God Stuff

In this episode of the podcast. Bill Giovannetti continues sharing new book, CHAOS:As Goes the Church, So Goes the World. Chapter 2 - Cheap Epistemology I have in my library a worn out, orange, paperback book entitled Basic Christian Doctrines, first published in 1962 and then reprinted in 1971.1  I do not remember when I first picked up this book, but I do know I was in my twenties. I also recall wanting to be personally equipped to teach and defend these doctrines to the Awana leaders I served with.  The book contains 45 chapters on the essential foundations of evangelical faith. Each chapter is written by a theological heavyweight of a bygone era. The whole work is edited by the late, great Carl F. H. Henry. Forty-five chapters, each one plumbing the depths, the nuances, and the distinctive features of evangelicalism’s cardinal doctrines. The book is remarkable to me today for two main reasons.  First, it uses the word basic in its title.  By today’s standards, however, this book is anything but

In this episode of the podcast. Bill Giovannetti continues sharing new book, CHAOS:As Goes the Church, So Goes the World. You might have caught some changes in file names, podcasts episode names and titles, because I have basically changed the numbering system to make the whole structure of the book more clear, it's a work in progress. I'm also changing chapter titles... With this episode Bill continues giving away most of this book, as he shares it with you on the podcast. The message is urgent. The message is timely. If it strikes a chord with you, please share it with your friends. I appreciate your prayers. There has never been a more important moment in the life of the modern church. It is time for us to return to our roots and seek God as never before. Here's the Table of Contents (subject to change) CHAOS: AS GOES THE CHURCH SO GOES THE WORLD Preface: Fire on the Horizon Intro: As Goes the Church Part One: Disturbing Trends in Today's Church 1. The Giants Have Perished 2. [[[Renaming this one]]]

In this episode of the podcast. Bill Giovannetti continues sharing new book, CHAOS:As Goes the Church, So Goes the World. With this episode Bill continues giving away most of this book, as he shares it with you on the podcast. The message is urgent. The message is timely. If it strikes a chord with you, please share it with your friends. There has never been a more important moment in the life of the modern church. It is time for us to return to our roots and seek God as never before. Here's the Table of Contents CHAOS: AS GOES THE CHURCH SO GOES THE WORLD Preface: Fire on the Horizon Intro: As Goes the Church Part One: Disturbing Trends in Today's Church 1. The Preaching Giants Have Perished 2. Francis Schaeffer, Please Come Back 3. The Song that Never Ends 4. The Worship War Irony 5. For the Love of All That’s Holy 6. To Hell With Hell 7. Modern Day Pharisees 8. Kingdom Mania 9. The Discipleship Captivity of the Church 10. The Leadership Captivity of the Church 11. The Brokenness of “Woken-ness” 12. H

In this episode of the podcast. Bill Giovannetti talks about his new book, CHAOS:As Goes the Church, So Goes the World. With this episode Bill begins giving away most of this book, as he begins to share it with you on the podcast. The message is urgent. The message is timely. If it strikes a chord with you, please share it with your friends. There has never been a more important moment in the life of the modern church. It is time for us to return to our roots and seek God as never before. Here's the Table of Contents (subject to change) CHAOS: AS GOES THE CHURCH SO GOES THE WORLD Preface: Fire on the Horizon Intro: As Goes the Church Part One: Disturbing Trends in Today's Church 1. The Preaching Giants Have Perished 2. Francis Schaeffer, Please Come Back 3. The Song that Never Ends 4. The Worship War Irony 5. For the Love of All That’s Holy 6. To Hell With Hell 7. Modern Day Pharisees 8. Kingdom Mania 9. The Discipleship Captivity of the Church 10. The Leadership Captivity of the Church 11. The Brokenne

...but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. (1 Peter 1:19) As Christians, we believe that Christ was the spotless, sinless Lamb of God. As the unique Person -- fully God, fully human -- he rose above every dark force, triumphant over death, the devil, Hell, and sin. In this episode, Bill talks about an important teaching called the Impeccability of Christ. There is no doubt that Christ was utterly, perfectly sinless. But could he have sinned? Was he able to sin? And what about temptation? Could he really face temptation? Welcome to a theological dive into the Impeccability of Christ.

In this episode of the GodStuff podcast, Travis Osborne joins Bill Giovannetti for a conversation about Prophecies of the Messiah. How did the Old Testament Scriptures foreshadow and predict the coming of Christ? How was Christmas promised? There's a lot here, and we only get to scratch the surface, but it's pretty awesome to think that all of ancient history was a Countdown to Christmas. If you've always thought of going to seminary, and going deep with God, but you never had time... now you do. Find out more about Veritas School of Biblical Ministry, a new graduate school from Dr. Bill Giovannetti, designed with busy people in mind. Announcing a Free Webinar: Can I lose my salvation? Monday, December 9, 2019, at 6:00 pm (PT). Please visit Veritasschool.life/eternal-security to find out more or watch the video below.  Video Link Here Please save me a seat

I this episode of God Stuff, Bradley Thomas joins Bill in a discussion of Angels and Demons. Where did they come from? How do they get their wings, really? And how do they impact our lives? Should Christians worry about demonic possession?

This fallen world is a morally broken pain machine. That is one of the sad lessons of the biblical teaching of the Fall. In this world, Jesus said, we will have troubles. Truer words were never spoken. There is hope, however. The grace of God, obtained for us at the Cross, triumphs over the darkness and suffering of this world. In this episode of GodStuff, Bill Giovannetti is joined by author, speaker, and survivor, Michele Cushatt. The topic is Suffering and Faith, based on Michele's latest book, Relentless. Michele shares the powerful story of struggling with cancer, three times, adverse childhood experiences, and more. Here is a link to Michele Cushatt's website: MicheleCushatt.com Here is Michelle's latest book, Relentless, which I highly recommend. As always, subscribing, reviewing, and sharing are appreciated.

Christians have been gathering beside lakes and streams, pools and seas, since the very beginning to practice the rite of baptism. In this episode, Bradley Thomas joins Bill to talk about baptism. What does it mean? How should it be done? Who should be baptized and why?

The first thing to die in a church, without constant encouragement from leadership, is evangelism. In this episode of God Stuff, Bill is joined by Todd Skinner to discuss why evangelism seems to be at a low point, and how we can move forward.

In today's episode, Bradley Thomas joins Bill Giovannetti to talk through what it sounds like to pray using the Lord's Prayer as a template. 

Faith is trust in an authority: for empiricism, the authority is our senses. For rationalism, the authority is our postulates—the logical concepts that get the rational ball rolling. For Christianity, the authority is Jesus and his Word.

The heart of Scripture is Christ. The heart of Christ is grace. The heart of Grace is the Cross.  Without Christ’s Cross, there is no grace, not in reality, and not conceptually either. There is no such thing as a Christless grace, yet this is certainly abroad in the land. But even worse, there is no such thing as a Crossless grace, and this is pandemic. 

Let me start by saying please do not confuse humanism with humanitarianism. Humanitarianism means caring for people, and as Christians, we are fans of that.  Humanism is something different. It is, ultimately, a worldview painfully out of sync with reality.  What is Humanism? Humanism is a philosophy of life that puts humans at the pinnacle of existence.  There is an organization called the American Humanist Association. Their motto is “Good without a god.” Humanists say that Reason and Science are all we need to create a just and good society. In fact, they say, it is religion that gets in the way. This is because religion always leads to superstition, and superstition always brings us backwards. Humanism almost always goes hand in hand with atheism.  If humans are at the top of existence, they are either higher than God, or there is no God. We humans—with our philosophies and values—occupy the top rung of the existential ladder. You might hear the term, secular humanism, because secular means the opposite

In this episode, Bradley Thomas joins Bill to talk about the Grace Pathway.  The Grace Pathway is a four step approach to discipleship and spiritual growth. Here are the four steps: God Saves You God Blesses You God Grows You God Uses You There is a logic behind these four steps, and their order. More importantly, there are theological reasons why these steps happen in this order. That's what Bill and Bradley talk about. Bill is developing a 10 book curriculum to lead people along the Grace Pathway. These are great for churches, small groups, and Bible studies. Six of the ten books are currently available, and you can find out more here. As always, sharing and subscribing are appreciated.

This is a follow up to my post and podcast about the high-profile defections of Christian leaders. This content is the opening chapter of a proposed book called Stunted. I've been around long enough to be considered a veteran pastor, and in this book, I'm dissecting 11 trends I see in the church that are keeping the church stuck in immaturity and vulnerability. Here is the first chapter of Stunted. Trend 1: The Death of Expository Preaching There were giants in the land. Crowds gathered. Hearts opened. The greatest message ever conceived among humankind pushed back the darkness and fueled generations of heaven’s ambassadors. Henrietta Mears, Ruben Archer Torrey, William R. Newell, Donald Grey Barnhouse, Harry Ironside, Ray Stedman, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, A.W. Tozer, Francis Schaeffer, Carl F.H. Henry. A legion more. Forgotten giants. They were nineteenth- and twentieth-century evangelical preachers and teachers of God’s invincible Word. They opened the Scriptures and invited audiences to open their Bibles

The rash of recent high-profile defections from Christianity only shows the insanity of how we have elevated unprepared men and women to leadership in the church. Quit looking to fallible leaders and start looking to the Word of God. Leaders come and go, but the Word of God endures forever. 

There has never been a more life-giving and true worldview than biblical Christianity. It is getting harder and harder to say so, especially for students. In this episode, Bill joins Travis Osborne, the Student Ministries pastor at our church, to talk about challenges to faith for students today.

I blame Bradley Thomas, but this episode is a rambling conversation on a lot of topics, mainly tending toward the topic of Perfectionism. We enjoyed a wide-ranging conversation, and I hope you enjoy it.

In this episode of God Stuff, Bill talks about three important reasons why Creation matters.