Today's conversation is the second half of our last episode on Solomon—the wisest man to ever live (until Jesus, of course), the son of David and the one who finally built the temple. We’ll look in awe at how the presence of God showed up at the dedication of the temple, and we’ll marvel at the reality that we now get to experience that same presence living within us—and that our truest identity is found in that presence. So, pull up a chair at our table, and let’s dive into the convers...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to pick up where we left off last year in our Thru the Bible series with the 3rd king of Israel—the wisest man to ever live (until Jesus, of course), the son of David and the one who finally built the temple—Solomon. We’ll see how the feeling of inadequacy at the onset of a new calling tends to result in a beautiful humility and holy understanding of our need for God—and that when we need wisdom, all we have to do is ask for it. We’ll see the gracious, lov...

Last episode, we reintroduced ourselves personally and as an organization. In today’s conversation, we’re sharing more about the origins of this podcast and another ministry under the APM umbrella: the Hezekiah Project, which is a Leadership and Discipleship Academy for students. The way God has brought about both of these ministries is pretty incredible, and we hope you feel inspired to walk out whatever He's placed in your heart after listening! For more info about APM and The Hezekia...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to do something a little bit different. We’ll get back to our Thru the Bible series in a few episodes, but today we’re going tell our story. We are so excited because our whole exec team is here today, which is very rare because we all live in different places, and we felt the Lord leading us to share how he wove our stories together, how he has led us to do the things he’s calling us to do, and what we feel him speaking for this year. Our prayer is that t...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to wrap up the story of David, but we’ll go backwards before we move forward in order to understand the desire David had to build the temple—a desire which he did not get to fulfill, or see fulfilled in his lifetime. However, we’ll see that although David did not get to accomplish this desire himself, he did have a role to play in its accomplishment. David was called to make the preparations for the next generation to build the temple, and we’ll talk about...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to take a bit of a sharp turn, as we fast-forward to a rather unexpected story in the life of David—the story of David and Bathsheba. We’ll face the reality that if we’re not careful, comfortability can breed complacency—and unchecked complacency can be a dangerous enemy. We’ll discuss why it is sometimes much easier for us to spot the sin in others than to see the plank of sin stuck in our own eye; and we’ll wonder, once again, at the faithfulness of God ...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to watch David wait patiently for God to be the one to elevate him, and we’ll be inspired by David’s determination not to take the throne by his own means, but to wait on God to move him into position His way and in His timing. We’ll analyze how the end of David’s season of waiting likely included both joy and pain, and we'll be moved to gratitude as we ponder the truth that within our own seasons of waiting, there are always cherishable moments which spri...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to follow David into his time of hiding and see how he maintained his purity of heart—and strength of mind—during this time in his life. We’re going to take a deep dive into the heart of David, as we compare his story to his psalms. God Himself called David “a man after my own heart,” and we are able to get a unique perspective into the heart of David because he authored so many of the psalms. We’ll discover the intrinsic connection between our heart and o...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to follow David through the events which took him from the battlefield and the palace to the wilderness and the cave—from being the man favored by King Saul to being the man hunted by King Saul. We’ll discuss the extraordinary blessing of divine friendship as we watch God weave David and Jonathan’s hearts together, and we’ll marvel at the biblical characteristics this friendship displays. We’ll see the accelerated downward spiral of King Saul as his jealou...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to pick up where we left off in our last episode in the middle of the famous story of David and Goliath. Last time we recognized the divine timing of our sovereign God, and we talked about the multiple points of opposition David faced in this story before he even reached the giant. Today we’ll discover the importance of seeing our lives through spiritual lenses if we do want to face our giants; and, just as in our last episode, we’ll find peace in the fact...

In today’s conversation, we’re going to bring a grown-up perspective to one of the most well-known stories of the entire Bible—David and Goliath. We’ll marvel, once again, at how it’s the hand of God that gets us to our destiny, and we’ll begin to understand that there are no coincidences in God’s story, but rather the unfolding of His divinely timed plans. We’ll discover that Goliath was not the only opposition David faced on this battlefield, and we’ll realize the ways in which the enemy of...

In today’s conversation, we’ll be arriving at the backstory of the second king of Israel, David—one of the greatest heroes of the Old Testament, the man who God Himself referred to as “a man after my own heart,” the man whose lineage eventually birthed the Son of God. We’ll wonder at the watchful eye of our attentive, sovereign God who sees all people, knows all people, and chooses who He uses according to the heart rather than ability, appearance, or position. We’ll observe how God prepares ...

In today’s conversation, we’ll set out on the roller coaster ride that is the life of King Saul, and we’ll wonder at yet another story of what could have been. We’ll see the growing pride in Saul’s heart emerge through his actions—and eventually lead to his rejection as king. We’ll watch as the tendency of unrepentance leads to excuses and blame—and even trying to cover up sin with spiritual-sounding language—and we’ll feel the grief over a soul that fails to open his spiritual eyes when so m...

In today’s conversation, we’ll see the nation of Israel—the nation over whom God has ruled as a faithful King for centuries—reject God and demand an earthly king, all out of a desire to be like everyone else. We’ll watch the sovereignty of God play out once again, as God orchestrates events, connects people, and gives the nation what they want. We’ll marvel at the potential which awaited King Saul—as God transformed him into the anointed leader of his people—and we’ll ponder the truth that it...

In today’s conversation, we’ll be making our way out of the Judges Era of the Bible and into the Kingdom Era with the birth story of a great man of God, Samuel, and his amazing mother, Hannah. We’ll see how the choices we make when we face adversity make or break our character, and we’ll see how a determination toward righteousness is always worth it. We’ll discover a new title for God, depicting the complete sovereignty of our all-knowing, all-seeing God, and we’ll discuss the mystery of his...

In today’s conversation, we’ll close the pages of a difficult chapter in Israel’s history with a deep dive into the refreshing oasis of the book of Ruth—a story which serves as a beautiful bridge between the era of the judges and the era of the kings. We’ll walk with Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi, through her journey from bitter wanderings to homecoming to joyful redemption. We’ll watch the bold and loyal Ruth break cultural norms to take her place in the kingdom of God, and we’ll see the aweso...

In today’s conversation we’re going to conclude our short walk through the book of Judges with the outlandish story of the final and probably most well-known judge—Samson. For the sake of our conversation, we’re going to break Samson’s story into three parts—his call, his character, and his consequences. We’ll see his life play out as a sort of symbolic embodiment of the cycle the Israelites keep perpetuating—a cycle which goes from strength to disobedience to failure to disaster—and we’ll di...

In today’s conversation we’ll journey further into the Judges era of the Bible, as the people of Israel begin the cycle which they perpetuate throughout the entirety of the Old Testament—disobedience & idolatry, punishment & oppression, crying out to God, and God’s merciful deliverance. We’ll come alongside one of the widely-known judges God called to deliver his people—Gideon—and we’ll continue to discover God’s tendency to use small things and small people in big ways. We’ll observe...