Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 6 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity.

In Matthew 10:40–42, Jesus makes a startling connection: the way we welcome His people reveals the way we welcome Him and, ultimately, the God who sent Him. This episode clarifies what it means to “receive” Jesus in Scripture, showing that it’s not a passive feeling but an active choice to accept, listen, and embrace His messengers and message.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• What “receive” means in the Bible and why it implies deliberate welcome rather than passive contact
• How receiving Jesus’ disciples reflects receiving Jesus Himself (and the Father who sent Him)
• What it means to receive a prophet “in the name of a prophet”
• Why Jesus links “reward” to salvation and mercy
• Why Jesus calls His disciples “little ones,” and how humility and dependence shape true faith
• How welcoming a disciple with something as small as a cup of cold water carries eternal significance
• What your response to Scripture (the apostles’ words) and to fellow believers reveals about your heart toward God

After listening, you’ll have a clearer, more biblical understanding of what it means to “receive” Jesus and why faith shows up in concrete, everyday welcomes.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 5 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity.

Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount with a warning that is both sobering and hopeful: it’s possible to talk like a disciple while walking the wrong road. In Matthew 7:12–29, we learn how a God-centered worldview reshapes what “love” looks like in practice—and how the Golden Rule, true spiritual fruit, and the foundation we build on reveal whether we’re actually headed toward life.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• How the Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12) summarizes “love your neighbor as yourself” as a call to seek another person’s good—not simply to be “nice”
• Why Jesus frames the choice before us as two roads: the wide way to destruction and the narrow way to life (Matthew 7:13–14)
• What it means to “recognize them by their fruits,” and how discernment protects God’s people from false teachers (Matthew 7:15–20)
• Why calling Jesus “Lord” and even doing impressive religious works isn’t the same as doing the Father’s will (Matthew 7:21–23)
• How the images of rock and sand press the question: are we hearing Jesus’ words and living as if they’re true? (Matthew 7:24–27)
• How humility, mercy, repentance, and a longing for God’s kingdom mark the path Jesus describes throughout the sermon

After listening, you’ll come away with clearer “markers on the road” for examining your faith—not through fear or performance, but through the settled direction of a life built on Jesus’ teaching. You’ll be invited to center your worldview on God, practice love with wisdom and integrity, and choose the narrow path that leads to life.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 4 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity.

What does saving faith actually look like and how did Jesus define it? In this episode, we turn to Matthew 5:1–12 and the Beatitudes to hear Jesus describe the people who are truly “blessed.” Rather than offering a path to personal happiness or self-improvement, Jesus paints a picture of saving faith that recognizes sin, depends on grace, and trusts God for eternal life.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Why the Beatitudes are not a checklist for a better life, but a description of people who inherit the kingdom of heaven
• What Jesus means by calling the poor in spirit, the meek, and the persecuted “blessed”
• How the Beatitudes reveal the sharp divide between those in God’s favor and those under judgment
• The four core convictions of saving faith: Recognize, Embrace, Accept, and Lean (R.E.A.L faith)
• Why future hope, not present comfort, defines who is truly fortunate
• How Jesus’ teaching exposes the lies we believe about God, ourselves, and where real life is found

After listening, you’ll come away with a clearer understanding of what saving faith is—and what it is not. You’ll see how the Beatitudes describe the heart posture of those who trust God rather than themselves, and why faith is ultimately about where you are headed, not how comfortable you are now.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 3 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity.

If all religions lead to God, why did Jesus have to die? This episode walks through John 3:14–21 to show why the cross is not one option among many, but God’s gracious and necessary provision for a guilty world. Through Jesus’ nighttime conversation with Nicodemus and the Old Testament story of the bronze serpent, we see why believing in Jesus is the only way to escape condemnation and receive eternal life.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• The tension many Christians feel between “all religions are valid” and “Jesus is the only way” and why both cannot be true
• How Jesus challenges Nicodemus’ assumptions about religion, knowledge, and spiritual rebirth
• The wilderness story of the bronze serpent in Numbers 21 and how it prepares us to understand the cross
• What it means for the Son of Man to be “lifted up,” and why simply looking to Christ in faith is God’s appointed way of rescue
• How John 3:16–17 reveals God’s heart: not to condemn the world, but to save it through His Son

After listening, you’ll come away with a clearer grasp of why the cross was necessary, why belief in Jesus matters so profoundly, and how your response to Him reveals the true condition of your heart.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

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Today's passage is one of the "See For Yourself" passages Chapter 2 of Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity.

Why do you still feel guilty even after you’ve apologized and tried to move on? In this episode, Krisan Marotta walks through Romans 1:18–32 to show that guilt is more than a feeling to shake off—it’s the real and serious result of rebelling against a holy God. Paul’s words expose a pattern of rebellion, death, and wrath that explains why life unravels without God, and why real guilt can only be answered by real forgiveness in Christ.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Why confusion about sin and guilt is so widespread—even among Christians
• How Romans 1:18–32 fits into Paul’s larger argument about justification by faith
• What it means that God’s wrath “is revealed” now, not just on a future Judgment Day
• How creation itself leaves us “without excuse” before God
• The repeated pattern Paul traces: rebellion, death, and God “giving them over”
• Why idolatry begins with what we see, captures our hearts, and then reshapes our bodies and behavior
• How “respectable” sins like gossip, pride, and arrogance reveal the same underlying exchange of truth for a lie
• Why God’s wrath is not a temper tantrum, but a just decision to hand us over to what we insist on having
• How this bleak diagnosis prepares us to understand and cherish the hope held out in the gospel

After listening, you’ll see guilt in a new light, not as something to ignore or manage, but as a truthful indicator that you need more than a fresh start. You’ll come away with a clearer grasp of what Romans 1 teaches about sin, spiritual death, and God’s wrath, and you’ll be better prepared to understand why the good news of Jesus is not just helpful advice, but the only way out of the prison of sin and death.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

Support the show

Today we’re kicking off a new season of the podcast which is a special companion series to my book, Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity. Each episode will walk you through one of the book’s “See for Yourself” passages, helping you read Scripture with confidence, even if you’re just starting out. Today's passage is from Chapter 1.

Most people today assume we’re basically good—and that sin is a few bad choices sprinkled on top. In this episode, Krisan Marotta walks through Romans 6:15–7:6 to show why that view quietly empties the gospel of its power. Paul’s argument reveals that grace doesn’t make sin safer; it exposes just how destructive it really is—and why understanding sin is the first step toward real hope.

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Why believing we’re “born innocent” blinds us to our need for a Savior
• How Paul answers the objection, “If grace covers all sin, why not keep sinning?” (Romans 6:15)
• What it means to be a “slave” either to sin or to righteousness—and how that shapes the quality of your daily life
• How the Bible defines “death” as more than physical dying: a present experience of decay, futility, and relational breakdown
• Why sin always pays out in death, even for believers whose eternal inheritance is secure (Romans 6:23)
• Why the law could expose sin but never cure it—and how it actually inflamed our rebellion (Romans 7:1–6)
• Paul’s marriage analogy for being released from the law so that we can “belong to another,” to Christ, and bear fruit for God
• How the Holy Spirit, not human willpower, becomes the new way we serve God “in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code”

After listening, you’ll come away with a clearer understanding of what sin really is, why it always brings some kind of death into your life, and why grace is not permission to drift but the power that frees you from slavery to sin.

Series: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

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Krisan Marotta, host of Wednesday in the Word podcast, joins Rob Schilling on AM 1070 WINA's The Schilling Show to discuss her book Start Strong: A New Believer's Guide to Christianity. Instead of talking about why she wrote the book, they dive straight into the theology, covering what new believers need to understand and why it matters.

Key takeaways:

• Repentance is more than saying sorry. It's a complete change of direction and the first step of saving faith.
• Sin has both short-term consequences (bitterness, frustration, tragedy) and long-term consequences (standing before God).
• Finding the right church means looking for one that teaches the Bible in a real way, not just political agendas.
• Biblical worldview divides people into sinners who have found forgiveness through Jesus and those who haven't, not oppressors and oppressed.
• Fellowship with other believers is essential for encouragement and growth.
• Fearing God means making what He thinks more important than anything else.

AM 1070 WINA's The Schilling Show January 27, 2026

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

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Season 27 of Wednesday in the Word begins February 4, 2026, and I couldn’t be more excited to share what’s ahead. This new season is a companion to my book Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity, and it's designed especially for those who are new to faith, returning to church after time away, or walking alongside someone who is.

Each week, we’ll unpack one key passage from the book’s “See for Yourself” section, helping you build a solid foundation, one truth at a time.

I’m also introducing something brand new: Krisan Marotta’s Bookcast—a subscriber-only podcast where you can listen to the audiobook version of Start Strong, one chapter at a time. Each chapter will release one week before the matching podcast episode, giving you a chance to hear the full teaching, then explore the biblical passage in depth.

If you’ve ever wanted a trusted guide to walk with you through the basics of Christianity—or wished you had a resource to share with someone just starting out—this is for you.

Podcast: Start Strong: A New Believer’s Podcast

Book: Start Strong: A New Believer's Guide to Christianity

Krisan Marotta's BookCast - click on the support the show link

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.

Support the show