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.

Because of the Gospel, we now have the life of Christ within which will produce a certain kind of fruit. In this message, Nathan talks about the fruit that is produced in one’s life—what we typically call the fruit of the Spirit—and describes the nine aspects to this singular fruit of Christlikeness.

This is the twenty-second installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from the Time of Nero. In this episode he once again returns to the unsavory topic of Emperor Nero. Nero was a man who behaved like a beast and this similitude has triggered many speculations and prognostications regarding his potential puzzle-like fit with the terrible “Therion” mentioned in the book of Revelation by the Apostle John. The Greek word “therion” translates to “wild animal, beast, or feral creature.” And that was exactly what Nero was. But, could it possibly be that John was referring to Nero when he wrote about the “Beast” in the book of Revelation? Futurists say, “No way!” While Preterists shout, “Look at the facts! It’s obvious that John was talking about Nero!” May we prove strong enough as a church to not allow an evil man who persecuted the church two thousand years ago to persecute us again today by becoming the center of a divisive debate.

This is the twenty-first installment in Eric’s series entitled Spiritual Lessons from The Time of Nero. In this episode he introduces his audience to the infamous Roman emperor, Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus. Anyone stuck with such a long name understandably might prove a little grumpy, but Nero’s problems go far beyond being a little grumpy. He seemed to have a problem with everyone in his life. After running out of family members to murder, in 64 AD he turned his angst against the Christians, murdering an immense number of them. But, what is amazing, is that such a disturbed man was still loved by God, and God pursued him, sending Paul the Apostle to stand before him and to testify of the love, longsuffering, and grace of Jesus Christ.