Union with Christ doesn’t begin after we have reached a certain point of spiritual maturity. Jesus doesn’t wait until we know Him “well enough” to unite Himself with us. Our union with Him was decreed by the Father in eternity past and is experienced by every Christian from the moment of conversion, through every scene of life, upon death, and into our eternal rest. Focusing on Ephesians 1:3-4, Dr. John Snyder and Acey Floyd put on their thinking caps (make sure to check out the YouTube channel!) to discuss this glorious mystery. Whether you want to use the word foreknowledge, predestination ..read more

The Scriptures are filled with metaphors and descriptions of the Christian’s union with Christ. Each of them expresses a different reality of that union. But even with all the words dedicated to explaining and describing that union, it still holds a mystery that escapes even the best theologians. But the existence of the mystery should not stop us from taking our time to study, examine, and meditate on our union with Christ. In fact, it should motivate us. So this week, Dr. John Snyder and Acey Floyd spent time doing exactly that, discussing what we can know of our union with the second Person ..read more

Dr. John Snyder is joined this week by Acey Floyd, co-elder of Christ Church New Albany and Media Gratiae’s Office Manager, to start a new series discussing the Christian’s union with Christ. This doctrine is central to the letters of Paul in the New Testament and should therefore be central in our lives. Union with Christ can be seen as the central hub of the wheel that is the Christian life. If we put that hub as anything else, the wheel will become warped and our progress will be slowed. For this first episode, John and Acey focus on the Who we are united to. We are united to the only Being ..read more

Jeremy Walker, pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley, England (a town just south of London) is a long-time friend of Media Gratiae. We turn to him when we have difficult questions and value his wisdom and godliness. Several months ago, while Jeremy was preaching in Lusaka, Zambia, he was approached by a man who was burdened for the orphans on the streets of Lusaka. This man had been seeking a way to help educate, evangelize, and disciple these children. After a short conversation, Jeremy understood the need and decided he had to become involved in the ministry himself. Currently, The ..read more

This week, Dr. John Snyder and Teddy James will wrap up our series on a talk given by Hudson Taylor to several missionaries in the late 19th century. His main emphasis throughout the talk was the significance of the missionaries living a life that aligns with their teaching. While we are focused on living consistent lives, we also have to be aware of the contradictory nature of the Christian life. But the contradictions aren’t between teaching and life. They are between what is happening to us and how we respond. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:8-10, “We are treated as impostors, and yet are t ..read more

This week we continue discussing a talk Hudson Taylor gave to a group of missionaries in the late 1800s. His talk was grounded in 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 and focused on the importance of leading a life consistent with the teachings of Christ. There is so much to highlight, Dr. John Snyder and Teddy James couldn’t fit it all into one episode (or even two). So today they take a deep look at what it means to commend oneself to the world. We do not do so to bring glory to ourselves, but to show the world our message is true and can be lived upon. There are other fruits beyond evangelism. By living in ..read more

Hudson Taylor is no stranger to anyone who has been through a Media Gratiae study. He was a pioneer missionary to inland China and founded the Inland China Mission. There is a great deal we could say about his life and ministry, but Dr. John Snyder and Teddy James wanted to spend the next two weeks walking through a particular talk Taylor gave to his missionaries in the 1880s. The talk is recorded in “Days of Blessing in Inland China” and the story of its creation is worth noting, as John does in the podcast. But the heart of his focus is 2 Corinthians 4:1-2 where Paul is teaching that Christi ..read more

his is the final episode of our series focusing on Christians fulfilling our responsibility to speak God’s words carefully, accurately, and timely. We started last week looking at our ultimate example in our Lord Jesus Christ. He perfectly spoke the words the Father gave Him to speak. He spoke comforting words to the hurting, convicting words to the lost, and glorifying words to the Father. We are called to do the same. But how was He able to do that? This week Dr. John Snyder and Teddy James look at the tools Jesus used to learn how to glorify God in His life. How did He know what would pleas ..read more

In what was supposed to be our final episode of the current series, John and Teddy are in the studio again discussing the type of person who can be trusted with God’s words. The conversation begins by asking how we should view conversations on the Internet. Are we commanded as Christians to answer every question we see on social media? Are we to respond to every criticism of Christianity? Or are we merely adding to the noise by doing so? After this, John and Teddy move to the central point of the episode: following the pattern of Christ in being a person entrusted with God’s words. Jesus had t ..read more

See the new study here: https://shop.mediagratiae.org/collections/christ-our-treasure   We have spent the last four episodes dealing with the types of people God will and will not entrust with His words. But how can we, a fallen, weak, and sinful people know that we are capable of accomplishing the tasks or delivering the messages God has entrusted to us? God leads His children to difficult, and even impossible, situations every day. This is nothing new. In this week’s episode, Dr. John Snyder and Teddy James come together again to share three such examples from Scripture. God led Moses ..read more