CCEF Podcast: Where Life & Scripture Meet artwork

CCEF Podcast: Where Life & Scripture Meet

143 episodes - English - Latest episode: 28 days ago - ★★★★★ - 105 ratings

How do the treasures of Scripture connect with the troubles of life? As Christians, we have the privilege and challenge of exploring this question. Hosted by Alasdair Groves, this podcast considers how Scripture meets us in day-to-day life, covering topics such as emotions, rest, trauma, weak faith, insomnia, and more.

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Episodes

Jesus and Compassion

March 01, 2024 09:30 - 16 minutes - 18.5 MB

How can understanding Jesus’ emotions help us understand our own? Listen as Alasdair Groves focuses on one particular emotion which Jesus felt: compassion, an ache on the heart that presses toward action to make things better.“   God sees our frantic bleating, living like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless. He is a good shepherd, and he has compassion on his sheep, even especially where we struggle to have compassion for others.”   Mentioned in this podcast: We're excite...

Jesus and Dread

February 01, 2024 09:30 - 19 minutes - 22.1 MB

How can understanding Jesus’ emotions help us understand our own? Listen as Alasdair Groves focuses on one particular emotion which Jesus felt, just hours before his crucifixion: dread. How does Jesus’ experience of dread encourage us in our own experience of it?   Mentioned in this podcast: Head to ccef.org/school to register for Dynamics of Biblical Change, one of our foundational courses, in the March 2024 term. Pricing increases after February 5, so register soon for the discount! ...

Why Can’t I Control My Emotions?

January 01, 2024 09:30 - 19 minutes - 27.4 MB

“The heart poured out to the Lord is actually a form of trust.”   Sometimes we find ourselves unable to control our emotions. Often this produces guilt, and we wonder, “What does that say about my faith?” How do we navigate such an experience? Listen as Alasdair Groves discusses this experience and what faithful living looks like in this first episode of a miniseries on emotions.   Related resources: Untangling Emotions | Book by Alasdair Groves & Winston Smith Emotions Are a Lang...

A Host of Scriptures for Every Hardship

December 01, 2023 09:30 - 28 minutes - 39.9 MB

Sometimes Scripture feels dry, distant, or impersonal. How do we apply Scripture in these times? How do we take hold of a cup of cold water when we are most thirsty? Listen as Alasdair Groves discusses what it looks like to bring Scripture to bear on our sufferings and struggles, using several examples from his own life. Related resources: Shaking Off Some Lifelessness with the Psalms | Blog post by Ed Welch https://www.ccef.org/shaking-off-some-lifelessness-with-the-psalms How Do Y...

Weak Faith

November 01, 2023 08:30 - 21 minutes - 39.5 MB

Do you ever feel guilty about how small or weak your faith is? Listen as Alasdair Groves talks about weak faith, primarily considering an example from Peter, one of Jesus’ own disciples.   “It's not about the strength of your faith. It's about the strength of the Savior. It's about the strength of the one who can pull you out of the dark waters and bring you back to the boat. Even the tiniest little bit of faith is God's gift to us anyway.”   Related resources: The Way of Wisdom in ...

Laziness

October 01, 2023 08:30 - 21 minutes - 40.1 MB

“We can become blind to the goodness of what God is calling us to, the fact that his call to obedience is a call to the path of life, not the path of death. When our drudgery becomes our view of what’s happening here, if we see it as him against us or calling us to something that’s not good for us, we’ve lost some ability to perceive what is true.”   Why do we struggle to do the things God has given us to do? How do we fight laziness or procrastination and move forward into the hard bu...

The Physical Comfort of Words

September 01, 2023 08:30 - 14 minutes - 26.3 MB

“When you offer normal, mundane, simple, best-you-can-do words of love and encouragement to somebody in their struggles, there is actually a physiological impact you are having on that person. When you offer words of comfort, you are literally changing something about their body.”   We’re excited to launch season 4 with a discussion on how the words we speak to one another can actually have physical effects for good.   Related resources: Words of Counsel | JBC article by Pierce Tayl...

Making Sense of Self-Pity

June 01, 2023 08:30 - 26 minutes - 47.9 MB

“It is hard to speak to the Lord about your sufferings and to lament and to honestly go to him and say, ‘Lord, this is hurting in my heart, on my soul.’ We rarely step into relationship in that way, and it's a struggle. It's a challenge, and it's a good, right, excellent challenge to come to him as the one who really does care.”   What is self-pity, and how should we view it? How can we turn our self-pity into godly lament that engages honestly with the Lord? Listen as Alasdair Groves di...

Does Love Always Trust?

May 01, 2023 08:30 - 23 minutes - 43.4 MB

“Only the Lord is deserving of full, utter trust. We have a God we can trust 100% in every situation to be who he says he will be. And that means we can always trust whatever he’s up to in another person.”   What does it mean that “love trusts all things,” as 1 Corinthians 13:7 says? How do we show an appropriate level of trust in others, and when are the times we shouldn’t? Listen as Alasdair Groves discusses what it means that “love always trusts.”   Related resources: Rebuilding ...

Bonus Episode: Collin Hansen on Tim Keller

April 14, 2023 08:30 - 46 minutes - 63.3 MB

Alasdair Groves speaks with Collin Hansen about his new book, Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation, and the influences on Tim Keller, which included CCEF and David Powlison. Collin Hansen is the vice president for content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition, as well as executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics.   Mentioned in the podcast: "Idols of the Heart and 'Vanity Fair'" | Journal article by David Powlison. Read it here for fre...

The Church Is Doing Better than We Think

April 01, 2023 08:30 - 22 minutes - 41.6 MB

When we think about the state of the church today, the negatives often come to mind. While there is much to be grieved about and much change that needs to take place, there is much to be encouraged by when you look at how God is working through local churches around the world. Listen as Alasdair Groves considers some of the reasons not to give up on the church.   "The church has been through a thousand seasons where it's torn itself apart over the ages. But grace is always the center. Go...

Are You Over It?

March 01, 2023 09:30 - 22 minutes - 41.4 MB

What does it mean to “get over something”? After enduring a difficult situation, how do we know if we’ve processed it wisely? Listen as Alasdair Groves discusses some steps we can consider as we grieve and heal. Check out our free resource included with this podcast! Use the code “podcast” at checkout to receive your free article. “‘I’ll Never Get Over It’: Help for the Aggrieved” by David Powlison https://www.ccef.org/shop/product/ill-never-get-help-aggrieved/

When You Feel Numb

February 01, 2023 09:30 - 20 minutes - 47.2 MB

What do we do when we don’t seem to feel much emotion? How can we understand this experience, and what is God’s call to us in it? Listen as Alasdair Groves talks about the experience of numb emotions.   “Each one of us will face different struggles, but for each of us, there's an opportunity to walk toward the Lord and walk toward each other. If you experience a lack of emotion, that in and of itself is always an opportunity to speak to the Lord and to speak to others.”   Related res...

Redeeming Your Smartphone

January 01, 2023 09:30 - 16 minutes - 38.5 MB

Most of us are familiar with the ways our phones can be detrimental to our spiritual lives. But how often do we consider ways they can be of spiritual benefit? Listen as Alasdair Groves talks about how smartphones can actually enrich our relationship with God.   “My phone was pointing me directly to the glories and the riches and the treasures of God's promises to us, fulfilled so directly and so richly through the Holy Spirit, even in things as simple as what I was doing as I swiped or ...

When God Is Silent

December 01, 2022 09:30 - 15 minutes - 20.8 MB

“Sometimes, we will listen and we will hear silence. We will look around, and we will not see him or what he is up to, and we will not know what to make of our circumstances, but here’s what we do know: we walk with the God who preserves his people. The God who stores our tears in a bottle is the God who knows our names and who shapes our names and our circumstances and will always be among us.”   What do we do when God is silent? How do we have hope when it feels like he is absent? List...

Don’t Lead Your Wife; Serve Her

November 01, 2022 08:30 - 17 minutes - 24.3 MB

“One of your greatest goals as a man whom the Lord has called into marriage is to maximize your wife’s opportunities to use her gifts within the context of her life and community. You ask, 'How can I help her flourish?' That is serving her; that is leading her."   Scripture calls husbands to lead their wives. But what does this look like? How do we know if we’re leading our wives well? Listen as Alasdair Groves talks about what it looks like to focus on serving our wives rather than focu...

When You Can't Sleep

October 01, 2022 16:51 - 16 minutes - 22.3 MB

“We have a God who loves, cares, and knows, and I can rest utterly in the hope that he will be with me, he will walk with me, and he will provide. He will care for every last moment of my day tomorrow as I am exhausted.”   Do you ever have nights where you can’t sleep? Whatever the reason may be, struggling to sleep is a form of suffering. Alasdair Groves explores what it looks like to lean on the Lord when we can’t sleep, assured that he is near and he cares.   Related resources: “...

Grief Is Worship

September 01, 2022 08:30 - 19 minutes - 26.8 MB

“We do grieve, but we don't grieve without hope. Our grief is a hopeful grief. The losses we sustain and experience in this life are hope-filled because of Jesus, because we have a hope that transcends death itself. We have a God who is redeeming all of creation.”In the first episode of season 3, Alasdair Groves talks about how grief is not something to run from, be ashamed of, or try to get rid of, but grief is an invitation to worship God as the giver of every good gift.   Related reso...

Bonus Episode: A Counselor's View of Cultural Chaos

June 17, 2022 19:45 - 42 minutes - 58.5 MB

Enjoy a bonus episode while we’re on break over the summer! This episode is a recording of Alasdair Groves’ plenary session from the 2021 National Conference: Modern Problems. This year's National Conference: The Way of Wisdom will explore Old Testament wisdom literature in light of Jesus, the true wisdom of God. Learn more and register at ccef.org/2022. To receive a $25 discount on your in-person registration, use the code “podcast” at checkout. This discount is valid through the end of...

Can We Love Someone but Not Like Them?

May 05, 2022 08:30 - 20 minutes - 28.5 MB

“We should never be content with, ‘I love that person but I don’t like them.’ That should always be a call to press deeper, to seek to love in ways that lead us toward a greater tenderness and affection.”   In our 8th and final episode of season 2, Alasdair Groves explores the phrase, “I love you but I don’t like you.” Is it helpful, harmful, or potentially both? How can we engage with someone whom we love but don’t “like” in a particular moment or season? How can we both love someone an...

How Do We Think Biblically About Personality Tests?

April 07, 2022 08:30 - 18 minutes - 29.7 MB

"Anything that presses us forward towards each other with a desire to know the Lord and know his people and know how to love better is going to be helpful. Better to be thinking and reflecting more rather than less if you’re doing it with love and humility and the desire for wisdom.” How do we think biblically about personality tests? Are they helpful, harmful, or potentially both? Does Scripture have anything to say about personality? In this episode, Alasdair Groves discusses these que...

How Do We Think Biblically About Conversion Therapy?

March 10, 2022 09:30 - 22 minutes - 21.1 MB

What is conversion therapy and how do we think biblically about it? How do we engage with and offer the hope found in Christ to those struggling with same-sex attraction, transgenderism, and other LGBTQ+ issues? How do we navigate our role as disciplers in a world where the definition of “counselor” is increasingly broad? In this episode, Alasdair Groves discusses these questions and more through the lens of a biblical counselor.   Check out other CCEF resources on these topics: “The Si...

What Does It Mean to "Look for the Good"?

February 10, 2022 09:30 - 18 minutes - 25.6 MB

Through the specific example of video game addiction, Alasdair Groves illustrates a broader skill fundamental to biblical counseling: learning to see and draw out what is good, even in the midst of someone making a mess of their life.   “In Hebrews 10, the Lord calls us as Christians to spur one another on to love and good deeds. That's an invitation to an incredible wealth of creativity as believers in thinking about how to apply this passage. Finding the traces of good in someone's bad...

How Do I Deal With Seasonal Depression?

January 06, 2022 09:00 - 19 minutes - 22.4 MB

"We are never outside of the tender care of God. It's true when we sleep. It's true when we struggle to get out of bed. It's true when we fail to read the Bible. It's true when we aren't eating healthily. It's true when everything just feels bleak."

Why Should I Read Leviticus?

December 02, 2021 09:00 - 18 minutes - 25.6 MB

"Leviticus is probably not the first place that people think about life meeting scripture. Most of us don't get to January 1st, planning to read through the Bible this year, and put the day on their calendar that we get to start Leviticus. That's not how most of us tend to function. Of course, if you have read the entire Bible, you have a sense that the book of Leviticus is quite important."

What if Counseling Isn't Encouraging?

November 04, 2021 10:00 - 20 minutes - 27.9 MB

"Think about Psalm 103. That beautiful phrase, "For the Lord knows that we are dust." He sees our frailty, He knows how fragile we are, and He meets us in that." 

Is It Okay to Want Affirmation?

September 30, 2021 13:30 - 22 minutes - 30.7 MB

"The problem is not that our desires need to stay constantly small and in check to make sure they don't threaten our feeble love for Christ. It's rather, we want our love for Christ to grow and grow"

Languishing

June 24, 2021 16:51 - 18 minutes - 25.1 MB

“Biblical hope is, God is with you. You are not alone in the wilderness. God is with you and that changes everything.”

Honesty

May 19, 2021 14:38 - 19 minutes - 26.9 MB

“If we are people of the God of grace, and the word of God is utterly full of grace, then any true words we say ought to be full of grace as well.”

Negative Emotions Part 2

April 01, 2021 16:23 - 21 minutes - 30.1 MB

“The Bible offers one central way of dealing with our negative emotions: we pray them. We take our deeply distressing emotions and we run to the Lord, placing them in his hands."

Episode 5: Dave

March 11, 2021 20:26 - 1 hour - 57.5 MB

“As Christians we share the experience of simultaneously being saints, sufferers and sinners. Knowing one another and loving one another well requires that we attend to these three foundational experiences.”

Episode 4: Jen

March 04, 2021 20:27 - 1 hour - 67.4 MB

“As Christians we share the experience of simultaneously being saints, sufferers and sinners. Knowing one another and loving one another well requires that we attend to these three foundational experiences.”

Episode 3: Sarah

February 25, 2021 20:30 - 56 minutes - 51.7 MB

“As Christians we share the experience of simultaneously being saints, sufferers and sinners. Knowing one another and loving one another well requires that we attend to these three foundational experiences.”

Episode 2: Rona

February 18, 2021 17:55 - 1 hour - 67.6 MB

“Being a saint, sufferer, and sinner are intertwined experiences for believers. These are not segmented areas of our lives—our day to day experiences are a blending of the three.”

Episode 1: Myriam

February 11, 2021 18:52 - 1 hour - 55.1 MB

As Christians we share the experience of simultaneously being saints, sufferers and sinners. Knowing one another and loving one another well requires that we attend to these three foundational experiences.

Introduction to Stories from Saints, Sufferers, & Sinners

February 10, 2021 18:11 - 2 minutes - 1.89 MB

Negative Emotions

January 14, 2021 21:00 - 17 minutes - 23.7 MB

Let me ask you a question. Is it okay for Christians to feel really bad? Is it okay for Christians to get upset and feel terrible? Do you have a place in your theology for a Christian to be sad or angry or afraid or any of a host of other negative emotions?

Hope

December 10, 2020 17:35 - 22 minutes - 31 MB

“God is passionately interested in giving us encouragement that shapes our ability to endure hardship every step of the way.”

Trauma

October 29, 2020 18:33 - 20 minutes - 47.3 MB

Where you end up is actually through Christ Himself through His trauma and His overcoming the grave itself and every violation that He, knowing and meeting and living with us, has this way of drawing us close and we end up in a place more profoundly deeply good than even where we were. That doesn't make the trauma good, it doesn't mean, "Oh, I'm glad I went through trauma," it just simply means there is this inescapable reality to the depth of hope that a connection to Christ in the midst of...

Rest

August 06, 2020 04:29 - 27 minutes - 37.7 MB

Is our rest actually restful? In this episode of the CCEF Podcast: Where Life and Scripture Meet, Alasdair Groves sits down to expose the ways that chasing after rest can feel like a never-ending, unsatisfying cycle, and discusses how viewing rest through a Christ-centered perspective frees us to embrace true rest in whatever capacity it might come.

CCEF Podcast: Where Life & Scripture Meet

August 05, 2020 17:28 - 2 minutes - 2.83 MB

Counselor's Toolbox: When to Listen, When to Speak

November 19, 2019 21:47 - 21 minutes - 40.6 MB

Parenting in Weakness

November 06, 2019 16:09 - 32 minutes - 60.5 MB

“There’s a fine line between godly anxiety that’s a godly concern and godless anxiety that pushes away from God and toward man.”

Spiritual Leadership in the Home

October 24, 2019 14:24 - 28 minutes - 51.9 MB

“The conversation about spiritual leadership requires humility and patience from both husband and wife.” 

Walking with the Depressed

October 03, 2019 14:47 - 24 minutes - 44.6 MB

"Many times in our anxiety, depression, and hardships, we forget the Author of our story. What does it look like for me to remind someone that we can trust the Author who is good and faithful?"

Addictions

July 24, 2019 18:23 - 24 minutes - 45.7 MB

Ed Welch and Alasdair Groves talk about addictions.

Headship in Marriage

July 09, 2019 00:33 - 24 minutes - 45.6 MB

Robyn and Alasdair talk about headship in marriage.

Understanding Shame

May 30, 2019 21:04 - 21 minutes - 39.3 MB

Alasdair & Todd sit down and talk about understanding shame.

The Danger of Being Practical in Counseling

May 22, 2019 20:39 - 22 minutes - 41.7 MB

Ed and Alasdair sit down and talk about "The Danger of Being Practical in Counseling".

Methodology

April 16, 2019 18:59 - 21 minutes - 40.5 MB

Alasdair and Todd discuss the topic of methodology for counselors.