CBWC Theology for the Ordinary

In our final episode of this series, we will tour hospitality from Jesus through Paul, Hebrews, James, 1 Peter, and up to 3 John.

As of Acts 6:1-7, there have only been 12 witnesses, 12 workers into the fields.  Beginning with Stephen, the Lord sends more.  However, the church’s focus remains the same.

Acts 4:33-35 confirms what we've been saying all along: The Spirit produces bold witness in the apostles, and mutual care in the church.

The miracle of Pentecost is not wind, sound, fire, or tongues. It is the change that happened among the people, and we will discuss that in today's episode.

In Acts 1 Jesus works with the eleven witnesses, even though there are 120 followers in Jerusalem. He wants to make sure they're ready! One more witness is then chosen and the twelve become the new "revised people of God."

The righteous in the church sometimes have trouble with repentant but undesirable prodigals, and this hesitancy puts them at odds with the Father. We will look at the older brother's cold response in today's episode on Luke 15.

In this episode we will see how "love one another" is never exclusive, but applies to everyone, including our enemies.  

Jesus reinstates Peter after his three-fold denial.  In this episode we will look at how Peter will demonstrate that his life truly belongs to Jesus.

God loves the world, but Jesus does not pray for the world. Rather, four times Jesus prays that we would all be one.  If the Father answers this prayer, what would that mean for the world?

Today we will be discussing Jesus' only instruction that he calls a "command."

In the book of John, Jesus’ first and only “command” is given while He tells them He’s leaving.  We’ll look at that command and what that means for us in this episode.

In this episode we will review Matthew’s crucial texts to make as clear as possible how we know that the church’s mission in Matthew centers on one another.

In this episode we will look at Matthew 28 and discover that maybe the “The Great Commission” isn’t the church’s call to evangelism as we’ve been taught. We'll take a close look at what Jesus is revealing to his disciples here.

In this episode we will learn who the Letters are referring to when they talk about our neighbour. We will look at Leviticus, where we find the second great command, to help us answer this question.

The 12 disciples had a running competition to rise above each other. They completely misunderstood Kingdom greatness.  In this episode, we’ll see how God pointed them in the right direction.

This episode surveys the 12 “brother and sister” texts in Matthew, giving special attention to “the least of these my brothers and sisters.”  We will also taste what a kindness and honor it is to be a part of God’s family.

The self-deceived “Lord, Lord” prophets (Mt 7) did exactly what Jesus sent the apostles to do (Mt 10), but that was not the Father’s will, and they failed to enter! So what is the Father’s will?

The Sermon (Mt 5-7) is the backbone of discipleship, and the beatitudes are the backbone of the Sermon. When the Bible talks about doing God’s will, what does that look like? We will dive into discipleship and the will of God in this episode.

What if we did what the Lord told to do?  What if we never tried to improve on our instructions, we did not try to be small or large churches, we did not try to be different than other churches or the same, we just tried to emphasize the one thing?  What if that was enough? What would we do? Using the Letters, and Romans to Revelation, we will try to answer those questions.

Individuals and small groups have all kinds of callings in the Kingdom, as they have since the church began, but what is the mission of local churches and the church as a whole?  And how does that mission lead us to be a prophetic light in a dark world?  Mark Doerksen and Cindy Emmons will host Dr. Ed Neufeld as we dive into the topic of the Mission of the Church in the Gospels and Acts.

In the final episode of this series, the people in the church not living in God's ways receive a warning, and there are things on these lists that should make us all nervous.  These warnings are not meant to be harsh or judgmental, but are God the Father's warnings to his children not to play near the freeway and they are for our own good.  In these Scriptures God maps out one part of the spiritual world in which we live and He warns us about dangerous places because He loves us and is working to keep us on the right path.

Jesus has put his eternal stamp on the body of every single believer. His stamp says, "eternity with me," and it's on our bodies.  Our bodies are not yet eternal, but these very bodies that hold your chair down are destined to be eternal, so what does that mean for us today?

In this episode we will look at Romans 1.  Here we are given a brief history of God and humans, so we know why we all need Christ so badly.  Humans have stirred up God's wrath by pushing down the truth, holding down the truth.  That's where this begins.  

Why is it better not to marry? When it is better to marry? Why should we not get too worked up about either one?  In today's podcast we will look at 1 Corinthians 7 for advice for unmarried people for whom marriage is a real option.  There is also some guidance here for those who have no choice in these things.

God designed marriage because he designed people in his image and likeness, and that image and likeness in male and female was patterned after Christ and the Church.  In this episode, based on Ephesians 5, we will see how God intended our human marriages to imitate the real marriage.    

God never suggested that Israel should improve the Egyptians or the Canaanites.  They were not God's people, so why should they live in God's ways.  So what does God want from His people?

In this episode we see that when it comes to marriage, Jesus takes us back to the beginning, back to creation in Genesis.  He also lays out for us the two ways that those in the kingdom are to live and puts himself in one of those categories.

In this second creation story, based on Genesis 2, the creation of male and female is about bodies.  One body at the start, which God makes into two.  The two are made out of one so that the two bodies would come back together again.

The Bible has two creation stories, Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.  They are different from each other, but these two stories together give us the Bible's essential picture of marriage.  This episode discusses the first story in Genesis 1.  

After all the battles, judgements and turmoil are over, what's it like to be with God?  That's what the end of Revelation wants to answer for us.

When God thinks about heaven, what is He thinking about?  What kind of place is He imagining? What is He looking forward to?  In this episode, Ed will speak about God's dream home.

Who rules earth? That is what Revelation 20 wants to answer.  The 1,000 years describe a time when there is a great change in who influences and shapes earth. 

Pay your money, get your pleasure.  In this episode we will learn more about Babylon the prostitute, what she looks like and her ultimate destruction.

The Seven Bowls tell us that God is angry.  Who is He angry with? He’s angry with certain people. Those who won’t glorify God, and who refuse to change how they live. People who worship the beast, and take his mark. Those who attack God’s children. 

This session we will cover part 2 of Holy War, which describes the consequences of the battle, rewards and punishments.

What is really going on in the world?  What explains the hard things in the world, and what should we be doing?  In particular, why is it that the world does not like Christians?  This episode is called Holy War, Part 1 and it speaks about a war that has been going on since Revelation was first written to the seven 1st century churches.  

The vision of the two witnesses, in symbolic language, tells the life story of every follower of Christ.  In this episode we will talk about the basic plot of each of our lives, which is divided into three scenes.

What explains the world we live in? The world is messed up. It is hard to trust in God. What is He doing? Anything? God gave Revelation to Christ, to give it to John, to answer questions like these for first century Christians. They had the same kind of questions, for the same kinds of reasons. The answers of Revelation are the same for us as for them and the seven trumpets tell us quite a bit.

Do you wonder if your faith in Christ would last, if life got bad enough? If persecution got bad enough? Do you worry that you might decide that following Christ was not worth it, and you would fall away?  Revelation 7 lets us know who can stand, whose faith will last, and who is going to endure to the end and be saved.  

What do you think is really going on in the world?  What explains the way things are? Does it seem that everything is moving towards chaos?  Is everything falling apart? In this podcast we’re reminded that at the centre of the universe is a throne and the One on the Throne is eternal and He rules heaven and earth.

In Revelation 4-5, Ed speaks about all of earth's history as divided into three main events. First, God created the heavens and the earth, and heaven praises God for this. Second, Christ died and rose again. Third, Creation's destiny is assured as everything in heaven and on earth praises God.

In this episode Dr. Ed Neufeld will explore the content of the letters to the seven Churches in Revelation 2-3.

In our first episode, we receive an introduction to the book itself and then we proceed through chapter 1.  Dr. Ed Neufeld will take a redemptive-historical approach to help us understand the book.