Skillman Church Of Christ's Podcast

We are all in need of hope. For most of us, life hasn’t turned out exactly like we envisioned or thought.  There have been surprises, disappointments, curveballs, and failures.  When we watch the news on TV, we sometimes can’t help but be discouraged by what we see.  Do we have hope that things will get better?  What do we put our hope in as Christians?  In our own lives, do we hope that the new job, house, spouse, kids, will make things better?  For our nation, are we putting our hope in a political candidate to make things better.  The Psalmist in Psalms 146 cautions us in putting our hope in men, and encourages us to put our hope in the Lord.  “Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,  whose hope is in the Lord their God.”  God is up to something.  God is still at work.  The needy, broken, marginalized, and hurting have not been forgotten. We can have hope in the Lord.

As we enter our second week of Advent in anticipation of the birth of Christ, we turn to the book of Isaiah. In a prophecy written hundreds of years before that day in Bethlehem, Isaiah writes that out of the roots of Jesse, a branch shall grow from its roots.  A new heaven and new earth will come from this shoot where ‘the wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.’ For hundreds of years the Jewish people waited for this prophesy to be fulfilled. It came in the form of Jesus.  We also wait during this Advent season to celebrate the birth of our Savior, whose roots trace all the way back to Jesse.

Romans 13: 11-14

James 1: 17-18 

The word in the New Testament for Hospitality is philoxenia. It is a compound word that combines the word for love (phileo) and the word for stranger or foreigner (xenos). Jesus lives a life of hospitality, but also a life of loving the stranger and the "other." May we as a church follow the example of Jesus and love those who are different than we are.

Koinonia means community, fellowship, or a sharing of life together. Jesus establishes a radical community that continues God’s desire for relationship with the creation and with the people of Israel (and ultimately, all the people of the world). This community is especially defined by caring for those who are distressed, an intense trust in God for all things, and an openness to anyone, even the people that seem least likely or least deserving. All this is made possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He opens to door to community with God the Father and invites us all into a place to belong. 

Kerygma is one of the Greek words used for preaching and sharing the good news of the Gospel. Kerygma is how we live our lives, what we say and when we say it, and why we say it what we say. We preach and proclaim the good news about Jesus to the people in our lives. This week, John Mark borrows an object lesson that has been used by several other speakers explaining two versions of the good news to be preached using chairs. 

Kenosis is the act of emptying oneself. We see this clearly in Jesus’ life and teachings, as Jesus consistently offers himself and his love to those who are in need. Jesus gives himself away for the sake of the other person. For those of us who are followers of Jesus, to empty ourselves is to practice submitting ourselves, including our sinful and selfish natures, to God so that we can then be filled with the love and life that is offered to us in Jesus.

How can we view the concept of sin in a healthy way?  Historically, some in the church have weaponized sin in order to guilt people into morality.  As a response to these abuses, the tendency has been to not talk about sin at all.  Jesus, however, took sin very seriously.  How can we take sin seriously, without becoming judgmental?  How can we talk about sin through a lens of love, grace, and mercy? Hamartia, the Greek word for "sin," is an archer's term describing missing the target. It is not necessarily meant to convey "the breaking of a commandment" but a failure to reach a goal or standard. We take SIN seriously, not to appease an angry, cranky God, but because God knows that ultimately it will lead to death. In these sense, we are not punished FOR our sins, but we are punished BY our sins. 

Join us in listening to Lamont Ross, the senior minister at the Marsalis Avenue Church of Christ in Dallas, Texas. Lamont preaches powerfully on Isaiah 49:14-18.

Ekklesia means to be called out. The church are those who have been called out by God to live a distinctive life, following the example and commands of Jesus to love God and to love our neighbors. The church is able to do this by confessing who Jesus is and participating in his life, death, and resurrection and as the body of Christ, helping to show the world who Jesus is through our actions.

This week, we spend time reflecting on peace. Peace is more than the absence of violence. It is the fullness of God's kingdom on earth. 

This week, we encounter “Phileo” love. Last week, we discussed the kind of love that is expressed in Scripture as “Agape.” Phileo continues to call us and urge us to love one another because of our care and compassion for one another, our respect and admiration of God’s creation. In John 11, Jesus shows his love for Lazarus and Lazarus’ family by loving patiently and without any agenda other than the glory of God, by loving even in the midst of potential danger, by loving empathetically and joining in the suffering and pain of the sisters of Lazarus, and finally by repairing and restoring the life of Lazarus. May we seek to imitate the love of Jesus, a love that helps us to see one another not as enemies, but as friends.

Today, we begin a series about 10 words used in the Bible to help us learn something about God, Jesus, our calling as the church, and practices that help us to love one another more fully. The first word that we encounter is Logos. The Logos teaches us that God and Jesus are One—not two. They are united together. Not only that, but Jesus is at the center of the world, holding all things together. He brings Light and Life, revealing God finally and fully into the darkness set loose in our world by sin and selfishness. Because of who this Jesus is, we can emulate his love for us by loving our neighbors.

The Old Testament word "mishpat" means justice. Justice means that your problem becomes my problem. God exemplifies what this justice means by becoming incarnate as Jesus. May we practice justice together, especially with the least of these.

It is no secret that we often “wear a mask” when we gather together at church. We may pretend to be someone we aren’t, or maybe even just trying to be polite misrepresent ourselves. We even adopt an entirely different vocabulary when we come together at our church building (using words or phrases that we don’t use anywhere else in our lives). As we are gathered together today, we will take the time to talk about 1 such word that is increasingly unfamiliar in our everyday lives outside of the church: Disciple (or Discipleship). Being a disciple of Jesus means that follow Christ wholly and consistently day after day. When we do that, we will begin to see how being a disciple of Jesus can, in fact, be unique in the wider world around us.

John Mark shares a passage from Ephesians 3:14-19, where Paul prays for the church in Ephesus and surrounding regions. We join in praying this prayer that Paul prayed here and now for our church and our surrounding communities.

This week, we take a look back at the opportunities for service that took place over the summer, allowing ourselves to be amazed at what God is doing among us. This sense of awe can inspire us and encourage us to continue living faithfully as we prepare for the coming months in the Fall and as many of our students return back to school this week.