Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

Reflexion, A Spiritual Community

Christian based teaching from Chuck Smith, Jr

Episodes

October 26, 2025 52 mins

 If what I read doesn’t match your Bible, there are two reasons

First, I’m reading from Robert Alter’s translation of the Old Testament
– so obviously that is different from other standard translations
• but another reason is that Alter worked from the Hebrew Bible,
◦ and in that version, chapter 1 has only nine verses
◦ in our English Bibles there are eleven verses in chapter 1
• so those two verses missing in c...

Mark as Played

Before we began Galatians, I asked for recommendations as to where in scripture to go next

A trusted friend suggested we venture through the minor prophets
- “minor” because they are relatively short compared to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel
• I hesitated for awhile, then procrastinated, finally hoping to dodge The Dozen prophets at the end of the Hebrew Scriptures
• even though the longest of them is only fourteen chapt...

Mark as Played
October 5, 2025 58 mins

The Galatians were coming to the end of Paul’s letter,

And suddenly the handwriting was different
– instead of the well-formed characters of a professional scribe,
• the printed letters were large and scribbled
◦ this shift was certain to grab their attention
◦ like changing the “font” of a sentence in a document to all upper case or bold print
• but why did Paul insist on writing this last bit with his “own hand...

Mark as Played
September 28, 2025 51 mins

Years ago, and in another life, I had a feisty personal assistant

Although she is genuinely compassionate, she had a favorite line: “Get over yourself”
- I think that held her together through a hard and complicated season of her life
• she said it to herself, to he friends, to people who called the church office for help,
◦ and more than once she said it to me–her boss
• but she never said it when I didn’t need to h...

Mark as Played
September 21, 2025 45 mins

Paul has chased a serious concern through his entire letter

So it is not surprising that near the end, he would present an the ultimate challenge of the Christian life
- in verse 16 Paul begins last segment of his central message
• what follows in chapter 6 is his concluding remarks and directions
- what we have in verses 16-25 is this chunk of scripture that tracks one theme
• Paul makes this clear by marking where ...

Mark as Played
September 14, 2025 39 mins

 I assume most of us are familiar with The Message Bible

One of the more popular versions, and easiest to understand
– Eugene Peterson did not set out to write a new translation
• beginning in early 1980’s the U.S. economy went into a slump and mortgage interest rates were rapidly climbing
◦ people in his church were feeling the pinch, and reacting in the same way as people in town
Peterson, “Paranoia infected the sm...

Mark as Played
September 7, 2025 43 mins

If you ever decide to read the Bible all the way through,

At some point, you will find yourself struggling to understand it
– even if you’ve been a believer for a long time and read it before (or read a kiddie version)
• a passage will confuse you, trouble, or just seem wrong
◦ I’m fortunate to have many helpful resources
• however, when even those study aids leave me with questions
◦ then I resort to creative th...

Mark as Played
August 31, 2025 38 mins

For the last month or two, I’ve noticed a trend
– people are using a “Jesus image” in a variety of video posts
• like a famous celebrity, he’s immediately recognizable
◦ there’s the trademark long hair and beard, the robe, and sandals
◦ his image is used to promote an ideal, or to criticize, ridicule, or make fun of something
• three observations immediately come to mind:
◦ first, the image is used for propa...

Mark as Played
August 24, 2025 44 mins

In the first half of this chapter, Paul scolded the Galatians

You know how sometimes, as a parent,
- when you're very worried about your child–maybe they did not arrive home on time
• when they finally show up, your worry turns to anger
◦ if ever our lectures were rougher than they needed to be,
◦ it was because we had agonized over their safety
• I think that's a little piece of what is happening here<...

Mark as Played
August 17, 2025 44 mins

Do I need to mention that Paul does not try to hide his frustration with the Galatians?

To our ears, his language--"foolish" and "Who has bewitched you?" sounds offensive
- later on he will say, if they’ve truly taken this wrong path,
You are severed from Christ . . . you have fallen away from grace” (Gal. 5:4)
• he doesn’t mince words, because he’s terrified for their sake
◦ he wants to make the...

Mark as Played
August 10, 2025 43 mins

Paul has shared with the Galatians a brief autobiography

He completed it with a story about his run-in with Peter
- when Peter first came to the Gentile church in Antioch,
• he allowed the wall between Jews and Gentiles to collapse
◦ but when rigid and dogmatic believers arrived from Judea,
◦ he broke away from close contact with Gentile believers
• how sad, when a person withdraws from generous gestures,
◦ o...

Mark as Played
August 3, 2025 49 mins

If you remember from last week, Paul is telling his story

Now, at the end of his autobiography he mentions Peter (Cephas)
– this is the only record of them ever having a personal encounter
• as Paul approaches the primary purpose of his letter
• he uses this story to illustrate his central point
– the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem recognized
the difference between his ministry and Peter’s
“they saw that ...

Mark as Played
July 27, 2025 59 mins

Last week we ventured into Paul’s letter to the Galatians

Right away we learned that he was not pleased with these Christians
- he accused them of deserting Jesus for “another gospel”
• but he hasn’t defined that other gospel specifically
• that's what he does in the next section of the letter that we will cover today
- beginning in verse 11, Paul writes a brief autobiography
• he does this because his perso...

Mark as Played

I’m going to make this simple, and show you what I see in the introduction to this letter

First, there’s something different about the way it begins
- in Paul's usual typical greetings he identifies himself, his title, and whoever else is with him
• then, he greets and blesses his readers with, “grace and peace”
• but in this letter, before he mentions his companions, he takes a detour
◦ he turns this simple gre...

Mark as Played
July 13, 2025 49 mins

For a few weeks we’ve been bouncing around in Scriptures

Next week we’ll settle into something more consistent,
- and I’ve chosen to hike through Paul’s letter to the Galatians
• but not today–
• my talk this morning will be another random meditation
- what I will say about this letter,
• Paul was not at all pleased with the churches in the region of Galatia
◦ he had introduced them to a life in God through J...

Mark as Played
July 6, 2025 50 mins

Pastor Allen was a preacher in Small Town, U.S.A. Relaxing at home one evening he settled into his recliner, pushed his reading glasses up to the bridge of his nose, and reached over to his side-table for something to take his mind off of work. He could have picked up one of the magazines lying there, or a novel with a bookmark where he left off, or if all else failed the TV remote.

He accidently grabbed his Bible.
No...

Mark as Played
June 30, 2025 14 mins

In May we completed our trek through the Sermon On the Mount

Since then, I have not felt a strong direction toward bringing another series
- Nancy Lopez, whom I love and trust,
• suggested that we go through the Minor Prophets
◦ I’m still mulling that over
• meanwhile, I’ve been sharing on Sundays my own random musing from the past week
- today I’ve chosen an odd place to drop into the Scriptures
• and it wil...

Mark as Played
June 22, 2025 39 mins

The way Luke introduces John the Baptist has a familiar ring:
“The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness” (Lk. 3:2)

For example: “The word of the LORD that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri” or “The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel”
- Luke is obviously forging a link between John and previous prophets
• Jesus will soon say, John was a prophet “and more than a prophet” (v. 26)...

Mark as Played

1 Corinthians 8:1-6 

 It’s not one of my favorites, but this time something happened
- it was like I saw a glint of light sparkle from one of the verses
• so I started digging at it
◦ I took my investigation as far as I could,
◦ but when that wasn’t enough, I consulted a biblical scholar
• in a few minutes I’ll share with you what I discovered,
- but first, we’ll take a brief look at this passage 

Mark as Played
June 8, 2025 37 mins

 Reading the stories of Jesus,

Have you ever wished you could hear the tone of his voice?
- for instance, I imagine a note of disappointment or sadness when says,
“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?”
• Philip was one of the first disciples to follow Jesus
◦ so he’s traveled with him as long or longer than the others
◦ if anyone should know Jesus, it’s Philip
• Jesus has comple...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    The Joe Rogan Experience

    The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.