After the Sermon Podcast

This podcast episode features Pastor Will discussing follow-up questions and applications from a sermon on Deuteronomy 29 titled "Covenant Renewal."

The discussion contrasts the old covenant with the new covenant in Christ, emphasizing that believers' relationship with God is now built on Christ's obedience rather than their own. The episode addresses listener questions about early warning signs of apostasy, including diminished spiritual hunger, increased worldly appetite, and unhealthy friendships.

It explores how adoption serves as an analogy for spiritual adoption into God's family and the complete severance from sin that should accompany it. The conversation also examines how doubts and questions, when brought humbly to Christ like John the Baptist's inquiry, can strengthen rather than weaken faith.

Topics include reconciling individual versus generational punishment in scripture, understanding the inclusion of Ruth (a Moabite) in God's people despite prohibitions, applying Old Testament categories to people today, handling hasty vows, showing wise compassion to the poor and vulnerable, and finding hope amidst prolonged suffering.

In this podcast episode, Pastor Will began by recapping his recent sermon on Deuteronomy 16-17, which centered on the theme of remembering the Lord through religious festivals, obedience to His laws, and understanding His holy nature. He then answered a series of follow-up questions from listeners. The topics discussed included the meaning of "Catholic" in the Apostles' Creed, God's eternal memory of the sins of the unsaved, the theological problems with the Pope establishing a Muslim prayer room in the Vatican, and the distinction between God forgetting believers' sins and the believers' need to remember them to appreciate grace. He also addressed the nature of true repentance, the danger of holidays becoming empty rituals, whether non-Christians can enact justice, and the difference between passively forgetting and actively ignoring God when sinning. Pastor Will concluded by posing several of his own unanswered questions from the biblical text.

In this episode, Pastor Will answered follow-up questions about a recent sermon on Deuteronomy chapters 14 and 15, titled "A People Holy Unto the Lord." After a brief recap of the sermon's theme—what it means for God's people to be holy and distinct—the conversation addressed practical applications of this principle. Topics included how to give God one's best amidst a busy life, whether a specific verse prohibited tattoos, a comparison of the early church to communism, and what being "set apart" looked like in daily habits and acts of mercy. Pastor Will consistently emphasized understanding the underlying principles of Old Testament laws for modern believers and focused on heart posture over legalistic rules.

In this episode, Pastor Will addresses multiple listener questions from his sermon on Sunday.