Things Above

Latest Episodes:

Conversation with Shane Blackshear Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

James Bryan Smith has a Things Above Conversation with his friend and fellow podcast host, Shane Blackshear. Shane is a Jesus follower, blogger, speaker & host of the podcast Seminary Dropout. The Seminary Dropout podcast features interviews with Christian authors, leaders, and thinkers where they discuss a multitude of topics around Christianity and current events. […]

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How to See Sin Mar 11, 2020

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The thought from above in this episode is: “We know our sin in relation to Him.” Sin is a very difficult topic to talk about. One of the most important things we can do is to think about how we understand it. We tend to be subjective to our own sin but objective towards the […]

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Remember You Are Dust Mar 04, 2020

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“What repeatedly enters your mind and occupies your mind, eventually shapes your mind, and will ultimately express itself in what you do and who you become” – John Ortberg The Thought From Above in this episode is: “Remember you are dust.” As we continue in the season of Lent we need to be reminded of […]

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Conversation with Richella Parham Feb 19, 2020

Show notes

In this episode, James Bryan Smith has a Things Above Conversation with longtime friend and author Richella Parham. She is the author of Mythical Me: Finding Freedom from Constant Comparison, published by InterVarsity Press (October 2019) and of the Renovaré resource A Spiritual Formation Primer. Her online home is Imparting Grace; her physical home is […]

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Commanded to Thrive Feb 12, 2020

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James Bryan Smith begins this episode by sharing a story from Deuteronomy 30:15-19. In this passage, Moses offers some powerful words at the end of his farewell address. Moses essentially says: I have told you about God’s commands and, at the center of them all, is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind […]

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Brighter Than the Sun Feb 05, 2020

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In this episode of the Things Above podcast, James Bryan Smith gives this thought from above: "God is happy about you." When Jim's son Jacob was around 7 years old he asked him a question that brought tears to Jim's eyes. Jacob walked up to his dad and asked, "Are you happy about me?" While Jacob's grammar was incorrect his desire was not. He wanted to know, like many of us do, if the person he loved also loved him back. Of course most of us want everyone to think well of us. And it hurts when we discover someone dislikes us, or is upset with us. But at our deepest core we long to know if the significant people in our lives are truly "happy about us." Smith speculates that most of us live with some amount of deficit when it comes to truly feeling loved—loved without condition—by the significant people in our lives. That is why, for Smith, the real healing comes not from chasing the love and acceptance, but rather that healing comes when we encounter the Trinity—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. James quotes the late great theologian Ray Anderson to help explain the connection between the Trinity and this idea of being happy about our existence. Anderson writes "ministry precedes theology." Ministry refers to the action of God on our behalf. And the action of God—God’s ministry toward us—determines our theology—what we think about God. So theology is not merely dry speculation about God, for that we need to look at God’s ministry, namely, what God has done. Now we turn to the Christian story. God became human. The word of God took on flesh and dwelled among us. The Son of God, by the power of the Spirit, healed and forgave and showed love to the least, the lost and the unlovely. The second member of the Trinity—Jesus—willingly died in order to cancel our debt of sin, to reconcile us to God. That is God’s ministry—or rather, the Trinity’s ministry—on our behalf. What does that ministry teach us theologically? Smith would say that these actions loudly state that the Trinity is happy about us! Smith closes with one of his favorite quotes of all time from John of Kronstadt. “When you are dejected, remember this: that God the Trinity looks upon you with eyes brighter than the sun.”

Conversation with Derwin Gray Jan 22, 2020

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James Bryan Smith has a conversation with Derwin L. Gray about our identity in Christ and how we can learn to love and see ourselves the same way God does. Labels you have internalized and apply to yourself every day. Labels like Afraid. Or Addict. Orphan. Damaged Goods. Failure. Maybe even Religious. These labels might be sewn into your life with such tight little stitches that they feel like a part of you. They feel like they define you. But that’s a lie. If you let Him, Jesus can remove those old labels and tattoo new ones onto your soul. Then you’ll begin to see yourself as God the Father sees you. The limits will be lifted, and your life will be transformed. Dr. Derwin L. Gray is the founding and lead pastor of Transformation Church. TC is a multiethnic, multigenerational, mission-shaped community that loves God completely (Upward), ourselves correctly (Inward), and our neighbors compassionately (Outward) located in Indian Land, South Carolina, just south of Charlotte, North Carolina. After graduating from BYU, Pastor Derwin played professional football in the NFL—five years with the Indianapolis Colts (1993–1997) and one year with the Carolina Panthers (1998). During that time, he and his wife Vicki began their journey with Christ and experienced God’s faithfulness and direction as He moved their hearts to know Him and to make Him known. In addition to his role at Transformation Church, Pastor Derwin speaks at conferences nationwide and is the author of several books. Hero: Unleashing God’s Power in a Man’s Heart (2010) Limitless Life: You Are More Than Your Past When God Holds Your Future (2013) Crazy Grace for Crazy Times Bible Study (2015) The High-Definition Leader (2015)

Grace of God Jan 15, 2020

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The thought from above in this episode is: “You don’t have to make it happen.” In the summer of his junior year, James attended an elite basketball camp where he learned a very valuable lesson about the grace of God. At the end of the camp was an all-star game that you had to be selected by the staff to play in. James goal at camp was to make the all-star team and be the M.V.P. in the all-star game. Before the game, the coach gave a speech titled “If it is to be, it’s up to me.” The whole point of the talk was this: you, and only you, are the one who makes it happen. You are the one who determines your future, your destiny. In the world of self-help slogans, it is a pretty good one. It is the kind of slogan, or mantra, one can say each morning, and perhaps several times a day, to motivate yourself. It is appealing because there is a part of us that really likes control, that likes to be at the center. Telling ourselves that we are the ones who makes it all happen is not only motivational, but actually a little narcissistic. Smith will agree that there is truth in the slogan, but it does fail when it comes to living the life “from above” as he likes to say. Think about some of the most important things about our lives. How about our redemption, our forgiveness, and our new birth in Christ? We had nothing to do with those incredible aspects of our lives. Those are all acts of grace. Grace means gift, from the greek word, charis. God in Christ redeemed us, forgave us, reconciled us, and gave us new life, life from above. All we did was to accept these gifts, which is no merit on our part. We even needed god’s grace to accept those gifts. James closes the episode with a story about Dallas Willard and ends with a verse from 1st Corinthians. “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. no, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Cor. 15:10)

Roots in the Future Jan 08, 2020

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What will the future be like? Will it be good? What will happen to us at the end of lives? These are questions we all want an answer to. Deep down we desire a future for ourselves and others that is good. But how do we know that in the end it will be good? In this episode James Bryan Smith explores these questions and how we can find answers to them. Smith begins with a passage from Isaiah 65:17-25. In the passage we learn that a day will come when God will create a new heaven and a new earth. It gives us a glimpse into a world where all is well and all manner of things shall be well. A place where we will rejoice and be full of joy, a place that is without tragedy. This passage is so beloved because it describes a kind of world we all long for. This may be hard for many of us to accept, as the world we live in appears to be broken and, in many ways, is the complete opposite of the world described in the passage from Isaiah. However, Smith says that much of the despair and distress we feel comes from a failure to realize that the kind of life described in Isaiah truly lies before us. He uses two more examples from the Bible to help us understand this, Matthew (17:1-8) and Philippians (3:20). Both of these passages give us evidence that God is good, beautiful, and true. Smith goes on to explain that since God is the ultimate sustainer of the universe, then the future of the universe must also be good, beautiful and true. James concludes by reminding us, “Jesus is altogether good. Can there be any other ultimate end than this same goodness? And if it is so, if all is well that ends well, how shall we then live? We live with hope. Hope, as Smith has defined it, is certainty in a good future. Not wishful thinking. Hope is certainty. I know that Jesus is real. He is with me every day and I know him to be all powerful and all good. So I know—notice the word ‘know’—that it ends well.” This point underscores a powerful quote by John D. Zizioulas, who said, “Christians have their roots in the future, and their branches in the present.”

Conversation with Casey Tygrett Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

In this "Things Above Conversation" James Bryan Smith chats with Casey Tygrett. Casey is the host of the “otherWISE” podcast, a place for gathering wise conversations about living well on the journey with Jesus. He holds both a Master of Divinity degree and a Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation degree from Lincoln Christian Seminary. He is the author of two books, Becoming Curious: A Spiritual Practice of Asking Questions (2017) and As I Recall: Discovering the Place of Memories in the Spiritual Life (2019), both with InterVarsity Press. Casey has served both in rural churches of 25 and suburban megachurches of 10,000. He and his wife Holley and their daughter Bailey currently live in Chicago, IL where he is the Theologian in Residence at Parkview Christian Church. In this episode James talks with Casey about his latest book, As I Recall: Discovering the Place of Memories in the Spiritual Life, as well as how our memories (long term and short) impact our relationship with God. What if our memories are like shells we gather on a beach? According to pastor and spiritual director Casey Tygrett, "We—and all those who have come before us—pick up the experience and we sense it: we feel its edges, notice its color, we smell the distinctive character (for shells it is the sickly seafood salt smell) of the experience and we try to make sense of what it is. Is it beautiful? How would you describe the color—the tones, the shades, wrapped around the ridges and swirls? Has it been damaged? Does the hard edge scrape our hand, leaving a blemish or a mark?” How we hold and carry these memories—good and bad—is a part of what forms us spiritually. In this way we have a common bond with the people of Scripture who also had a sensory life, gathering shells and trying to make sense of them.

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