Church and Family Life Podcast

Carlton McLeod engaged in a careful process to transform a mainstream pragmatic church into a family-integrated church. He became frustrated with the loss of the younger generation. He did the most dangerous thing you can do – he went to the Bible. Here is the process his church engaged in.

Let us give thanks for Thanksgiving! In this podcast, we talk about different ways you can celebrate this Thanksgiving. We live in a nation where the authorities formally call on us to give thanks to God. And they want us to take the day off – and get paid for it. You can find my Fifteen Tips for Celebrating Thanksgiving here

Jason was raised in a believing home, close enough to church that his family could walk to services when the weather was nice. Around age ten, Jason was in a vacation bible school when he heard the gospel preached by a teenager. Convinced that things were not right between him and God, he knew he needed the saving blood of Jesus Christ. Then and there, he believes God saved him.   In high school, Jason fell in with a group of radical Christians who loved their Bibles and sought to be conformed to Christ and not the world. One of these Christians who discipled him turned out to be his future wife, Janet. Since being married, both have continued to have a heart to disciple others, actively serving the local church, even as God has blessed them with six children. When Jason reached his fortieth birthday, he left the electronics industry to devote his life to pastoral ministry.  

The Bible clearly instructs wives to be “keepers at home,” “so that the word of God might not be blasphemed” (Titus 2:5). It is clearly stated that there is something that happens when a woman is not a keeper at home which causes the Word of God to be blasphemed. The role of a wife is to be focused on taking dominion with her husband and children. The modern feeling is that a wife can be a CEO, teacher, or lawyer as long as she does not neglect her home. She can do it all. She does not need a singular focus on home life, but this is not how the Bible teaches wives to operate.

The Bible is sufficient for counseling. We are thankful for the Biblical Counseling Movement, which emerged in the late 1960s. It was one of the blessed moves of God where the church turned away from the language and principles of secular psychology to the use of the Word of God to understand human problems. In this podcast, we give thanks for the movement and the good that has come from it. We also examine some of the problems that have emerged.

Here is the Life Story of Scott Aniol. It is a story of an honorable son growing up in an orderly home and a good church. However, when he was fourteen, he realized that he was lost. The Lord changed his heart. His behavior did not change dramatically, but his heart was transformed.

There is a resurgence of singing the Psalms today. But why is Psalm singing so rare in today’s church? Should we be singing imprecatory Psalms? How should churches and families best use the Psalms in their singing? Join us with Scott Aniol to answer these questions and discuss his new book on singing the Psalms, “Musing on God’s Music: Forming Hearts of Praise with the Psalms.” Look for it in 2023. Aniol writes, “C. H. Spurgeon was not wrong when he bemoaned, “It is to be feared that the Psalms are by no means so prized as in earlier ages of the church.”   Here is the link to the recommended resource: https://psalms.seedbed.com/

Join us as we hear how a fourteen-year-old boy raised in a godly home was saved. Joel Beeke says he felt like “the greatest sinner on the face of the earth.” One day, a minister came over to visit and the whole family gathered around. The minister was talking to Joel’s grandfather and said, “for you too, there is a way of escape through Jesus Christ.” Joel told us he heard those words as though they were directed to him and, “that was the moment of my salvation. These words penetrated my soul. And I received it by faith, and the burden rolled off just like Christian in Pilgrims Progress.”

Mala grew up on a small island in Africa’s vast Lake Malawi. Raised an Anglican, he neglected church and made basketball his idol in his college years, desiring a career in the NBA. Yet Mala’s dreams came to a screeching halt when he was stabbed by a gang of thugs and left for dead. No longer able to play ball due to his serious injuries, he grew bitter against God and turned to liquor. Reflecting on his near-death experience, Mala realized that God had spared his life. Jesus’ words in John 3 pierced him. Confronted on his need for a new birth at a Bible study, he gave his life to Christ. Following his conversion, Mala met missionary Frank Maxson who discipled him in the faith and deepened his understanding of Scripture. Sensing a call to full-time ministry, Mala left his telecommunications job, founding Antioch Baptist Church in Blantyre, Malawi, where he has served as pastor since 2008.

What happens when people abandon moral absolutes? John Snyder joins us to discuss his book and Bible study resource on the book of Judges. Judges is a case study of what happens when “Every man did what was right in his own eyes.” The results of radical autonomy are a clear warning to all of us. As Oprah Winfrey said, “Speaking your truth is the most powerful tool” Yes, it is powerful: evil people follow their hearts, and there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Jer 13:10, Prov 28:26 & Prov 14:12) and, woe to those who are wise in their own eyes (Isa 5:21). You can access John Snyder’s study on Judges by clicking here on the Media Gratiae website.