The term “church discipline” brings to mind harsh leadership, public embarrassment, or being kicked out of church. Unfortunately, for many Christians, those associations come from real experiences.

What did Jesus actually intend?

In this episode, Jason and Justin tackle one of the most misunderstood and uncomfortable subjects in church life: church discipline.

Drawing from passages like Matthew 18 and Galatians 6:1, we explore why biblical discipline is about much more than confronting sin or imposing consequences. At its heart, it's about discipleship, spiritual growth, accountability, and restoration.

We discuss three important dimensions of church discipline:

1. Proactive Discipline: How everyday discipleship, spiritual habits, and Christian community shape us to become more like Jesus.

2. Restorative Discipline: How the church should respond when someone acknowledges sin and desires repentance and restoration.

3. Imposed Discipline: When more serious intervention becomes necessary, why the process matters, and how churches can exercise accountability without abandoning grace.

Finally, we address some difficult questions. What happens when church leaders misuse their authority? How can we confront sin without becoming judgmental? And how do we balance grace, truth, patience, and accountability?

Church discipline was never intended to be a weapon against God's people. God intended it as a help in our growth together in holiness and love, and as a reflection of his character in his people.

One Step Toward Jesus: Ask God to show you one area where you need to grow in proactive discipline, and consider who in your Christian community can help you take that next step.

Join the conversation in the comments: Have you seen church discipline handled well, or do you think the church has largely misunderstood its purpose?

Subscribe to Encounter Grace for more conversations about faith, theology, culture, leadership, and relationships as we seek to think biblically about life in the real world.

#EncounterGrace #ChurchDiscipline #ChristianDiscipleship #BiblicalTruth #ChristianLiving #ChurchLeadership #SpiritualGrowth #Matthew18 #GraceAndTruth #ChristianPodcast

How often do you pick up your phone without even thinking about it? What starts as a quick check can turn into an hour of scrolling, comparing, worrying, or simply disconnecting from the people right in front of you.

In this episode of Encounter Grace, Jason and Justin continue their series, One Practice That Will Change Your Life, by exploring a simple but powerful habit: taking a Screen Sabbath.

Our phones are incredible tools, but what happens when the tools meant to serve us begin controlling us?

Drawing from Scripture, including 1 Corinthians 6:12, Psalm 119:37, and Matthew 6:22–23, we discuss how our screen habits shape our attention, desires, relationships, and spiritual lives.

We'll explore:

• Why we instinctively reach for our phones

• How social media can fuel anxiety, comparison, and discontentment

• What the Bible teaches about guarding our eyes and attention

• Why digital boundaries aren't about rejecting technology

• Practical ways to take a Screen Sabbath and reclaim your time

Here's your challenge: Choose one intentional period this week to put your phone away. Maybe it's dinner with your family, an evening without social media, or an entire day of digital rest.

The goal isn't to get rid of technology. It's to make sure technology serves us rather than masters us.

At Encounter Grace, we're helping thinking Christians live faithfully in the real world, one step toward Jesus at a time.

Subscribe for more conversations about faith, spiritual growth, relationships, and everyday Christian living.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Screen Sabbath concept

03:27 Defining a Screen Sabbath and its biblical basis

05:25 Personal stories of social media and anxiety

07:16 The importance of recognizing screens as neutral tools

09:03 Practical ways to implement a Screen Sabbath

11:06 The dangers of social media and doomscrolling

13:24 Biblical guidance on controlling the eyes and desires

16:12 The importance of physical Bibles and mindful media use

20:50 The societal and personal risks of digital addiction

22:20 Steps to establish a meaningful Screen Sabbath

#EncounterGrace #ChristianLiving #DigitalDetox #ScreenTime #SpiritualGrowth #ChristianPodcast #SocialMedia #DigitalWellness #FaithAndTechnology #ScreenSabbath

What if the first five books of the Bible reveal more about Jesus than you ever imagined?

Many Christians see the Old Testament as a story of law, judgment, and religious rituals, and the New Testament as a story of grace, forgiveness, and Jesus Christ. That paradigm misses something essential.

In Part 2 of "Why the Torah Matters," Jason and Justin continue exploring 12 foundational truths introduced in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy that shape our understanding of the entire Bible.

From God's redemption of Israel through the Exodus to His holiness, forgiveness, justice, and desire for genuine worship, we discover that the God of the Old Testament is the same gracious, compassionate, redeeming God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Most importantly, we explore how the Torah points us directly to Jesus, from the promised offspring in Genesis 3 to the Passover Lamb, the better Moses, and the ultimate fulfillment of God's covenant promises.

In this episode, we discuss:• Why redemption and grace didn't begin in the New Testament• What the Torah teaches us about God's holiness and forgiveness• Why God has always desired our hearts, not merely religious rituals• The biblical foundations of justice, righteousness, and the people of God• Why Christians are called to live as pilgrims in this world• How Jesus is revealed throughout the first five books of Scripture

The Torah isn't simply the beginning of the Bible. It's the key to understand the entire Gospel story of redemption.

Click here to access Jason’s Roadmaps for the 5 books of the Torah: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bh6Wizd5HGBuLiMswHkqqTHxqrN7qC4_/view?usp=sharing

Join the conversation: What's one connection between Jesus and the Old Testament that changed the way you read Scripture? Let us know in the comments!

Subscribe to Encounter Grace for thoughtful, biblically grounded conversations that help thinking Christians navigate the real world.

#EncounterGrace #WhyTheTorahMatters #Torah #JesusInTheOldTestament #BibleStudy #BiblicalTheology #OldTestament #ChristianPodcast #Pentateuch #UnderstandingTheBible

What if the Gospel story starts in Genesis? How does Leviticus matter today?

The first five books of the Bible, collectively known as the Torah or Pentateuch, lay the foundation for everything that follows in Scripture. Yet many Christians struggle to understand how these ancient books fit into our faith as a church.

In Part 1 of this Encounter Grace discussion, we begin exploring why the Torah is so important to understanding the Bible as a whole.

From creation and humanity's fall to God's covenant promises, His relationship with Israel, and the unfolding story of redemption, the Torah introduces essential themes that shape the rest of Scripture, and ground the Gospel.

Whether you're studying the Old Testament for the first time or have been reading the Bible for years, we hope this conversation encourages you to see these familiar books with fresh eyes.

Join the conversation: Which of the first five books of the Bible do you find most challenging to understand? Why?

Subscribe to Encounter Grace for thoughtful conversations about theology, faith, culture, leadership, and everyday Christian living.

#EncounterGrace #Torah #Pentateuch #BibleStudy #OldTestament #BiblicalTheology #ChristianPodcast #UnderstandingTheBible

Hebrews used to be one of Justin’s least favorite books of the Bible.

Not because it was boring, but because it scared him.

What do you do with passages that say it’s “impossible” to restore someone to repentance, or that there’s “no longer a sacrifice for sins” for those who deliberately keep sinning? Can a Christian go too far? Can you cross a line and discover that it’s too late to come back?

For years, Justin read those warnings as though Christians were constantly standing on the edge of an eternal cliff. Then he realized something: he was reading the warning passages without paying enough attention to the message of Hebrews as a whole.

And that changed everything.

In this episode of Encounter Grace, Jason and Justin explore why Hebrews was written, what its difficult warning passages are actually warning us about, and why the larger message of the book is not one of constant fear, but of the beauty, sufficiency, and faithfulness of Jesus.

The warnings are real. They’re serious. But they’re part of a much bigger message:

Don’t go back. Don’t give up. Fix your eyes on Jesus. He’s better.

#EncounterGrace #WhyHebrewsMatters #BookOfHebrews #BibleStudy #JesusIsBetter #ChristianFaith #BibleQuestions #Theology #Jesus #ChristianPodcast

What does it actually mean to grow as a Christian?

We often reduce discipleship to reading the Bible more, attending another study, serving on another team, or simply trying harder. Those things can matter, but biblical discipleship is much bigger than a checklist of spiritual activities.

In this episode of Encounter Grace, Jason and Justin look at Christian growth from three different perspectives:

• God’s perspective: justification, sanctification, and glorification

• The church’s perspective: teaching and training, mentoring and modeling, serving and sacrificing

• Our personal perspective: cultivating a growing desire and delight in Christ

Along the way, we talk about why spiritual growth isn’t always a straight line, why relationships are essential to discipleship, how serving and generosity shape us, and seven practical ways to keep growing in Christ.

If you’ve ever wondered, “Why am I not growing spiritually like I think I should?” this conversation offers a framework for evaluating your discipleship without turning the Christian life into another performance-based checklist.

The goal isn’t simply to do more Christian things.

The goal is to become more like Jesus.

#EncounterGrace #Discipleship #SpiritualGrowth #ChristianLiving #FollowingJesus #Sanctification #ChristianFaith #Christlikeness #SpiritualFormation #ChurchLife #BibleStudy #Jesus

What if you could actually hear Jesus pray for you? What would He ask the Father for?

On the night before the cross, Jesus prayed not only for His disciples, but for “those who will believe in me through their word.” In other words, He prayed for future believers—including us.

And what Jesus prayed for might surprise you, and definitely will encourage you.

Jason & Justin explore Jesus’ prayer in John 17 and what it reveals about His desires for His Church: that we would be united with one another, that we would ultimately be with Him, and that the Father’s love would live in us.

What’s more, Jesus’ prayer for His people didn’t end in John 17. From His prayer for Peter in Luke 22 to the reality of the risen Christ interceding for us in Romans 8 and Hebrews 7, Scripture gives us an incredible truth: Jesus didn’t just pray for His people once; He continually lives to intercede for us now.

What might change if we really lived that?

#EncounterGrace #John17 #Jesus #Prayer #Christianity #ChristianLiving #BibleStudy #Faith #ChristianPodcast #JesusPraysForUs

Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, what have we actually learned?

For those old enough this day is permanently etched into memory. We remember where we were, what we saw, and the realization that the world had suddenly changed.

A quarter-century later, Jason and Justin reflect on 9/11 through three lenses: America, Islam, and the gospel.

Though governments, cultures, and conflicts continue to change, Believers belong to an unshakable Kingdom. Our hope ultimately rests not in national security or political power, but in the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. Jeremiah rested in this as he lamented his own national tragedy, the destruction of Jerusalem.

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning.” — Lamentations 3:22–23

#September11 #September11Anniversary #911 #ChristianPodcast #ChristianWorldview #Christianity #Islam #Muslims #Gospel #FaithAndCulture #BiblicalWorldview #EncounterGrace