Daily Thunder Podcast

This is the twenty-ninth installment in Eric’s series entitled, Spiritual Lessons from the Time of Nero. In this episode he dives into the strange history of false messiahs that came flooding into Judea after the Jews rejected the true Messiah. The same profound spiritual vacuum, that plagued first century Judaism, is always created when Jesus is resisted—and it’s true in our lives, as well.  

Humanity was created to be the image-bearer of the Living God. And because of the power of the Gospel through the Cross of Christ, we have been restored to how we were intended to live: bearing the image of Jesus Christ so our world might know Him. In this study, we examine the concept of image throughout Scripture, what it means to “bear His Name,” and discover the incredible privilege to reflect Christ to our world.

This is the twenty-eighth installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from the Times of Nero. In this episode he attempts to do something that most Christians don’t believe can be done—juggle four vantage points on the Book of Revelation simultaneously. You will need to be the judge as to whether or not he succeeded. 

This is the twenty-seventh installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from the Time of Nero. In this episode he explores the profound life and death of the Apostle Peter. When danger surfaces the average human runs the other way—wanting to get as far away from it as possible. This makes Peter’s decision in 64 AD to courageously head back into Christian-killing Rome instead of run away from it, a remarkable choice. Peter’s subsequent death at the hands of Nero instructs us two thousand years later in the way to truly honor Christ in both life and death.

The Gospel provides security and safety in Jesus Christ, our salvation. Amidst the spiritual battle we are in, we are told to stand strong, put on armor, to walk in victory and triumph. But how? In this study, Nathan Johnson examines the armor of God in Ephesians 6 and shows that Jesus is the person and place of our triumph … He is our refuge and fortress. In short, Jesus is the armor we are clothed within.

This is the twenty-sixth installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from the Time of Nero. In this episode he does the unthinkable. He does a four hundred foot dive into the shark-filled kiddy pool and . . . we still aren’t sure if he survived. Dating the Book of Revelation has been a long held debate in the Church and the reason it is contentious is due to the fact that the two varying camps support their vastly different conclusions based on the supposed date in which it was purportedly written. For instance, if it was written in 64-65 AD then the date would appear to support a Preterist view of Revelation (ie. the events have already happened), while if it was written in 95-96 AD, the date strongly supports a Futurist view of Revelation (ie. the events are still expected to happen). Eric attempts this dangerous dive in order to prove something different than either viewpoint typically attempts to support. He seeks to show that a Preterist and Futurist view can both be compatible in the Christian walk and both have always been important in the Revelation of God’s Kingdom. 

This is the twenty-fifth installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from the Time of Nero. In this episode he explores the “seemingly unimportant” territory of dating the books of the New Testament. Most people would say, “It doesn’t really matter to me when it was written.” And in a certain sense, it’s true. Someone can believe the words of Scripture and believe that the work of Christ on their behalf is sufficient to save them whether the words were written in 40 AD, 400 AD, or 2024 AD. But, the integrity of the Bible and the trustworthiness of its words are paramount to our confidence-in and obedience-to its words (especially its hard words and its words that appear culturally insensitive and out-dated). The Devil is waging a campaign against the Scripture. He desires to marginalize its power, its supernatural nature, and its trustworthiness. Meanwhile, to counteract this devilish plot, determining a time stamp for when these New Testament books were written CAN ACTUALLY matter. 

The Gospel comes with a free gym membership! Amidst the trials, struggles, challenges, and difficulties of life, God desires to flip them and use them as weights in your spiritual life to build greater soul muscle and increase your faith. He doesn’t always remove the hardships, but He will leverage everything in your life for His purpose and plan to ultimately glorify Jesus and conform you to His image. In this study, Nathan talks about the test of faith and why you should see difficulty in light of the Gospel—as a free membership in God’s spiritual gym.

This is the twenty-fourth installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from the Time of Nero. In this episode he demonstrates the propensity we have as believers to interpret the Scriptures and the events of history through the lens of our convictions. Whereas, this is not bad in itself, there is a propensity we all have to force fit Scripture into our mold rather than to conform our mold around Scripture. Using the example of Christ’s date of death on the Cross, Eric demonstrates how easy it is to be led by a desire for a specific conclusion than by the evidence itself.  

This is the twenty-third installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from the Time of Nero. In this episode he explains the profound idea of historical parallels in Scripture, where an event in the Old Testament reoccurs centuries later (sometimes thousands of years later) but in a different more extraordinary way that demonstrates Jesus Christ. In addition to discussing various historical parallels revealed in the Text of Scripture, Eric dives deep into paralleling two particular seasons: 1) the 40 year season in the wilderness under Moses, and 2) the 40 year season following the Cross under Christ. This is a profound puzzle piece of this series, tying quite a few of the previous puzzle pieces together into a whole.