This week Mike addresses the commonly negatively held word "Judgement". As we extend our teaching on John 3:16 ...Shall Not Perish, it is important for us to examine how it that we would come to perish. Furthermore, how do we orient our posture toward God, neighbors, and enemies when we understand God's judgement is out of love, not out of anger. Story by Sunil Gaglani Sunil with us his journey through the difficult struggle of his fathers death. While Sunil has been raised as a Christian it was...
Jan 13, 2017•59 min
Bonnie Lewis joins us again this week to bring a refreshing teaching on Matthew 16:19 that says, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will bed bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will bee loosed in heaven.” Her teaching brings clarity to how we approach this verse and what it means for us as we live our faith. Story by Greg Arcade Would love to see your comments and thoughts below! Learn more about VOX Community: www.voxoc.com Like VOX Commu...
Jan 07, 2017•40 min
Mike Erre shares a unique perspective on the typical “pre-packaged and predictable” Christmas Story. He focused on the shepherds --- their tainted reputation, their culture, and their role in the birth of the Messiah. With a look at “Shepherd’s Hill” (near Bethlehem), we are provided insight into the selection and care of prime sacrificial lambs for the Passover. Striking similarities existed between the destiny of these lambs and the birth of the Savior. When the Angels appeared to the shepherd...
Dec 21, 2016•50 min
Mike explains our hope as Christians and the importance of waiting. He refers to the Bible’s beginning and ending emphasis to two trees: Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and before they could eat from the tree of life, they were cast out of the garden. In Revelation we read of a new earth with running river, and on each side stands the tree of life. Mankind waited for Jesus to come once and now we wait for His return. It’s often difficult to wait when we are experien...
Dec 15, 2016•47 min
As we continue to explore "Hell for Christmas", Mike expands on the Biblical story of Heaven and Earth to show how the story is relevant to you and I. The Jewish belief of Heaven and Earth was very linear; the Present Age and the Age to Come separated by the Day of Judgment. This is where the story gets interesting. Jesus interrupts this linear idea as described in 1 Corinthians 15:20-21. Paul compares Jesus to the first fruits of a harvest which were the very beginnings that served as a promise...
Dec 06, 2016•45 min
John 3:16 - ‘shall not perish’ The 21st century Christian typically believes, according to Genesis 1:1, God is pairing heaven and hell. In actuality, God has paired heaven and earth. The Biblical story is that is that heaven and earth belong together. Through multiple scriptures we learn heaven and earth are always mentioned together and heaven and hell are never paired. Through scriptures we can ascertain that instead of a commonly believed continuum of: Earth - Judgement - Resulting in heaven ...
Nov 28, 2016•55 min
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” is the most memorized verse in the Bible. Today’s lesson focuses on the words “eternal life”. During the Old Testament, people did not live by the same time pressures expected of us today, but through markers of time. Greeks thought eternity was a never-ending cycle in which people were stuck. The goal was to transcend this cycle and the constraints of time. If ...
Nov 24, 2016•51 min
Today’s episode we present a breadth of creativity and passion from two special guests. @MicahBournes provided “Spoken Word Poetry,” which is poetry written to be performed. Micah’s three selections focused on the ambiguity of being “normal,” earthly relationships versus heavenly relationships, and the effects of peer pressure. His artistic presentation was thought-provoking, dramatic, and tinged with humor. Our guest speaker, Megan Fate Marshman, Director of Women’s Ministry at Hume Lake Camps,...
Nov 16, 2016•1 hr 1 min
The teaching today consisted of responses to audience-generated questions. Mike's responses were as follows: 1. While some of the rules in the Old Testament may seem excessive, harsh, and just plain weird, God was embedding his principles into the cultural norms of the day to effectively reach his people. 2. There's no clear answer as to whether Adam and Eve were really the first people on earth, but Mike's view is that they were simultaneously real people and archetypes (e.g., Adam represented ...
Nov 08, 2016•1 hr 1 min
This week we take a close look at what it means to believe in regards to the passage in John 3:16. While many of us get bogged down by the rules that are seemingly placed in our modern culture about what it means to be a Christian, we learn that covenant love paints a much different picture about what it means to follow Jesus, who's love goes beyond many of the boundaries we face in our church cultures. Story by Alex Crisostomo Alex shares a riveting and compelling story about his journey throug...
Nov 02, 2016•55 min
In John 3:16 God says “that whoever believes in Him has everlasting life.” Who is included in that? Jesus’s entire ministry can be summed up by the word “whoever.” He made himself available to everyone, including the outcasts. To begin, Matthew 8:1-10 describes a leper who asked Jesus to make him clean. Back then, the only class of people lower than the lepers were Gentiles or tax collectors! Lepers were ostracized and those who associated with them were automatically deemed unclean. Yet Jesus r...
Oct 26, 2016•55 min
John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son.” God did not give his only son out of being vengeful for a fallen world. He gave his only son because He loved us so much. The story of Abraham and Isaac, in Genesis 18-22, demonstrates the kind of love God has for us. God told Abraham that He would be the father of many nations. However, Abraham and his wife, Sarah, only had a son because of God’s miraculous intervention when Abraham was 100 years old. Years after their so...
Oct 18, 2016•54 min
Genesis 12 explains the historical backdrop to the phrase from John 3:16, “that he gave”, with the story of Abraham and Sarah. God promised Abraham ‘a great reward of land and descendants’. Abraham, in turn, was to promise that he and his descendants would remain blameless before God. God then called Abraham to perform a blood covenant, an Old Testament custom of slaughtering five animals lengthwise and laying the halves across from each other in a ditch where the blood pooled. The greater and l...
Oct 13, 2016•1 hr 8 min
We all know John 3:16: “For God so loved the world…” But what is our definition of the world ? It may be the order of this universe, or the people who dwell here, or the organized system of human civilization. Christians often assign a negative connotation. We often hear “I am IN this world, but not OF it.” 1 John 2:15 admonishes us NOT to love the world. But how can this be when Jesus loves it so much? World values are not God’s values. The former seeks power and fame, while the latter rewards ...
Oct 05, 2016•54 min
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life,” is the most memorized verse in the Bible. Do the people who quote this verse really know what it means when they say, “For God SO LOVED...?” The English language often limits us from truly understanding the word, “love.” Some say they love football, music or a spouse. However, these do not represent God’s love. He has the highest form and most sacrificial kind o...
Sep 27, 2016•54 min
This week we revisit and extend the teaching on John 3:16 with For God...part 2. We take the time to pay close attention to the significance of God giving himself a name to know Him by. Furthermore, as those who follow Jesus, we become those you carry the name of Jesus at the forefront of our identity. When this is taken seriously, our lives should look much different than we suspect and witness in our modern day version of Christianity. While it may be seen as simple to change our attitudes whe...
Sep 20, 2016•57 min
John 3:16, one of the most famous verses in the Christian church, is often one of the first verses memorized. Many Christians think that they understand the verse, but often is held and quoted lacking it's depth and radical meaning. Beginning with the first two words of John 3:16, For God, we seek understanding of the word God. In Greek this word translates to Theos, a generic title. God has many titles, but John chooses to use the word Theos. However, a name in the Scriptures designates charact...
Sep 12, 2016•1 hr 1 min
Does anger have a place in Christianity? Although the answer to the question is yes, many Christians have displaced anger or it looks militarized. The real question is, “What is righteous anger?” Mark 3:1-6 tells a story about Jesus healing a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath, which was culturally considered a sin, unless it was a life-threatening situation. The religious leaders were silenced when Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil?” This story is an ex...
Sep 08, 2016•1 hr 3 min
If you had better things to do, Jesus wouldn't coerce you into following him during his time. No one is ever nagged into Jesus' movement, but simply invited. Learn more about VOX Community: http://www.voxoc.com Twitter: www.twitter.com/VOXCommunity Instagram: www.instagram.com/VOXCommunity
Aug 31, 2016•1 hr
As we wrap up the Insulted Series where we've spent the last few months examining how the many insults thrown at Jesus by his peers became the very things that made His mission beautiful, we take a final look at his final steps to the cross where he faced his final insult; King of the Jews. The book of Mark paints an unexpected picture of the procession to the cross as it looks incredibly familiar to the Roman's version of crowning a Caesar. "Strange, I don't anyone at the time thought, we shoul...
Aug 24, 2016•58 min
In the passage where Jesus appeared to the disciples in Matthew 14, where they had been crossing the Sea of Galilee, it's observed that they had been rowing for many hours in the storm. Often, in similar moments in our own life we find ourselves just rowing, and rowing, and rowing trying to get where we are going and all the while having doubt, skepticism, and fear about if what we are doing is actually working. And even then, where is Jesus in all of this? In the passage Jesus does eventually a...
Aug 17, 2016•55 min
In an incredibly unexpected move, Jesus tells Zacchaeus, a condemned tax collector, that he would be coming to his house to eat a meal with him; upon seeing him in a tree, desperately trying to see Jesus' teaching. That day, Jesus proclaimed that salvation was upon his house. Among many others, this story would support Jesus' scandalous grace for making friends with sinners. Accused by the religious elite of his day, this very act alone was also tied with being a glutton and drunkard which in th...
Aug 09, 2016•1 hr 4 min
Many people ask the question, "Why didn't Jesus just claim he was God?" We would argue that he did, you just have to be Jewish to understand it. This Sunday we look back at a few verses where this claim was made, and how the Pharisees recognized it and considered it blasphemy. Learn more about our community at: http://www.voxoc.com
Aug 02, 2016•59 min
Under no circumstance did a Jewish person of Jesus' time HAVE to travel through Samaria. There was a longer, more comfortable and worn road that was considered the best way of travel in order to avoid such a despicable nation, according to Jewish law. Jesus however, chose the short road through Samaria for a scandalous purpose. And as a result, displayed himself as Messiah and the great I AM for the first time in recorded history to one of the most disenfranchised people of his time, a Samaritan...
Jul 24, 2016•59 min
Either things have gotten worse or we just know more now because of social media and expanded communication platforms. How God presents justice in not how America presents justice. God calls upon his people to be a whole existence of forgiveness, reconciliation, and voice for the marginalized of our days. This week we take a deep look at Jesus' justice, and consider what must become second in order for us to be a people of reconciliation. Learn more about VOX Community at www.voxoc.com
Jul 20, 2016•56 min
Join us this week as we hear from Bonnie Lewis as she presents Jesus as the great equalizer and dismantler of hierachical struggles built to separate us from the ones He loves most. Bonnie has a podcast and blogs at www.findtheblue.com and call also be heard on VOX The Mike Erre Podcast below: http://subversivekingdom.com/?s=bonnie+lewis
Jul 18, 2016•46 min
This week we observed Jesus' encounter with the woman caught in adultery. While the law suggested she should die for the sin she had caused, Jesus had other plans in mind. In this account, the old law which the religious elite upheld was quickly turned on it's head as Jesus wrote in the sand. We'd love your thoughts and comments below. Enjoy the teaching.
Jul 05, 2016•57 min
This week we revisit lament with the question; Does God Cause Suffering? We look at Jesus' encounters to understand the reality of this common question in our world about God. Original song written and performed by Izzi Ray "Still Hope" used with permission granted by artist. Check out Izzi Ray on the internet: Soundcloud @izzi-ray iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/artist/izzi-ray/id386256769 YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC4fYOCSmeh87ky_l0PhTHrg
Jun 28, 2016•53 min
This week we observe the incredible notion of public lament. We discuss why when Jesus wept, it had reason and meaning even in his knowledge of all things. We take some time to consider the horrific events over the past couple weeks in Orlando, Kenya, and Chicago as we step into a week to embrace lament and look to God for answers and comfort. Original song written and performed by Izzi Ray "Still Hope" used with permission granted by artist. Check out Izzi Ray on the internet: Soundcloud https:...
Jun 20, 2016•53 min
This week we observe again another insult to Jesus. There was no question of his ruthless effort to flip the religious understanding of the leaders of his time. Numerous times he challenges the fences and rules upheld by the Pharisees and shows a more loving, graceful, and redemptive entrance to his kingdom. This made him a lawbreaker. And his healing and blessing in the face of such outrageous law, made him beautiful.
Jun 13, 2016•1 hr 2 min
