Our listeners have been asking some good questions of late and we have had a few iterations of this kind of question over the past year or two. When the Christian dies, what happens and more specifically will we recognize people other Christians that we knew while we lived on earth? What does the Bible have to say about that and what do we simply have to wait for? It's a simple way to say it, but "Heaven is Better". Pastor Pete and Mike Westendorf tackle the topic in this week's episode. Great Q...
Jul 05, 2023•30 min
In earlier generations when people talked about becoming engaged it was often assumed in the church that engagement was tantamount to being married in God's eyes. Mike and Pastor Pete talk through the Biblical understanding of marriage and the impact of our changing cultural norms on understanding the process that takes a couple from dating to engagement to marriage. Were Mary and Joseph married? What is the implication of living together and common law marriages? If being engaged is pretty much...
Jun 28, 2023•40 min
Not everyone loves language and history is both exciting to some and boring to other. But why are these topics important for Lutheran Pastors in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS)? In this episode Mike and Pastor Pete talk about the importance of language as well as the caution when it comes to the use of commentaries as a substitute to personal Bible Reading. We talk about similarities between pastoral training and education training in other fields (Mike's experience in meteorolog...
Jun 14, 2023•46 min
In this week's podcast, GQGC host Mike Westendorf sits down with Christian author Hannah Schermerhorn to talk about some of the themes in her new book "Only a Single Life to Live". One of our favorite moments is talking about kingdom building and identity challenges that young adults face. We touch on some of the challenges of being single, but also some of the ways God grows his relationship with us in a season of singleness. Hannah will be the keynote speaker for Awake and Alive's summer one d...
Jun 07, 2023•29 min
The bread and wine, the Body and Blood of Jesus... this is often a tough sacrament and church tradition for people to understand. Is there power in it? Is there a danger if we don't respect it or understand what the Bible teaches? What is the purpose and how am I missing out if I just ignore Holy Communion altogether Pastor Pete Panitzke and Mike Westendorf review what the church term "Means of Grace" really means and do a deeper dive into the purpose of Communion and the importance of understan...
May 31, 2023•40 min
Baptism in the Lutheran church is one of the key tools that God uses to tell humanity about his forgiveness and to work faith in the hearts of people. It is to be pure Gospel and yet it often is viewed as a law, or a command, robbing it of it's power. Different Christian traditions and denominational views can take very different meanings out of what Baptism is, does and is meant to do. In this weeks podcast, we spend some time talking about what baptism means Biblically and a better way to make...
May 24, 2023•49 min
What is in a name? Everyone uses the word "god" for some reason or another. Whether it's a casual swear or play on the word or assigning religious or spiritual value. In this Episode we will tackle a couple of questions and talk more about what makes the Christian God different than other religions and we'll also talk about some of the challenge whole nations and countries have trouble recognizing Jesus as the Messiah. In the show notes Mike mentions a quote from C.S. Lewis and he wanted to shar...
May 17, 2023•44 min
When our communities, families or are lives are broken, where does healing come from? Forgiveness is the key, but what is it and why is it so necessary? It seems to be a core reality for human beings and as real and sure as gravity. But HOW do I forgive and in particular, how do I forgive myself? Pastor and professional Counselor, Jeffrey Bonack, joins us again as we do a deep dive into helping us and others through the process of forgiveness. We mentioned a visual example of the story of God's ...
May 10, 2023•55 min
We have a chance to sit down with professional counselor, Pastor Jeffrey Bonack, to talk the challenges to forgiving others. Can we forgive and forget? The reality is that sin exposes truth. So, if forgiveness means "letting go" then what is it that I need to let go of. And what about the challenge of expectations that come up as we wrestle to forgive others. Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, WI. You can learn more about us at www.stpaulmus...
May 03, 2023•42 min
The 5th petition says "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us". Jesus taught us to pray these words. So what does that mean exactly and are there conditions on forgiveness? We do a Biblical dive into sin and forgiveness and what is implied in this petition. Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, WI. You can learn more about us at www.stpaulmuskego.org To email us questions for future conversations email mwestendorf@stpmuskego...
Apr 26, 2023•35 min
Thanks for joining us this week. We do a dive into the question about "who can forgive sin?" Is it Pastors, churchy people... who? We'll also talk about the challenge of church discipline and the connection to discipleship. Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, WI. You can learn more about us at www.stpaulmuskego.org
Apr 19, 2023•40 min
What does it mean to "Fear" God? This is often one of the challenges to people as they dig deeper into the Bible. Are we supposed to be afraid of God? That is the human default after all. If there is a God with unlimited power and understanding I don't have a chance to stand, therefore I'd rather not believe in a "god" at all. On the other hand, what about all this talk of the Gospel and God's Love? In this episode Pastor Pete and Mike Westendorf talk about the two different ways to talk about t...
Apr 12, 2023•36 min
It is Holy Week and Pastor Pete and Mike Westendorf tackle some of the challenges around the Resurrection. It is the basic question that everything comes back to - Did Jesus rise from the dead? It is the question that creates the Christian Worldview. If Jesus did, then I can trust what God's Word means for my life and the promises for the future and after life. If you struggle with this question, we hope this will be helpful as you go back to the Bible and say to God - "Prove to me again, that t...
Apr 05, 2023•40 min
Have you ever been confused by the sacrifice system of the Old Testament? Sacrifice, Sin, Blood, Forgiveness of sins... what was happening here? For a lot of us we struggle with the God of the old testament because of some of these questions. We tackle the topic in this week's episode. Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, WI. You can learn more about us at www.stpaulmuskego.org
Mar 29, 2023•23 min
Today Mike and Pastor Pete talk about some of the questions that arise when we think of dinosaurs and the age of the earth. There's a starting point that you have to consider along with the biases we bring and perspectives we bring to these questions along with the role of faith. We hope the episode is helpful. Additional resources on this topic: thestartingpointproject.com answersingenesis.org Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, WI. You can ...
Mar 22, 2023•29 min
Mike talks with Pastor Pete about the challenging idea of what in Christian circles is called "Predestination" or "election". What it means, how it gets confused and how to apply it Biblically. From there it turned into a natural question of "Free Will". What is it, do we actually have it and how do we understand it Biblically. We hope this conversation will be insightful and helpful as you grow in Grace! Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, W...
Mar 15, 2023•38 min
In this week's podcast, Mike and Pastor Pete pick up the challenge of just a few of the "why God" questions that many of us, perhaps all of us struggle with. If God is good, why is there evil? Why wasn't Jesus more clear about who he was? Why should we pray... why bother doing it? We pray some of this conversation is insightful and helpful as we point to Jesus as the comfort and peace in times of challenge. Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego,...
Mar 08, 2023•32 min
Pastor Pete and Mike Westendorf continue to answer questions submitted to us around doubts that we struggle with and the uncertainties that other's have shared with us. Today we wrestle with the impact of denominations, why they exist and how we might better share these differences with the world in a way that does not detract from the Gospel message in the Bible. Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, WI. You can learn more about us at www.stpa...
Mar 01, 2023•24 min
Mike Westendorf sits down to talk with Pastor Pete to talk about some of the questions that came up in our message series dealing with doubt. In this episode we'll talk about some of the questions around the Bible and the idea of the inerrancy of Scripture. Thanks for joining us! Great Questions, Great Conversations is produced by St. Paul's and The Bridge in Muskego, WI. You can learn more about us at www.stpaulmuskego.org
Feb 22, 2023•20 min
