“Looking to Jesus” features the preaching ministry of Brian G. Hedges, lead pastor at Redeemer Church in Niles, Michigan. Brian’s sermons are focused on the Christ-centered exposition and application of the Scriptures. His aim in preaching is to be “true to the text, true to the gospel, and true to life.” New episodes are released every week or two. Brian and his wife, Holly, have been married since 1996 and have four children. Brian is the author of Christ Formed in You; Christ All Sufficient; The Story of His Glory; Watchfulness: Recovering a Lost Spiritual Discipline, and other books. He enjoys working out, playing golf, and reading. Among his favorite authors are Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Owen, Charles Spurgeon, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and C. S. Lewis.
In this episode, Brian Hedges invites listeners to choose between two paths of life: one flourishing and rooted by streams of water, the other fragile and blown away like chaff—drawing on the vivid imagery of Psalm 1. He then focuses on the spiritual practice of Christian meditation—delighting in God’s instruction and engaging deeply with Scripture day and night. His sermon challenges believers to move beyond mere activity and busy...
This message calls listeners to respond in faith to the incredible gift of God’s love and to live in humble service and generous devotion. Pastor Brian guides us through four ways of understanding the incarnation of Christ:
(4:14) 1. The Word Became Flesh
(10:35) 2. The Son Became a Servant
(16:31) 3. The Rich Became Poor
(20:36) 4. The Sinless Became the Sin Bearer
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 10 — The Weapon of “All-Prayer”
In this episode, Brian Hedges explores how prayer functions as the ultimate weapon in spiritual battle, drawing deeply from Ephesians 6:10-20 in the concluding message of the series “Dressing for Battle.” Discover how prayer isn’t just an optional discipline but a vital response to spiritual warfare. Whether you’ve struggled i...
Podcast Description: Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 9 — Take the Sword of the Spirit
In “Take the Sword of the Spirit,” Brian Hedges examines the image of Scripture as both an offensive and defensive weapon in spiritual warfare, grounded in Ephesians 6:10–20. He teaches how the word of God is uniquely “the sword of the Spirit” — forged by the Holy Spirit and empowered to pierce, defend, an...
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 8 — "Take Up the Helmet of Salvation" In this sermon, Pastor Brian Hedges unpacks the metaphor of the helmet of salvation — what it is, why we need it, and how it shapes our mindset and hope as believers. He emphasizes salvation in its past, present, and future tenses, showing how the hope of future salvation guards our minds, sustains us in hardsh...
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 7 — Take Up the Shield of Faith
In this sermon, Brian G. Hedges emphasizes how faith both protects Christians from spiritual attack and identifies them in battle. He outlines what faith is (involving mind, heart, and will), how it defends against things like fear, doubt, and despair, and he gives practical ways believers can take up this shield through spirit...
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 6 — Put on the Gospel Shoes
Brian Hedges unfolds the metaphor of the “gospel shoes” drawn from Ephesians 6, showing how being justified by faith grants us peace with God—transforming us from enemies into friends and children of God—which equips believers for evangelism, endurance, and spiritual readiness. He emphasizes that the “shoes” symbolize not merely kn...
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 5 — Put on the Breastplate of Righteousness
Brian Hedges emphasizes that the breastplate signifies practical, Spirit-empowered holiness—not self-righteousness but pursuing godly living rooted in the imputed righteousness of Christ. He explains that while justification (positional righteousness) forms the foundation, the breastplate represents a call to activ...
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 4 — Put On the Belt of Truth
Brian Hedges explores Ephesians 6:14, where Paul urges believers to “stand… having fastened on the belt of truth.” He unpacks the metaphor, illustrating how the “belt of truth” refers to girding up the loins of one’s mind with God’s word — serving as the foundational garment that enables spiritual readiness, clarity, and integrity...
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 3 — The Christian in Complete Armor
God’s word equips the believer for battle. Brian Hedges relates five key aspects of the armor of God.
(4:01) 1. The Armor Is Essential
(9:22) 2. The Armor Is God’s Armor
(13:58) 3. The Armor Is Gospel Armor
(19:01) 4. The Armor Is Complete
(24:02) 5. The Armor Must Be Put On
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 2 — Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices
The devil is real, and he’s scheming to deceive you. How can you resist him? Brian Hedges shows you:
(4:36) 1. The Reality of the Devil
(11:14) 2. The Strategies of the Devil
(23:04) 3. The Defeat of the Devil
Season 9 — Dressing for Battle: Gospel Armor for the Fight of Faith
Episode 1 — The Christian Warfare
Pastor Brian Hedges opens Ephesians 6:10-20 to remind us:
(6:44) 1. We Are Fighting in an Ongoing War
(15:23) 2. We Have an Evil and Malicious Enemy
(23:17) 3. Christ Has Shown Us the Way to Victory
“There’s a universal longing we all have, whether we’re Christian or non-Christian. If you’re a human being, you have this longing. There are two ways of trying to fulfill this longing: the way of self and the way of Jesus.” ~ Brian Hedges
(5:00) 1. The Universal Longing
(12:36) 2. The Way of Self
(24:24) 3. The Way of Jesus
Read the transcript of this sermon here.
The reason you can’t just “follow your heart” is that you have a war going on inside you. Conflicting desires. Brian Hedges helps you understand:
(10:02) 1. The Division of the Self
(19:04) 2. The Reason for This Division
(26:15) 3. The Freedom the Gospel Brings
Read the transcript of this sermon here.
You say you’re a Christian, but is Jesus at the center of your thoughts, affections, ambitions, and desires? Brian Hedges encourages you to:
(10:06) 1. Set Your Mind on the Person and Work of Christ
(16:32) 2. Put on the Character of Christ
(20:23) 3. Be Faithful to the Body of Christ
(27:55) 4. Be Filled with the Word of Christ
(35:04) 5. Live for the Name of Christ
When you travel internationally, your passport is the main proof of who you are and which country you belong to. Brian Hedges draws an analogy to show that, if you’re a Christian, your spiritual passport is your identity in Christ. He takes you to Ephesians 1 to show you:
(9:40) 1. You are chosen in Christ.
(17:38) 2. You are adopted in Christ.
(23:17) 3. You are forgiven in Christ.
(29:57) 4. You are secure in Christ.
Podcast Description: When you meet Jesus personally, your whole identity is re-centered. It transforms you. That’s what happened to Saul of Tarsus. In this message, see:
(8:04) 1. Identity before Christ
(14:52) 2. A Transforming Encounter with Christ
(33:17) 3. New Identity in Christ
Read the transcript of this sermon here.
Everyone longs to be noticed. Known. Cared about. Be comforted and challenged as Brian Hedges shares these powerful principles from Psalm 139:
(7:25) 1. God Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself
(13:56) 2. You Cannot Hide Yourself from God
(23:06) 3. You Are Uniquely Created by God
(31:30) 4. God Loves You with an Immeasurable, Covenantal, Saving Love
Read the transcript of this sermon here.
The crisis of identity we face is, at its core, an issue of misplaced worship. Brian Hedges shows us
(9:56) 1. What Idolatry Is
(21:01) 2. How Idols Shape Identity
(30:32) 3. How the Gospel Frees Us from Idols
Read the transcript of this sermon here.
It’s common to hear messages like “You do you” or “Be true to yourself” or “Just follow your heart.” Brian Hedges sees them as symptoms of an underlying confusion about who we are and why we exist. In this episode, he explains:
(5:01) 1. The Nature of Identity
(10:23) 2. The Crisis of Identity
(29:07) 3. The Biblical Basis for Identity
Read the transcript of this sermon here.
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Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.
"SmartLess" with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett is a podcast that connects and unites people from all walks of life to learn about shared experiences through thoughtful dialogue and organic hilarity. A nice surprise: in each episode of SmartLess, one of the hosts reveals his mystery guest to the other two. What ensues is a genuinely improvised and authentic conversation filled with laughter and newfound knowledge to feed the SmartLess mind. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of SmartLess ad-free and a whole week early. Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
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