February

February 2023 Reflections

February 28, 2023 by Krisan Marotta

In March I’ll be starting a new series on 1&2Thessalonians. In his letters to the Thessalonians, Paul teaches a young church facing persecution how to live between the first and second coming of Christ. I hope you’ll join me.

February podcasts

Genesis 2 and the three commitments of a biblical marriage. Listen

Compare and contrast the types of relationships that can lead to marriage and how well they prepare you for a biblical marriage. Listen

A biblical view of sexuality from the Song of Solomon. Listen

How to decide whether to marry a particular person. Listen

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Resources

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Please tell your friends about the podcast — but more importantly, encourage them with something you learned.

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Next: March 2023

Previous: January 2023

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

February 2022 Reflections

February 28, 2022 by Krisan Marotta

In February we finished the first 7 chapters of Matthew’s gospel, which completed the Sermon on the Mount. After 4 weeks on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, we’ll start on new series on 1&2 Thessalonians, before returning to Matthew.

Welcome new listeners! Please let me know if you heard about the podcast from the World & Everything in it.

New Resources

I am adding a new series of resources called “Start Here.” The goal is to point new believers to passages that answer the typical questions we face after coming to faith. The idea is not simply to give answers, but show how those answers come from Scripture. There are 4 in the series so far:

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February Podcasts

40 Matthew 7:7-11 Seek and you will find

Ask God for the life He has promised and you will receive it. Seek the good things that He has promised and you will find them. Knock on the door to the kingdom of heaven and it will open to you. These words are powerful because of the difficult battle they represent. Believing and acting on these promises is the central struggle of the Christian life.

41 Matthew 7:12-29 The Golden Rule and the 2 Roads

Matthew 7:12-29 summarizes two great themes we’ve seen in this sermon: 1) You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 2) There is a road that seems right to us, but it leads to destruction.

01 Habakkuk Introduction

The Old Testament book of Habakkuk speaks to two of the most fundamental questions of the Christian faith: 1) How long will God let His people suffer? and 2) Why should we keep believing Him if we’re not spared the tragedies of life?

02 Habakkuk 1:1-2:1 Habakkuk Complains

Habakkuk asks the Lord one of the most fundamental questions of faith: How long will you let your people suffer? The Lord answers, but not the way Habakkuk expects.

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Please tell your friends about the podcast — but more importantly, encourage them with something you learned.

Next: March 2022 Reflections

Previous: January 2022 Reflections

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

February 2021 Reflections

February 28, 2021 by Krisan Marotta

What should we do when passages of the Bible anger or frighten us?

I heard RC Sproul answer that question once. His advice is mark the passage in your Bible, move on but spend time on it later. Devoting special attention to solving difficult passages increases our understanding (eventually) and our study skills.

But what if once we understand the problem passage, we still don’t like it?

There are only 2 options: either the author of Scripture needs to change His thinking or we need to change our thinking. When I find myself being critical of Scripture, it’s usually because the Scripture exposes something in me that I don’t want to see. The places where Scripture rubs me wrong are usually the areas I most need to grow in grace and mercy.

Speaking of difficult passages, we will tackle the “fulfillment” passages from Matthew 2 in March. I learned a lot from studying them, and I’m excited to share it with you. I hope you’re enjoying the Gospel of Matthew so far.

Thanks for listening and welcome new subscribers!

Podcasts

01 Gospel of Matthew Introduction

Jesus claimed that “all authority in heaven and on earth” has been given to him (Mt 28:18). If that’s true, and I believe it is, then we benefit by learning all we can about Jesus. Matthew wrote this gospel to tell us who Jesus is and what that means for us.

02 Matthew 1:1-17 The Genealogy of Jesus

Writers are usually told to start their books with a hook that will immediately engage their readers. Matthew begins his gospel with a list of names. Could anything be more boring? Yet Matthew did start with a bang. This list is relevant to every human being who ever lived.

03 Matthew 1:18-25 The Birth of Jesus

You would think that a passage covering the birth of Jesus would be easy “Christmas stuff” we’re all familiar with. Don’t be fooled. Matthew’s account raises some interesting theological questions.

04 Matthew 2:1-23 The early life of Jesus

Matthew draws many parallels between the early life of Jesus and the Old Testament to reinforce his main point: Jesus is the Christ, the son of Abraham and son of David, who will fulfill God’s promises.

New Bible Study resources

Listeners have told me that their podcast feed is often limited to the last 20-30 episodes. You can find all previous podcasts here on this website and you can make your own “app” to locate them quickly.