). Kill your pride before it kills the things you love. Subdue it before it gets you into the kind of trouble that may even kill you. Conquer your pride before it defeats you. It’s that simple, but we all know it’s not that easy.

We are so free as Christians that we don't even have to compare ourselves to other Christians.

We're going to worry about what people think of us. It's going to get in the way of our relationship with Jesus. We're going to fear God's judgment. But, we're also baptized into Christ. So we don't give up hope. Jesus will help us and strengthen us. He will guide us in his Baptismal grace and peace.

All the verbs of our salvation are passive. God calls and gathers people to him through his Gospel.

Jesus is the "because" and "therefore" of our salvation because He died for our sin

The goal of Christian living isn't to gather in and store up two, three, four barn-fulls of good works for ourselves.

Likewise, when God says, "Do this and you will live," we go about under the illusion that we have the ability to accomplish what God demands of us.