We are reunited! In this episode, Amy joins Michelle once again to open up about God’s healing, hurricanes and some upcoming events where we hope you can join us in person!
I don’t think anybody’s particularly thrilled with the way things are going in 2020, but God is still at work blessing His people. Let’s be thankful for that!
What is something GOOD that God has done for you in 2020? How has He blessed you and your family? Listen in and be encouraged as our listeners share some of the amazing things God has been doing in their lives. For some, 2020 has been the best year ever!
While Amy’s recovering from surgery, Michelle goes solo with your favorite recurring feature here on A Word Fitly Spoken – Glad You Asked! In this episode, Michelle answers these questions:
• Should a woman who’s a new convert admin and teach Scripture in a co-ed Facebook group?
• How can a Christian wife submit to her husband when he doesn’t want her to go to church?
• Isn’t Beth Moore an OK teacher as long as she doesn’t overtly teach against the person and work of Christ?
A lot of Christians have been watching the unfolding news headlines of what is happening in California and Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church (GCC). Many are asking some great questions, like, are John MacArthur, the elders of GCC, and the members of GCC sinning by meeting indoors in person, and thereby disobeying the governor’s order? Why couldn’t they just try to meet in other ways? And what about the lawsuit that GCC is bringing against the state of California? Is that biblical? Michelle and Amy discuss what the Bible has to say about this topic.
It’s our 50th episode! Thanks so much for listening!
Today: Does God care for His people in supernatural ways? Yes indeed, and it’s called Divine Providence.
Providence is a word that comes from Provide, or provision. God does provide for His people in ways we sometimes don’t recognize. But when we do see it, it’s an amazing thing and one that fills us with awe and wonder as we realize just how much He cares for us. Amy and Michelle head to Scripture for some amazing verses on how God has done this from the beginning of time.
What is worship? The Bible tells us it is so much more than simply singing God’s praises, but singing is part of how we worship.Worshiping God is the essence of our Christian life. To worship is to show reverence and adoration for a Holy God. The meaning of the New Testament Greek word most often translated “worship” (proskuneo) is “to fall down before” or “bow down before.” WHY do we worship? Amy and Michelle dig into Scripture for answers to the why and how of worship.
This episode isn’t exactly going to be “raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.” We thought we’d share a few of our favorite things with you. Some of them we hope will help you in your walk with the Lord, and some of them are just for fun!
How can we be wise and discerning when false teachers start telling the world that they’ve seen the light of the true Gospel of Jesus Christ? This happened recently when preacher Todd White surprised his audience by telling them that he repented for not giving them the whole Gospel all these years. Known for his seeker-friendly messages, psychic readings and leg-lengthening “miracles,” Todd White has a massive worldwide audience who heard the true Gospel one week, but a different message the next. Michelle and Amy encourage listeners to look to God for true repentance and fruit, rather than the words people say.
Is God all love, ALL the time? Yes! And His definition of love includes holiness, righteousness and wrath. In this episode we discuss how the Bible describes God’s love, and then share a few ways the world and even some Christians have a slightly distorted view of God’s love.
You may be painfully aware that public schools have long been infected with a radical agenda that is intentional and well thought out, planned and executed for more than a century without many of you even knowing it. If you have school-aged children and your reflexive thought whenever you hear the word “homeschooling” is, “I could never do that!,” give this episode a listen for practical tips on how to get started. And if you don’t have school-aged children, stick with us. You might be surprised at what you learn!
Our listeners ask great questions! Once again Michelle and Amy head to Scripture to answer these thought-provoking questions sent in from our listeners:
How can Christians navigate Gay Pride Month?
Should you confront a mom about something your kids said her kids did?
How can you find out if someone is a false convert?
What does “deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me” look like in real life?
What questions would you like us to answer? Use our Contact form to share, and we’ll consider adding them to a future episode of Glad you Asked.
Our listeners ask great questions! Once again Michelle and Amy head to Scripture to answer these thought-provoking questions sent in from our listeners:
How can Christians navigate Gay Pride Month?
Should you confront a mom about something your kids said her kids did?
How can you find out if someone is a false convert?
What does “deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow me” look like in real life?
What questions would you like us to answer? Use our Contact form to share, and we’ll consider adding them to a future episode of Glad you Asked.
What is prayer? How can I be sure I’m doing it right? And why don’t I want to at times?
Many of us have learned some unbiblical things about prayer, and we’ve developed some ungodly attitudes toward prayer. Michelle and Amy discuss why it is that many of us struggle with our prayer life.
Does God punish us for the sins of our ancestors? Should we repent of sins our parents or grandparents committed even if we had nothing to do with those wrongdoings? Those questions are coming up lately as many people grapple with the idea that people of a lighter skin tone must repent of racism against people with a darker skin tone. The headlines from the visible church — the ones that follow the social gospel anyway — tell us that racism is a generational sin we must repent of.
Amy and Michelle discuss what the Bible has to say about generational sin with special guest Beth Seifert. Beth is a wife, mom, home school teacher and women’s ministry teacher, as well as the author of many Bible studies at Naomi’s Table.
When we look at what has happened in our world just in the past several months, and how quickly things have spiraled out of control, it’s so important to encourage our brothers and sisters in Christ to stay the course and remember Who actually is in control. Amy and Michelle discuss how control is something that is not only imaginary, it is something we can easily idolize.
On this episode, we are diving right back into Part Two of our discussion on Walking Worthy with a Light Yoke.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 11, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Last week we began going through Scripture to talk about all the things Jesus commanded, and yet His commands are not difficult or complex.
We always say at the end of every episode, “Walk Worthy.” Today’s topic is one that should bring comfort and conviction about how to do that in a way that honors Christ. In John 14:15, Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” So what did Jesus command? He wasn’t talking about keeping the Old Testament Law, nor was He telling us we need to have a works-based salvation to get into Heaven, but as an act of obedience, love, and reverence for our Savior.
Long before whispers of covert COVID operations, conspiracy theories have been rampant – and rabid. Should we as Christians spend time looking into the Illuminati, secret societies or symbols and codes in music and movies, or buying into the flat earth theory? What about vaccines and doomsday prophecies? What about 5-G towers and injections that might maybe be the Mark of the Beast? Amy and Michelle look at conspiracies through the lens of Truth.
Have you been struggling with the stress of stay at home orders – not being able to go to church, or get your hair cut, or visit loved ones in the nursing home or hospital? It seems that all of this upheaval in normal, day to day life has produced a constant low-grade stress and anxiety. It’s enough to make anybody irritable! And quarantine or no quarantine, irritability is something we can all struggle with from time to time. Listen in as Amy and Michelle discuss seven biblical and practical ways to mortify the sin of irritability.
When it comes to doctrine, what are essentials and what are the non-essentials, or secondary issues? When Christians speak about essentials, what they’re talking about is the fundamentals of our faith, and what we believe about God that makes us His own. These are the doctrines which you, biblically, have to believe in order to become a Christian and/or be considered a Christian. So what are some issues over which Christians can disagree and still maintain close doctrinal fellowship?
Sometimes when we say the Bible is sufficient to guide our lives, the question arises, “What about the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit? How does that fit in with the doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture?” There are so many theories and teachings about this third person of the Trinity that it’s no wonder so many people are confused about who the Spirit is, and what He actually does, and does not do.
If you’re not quite sure what it means to be lead by the Spirit, this podcast episode will clear things up – thanks to what the Scripture teaches about the Holy Spirit.
Right now the vast majority of us are having to watch worship services online. And even though many of us miss fellowshiping with our brothers and sisters, we can get a little too used to the routine of sleeping a little later and plopping down on the couch with a good cup of coffee to watch church. We might even be tempted, once quarantine is over, to keep “going to church online.” Michelle and Amy discuss the importance of faithfully fellowshiping with the Body again once this is all over.
Never before have we been through a nationwide quarantine in a worldwide pandemic. What better time to share some much-needed encouragement from our brothers and sisters in Christ? Michelle and Amy recently asked for and received our listeners’ most comforting and encouraging Scriptures, acts of kindness, prayer requests and more. This has turned out to be our favorite episode so far!
Christians believe the Word of God is inerrant; that it’s true, and that it is without error. But do you believe it is sufficient? Or are you looking for something more? More exciting, perhaps? Did you know that the Bible is all we need to equip us for a life of faith and service? The doctrine of the sufficiency of Scripture is a fundamental tenet of the Christian faith.In this episode Amy and Michelle explain why this doctrine is so important to understand and embrace.
Welcome to another “Glad You Asked” episode! Here are the listener questions we’ll be answering this time:
Since Sarah is held up to us as a woman we should strive to emulate, was she right to follow Abraham’s instructions to lie about their relationship to Pharaoh and Abimelech?
Are Believers violating Scripture by not gathering for Sunday services and other church events during COVID-19 quarantine?
How should I address a female “pastor” who introduces herself as “Pastor Beth or Joyce or Lisa”?
God is bringing me out of New Apostolic Reformation heresy, but my husband is still deeply entrenched in it. How can I cope and minister to him?
We’re always collecting questions for the next Glad You Asked episode, so drop us an e-mail or social media private message with your questions any time!
In this episode, Michelle and Amy address two more objections to discernment when warning about false teachers:
“That teacher may not always be right but that doesn’t mean she’s a false teacher. We all get things wrong!”
“Maybe this teacher says some things that are wrong, biblically, but she says some good things, too. I just ‘chew up the meat and spit out the bones.'”
“You say that this female Bible teacher is in disobedience to Scripture because she preaches to men. You’re just as guilty because you have a blog and social media pages that men can read!”
In this episode, Michelle and Amy take on a common objection to naming false teachers, and that is the idea that women ought not do podcasts, blogs or post on social media if their content has Scripture. Nonsense! Tune in and find out why.
Have you ever had to confront a brother or sister in Christ about their sin against you? In this episode we are going to examine a section of the book of Matthew, in chapter 18: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” But does this apply in every situation? Nope. One of the biggest misunderstandings of applying this particular scripture to how we are to talk and warn about teachings that are not biblical is the idea that we need to go to the teacher first, in private.
When Christians build a church building, we don’t usually erect a wall around it, but there’s a very real enemy we need to keep out and protect ourselves from – false doctrine. There’s a huge need for this in the church today, and unfortunately, some churches have left themselves vulnerable to attack, and the enemy has already infiltrated and taken over. In this episode Michelle and Amy discuss some foundational ways pastors can build a wall – an invisible, spiritual wall – around their churches to keep false doctrine out and to protect their congregations from being attacked by this vicious enemy.
This episode is going to get political, but not in the way you might think. We are just at the beginning phase of the election season, a time when our country here in the United States is in a frenzy over who ought to be our next president For many Christians, it’s a time when politics and pundits eclipse everything else. The trap that we can fall into is that we can become so busy reclaiming America that we forget we’re here to proclaim Christ. Amy and Michelle go to Scripture to put politics and patriotism in perspective.
Are there too many persnickety old people in your church? Do you long to reshuffle the congregational deck and get some young blood in the pews? Is your church “dying” because there just aren’t enough millennials making your church hip and cool? Recently a church in Minnesota made national news headlines for doing just that – and even secular media took notice! In this episode, Amy and Michelle discuss why this is not only a bad idea, it’s unbiblical.
Words stand for something, right? The words we use in our Christian faith used to be fairly clear cut, but over the last few years some definitions seem to have become somewhat murky: evangelism, preaching, and how Christian women biblically fit into that equation.
It is not God’s will for us to worry. No matter how strangling our fear may feel, God wants us to trust Him in everything, from the most dire situation to the most mundane. But how can we do that? In this episode Michelle and Amy discuss some biblical and practical ways to stop worrying and start trusting God.
The S word – it scares us doesn’t it? We’re talking about the word “Submit,” and for many women, being in submission sounds like a door to abuse.
What a comfort to know that submission doesn’t mean being abused, following a list of rules or being treated like a door mat, but it is an easy yoke that Jesus asks of all His followers. In this episode Amy and Michelle discuss why submission is mocked as a sign of weakness, but in fact is one of the strongest pillars of society.
This is the time of year when lots of people are making (or by now, breaking) New Year’s resolutions to “be a better you.” Those resolutions tend to be very self-focused, so Michelle and Amy instead discuss some “holy habits” that every Christian ought to pursue all year long. Here are Eight Ways to Walk Worthy in 2020:
Are nativity scenes and Christmas pageants violating the second commandment? What about Advent observances and candle-lighting ceremonies? And why do we celebrate Christ’s birth on December 25th anyway? These are all great questions sent to us by our listeners, so today Amy and Michelle dig into Scripture and church history to share the answers, in this “Glad You Asked” Christmas edition!
Resources:
Scriptures mentioned in this episode are linked in the resources below
It’s the most wonderful time of the year again, and with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it’s easy for the Gospel to get lost in the shuffle. But the Great Commission never takes a vacation, and the holiday season provides some unique opportunities for sharing the gospel that we don’t have during the rest of the year.
Michelle and Amy discuss ways to share the Good News that are unique to the holiday season.
Resources
10 Ways to Share the Gospel During the Holidays Michelle Lesley- Discipleship for Christian Women (most of the resources we mentioned in this episode are linked in this article) Note: In this episode (as well as in previous editions of Michelle’s article linked here), suggestion #3 was to give to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (International Mission Board). Due to pervasive corruption of various sorts in the SBC, we no longer recommend donating to any SBC entity including the IMB or LMCO.
Three different podcasts come together for one giant cross over! Amy and Michelle recently joined Lauren from Tulips & Honey as well as Emily from The Aquila & Priscilla Hour. The ladies make up four different generations, and discuss Biblical discipleship from a woman’s standpoint.
Ever since the Me Too movement exploded on social media a couple of years ago, we’ve been hearing more and more heartbreaking stories of women who have experienced physical and sexual abuse. If anyone can help and should be helping victims of abuse, it ought to be the church. But, unfortunately, it seems that the people in the evangelical spotlight who are stepping up to advocate for victims are often popular false teachers.
Michelle and Amy talk about ministering to women who have experienced physical and sexual abuse.
You might not bow down to golden statues of God, but we’ve all magnified things in our lives that eclipse our love for the Lord. We know it’s wrong, but our hearts are prone to wander. Today Amy and Michelle tackle the tough subject of idolatry. Not only for us individually, but for churches, collectively.
If I leave my church for doctrinal reasons, is it gossip to tell my church friends why? What’s the difference between the true sin of oppression and claims of social injustice? These are just some of the questions we get from listeners, so Michelle and Amy turn to Scripture for answers. Be sure to listen to Glad You Asked, Part I.
How can we tell whether or not someone is really saved? It can be hard to tell with someone we don’t know, like a celebrity, but even with people we know personally – family members, friends, co-workers – is there really any way to know for sure? Michelle and Amy explore what the Bible says in light of true and false conversions, and why it matters.
What’s a “soft” Complementarian? Is it wrong to have youth pastors or worship pastors since neither of them are specifically mentioned in the Bible? Should I serve in ministry with someone who teaches Spiritual Formation? We’re digging into our mailbag, and into Scripture to see what God’s Word has to say about these great questions.
You may go to a church where you hear terms like intersectionality, and “woke.” In recent years we’ve seen Social Justice become an issue in the evangelical church where many teach that Social Justice is an essential part of the Gospel; and if we don’t understand that it’s a part of the Gospel, we don’t have the true Gospel at all.
Amy and Michelle show you through Scripture that Social Justice is not only NOT part of the Gospel. It is a serious hindrance to the Gospel. It actually sabotages the truth of God’s Word, and it uses God’s Word to do it.
Over the last few episodes, we’ve been talking about the topic of discernment – how to handle things when we encounter false teachers and false doctrine.
In our “Doing Discernment” episode, we took a look at how to determine if a teacher is trustworthy and whether or not you should be following him or her. In our “Words with Friends: How to contend with loved ones” episode, we talked about how to approach and gently warn a friend who’s following a false teacher.
But what about when false teachers or false doctrine impacts your church? What’s the right and biblical way to address it? Michelle and Amy discuss how to talk to your church leaders about false teachers.
What do we do when our loved ones get caught up in the snare of unbiblical teachings? Should we say something?
And if so, how do we approach them in love? In this episode, Amy and Michelle discuss how to have “Words with Friends.”
How do we know if a teacher, conference speaker or book author is biblically safe? The best way to guard yourself against falsehood and false teachers is to know the truth. Only by being thoroughly familiar with the truth will we be able to recognize a counterfeit. In this episode, Michelle and Amy offer some practical tips on “doing discernment.”