Shows
Citizen of HeavenINSANITY: Paul and Festus. "Heart of Darkness." The definition. Obscurio.Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Our survey of some of the horrors of the world takes us inside the human mind this week – a scary place if ever there was one. We’ll discuss Paul’s alleged struggles with insanity and how we can develop the real thing ourselves; a journey into the depths of the Lord’s church and the terrifying characters we find there; the famous definition of insanity and how we just can’t believe it might apply to us; and a game that puts me in the loony bin and wh...2024-11-2618 min
Citizen of HeavenONE, part 3: with Keith Stonehart and Paul HammonsRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!All month long you listen to me and me alone on this podcast. But early on I determined to let you listen in once a month as I sit at the feet of others. The results are some of my favorite episodes of all. That certainly includes my conversation with Keith Stonehart and Paul Hammons, which wraps up today. We wrap up by talking about the game of solitaire some of our brethren seem determined to play and why they should pay the price, however painful, to...2024-05-0816 min
Citizen of HeavenONE, part 2: with Keith Stonehart and Paul HammonsRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!We’re back with Keith Stonehart and Paul Hammons, talking about the number one. Keith works with the Fultondale church of Christ in the Birmingham, Alabama, area. Paul works with the Graham church of Christ in north Texas. In this segment, we’re discussing the benefits, and especially the dangers, of obsessing over a single thing. Is it possible to focus too much on a single thing — even if that thing is Jesus Christ? Let’s find out. Hal Hammons serves as preacher and shepherd for the L...2024-05-0820 min
Citizen of HeavenONE, with Paul Hammons and Keith StonehartRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We’re talking about numbers this month on the podcast, and we’re starting with the number 1, which seems appropriate. Keith Stonehart joins from the Birmingham, Alabama, area. He preaches for the Fultondale church of Christ. I’ve never met Keith in the flesh, but he’s good friends with my other guest whom I’ve known for all his life and almost all of mine. Paul Hammons preaches for the church of Christ in Graham, Texas, and is widely considered “the smart one of the family.” Hal Hammons...2024-05-0719 min
Citizen of HeavenCOMFORT: The God of comfort. "Watership Down." "Danny's Song." Upstairs.Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!My dad’s funeral is this week. So comfort is on my mind. I’ve gotten a lot over the last few weeks, so I’m here to share some with you. This week we’ll discuss Paul’s counterintuitive and yet foolproof recipe for contentment; my own favorite “warm and fuzzy” book, which in places is anything but warm and fuzzy; perhaps the music industry’s best example of a feel-good song; and the place I go for comfort and the effort I’m willing to expend to get ther...2024-01-0919 minCitizen of HeavenYEAR END: My Most Disappointing Books of 2023Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Back in May, when I listed my best, most disappointing, most surprising and thinkiest books I had read to that point, I had no idea what I was in for. Since that time I have averaged a bit more than one book a day. That translates to, well, a lot of books. And they weren’t all winners. I was able to derive some benefit from everything I read. However, some of my choices did not deliver nearly as much as I had hoped. These are those bo...2023-12-1533 minCitizen of HeavenBOOKS: with Edwin Crozier and Elizabeth NowlinRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is the first part of my conversation with Edwin Crozier and Elizabeth Nowlin, as we kick off Reading Month. Edwin is the co-host of the Text Talk podcast; Elizabeth co-hosts the Book Fare podcast. They worship together at the Livingston Road church in the Tampa, Florida, area. Here we discuss the value of reading, beginning with the apostle Paul and continuing right to your bedside table.Books cited in the first segment include: Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls WilderT...2023-11-0733 minCitizen of HeavenATHENS, part 2: with Phillip Martin and Brent MoodyRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Two good friends of mine help me cap off our five-week trip around the globe this week. Phillip Martin serves as preacher and shepherd for the Eastside church of Christ in Sharpsburg, Georgia. Check out his work at gospeldefender.com and tacticalpreacher.com. Brent Moody preaches for the Decker Prairie church of Christ in the suburban Houston area. In the second part of our conversation, we discuss Paul’s short preaching visit to Athens, and the role education plays in our walk with Christ (for bet...2023-09-0629 minCitizen of HeavenATHENS: with Phillip Martin and Brent MoodyRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Two good friends of mine help me cap off our five-week trip around the globe this week. Phillip Martin serves as preacher and shepherd for the Eastside church of Christ in Sharpsburg, Georgia. Check out his work at gospeldefender.com and tacticalpreacher.com. Brent Moody preaches for the Decker Prairie church of Christ in the suburban Houston area. In the first part of our conversation, we discuss Paul’s short preaching visit to Athens, and the role education plays in our walk with Christ (for bet...2023-09-0527 minCitizen of HeavenARGUING: Paul's example. "Letters from a Skeptic." Karens. Castles of Burgundy.Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!“It’s his fault!” “She started it!” “They are a lot worse than us!” Am I describing the squabbling of children? Or am I describing a typical Tuesday afternoon at Walmart? I say, can’t both be true? This week we will discuss Paul’s keys to arguing properly; how starting with love and respect makes the arguments go much better; the queen of arguing and how to avoid becoming her next opponent; and the best way to avoid arguing in the first place.Hal Hammons is...2023-03-1320 minCitizen of HeavenRENAISSANCE/EXPLORATION: Paul the traveler. Magellan. New music. Exploriana.Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!God put in the heart of man a craving for the unknown, a need to expand his world. Ultimately it is intended to compel him to reach for heaven itself. Earthbound humans don’t know what they are missing, literally.We conclude Renaissance Month by discussing the greatest Christian explorer and his path to success; the greatest Renaissance explorer and his accidental success; the myth of my own refusal to explore new music; and the secret to pushing your luck just enough but not too mu...2022-10-2524 minCitizen of HeavenRENAISSANCE/PRINT: Paul's books and parchments. Erasmus. Smart phones. Gutenberg.Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!If it’s important, write it down. The printed word has power unlike anything in human history — especially the printed word of God. For 1,000 years it had been unavailable to the common man. The Renaissance changed that forever.This week we will discuss an inspired writer’s obsession with what other people wrote; how comedy helped take down the papacy; the pros and cons of the Bible on your phone; and the clever little Rhinelander who started it all. Hal Hammons is the preache...2022-10-1825 minCitizen of HeavenBEACHES: Paul on Malta. "The Power of Your Influence." The Beach Boys. Santa Monica.Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!Drawing a line in the sand is a common expression in English. And the beach has plenty of sand, and plenty of opportunities to draw lines. When does comfort become complacency? When does relaxation become laziness? This week we will discuss Paul’s day on the beach and how it informs the book of Philippians; our influence at the beach, and whether we are part of the solution or part of the problem; beach music, and whether Jesus would sing along; and whether a beach tri...2022-09-1324 minCitizen of HeavenCOACHING, part 1: with Kris Emerson and Terry FrancisRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!When I decided to put together an episode on coaching, I wanted to get two preachers who knew the topic — from both a sports perspective and a church perspective. I definitely got the right men. Kris Emerson is the preacher for the church of Christ in Lindale, Texas, and the host of the Excel Still More podcast. Terry Francis preaches for the church of Christ in Chelsea, Alabama, and partners with Phillip Martin to host the Do The Work live stream on Facebook. Timothy had Pau...2022-08-3029 min
Working with the WordDifficult Passage - Romans 7 with Hal HammonsIn Romans 7:14-25 Paul describes an inner conflict with sin, one in which he wants to do right but is unable to do so. This passage may seem straight-forward enough on the surface, as we all can relate to this inward battle. But read in context with the rest of Romans, big question emerge. Why does Paul say he is enslaved to sin? What is he saying about the "law"? Is he describing his experience before or after becoming a Christian. Hal Hammons joins us for a round-table to tackle these questions.
Be sure to ch...2022-05-2045 minCitizen of HeavenGEOGRAPHY (part 2): With Jeremy Dehut and Barry Britnell of Appian MediaRegister your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!This is the second part of my discussion with Jeremy Dehut and Barry Britnell.Check out www.appianmedia.com for the great work Jeremy, Barry and the rest of the crew put together.I absolutely loved Bruce Feiler’s book, American Prophet, which detailed the importance of the Moses story in American life. So when I heard he had written a book about charting the story of God through actual journeys through Bible lands, I grabbed it quickly. What a disappointment. It became ob...2022-01-0527 min