Cover of Grounded Podcast with Chuck Quinley

Grounded Podcast with Chuck Quinley

Grounded Podcast with Chuck Quinley

By: Learn to be rock solid even if the world around you is not
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Grounded is about forming resilient disciples of Jesus who stand firm while the world shakes. Drawing on 50 years of serious Bible study and a lifetime following Jesus across cultures, Dr. Chuck Quinley explores what the worldview, practices, commands, and mission of Jesus mean for the decade we're entering. No Christian self-help and no easy answers—just disciples learning to follow Jesus together, whatever comes next.

www.quinley.comChuck & Sherry Quinley Christianity Ministry & Evangelism Philosophy Social Sciences Spirituality
Episodes
  • What Happens When God Interrupts Your Life?

    What Happens When God Interrupts Your Life?
    27 Oct 2026
    The surprising story of Amos and the moment God called an ordinary man into an extraordinary assignment.Most of us have some idea of how our lives are supposed to unfold.We have work to do, families to care for, bills to pay, and ambitions we hope to fulfill. We try to live faithfully before God while pursuing the opportunities in front of us.And there’s nothing wrong with that.But occasionally, in the Bible, something remarkable happens. God reaches into someone’s ordinary life and gives that person an assignment they never anticipated.That’s what happened to Amos.A man with a life of his ownAmos lived in the eighth century BC, when Israel was divided into two kingdoms. He came from Tekoa, a small town in Judah, south of Jerusalem.He wasn’t a priest. He wasn’t a member of the religious establishment. He wasn’t even from the northern kingdom of Israel, where God would eventually send him.Amos worked with livestock and tended sycamore-fig trees. He had a livelihood. Presumably, he had customers, responsibilities, relationships, and plans for the future. It was most likely the life he inherited from his father and grandfather. We know very little about his personal circumstances, but there’s no reason to imagine that he was sitting around waiting for a spectacular religious career to begin.He had a life.And then something happened to reorient him.God called him to leave his familiar world and travel north with a message that powerful people would not want to hear. He was untrained for this responsibility.An unwelcome visitor at BethelThe northern kingdom was enjoying a period of relative prosperity under Jeroboam II. The wealthy were accumulating property, business was booming, and the religious institutions were operating at full capacity.When God looked down at this prosperous nation, he saw a completely different picture.The rich were exploiting the poor. Courts decisions were for sale. The outward show of religious worship continued, but the moral character of the nation was deteriorating. They didn’t love him. They were not committed to follow his ways. They used worship as insurance against bad things happening and to try to tilt the scales of luck in their favor. Amos arrived with a devastating message: God had seen what was happening, and judgment was coming.As you might imagine, he was particularly unwelcome at Bethel, one of the kingdom’s principal religious sanctuaries.There he encountered Amaziah, the priestly institution keeper of Bethel.Amaziah regarded Amos as another itinerant religious professional, someone who made his living delivering theatrical “prophetic” messages.And he wanted him gone.In Amos 7:12–13, Amaziah tells him:“Get out of here, you seer! Go back to Judah. Earn your living prophesying there. But don’t prophesy here anymore. This is the king’s sanctuary.”You can hear the contempt. Take your business somewhere else. We don’t need your show. You’re not welcome here.But Amaziah had completely misunderstood Amos.This isn’t my businessAmos responds with one of the most revealing descriptions about calling in the entire Old Testament.He says:“I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the LORD took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’” (Amos 7:14–15, NIV)What an answer. Amos wasn’t pursuing a religious career.He hadn’t inherited the family prophecy business. He wasn’t trying to build a reputation as a spiritual authority. He hadn’t traveled north because he saw a promising market for his services.“You think I wanted this?You think I came here to make money?I was perfectly occupied with my own life. God sent me here.”Amos’s courage and spiritual authority rested on the conviction that God had personally commissioned him.When God interrupts an ordinary lifeThis is a pattern we encounter repeatedly throughout Scripture.* Moses was tending sheep when God confronted him at the burning bush.* Gideon was threshing wheat when an angel announced that God had an assignment for him.* David was looking after his father’s sheep when Samuel arrived to anoint Israel’s future king.* Mary was a young woman in Nazareth when Gabriel announced that her life would take a direction she could never have imagined.These people were not all seeking public prominence or extraordinary responsibility.Their assignments came looking for them.That raises an interesting question about the way we understand calling.We sometimes use the word to describe our occupation, our personal ambitions, or the work we find especially meaningful. “I found my calling.” Fair enough. Our ordinary work can be deeply significant before God.But Scripture also describes another kind of calling: a particular commission, arising from God’s initiative, that redirects someone’s life toward an unexpected responsibility.And these assignments are not ...
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    23 min
  • Sherry’s Debut on Grounded

    Sherry’s Debut on Grounded
    20 Oct 2026

    Today we have a very rare opportunity to hear a really great talk from Sherry. She doesn’t usually speak in public, but today she decided to share her #1 life lesson with this year’s Fall students at Medialight.

    Although they and our staff are from Papua New Guinea, Ethiopia, the Philippines, the USA, Korea and Thailand, this lesson is for everyone. She’s lived it, and this one lesson has helped her overcome so many difficulties and setbacks in life. Everyone who knows my wife knows her as a sparkling, upbeat cheerleader. Here’s her secret in this episode of Grounded.

    Every Blessing,

    Chuck



    Get full access to Grounded Podcast at www.quinley.com/subscribe
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    26 min
  • How do I find the will of God?

    How do I find the will of God?
    12 Oct 2026
    Is God Hiding Your Future Behind Door Number ThreeWhen I was a kid, sometimes my mom and I would watch Let's Make a Deal Hosted by Monty Hall. This is the show where contestants chose between doors (or boxes/curtains) to win prizes. Carol Merrill was the original model who stood by the doors and displayed the prizes. You never knew if you were going to blindly choose a box that had the keys to a new car or choose what you thought was a luxury item in a large space, but when the curtain came back, it would turn out to be just a goat.There are moments when you would give almost anything for God to just tell you what to do.Two options sit in front of you. Both are reasonable. You’ve prayed. Maybe you’ve fasted. You’ve asked people you respect. You’ve read your Bible hoping something would jump off the page. You’re watching doors open and close, trying to decide whether that phone call yesterday meant something.And everyone seems to have a method. One friend says you’ll have peace. Another says God will open the door. Someone else simply says, “God told me.”That last one can sting. Because God doesn’t seem to talk to you like that. So you start to wonder whether something is wrong with you. Maybe you’re not close enough to him. Maybe you’re not spiritual enough to hear.And quietly, a career decision has become a referendum on your relationship with God.The belief powering the fearI want to ask a question. What would you have to believe about God for this much anxiety to make sense?The meticulous sovereignty approach Usually it goes something like this. God has a detailed plan for my life. Inside that plan is one correct choice for every important decision. God knows it. I don’t. My job is to discover what he has already decided. And if I miss the signal, I could end up out of his will, living Plan B. Then Plan C. God knows the will where I’m supposed to end up, which was chosen before I was even born, but He’s holding the cards really close to His chest. I’ve got to become really good at guessing so I can figure it out. That is an exhausting way to live. It turns the Christian life into signal detection. Open doors, closed doors, feelings, dreams, coincidences, verses.I’m not saying God never speaks. He does. I’m not saying the Holy Spirit doesn’t lead. He does. Prayer matters deeply. But I want to ask whether this is the picture of mature people that Jesus actually produced.What Jesus was buildingWatch how Jesus worked with his disciples. Yes, he gave commands. Follow me. Go here. Don’t do that.But look at the direction of their growth. He taught them. He let them watch him. He corrected their motives. He showed them how God thinks about money, power, enemies, forgiveness, and the poor. Then he sent them out to deal with real people in real situations, without him standing beside them making every call.Jesus wasn’t just handing out answers. He was forming judgment—discernment, wisdom.He ends the Sermon on the Mount talking about two builders. One builds on rock, one on sand. The difference is simple: one hears what Jesus says and actually does it in his life as a habit based on principle. We can spend enormous energy hunting for God’s specific will on things he hasn’t made clear (whether to be a plumber or a pilot), while walking right past what he has made very clear. Be honest. Forgive everyone for everything. Be generous. Keep your word even if it hurts you. Love your enemies and stop the cycle of resentment. Seek the kingdom first and above all.Most of God’s will isn’t hidden at all.And look at Jesus himself. Perfectly aligned with the Father, yet never passive. He doesn’t sit around waiting for a fleece, a confirmation, or a dream so he can know what to do. He chooses. He initiates. He crosses the lake, climbs the mountain, withdraws, rests. He isn’t frantic about falling out of the Father’s will. His alignment produces freedom to act.When a child is 4 years old, you have to tell them everything. What to wear. To put on their shoes before they leave the house. To look both ways before crossing the street. But if a 40-year-old stands pleading before you, saying, “Please, please tell me which shirt to wear today” we wouldn’t say that man is really close to his parents. We’d say there’s something wrong with him. Good parents don’t raise a forty-year-old who needs to be told which shirt to wear. They raise an adult who can carry responsibility. That’s what Jesus is doing with you.A different prayerSo alongside “God, tell me what to do,” try praying this: Jesus, make me the kind of person who can be trusted to decide.Show me the fear driving me. The greed. The insecurity. The thing I want so badly I’m trying to get you to sign off on it even though I know it’s probably the wrong way. Then help me choose.Here’s a little help in making decisions. When you’re facing a decision, bring five questions to it:* Has Jesus already ...
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    26 min
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