Life Over Coffee With Rick Thomas

There is a discussion about whether cyberspace is real or not. We know what a real, tactile place is, but what is cyberspace? You can't touch or feel it. Is it real? If you were to make a case for cyberspace being real, how would you steel man your position? The arguments are compelling on both sides, but there is a more straightforward way to cut through the debate. The next time someone is on their phone, converse with them. Are they "with you" or somewhere else, regardless of how you define that other place? Read Here: Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Shows Main Idea – Small groups have been widely implemented in a local church for multiple decades. When rightly understood and implemented, these groups complement the Sunday sermon, assisting church members in applying God’s Word. Maturation in Christ requires knowledge and application. Here are ten vital keys to help leaders gain the most from their small group experience. Show Notes: https://lifeovercoffee.com/podcast/ep-492-ten-vital-keys-for-small-group-leaders/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Technology, social media, and the Internet can be redemptive instruments in the hands of individuals who want to do good and know how to accomplish those positive purposes practically. Of course, the implication in a fallen world is clear: technology in the hands of someone who does not have redemptive values can disrupt and do harm to their souls and those around them. We all have stories of technology’s misuse, which includes our tensions and temptations with social media, making it worth our time to ask the intrusive questions that might help us to consider more practically how to use technology redemptively. What is the cyber effect of technology on your soul? Do you have a practical plan to guard against the potential problems associated with technology, the Internet, and social media? Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/what-is-the-cyber-effect-and-what-you-can-do-about-it/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffe

“How can I change?” is one of the more common questions asked when people think through the challenges and responsibilities of becoming a better believer. Changing, improving, and maturing is at the heart of the gospel: Christ came to seek and save the lost, giving us an alien righteousness, creating the possibility of becoming like Him. While biblical responses to the how can I change question vary, sometimes what folks say are off the mark. For example, let go and let God minimizes personal responsibility. Look out for number one sabotages loving God and others most of all. Let your conscience be your guide does not consider the malleable inner voice. Christians can do better because we have a surer Word. Thus, the question remains, how do you change? Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/five-things-you-need-to-know-in-order-to-change/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or r

Shows Main Idea – Rick interviews Dr. Daniel Berger about the Matt Walsh documentary What Is a Woman? He also responds to Dr. Miriam Grossman’s interview with Rick about Lost in Trans Nation. Daniel provides a biblical definition for a woman, cutting through the confusion with the clarity that only God’s Word can bring. Show Notes: https://lifeovercoffee.com/podcast/ep-491-daniel-berger-what-is-a-woman-biblically-speaking/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Each local church has a unique personality that reflects its leadership. In context, the word church refers to those who have been attending for a while and are actively participating in the environments and equipping ministries that the leadership provides. Nominal Christians or inconsistent attendees are not part of the demographic in view here. Because of the leaders’ influence, assessing the church’s model for ministry is vital because no two leaders are the same, making no two churches the same. Let’s examine six standard church models by looking at their upsides and downsides. Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/what-kind-of-church-do-you-attend-here-are-six-models/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

One of the most important questions you’ll ever ask yourself is why you attend your local church. Outside the family unit, the local church is the primary context where sanctification happens among Christians, making how we think about and participate in our local churches crucial. Assuming you’re part of a local church, Why do you attend? Perhaps you’re part of the de-church movement; if so, Why have you stopped attending a local church? Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/why-do-you-attend-your-church/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Shows Main Idea – Rick Thomas interviews Sophie Ottaway, born as a boy but engineered to be a girl when he was two. Sophie had a physical abnormality but did not find out until he was twenty-two. Sophie is thirty-seven years old today. Sophie tells the story of what the doctors did, why the parents went along with it, the secrets kept, how he found out, and why Sophie chooses to live as a girl today. Sophie's story is incredible, honest, sad, and inspiring. Show Notes: https://lifeovercoffee.com/podcast/ep-490-sophie-ottaway-engineered-at-birth-to-be-a-girl/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Living in a relationship with anyone means you will be disappointed and hurt by them. It is unavoidable. Since Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, we have been helplessly unable to escape a relational conflict. May I test my thesis? Have you ever been hurt by someone? Have you ever been annoyed with another person? What about being disappointed or put out by the actions of a close friend? Maybe it was a relative Yes, I know, these are silly questions. Of course, you have. Living in a fallen world among fallen souls implies friction, conflict, and disappointment. They have done it to us, and we have done it to them. Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/the-benefit-of-being-intentionally-intrusive-in-your-relationships/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Shows Main Idea – In this interview, Rick talks to Miriam Grossman, MD, a board-certified in psychiatry and the sub-specialty of child and adolescent psychiatry. Before gender ideology was on anyone’s radar, she warned parents about its falsehoods and dangers in her 2009 book about sexuality education, “You’re Teaching My Child WHAT?” Dr. Grossman’s practice currently focuses on gender-distressed young people and their parents. She believes that every child is born in the right body. Dr Grossman has been vocal about ideologues’ capture of her profession, leading to dangerous and experimental treatments on children and betrayal of parents. Show Notes: https://lifeovercoffee.com/podcast/ep-489-dr-miriam-grossman-lost-in-trans-nation/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Let us go ahead and level the playing field: we are all clueless to some degree. We all need help. We all need grace. It does not matter your demographic; we need God’s grace and mercy. We are grace-dependent creatures, which is a cross-elevating, ground-leveling truth that motivates us never to judge anyone uncharitably. Perhaps a few illustrations about this universal clueless problem would be helpful. Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/how-to-care-for-clueless-people/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Everybody loves to experience God’s mercy when we behave poorly. The alternative is the Lord’s corrective displeasure. When there is a crime, our impulse is to hope for something we don’t deserve. Have you considered applying the same perspective for your enemies, those folks you dislike? “Blessing for me but not for thee,” the cry of the spiteful heart. Perhaps this notion strikes you as odd, so I’ll illustrate it with my friends, Biff and Mable. Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/the-problem-with-gods-kindness-when-you-want-to-be-angry/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Shows Main Idea – There are two competing authorities in our culture today that present the pathway to transformation. The secular psychological community put forth the DSM as the authority to transform your life, while the Christian believes the Bible is the world's transcending, authoritative psychology book that brings peace and change to the soul. The one you choose will determine the course and quality of your life. Rick compares the two in this webinar while making a persuasive case for God's Word as the authority over our souls. Show Notes: https://lifeovercoffee.com/podcast/ep-488-webinar-our-competing-psychologies/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

A throne addiction is when a person refuses to allow God to be the King of their life; they will not relinquish their throne to the only rightful authority to our lives. The addict to the throne has fully bought into the first lie of Satan—you can be a god (Genesis 3:5). After the fall, humanity came with a pre-wired craving to a throne addiction. We call it total depravity, which is why we must be born a second time (John 3:7). The bad news is that becoming born again does not insulate us from the encroachments of a throne addiction. Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/the-one-thing-you-need-to-step-down-from-your-throne/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

God is a God of second chances. Have you ever heard that expression? It is one of those things we like to say about God. It is a Christian cliché that we cherish because we understand the need for and benefit of getting a second opportunity. We came into the world needing a second chance; God gave us the gospel: Christ died for our sins (Romans 5:12). Without a second shot, we would be eternally divorced from God, but the good news does not stop. After regeneration, we need repeated second chances, the beauty of confession and forgiveness (1 John 1:9). Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/admitting-failure-gives-you-a-second-chance-from-god/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Shows Main Idea – Rick interviewed Dr. Daniel R. Berger II, the founder and director of Alethia International Ministries (AIM), where he continues to write and speak around the world in churches, organizations, medical communities, and at various counseling and teacher's conferences. He is also an experienced pastor, counselor, school administrator, and the author of many books, which focus on biblical counseling, biblical phenomenology, practical theology, education, parenting, and the history and philosophy behind the current mental health construct. In this interview, Rick asked Daniel several questions that were submitted to Rick after he led a conference in Calgary, Canada. Instead of Rick answering them, he asked Daniel to share his perspective on the Bible, disorders, DSM-5-TR, medications, and more. This interview was divided into two parts. Here is part two. Show Notes: https://lifeovercoffee.com/podcast/ep-487-daniel-berger-discusses-disorders-and-medication-pt-2/ Will you help us to continue prov

How do you think about the trouble in your life? I counsel a lot of Christians who have a lot of adverse things happening to them. In a way, they are modern-day representations of Jonah—their difficulties are swallowing them up. One of the things I want to communicate to my friends in trouble is how they need a bigger vision of who God is, especially when life is stormy. Did you know that anything God does to you or allows to happen to you is because He loves you? Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/do-you-understand-the-point-of-your-trouble/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

What do you think about when a storm comes into your life? When things are dreadful, how do you wrestle through what’s happening to you? Where does your mind go? I suppose most of us succumb to the temptation to focus more on the storm happening to us than the God of the storm. It makes sense: the storm is more real and nearer to us than the Creator of storms. God is out there, but the storm is right here, as our self-reliant spirit kicks in. Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/when-god-hurls-a-storm-at-you/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.

Shows Main Idea – Rick interviewed Dr. Daniel R. Berger II, the founder and director of Alethia International Ministries (AIM), where he continues to write and speak around the world in churches, organizations, medical communities, and at various counseling and teacher’s conferences. He is also an experienced pastor, counselor, school administrator, and the author of many books, which focus on biblical counseling, biblical phenomenology, practical theology, education, parenting, and the history and philosophy behind the current mental health construct. In this interview, Rick asked Daniel several questions that were submitted to Rick after he led a conference in Calgary, Canada. Instead of Rick answering them, he asked Daniel to share his perspective on the Bible, disorders, DSM-5-TR, medications, and more. This interview was divided into two parts. Here is part one. Show Notes: https://lifeovercoffee.com/podcast/ep-486-daniel-berger-discusses-disorders-and-medication-pt-1/ Will you help us to continue prov

The heart of the gospel is about loving difficult people. Jesus came to seek and save the lost. His death on the cross for undeserving people is the primary example that teaches us this grand imitateable truth of loving our friends and foes well (Ephesians 5:1). Christ does not ask us to do things He is unwilling to do. He became the tested and sympathetic Savior, giving up His life for those who did not deserve such love (Hebrews 4:15), making Him the reason we should not forget this transformative aspect of our biblical heritage. It is also our responsibility to pursue those who rub us the wrong way. Read Here: https://lifeovercoffee.com/a-profound-reason-to-love-that-difficult-person-in-your-life/ Will you help us to continue providing free content for everyone? You can become a supporting member here https://lifeovercoffee.com/join/, or you can make a one-time or recurring donation here https://lifeovercoffee.com/donate/.