If you listen to many in the church, our Christian lives should be characterized by happiness, excitement, and by overcoming difficulty. But, this life is often characterized by pain, toil, and suffering. What do we do with that? And what is it that we're called to in the church?

Though we would never say it this way, it often seems that the gospel is just the starting point of the Christian life--and that once we believe, we need to move on to other things. Jon and Justin consider how this happens and what it means for people in the church.

Are you discouraged about reading your Bible? Maybe you feel like you don't understand it? Maybe you read it and feel like you've gotten nothing from it? In this episode, the guys talk about how not to read your Bible--and then consider what Scripture says about how to interact with it.

On today's episode, we are able and blessed to sit around the same table to discuss and meet with our old friend pietism. The other night, we were discussing how pietism dies a very slow and painful death. We also talked about the damage it can cause to our assurance and what we see when we look at ourselves in Christ. In this podcast, we discuss the slow and painful death of pietism and how it can harm us.

In this episode, the guys talk about all of the requirements being placed upon Christians as a result of the current cultural issues. It seems we are failing all over the place, and forgiveness and absolution are nowhere to be found. What do we make of these things?

When should you leave a church? Jon and Jimmy discuss this question from a pastoral and congregant perspective. We discuss unhelpful ways we have seen this done, what you should not say, and the timing one should consider.

In this episode, the guys talk about evangelicalism. Where did it come from? What produced it? What kind of effect has evangelical culture had on Christians? If you feel as though you're drowning--if you are struggling and disenchanted--you are not crazy. And you are not alone.

In this episode, the guys talk about a passage of Scripture that is often misunderstood: 2 Peter 1:1-12. Is Peter teaching pietism in this text? We consider the gospel, as well as the saint/sinner reality, and how those things relate to our pursuit of piety.

So many of the questions we get at Theocast come down to the issue of assurance. How do we know we will be finally saved? How is it that we have peace before God- now and in the future? We talk personally of our own experiences, make some observations about evangelicalism, and then point people to Christ and his sufficiency.

In this episode, Jon and Justin discuss legal preaching. This kind of preaching tends to remove hope and establish fear. It tends to turn every passage of Scripture into law. It tends to focus on how people are not measuring up. We point out the prevalence of legal preaching and offer some correctives.

In this episode, Jon and Justin discuss preaching [about] the gospel. It's been our observation that guys will get fired up about preaching the gospel, they will give the facts of the gospel, and talk a lot about the gospel--without ever offering Jesus to sinners and heralding the grace of God in Christ.

In this episode, Jon and Justin talk about Proverbs. It's one of the most-read books in the Bible, but honestly, many of us don't know what to do with it. Is Jesus in Proverbs? How do we understand and apply the book?