Week 42 – 9/27/26 – The Family of God Today
We’ve come to the end of the series. In this final lesson, we briefly recap what we’ve studied, and then discuss where the church is today, and who Christians are today. Unfortunately, the church is in decline, church attendance is dropping, and many Christians don’t have an answer for it. But in this lesson, I discuss the fact that we have to be proactive in our evangelism. Many Christians have become comfortable and complacent in our faith, and while we enjoy the perks, we often neglect the work. We are called to expand the borders of the kingdom and go out and make disciples. But are we really doing that the way we should? Below are a few more resources regarding the status of Christianity and the church today.
Week 41 – 9/20/26 – The Mandate for Christians
We’ve come to the point of the series to ask the question, what does it all mean? What is the message for us today? In this lesson we talk about the mandate for Christians and what exactly it means to be in the family of God. We discuss how our faith is not meant to be passive, defensive, and we shouldn’t have an “escapist theology,” just waiting for that final day, but rather, we must be active, go on the offense, and do the work God wants us to do right now. Below are a few resources to go along with the lesson. Enjoy.
https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/podcast/naked-bible-329-binding-and-loosing
Week 40 – 9/13/26 – The Church as the Sons of God
This week we looked at some of the language used in the New Testament and how the terms and phrases of the Old Testament to refer to spirits are repurposed and reapplied to Christians and the church. As such, what is the message Paul and the other authors are trying to give us? What are we supposed to make of this language that would have been shocking in the first century? Below are a few resources that go into this a bit more.
Week 39 – 8/23/26 – Salvation, Faith, and Baptism
This week we examined 3 words that we use a lot in Christianity, and are found through Scripture – Salvation, Faith, and Baptism. We looked at how we understand these words, versus how they were understood in the context of when the authors were writing. We asked the question, how should we understand what these words mean, and as such, what does that mean for how we interpret what the authors are saying. Below is a further breakdown of these ideas. Enjoy.
Week 38 – 8/16/26 – The Epistles and Reclaiming the Nations
This week, we took a big picture look at the epistles. While we can sometimes fall into the trap of seeing these letters as our manual for worship, or perhaps our moral handbook, in this sermon we looked at the context of these letters and what is really important to the authors. Giving us the do’s and don’ts of church is important, but that wasn’t really why they were writing or what the message was all about. Instead, the first century church was trying to expand the borders of the kingdom and bring people to Christ, and the authors were trying to encourage and help them do that very thing. Below are a few more resources to help us understand what these letters are really all about. Enjoy.
https://bibleproject.com/podcasts/how-live-jesus-lord
Week 37 – 8/9/26 – Pentecost and the book of Acts
In this lesson, we discussed what happens in the first 2 chapters of Acts, and it’s significance in light of the Old Testament. What we often refer to as the beginning of the church, or the history of the church, ties in with the overall story that began back in Genesis. At Pentecost, the mission to reclaim the nations that were disinherited at Babel begins. The disciples then go out and proclaim the message of Jesus, and the kingdom of Christ expands. Below are some more resources to help with your study. Enjoy.
https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/podcast/naked-bible-35-acts-11-11
Week 36 – 8/2/26 – What is “The Gospel?”
Last week’s lesson was about how Jesus is the reigning and ruling king. This week, we talk about the word “Gospel” and what that means in it’s original context. Christians will sometimes use that word to refer to Jesus life, death, and resurrection, His teachings, His miracles, and even the entire teaching of the Bible. Today we have “gospel music,” “gospel meetings,” and if we want you to believe something is true, we say “consider it gospel.” That word has come to mean anything relating to Jesus, the Bible, and the truth of it. But originally, it was very specifically connected to the idea of kingdom and the fact that Jesus is king. Below are a couple short resources that explain this word further. Enjoy.
Week 35 – 7/26/26 – Jesus as King
In this week’s lesson, we finished up the section on Jesus and the various roles that His life, death, and resurrection plays. We talk about how Jesus is King, something that we all know, but often takes a back seat to the other roles He plays, like “Son of God,” “Messiah,” “Savior,” etc. But, a major point the authors of the New Testament try to show is that He is reigning as King, in the here and now. As Christians today, we need to understand His Kingdom as being real and present, not just some theoretical idea that only exists in metaphor and imagery. It should affect how we live in our day to day lives. Below are a couple more resources to help us think about Jesus being our King. Enjoy.
https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/podcast/naked-bible-333-the-israelite-king-and-jesus-as-king
Week 34 – 7/19/26 – Jesus defeating death
In this week’s lesson, we discussed how Jesus defeated death. Many Christians focus on the problem of sin. The real problem is death; and it’s sin that leads to death. Jesus didn’t just come to atone for our sins, but also to defeat death. And while we’re all familiar with Jesus resurrection, Jesus ministry was actually showing His power over death through many of His miracles. Whether He was going into the wilderness, walking on water, or raising Lazarus from the dead, Jesus was showing symbolically and literally that He had the power of life in him and ultimately would defeat death. Below are a few more resources. Enjoy.
https://bibleproject.com/podcasts/human-power-over-dragon
https://bibleproject.com/podcasts/how-does-jesus-redeem-people
Week 33 – 7/5/26 – Jesus defeating the other gods
This week, we discussed one of the things that Jesus was doing in His life, ministry, death and resurrection, which is defeating the other gods of the world. Early in the series we discussed the problems of Genesis 3, 6, and 11. In this lesson, we discuss how Jesus is undoing these problems and how the other gods of the nations are being overthrown. Below are a couple more resources that discuss this further. Enjoy.
Week 32 – 6/28/26 – Jesus as the Messiah
This week we discussed how Jesus functioned as the Messiah. This is a word that many of us are familiar with, but may not completely understand in it’s context. In this lesson we discuss specifically what that means, and we talk about how Jesus fit the role of not only A Messiah, but THE Messiah that was prophesied about in the Old Testament. Below are some resources that go deeper into this Messianic concept. Enjoy.
https://bibleproject.com/podcasts/jesus-anointing-ceremony
https://nakedbiblepodcast.com/podcast/naked-bible-412-pauls-use-of-the-old-testament-series-messiah
Week 31 – 6/14/26 – Jesus as the Second Power in Heaven
This week we transitioned over into the New Testament. In this lesson, we briefly discussed how Jesus life and ministry is addressing issues that we saw in the Old Testament and tackling them head on. The writers of the Gospel’s are not only telling the story of Jesus, but they’re also writing the story in a way to make a theological point and show just who Jesus is. Piggybacking off of last week’s lesson about the Jewish doctrine of two powers in heaven, we then discussed how Jesus was explicitly referencing Himself as that second power, the visible Yahweh, the Son of Man in the vision of Daniel 7. Below you’ll find some more resources that go much deeper into all of this. Enjoy.
