Episode Details

Ted Johnston—Year C Proper 13-17

Welcome to the Gospel Reverb podcast. Gospel Reverb is an audio gathering for preachers, teachers, and Bible thrill seekers. Each month, our host, Anthony Mullins, will interview a new guest to gain insights and preaching nuggets mined from select passages of Scripture in that month’s Revised Common Lectionary.

The podcast’s passion is to proclaim and boast in Jesus Christ, the One who reveals the heart of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And now onto the episode.

Anthony: Hello, friends, and welcome to the latest episode of Gospel Reverb. Gospel Reverb is a podcast devoted to bringing you insights from Scripture, found in the Revised Common Lectionary, and sharing commentary from a Christ-centered and trinitarian view.

I’m your host Anthony Mullins, and it’s my delight to welcome our guest, Ted Johnston. Ted is a faculty member at Grace Communion Seminary, where he teaches practice of ministry and Christian counseling. He’s the editor of The Surprising God, a blog focused on Trinitarian theology and its application. Ted served 32 years vocational ministry for Grace Communion International as a church pastor, district superintendent, denominational leader of youth programs, regional pastor, and publications editor, before retiring. He earned master’s degrees from Regis University and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.

Ted, thanks for being with us and welcome to the podcast. And since this is the first time we’ve had you on in a few years, welcome back. We’re curious how you are doing and how you’ve been participating with the Lord Jesus Christ these days.

Ted: Thank you, Anthony. It’s great to be with you. As you mentioned, I retired from employment with Grace Community International, and that was actually six years ago. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long, but time flies when you’re having fun or something and I have been having some fun. I continued to focus on a lot of the things I did vocationally and that includes the classes that I teach at the seminary, as you mentioned.

I also do some coaching of ministers and that’s really my focus in those things professionally, but also individually and personally, is to lean into and to live out of the life that we have in Christ. And that’s the truth of the gospel. It’s the truth of Jesus. It’s what continues to amaze and comfort and motivate me.

And to see Christ involved in the midst of all that, that spirit-led journey that we’re having with him is truly remarkable. Is it always easy? No, it’s not. We’ve been through some challenges in my family with health issues and a variety of things, but through it all I have found Jesus to be faithful. And my desire is to testify to that and to be thankful for that. And I am.

But real life happens, and sometimes real life is all too real. But the good news is that Jesus is always there. He’s the faithful, ascended, compassionate God-man who always is with us and for us. And by the way, we see that very clearly in the passages that we’re going talk about today.

[00:03:25] Anthony: Yeah. Hallelujah. Praise God that he is faithful. And as you stated so clearly, we want to bear witness to that, to testify to the truth of the goodness of God revealed in Jesus Christ. And Ted, as you were saying, we’re you don’t retire from the journey with Jesus. And we’ve got you on a journey during this podcast. We have five passages we’re going to go through, so we’re going to make you work, man.

Ted: Okay.

Anthony: You may be retired, but you’re going work today, and so let’s get to it.

Our first passage of the month is Colossians 3:1–11. I’ll be reading from the New Revised Standard Version, the updated edition. It is a Revised Common Lect