Gospel Spice | Awaken Delight in God through faith in Jesus Christ

Episode 151 - Jesus' humility is the roadmap to glory. Stephanie humbly invites us to dive into the meaning and expression of humility in Jesus's life. It started even before His incarnation - when He left the beauty and perfection of heaven to come dwell on planet earth, with a human body, and for the express intent to die a horrific death, not only physically but mostly a spiritual death of separation from His heavenly Father. What love is this... and it is demonstrated in meekness and humility. So, since humility was so essential to Jesus, so must it be with us too! Except... it does not come to us naturally. So we look at delighting in God in the context of humility today.This is an in-depth look at the meaning of the cross, and how we are called to the ultimate beauty of surrendering our self-will to delight in glories unimaginable. Today is an invitation to see, maybe for the first time or at a deeper level, that a quest to delight in God is truly the most reasonable, and the most enthralling adventure that we are called upon.We look at what it means to "be in Christ," an expression that can be so overused, it is devoid of meaning. Yet, the key to delight in God in found in its meaning. What does it mean, truly, to "be in Christ"? We talk about the delight of surrender, and the surrender of delight. We invite you to insert Jesus in every practical aspect of your life, only to find He is already there. That is true delight. Join us!DISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.PLAY IT FORWARD by SHARING the link with friends and family.PRAY IT FORWARD by praying for us and those you share it with!PAY IT FORWARD!! Would you consider supporting this show today to help others enjoy it for free? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce, and we want to keep putting it in the ears of people!Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)GOD'S GLORY, OUR DELIGHT | THE GOSPEL SPICE SERIESDelighting in the glory of God. Does this concept strike you as reserved for spiritual contemplatives? What if, instead, it proved the highly practical, deeply foundational perspective you need right now?Why does God’s glory even matter in our day and age? How can we learn from Jesus to make His glory our true North and lifelong quest? What keeps us from fully stepping into this God-ordained purpose for our life? How do we kindle delight for God on a daily basis? And, once we have embraced God’s glory as our heart’s true delight, how can we then come alongside others?Join us to cultivate a sincere delight for God’s glory, rooted in an honest, hard look at the depth of our need, and in the much deeper Reality of His grace. Trace the glory of God through Scripture and in your own life. Behold the exact radiance of God’s glory, revealed in Jesus. Learn to see yourself as Christ does—through the lens of the Father’s love at the cross. Jesus offers to overwhelm our deadly self-centeredness with His resurrection power. He carries us every step of the way, even as He calls us to true humility on the path to glory.Who has time to cultivate the delight that comes from pondering the glory of God? And yet, nothing could be more urgent today. Marthas and Marys, Peters and Johns—we are all invited to dare to dream of a lifestyle of God-centered delight. Nothing could be more practical.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogDo you enjoy Gospel Spice? Then let's deepen our relationship! There are 4 very simple ways to do that, and it would truly mean the world to us. 1- If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you will love receiving our newsletter. It contains value-packed free gifts and rich content each month. It’s at gospelspice.com/signup. There is always something new and exciting happening around here, and I don’t want you to miss out! Sign up at Gospelspice.com/signup2- Did you know Gospel Spice has a YouTube Channel? There’s exclusive content there too. So, join Gospel Spice on YouTube! It's at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 3- Also please give us a star rating and a comment on your podcast listening app. Your reviews actually really do make a difference to help others discover and experience Gospel Spice. You would be surprised how helpful these are! So please leave a star rating and a review of a sentence or two. Thank you!4- As always, we are praying for you! You can confidentially email us your prayer requests and praise items at the email address contact@gospelspice.com. It is our privilege to pray for you!So, would you please invest 3 to 5 minutes of your time, maybe even right now, to do one (or more!) of the following suggestions:1-      signup on our website for our newsletter to receive gifts you’re going to love - at Gospelspice.com/signup 2-      find us on YouTube, and see what content we’ve put together to help you grow closer to Jesus - at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice3-      rate Gospel Spice on your listening app – it’s one of the easiest ways to share the gospel!4-      and finally, tell us how we can pray for you!Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Episode 150 - Why does it matter to delight in God? Why does God command us to delight in Him and enjoy Him forever? Doesn't that sound like the whinings of an egotistic tyrant, an insecure bully in search of affirmation, or a boastful narcissist? Stephanie invites us to discover the deeper meaning of delighting in God, and why it actually is the most logical, reasonable, and yes, delightful thing in the world.God is not human--it means He is the ultimate standard in all things beautiful and perfect and lovely and, yes, delightful. So, when He enjoins us to delight in Him, He is really inviting us to enjoy the ultimate best in all things. Doesn't sound so egotistic after all, does it?Jesus provides the perfect example for us--to absolutely no one's surprise! He role-models a life of perfect humility and delight in God. So we're taking a good look at delight in God as revealed in the light of the knowledge of the glory of God ... in the Face of Christ Jesus! That's one of the most foundational verses that Paul ever wrote, and it is one of our guides this week."God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ." - 2 Corinthians 4:6, NIV. DISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.PLAY IT FORWARD by SHARING the link with friends and family.PRAY IT FORWARD by praying for us and those you share it with!PAY IT FORWARD!! Would you consider supporting this show today to help others enjoy it for free? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce, and we want to keep putting it in the ears of people!Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)GOD'S GLORY, OUR DELIGHT | THE GOSPEL SPICE SERIESDelighting in the glory of God. Does this concept strike you as reserved for spiritual contemplatives? What if, instead, it proved the highly practical, deeply foundational perspective you need right now?Why does God’s glory even matter in our day and age? How can we learn from Jesus to make His glory our true North and lifelong quest? What keeps us from fully stepping into this God-ordained purpose for our life? How do we kindle delight for God on a daily basis? And, once we have embraced God’s glory as our heart’s true delight, how can we then come alongside others?Join us to cultivate a sincere delight for God’s glory, rooted in an honest, hard look at the depth of our need, and in the much deeper Reality of His grace. Trace the glory of God through Scripture and in your own life. Behold the exact radiance of God’s glory, revealed in Jesus. Learn to see yourself as Christ does—through the lens of the Father’s love at the cross. Jesus offers to overwhelm our deadly self-centeredness with His resurrection power. He carries us every step of the way, even as He calls us to true humility on the path to glory.Who has time to cultivate the delight that comes from pondering the glory of God? And yet, nothing could be more urgent today. Marthas and Marys, Peters and Johns—we are all invited to dare to dream of a lifestyle of God-centered delight. Nothing could be more practical.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogDo you enjoy Gospel Spice? Then let's deepen our relationship! There are 4 very simple ways to do that, and it would truly mean the world to us. 1- If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you will love receiving our newsletter. It contains value-packed free gifts and rich content each month. It’s at gospelspice.com/signup. There is always something new and exciting happening around here, and I don’t want you to miss out! Sign up at Gospelspice.com/signup2- Did you know Gospel Spice has a YouTube Channel? There’s exclusive content there too. So, join Gospel Spice on YouTube! It's at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 3- Also please give us a star rating and a comment on your podcast listening app. Your reviews actually really do make a difference to help others discover and experience Gospel Spice. You would be surprised how helpful these are! So please leave a star rating and a review of a sentence or two. Thank you!4- As always, we are praying for you! You can confidentially email us your prayer requests and praise items at the email address contact@gospelspice.com. It is our privilege to pray for you!So, would you please invest 3 to 5 minutes of your time, maybe even right now, to do one (or more!) of the following suggestions:1-      signup on our website for our newsletter to receive gifts you’re going to love - at Gospelspice.com/signup 2-      find us on YouTube, and see what content we’ve put together to help you grow closer to Jesus - at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice3-      rate Gospel Spice on your listening app – it’s one of the easiest ways to share the gospel!4-      and finally, tell us how we can pray for you!Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Episode 149 – Curt Thompson joins Stephanie to share in the experience of delighting in the glory of God through our eponymous series. They discuss the role of beauty in our identity—its creation and our awareness of it. They discuss the importance of crushing in our lives—how beauty often needs to be pulverized in order to attain its purpose, and how spice often delivers its best flavors and fragrance when heated and crushed. They ponder the importance to taste and see that the Lord is good—how sensing precedes our making sense of what we are sensing, and the importance of the five senses in our relationship with God and with one another. They dive into the cultural nuances of our brain formation and our mind transformation. They talk about shame, and desire, and delight, and beautyCurt invites us to experience Psalm 27:4 through the lens of delight in the glory of God:One thing I ask from the Lord,    this only do I seek:that I may dwell in the house of the Lord    all the days of my life,to gaze on the beauty of the Lord    and to seek him in his temple.(NIV, Biblica)Finally, Curt invites us to “practice for heaven” and to discover what it means and how to train our hearts and minds to become ready for the indescribable beauty of delight in the glory of God for all of eternity.MEET CURT THOMPSONCurt Thompson (MD, Wright State University) is a board-certified psychiatrist and the founder of Being Known, an organization that develops resources for hope and healing at the intersection of neuroscience and Christian spiritual formation. He is also the author of The Soul of Shame, The Soul of Desire, and Anatomy of the Soul.Inspired by deep compassion for others and informed from a Christian perspective, psychiatrist Curt Thompson shares fresh insights and practical applications for developing more authentic relationships and fully experiencing our deepest longing: to be known.With a considerable dose of warmth (and surprising measure of humor), Curt weaves together an understanding of interpersonal neurobiology (IPNB) and a Christian view of what it means to be human — to educate and encourage others as they seek to fulfill their intrinsic desire to feel known, valued and connected. He understands that deep, authentic relationships are essential to experiencing a healthier, more purposeful life — but the only way to realize this is to begin telling our stories more truly.Curt’s unique insights about how the brain affects and processes relationships help people discover a fresh perspective and practical applications to foster healthy and vibrant lives, allowing them to get unstuck and move toward the next beautiful thing they’re being called to make.Through his workshops, speaking engagements, books, organizational consulting, private clinical practice and other platforms, he helps people process their longings, grief, identity, purpose, perspective of God and perspective of humanity, inviting them to engage more authentically with their own stories and their relationships. Only then can they can feel truly known and connected and live into the meaningful reality they desire to create.Thompson is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and his main focus of clinical and research interest has been the integration of psychiatry, its associated disciplines, and Christian spiritual formation. He is actively engaged in learning and teaching as he supervises clinical employees and facilitates ongoing education groups for patients and colleagues. He also speaks frequently on the topic at workshops, conferences, and retreats.Serving as an elder at Washington Community Fellowship in Washington, DC, his duties have included preaching, teaching, and participation in the fellowship's healing prayer ministry. He and his wife, Phyllis, a licensed clinical social worker, are the parents of two children and reside in Arlington, Virginia.Website            CurtThompsonMDPodcast.          Being Known PodcastInstaGram     CurtThompsonMDFacebook      @CurtThompsonMDTwitter          @Curt_ThompsonMDBOOK: The Soul of DesireDISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.PLAY IT FORWARD by SHARING the link with friends and family.PRAY IT FORWARD by praying for us and those you share it with!PAY IT FORWARD!! Would you consider supporting this show today to help others enjoy it for free? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce, and we want to keep putting it in the ears of people!Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogIdentity in the battle | Ephesianshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/372022/link/Malachi: Messenger to Messiahhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/356130/link/Wisdom from the Book of Proverbshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/324347/link/Come to the Table | The Feasts Jesus celebratedhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/309956/link/GOD'S GLORY, OUR DELIGHT | THE GOSPEL SPICE SERIESDelighting in the glory of God. Does this concept strike you as reserved for spiritual contemplatives? What if, instead, it proved the highly practical, deeply foundational perspective you need right now?Why does God’s glory even matter in our day and age? How can we learn from Jesus to make His glory our true North and lifelong quest? What keeps us from fully stepping into this God-ordained purpose for our life? How do we kindle delight for God on a daily basis? And, once we have embraced God’s glory as our heart’s true delight, how can we then come alongside others?Join us to cultivate a sincere delight for God’s glory, rooted in an honest, hard look at the depth of our need, and in the much deeper Reality of His grace. Trace the glory of God through Scripture and in your own life. Behold the exact radiance of God’s glory, revealed in Jesus. Learn to see yourself as Christ does—through the lens of the Father’s love at the cross. Jesus offers to overwhelm our deadly self-centeredness with His resurrection power. He carries us every step of the way, even as He calls us to true humility on the path to glory.Who has time to cultivate the delight that comes from pondering the glory of God? And yet, nothing could be more urgent today. Marthas and Marys, Peters and Johns—we are all invited to dare to dream of a lifestyle of God-centered delight. Nothing could be more practical.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Episode 148 - We are so excited to welcome you to our new series, God's Glory, Our Delight. Now, this sentence. It means a lot, and especially to Stephanie because it has been her own personal motto and spiritual quest for years. So, really, this is an invitation to ponder the deeper life. We are convinced that there is no greater quest in life, and that no adventure can give you deeper meaning. We believe we will spend all of eternity, in utmost bliss, learning to delight in God in ever-deepening levels. So, identifying this quest as our most essential one, and then stepping into it with everything we've got, and then learning from one another, growing ever deeper into the wonder of this quest--THAT is, quite literally, practicing for heaven.Delighting in God is developing our spiritual muscles to practice for the reality of heaven. Nothing can be more important for each one of us as an individual spiritual quest, but also for the body of believers as a corporate endeavor. It encompasses worship, prayer, Bible reading and study and memorization, fasting and feasting, service, and all the spiritual disciplines. It is the ultimate expression of loving the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and spirit, and loving your neighbor as yourself. It is the meaning of life. It is the great quest.God's Glory, Our Delight. Nothing could be more important, and nothing could be more practical today.GOD'S GLORY, OUR DELIGHT | THE GOSPEL SPICE SERIESDelighting in the glory of God. Does this concept strike you as reserved for spiritual contemplatives? What if, instead, it proved the highly practical, deeply foundational perspective you need right now?Why does God’s glory even matter in our day and age? How can we learn from Jesus to make His glory our true North and lifelong quest? What keeps us from fully stepping into this God-ordained purpose for our life? How do we kindle delight for God on a daily basis? And, once we have embraced God’s glory as our heart’s true delight, how can we then come alongside others?Join us to cultivate a sincere delight for God’s glory, rooted in an honest, hard look at the depth of our need, and in the much deeper Reality of His grace. Trace the glory of God through Scripture and in your own life. Behold the exact radiance of God’s glory, revealed in Jesus. Learn to see yourself as Christ does—through the lens of the Father’s love at the cross. Jesus offers to overwhelm our deadly self-centeredness with His resurrection power. He carries us every step of the way, even as He calls us to true humility on the path to glory.Who has time to cultivate the delight that comes from pondering the glory of God? And yet, nothing could be more urgent today. Marthas and Marys, Peters and Johns—we are all invited to dare to dream of a lifestyle of God-centered delight. Nothing could be more practical.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogDo you enjoy Gospel Spice? Then let's deepen our relationship! There are 4 very simple ways to do that, and it would truly mean the world to us. 1- If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you will love receiving our newsletter. It contains value-packed free gifts and rich content each month. It’s at gospelspice.com/signup. There is always something new and exciting happening around here, and I don’t want you to miss out! Sign up at Gospelspice.com/signup2- Did you know Gospel Spice has a YouTube Channel? There’s exclusive content there too. So, join Gospel Spice on YouTube! It's at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 3- Also please give us a star rating and a comment on your podcast listening app. Your reviews actually really do make a difference to help others discover and experience Gospel Spice. You would be surprised how helpful these are! So please leave a star rating and a review of a sentence or two. Thank you!4- As always, we are praying for you! You can confidentially email us your prayer requests and praise items at the email address contact@gospelspice.com. It is our privilege to pray for you!So, would you please invest 3 to 5 minutes of your time, maybe even right now, to do one (or more!) of the following suggestions:1-      signup on our website for our newsletter to receive gifts you’re going to love - at Gospelspice.com/signup 2-      find us on YouTube, and see what content we’ve put together to help you grow closer to Jesus - at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice3-      rate Gospel Spice on your listening app – it’s one of the easiest ways to share the gospel!4-      and finally, tell us how we can pray for you!Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Episode 147 - Are you concerned your children might be addicted to digital media? How can you know proper boundaries, and how can you weather a total digital detox without losing your mind in the process? How can you restore your children to the fullness of childhood--games and puzzles and twigs and fireflies and hide-and-seek--without losing sanity in the process? Molly DeFrank joins Stephanie for this special Mother's Day episode to talk about just that. And it's for dads, and grandparents, and aunts and uncles too! Molly is currently a stay-at-home mom of six beautiful little ones, aged 2 to 11. She has experienced the stress and fatigue and mood swings and temper tantrums that inevitably accompanied the words "screen time is up!" And she has crafted, through personal experience and through coaching many families, the solution that every modern parent has been desperately wishign for: the complete guide to digital detox in two weeks. It's not easy, she says, but it is simple. And efficient. It will reclaim your family life, and will poise you to become a steward of the beautiful children the Lord has entrusted into your care. Molly says, "As if parenthood didn’t bring enough stress on its own, moms and dads in 2022 are drowning in digital distractions up to our eyeballs. And if we don’t take a moment to clarify the role we want tech to play in our homes, it will continue to seep in and monopolize. It will steal the moments, days and years meant for connecting with, training and forming our kids’ hearts and worldviews.  The quiet lulls, connective meals, and mellow drive times that filled our own childhoods are long gone. They’ve been displaced by digital entertainment. Parents are having fewer conversations with their kids, whose beautiful saucer-eyes now staring at tablets instead of their loving caregiver."She says, "I know because I shrugged off the nudges for years before I finally said “no more.” And as soon as we detoxed our own kids, everything changed. Since then, I’ve coached several families through their own digital detox journeys. Every single one witnessed transformation. Every single family’s results exceeded their expectations."With her trademark sense of humor, this California mom adds, "A LOT of people call me mom. I spaced my kids so close together that the hospital’s labor and delivery department gave me a punch card for a free sandwich.  Then we also added several darlings via foster care—some for a day, some forever. We’ve parented lots of kids from all backgrounds. We’ve navigated kids through therapy, broken limbs, recovering from abuse. We’ve housed kids between juvenile hall stays. We’ve overseen autism therapy and high-honors students...."So, join Molly and Stephanie this week on the show--we promise you will leave with fresh hope and a renewed sense that you can take charge of your children's screen time with simplicity.MEET MOLLY DEFRANK:"In early parenthood, I was certain about many things. Like how I would never homeschool, listen to Kids Bop, or drive a minivan. A decade-plus later, I have blasted Kids Bop while driving my children to the homeschool coop—in my minivan.God lovingly used motherhood to show me the end of my rope, and how deeply I need strength outside of myself. Parenting is life’s best lesson in humility. And for especially thick heads like mine, God gives you many children in quick succession, then a few bonus kids for good measure. I enjoy black coffee strong enough to power a small jet, reading instead of cleaning, time spent across a table with friends, and eating any food that’s prepared impeccably. I’m also a recovering vegetarian. Send help, send tofu, drop me a line here on Facebook or Instagram. " https://mollydefrank.com/Facebook: Molly DeFrankInstagram: @mollydefrankBUY DIGITAL DETOX:Book: Digital Detox: The Two-Week Tech Reset for KidsDISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.PLAY IT FORWARD by SHARING the link with friends and family.PRAY IT FORWARD by praying for us and those you share it with!PAY IT FORWARD!! Would you consider supporting this show today to help others enjoy it for free? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce, and we want to keep putting it in the ears of people!Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogIdentity in the battle | Ephesianshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/372022/link/Malachi: Messenger to Messiahhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/356130/link/Wisdom from the Book of Proverbshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/324347/link/Come to the Table | The Feasts Jesus celebratedhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/309956/link/Support us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Episode 146 - We are so excited to welcome you to our new series, God's Glory, Our Delight. Taking delight in God: Nothing could be more important, and nothing could be more practical today. Can we be totally honest here? This is Stephanie's favorite series to date, because it is her own personal life motto!We kick off the series with an episode that transitions us from Easter into this new season of deeper intimacy with God. You are invited to experience the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus today! Today Stephanie has invited a long-time friend who shaped her own theology of glory and of the cross of Jesus Christ when she was a young believer. Pastor John Lambert tells us about the places where he has encountered the glory of God in Scripture, and humbly invites us on a journey to do the same. What is human glory? What is divine glory? Who is Jesus Christ when it comes to God's glory? Most importantly, how does Easter and the crucifixion manifest the glory of God in most unexpected and most moving ways? Jesus’s Passion (His suffering) and His death are seen as the supreme showcase of His glory. How can this be?  How can glory come from such horror and excruciating suffering?Jesus closed the gap between our sin and God’s righteousness. Because of this, Jesus’s complete innocence was given to us. John invites us to ponder glory emanating from creation is illusive, momentary, diluted and falls short of the glory of God. What times in your life have you experienced this momentary, fleeting glory? How long did it satisfy you? Did it make you want to keep seeking it??  If this type of glory never brings complete satisfaction why do we keep seeking it?DISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.PLAY IT FORWARD by SHARING the link with friends and family.PRAY IT FORWARD by praying for us and those you share it with!PAY IT FORWARD!! Would you consider supporting this show today to help others enjoy it for free? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce, and we want to keep putting it in the ears of people!Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)GOD'S GLORY, OUR DELIGHT | THE GOSPEL SPICE SERIESDelighting in the glory of God. Does this concept strike you as reserved for spiritual contemplatives? What if, instead, it proved the highly practical, deeply foundational perspective you need right now?Why does God’s glory even matter in our day and age? How can we learn from Jesus to make His glory our true North and lifelong quest? What keeps us from fully stepping into this God-ordained purpose for our life? How do we kindle delight for God on a daily basis? And, once we have embraced God’s glory as our heart’s true delight, how can we then come alongside others?Join us to cultivate a sincere delight for God’s glory, rooted in an honest, hard look at the depth of our need, and in the much deeper Reality of His grace. Trace the glory of God through Scripture and in your own life. Behold the exact radiance of God’s glory, revealed in Jesus. Learn to see yourself as Christ does—through the lens of the Father’s love at the cross. Jesus offers to overwhelm our deadly self-centeredness with His resurrection power. He carries us every step of the way, even as He calls us to true humility on the path to glory.Who has time to cultivate the delight that comes from pondering the glory of God? And yet, nothing could be more urgent today. Marthas and Marys, Peters and Johns—we are all invited to dare to dream of a lifestyle of God-centered delight. Nothing could be more practical.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogDo you enjoy Gospel Spice? Then let's deepen our relationship! There are 4 very simple ways to do that, and it would truly mean the world to us. 1- If you’ve enjoyed this episode, you will love receiving our newsletter. It contains value-packed free gifts and rich content each month. It’s at gospelspice.com/signup. There is always something new and exciting happening around here, and I don’t want you to miss out! Sign up at Gospelspice.com/signup2- Did you know Gospel Spice has a YouTube Channel? There’s exclusive content there too. So, join Gospel Spice on YouTube! It's at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice 3- Also please give us a star rating and a comment on your podcast listening app. Your reviews actually really do make a difference to help others discover and experience Gospel Spice. You would be surprised how helpful these are! So please leave a star rating and a review of a sentence or two. Thank you!4- As always, we are praying for you! You can confidentially email us your prayer requests and praise items at the email address contact@gospelspice.com. It is our privilege to pray for you!So, would you please invest 3 to 5 minutes of your time, maybe even right now, to do one (or more!) of the following suggestions:1-      signup on our website for our newsletter to receive gifts you’re going to love - at Gospelspice.com/signup 2-      find us on YouTube, and see what content we’ve put together to help you grow closer to Jesus - at https://www.youtube.com/gospelspice3-      rate Gospel Spice on your listening app – it’s one of the easiest ways to share the gospel!4-      and finally, tell us how we can pray for you!Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Stephanie welcomes fellow Francophile David Broussard, founder and president of Impact France, for an update on what God is up to in France today. David has an unusual story of coming to faith from agnosticism while studying in France! Yes! It is one of the many parallels between his and Stephanie's story of faith--in uncanny reverse! Today we talk about the importance of the truth that Jesus is alive, as foundational to our faith and the cornerstone of Easter. David shares his unusual and inspiring journey of faith, and his heart to come alongside French and American Christians to develop bridges of fellowship and relationship. He talks about his ministry, Impact France, and he invites YOU to join thousands to pray for France for the next three weeks, starting on Easter day. David shares some of the most striking and inspiring French ministries impacting French Christians today, including (without prior agreement!) two ministries very close to Stephanie's heart and personal experience: Alpha France and The Chosen France. Join the conversation at impactfrance.org and prayforfrance.orgYou will also find Impact France on Insta at @pray.for.france or on our own Insta account, from which we follow all our GospelSpice guests!Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ImpactFranceTwitter: @prayforfrance We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogIdentity in the battle | Ephesianshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/372022/link/Malachi: Messenger to Messiahhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/356130/link/Wisdom from the Book of Proverbshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/324347/link/Come to the Table | The Feasts Jesus celebratedhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/309956/link/GOD'S GLORY, OUR DELIGHT | THE GOSPEL SPICE SERIESDelighting in the glory of God. Does this concept strike you as reserved for spiritual contemplatives? What if, instead, it proved the highly practical, deeply foundational perspective you need right now?Why does God’s glory even matter in our day and age? How can we learn from Jesus to make His glory our true North and lifelong quest? What keeps us from fully stepping into this God-ordained purpose for our life? How do we kindle delight for God on a daily basis? And, once we have embraced God’s glory as our heart’s true delight, how can we then come alongside others?Join us to cultivate a sincere delight for God’s glory, rooted in an honest, hard look at the depth of our need, and in the much deeper Reality of His grace. Trace the glory of God through Scripture and in your own life. Behold the exact radiance of God’s glory, revealed in Jesus. Learn to see yourself as Christ does—through the lens of the Father’s love at the cross. Jesus offers to overwhelm our deadly self-centeredness with His resurrection power. He carries us every step of the way, even as He calls us to true humility on the path to glory.Who has time to cultivate the delight that comes from pondering the glory of God? And yet, nothing could be more urgent today. Marthas and Marys, Peters and Johns—we are all invited to dare to dream of a lifestyle of God-centered delight. Nothing could be more practical.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Os Guinness is back for this special Easter 2022 episode on the meaning of life. We discuss our role in seeking God, and His role in finding us! Os says, "Without God, we cannot know God; and we know God only when we meet Him."This Easter, we invite you to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the season, and to ask yourself if you are living the fullness of the life God has for you. We also invite you to invite others to ask themselves this essential question! Os tells us that questions can have "a subversive, even revolutionary potential." He talks about the power of personal experience in our journey to find God. In a nutshell, he invites us to taste and see that the Lord is good! As Os says, "coming to know God is coming home."Watch the LIVE conversation recording on our YouTube channel and make sure to subscribe: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/0N1fFlVp4DQ?feature=oembed Os shares his latest book, The Great Quest, a most useful little jewel of a book to share the meaning of life with those who are seeking to live a life worth living: What is life all about? What are we here for? Is there any meaning or purpose to our existence? Thinkers throughout the centuries have pondered these questions. While the distractions of the modern world prevent many from grappling seriously with such matters, the truth is that humans cannot live without meaning any more than we can live without breathing or eating.The Great Quest is also perfect for Christians who seek to take their relationship with God to the next level (that would be all of us!) through reason and experience both. Os says, "faith in God is a step taken in the light of reason, and it may certainly be a step taken with deep emotions."Os tells us what keeps people from thinking about the examined life. What questions do we need to be asking? Where do we find answers? How do we go about exploring the answers that seem potentially legitimate? How does the Christian faith illuminate our quest in ways that no other worldview does? What does Easter mean in all of it? How does it provide the most --the only--adequate answer to our deepest longings? Why is truth more relevant than ever, in our postmodern, post-truth culture?ABOUT "THE GREAT QUEST""The unexamined life is not worth living." —SocratesOs Guinness invites us to examine our lives and join the great quest for meaning and a life well lived. For those who are up to Socrates' challenge, it is a search that is indispensable to making the most of life. Guinness charts the course of the thinking person's journey toward faith and meaning, calling for a firm grasp of reason, an honest awareness of conscience, and a living sense of wonder. He affirms that there is a time for questions, and that following those questions can indeed lead us to answers, evidence, and commitment.When life becomes a question, the search is on for an answer. Come find yourself on a sure path to meaning.ABOUT OS GUINNESSOs Guinness (DPhil, Oxford) is the author or editor of more than thirty-five books, including The Dust of Death, The Call, Fool's Talk, Carpe Diem Redeemed, The Magna Carta of Humanity, Last Call for Liberty, Impossible People, Unspeakable, and Time for Truth. He is the founder of the Trinity Forum, a prominent social critic, and a frequent speaker who has addressed audiences worldwide.DISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.PLAY IT FORWARD by SHARING the link with friends and family.PRAY IT FORWARD by praying for us and those you share it with!PAY IT FORWARD!! Would you consider supporting this show today to help others enjoy it for free? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce, and we want to keep putting it in the ears of people!Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogIdentity in the battle | Ephesianshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/372022/link/Malachi: Messenger to Messiahhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/356130/link/Wisdom from the Book of Proverbshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/324347/link/Come to the Table | The Feasts Jesus celebratedhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/309956/link/Support us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Episode 143 – Jasmine Holmes joins us for an inspiring conversation about 10 seemingly unknown Black women who changed their communities when they were alive in the 18th and 19th centuries, and whose legacy can still be felt today. Regardless of our gender, our color, our age, our culture or even where we live in the world, we can all learn much from each of these 10 heroes.Jasmine says: “Black women are made in the image of God carved in ebony. This book is an unapologetic rejoicing in the fact that God chose to make each woman profiled in this book both Black and female for His glory. And it was good.”These heroes of the faith might have been largely forgotten until today, but Jasmine underwent thorough research to bring them back into the limelight to inspire us. In her book “Carved in Ebony” Jasmine invites us on a journey of discovery to transform us spiritually and challenge us to be forces for good and for change in our communities. Through the research and reflections of author Jasmine Holmes, you will be inspired by what each of these exceptional women can teach us about the intersections of faith and education, birth, privilege, opportunity, and so much more.Carved in Ebony will take you past the predominantly white, male contributions that seemingly dominate history books and church history to discover how Black women have been some of the main figures in defining the landscape of American history and faith.LEARN ABOUT BLACK WOMEN WHO SERVED GOD IN EXTRAORDINARY WAYS:ELIZABETH FREEMAN - NANNIE HELEN BURROUGHS - MARIA FEARING- CHARLOTTE FORTEN GRIMKÉ - SARAH MAPPS DOUGLASS - SARA GRIFFITH STANLEY - AMANDA BERRY SMITH - LUCY CRAFT LANEY - MARIA STEWART - FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER. These names may not be familiar, but each one of these women was a shining beacon of devotion in a world that did not value their lives.MEET JASMINE HOLMESJasmine says of herself,I’m a pastor’s kid. In the parable of the prodigal son, I’m definitely the do-good “older brother” who used to think she had everything under control. Throughout my twenty-year walk with the Lord, I’ve been reminded time and again of my need for Christ — through miscarriage, through post-partum depression, through two cross-country moves in two years.The focus of my writing and speaking is identity. I understand what it is like to endure an identity crisis. For most of my life, I’ve wrestled with pretending to have a neat and tidy checklist of how I’m supposed to present myself to the world.I'm beginning to understand that my security can’t come from the external checklist or the opinions of others; it has to be found in the finished work of Jesus Christ, who is equipped to handle the messiness I tried to hide.https://jasminelholmes.com/https://carvedinebonybook.com/#bonuseshttps://www.facebook.com/jasmine.bauchamhttps://www.instagram.com/jasminelholmes/Jasmine L. Holmes is the author of Mother to Son: Letters to a Black Boy on Identity and Hope. She is also a contributing author for Identity Theft: Reclaiming the Truth of Our Identity in Christ and His Testimonies and My Heritage: Women of Color on the Word of God. She and her husband, Phillip, are parenting three young sons. They attend Redeemer Church, PCA in Jackson, Mississippi.DISCOVER THE GOSPEL SPICE MINISTRIES The Gospel Spice Podcast is part of a larger range of tools given to you by Gospel Spice Ministries.In a nutshell, we exist to inspire Christ-followers to delight in God.In more details: we provide resources to empower Christian leaders across generational, social, ethnic and geographical boundaries towards more intimacy with Jesus Christ and discipleship effectiveness through a Biblical Christocentric foundation. The Gospel-Spice Ministries provide a safe environment for spiritual and community growth empowering people to know Christ more intimately, serve one another more powerfully, and reach the world for Jesus.PLAY IT FORWARD by SHARING the link with friends and family.PRAY IT FORWARD by praying for us and those you share it with!PAY IT FORWARD!! Would you consider supporting this show today to help others enjoy it for free? It comes to you completely free, but is labor-intensive to produce, and we want to keep putting it in the ears of people!Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status. Your donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170. We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. All donations above our minimal operating costs go to Christian organizations fighting human trafficking.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blog(*ListenNotes ranking, 2023)We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogIdentity in the battle | Ephesianshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/372022/link/Malachi: Messenger to Messiahhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/356130/link/Wisdom from the Book of Proverbshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/324347/link/Come to the Table | The Feasts Jesus celebratedhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/309956/link/SHADES OF RED is a new original series by GospelSpice Ministries. We ponder humanity as loved, created, fallen and, in Christ, redeemed.SHADES OF RED brings you a simple theological perspective to understand the consequences of the curse of sin on humanity, followed by a practical approach to step up against the evils of our day, rooted in unity between man and woman. Weaving real-life Bible stories, this series will help you get informed, keep interceding, get involved, and keep influencing our generation. We will also occasionally welcome special guests who share our passion to fight against oppression in all its forms, for example through the fight against human trafficking, or through racial reconciliation, and more.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

Episode 142 - God hinted at the great reversal He would usher in to destroy the effects of the introduction of the experiential knowledge of evil into our adama lives in Genesis 3:15. And, gloriously, He chooses to use us as vessels of His redemption efforts, just as we were the vectors that brought the curse. Freewill is a reality—the only possible birthplace of true love. The fact that He would invite us to become part of the redemption plan is mind-boggling in itself, since we caused the whole mess to start with.We have largely focused on the importance of being informed—and not just about the facts of human oppression; it is essential that we should have a solid Christocentric theology that shapes our perspective on everything, including the whys and hows of the fight against oppression in our century. Today we will focus on the next I's, interceding, involvement and influence.Informed. Interceding. Involved. Influencing: the 4 I’s whisper, “yet not I but Christ in me.” The 4 I’s apply to the fights of our lives, and most of all to the foundation of it all—our relationship with God: to know in our heads and in our hearts who God is and what He has done for us; to thus know who we are and what He calls us to do in His Name.Once you have caught the vision through information, wrestled the evil through intercession and entered the action through involvement, the influence becomes easy to spread. Look around you: who can you tell? Look in your family, your neighborhood, your church, your social media community. Make a list of names. Invite them for a meal. Share your preferred organization(s)’s vision and mission. Become an ambassador for them. Share these series!To influence, you must advocate, inform, invite others into the cycle of 4 I’s that you have experienced. And don’t stop there: keep informed; keep interceding; keep involved; keep influencing our generation.And one day, one day not too long from now, we will all look back and say with Paul, “I worked hard… yet not I but Christ in me.” For more on this topic, join our guest teacher for a thorough look at how to put these 4 I's in practice, with our special Gospel Spice teacher, Linda. Become a member today for free to access her teaching, along with all the other, member-exclusive lessons that take you deeper into the Gospel Spice experience of Shades of Red.THERE ARE SEVERAL WAYS TO PARTNER WITH GOSPEL SPICE TODAY!First, PAY Gospel Spice Forward: Give a tax-deductible gift so others can experience our ministry for free, just like you! You can pay it forward with any debit, credit card, or via PayPal. See below for more details about your impact.Also, PLAY Gospel Spice Forward: SHARE the podcast and the studies with your friends and family. FOLLOW, RATE & REVIEW on your favorite podcast app (leave a comment + a star rating on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Pandora, IHeart, Google Podcast, etc…). It REALLY is the best way to help others find this content-rich podcast. And, last but not least, PRAY Gospel Spice Forward: We pray for you weekly. We covet your prayers for our ministry, the thousands we reach, and our team! Contact us to let us know you are praying for us!NEW!Another way to partner with us is to purchase our workbooks and online Bible studies. We keep them at the lowest possible cost, but they require a lot of work from us! For example, - a complete Bible Study requires an average of 500 man-hours. - a workbook for a series requires almost 100 man-hours.MORE ABOUT PARTNERING WITH US FINANCIALLY:Gospel Spice Ministries is a non-profit organization registered under the tax-exempt 501c3 status.Our goal is to provide in-depth, high-quality, free Bible resources for all. They are free, but expensive to create! We need your financial support to keep producing and distributing them. Please pay Gospel Spice forward today! For example, a podcast episode takes close to 10 hours of work (and we release 2 each week). They come to you completely free, but we would truly love your support.We want the money to go to those who really need it. Once our operating costs are paid, 100% of your donation is redistributed to our partners who fight human trafficking. Each year, we aim to give as much as we can. For example, Stephanie works more than full time for Gospel Spice, entirely for free. All board members and volunteers are donating time. We limit our operational expenses to the bare minimum.Your pay-it-forward donations are tax-deductible under IRS Section 170.We want to be the best possible stewards of your financial support. Thank you!Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSHADES OF RED is a new original series by GospelSpice Ministries. We ponder humanity as loved, created, fallen and, in Christ, redeemed.SHADES OF RED brings you a simple theological perspective to understand the consequences of the curse of sin on humanity, followed by a practical approach to step up against the evils of our day, rooted in unity between man and woman. Weaving real-life Bible stories, this series will help you get informed, keep interceding, get involved, and keep influencing our generation. We will also occasionally welcome special guests who share our passion to fight against oppression in all its forms, for example through the fight against human trafficking, or through racial reconciliation, and more.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogSupport us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!