Tyler Braun's Blog, page 3
December 3, 2019
What is the Gospel?
What is the gospel of Jesus? What does it mean to have faith? The answers to these questions intricately shape what it looks like to be a follower of Jesus. For as much time as Christians spend emphasizing having faith in this good news, it is worthwhile to make sure we’ve understood it correctly.
Matthew Bates is a theology professor at Quincy University, and has written several books connected to the themes of the gospel and faith.
Listen to the full episode below (click here email readers...
November 27, 2019
The Unlived Life
In episode 5 during the 3rd season of the Netflix series The Crown, Queen Elizabeth II (marvelously played by Olivia Colman) spends a month traveling to different parts of the world studying best practices for raising horses for racing. Toward the end of her tripshe shares with her friendHenry Herbert that the trip was one of the best of her entire life—a chance to embrace “the unlived life.”
That phrase and the idea behind it has stuck with me since I originally watched the episode....
November 19, 2019
The Positivity Gospel
The positivity gospel of “you are enough” and “your positive words can overcome your negative world” is all around us, but what if it isn’t true?
On this episode Eric Nelson outlines what the positivity gospel is, what it gets wrong, how to handle conversations with those sharing its message, and much more.
Listen to the episode below (click here email readers):
Or find the episode wherever you get podcasts, including:
November 12, 2019
The Ministry of Touch with Lore Wilbert
The #metoo #churchtoo movement has vividly shown how broken our understanding of touch is. At times we misuse and abuse physical touch, and then negatively react to these realities by offering weak side hugs.
This much is clear: we don’t know how to approach physical touch well. Listen as Lore Wilbert approaches an obviously needed discussion on Jesus and physical touch.
Listen to the full episode below (clic...
November 5, 2019
If God Knows Everything…
In Luke 5, the story of the healing of the paralyzed man is told, followed by an interaction with Jesus and some religious leaders. Here are the verses of this initial interaction after Jesus forgives the sins of the paralyzed man:
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
—Luke 5:21-22
Though rar...
October 29, 2019
Grief and the Prosperity Gospel
Quite often we are quick to either reject our emotions or let them run rampant, with little middle ground for allowing God to speak to us through them. Listen as Richard Clark shares about his podcast Living and Effective, and how the focus it had on the 5 stages of grief can teach us about a better way to approach these emotions.
Richard Clark leads the Creative Studio for Christianity Today. He is a producer and host for Living and Effective, a podcast about the ways the Bible has influence within...
October 22, 2019
The Best Christians Albums of the 2010s
I recently joined a panel of voices helping come up with a list of the best Christian albums of the 2010s. If you’ve been around my writing for a while, you know I’m a huge fan of celebrating noteworthy music.
As part of the process of the group, I came up with my own list of the 10 best albums in the last decade. This list is a blend of personal favorites, music celebrated far and wide, and music that move...
October 15, 2019
A Secular Age
We are embedded in and overwhelmed by a world that is increasingly secular—a world without a need for God—leaving many Christians at a loss for how to navigate being people of faith. Listen in as Andrew Root helps navigate these tumultuous times for Christians looking for a way forward.
Andrew Root is a professor at Luther Seminary, author of many books, and one of the many tortured Minnesota Vikings fans. In this episode Andrew Root helps explain the work of Charles Taylor: who he is, why hi...
October 8, 2019
Nothing is Hidden
The recent Netflix documentary The Great Hack has once again brought internet privacy into focus as a vital discussion within our society today. More than likely you’ve had a friend on Facebook post something along the lines of:
Deadline tomorrow!!! Everything you’ve ever posted becomes public from tomorrow…Channel 13 News talked about the change in Facebook’s privacy policy. I do not give Facebook or any entities associated with Facebook permission to use my…etc, etc.
The paranoia surroundin...
October 1, 2019
On Temptation
Last Sunday I shared a sermon from Luke 4:1-13 which covers the temptation of Christ in the wilderness. As part of my study I read through John Owen’s Overcoming Sin and Temptation, which comprises several separate books written by Owen many years ago. Though I wasn’t able to incorporate much of it into my sermon I found his pointedness about temptation and its push toward sinfulness to be especially convicting and helpful.
His framework became the backdrop I used for approaching the subject...
