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What we celebrate reveals who we are. We open 1 Corinthians 13:6 and trace a straight line from our laughter, screens, and conversations to the loves that shape our lives. The theme is stark and liberating: love refuses to rejoice in unrighteousness and learns to rejoice with the truth. That clarity confronts how entertainment can dull our sense of holiness, how cultural approval can masquerade as compassion, and how gossip can turn our words into quiet weapons. It also offers something better: a way to cultivate joy that aligns with the heart of Christ.

We walk through the subtle ways we “come alongside” darkness—by what we watch, applaud, and repeat—and why even passive approval deforms our character. Then we turn to the freedom found in truth: the gospel that anchors courage, the Scriptures that set our loves in order, and the daily practices that make a believer’s life bright and credible. Along the way, we unpack why love protects rather than exposes, how speech can either heal or harm, and why celebrating obedience and repentance builds a culture of grace. A moving letter from a wife who kept covenant through decades of hardship gives a flesh-and-blood picture of what rejoicing in truth looks like when no one is cheering.

If you’re ready for a heart audit—of your inputs, your approvals, and your words—this conversation will give you handles to change what you feed your soul and what you celebrate out loud. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs courage, and leave a review telling us: what truth will you rejoice in today?

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What if the secret to durable relationships isn’t better conflict tactics but a different ledger? We open with the daring claim of 1 Corinthians 13: agape love “does not take into account a wrong suffered.” From there, we trace how scorekeeping slowly hollows out marriages, friendships, teams, and churches—and why the gospel gives us a better way. Not a sentimental shortcut, but a sturdier practice: refusing to record offenses, choosing willful forgetfulness, and building a life where forgiveness becomes a rhythm rather than a rare exception.

We contrast storge, philia, and eros with agape’s distinctive grit—an others-first, chosen commitment that can face real hurt without curating a museum of grievances. Along the way, we explore Jesus’ “seventy times seven” as a way of life, not arithmetic. We step into the Bible’s accounting language, where God does not count our sins against us, wipes our record clean, and credits Christ’s righteousness to our account. That divine bookkeeping reframes our reflex to tally. If our debt has been erased and replaced with abundance, what are we doing clutching old invoices from yesterday’s wounds?

Through vivid stories and concrete examples, we show how love that refuses to keep score changes households and churches, cools simmering workplace resentment, and frees us from reliving the same injury on repeat. Forgiving doesn’t mean denial or naivete; it means naming the wrong, setting wise boundaries when needed, and still laying down the ledger. Draw near to the cross, keep a large eraser handy, and discover how peace, joy, and freedom grow when you stop carrying a calculator. If this conversation helped you breathe a little easier, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs the reminder, and leave a review to help others find the show.

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A $20 coin survived thefts, fires, a king’s collection, and a courtroom drama to fetch $7.6 million—yet it can’t buy a single act of love. We take that glittering legend and hold it up to a rarer treasure: agape that refuses rudeness, self‑seeking, and quick anger. Rather than treating love like a display piece, we walk through 1 Corinthians 13 as a field guide to action—15 verbs that pull love out of the safe and into circulation, where it belongs.

We break the journey into three uncommon moves. First, uncommon courtesy: the quiet power of tact, modesty, and consideration that protects others’ dignity in small, daily choices. Second, uncommon concern: the countercultural habit of not seeking our own advantage, of turning conversations and credit outward so others rise. Third, uncommon control: Spirit‑led restraint that won’t be provoked, illustrated by turning the other cheek and going the second mile—a deliberate surrender of status and convenience to stop resentment from writing the script.

Along the way, we contrast agape with the familiar loves of appetite and affinity, showing why self‑giving love is both rare and practical. You’ll hear memorable stories, ancient context that clarifies Jesus’ teaching, and concrete ways to practice patience, share advantage, and respond to irritation without becoming the second person in a quarrel. If rarity excites us, this is the treasure worth pursuing—because its value grows as it is spent.

If this conversation helped you reframe what matters, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review. Your feedback helps more people discover wisdom that can move from vault to everyday life.

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What if the biggest threat to your relationships isn’t what you lack, but what you quietly protect—envy, self-promotion, and a puffed-up certainty that can’t be taught? We open 1 Corinthians 13 and treat love as verbs—habits that confront our reflex to compete, parade, and look down from a tower of pride. The result is a bracing, practical journey through three refusals that free us to love well: no envy, no bragging, no arrogance.

We start where Paul starts: love without competing. Envy boils when someone else is honored; agape rejoices without comparing. Then we face bragging—the gentle spotlight we keep turning toward ourselves, even in spiritual settings. Paul’s piercing question reframes everything: What do you have that you did not receive? That simple truth dismantles the need to parade our gifts and replaces it with gratitude and quiet faithfulness. Finally, we examine arrogance—how inflated self-importance masquerades as tolerance. Real love does not enable what destroys; it tells the truth with tears, invites repentance, and seeks restoration. We explore where Corinth stumbled, how churches repeat those mistakes, and why humble conviction is the most compassionate path.

Across the conversation, you’ll hear memorable stories, Scripture’s sharp clarity, and practical ways to shift your posture: celebrate others’ wins, choose anonymity over applause, and welcome correction that realigns you with Jesus. This is a call to step down from the tower and onto the solid ground of service, where love is sturdy, honest, and full of grace. If you’re ready to trade performance for peace and pride for a better way, press play—and share this with someone who needs courage to choose truth in love. Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us which habit is hardest for you to surrender.

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What if the truest test of love isn’t how we feel but how long our fuse is—and how near we’re willing to move toward hard people? We dive into 1 Corinthians 13 and sit with two verbs that refuse to be sentimental: love is patient and love is kind. Not patience with things that break, but patience with people who do; not a vague warmth at a distance, but a generosity that crosses the hallway, answers the need, and carries enough “coals” to relight a life.

We unpack the language behind long-fused love, explore why non-retaliation is so radical, and trace how kindness is more than politeness—it’s contact, cost, and concrete help. From a classroom boot fiasco to the cultural story behind “heaping coals,” the episode paints vivid snapshots of agape in action. Patience restrains the reflex to get even; kindness turns restraint into restoration. Along the way, we challenge the easy-out of avoidance and the myth that love can grow on sheer willpower. These traits are fruit of the Spirit, formed in the friction of real relationships, and practiced in public where gratitude isn’t guaranteed.

You’ll leave with a clearer picture of how to endure without exploding and how to bless without being asked, whether it’s the colleague who drains you, the neighbor who wronged you, or the stranger whose need will cost you time. If you’ve been waiting for a practical, soul-searching guide to make love visible—patient in the heat and kind at close range—this conversation will steady your steps. Listen, share with someone who needs hope, and if it helps you, subscribe and leave a review so others can find their way to long-fused love too.

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What if the entire logic of the gospel hinges on one daring claim: God made every nation from one man? We take you to Athens with Paul and walk through Acts 17 to show how he introduces the “unknown God” by starting at the beginning—creation, purpose, and the reality of a literal Adam. Not as a symbol or a myth, but as the historical foundation for why sin is universal and why the grace of the last Adam, Jesus Christ, is necessary and sufficient.

Together, we explore why “one blood” dismantles the false hierarchies that evolutionary thinking has too often reinforced, and how Scripture gives a better, richer account of human dignity and unity. We address the rising tide of theistic evolution inside the church, the interpretive maneuvers it requires, and the hidden cost to the gospel’s coherence when Adam and Eve are reduced to archetypes. Along the way, we contrast what science can brilliantly explain—how—with what only revelation can disclose—why. From the blind men and the elephant to Homer’s Odyssey, from Genesis to Romans and Corinthians, we connect cultural touchpoints to biblical clarity.

We also widen the lens: God not only creates humanity; He controls history. Nations rise and fall on His timetable; borders shift under His sovereign hand. That doesn’t excuse apathy—it anchors our hope. If you’ve wrestled with origins, human purpose, or the tension between mainstream science and Scripture, this conversation offers a thoughtful path forward: trust the God who speaks, who made us from one, and who remakes us in Christ into a new, redeemed people.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who loves big questions, and leave a review with your take on Adam, origins, and the gospel. Your voice helps more listeners find these conversations.

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Start with a single word that dares to redefine everything: love. Not the kind that fades when the fireworks end, but agape—the steady, others-first commitment that turns a vice-soaked city into a living testimony of grace. We walk through Corinth’s streets, hear Paul’s urgent appeal in 1 Corinthians 13, and ask what happens when a church chooses to practice love daily rather than chase spiritual hype or cultural applause.

We open the hood on four different “loves” and why only one can carry the weight of a life: storge as natural family affection, philia as friendship and affinity, eros as romantic desire, and agape as the self-giving decision to value another regardless of payback. You’ll hear why philia runs out when tastes shift, why eros withers in the face of bills and broken bones without covenant, and why storge collapses in a society bent inward. Then we put agape at the center—where God put it—showing how it anchors families, deepens friendships, dignifies romance, and rebuilds a community that used to be known for everything but holiness.

Along the way we face hard questions: Can grace be both forgiving and demanding? What does it mean to move from “such are some of you” to “such were some of you”? How do we hold the doors open to all while submitting our desires to Scripture? The path forward isn’t abstract: practice love every waking hour. Choose presence over performance, service over status, and covenant over convenience. If you’re ready to exchange the rush for the rooted, listen now, subscribe for the full True Love series, and share this episode with someone who needs a better word for love. And if this encouraged you, leave a review—tell us where you want to practice agape this week.

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What if the part we’re most afraid to say is the part people most need to hear? We walk through Paul’s address at the Areopagus to show why the gospel isn’t just comfort—it's also a clear warning rooted in God’s holiness, justice, and love. Starting where Paul starts, we introduce God as Creator and sovereign over nations, then move to the urgent call to repent because “He has fixed a day” to judge the world in righteousness through the risen Christ. Along the way, we explore why Jesus spoke so plainly about hell, how the church lost its clarity on wrath, and why recovering it actually magnifies grace.

We draw a careful line between two very different judgments: the judgment seat of Christ for believers—an evaluation for reward and future service—and the great white throne for unbelievers, where the books reveal the truth of our worship and the verdict is just. With vivid stories—from Rodin’s The Thinker to a housefly that disarmed a stubborn listener—we highlight how God still opens ears. Athens responds in three familiar ways: some sneer, some delay, some believe. Dionysius and Demaris remind us that even among skeptics, the Spirit still saves.

This conversation is not about fear-mongering; it’s about honest love. If everyone is immortal and eternity is real, then clarity is compassion. We model how to speak plainly like C.S. Lewis urged—no jargon, no hedging—while keeping a humble tone that invites, not condemns. Listen to strengthen your convictions, sharpen your witness, and recover a full view of the gospel: heaven to enjoy, hell to avoid, a Savior to trust, and a hope that outlasts every age. If this helped you think and speak more clearly, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us what part challenged you most.

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Stephen's latest book, The Disciples Prayer, is available now. https://www.wisdomonline.org/store/view/the-disciples-prayer-hardback