S4E3: Overcoming Passions by Focusing on Christ – Wisdom from Saint Paisios

Scriptural Thesis: The Book of James

James wrote this letter probably in the mid-40s AD, before the Jerusalem Council in Acts chapter 15. The church was facing severe trials—persecution from outside and moral compromise from inside. Jewish Christians were scattered by persecution, living as minorities in a hostile Greco-Roman world. Sound familiar? We live in similar times—cultural pressure, moral confusion, and the temptation to blend in rather than stand out. James wrote to remind them (and us) that real faith endures, acts, and submits to God.

S4E2: His Will Be Done – Not Ours. Suffering and Salvation

We live in a world that constantly pushes the opposite message: “Your will be done.” Build your own identity. Chase your truth. Define yourself by your desires, your politics, your subculture—left, right, conservative, liberal, or anything else the culture offers. Society tells us life is about self-expression, personal fulfillment, and fitting into this world on our own terms. But Scripture paints a very different picture. Jesus taught us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That’s the heart of the Christian life—surrendering our plans to God’s perfect ones.

Icon Corner: Saint Gerasimos of Kefalonia – The Ascetic Wonderworker and Patron of the Island of Miracles

Today we turn to one of the most beloved modern saints of the Greek Orthodox Church: Saint Gerasimos of Kefalonia (also spelled Gerasimus). A 16th-century monk, ascetic, and wonderworker, he is the patron saint of the Ionian island of Kefalonia, where his incorrupt relics still perform miracles to this day.

S4E3: Overcoming Passions by Focusing on Christ – Wisdom from Saint Paisios

Today we’re going to talk about the inner battle with our passions—the deep-seated habits and inclinations that pull us away from God—and how Saint Paisios of Mount Athos taught a surprisingly simple yet powerful way to overcome them: stop staring at the sins themselves and fix your gaze fully on Christ instead.

S4E2: Historical Deep Dive: The Prophet Jeremiah

It was the late seventh century before Christ, and the kingdom of Judah was in a season of both reform and gathering storm clouds. The mighty Assyrian Empire, which had crushed the northern kingdom of Israel over a century earlier, was itself weakening and collapsing. Into that power vacuum stepped new players: the rising Babylonians under Nabopolassar and his son Nebuchadnezzar, the Egyptians under Pharaoh Neco, and the fading remnants of Assyrian influence. Judah, that small strip of land between these giants, found itself caught in the middle—politically vulnerable, spiritually adrift.