This podcast is meant to encourage, inspire, and equip you in your Christian walk. Topics are varied (marriage/family, Bible studies, examining faith-based culture including music/books/entertainment, and looking at current news and headlines in the light of the Gospel). Additional content (monthly blogs and devotional sign-up) can be found at https://derekcharlesjohnson.com/blog and https://derekcharlesjohnson.com/as-bold-as-lions.
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Hosted by Jeffrey Howard, editor-in-chief of Erraticus, Damn the Absolute! is a show about our relationship to ideas. Doing our damnedest not to block the path of inquiry. Produced by Erraticus. www.erraticus.co damntheabsolute.substack.com
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The 2024 Presidential Election (Stuff That’s Been On My Mind)
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Send us a Text Message. Finishing up this last group of 3 episodes in this series (Stuff That's Been On My Mind), we're diving into the election. Yes it is on everyone's mind. No I don't intend to tell you who to vote for. But as a Christian, I believe we CANNOT afford to sit this one out. 2024 will have lasting implications for our country. We mus…
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Is Revival Possible In Our Lifetime? (Stuff That’s Been On My Mind)
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Send us a Text Message. Is revival possible in our lifetime? For Christians, especially believers in the United States, we have longed for and prayed for revival for many years. And in some places we are seeing pockets of revival and moves of God that are stirring many to follow Him. But could a widespread, wide-scale awakening happen in our day? T…
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The Persecuted Church (Stuff That’s Been On My Mind)
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Send us a Text Message. Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Timothy 3:12 Rebooting a series that was started in May, we look again at another topic that has been on Derek's mind lately. The discussion of persecution -- especially in the Western Church -- has been a growing concern. Whether or not we con…
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Good Things Are Ahead - If You Know Jesus!
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Send us a Text Message. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 With all the doom and gloom in this world, it can be hard sometimes as Christians to see what good there is. We can long for eternity and even "check out" of the things going on here on Earth, hoping for Christ's soon return. However…
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Send us a Text Message. He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know h…
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What Is The Jezebel Spirit? (Stuff That’s Been On My Mind)
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Send us a Text Message. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. Revelation 2:20 In this last installment of the "Stuff That's Been On My Mind" series, we take a look at the Jezebel spi…
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Artificial Intelligence and Christianity (Stuff That’s Been On My Mind)
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Send us a Text Message. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Ecclesiastes 1:9 A year spent in Artificial Intelligence is enough to make one believe in God. Alan Jay Perlis. On this next installment of "Stuff That's Been On My Mind," we look at A.I. (Artificial Intelligen…
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Christian Celebrity Culture (Stuff That’s Been On My Mind)
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Send us a Text Message. DC Talk's song "What If I Stumble?" from their 1995 Jesus Freak album, feature the opening lyrics Is this one for the people? Is this one for the Lord? Or do I simply serenade for things I must afford? What has always been a temptation with the platform and with the stage is to make the person(s) bigger than the message. Tod…
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Send us a Text Message. Thus says the LORD to you “Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s”. 2 Chronicles 20:15 When the people of Judah face a fierce opponent in 2 Chronicles 20, there is a right response made by King Jehoshaphat. Even as he is afraid of the enemies of Moab and Ammon, the …
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Send us a Text Message. In the Book of Judges, a sad thing happens to the people of Israel; God's chosen people for His promise: they fall into sin and disobedience. After the years of being delivered, crossing the Red Sea, and even settling into the Promised Land, the people have done the very thing God warned them not to do. They fell for the god…
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Send us a Text Message. As we follow Christ, there is a tendency that can always creep in to lull our hearts away from Him. This temptation can take various forms. Sometimes we can ask "If I am doing all of this for the Lord, where is the payoff for me personally?" This can be very subtle and an idea that grows over time. We see that in other aspec…
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Send us a Text Message. And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days.” Joshua 6:2,3 The battle of Jericho was a unique battle in the timeline of Israel's history as a nation…
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Send us a Text Message. Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.” Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” After he had said this, he went back outsid…
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Send us a Text Message. On March 11, 2014 my (Derek's) debut album Carry On was released. It is amazing to think it has now been 10 years since that release date. A lot of life has happened in that space of time. This podcast episode is a slight detour from our normal content, but it's purpose is to celebrate and give God glory through what He has …
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Send us a Text Message. The second in this 2 part series on The Hiding Place, this episode finishes out the story and pulls some more themes together. Through the extraordinary faith of Corrie and her sister Betsie, they are able to see the love and grace of God despite the dark circumstances they encounter. Both go through months of imprisonment b…
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Send us a Text Message. In this first part of a 2-part series, Derek takes a look at favorite book: The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. The Hiding Place is a story of extraordinary faith and trust in God's plan during one of the darkest periods in history: World War II. The story of Corrie and the ten Boom family is remarkable. Through their effor…
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Send us a Text Message. This week's episode takes a look at the concept of a hardened heart. We see this throughout Scripture and really it's a posture we can knowingly or unknowingly fall into if we aren't in right relationship with the Lord. Certainly we see the hardening of Pharaoh's heart in resisting God's call to free His people. We also see …
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Anger For God’s Compassion - Jonah 4 (THE BOOK OF JONAH)
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Send us a Text Message. Coming to the end of Jonah, we look for a tidy wrap-up and conclusion to a short book that has many twists and turns. But perhaps the question we want answered most, "What happens to Jonah?" is left unresolved. We see through this chapter that Jonah still has a deep sense of pride and contempt in regards to the Ninevites. We…
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Calling Out Wicked Nineveh - Jonah 3 (THE BOOK OF JONAH)
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Send us a Text Message. By Jonah 3, we see the prophet hearing the call of God, reinstated, and ready to go to Nineveh. We know Jonah went into the city and preached repentance. We know also that everyone in the city, from the king down to the citizenry, repented and fasted. By the end of the chapter, we see that God relents from His decision to de…
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A Prayer In A Most Unlikely Place - Jonah 2 (THE BOOK OF JONAH)
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Send us a Text Message. In this second installment of Jonah, we see Jonah praying a prayer in an unlikely place: within the belly of a fish. We know from the first chapter, Jonah's disobedience landed him here. But even as this place has brought him to his knees, Jonah's plea is not rejected before God. Through the 10 verses of Jonah 2, there is a …
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Man On The Run - Jonah 1 (THE BOOK OF JONAH)
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Send us a Text Message. This is the first episode of a 4-part series on Jonah. This series looks at the life and ministry of Jonah in regards to his reluctant obedience as a prophet of God. In this first episode (corresponding with Jonah Chapter 1), we see Jonah's flee from God's call. We see his disobedience causing consequences for Jonah and even…
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Send us a Text Message. For this year, spending some time in meditation in December led me to a word I don’t often think about or even use on a regular basis. But it’s a word that has profound meaning. It is the word attune. I believe God is calling me/calling us to be attuned to Him in 2024. I had to do some digging to figure out what attune/attun…
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Send us a Text Message. As we wrap up 2023, we take a moment to pause and reflect upon this year and the meaning of Christmas. We consider it all afresh again and what it means personally for our lives. We also take that posture into the new year; knowing that 2024 will bring its own challenges and difficulties. How will we pull away and continue s…
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Send us a Text Message. This week is a bit movie review and a bit Bible study. With the famous Christmas movie, It's A Wonderful Life as our backdrop (the BEST Christmas movie BTW), we look at the spiritual applications of our own lives (the presence or absence thereof). George Bailey got a rare chance: to see what it would be like if he had never …
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Send us a Text Message. OK, it probably needs to be said if you haven’t picked up on it by now: I love Christmas music. I start to listen and even share Christmas-music-related things in November...could even start as early as October. Yeah, I'm that guy and you can call me crazy. For me, this year was the opportunity to finally get some of these s…
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Send us a Text Message. Is it possible to see the miracles, signs, wonders, and conversions seen in the early Acts church today? Today's podcast seeks to find the key that unlocks these things; assuming they are real and still for today. When we walk in the Spirit, we live with the ability to listen to the Lord's voice and obey. As we do, we must k…
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Send us a Text Message. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16 Last year in November, Derek did a series of episodes titled "Things I'm Thankful For..." Today's episode is an extension of th…
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Send us a Text Message. Apathy is a word meaning "lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern." Spiritually-speaking, it is a dangerous road to go down. There may be seasons in which we feel a pull towards apathy in our lives. Left unchecked, we can succumb to a number of things. But if we recognize those seasons, what are some ways we can be spurred …
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Send us a Text Message. He [Jesus] entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for…
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Finishing The Race Well: To The Retired & Elderly Man (RAISING THE STANDARD)
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Send us a Text Message. "Each of us is given the exact same amount of seconds, minutes and hours per day as anyone else. The difference is how we redeem [them]. … You cannot count your days, but you can make your days count.” Billy Graham As we finish this "Raising The Standard" series, we are stopping at an important category...and one that the gr…
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Putting Christ On Display: To The Career & Family Man (RAISING THE STANDARD)
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Send us a Text Message. Moving along through the path of a man's life, we next stop at the years of "career and family man." The point at which this phase starts may change from man to man. But the years are marked by marriage, raising a family, holding down a job, buying a home, and many other important milestones. This is most likely the majority…
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Choosing The Right Path: To The Young & Single Man (RAISING THE STANDARD)
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Send us a Text Message. “Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.” John F. Kennedy As we work our way through this series, we are first stopping at the age of men youngest and most impressionable: those young adult (high school/college) and single men. Yes this is a large age group to cover. Yes a lot happens in these years. But there a…
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Becoming Men After God's Own Heart: Introduction (RAISING THE STANDARD)
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Send us a Text Message. He raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, “I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.” Acts 13:22 We are spending the next several weeks on the podcast talking to a specific audience: Christian men. If there is a demographic within the church that I have fe…
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Send us a Text Message. blind spot: an area where a person's view is obstructed. I believe; help my unbelief! Mark 9:24 Today's episode is a look at blind spots...areas in our faith that keep us from deeper levels of trust and devotion to Christ. Identifying these areas is a process we continually take before the Lord, asking Him to examine our hea…
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Send us a Text Message. Rounding out this series on Sharing Your Faith, this episode looks more specifically at those who we should be sharing Christ to. If we have a sphere of influence (immediate or expanded), we ask ourselves "Do they know Jesus?" Sometimes that answer presents itself! But we pray through that and if there is an open door, we ta…
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Send us a Text Message. This next episode in Sharing Your Faith dives into our own story of faith in Christ. Namely, who were you before and after meeting Jesus and what happened at the moment you encountered Him? This is important to know and be able to relay to others. Your story is uniquely yours. No one can take it from you and no one can argue…
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Send us a Text Message. John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Beginning a new series on sharing our faith, today's episode takes a look at Jesus and outlines some of the basic, core truths that we hold about Him. These truths are something we must cling to as we think…
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More Than A Song - Christ Be Magnified by Cody Carnes
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Send us a Text Message. O Christ be magnified Let His praise arise Christ be magnified in me O Christ be magnified From the altar of my life Christ be magnified in me When thinking about this week's podcast, I started to think about a song that’s been on my mind — a lot. In the year or so past since our church introduced it, the song has just grown…
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S2E05 Americans Don’t Know How to Sing the Blues w/ Brad Elliott Stone & Jacob Goodson
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School boards and state governments have been locked in intense debates over what counts as history and whose history ought to be taught. Many of these wrestles orbit around events and cultural beliefs that the pragmatist philosopher Cornel West might refer to as “catastrophes.” Some voices are eager to bury, ignore, or sterilize many of the truly …
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Send us a Text Message. We are looking at the life of Paul today and his example as a believer who did not "play it safe" with his faith. In Paul, we observe a faith that was not comfortable, convenient, or cliched. It was all-in and with abandon to anything else that this life could offer. This type of faith often clashes with our "Americanized Ch…
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Send us a Text Message. There has been a lot that has happened within the greater culture which has had ripple effects on the church since COVID. Today's episode looks at the sobering reality: church attendance is down, giving is down, and ministry in general has taken a hit...much of it still a fallout from all we experienced within 2020 and beyon…
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Send us a Text Message. The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him. Nahum 1:7 Being we're about 1/2 way through 2023, it seems appropriate for me to do a bit of a "spiritual gut check" in terms of where things are headed with AS BOLD AS LIONS and life in general. It's an opportunity for me to hit the…
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Long Live The King! - Psalm 72 (Summer of Psalms)
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Send us a Text Message. May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! Psalm 72:17 Rounding out this 3-part "Summer Of Psalms" series, this episode takes us to Psalm 72. It is a prayer and proclamation for the coming king. In many ways it applies to King Solomon who would take the throne after the reign of his father, King David…
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We Recognize, We Remember, We Reach Out - Psalm 66 (Summer of Psalms)
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Send us a Text Message. Shout for joy to God, all the earth; sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise! Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies come cringing to You. Psalm 66:1-3 In Psalm 66, there are several themes we can isolate and pull out and apply to our daily lives in Christ. Two of th…
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Praising The God Who Provides - Psalm 65 (Summer of Psalms)
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Send us a Text Message. Kicking off a short 3-part series, Derek returns to the Psalms for another "Summer of Psalms" edition of the podcast (always a favorite!). In this episode we look at Psalm 65. In it, we see David outlining the various provisions of God. It begins simply by stating God hears and answers prayer. From there, He is is a God Who …
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Send us a Text Message. I sought the Lord, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4 How does a believer in Christ stay focused on the Savior in the times that we are living in today? It can be easy to lose heart, to just give up and throw in the towel. But as Christians, we are called to persevere. We aren't promised an eas…
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Send us a Text Message. As we think about physical fitness, we think of things like exercise, weight lifting, eating right, and so on. As we actually commit to those things, we see a change in our lives. Physical appearance is primarily affected (weight loss) but also our mental and emotional states (a positive image of ourselves, more energy, and …
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Thoughts From A Recovering Worship-Binger
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Send us a Text Message. And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22 Today's episode is a bit autobiographical but it is shared in the hopes that this is a common feeling many of us …
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The Trans Movement & The Church: Hearing God’s Heart
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Send us a Text Message. Today's podcast is a bit of a variation from some of the usual content on As Bold As Lions. That being said, the issue of transgenderism/gender dysphoria weighs heavily in our nation and world. The church is at a crossroads in terms of where it goes with ministering to and sowing into the lives of hurting and broken people c…
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