You can, and must, do difficult things in order to die without regret. But He gives grace. Listen to "Die / Endure / Don't Deny (Hard Things)," the final episode of THE BETTER SONG with Jeff & Steph now.
At the heart of the "song of all songs", and in the center of the Gospel of the Kingdom, is the city of Jerusalem. Your destiny is woven in with her destiny—but everything hinges on the day she sings again "as in the days of her youth," the very day when God Himself will rejoice with singing over her. In the meantime, this "song" protects your heart from the accusations shot like flaming arrows against her—and your—eternal security. Best to begin singing it now. Listen to "& There They Both ...
Perhaps the crux of the story, and certainly a critical feature of the Song of Solomon, is learning to believe what God says about you—to quit arguing with Him about it. If we can receive the better word that washes us, we'll live more like we're meant to. Listen to "God & the Better Wine," Episode 5 of THE BETTER SONG with Jeff & Steph now.
The impetus and inspiration for BALLADS OF THE SONG OF SOLOMON songs like "The Door," "Wild Wind," "Foxes, Weeds, and Jealousy," and more. What is the process He leads us through to bring us to "Death Without Regret"? Listen to "When Jesus Kills Your Pet Sin," Episode 4 of THE BETTER SONG with Jeff and Steph now.
Sometimes His pursuit feels like you're in a little bit of a prison. But that's in the script. Listen to Episode 3 of THE BETTER SONG, "Hedged In Behind & Before," with Jeff & Steph now.
Perhaps the most audacious lyric in BALLADS OF THE SONG OF SOLOMON, "Jesus, we are gonna dance or fight tonight" raised more than a few eyebrows. Find out why we included it in "Wild Wind," and why it's such a valuable part of our own processes of formation and maturity in God. Listen to Episode 2 of THE BETTER SONG with Jeff and Steph now.
THE BETTER BEAUTIFUL returns with a miniseason swimming through the Gospel of the Kingdom in light of the Song of Solomon, and vice verse. Join Jeff & Steph for the first of seven episodes of THE BETTER SONG. Listen to "The Gospel in Solomon's Song" now, and browse the BALLADS OF THE SONG OF SOLOMON resource library for more.
Jeff and Steph conclude THE BETTER DEATH miniseason looking "Beyond the Cross." Listen now.
Jeff and Steph discuss the paradox of the Cross in this episode of THE BETTER DEATH, our Lenten Meditation approaching Resurrection Sunday.
Jeff & Steph discuss the triumph of the Cross as seen in Colossians 2:15: "And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in the cross." Join us for this week's episode of THE BETTER DEATH, a Lenten meditation approaching Resurrection Sunday.
Join Jeff Henderson for this week's meditation on the judgment of the Cross, beginning with John 12:31: "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out."
"And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to Myself." Meditate on these words of Jesus and the magnetism of His Cross with us this week for our second of seven conversations through Lent.
We begin THE BETTER DEATH, a meditative lingering through this Lent season. Jeff and Steph discuss 1 Corinthians 1:23-24. Listen to "The Scandal of the Cross" now.
We reach the end of the Galatian road in our final episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM. Listen to the season finale, "Courage, Cowardice, and the Cross (Gal. 6:11-18)" now here in the FAI App.
We finish riding Paul's train of thought in this passage and reflect upon the fatigue of doing good works, and bearing good fruit—why it is tiresome, and why we should keep going anyway. Join Jeff and Steph for this week's conversation in Galatians, for one of the final episodes of THE BETTER FREEDOM. Listen to "The Abject Fatigue of Good Fruit (Gal. 6:6-10)" now here in the FAI App.
As we near the end of Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia, this week's text includes 6:6-10. Jeff and Steph discuss the individual and corporate imperative to live with generosity, and the broader principle of reaping what you sow—and the inability to reap what you haven't sown then demonstrating God's invincibility. "He cannot be mocked." But He also won't leave you hanging if you trust Him, even with something simple like a tank of gas. Join Jeff and Steph for this week's episode of THE B...
If bearing the fruit of the Spirit looks like bearing the burden of someone "caught" or buckling, and doing so in a spirit of gentleness, the counter-attack of the flesh looks like your pride swelling with the ego of your good deeds. Paul effectively warns us to check ourselves before we wreck ourselves, and "stand alone together." Listen to this week's episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM with Jeff & Steph now.
"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." This mighty admonition on the heels of last week's conversation on the "gentle hand of restoration" is not for the faint of heart, but is a beautiful privilege and burden of its own merit for everyone in the Body of Jesus. Jeff and Steph discuss Galatians 6:2 in this week's episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM, our ongoing season of THE BETTER BEAUTIFUL devoted to the book of Galatians. Listen now in the FAI App.
Perhaps the most offensive and beautiful passage in all of Galatians is the subject of this week's episode: what to do with a member of our faith family when they get "caught" in a transgression. "WWJD?" may well lead us all to scratch our heads in wonder, but "blessed is he who is not offended because of [Jesus]," and there is gold to mine in these hills. Join Jeff & Steph for the latest episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM. Listen to "The Gentle Hand of Restoration (Gal. 6:1-3)" now in the FAI Ap...
The narrow way that leads to life is the path of the Spirit that bears the fruit of the Spirit in our interior lives. This week, Jeff and Steph push past the Sunday School familiarity with this passage and Stephanie shares how this always reminds her of the time she discovered she has a crippling fear of heights. Listen to the latest episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM now.
No one wants to spend an entire episode discussing things that are not holy, but that's just what we do this week. We have to. Let us see a life without the Spirit for what it is, where it leads us, and how easy this path is to find and walk down. Next week, we'll see the "more excellent way." Listen to "The Wide Road Way of the Flesh (Gal. 5:19-21)" with Jeff & Steph now in this week's episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM.
Jeff & Steph sit in Galatians 5:16-18 for a second week, discussing the broader theological and practical implications of "walking in the Spirit." Listen to "To Live Truly Free," our latest edition of our THE BETTER FREEDOM season in Galatians, now in the FAI App.
To "walk by the Spirit" and "not gratify the desires of the flesh" is less a list of "dos & don'ts" and more....a dance. Listen to "Dancing with the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-18)" with Jeff and Steph now, in the latest episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM, here in the FAI App.
Living as "the freest Man alive" lived (and lives) has immediate implications on our relationships. In life, you have brothers (& sisters) and neighbors. How does your freedom in Jesus bear upon how to best relate to the people around you? Jeff Henderson returns for a second solo episode on Galatians 5:13-15. Listen to "Brothers and Neighbors," our latest episode in THE BETTER FREEDOM, now.
"For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!" We are not meant to live as cannibals. Join Jeff this week for a meditation on Galatians 5:13-15 in the latest episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM: "Lest We Bite & Devour," no...
We "have need of endurance" to "run the race set before us" "looking to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of our faith." No big deal. Life is hard. And finding the narrow road is difficult to do. It's even harder to stay on it. So imagine how devastating it would be to "run well" and yet allow a "hindrance" to keep you from "obeying the truth." It's one thing to trip; it's another thing to allow a "persuasion" to pull you off the only path that leads to life and bring you into disobedience—which l...
This week's passage is a collision and contrast between the path of self-righteous severing, its real-time implications on your relationship with Jesus, true fellowship with Him, and the faith-wrought work of the Spirit to save you from your own conniving ego. Jeff and Steph discuss Galatians 5:4-6 in this week's edition of THE BETTER FREEDOM. Listen to "To Not Go the Way of Cain" now in the FAI App.
"You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." What does it mean to "fall from grace," or be estranged from Jesus? It is no accident these issues bookend justification within this one verse. Join Jeff & Steph as we mine out the issue of justification, how Jesus approaches it, and what it means for us (even on our best behavior). Listen to "Justification & Jesus (Gal. 5:4)" now in the FAI App.
THE BETTER BEAUTIFUL returns from our little hiatus with a Jeff & Jeff episode sitting in Galatians 5:3, which reads: "And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law." The whole law. Some might even say, "the whole enchilada." Jeff unpacks the implications and consequences of this in this week's episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM. Listen to "The Entire Enchilada" now in the FAI App.
Last week, we asked, "What is freedom?" This week, as we park in Galatians 5:2, it distills down to this simplicity: The freedom Jesus set you free for is the confidence of a kid who can feel their Dad smiling upon them. Meditate on this with Jeff and Steph in this week's episode of THE BETTER FREEDOM, available now here in the FAI App.
