Inés Franklin and her daughter, Kayleigh Antenucci, dive deep into the realities of faith, family, and life’s unexpected paths. Together, they explore family dynamics, faith journeys across generations, and the challenges and joys of spiritual growth.
“Be Perfect” Is Not What Jesus Said | Dr. Jonathan Pennington on the Beatitudes
Have you ever read “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” and felt exhausted trying to measure up?
In this episode of The Journey We Share, Pastor Inés Franklin sits down with Dr. Jonathan Pennington — Professor of New Testament Interpretation and author of The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing — to unpack what Jesus actually said in Matthew 5v48.
You will discover why makarios points to flourishing and shalom, why teleios points to wholeness and maturity, and what greater righteousness means for a heart rather than a behavior record. Dr. Pennington describes how fifteen years inside three chapters of Matthew reshaped his faith and his parenting — including the nuclear email his wife stopped him from sending, and the weeks of interior work that followed it.
If perfectionism has left you striving, this conversation brings relief. You will learn how to meet God in grief and difficulty, how to pay honest attention to what is happening inside you, and how reconciliation shapes the generations that come after you.
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:
• Why the Sermon on the Mount answers our longing for human flourishing
• What makarios really means, beyond the English word blessed
• How Jesus meets us with shalom in grief, loss, and injustice
• What greater righteousness means for heart-level change
• What teleios means in Matthew 5v48 — wholeness and maturity rather than flawlessness
• How interior work and reconciliation shape family flourishing
CHAPTERS:
00:00 — How Do We Apply the Beatitudes to Real Life?
00:43 — Meet Dr. Jonathan Pennington
04:00 — Why the Sermon on the Mount Became His Focus
08:08 — Transformed by Studying the Sermon
09:32 — Christianity's Answer to Human Flourishing
11:29 — Makarios Explained: Blessed Means Flourishing
15:29 — Flourishing in the Middle of Difficulty
19:35 — Finding Shalom in Grief and Loss
26:01 — Greater Righteousness: A Transformed Heart
30:00 — The Nuclear Email Story and Interior Work
33:48 — Whole-Person Life Aligned With God's Will
36:30 — Matthew 5v48, Teleios Means Whole
40:30 — Reconciliation and Family Healing
44:36 — New Book: Becoming a Disciple of the King
47:15 — Read It In One Sitting
GUEST: Dr. Jonathan Pennington — Professor of New Testament Interpretation at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and teaching pastor at Sojourn East. Author of The Sermon on the Mount and Human Flourishing, Jesus the Great Philosopher, and Becoming a Disciple of the King.
ALSO MENTIONED: Blended & Blessed by Inés Franklin, which applies the Beatitudes to blended family life. Dr. Pennington reviewed the manuscript before it was published. store.trochia.org
ABOUT THE JOURNEY WE SHARE: Trochia Ministries equips people to build a faith that lasts through practical Bible teaching and honest conversation. Hosted by Pastor Inés Franklin and Kayleigh Antenucci.
LINKS:
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@trochia
More from Trochia: https://trochia.org
Questions and prayer: hello@inesfranklin.com
#SermonOnTheMount #Matthew548 #BibleStudy
29 Sept 2026
God Has Been Setting Tables Since Egypt. Come and Sit.
Why does the Bible keep coming back to tables?
From Egypt to the early church, God has been setting tables to bring his people together. In the finale of No One Finishes Alone, Pastor Inés Franklin closes the series where the first church actually met — around a table in a living room, gathered in the name of Jesus. Recorded solo while co-host Kayleigh Antenucci is home with her newborn, Inés traces the empty chair through all four episodes and what it was saying all along.
IN THIS EPISODE:
• The Passover meal before the Exodus, and the tables that run all through Scripture (Exodus 12)
• David's table in Psalm 23v5 and Isaiah's feast for all peoples (Isaiah 25v6)
• Mephibosheth — a broken man brought out of hiding and seated at the king's table like a son (2 Samuel 9vv7-13)
• What a group has to be doing to function as the body of Christ: sitting under the Word, keeping the practices, carrying burdens, contending in prayer for breakthrough (Acts 2vv42-47)
• Why you can eat a meal by yourself and cannot take communion by yourself (1 Corinthians 11vv23-26)
KEY LINE: You can have a meal by yourself. You cannot have communion by yourself.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 — The Last Show With the Empty Chair
02:18 — Acts 2: The First Church Met at Tables
04:03 — The Passover, a Meal Before the Rescue
05:07 — Mephibosheth at the King's Table
09:43 — Community Is a Gift, Not an Achievement
10:16 — Bonhoeffer on Life Together
10:49 — The Treasure and the Vessel
12:42 — Four Things a Community Has to Be Doing
14:22 — Seven Years Stuck in Shame
15:44 — You Cannot Take Communion Alone
16:09 — Keep One Chair Open
18:24 — Do This at Home This Week
TAKEAWAY: Receive community as a gift. The treasure is Jesus among his people. Keep a chair open for one more, and be willing to take the empty seat at someone else's table. This week, gather a few people, grab grape juice and bread, and share communion at home.
SCRIPTURES: Acts 2vv42-47 · Exodus 12 · Psalm 23v5 · 2 Samuel 9vv7-13 · Isaiah 25v6 · Psalm 133v1 · Romans 8v1 · 1 Corinthians 11vv23-26 · Philippians 2vv5-8 (CSB)
BOOK MENTIONED: Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
NEXT STEPS:
→ Explore Uncharted: https://store.trochia.org/s/order?cs=true&cst=custom&item=4#items
→ More from Trochia to grow a faith that lasts: https://trochia.org
→ Contact and prayer: hello@inesfranklin.com
FOLLOW:
Inés Franklin: @inesfranklin
Kayleigh Antenucci: @kayleighantenucci
ABOUT: The Journey We Share equips you to build a faith that lasts, through practical Bible teaching and real-life conversation. Hosted by Inés Franklin and Kayleigh Antenucci.
Series finale, Eps 33–36: No One Finishes Alone. Recorded solo, and Kayleigh is back next episode. If you are catching up, start at Ep 33. Worth watching with your small group.
#ChristianCommunity #Communion #NoOneFinishesAlone #TheJourneyWeShare #FaithAndLife
15 Sept 2026
Your Faith Cannot Grow in Jell-O | Here's the Soil It Needs
Put a plant in a bowl of Jell-O, and it doesn't grow. It dies. The soil isn't decoration. It's the whole reason growth is possible.
Community is the soil.
In Episode 3 of No One Finishes Alone, Pastor Inés Franklin opens with a plant on her desk and a question she's been asking for twenty-five years: Have you ever met a Christian who genuinely became more like Jesus alone?
She hasn't.
The mechanism of real change isn't a better program. It's being fully known and not abandoned. Inés shows why:
Confession spoken aloud to a safe person does something private prayer can't
Proximity shapes us whether we intend it or not and who stands near you matters
The instinct to withdraw in crisis is exactly when community costs the most
"Iron sharpens iron" only works when iron actually strikes iron. That friction is the point (Proverbs 27:17)
She names her own part in it: the couple who saw her life and teaching didn't match, said so without shaming, and stayed. The night her small group felt like a confessional. The hard season her family is walking through right now, where people showed up unasked.
One line is drawn clearly: where community is causing real harm, leave and get help. But everywhere else, the friction is ordinary; and it's the ground where God does the sharpening.
You don't need a better program. You need a few people who will know you and not leave. And you need to let them.
Next episode: The series closes at the table.
📌 The Journey We Share Podcast with Pastor Inés Franklin and Kayleigh Antenucci — new episodes weekly.
#SpiritualGrowth #ChristianCommunity #IronSharpensIron
Website: Trochia.org
Uncharted: https://store.trochia.org/s/order?cs=true&cst=custom&item=4#items
Questions: hello@inesfranklin.com
Socials:
Inés IG - @inesfranklin
Kayleigh IG - @kayleighantenucci
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