Deconstruction is clear, but reconstruction requires true courage. In this episode, we explore what it looks like to rebuild a resilient, mature faith after your previous spiritual frameworks have broken down. Moving beyond the need for absolute certainty, we discuss how to embrace a scarred resurrection hope, distinguish childlike faith from childish faith, and establish a new foundation centered on grace and love.

In this episode, I explore how faith can unravel without collapsing. I walk through a practical way to tell the difference between the core of Christianity and the packaging around it, offering questions to help you sort through doubt, grief, and uncertainty with honesty. My focus is on what remains when old assumptions fall away—especially the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, grace, and love as the center of theology.

Listen to the unabridged sermon here: Abide - Crushing the Myths of Self, Comfort, and Speed

In our household, we have two family mottos that get repeated constantly:

1. God is sovereign and good. We need this reminder often because the world is messy, tricky, and difficult.
2. Reality is our friend. (Coined by my wife, Amy.) Because the world is broken, facing reality honestly—rather than living in wishful thinking—is essential.

These two principles frame Jesus’ final words to His disciples in John 15 and 16. Sitting in the Upper Room, the disciples were in a state of emotional shock. Communion was over, Judas had departed, and Jesus had just dropped the news that He was about to be executed.

Knowing their grief, Jesus offered them a foundational truth: to truly live, we must abide in His love. But to abide in Christ, we have to dismantle three common myths that poison our spiritual lives.

What happens when the faith framework you grew up with slowly stops working? In this episode of The Pastor Next Door, I sit down to explore the quiet, unglamorous moments when prayer feels flat, answers no longer satisfy, and emotional certainty fades away.

Listen to the unabridged sermon here: Not Lost, Not Alone

We don’t live in an easy world.

That’s not a particularly inspirational way to open, I know. But it’s where John 14 begins, and it’s where Jesus begins, so it’s where we need to start.