Heaven in Ordinary Podcast

The Rev. Dr. Craig Sanders
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Subscribe for theological reflections, an introduction to Anglican identity, and prayer guides from the Rev. Dr. Craig Sanders. csanders.substack.com

  1. 3d ago

    Guess How Much God Loves You

    The Bible tells us about a prophet named Jeremiah. A prophet is someone who God calls to share his message with others, a message to remind them of how much God loves them. And that what God wants most of all is for us to love him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. When Jeremiah was a young boy, God gave him a message to tell everyone that they were going the wrong way—they were running away from God instead of toward him. And God told Jeremiah, Don’t be afraid that you are young, because I am with you and I will protect you. I will give you the words to say. So Jeremiah took God’s words, and in our reading today, Jeremiah says: “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart” (Jeremiah 15:16). Jeremiah shows us what it looks like to love God when we know that God loves us first. God told Jeremiah that before he was born, God loved him (Jeremiah 1:5). And Jeremiah says that he enjoys hearing God’s Word. Jeremiah reminds of what our Psalm says today, “I have loved the habitation of your house” (Psalm 26:8). Because Jeremiah enjoyed spending time with God and telling others about the great things God has done for them. Well, even though he loves hearing God’s Word and sharing God’s message with others, no one is listening to him. And so Jeremiah in our reading today is hurt, and sad, and angry. Why is that? Because the people are standing there and they don’t believe him: “There’s no problem, Jeremiah, everything is fine.” And then they hurt him when they make fun of him and say mean things to Jeremiah for following God instead of following them. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

  2. Aug 10

    A Lesson in Prayer from the Belly of the Fish

    Have you ever had a wake-up call? One of those moments where you felt in over your head, out of your depth, or on uncharted waters? You lost a job, or you faced unexpected challenges as a new parent, or you were navigating a medical emergency. Or maybe it was a season where it seemed like there was one crisis on top of another and there was no way out on your own. You might call that experience rock bottom. But you may have found it’s also the place where the illusion that you can save yourself finally falls apart. As Tim Keller once put it, “You never realize that Jesus is all you need until Jesus is all you have.” When you hit rock bottom and realize that your own plans or abilities aren’t enough to make a way out, you discover something that is true no matter the circumstance. You need God all the time. And that’s where we find both Jonah and Peter in our Scripture readings today. As Jonah calls out to God from the depths and Peter cries out as he sinks, they point us to the same truth: No matter how deep or how far we fall, God alone has the power to save. Because salvation belongs to the Lord. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

  3. Aug 3

    Love's Overwhelming Victory (Romans 8, Part 5)

    Here at the pinnacle of Romans 8, Paul stares suffering and death in the face and declares the invincible love of Christ for us is overwhelmingly victorious. Paul does not deny the reality of pain, suffering, and tragedy, but he encourages us to confront it with the anchor of Christ’s love. And while we may not encounter the extent of Paul’s own tribulation that led to his execution, every one of us experiences suffering. How many of you have been here in person, for all 5 weeks we’ve been walking through Romans 8? It’s a small number. And I know many of the reasons you were absent were not pleasant: infections, surgeries, hospital visits, sleepless nights, family situations, or just Florida in July. The arena of our suffering may look different for each of us, but the promise remains the same. For those who belong to Christ, the overwhelming victory of God’s love prevails in every circumstance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

  4. Jul 27

    The Unbreakable Chain (Romans 8, Part 4)

    There are times I wish I was wearing a walkie talkie. You know, those times when my wife Kaitlyn and I are in different parts of the house and our kids come to find me after they’ve already asked their Mommy for something. I know by the way they are asking I’m pretty sure she already told them no, but I just need to confirm we’re giving them the same answer, that we’re on the same page. “Kaitlyn, did you say the kids could have a popsicle after school, over?” My kids know that I’m more likely to say yes anyways. But sometimes I don’t even need to ask. “No, you can’t have Cheetos for breakfast.” I think sometimes we imagine God that way. We picture God the Father as a meanie who’s saying “No,” and then Jesus comes along saying to the Father, “Please? I really love them,” and now here’s the Holy Spirit trying to change the Father’s mind too. Is that the story of the Bible? No, not at all, and we see the big picture in Romans chapter 8. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are perfectly united, of one mind, working together for your salvation. The Holy Spirit helps us pray in our hearts. The Father searches our hearts and knows the mind of the Spirit. Jesus the Son prays for us in heaven. Where he is at the Father’s right hand. And God the Father is on our side and gives us all things in Christ. And because of that, Paul in our reading from Romans 8, starts with something we do not know and then reminds us of the most important thing that we do know. Let’s start with what we do not know. “We do not know what to pray for as we ought.” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

    The Unbreakable Chain (Romans 8, Part 4)

  5. Jul 20

    Glory Days (Romans 8, Part 3)

    When you think of the phrase “glory days,” where does your mind go? My first job was in local television covering high school sports, and from August to December, I was at high school football stadiums every Friday night. I remember interviewing the older men sitting in the stands who had played for the school decades before. “Those were my glory days,” they would say fondly, even getting a little teary eyed. And while I understood the nostalgia, I always carried a little sadness. It sounded to me as if life had peaked at 17 and everything since had been measured against those Friday night lights. Maybe for you it was when your children were little, or a successful period in your career, or years of peak athletic ability, but glory days seem always to be looking back at our best moments, and as we reminisce we wish they hadn’t passed by so quickly. But in our reading today from Romans 8, the Apostle Paul says the posture for Christians is quite different. For us, the glory days are still in front of us. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

    Glory Days (Romans 8, Part 3)

  6. Jul 13

    The Spirit of Sonship (Romans 8, Part 2)

    God hasn’t simply placed his name on you. He has placed his Spirit within you. And when the Spirit dwells within you, two things become true: You are God’s temple, where his presence now dwells and destined to be rebuilt. And you are God’s sons, to inherit everything that belongs to Christ. In Christ, God has given you an identity you didn’t earn and the whole Christian life is simply learning to live as if it’s true. So I want us, in the epistle reading from Romans 8:7-17, to look at these two images, of temples and sons, and what they tell us about the assurance of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

  7. Jul 6

    Free in Christ (Romans 8, Part 1)

    Freedom. It’s a word that’s no doubt been on your minds, and maybe even on your lips, this Independence Day weekend. What is freedom? What does it mean? Many define freedom as simply being free from outside control or restraint. For instance, when we think about freedom of speech it’s being free from government censorship, or freedom of religion as freedom from a state-controlled church. That’s a negative definition of freedom, when it’s defined only by the removal of chains. Is independence only the freedom from tyranny and oppression? The American Founders did not think of freedom only in this way. In his book God of Liberty, Thomas Kidd writes that the leaders of the Revolution “endorsed not unfettered individualism but a freedom to do good.” It’s not, ‘Merica: No One Tells Me What to Do, but a positive freedom—the freedom to pursue goodness, to make peace, to establish justice. As one preacher said about 10 years before American independence, “We can never be said to be free while we are the servants of sin.” This concern among the Founders reveals a gap between political and spiritual liberty: civil freedoms do not guarantee that a person has true freedom. Or, to put it like colonial preacher: what good is the civil freedom you have in America if you are in bondage to sin and death? And indeed, we learn about true freedom in our reading today from Romans 8. True freedom is found only in Jesus Christ; not only freedom from the tyranny of sin, but freedom for life in the Spirit and peace with God. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

    Free in Christ (Romans 8, Part 1)

  8. Jun 8

    What God Wants You to Know

    “It’s like you don’t even know me!” Have you ever heard someone say that? Or maybe been the one saying it? That feeling of disappointment and, even disgust, when you feel that a person hasn’t been paying attention to you in a meaningful way. We can identify that emotion in the heart of God in our passage today from Hosea 5:15-6:6. If you want to find out how to disgust God, it comes down to this: It offends God for you to know about him instead of knowing him personally, to do things for God to make him happy rather than finding your greatest happiness in doing things with him. We can call this the difference between “religious knowledge” and “relational knowledge,” the emptiness of knowing about God and performing for him rather than the richness of knowing God directly and partnering with him in your life. That’s what God sees in Hosea 6. Israel says all the right things: “Come, let us return to the Lord.” It’s a beautiful expression of repentance. They know the right words and the right things to do. But God sees beneath the performance and asks, “Do you actually know me?” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit csanders.substack.com

    What God Wants You to Know
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About

Subscribe for theological reflections, an introduction to Anglican identity, and prayer guides from the Rev. Dr. Craig Sanders. csanders.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    The Rev. Dr. Craig Sanders
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    84
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Craig Sanders
  • Show Website
    Heaven in Ordinary Podcast