Episode 43 - Assurance and the Sinning Christian with Brad Klassen
Release Date: 02/07/2026
Episode 53 - Hope When Marriage is Hard with Brian Arnold
Conversations with Pastors
When we find ourselves in the trenches of marital struggle, it can feel like we're wandering without a map. This conversation brings us back to a foundational truth: our marriages aren't just about our personal happiness or comfort, but about displaying something far greater. Scripture reveals that marriage is designed to be a living portrait of Christ's redemptive love for the church. The very struggles we face—the communication breakdowns, the unmet expectations, the persistent weaknesses in ourselves and our spouses—these aren't obstacles to God's plan. They're actually the canvas on...
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Episode 52 - When the Preacher Exhorts with Jerry Wragg
Conversations with Pastors
At the heart of this conversation with Jerry Wragg is Hebrews 13:17, which calls us to obey our spiritual leaders and submit to them—not to human authority, but to the authority of Scripture itself as it's faithfully proclaimed. We're reminded that exposition isn't just about explaining what a text means; it includes exhortation, where the implications of God's truth are drawn out and applied to our hearts and lives. The beautiful picture painted here is of a pastor who first wrestles with Scripture himself, allowing it to convict, challenge, and transform him before he ever stands in the...
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Episode 51 - Diagnosing Self-Righteousness with Mike Kotecki
Conversations with Pastors
This conversation cuts to the heart of one of our most persistent spiritual struggles: self-righteousness. The core issue is trusting in ourselves as the moral standard while viewing others with contempt. What makes this so insidious is how it masquerades as spiritual maturity. We can know all the right doctrines, attend church faithfully, and still harbor hearts that elevate ourselves above others. The discussion reveals how self-righteousness destroys love, because when we're focused on others' faults, we're blind to our own. The antidote? Cultivating genuine humility by allowing Scripture...
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Episode 50 - Biblical Counseling: Encouraging the Discouraged with Todd Murray
Conversations with Pastors
When we encounter discouraged brothers and sisters in Christ, we face a sacred opportunity to embody the ministry of Jesus Himself—the One who sustains the weary with a word. This week Todd Murray shows us the art of biblical encouragement, reminding us that effective ministry to the discouraged requires both a trained tongue and a trained ear. Drawing from Isaiah 50, we're reminded that Jesus knew how to sustain the weary because His Father awakened His ear morning by morning, filling Him with divine wisdom. Similarly, our ability to comfort others flows directly from how deeply Scripture...
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Episode 49 - Avoiding Parental Drift with Reid Price
Conversations with Pastors
The danger of spiritual drift presents one of the most sobering realities we face as believers and families. This week, Reid Price explains how even the most enthusiastic, committed Christians can gradually find themselves on the periphery of church life. The image is striking: like an airplane one degree off course at takeoff, the deviation seems insignificant at first, but across the Atlantic Ocean, that small error results in landing far from the intended destination. When we examine our lives through passages like Ephesians 4, Psalm 78, and 1 Timothy 3, we discover that there is no neutral...
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Episode 48 - Laying Aside Every Weight with Dave Temple
Conversations with Pastors
What invisible burdens are we carrying that prevent us from running our spiritual race with full abandon? Dave Temple opens to Hebrews 12:1 and challenges us to examine not just the obvious sins we need to confess, but the subtle weights that slow our pursuit of Christ. Drawing from the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11, we discover that Abraham had to release his need for predictability and control, while Moses surrendered the allure of comfort and luxury. These weren't sinful desires in themselves, but they became encumbrances when elevated above faithfulness to God's calling. The distinction is...
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Episode 47 - God's Definition of Good with Mark Axelgard
Conversations with Pastors
What if everything we think is bad for us is actually good? This challenging exploration of Ecclesiastes 7 confronts our comfortable definitions of prosperity and adversity. We discover that Solomon isn't just offering ancient wisdom—he's dismantling our entire framework for understanding what makes life good. The startling claim that sorrow is better than laughter and the house of mourning better than the house of feasting forces us to ask: whose definition of good are we following? The heart of this message reveals that God has intentionally woven both prosperity and adversity into the...
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Episode 46 - Can We Recover From Disappointments? with Paul Shirley
Conversations with Pastors
Life has a way of delivering disappointments that shake us to our core. When our expectations crumble and circumstances turn against us, we face a critical choice: will we see ourselves as victims, or will we recognize God's guiding hand? This week, Paul Shirley shows us the difference between how our culture views trauma—as permanently debilitating—and how Scripture presents trials as instruments of sanctification. Through the remarkable story of Joseph, we discover that what appears devastating in the moment is often God's unexpected means of preparation. Our trials aren't ruining us;...
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Episode 45 - Forgiveness with Marc Wragg
Conversations with Pastors
When we've been wronged, our hearts can become battlegrounds where forgiveness fights against our natural desire for justice. This week, Marc Wragg shows us what it means to forgive from the heart. We discover that genuine forgiveness isn't just a feeling or a one-time decision, but rather an ongoing demonstration of biblical love. The discussion challenges us to examine whether we're really forgiving by asking a penetrating question: Can we still fulfill the one-another commands of Scripture toward those who've hurt us? Can we serve them, speak truth to them, and care for their needs? If we...
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Episode 44 - Parenting Prodigals with Todd Dykstra
Conversations with Pastors
When we find ourselves parenting a rebellious child, we're walking a path that God Himself knows intimately. Isaiah 1:2 reminds us that even the Lord has experienced the heartbreak of children who revolt against Him. Todd Dykstra helps us explore the spiritual realities beneath the surface of prodigal children—not as parenting failures, but as opportunities for deep sanctification in our own hearts. We're challenged to examine whether our doubts and fears drive us toward despair or toward dependence on God. The rebellion we witness in our children isn't something we caused through our...
info_outline1 John 3 says, 'No one who abides in Him sins... no one who sins has seen Him or known Him.' These words can feel like a hammer to the struggling believer who desperately wants to please Christ but keeps stumbling. Yet what if we've misunderstood John's purpose? This exploration of 1 John reveals that the apostle wasn't writing to crush believers under condemnation, but to comfort them with assurance. John addresses his readers as 'little children' and 'beloved'—terms of endearment that reveal his pastoral heart. He wrote so that we 'may know that you have eternal life,' not to create doubt but to strengthen confidence. The key lies in understanding the difference between practicing sin as a lifestyle versus struggling with sin while pursuing holiness. John contrasts two distinct categories: those whose hearts are marked by lawlessness and rebellion, versus those whose trajectory is toward Christ, even when they stumble. When we confess our sins, when we grieve over our failures, when we long for Christ to destroy the works of the devil in our lives—these are evidences of spiritual life, not death. The very awareness of sin's ugliness and Christ's beauty is fruit that only comes from a regenerated heart. We're reminded that the Christian life isn't about achieving sinless perfection, but about direction—a heart that increasingly loves what God loves and hates what God hates, even when our performance falls short.