Church and Family Life Podcast

Apart from how you walk with God, marriage is the most important life decision you’ll ever make. While “falling in love” may come easy, marrying well in the Lord requires careful prayer and counsel, as well as the resolve to keep personal passions and hormones in their rightful place. It should be pursued for the right reasons with a clear mind and calm judgment—and ultimately be driven by the desire to honor and please the Lord. In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Trent Moody, outline eight things one needs to consider and do before marrying. First, recognize the importance of the decision. Second, get good counsel from others about your potential spouse, and don’t ignore it if it’s sound. Third, don’t marry for the wrong reasons—including for beauty (which fades), or wealth (which is fleeting), or out of a sense of panic. Fourth, seek the input and approval of your parents. Fifth, make sure there is genuine, mutual love between both parties. Sixth, have a visible means of financial support. Seventh, determine that there is equal yoking on spiritual things. And, eighth, make it a matter of earnest prayer. 

When civil rulers spurn God’s law, Christians have a duty to speak. That’s the clear testimony of Scripture. Throughout history, faithful heralds of righteousness have called out civil magistrates for committing evil deeds and enacting laws repugnant to God’s moral order. Think of Elijah before King Ahab and John the Baptist before Herod.  The need is no less great today. In this podcast, Scott Brown, joined by Trent Moody and Robert Bosley, discuss the church’s duty to speak to morality in the civil sphere. And the topics before us are many: whether it’s local city councils promoting Gay Pride Festivals and transgenderism, or state agencies paying for the removal of sex organs or permanently sterilizing children, Christians need to call our civil leaders to forsake evil and follow God’s ways. 

Who should be baptized—the children of believers or only those who repent and believe on Christ? The debate between paedo- and credo-baptists has waged for centuries, and the answer hinges on how we interpret Covenant Theology. What is without question is that all of God’s dealings with man are covenantal. And Scripture further makes plain that those who enter covenant with God should receive the covenant sign. The question of baptism comes down to this: What is the nature of the New Covenant, and how does one rightly enter it?  In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Robert Bosley, tackle the thorny debate between paedo- and credobaptists. Taking a robust view of Covenant Theology, they maintain that members of New Covenant are those who truly know God and have their sins forgiven: “they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jer. 31:34). The question of who should be baptized does not rest on who one’s parents are, but on those whom the “Lord our God . . . call[s]” (Acts 2:39). 

What is the role of a grandparent? While the world says it’s time to retire and relax, Scripture paints a much different picture. Grandparents have an opportunity to help disciple their grandchildren in God’s ways and leave a lasting heritage for their families that will bless generations to come.   In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Josh Mulvihill, counsel listeners to reject the world’s wrong messages to grandparents, which is to maintain disengaged independence from their grandchildren on the one hand, and to indulgently spoil them, on the other. Passages such as Deuteronomy 4:9 and Psalm 78:1-7 call grandparents to teach their grandchildren God’s laws and His mighty works in history. Their story is not the point; it is the pointer to make much of God—proclaiming that the same great God who sustained them will guide their grandchildren’s steps, if they set their hope in Him (Ps. 78:7). 

Before they reach 18, 37% of the children in America will receive a visit from Child Protective Services. While some visits are warranted, 83% of the cases CPS investigates are unfounded. Sadly, doctors and nurses, driven by “mandatory reporting” laws, along with unwise neighbors, regularly tip CPS off to concerns that open up innocent families to needless scrutiny that can result in children being wrongly taken from their parents. In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm discuss these challenges with Bradley Pierce of Heritage Defense. Heritage Defense is a membership-based, Christian legal advocacy group that guides parents on how to prudently respond to CPS and defends them against unlawful intrusion. While strongly opposing the criminal abuse of children, their goal is to champion the cause of those persecuted by the state for obeying God’s commands in raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. 

It’s the world turned upside down! The July 13th assassination attempt of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania showcased an image Americans had never seen before—a female Secret Service agent coming to the defense of a man. While woman warriors populate the Marvel universe, they don’t play this role in God’s world whenever Christian culture prevails. Sadly, we’ve lost our bearings, and women have been the losers! In the podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Michael Foster, explain the scriptural mandate—men lay down their lives to protect women and children, even as Christ gave His life for the church. The theme is echoed throughout God’s Word: Men, not women, joined Abraham to rescue Lot and his family from foreign invaders. Men marched around Jericho in Joshua’s time, and men fought with Gideon. And the list goes on. The creation order matters—women should be protected as nurturers, while men go out to war. 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not an aside to our faith. It “is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). Without its wonder-working power, there is no hope for family, church, or cultural reformation. We must therefore keep the Gospel at the center, for from it flows salvation and hope for the nations. In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm discuss the Gospel as the centerpiece of Scripture—from God’s promise to crush the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3:15 to its ultimate fulfilment in Jesus Christ. Their charge: Don’t let anything unseat the gospel as the center of things, yet also beware of a gospel that doesn’t transform, for “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). 

Faithful church deacons provide a ministry of mercy that the state can never match—reaching those in need not just with physical and financial aid, but with spiritual help to the heart and soul. Their care for the sick, the disabled, along with widows and orphans, is Christianity in action. But what makes a young man qualified to fill this role? What attributes should he exemplify before assuming this key church office?  In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Chad Roach, discuss how a deacon must fear God, rather than be a man-pleaser, and have a proven track record of persevering through trials and overcoming sin. It’s also vital that he not be greedy for money, since he’ll be handling the funds of the church. In addition, a deacon must have a wife who can come alongside and minister with him with sisterly care and discretion. 

While the world trumpets an anti-child bias, God proclaims large families to be a blessing, “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward” (Ps. 127:3). Yet a large family is a big responsibility. It requires a lot of discipline and resources. If you’re going to have a productive womb, you need to have a well-managed household.   In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Michael Foster, discuss the perils of a large family and how to overcome them. Their counsel: maintain clear boundaries between boys and girls as it relates to modesty. Also enforce proper boundaries between parents and children—even as you teach your older kids to help care for their younger siblings, they shouldn’t become a second dad or mom. Encourage your wife through the physical and mental strain that she bears as a mother. And, as a husband and dad, be forward-thinking about your time management, as well as future needs to scale up your cars, appliances, and home space. 

How does God desire to be worshipped? The right answer doesn’t come from the latest whiz-bang idea from today’s creative coolness technicians, but from God’s Word itself. Sadly, many in the church believe that anything that’s not forbidden in Scripture is fair game to use in the worship of God—from entertaining skits to musical light shows. But such notions reject the Bible’s teaching on how God wants us to worship Him.  In this podcast, Scott Brown and Jason Dohm, joined by special guest Tom Ascol, defend the regulative principle of worship which affirms that the only “acceptable way of worshiping the true God” (LBC 22:1) is that which He has commanded in Scripture (Deut. 12:32), and “that He may not be worshiped according to the imagination and devices of man” (LBC 22:1). While incidentals—such as whether we use chairs or pews, and what time we meet—are left to our discretion, the essentials of worship—such as the preaching of the Word, prayer, and the remembrance of the Lord’s Supper—must be followed as He’s prescribed.