Sifted Wheat

Love the Church

Do you love the church?
Even if (especially if)  that question makes you uncomfortable or even offends you, I encourage you to listen in! If we are going to make a difference in the world around us for the GOOD, then we must see the church for who she is (the good and the bad), who she is intended to be, and who she can become. Unsure of what I am talking about or curious to how you can learn to love and be loved in a flawed community of believers (and unbelievers as the case may be)? Then, keep engaging this conversation!
As usual, I highlight the issues AND give practical support for how to love the church well. I even share my own challenge to shift that has helped my difficulties with the church and healthier personal church expression.
 
Scriptural references to continue your study:
Matthew 13:24-43
Matthew 25:31-46
Mark 6:10-11
John 13:35
John 15:4-11
John 17:13
Colossians 3:16
Ephesians 4:14-16
Hebrews 10:24-25
 
Feel free to contact us at siftedwheatpodcast@gmail.com or find us on social media! Rate, review and share to help us getting the word out and supporting others to love and heal in Christ!

Love your enemies

Do you love your enemies? If that question makes you uncomfortable or even offends you, I want to challenge you to hit “play” and keep listening! If we are going to make a difference in the world around us for the GOOD, then we have to start seeing our enemies the way that Jesus taught us in Luke 10. He met the question about love and flipped it on it’s head in such a way that even those gathered were astounded and convicted.
 
As usual, this episode is a mix of real life, counseling experience and scriptural guidance to help us learn what it is to love our enemies and to love them safely and well (for more context listen back at the "Out of Order Series". The truth is, we are far too comfortable drawing lines and seeing our differences as problems instead of asking where Jesus might have us change our perspective. Hopefully this conversation will challenge us to ask more and assume less and gives practical ways we can begin to love better. I know that it did me!
 
Scriptural references to continue your study:
Luke 10
Psalm 19:13
Ephesians 6:12
Luke 6:32-35
Luke 23:26-47
 
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"Love your Friend"

We are moving deeper into the relationships of our lives, and how to love one another in order and safely, with a conversation about friends. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.” We hear this a lot, but are we really considering what it means? Or if we are, do we think that somehow our relationships could be the exception?
 
In this episode, we talk about what “tension” might look like in a friendship and how allowing challenge, expressing boundaries and providing accountability is the best way to love one another well. As usual, I share a combination of my understanding of the Word, my experience as a counselor, and my own life story to help flesh out a better path of understanding what it is to “love your friends.”
 
Scriptures for deeper context:
Proverbs 27: 5-6, 17
Genesis 38
1 Samuel 20
 
Thanks and deepest gratitude for:
Tuxradio – audio production
Tina Marie Alvarenga – Logo design
 
You can follow me on Instagram:
@siftedwheatpodcast
Or email me at siftedwheatpodcast@gmail.com

Love your spouse

This is an episode that stepped all over my toes... but don't let that scare you away because even in creating the content, I experienced encouragement and empowerment to make changes in my marriage!
I take the time evaluate why Ephesians 5 feels threatening and the revelation the LORD gave me to help me distinguish His plan for love in my marriage versus what I fear that holds me back.
Not only do we discuss what loving our spouse includes and what we can do to improve our relationship, but I also provided very practical ways to shift our communication so that we are calling up our spouses and not criticizing and condemning them.
As always, I present opportunities to consider your role and engagement and provide guidance to move in a healthier direction, the way to love your spouse well!
Scriptures discussed:
Genesis 2
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Ephesians 5:21-25
Philippians 2:1-4
Luke 6:45
>> Sandpaper Marriage Podcast that talks about your "marriage mission":
⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/greg-mcgaha8/episodes/Episode-21-Does-Your-Marriage-Have-an-Identity-e2hq8v6⁠
Unending thanks and gratitude to:
Tuxradio - audio production
Tina Alverenga - logo design

Love your children

Do you want to understand your children better? Do you want to love them in a way that will make them healthier individuals? Do you desire to have a better impact on your kids? Young or old, in school or in a crib, this conversation opens up some practical ways to love your children well.
Another purpose of this episode is to reach into the hearts of soul wounds inflicted on us as children, and how we can extend healing instead of inflict those same injuries on our own children. This is an important conversation about necessary choices that can help us guide our parenting in a way that models the ways of our heavenly Father (the perfect Parent) parents us, safely and healthily. We explore what it means to "bring our children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" that is often translated out of context.
Scriptures highlighted:
Matthew 18:6
Ephesians 6:4
If you haven't yet, would you leave a rating and a review so that others can make their way to our community? Thank you for listening and joining the journey!
Also, for reels and more content follow us on social media:
⁠https://tr.ee/v5MWP77Qfc⁠
Audio production - Tuxradio
Logo design - Tina Marie Alverenga

Love your parents

Are you struggling with setting boundaries with your parents? Do you need support to assess the relationship and give yourself permission to say "no" or create space? Or on the other side, do you struggle with not involving your parents in your lives, having them take responsibility for your kids or your emotions when that is no longer their role?
If any of those answers is "yes" or "maybe," this is a conversation for you! And as always, its a space where we look at scripture and see how Jesus engaged his mom and brothers and what He says about loving Him first.
Hopefully, this will help you think through some things and make some choices that will help you learn how to love your parents well.
Scriptures included:
Luke 14
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (yep, again!)
Mark 3:31-35
Matthew 12:46-50
Luke 8:19-21
John 2:1-11
Exodus 20:12
Genesis 2:24
If you haven't yet, would you leave a rating and a review so that others can make their way to our community? Thank you for listening and joining the journey!
Also, for reels and more content follow us on social media:
https://tr.ee/v5MWP77Qfc
Audio production - Tuxradio
Logo design - Tina Marie Alverenga

Love others, WELL!

We’ve all heard the statement “The church is a hospital” but if we are honest, we are looking less like a hospital where people can come and find healing and leave better, and have become more like a hospice where we choose to remain comfortable until we die. If those feel like harsh words, maybe it is because they fatefully ring true. This episode is about discovering what it means to love people enough to help them get BETTER! This requires engagement and conversation and intimacy that goes beyond what “feels good” into what is actually “beneficial.”
Scriptures referenced:
Mark 10:17-22
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
1 John 4:8, 18
Matthew 5:43-48
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Out of Order Series: Love others SAFELY

Disordered "love" opens us up to harm.
If we aren't careful we can elevate our love for others, making what God created the SOURCE of our love instead of Him being the source through which we love others. This often happens through the magnification of others meeting our needs, allowing them to be "god-like." This opens us up to get hurt and for us to be victimized in ways that God's love for us seeks to protect us. Or, the other extreme of that is, we become aggressors in our demand towards others to meet and gratify our desires or for our need to be the only one to gratify those things in them. Loving God first allows Him to meet our needs, and from there, He will move us into relationships so that we can love others safely.
Scripture referenced:
1 John 4:18
Resources on attachments:
Attachments - Clinton and Sibcy
God Attachment - Clinton and Straub
Unending thanks and gratitude to:
Tuxradio - audio production
Tina Marie Alverenga - logo creation/design
Follow for more content at:
@siftedwheatpodcast on instagram
Consider leaving a review and/or rating so that we can continue growing the community of Sifted Wheat, and share and invite others to listen along!

Out of Order Series: Love Yourself

We are continuing to open up about the order of “love” with “Love Yourself” in part 2 of the Out of Order Series. Hopefully, you are learning what “love” is so that you can operate in it more fully and more safely. Remember, God wants to guard our hearts to guide our hearts, and He can only do that if we get the order right. So today we are allowing that love for Him to guide us in loving ourselves.
 
“Self love” is a word that gets a lot of attention, and it should, but more often than not, it ends up being more akin to lust – fueled by possession and need rather than protection and companionship. We don’t want to be “lovers of ourselves” which leads us into self-gratification to the exclusion of others, but rather we want God’s love to extend to our worth and lead us to be loving and gracious towards ourselves, keeping us guarded instead of open to deception, and engaging care for self for continued health.
 
If I love myself OVER God, it becomes dangerous to others, setting them up to be hurt, misused, and/or abandoned. When the narrative of my love shifts into only what is “best for me” then I am excluding a huge majority of the population. God’s love, in its purity, includes self but extends to embrace and acknowledge others in a way that promotes value and grace.
 
Love without limits (read that as “boundaries”) isn’t freedom, its chaotic and oppressive. Keep listening to learn why and how.
 
Scriptures to follow up with:
Romans 12:1
2 Timothy 3:1-2 and 3-5
Hebrews 12:16
 
Unending gratitude to:
Tuxradio – audio editing and production
Tina Marie Alverenga – logo and design

Out of Order Series: Love the LORD, your God

We open a new series about the order of love and how we often get it out of order with the first episode and the first order: Love the LORD, your God.
Do you ever wonder what love is? Do you wonder what God's love means and how it sets us up to have healthier relationships? This episode explores why this is the first and foremost commandment and how it is also the foundation for any other love that we receive or extend. It also explores more of what it means to love God with our whole heart, mind and strength and provides some support in how to get back in order.
Scriptures referenced:
Matthew 22:34-40
Mark 12:29-31
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Unending thanks and gratitude to:
Tuxradio - audio production
Tina Marie Alverenga - logo creation and design