On this This Is Life podcast, we look at a real-life testimony of how you can grow up surrounded by addiction, instability, and broken promises and still end up living a radically different story. Mike joins us to talk about the real turning points that don’t always make headlines: a grandmother who quietly lived her faith, mentors who stepped into father-shaped gaps, and the slow decision to keep showing up for Jesus even when life felt messy and unfair.

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

Culture is loud, identity is fragile, and the church can drift without noticing. We sit down and get honest about what’s been forming us lately, from family seasons and ministry travel to what we’re seeing in students who genuinely want “the things of old” back, especially manners and respect. That real-life thread sets up a deeper spiritual question: if we say we follow Jesus, what does our life actually reflect?

We walk through 1 Corinthians 11 with the kind of pastoral clarity that doesn’t aim to impress, but to restore. Paul’s warning to Corinth still lands today: when the church absorbs the idols and categories of the world, we stop reflecting Christ and start mirroring whatever we used to serve. We talk Christian identity, image-bearing, and why labeling ourselves by politics, success, status, or any identity above Jesus quietly breeds pride, comparison, and division.

Then we move to the communion table, where Corinth’s rich believers humiliated the poor and turned the Lord’s Supper into something harmful. Communion is meant to pull us back to the cross, back to unity, and back to a serious moment of self-examination. We close with prayer, repentance, and a clear invitation to surrender what we’ve been carrying so we can live with clarity and peace in Christ. If this challenged you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

Temptation feels personal, but Paul calls it common and that one word changes everything. We sit with 1 Corinthians 10 and face the uncomfortable truth that people can experience God’s power and still drift, not because God fails, but because our hearts get captured by lesser loves. If you’ve ever thought, I’m fine, I’d never fall for that, this message is a steady warning against overconfidence and a hopeful reminder that God is faithful and always provides a way to endure.

We also step back and remember what 1 Corinthians really is: a costly, carefully delivered first-century letter, meant to be read aloud to a gathered church. That lens helps us hear Paul’s urgency around idolatry, participation, and communion. The chapter moves from Israel’s examples to a direct call to flee from idols, then into the practical tension of Christian freedom and conscience, where love for the other person matters as much as what we’re technically allowed to do.

From Corinth’s temples to today’s modern “temples” of success, image, romance, wellness, and ambition, we ask what’s sitting on the altar of our hearts. We talk about koinonia, deep fellowship with Jesus, God’s jealous love as protection, and why practices like Scripture memorization and fasting can re-train our desires toward what’s good. If this challenged you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review so more people can find the podcast. What’s one “good thing” that tries to become your god?

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

Your rights might be real, but they might also be the thing keeping someone from seeing Jesus. We open 1 Corinthians 9 and follow Paul as he defends his apostolic authority, then does something shocking: he voluntarily lays down legitimate privileges so the gospel can move faster and farther. That single choice becomes a mirror for modern Christian life, where personal freedom, public opinion, and “I deserve this” can quietly outrank our witness.

We get practical about where this hits home. We talk about speech, self-control, and the difference between what we’re allowed to do and what actually builds up other people. Paul’s strategy is not compromise; it’s mission. He finds common ground with Jews, Gentiles, and those who feel weak in faith, while staying anchored to obedience to Christ. Along the way, we name today’s cultural idols and distractions, from status chasing to the nonstop pull of our phones, and ask what it looks like to live inside a culture without being owned by it.

Then we lean into Paul’s athletic metaphor: spiritual discipline is training, not vibes. We want lives that match our message, not lives that undermine it. Finally, we go to Acts 9, where everything in Paul’s life changes through a divine encounter with Jesus and we make the case that we need ongoing encounters too, not just a memory from years ago. If you want a deeper Christian walk, stronger discipleship habits, and a clearer gospel witness, press play, then subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review with the line that challenged you most.

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

You can be right and still be wrong in the way you treat people. We open 1 Corinthians 8 with a topic that sounds outdated “food sacrificed to idols” and find a challenge that hits modern Christian life at full force: what we do with what we know matters. Paul doesn’t start with a rule. He starts with the heart. Knowledge puffs up, love builds up, and when we separate the two, pride quietly takes over.

We talk through why this was such a big deal in Corinth, where idol worship shaped everyday meals, marketplaces, and celebrations. Paul affirms a strong, clear truth: there is one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ, and idols are nothing. That means some believers truly have freedom of conscience. But Paul adds a weighty warning: if our “right” becomes a stumbling block, we can wound a weaker conscience, damage someone’s faith, and sin against Christ by harming the people he died for.

Then we bring it home to the gray areas the Bible doesn’t spell out in detail: alcohol, entertainment choices, parenting decisions, schools, tattoos, holidays, and the arguments that can fracture unity and create what many people now call church hurt. The question shifts from “What am I allowed to do?” to “What honors Christ and helps others follow him?” We end with the example of Jesus, who lays down his rights in love, and we invite you to ask the Holy Spirit how to live that out in your relationships. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: where do you most need knowledge and love to work together?

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.

We talk through 1 Corinthians 8 and the “food sacrificed to idols” question to uncover a bigger issue: how we use Christian freedom without harming someone else’s faith. We wrestle with the tension between knowledge and love, and we land on a simple challenge to choose connection, humility, and other-centered decisions.
• background on Corinth’s temples, sacrifices, and marketplace meat
• why newer believers may feel spiritually uneasy about certain environments
• “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” as a filter for motives
• modern “idol meat” examples like media, alcohol, social influence, and habits
• honoring different convictions without trying to win every argument
• connection over correction as the path to real discipleship
• refusing to become a stumbling block that leads someone back to bondage
• moving from rule-keeping to desire-driven love for God and people
• helping people belong and bear fruit before demanding they look finished

Thanks for listening! Follow us on Facebook or YouTube.