The Reward Is Jesus: From Hiddenness to Intimacy with God (Mailbag Episode)

Voxology

Religion & Spirituality, Philosophy, Society & Culture

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 31 July 2017

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

How the pursuit of Jesus—not just what He offers—leads to deeper spiritual transformation, intimacy, and joy. In this insightful mailbag episode, Mike Erre and Andy reflect on listener questions ranging from the hiddenness of God, the relational significance of the Genesis narrative, and how to plant church communities centered on Jesus. Plus, a deep dive into Paul's gospel and its relationship to Jesus’s proclamation of the kingdom.

Key Takeaways:
• The Reward of Jesus Is Jesus – Why seeking God as the goal—not a means to self-fulfillment—is essential to authentic spiritual growth.
• Understanding God’s Hiddenness – How seasons of spiritual silence help us move from using God towards being with God.
• Genesis as Foundational Theology – Exploring how the fall, hierarchy, and power dynamics in Genesis 1–3 reflect deep truths about human experience.
• Kingdom over Consumerism – The danger of treating Christianity like a spiritual vending machine and how joy comes from the treasure of Jesus Himself.
• Church Planting the Vox Way – Practical advice for building Jesus-centered church communities rooted in the Eucharist, table fellowship, and radical inclusivity.
• What Is the Gospel? – Clarifying the "Paul vs. Jesus" question and why Jesus's announcement of the kingdom frames the rest of the New Testament.

Resources Mentioned:
• "Center Church" by Tim Keller – Explores gospel “grammars” and their cultural application
• John 17:3 – Defining eternal life as knowing Jesus and the Father
• Genesis 1–3 – Foundational narrative for understanding creation, fall, and power dynamics
• The Vox Mailbag Series – Ongoing conversations shaped by listener questions

Call to Action:
Subscribe, leave a review, and follow Voxology Podcast on your favorite platform. Send in your questions to [email protected] for future mailbags, and join the community exploring a more Jesus-centered faith.

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV
Our Merch Store! ETSY
Learn more about the Voxology Podcast: voxologypodcast.com
Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio
Follow us on Instagram: @voxologypodcast
"Like" us on Facebook
Follow Mike on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeerre
Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to [email protected], and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.

We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.

Our Merch Store! ETSY

Learn more about the Voxology Podcast

Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify

Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon

The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre

Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford

Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, worldwide interwebs.
0:14.0	Mike and Andy here from the Vox World headquarters.
0:17.4	And who knows where it is?
0:18.7	It could be in transit.
0:19.8	It could be in Columbus, Ohio. It could be
0:22.3	still in Brea, California. You'll never know. But we're so glad you're with us. And today we
0:28.9	wanted to do another mailbag episode. And the reason, we got great feedback on the last one.
0:34.9	And we thought, okay, well, all right yeah we get so many questions and
0:38.0	i hate typing long emails i'd rather i'd rather just talk through stuff oh yeah so um so we've got
0:44.6	some uh we've got some questions and um andy we've got live shows are going to be funny now right
0:51.0	right how do we do vox lie i'll have to fly you out to do Vox Live shows.
0:55.8	Yeah.
0:56.1	You know?
0:56.6	Yeah.
0:57.4	I'm looking forward to that.
0:58.5	That'll be fun.
0:59.3	That'll be,
0:59.7	that'll be like,
1:00.5	I mean,
1:00.8	it'll be like I'm making a trip.
1:02.3	Hey,
1:02.4	I'm on tour, guys.
	...

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