Here is Megan and Dave’s 30th episode of the Everything Jesus Taught Podcast!
In this 30 minute long podcast episode, we talk about Christian Unity and what that means in a polarizing world. We also chat about:
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Here is Megan and Dave’s 29th episode of the Everything Jesus Taught Podcast!
In this 22 minute long podcast episode, we talk about Taxes and Giving! We also chat about:
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What would you do with million dollars?
(For the sake of this question, I don’t know exactly how you got this million dollars, but you got it legally and ethically. Let’s say it was an inheritance from a relative you didn’t know you had, so you’re not really sad about it. It’s just $1 million that fell into your lap!)
What would you do?
Well, the first thing you should do would be pay taxes on it. And if you don’t think you would, maybe you should read this real quick.
So you pay taxes on it. Now, what would you do with $600,000?
Would you take an amazing trip? Would you pay off your house? Pay off your student loans?
Maybe you’d something really good with it?! Maybe you’d tithe on it, or go above and beyond the tithe on it!
But the real, most-likely possibility of coming into a million dollars is that it would ruin your life. You would probably have no idea what to do with it, and it would hurt your relationships and cause a whole lot of resentment, and you’d end up wishing that you never got to begin with.
Maybe.
But guess what?
You will see a million dollars in your life, just not all at once probably, and it holds the same risk that it will ruin your life.
It’s a risk that is commensurate with how much money you make, or receive.
And the real problem for Christians is that the more money you get, the more likely you are to rely on it, and to let it pull you away from your relationship with God.
In fact, most of Jesus’ teachings about money are precisely about that.
But it’s not all bad news. It never is with Jesus.
He has provided us with a solution.
It’s giving.
Taxes is not something we usually talk about in church. But it’s something that Jesus taught about more than once.
Well, once more than once. What I’m trying to say is that he taught about it twice.
But what he had to say was pretty deep, and it goes further than just what gets deducted from our paychecks.
We find Jesus today in the middle of a very hot political situation. Jesus was a very popular teacher and leader, at the head of a new movement in Israel, which at the time was occupied by Rome.
People were listening to him and liking what he was saying. So of course, the people who used to get listened to hated him. They wanted to make sure that no one was a popular or as powerful as they were.
But they had a tool in their tool box that was a little more deadly…They were happy to try and get their rivals killed by their Roman overlords. So that’s the situation that our teaching today comes out of. Sound good? Let’s get into it.
So they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor. So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are right in what you say and teach, and you show deference to no one, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth.
Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? Luke 20:20-22
Here is Megan and Dave’s 28th episode of the Everything Jesus Taught Podcast!
In this 22 minute long podcast episode, we talk about Money and Fear! We also chat about:
Listen, comment, subscribe, share, and ask questions for them to answer on the next episode!
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Here is Megan and Dave’s 27th episode of the Everything Jesus Taught Podcast!
In this 25 minute long podcast episode, we talk about Money and People! We also chat about:
Listen, comment, subscribe, share, and ask questions for them to answer on the next episode!
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Today’s scripture is about investing.
When we think about investing, we think about investing in things. We invest in stocks and companies. We invest in things we think will be worth something someday, or that will change our lives.
There was a period in the 90s when we were all encouraged to invest in beanie babies, these small stuffed animals that we were told might be really worth something someday.
Some people invest in commemorative plates, or coins. Or we invest in things that promise to change who we are for the better. Things like a $2000 home gym system that will definitely make us into athletes, not gather dust and be where we dry the laundry.
And do you ever notice how some people describe all purchases they make as an investment? I wonder how that started? It’s a good sales pitch. Don’t think of this car as an expense, think of it as an investment in your future. This watch might seem expensive, but it’s really an investment in your success.
No, what it is, is a depreciating asset. Investments are supposed to become more valuable over time. That’s really the only mark of an investment.
But really, we’ll run with just about any excuse to buy stuff. It’s pathological. “We buy things we don’t need with money we don’t have to impress people we don’t like.” That’s America.
And we end up with houses full of things that our kids will have to get rid of, and still we don’t feel satisfied. We feel empty, so we keep chasing it, until we get wise to the fact that it’s just a game we don’t have to play.
But sometimes, we’re forced to see the truth about money and things sooner than we’d like to, like when we lose a job, or go through a crisis.
That’s what happens in our teaching from Jesus today.
Here is Megan and Dave’s 26th episode of the Everything Jesus Taught Podcast!
In this 17 minute long podcast episode, we start talking about Money! We are going to spend the next five weeks on Everything Jesus Taught about Money, and so we started with this one. We also chat about:
Listen, comment, subscribe, share, and ask questions for them to answer on the next episode!
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Here’s the kind of demon that I’m used to dealing with:
But demons can be all sorts of things.
Addictions.
Fears.
Anything that haunts you and controls you can be thought of as a demon.
We’re going to talk a little about those today.
And we’re also going to talk about the demons that show up in the gospels and talk to Jesus before he casts them out.
What do we do with those?
Here is Megan and Dave’s 25th episode of the Everything Jesus Taught Podcast!
In this 25 minute long podcast episode, we talk about the Devil as a part of everything Jesus taught about Devils and Demons. We also chat about:
Listen, comment, subscribe, share, and ask questions for them to answer on the next episode!
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