Helping Christians Answer Tough Questions

What is family worship—a.k.a. family devotions? Who should lead it, how do we do it, and why should we do it in the first place? Most Christians have a hard time knowing where to begin with their own personal devotions. Throw in several other people, busy work weeks and school schedules, and just a tiny bit of laziness or wrong priorities, and it is not a stretch to suppose that many Christian families never have anything close to what might be called family worship. In this episode of A Pastoral Podcast, Lloyd and Tony talk about the what, why, who, and how of so-called family devotions.

If I was baptized as a child but saved as an adult, do I need to be baptized again? Is baptism necessary for salvation? What does the Bible teach about baptism? These are just some of the questions that many Christians have when it comes to baptism. On this episode, Pastors Lloyd and Tony talk through the question of baptism from a biblical perspective.

We are at a point in American history where trust in institutions is lower than it's ever been—and for good reason. Government, media, education, the church, and even the family are all viewed with suspicion. What are Christians to make of so-called "church membership"? Is it right or wise? Is it even biblical? Listen in as Lloyd and Tony talk about the issue of church membership.

All throughout church history, Christians have held different views on the fourth commandment and taken different approaches to it. So what is the Sabbath? Is there a "Christian Sabbath," and if so, is it on Saturday or Sunday? Are we obligated to keep it, and how should we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ when their convictions differ from ours? Pastors Lloyd and Tony try to answer these questions biblically in this episode of A Pastoral Podcast.

Denominations: Christian disunity, or something else? Outsiders have faulted Christianity for centuries because of the fact that there are different denominations. If we have one Bible, one God, and one faith, why are there so many different churches? It's one thing for unbelievers to have a problem here, but it's another thing altogether when Christians are confused by it. Today on A Pastoral Podcast, Lloyd and Tony will talk about what is meant by "denominations," why so many exist, and how we as Christians can think biblically about it.

Most Christians feel the tension between duty and grace. In other words, we have a sense of the obligation to "do" certain things (like read your Bible, or go to church), and yet we know that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone apart from works. In our first edition of A Pastoral Podcast, Lloyd and Tony talk about that tension and the difference between legalism and spiritual discipline.