“What is asked of me as a citizen is not contingent on what party is in power or whether I feel my government is deserving of my gospel-driven, Christian vocation as citizen. God calls us to ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ I’m going to continue to be a neighbor even if my neighbor is my legitimate enemy.” In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Pastor Sam continue their conversation on the Bible as it pertains to the Christians vocation as citizen of the local state....
Oct 28, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 46
Over the next few episodes, Jacob Lewis and Pastor Sam will be wading through Article XVI of the Augsburg Confession, pertaining to civil government and what "love your neighbor" looks like through the lens of the vocation of Christian citizenship. In Part 1, Jacob Lewis and Pastor Sam tackle the following questions: What's my response to those who tell me to "leave my faith at the door" before I enter a voting booth? Can Christians serve in our government in good conscience? What does the Bible...
Oct 07, 2021•21 min•Season 1Ep. 45
Traditions are inevitable . And while some traditions are good, history has shown that not every tradition is - including traditions in Christian churches. In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Pastor Sam jump into Article XV of the Augsburg Confession and seek to answer the following questions: What is the relationship between human traditions and the Bible? What role should traditions serve in the ministry of the Christian Church? How do I determine if a tradition is or isn't g...
Oct 01, 2021•56 min•Season 1Ep. 44
“If we view Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as nothing more than marks of professions of faith of people, we’re missing a far greater dimension to this – namely, that these are signs and testimonies of God’s will toward us. There is covenant language that is brought up with Baptism and the Lord’s Supper…there is something that is being signified but also being sealed…these aren’t just a confession of faith, but a reception of faith, too.” In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam J...
Sep 23, 2021•54 min•Season 1Ep. 43
“Turn me, and I will be turned” That’s what the Hebrew of Jeremiah 31:18 literally says. Or, put another way, “Repent me, and I will be repented.” Point being? It is God – not me – who works repentance in my heart. Well, how does he do that? A better question to ask first: how exactly does the Bible define repentance? “Now properly speaking, true repentance is nothing else than to have contrition and sorrow, or terror about sin, and yet at the same time to believe in the gospel and absolution th...
Aug 13, 2021•51 min•Season 1Ep. 42
“Why private confession? Why do you need a middleman to tell you that your sins are forgiven?” In a world where faith is privatized and being “spiritual, but not religious” sounds incredibly liberating, we’re tempted to bristle at any possible benefit of confessing our sins – be it to a pastor or a fellow Christian. But this isn’t progressive spiritual thinking; it’s regressive. There isn’t a guarantee that “Christ for you” is going to be heard at your job, your school, within your family, or ev...
Aug 06, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 41
"So, if Jesus - as true God and true man - ascended into heaven, how can Jesus be present in bread and wine during the Lord's Supper?" It's a good question. But perhaps a better question to ask is not " How are such things possible?" but " Who is the one promising he is present?" These questions and more are discussed by Jacob Lewis and Pastor Sam on this episode of The Manna Podcast.
Jul 30, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 40
“Modern Christian churches are so… legalistic. ” Lutheran theologian J. P. Koehler, in his 1914 essay titled “Legalism Among Us”, defined legalism (i.e. within the Christian Church) as an attitude which “takes the motives and forms of [one’s] actions from the law (i.e. God’s commandments) instead of letting them flow from the gospel (i.e. the good news of the saving love of God we have in Christ Jesus our Lord).” Less technically speaking (and to quote Jeff Mallinson), legalism is an attitude th...
Jul 16, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 39
“Here’s a fact: it’s a miracle that any of us believe [in Jesus].” In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske continue their discussion on Article IX of the Augsburg Confession as it relates to the practice of infant baptism.
Jul 09, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 38
“How can material things give spiritual blessings?” The Lutheran Reformers maintained the biblical truth that, through the waters of baptism, God grants forgiveness, new life, and salvation. But the power to grant such amazing gifts doesn’t come from the water – but God’s Word. The Apostle Paul (in Ephesians 4:6) connects the same Word of God spoken at the creation of the heavens and earth with the same Word of God spoken at the creation of faith in hearts of people. And that’s the same Word of ...
Jul 02, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 38
“Christians are hypocrites.” In a 2018 Barna Survey, this was the highest barrier to the Christian faith for non-Christians – averaging answers from Generation Z all the way to Boomers. Be it dissonance between what a Christian church practices and what the Bible preaches or a disconnect between what a Christian church preaches and what they practice, non-Christians perceive this as an obstacle when considering the Christian faith. When hypocrisy predominantly describes those within the churches...
Jun 25, 2021•28 min•Season 1Ep. 37
“When Christ and his gospel is the why behind what we do, that does help [the Church] delineate between the sand and the granite…what can stay and should stay, and what can go and – perhaps – even what should go.” Jacob Lewis and Sam Jeske continue their conversation of Article VII of the Augsburg Confession on the Christian Church.
Jun 17, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 36
"The church, as an industry, unfortunately looks a lot like a lot of the other old-fashioned industries which is, 'This is the way we've always done it.'" That's author and inspirational speaker, Simon Sinek's take on the Christian Church today. For Christian churches, quotes like these sting a little, don't they? Because - if we're honest - there's truth here, isn't there? Navigating a changing world can be incredibly challenging for churches. Fortunately, the timeliness of the Christian messag...
Jun 11, 2021•42 min•Season 1Ep. 35
As Christians, we can sometimes get this attitude that the fruits of our faith must manifest themselves in a certain way - where they need to be these above-and-beyond, grandiose acts - otherwise they aren't considered 'fruit'. As a result, our eyes are often looking for these massive fruits of faith - like an apple on an apple tree that is so massive it's bowing the branch down - and as a result we don't see the fruit that is on the branch because we've insisted that fruits of faith must be vis...
Jun 04, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 34
“Can’t I find God outside of Christianity? “Can’t I commune with God on my terms with my terms?” “If I don’t think the Bible is relevant anymore, how could that possibly benefit me spiritually?” Modern objections like these are incredibly common in America’s spiritual “oasis”. But while these objections are incredibly common, they’re also incredibly not new. You could hear variants of these objections even during the time of the Reformation in the 1500s. And for the Reformers, the answer to such...
May 27, 2021•48 min•Season 1Ep. 33
"I cannot, by virtue of God's law, find life; the letter kills, the Bible tells us. It's the gospel that gives life. And the gospel (the good news) is, what you could not do, Jesus has done for you. It pushes you out of the spotlight of your salvation - and thank God for that." In this episode of The Manna Podcast, Pastor Sam and Jacob Lewis continue their discussion of Article IV of the Augsburg Confession - the doctrine of justification.
May 21, 2021•40 min•Season 1Ep. 32
It is the doctrine "by which the Church stands or falls." It's the beating heart of the gospel. For the Protestant Reformers, this chief article of the Christian faith was well worth the ink, blood, sweat, and tears shed defending it. We're talking about the doctrine of "justification". In the Bible, to "justify" is a forensic term (legal/courtroom language) that means "to declare righteous". While the Bible quite clearly defines the 'what', 'why', and 'how' of justification, by the time of Mart...
May 14, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 31
“Who do the people say that I am?” That was the question Jesus asked his disciples once. The people then didn’t know what to make of ‘Jesus of Nazareth’. Some saw him as social activist. Others saw him as a moral teacher. Still others saw him as a prophet – but nothing more. And if you fast forward to today, things haven’t changed much, have they? Well, what does the Bible have to say about who Jesus is? Why is it that we, like Peter, can point to Jesus with certainty and say "We believe and kno...
May 06, 2021•47 min•Season 1Ep. 30
History has a way of repeating itself. And when it comes to Church History, false teachings have a way of repeating themselves, too. That was definitely the case at the time of the Reformation. As Lutheran Reformers sought to positively make the case that their confession was historic and purely biblical (nothing new, nothing innovative), they had to intentionally distance themselves from all sorts of contemporary groups pushing unscriptural teachings - outside and inside the Church. That type o...
Apr 30, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 29
Saturday, June 25, 1530. A group of Lutheran confessors hand to Emperor Charles V a confession of faith that they were confident would "prevail against the gates of hell, with the grace and help of God." That confession of faith was the Augsburg Confession. So, what is the Augsburg Confession? Why was it written? What's it about? Why is this document still read and subscribed to today? What, even, is a confession? In this episode, Pastor Sam Jeske and Jacob Lewis dive right into the nuts and bol...
Apr 19, 2021•43 min•Season 1Ep. 28
“When we argue there is no God at the center of our metanarrative, and yet describe our lives as if there is - when we utilize foundations and framework that are only afforded from a Christian (God-centered) metanarrative - it’s like paying for dinner with a stolen credit card.” This episode is the final chapter of a four part dialogue between Pastor Jeske and podcast cohost Pastor Justin Shrum on metanarratives. In these episodes, Pastor Jeske and Pastor Shrum discuss the popular metanarratives...
Apr 19, 2021•36 min•Season 1Ep. 27
Q: "How do you respond to someone who tells you to 'Leave your Christianity at home' - that my Christian faith shouldn't inform my interaction with the secular world?" A: Such objections are fairly common. Significant fuel behind the objection is the notion that, the non-religious is somehow inherently more objective than the religious. Well, is that true? Homicide detective and Christian apologist J. Warner Wallace would disagree. "Anyone who tells you that he or she is completely objective and...
Apr 19, 2021•22 min•Season 1Ep. 26
No one takes any step in their life without a metanarrative. The question is not one of, "Do I or do I not have a metanarrative?" You do. Whether you're atheist, an agnostic, a Muslim, or a Mormon, you have a metanarrative. The question that is set before us is, which metanarrative is comprehensive, exhaustive, and cohesive in its explanatory scope when it comes to questions of our life's meaning, purpose, identity, origin, and ultimate destiny. This episode is Part 2 of a four part dialogue bet...
Jan 06, 2021•25 min•Season 1Ep. 25
Everyone has a narrative. We record them on Tik Tok. We capture them on Instagram. We plaster them on both digital and physical walls. We wear them on shirts, write them on signs, and shout them in the streets. And in our tribalistic American society, we see narratives foisted forcefully onto others – to the point where the ‘conversation’ is more or less an ultimatum: “Get on board, or get wrecked.” Literally . These narratives all require a metanarrative – an overarching lens by which to interp...
Nov 05, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 24
“With the pandemic, the future is so uncertain…the things [the Church is] doing now, maybe they won’t work two months from now. Maybe we’ll have to adapt again – we just don’t know…and yet, God is in control…God has taken care of our biggest problem: he has taken care of our sin …and if he can take care of that huge, humungous problem…don’t you think he’s going to handle our problems as we move forward in this pandemic? He definitely will.” In this episode, Pastor Geoff Rue and Pastor Sam conclu...
Nov 05, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 23
Seven months in, and COVID-19 doesn't seem to be going anywhere soon. Businesses everywhere have had to pivot and change their strategy in order to continue to engage people. And in a lot of respects, it's been no different for Christian mission congregations. What strategies have helped congregations stay connected? Where have congregations needed to grow or improve to meet the current challenge that is COVID-19? How has God - even in the midst of a pandemic - continued to strengthen and grow h...
Oct 23, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 22
I highly doubt anyone would have guessed 2020 would shake out the way that it has. COVID-19 has forced mission starts and established congregations alike to pivot and rewrite their 2020 ministry plans - perhaps entirely. And yet, God proves (just as he promises) that he works good things for the church through this kind of disruption. In this episode, Pastor Sam sits down again with pastor and church planter, Jordan Bence, to talk about the big takeaways and insights he gleaned from planting a c...
Aug 13, 2020•34 min•Season 1Ep. 21
Imagine: 1. You're part a congregation just starting out. You don't have a church building. You don't even have a name for your church. You're a fish out of water - in a completely new, foreign environment. Where do you start? 2. You're part of an established congregation. You have a church building. You have a church name. But your church has realized that the community around you is completely different than what it was when you started. You, too, are in a completely new, foreign environment. ...
Aug 07, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 20
"How would you know what it is like to experience [fill in the blank]...?" "You have no idea what it is like to be [fill in the blank]..." "You don't understand." And chances are, they're absolutely right. Does that mean the validity of the Christian message is lost? Does our ability to talk to others as Christians boil down to whether or not we've experienced the exact same things as the people to whom we're witnessing? Because if that's the case, then we might as well hang it up. But that's no...
Jul 30, 2020•31 min•Season 1Ep. 19
With a never-ending list of social platforms, at a glance we might give the impression that people today are more connected than ever before. Connected to devices, yes. Connected to people? Not so much. We can claim all we want that we're more ‘connected’ than ever before. The fact is, even before COVID-19, studies showed the complete opposite : people are more lonely than ever before. So, you can imagine how impactful personalized communication is - not only in a digital age of depersonalized d...
Jul 24, 2020•41 min
