Doable Discipleship

“You have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes, with a single jewel of your necklace. Your love delights me, my treasure my bride.” Song of Songs 4:9-10Song of Songs is the last of the Biblical wisdom literature and puts a bow on our time with Solomon. It’s a book not commonly taught from because of its intimate nature, but I was grateful to find somebody who is actually currently teaching through this book at his church. Dr. James Hamilton is Professor of Biblical Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is the Senior Pastor at Kenwood Baptist Church. In this conversation, Jim and I talk about the rich theological truths of Song of Songs, what we can learn from all of Solomon’s writings, the connection between Song of Songs and Genesis, and much more. Doable Discipleship is a Saddleback Church podcast produced and hosted by Jason Wieland. It premiered in 2017 and now offers more than 400 episodes. Episodes release every Tuesday on your fa

“What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:9-11Ecclesiastes is one of my favorite books of the Bible. I might be weird in this, I don’t know many other people who would say Ecclesiastes is their favorite. To me, it’s one of the most human books in the whole Bible. Not only does it have some of my favorite verses, but it’s such a relatable look at one man’s struggles. Ecclesiastes is another entry in the Wisdom Literature of the Bible, along with Job, Psalms and Proverbs and, even though it may not seem like wisdom literature at first glance, it becomes clear why the more you spend time in it.To help us navigate the book of Ecclesiastes is Dr. Richard Belcher. Dick is the John and Frances Gwin Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary and

Originally published Dec. 12, 2023Have you ever asked yourself the question: Why should I get out of bed? In today's episode, host Jason Wieland, Content Development Pastor at Saddleback Church, talks about his favorite book of 2023. It's called On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden & Gift of Living by Alan Noble. This short, 104-page book is rich in its look at anxiety, depression, and other hardships of life. It doesn't sugarcoat the realities of suffering. For anybody who may not struggle with these issues themselves, Dr. Noble paints an important picture of what life is truly like for those in this daily fight. However, this book is truly one of hope as it reminds us of the reality of our good creation, the presence of our good Creator and the truth that your life is a testimony of that goodness - whether you are having a good day or not.Join Jason as he dives into this impactful, important book. This episode highlights some quotes from the book as Jason discusses why he finds this book so necessary and w

We’ve done many episodes of Doable Discipleship about identity, largely because it’s such an important topic in a world that constantly tries to fight for the right to control your identity, but also because there’s just so much to talk about, particularly from the Christian perspective. And today I want to add two more facets to that conversation: self-esteem and bias. The premise: who you think you are creates a bias, even an unconscious one, in how you receive input about your life and how you view other people. It affects how you handle success, failure, advice, friendships, and so much more. Christians have the opportunity to anchor their identity, and therefore their bias and self-esteem in two key biblical truths. To talk to us about bias, self-esteem, and these biblical truths is Dr. Erin Devers, professor of psychology and Indiana Wesleyan University and author of the new book, The Unbiased Self. Doable Discipleship is a Saddleback Church podcast produced and hosted by Jason Wieland. It premiered in

O LORD, I give my life to you.2     I trust in you, my God!Do not let me be disgraced,    or let my enemies rejoice in my defeat.3 No one who trusts in you will ever be disgraced,    but disgrace comes to those who try to deceive others.4 Show me the right path, O LORD;    point out the road for me to follow.5 Lead me by your truth and teach me,    for you are the God who saves me.    All day long I put my hope in you.6 Remember, O LORD, your compassion and unfailing love,    which you have shown from long ages past.7 Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth.    Remember me in the light of your unfailing love,    for you are merciful, O LORD.Psalm 25:1-7The Book of Psalms is without question one of the most well-known books of the Bible. You open up your Bible in the middle and you’re likely to open to a Psalm. Psalms are read at weddings and funerals, you see them written on artwork and mugs and frames. But how should we read the Psalms? What does Psalms teach us about God and about ourselves? Today I

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I hear a loud shout from the throne, saying, ‘Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” – Revelation 21:1-4 There are many pictures of what heaven may be like. From art to poetry to film and television, many people have depicted heaven one way or another. And I completely understand why people would want to do so – heaven is something I believe everybody thinks about at some point in their life. Even an atheist has likely gone through the mental exercise of thinking, if heaven is real I wonder what it may be like. So today I want to explore the

Then Job replied to the LORD:2 “I know that you can do anything,    and no one can stop you.3 You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’    It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about,    things far too wonderful for me.4 You said, ‘Listen and I will speak!    I have some questions for you,    and you must answer them.’5 I had only heard about you before,    but now I have seen you with my own eyes.6 I take back everything I said,    and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”Job 42:1-6The book of Job is perhaps the most unique book in the Old Testament. Up until this point we had been reading narrative accounts of historical events, but Job ushers us into new territory as a wisdom literature book. It tracks events that happen in the life of a man named Job . . . but it does leave you to wonder if these events really happened as written, or if this is a different type of literature exercise altogether. Most importantly for the book of Job though is what it t

In this episode, Doable Discipleship host Jason Wieland shares a devotional rooted in Jesus' Triumphal Entry in Luke 19. This devotional moves from Psalms to Luke to Genesis to John in an examination of what the Bible says about creation praising God. This Easter, you are invited to join in the song of praise from all of creation to Jesus - the King of Kings. Episode originally released March 26, 2024.Doable Discipleship is a Saddleback Church podcast produced and hosted by Saddleback Church Content Development Pastor Jason Wieland. It premiered in 2017 and now offers more than 350 episodes. Episodes release every Tuesday on your favorite podcast app and on the Saddleback Church YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/saddleback). Doable Discipleship is a proud part of the Saddleback Family of Podcasts. To learn more about the Saddleback Family of Podcasts, visit saddleback.com/podcasts. So Will I (100 Billion X) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfVd5x9W1XcRelated Doable Discipleship Episodes:The Burden &am

The Bible talks a lot about salvation, or our need to be saved. Jesus is the promised savior and the central tenet of the Gospel is it is faith in Jesus that saves you from your sin. All of this is, of course, true, and if you were to ask the average Christian what it means to be saved they would likely say that their faith in Jesus saves them from hell and gives them an eternity in heaven. Again, this is not wrong. But, it is incomplete. Salvation is far deeper, far more encompassing, and far more miraculous than we typically consider it. This is the goal of this “mysteries of the faith” series: to take a topic that we think we understand and dig a little deeper. To help guide us in the topic of salvation is Pastor Buddy Owens. Buddy is a teaching pastor at Saddleback and has been on this podcast many times. In this conversation Buddy and I talk about what happened on the cross, how salvation is more than just a saving from something, what it means to live out your salvation, and look to answer some of the m

"I was reading the back cover of a new book when something caught my attention and just wouldn’t let go. The book is called Easter by Wesley Hill and the phrase that grabbed hold of me read “Easter is more than a day – it’s a season even longer than Lent. In fact, for the Christian who has died with Christ and been brought to life in him, Easter is the new, joyous, and radical way of living.” Woah. Let me say that last part again: for the Christian, Easter is the new, joyous, radical way of living. When I read this, I immediately knew deep in my soul how true this was, yet also how little I had spent thinking about it, let alone living out the truth of it in my life."This episode of Doable Discipleship is a look at the true, eternal nature of Easter and a celebration of a life lived eternally because of Jesus Christ. Doable Discipleship is a Saddleback Church podcast produced and hosted by Jason Wieland. Edited by Yonane Tamez and Donovan Aromin. It premiered in 2017 and now offers more than 400 episodes. Epi

On this second occasion, while they were drinking wine, the king again said to Esther, “Tell me what you want, Queen Esther. What is your request? I will give it to you, even if it is half the kingdom!” Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor with the king, and if it pleases the king to grant my request, I ask that my life and the lives of my people will be spared.  For my people and I have been sold to those who would kill, slaughter, and annihilate us. If we had merely been sold as slaves, I could remain quiet, for that would be too trivial a matter to warrant disturbing the king.” – Esther 7:2-4Esther holds an interesting place in the Old Testament. It’s a post-exilic narrative similar to Ezra and Nehemiah, but rather than focusing on the Jewish community returning to Jerusalem, it tells the story of some of the Jewish remnant in Susa – people who for one reason or another chose not to return to Jerusalem. In many ways, Esther reads like a thriller. There’s a nefarious plot, divine providence, and bol

“O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.“Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’“The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to

“Praise the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who made the king want to beautify the Temple of the Lord in Jerusalem! And praise him for demonstrating such unfailing love to me by honoring me before the king, his council, and all his mighty nobles. I felt encouraged because the gracious hand of the Lord my God was on me.” Ezra 7:27-28The book of Ezra continues the narrative of the people of Israel into what is known as the post-exilic period. When we left things in 2 Chronicles, the king of Babylon had conquered Jerusalem and the temple had been destroyed. But the final part of the book ends with a glimpse of what’s to come. 2 Chronicles 36:23 says, “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are the Lord’s people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you.” That then ushers us right into the heart of the story of Ezra. Ezra 1 beg

There’s something we all experience that we usually can’t quite put our finger on or find the right words to describe. We hear the sermons about what the Christian life should be like. We read the books and hear the podcasts and we’re told what a life lived for and with God is like – a life of joy, of ease, of clear direction, of no worry. And yet . . . it doesn’t always go that way. Many people, maybe you right now, hear these things and think “why isn’t my life like that? I love God, I try to follow his Word and yet my life is hard and sad. Why isn’t the Christian life I hear about my experience?” Michael John Cusick calls this experience, “the gap” or “the delta”. And it’s a very common thing for Christians to experience.  Today host Jason Wieland is joined by Michael John Cusick to talk about his new book, Sacred Attachment: Escaping Spiritual Exhaustion and Trusting in Divine Love. In this conversation, Michael and Jason talk about embracing brokenness, what neuroscience teaches us about how we attach an

“Early the next morning the army of Judah went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. On the way Jehoshaphat stopped and said, ‘Listen to me, all you people of Judah and Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be able to stand firm. Believe in his prophets, and you will succeed.’ After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendor. This is what they sang: Give thanks to the Lord; his faithful love endures forever.” – 2 Chronicles 20:20-212 Chronicles, the second part of the complete volume known as Chronicles, continues the retelling of the story we saw in 1 and 2 Kings. As we talked about in the 1 Chronicles episode, Chronicles is like a different vantage point look at the same events as Kings. But as we talk about in today’s episode, the vantage point allows us to identify and focus on some beautiful themes – particularly what it means to live with God at the center of your life. 2 Chronicles takes us back to

When I thought about doing a series on Mysteries of Faith, one of the very first topics that came to my mind was prayer. Now, I’ve been a Christian since I was 5. Prayer has always been a part of my life. But if I’m honest, there are elements about prayer that I always just accepted as true, nodded my head at, and then moved on with the general way I’ve always prayed. As I got older though, I started to wonder about some things the way I imagine many of you wonder about prayer too. “Do my prayers really move God to act?” “Is there a proper way to pray?” “Why doesn’t God seem to answer all of my prayers?” I knew of prayer as talking with God, I even would say I knew why God wanted me to pray, but there were so many spiritual elements of prayer that were still so mysterious to me. Prayer is a completely spiritual practice. With Bible-reading, we’re at least engaging with a book. Prayer, on the other hand, is totally spiritual so I was excited to dive into some of the more deeply spiritual elements of prayer wit

“Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And now, O God, in addition to everything else, you speak of giving your servant a lasting dynasty! You speak as though I were someone very great, O Lord God! What more can I say to you about the way you have honored me? You know what your servant is really like. For the sake of your servant, O Lord, and according to your will, you have done all these great things and have made them known.” – 1 Chronicles 17:16-19 The book of Chronicles, broken into 1 and 2 Chronicles, holds an interesting place in the Old Testament. When we finished the book of Kings, we were left with a back and forth tale of the divided kingdom between Israel and Judah seeing story after story of terrible king to terrible king, with occasional bright spots. 1 Chronicles, the next book of the Bible, goes back and tells much of the same story again, but from a different perspective. We once again read about King David, but it’s as if we are getting a different v

Galatians 2:20 – “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.”1 Corinthians 6:17 – “But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 – This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”These verses, along with many others in the Bible, paint a part of the picture of what happens as a result of salvation. And if we’re honest, I think it’s a part of the picture we tend to look past. When we think about salvation, our minds typically go to the part that is easier to understand: we will not go to hell, we will go to heaven. “I go here, not there, I get that.” But the picture of salvation in Scripture is so, so much more rich than that. In fact, as the verses I just read highlight, salvation makes us a new creation – and not just that but it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. The Bible paints a truly beautiful picture of oneness – it often uses the ter

“Fifty men from the group of prophets also went and watched from a distance as Elijah and Elisha stopped beside the Jordan River. Then Elijah folded his cloak together and struck the water with it. The river divided, and the two of them went across on dry ground. When they came to the other side, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken away.” And Elisha replied, “Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit and become your successor.” - 2 Kings 2:7-9The book of 2 Kings picks up right where 1 Kings left off. The kingdom of Israel is divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, and the prospects for God’s people seem to wax and wane on the different leaders to come to power in each of these regions. Let’s be clear, most of the leaders are, to put it mildly, not good. But there are a few bright spots too. In 2 Kings we also see Elijah taken to heaven and ascension of Elisha as we heard in the passage I read at the beginning of this episode. Trust me, you’ll want to stay tun

There’s a question at the heart of the new book “Delighting in Jesus” that caught my attention: it says, “I know I should read by Bible and pray every day, but I’m just not consistent. For many Christians, ‘daily devotions’ and ‘spiritual disciplines’ strike guilt and shame in our hearts. But what if we got it all wrong? What if our Christian experience hinges not on perfect spiritual disciplines, but on the perfect love of a Father who delights in us?”  This has been a topic I’ve been interested in for a while now: what does relationship with Jesus really mean. And now there’s a new word entering the conversation: delight. We often talk about joy or happiness, but I’m so grateful to my guest today, Asheritah Ciuciu, for focusing in on the word delight. Asheritah is the host of the Prayers of Rest Podcast and author of many books including Full, Bible & Breakfast, Walking with God, and her latest, Delighting in Jesus. In this conversation, Asheritah and I talk about why “delight” is an important word when