This Week in Deeper Holden Lane

Take a look at Numbers 21:4-9, That's what Jesus told Nicodemus to do when he considered who Jesus actually was. Nicodemus thought that Jesus had the makings of a prodigy teacher, which is why he probably went to see him under the security of the night, but Nicodemus left that conversation with more questions than answers. I imagine he left the meeting with Jesus thinking, "That didn't go how I thought it was going to go..." Nicodemus likely thought that in this meeting he would flex his intellect and press Jesus into submission, but it went exactly the other way. Jesus gave Nicodemus the gospel and clearly explained who He was and why He was here, yet Nicodemus still missed it. Nicodemus was the "Teacher of Israel" and yet he failed to understand that Jesus was salvation for the people.

Last week we opened a brand new series taking a closer look at one of Jesus’ most well known teachings, often referred to as the Sermon on the Mount. In this series we are taking a closer look at some of the topics that Jesus taught about that day on the mountain in northern Israel. Let’s remember that the sermon occurred up on the mountain, and in Jesus’ time they didn’t have cars or trucks, his followers were on foot. Climbing that mountain was likely no easy task but the reward for reaching the summit was an intimate experience with the Son of God. Jesus taught love, grace and hope in the midst of condemnation and judgement. Jesus was consistent with His mission, “… He was sent into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

Tonight we're opening up a brand new series called "On The Mountain" that is going to examine the sermon on the mount. But first we need to understand that we've got to climb the mountain to hear from Jesus. 

In this podcast we wrap up our series "The Playlist" with a man who has some serious family history with God. 

Psalm 23:4 says, "Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid because You are close beside me. Your rod and you staff protect and comfort me. 

King Saul looked at David, the young shepherd boy and told him "Don't be Ridiculous" when David offered to take on the mighty Goliath. What Saul failed to understand is that David was empowered by the Holy Spirit to take on the evil giant. Everything about Goliath represented sin and the evil that is in this world, and everything about David represented Jesus, our shepherd who was sent to save what was once lost. 

Starting this week we are going to take a new approach to our media. Figuring out the best way to reach our community is our goal as a youth ministry and we've found that podcasting is a great way to do this. The cool thing is that I personally love to produce the podcast. At the first of the year we started a project that took us through the first 5 books of the Bible over podcast. We produced a podcast every single day, but as we've opened back up from the pandemic, the pace became too much and our goal is to produce quality. So starting with this podcast we are going to produce a weekly episode that is concurrent with what we cover in Deeper. To be clear, this podcast is not a recording of that weeks message. While the same material is covered, the podcast is a more intimate discussion or conversation. I really do hope you enjoy this podcast!