Jesus at 2AM - A Humorous, Intelligent Look at the Bible, Church History & the Life of Faith

In this episode we turn to – you guessed it – the 9th commandment: You shall not bear false witness. It's instruction that – like all the commandments – seems, at first glance, very simple and straightforward: When you are called as a witness in a trial, do not give false testimony. But when we look a little deeper, we see that this commandment is filled with implications that I think are critical to explore if we are to live the abundant life – not the least of which is to recognize that in life, there will be conflict. Wrongs will be done. Harm will happen. There will be disputes that require adjudication. If life in the community of faith were easy, there'd be no need for a commandment about truth-telling. Indeed, it turns out that truth-telling is key for a healthy community. And in fact, can be very healing when wrongs have been committed. Sometimes the only justice that can be granted is an honest accounting of what has transpired. But owning wrongs goes a long way towards making repair. And yet there is another reason that the people of God are called to be honest brokers in all that we do – we bear witness to God himself, whom we believe raised Jesus from the dead! …a claim that strains credulity to its breaking point. If we want to be the least bit credible when it comes to bearing witness to Christ, we had best have a long reputation of integrity – intellectual and otherwise... The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:16 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com, send me email, or come chat on BlueSky.

This is part 10 of our series on the abundant life as we try to figure out what it looks like – in practice – to live fully, to live richly as a human. It's a search that has taken us deep into the 10 Commandments of all places - today to the 8th commandment and one of the most obvious lessons in life: You shall not steal. Seems clear enough: no robbing banks, no mugging anyone on the subway, go ahead pay for that pack of gum… And yet…, theft isn't just about what we take with our hands—it's about what we take with our power, with our privilege and sometimes what we acquire with our silence. It's about the ways we allow systems to profit at the expense of others and about the trust we break when we misuse what's been placed in our care. From corporations exploiting workers to governments selling out the public good, stealing is everywhere. And if we're honest? It's probably closer to home than we'd like to admit. But here's the good news: we were never meant to live in scarcity, fighting for what we can get. God's desire has always been for us to live fully, freely, abundantly—not by taking, but by giving. The lesson of this and all the "Commandments" isn't mainly about checking moral boxes—it's about stepping into the kind of life that brings wholeness, justice, and joy, both for ourselves and for others. The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:15 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

We continue our search for life and life abundantly, a search that has taken us to unexpected places, not least the 10 commandments – which has turned out to be far more than a list of religious rules, but a source of profound insight into what constitutes a fundamentally healthy life. Today we turn to the 7th commandment: "You shall not commit adultery." And by we I mean "not me," in that you have here another sermon from Ian (who has really been helping share the preaching load with me, which is a huge help and a big part of my no-burnout strategy!). As you might expect, Ian's first lesson is going to be: Don't commit adultery. But there is much more to adultery than things sexual. I will let him explain the virtue of integrity... The texts for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:13 (NRSV) and John 8:1-11 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

Today we arrive at the 6th Commandment: "You shall not murder…" That, at least, is how the NRSV translates it. But as you'll see, there is much, much more to the 6th commandment than not murdering someone. (Though not murdering is a darn fine place to start!) The goal, however, is to go much farther than not taking life. Rather we are to honor the sacred gift of humanness and all the beauty that is inherent to human life. That is to say: if we want the abundant life, we begin by honoring humanity - our own and that and of everyone else. In this episode I highly recommend checking out the meditation app Happier. (They are not sponsors, I have no financial stake..., it's just an app I love and think you might, too!) If you'd like to check out the biblical text for this episode, you can find it here: Exodus 20:1-13 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

The 5th commandment tell us to "Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving you." But what does "honor" truly mean? Is it obedience? Gratitude? Or something even deeper—a call to listen, to remember, and to carry forward the lessons of love and grace? Our world often teaches us to move fast, to leave the past behind, and to define ourselves solely by individual achievement. But the truth is, none of us walk this journey alone. We are all part of a story much larger than ourselves, one woven together by the people who have come before us and those who will come after us. Today, we'll reflect on what it means to give weight to the past—not as a burden, but as a gift—and how that can shape the way we build a future rooted in love, connection, and abundance. The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:12 (NRSV) If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

Today we arrive at the 4th commandment: "Remember the Sabbath..." And you get a sermon not from me (which is probably good because – as you might have guessed – I'm not great at Sabbathing!), but from our old friend, Rev. Ian Farrell – who is much better at Sabbath than I am. In this episode, Ian is going to make the case that Sabbath is not about the particular day we choose for rest, but about the attitude we carry about being a beloved child of God because of who we are, not what we do. It's a lesson that we probably all understand at a superficial level. But letting our belovedness sink deep into our identity is a whole 'nother matter…! If you'd like to follow the sermon text, you can find it here: Exodus 20:8-11 (NRSV). As a reminder, if you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

Today we continue our journey through the Ten Commandments—not as a list of rules, but as a pathway to true freedom and flourishing, arriving at the 3rd commandment: "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God." For many of us, this commandment has been reduced to a simple rule about avoiding bad words or not using God's name in vain. But its meaning runs far deeper! The 3rd commandment is about the profound significance of God's name, about the power of prayer and and the dangers of distorting faith for personal or political gain. To call on the name of the Lord wrongly is dangerous business. Whereas calling upon God rightly leads us into a life of deeper intimacy, integrity, and love. The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:7 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting Kirk, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

In this episode we continue our look at what Jesus meant when he said he came to bring "life and life abundantly." It's a study that has taken us not into the NT so much, but into the Old – specifically into the 10 commandment of all places. Indeed, today we look at the 2nd commandment "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." Which at first glance, sounds like a reiteration of the first commandment – have no other gods. But I'm going to argue that this is not the meaning of the 2nd commandment at all! Rather the God of Israel wants no idols of him! And there is a very, very important reason why…and it leads back to Jesus. I'll let the sermon fill in the gaps... The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 20:2-6 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting Kirk, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me." It is the first commandment and it sounds...rather ominous. But if we take a moment to listen more deeply, what we discover is actually a call to radical freedom! In a world of myriad deities, each with a slight power over the necessities of life, the stress of keeping each placated was never-ending (and exhausting!)...perhaps not so unlike our world today... And yet, at Mt. Sinai - after the lived experience of rescue from slavery - the God of Israel declares complete sovereignty over creation; meaning that the endless drive to keep the gods satisifed is entirely unnecessary. And the one God who calls for loyalty is the God who freely saves the objects of his perfect love. Maybe far from ominous, the first commandment is a gift of peace, hope and joy - the very heart of what it means to live life abundantly! The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 19:1-6, 20:1-3 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) If you'd like to go back and find sermons and audio that Kirk presented at Canvas during his long hiaitus, simply head to the Canvas Sermon Archive. For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting Kirk, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!

We continue our look at the abundant life by turning - quite unexpectedly! - to the 10 Commandments and consider the possibility that they are not meant to be the burden we so often imagine them to be, but are rather a gift pointing us to health, life and joy. They are, after all, the first instruction of a loving God to his chosen people. Perhaps love is more operative within the commandments than threat...? (Click here to see the 10 Commandments poster referenced in the sermon!) The text for this sermon can be found here: Exodus 19:1-20:21 (NRSV). If you value the podcast and are able to support the community from which it comes, you can make a tax-deductible contribution to Canvas Presbyterian Church here! (Thank you!!!) If you'd like to go back and find sermons and audio that Kirk presented at Canvas during his long hiaitus, simply head to the Canvas Sermon Archive. For more sermon series, resources and means of contacting me, simply head to jesusat2am.com or send me email here!