The Hill City Podcast hosts deep enriching conversations about being faithful to God in the midst of our culture. Jesus tells us that a city on a hill cannot be hidden, and it is to be a light in the darkness. Therefore we should be a hill city in our communities that are distinct from our culture but what exactly does that look like? Join Grace as she invites you to biblically and critically think about the world through observing pop culture that range from movies, books, popular trends and philosophical discussions on theories of how the world works.
This is a serious feeling we NEED to address!! + it's okay to feel this way.
Don't be scared of facing this reality if you're in it right now. The only way to push through this is by acknowledging the truth that your heart doesn't want God and then by asking Him to help you through it (as odd as it sounds!!).
Maybe step one is by listening to this podcast episode to see if it's true for you in life right now. I give three helpful tips towards the end to get you out of this funk that so many people experience–yet many don't share.
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Let's connect ☀️
Website and shop: thesojourney.co (https://thesojourney.co/)
Podcast Instagram: @hillcitypodcast (https://www.instagram.com/hillcitypodcast?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==)
Email: hillcitypodcast@gmail.com
Personal: @gracevangthao (https://www.instagram.com/gracevangthao?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==)
5 Nov 2024
11. I'm a Christian and I voted for Donald Trump.
Politics and the election are touchy, polarizing, and sensitive topics in the Christian church. I wasn't planning on uploading this type of podcast episode, but I couldn't shake it off of me this morning.
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Educational Resources:
Christian scholars and pastors on voting
Wayne Grudem on voting FOR Trump: https://www.waynegrudem.com/a-respectful-response-to-my-friend-john-piper-about-voting-for-trump (https://www.waynegrudem.com/a-respectful-response-to-my-friend-john-piper-about-voting-for-trump)
John Piper on Freedom for Not Voting: https://youtu.be/8x2o5992tqg?feature=shared (https://youtu.be/8x2o5992tqg?feature=shared)
Donald Trump
Detailed account of how the attempt happened: https://youtu.be/sJId8hiZgGs?feature=shared (https://youtu.be/sJId8hiZgGs?feature=shared)
Trump recounting the assassination attempt: https://youtu.be/4MVep85ykg4?si=ejZSHV3JtIQm2jB4 (https://youtu.be/4MVep85ykg4?si=ejZSHV3JtIQm2jB4)
Last minute head tilt saves Trump's life: https://youtu.be/UvQAg7BPm8k?si=o_InmGSVeGTkA6ft (https://youtu.be/UvQAg7BPm8k?si=o_InmGSVeGTkA6ft)
The impossibility of assassination attempt and combatting theories: https://youtu.be/ZtJA9xuzAFE?feature=shared (https://youtu.be/ZtJA9xuzAFE?feature=shared)
Corey Comperatore, the innocent man who got shot: https://youtu.be/D0cNsHaN4Wg?si=jlQMzOlFNLXlpdxt (https://youtu.be/D0cNsHaN4Wg?si=jlQMzOlFNLXlpdxt)
Elon Musk
Why he bought Twitter: https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-elon-musk-bought-twitter (https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-elon-musk-bought-twitter)
Godlessness topics and formative resources
Transgenderism and gender affirming surgery
Chloe Cole’s statement: https://youtu.be/DSGgR3W_jjg?si=1Zn-TiDxVKwV3Bss (https://youtu.be/DSGgR3W_jjg?si=1Zn-TiDxVKwV3Bss)
https://youtu.be/6O3MzPeomqs?si=9mfd2roAlQGJsbgN (https://youtu.be/6O3MzPeomqs?si=9mfd2roAlQGJsbgN)
Abortion
Survivors and doctors point of view: https://youtu.be/rGnUG61f_2A?feature=shared (https://youtu.be/rGnUG61f_2A?feature=shared)
Other helpful resources
Allie Beth Stuckey and Jonny Ardavanis podcast: https://youtu.be/3PM5nlHhLiw?feature=shared (https://youtu.be/3PM5nlHhLiw?feature=shared)
Psychological analysis video of Trump and his team by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson: https://youtu.be/K8o6n-AVqMw?feature=shared (https://youtu.be/K8o6n-AVqMw?feature=shared)
21 Nov 2023
10. Wreck it Ralph: Who Would Take a Chance on You?
How long have you been striving for validation? Maybe your whole life, you've been a disappointment to your parents, spouse, friends, and family. You can't help but feel that you'll never be good enough. And when you do try to do and be good, it's never enough for those around you. So you begin wondering if you have a chance to being loved. There might even be this secret longing inside you of wanting to be accepted and loved despite your imperfections, and disappointments, and mess ups. But who would take that chance on you?
Ralph knows this feeling very well. His whole life seemed to be built and positioned towards failure and being a bad guy. A villain. But he's just as human as everyone else is in his game. He wants to be loved and known by others despite his temper tantrums, mean guy looks, and poor reputation. The woman at the well (John 4) also knows this feeling very well too. But both these two lives are changed when someone takes the first step in loving them at their worst and believing in who they could be and not just who they once were.
20 Sept 2023
9. So you wanna discern?
Can you confidently say that you know God's voice vs. the world's?
Discernment sounds like a big word, but it really means the ability to judge well. According to the Bible, it means “to distinguish or to examine.” As Christians, it is crucial for us to discern the movies we watch, songs we listen to, and posts we read on social media to see if it reflects God and His word. If we aren't careful, we can easily be led into believing the world's lies about our real human problems that lead us astray from Him. Slowly, we become more like the world and influenced by it. This episode focuses on how media can become a negative influence, how it can also be a positive influence in our faith, and gives practical tools in how we can grow in our discernment.
Mulan: My Duty is to My Heart clip (https://youtu.be/wtjIFBn4Nmk?feature=shared)
LOTR: Carry You Scene (https://youtu.be/BKIgv8AhffA?feature=shared)
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co
7 Sept 2023
8. Season 2 Update! Life and podcast reimagining
It's been a LONG minute. But, we're back and better this time. After taking a half year hiatus from content creating, I am feeling so refreshed and ready to tackle new challenges. I dive into what God has been doing in my life during the small break from podcasting and also give new visions and updates for Hill City Podcast.
Cheers to season 2!
22 Dec 2022
7. Raya and the Last Dragon: Recognizing the need for an incarnate Savior
It's Christmas week. We spend this week remembering Jesus Christ's meek and hopeful entrance into this dark world.
Disney movie Raya and the Last Dragon encapsulates this idea of how a divine being came in the form of a human. Sisu is a water dragon who is summoned to help the people fight off destructive villains called the Druun's. The only hope for the people in this movie is to be delivered by these magical powerful beings from their own corruption. This episode dives into the themes of an incarnate Savior as Jesus Christ is also the only hope for humans to be saved. His humanity is a bridge for us to be one with God again. His humanity makes it easy for Jesus to truly understand everything we go through. Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human. Sisu is fully dragon and (sorta) fully human. Tune in on this episode to discover the key similarities and differences between the two.
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co (https://gracevang.com/)
1 Dec 2022
6. Start Up: Learning how to restore broken relationships with others and God through a broken and contrite heart
What do you do when you hurt someone? Are you quick to apologize and feel the weight of what you did wrong? Or do you deny it and never apologize?
The star of this episode is the main lead Nam Do San from the Korean drama Start Up. He's not your typical main character lead who is immediately rich and snobby. He's a very ordinary man who doesn't have the best style, has nerdy friends and is very geeky about technology. In this drama, Do San is involved in a big lie with a girl he begins developing feelings for. This lie eventually destroys him with guilt and shame as he wants to make things right in his relationship with Dal Mi. His character shows and illustrates how we should feel when we hurt those we love. It's easy to make excuses or to never apologize. Yet, restoring relationships requires us to be humble enough to recognize, own up and apologize for how we sin against each other and God. Learn what it looks like to feel remorse and sadness for your sin through this episode.
Do San Crying Scene (Do san crying scene: https://youtu.be/kEnfiB7GjT4)
Do San Apologizing and Owning Up Scene (Do San apologizes and admits he’s sorry scene: https://youtu.be/ee4eHaxexPM)
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co (thesojourney.co)
17 Nov 2022
5. A Haunting of Hill House: Overcoming habitual sin through the journey of sanctification
A Haunting of Hill House is a popular Netflix series that’s known for its creepiness. Despite it being a horror tv show, it’s actually very emotional with lots of touching messages. Make sure to have some tissue boxes near you if you decide to watch it. Luke Crain is one of the youngest kids from the Crain family who lives in the haunted mansion. His traumatic experience with ghosts and his childhood paves way into his drug addiction. His episode takes viewers on the journey of rehab as he works on recovery. This is an example of what sanctification looks like too. It doesn’t happen overnight like the way we may want it to. But it’s a slow, mundane everyday type of process that is tough and painful. It’s worth it though. Choosing to follow Jesus means learning how to let go some of these habitual sins in our lives so that we can look more like Jesus.
To go more in depth:
Sanctification Article (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-doctrine-of-sanctification/)
Justification Article (https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/the-doctrine-of-justification/)
Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be Book (https://a.co/d/cgQy88m)
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co (thesojourney.co)
3 Nov 2022
4. Stan Lee: Observing the age old problem of Genesis 3 of doubting a good and perfect God
Stan Lee is co creator of the Marvel Comics. He is known for his phenomenal Marvel legacy and created famous characters like Thor and Arishem. However, he is more than just a creator, writer and cameo in his movies. Stan’s Romanian Jewish background and religious views have been woven throughout all of his work. His characters and storylines reflect his view of an imperfect God and human saviors. So how does this view inform our relationship with God? If we aren’t careful, we can be quick into believing these lies about God and taking matters into our own hands just like what happened in the garden at the very beginning of creation.
My Genesis 3 Analysis (https://gracevang.com/literary-composition/genesis3-birth-and-conception-of-the-first-sin)
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co (thesojourney.co)
3 Nov 2022
3. Sméagol: Who is your master? Understanding the power of over consumption and mastery
Sméagol fell in love with his golden ring. Yet, this ring created him to become a monster.
The ring influenced his life and became his master. His character is a very relatable one as it is so easy for us to slip into the same thing. We have all sorts of rings or masters in our life—good or bad. They can be draining, addicting and make us feel worse than before. So who are these masters in your life? Are you mastering them or are they mastering you?
Sméagol‘s Conversation Clip (Smeagol talking to himself: https://youtu.be/NB2CNr692RE)
Phone Obssessed Culture Statistics Article (https://www.reviews.org/mobile/cell-phone-addiction/)
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co (thesojourney.co)
3 Nov 2022
2. Everything Communicates
Everything communicates.
The word “media” is a very broad term that we use in our everyday language, but what does it exactly mean? In this episode we dive deeper into media ecology and study the different factors that move together in order to understand how communication works. Everything around us communicates messages that our bodies naturally internalize and process especially the movies that we watch today. Movies are cultural artifacts that shed light on what our generation loves. Understanding how movies communicate is essential if we want to learn how to be biblical communicators in our communities.
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co (thesojourney.co)
Book: Cinematic Faith by William Romanoski (https://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Faith-Christian-Perspective-Meaning/dp/0801098653)
3 Nov 2022
1. Who I Am and the Heart of Hill City Podcast
Welcome to the first episode of Hill City Podcast! My dream of podcasting has finally become a reality.
This episode sets up the podcast by giving an introduction of who I am. I dive into my creative passion and journey as a communicator while also sharing a personal testimony of God’s work in my life. The rest of the episode will focus on the inspiration, heart and vision of this podcast. Thank you so much for listening to the first of many episodes. Make sure to leave a review or share this with your friends if any of it has touched or impacted your life too!
You can follow @hillcitypodcast on Instagram for more updates.
My Personal IG: __gracevang
Website: thesojourney.co (thesojourney.co)
My Greece Travel Journal: Hello Greece (https://gracevang.com/blog/hellogreece)
17 Oct 2022
Welcome to Hill City Podcast
Hill City Podcast is designed to be a safe, genuine and intentional space on learning how to be faithful to God in our culture. I invite you to join me on this journey of navigating through pop culture as a Christian.
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Podcast Authority Score: 7 / 100
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