If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Galatians 5:25
Hi there! I’m Nate, and this space is essentially my open catalog for scripture studies and day-to-day snippets from my life as I learn to live by the Spirit of God. If you find anything here to be at all edifying, praise God! I try to post 1-2 times per week and update the Highlights section often, so check back regularly to stay up-to-date. I hope you enjoy our time together.
What And Who Is This For?
As someone who grew up in a Christian and then sort of Hebrew Roots and then sort of Messianic Jewish household, I had a lot of confusion and frustration towards faith when I was younger. As a teenager and younger adult, I was very rebellious and hypocritical in my professed faith. I had a very incomplete understanding of and appreciation for the Gospel and the God who gave it to us. The things I share on this blog are my attempt to clear up those areas of confusion, make up for lost time, and help others who may be in a similar place with some of the same issues.
Some things you can expect to see here will be my own studies on certain topics, music that I find to be conducive to worship, some of the resources that I like use for research, and whatever else I happen to come across as I move forward and grow in faith. If you have any study suggestions, please feel free to send me a message through the contact page.
Highlights
This section is for videos (songs, studies, episodes, etc.) that I find edifying. Think of it as a revolving door of highlighted content and media that I hope will bless you.
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs
Hey! It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post/update. I apologize if you’ve had your eye out or anything; I’m a landscaper and I’m right in the busy season right now, so things have been busy. Also, if I’m being honest, I haven’t been pushing as hard to get things out after the last two posts. They were so long that I kind of needed to recharge a bit, I think. I have a couple of new posts in the works right now, though, and will be starting in on the next part of Christ the Victor soon: Christ the Judge. (It’ll probably be ready by October 2027 if I don’t get a move on.) The upcoming posts I’m looking at sharing are about renewing our minds through God’s word, what it means to carry our own cross, and a little side study I started on James 1. I look forward to sharing them all with you as they are ready, but in the meantime I hope these songs and videos will help to encourage and edify you!
This week, I’m choosing to share Glorious Day by Casting Crowns and 1 Peter 5- Cast All Your Care by Project of Love. I was driving home from working on my shed one day this week when Glorious Day came to mind. It had been a long while since I last listened to it- any Casting Crowns, really- but it hit my heart pretty significantly. Not to be dramatic or anything, but I’ve had this sense of homesickness lately, a longing to see what comes after all of this with my own eyes. All this stuff that’s been going on with Bethel and the charismatic church, all the war and craziness in the world, the people I see online mocking God, the temptations I have myself, etc., it all gets to be so much. Sometimes I get this sense of deep dissatisfaction, and I realize I just want to be home. Not dead, mind you, just home. Away from all the nonsense and strife, the (ultimately) petty arguments and concerns of this world, and free from the evil that is around and in all of us. But at the same time, I have very real tethers in this world that make me want to stick around for a long time to come: my wife, my child, my family, my friends who don’t yet know God, and so many others. Selfishly, I also rather like my hobbies and sometimes have difficulty remembering how temporary they all are.
When I get homesick like that, I like to remind myself that, one way or another, I will see Jesus one day. Either I will go to Him, or He will come and get me, but I will see Him. Every wrong I have ever done, every awful thing I have ever seen, any hurt that comes with this world- all of that will be gone. It’s a scary thought, but more than that it is a hopeful one, one that gives my soul peace. That is the essence, I think, of Glorious Day:
Living He loved me,
Dying He saved me,
Buried He carried my sins far away,
Rising He justified, freely forever,
One day He’s coming, Oh glorious day!
I guess the second one, Cast All Your Care, is kind of similar. Its meaning is pretty self-explanatory; it urges us to take all of our worries, cares, and burdens and cast them on our Lord, the One who cares for us. No burden is too heavy or light to bring to Him; He wants them! He wants to take them from our shoulders. It reminds me of Revelation 21:4: “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” Believers have a beautiful future to look forward to, one that has been fully paid for and promised to us by the most trustworthy source in all of existence, God Himself, and through the apostle Peter He let us know that it isn’t just in the world to come that He cares about our troubles, but in this current one, too. I just think that’s incredible.
Sorry for rambling- I’ve been doing that a lot, recently- I hope that some part of it has been encouraging to you, and that these songs help to lift your spirits and remind you of the immense care God has for you this week. God is King, and as such we should take Him very seriously, but He’s also our Father and our dearest Friend; it felt like a good time to reflect on that after how heavy the last post was. Have a lovely week; I look forward to seeing you again soon!
Words of Life
This section is for sermons/drashes, podcast episodes, teachings, testimonies, and other edifying words that I have come across and wanted to share with you all. I will do my best to make sure that what I share is always doctrinally sound, but I of course encourage you to pick up your Bible and inspect everything for yourself.
This week I am sharing several videos, two about a book called Unpunishable by Danny Silk (originally from Bethel, now president and co-founder of Loving on Purpose) and one being another sermon by pastor Jonny Ardavanis about the intercession of Jesus on behalf of His people.
It’s probably no surprise that I don’t care for Danny Silk’s book Unpunishable- it’s heavily attached to Bethel, and I’ve recently said quite a bit about what I think of their practices- but I want to be clear: I don’t hate Danny or Bethel. I am not, on some warped principle, on a hate campaign against him or them. I have spent many months now listening to testimonies about their practices- many born from Danny’s writing- and reading and listening to their own teachings, including his. I am not blindly dismissing his work or anybody else’s. I am trying to share the alarm that I have experienced after spending months poring over his teachings and seeing the catastrophic misapplications of scripture littered throughout them as he redefines words and confidently asserts theological principles that deny justice when they are implemented in full. I don’t doubt that, on small scale, some of his principles can produce good results- many of them are common sense. However, his overall teachings on restoration and his feelings about shame, fear, love, and discipline have directly led to a tremendous amount of harm that I believe needs to be addressed. I have a lot that I could say about Danny’s book and the consequences many people have experienced as a result of it’s teachings, but I will allow Jon Mark Baker and Rob Cantor to take it from here. If you disagree with what I or they have to say about it, please feel free to reach out and let me know, and I’d be glad to try to talk about it with you.
From Stonebridge Bible Church we have a teaching on John 17:6-19 by Pastor Ardavanis again, as he talks about the prayer spoken by Jesus on behalf of His disciples and expresses how it intimately relates to His high priestly role in which He “…always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:25; “them” being all whom He saves.) Jesus is our High Priest, and unlike every high priest before Him, His work was completed after a single sacrifice. Following that, their is no longer any need for His blood to be shed ever again, and instead He sits at the right hand of the Father, glorified forevermore, making perfect intercession for His people. Like many scriptural realities, this can, unfortunately, become a fact we begin to develop a tepid appreciation for with time; I like to revisit the fundamental truths like this often to help prevent myself from slipping towards apathy. This sermon did a good job stirring that appreciation in me again; it touched me, and I hope it touches you, too.