{"podcast":{"title":"Iowa City Church Podcast","slug":"iowa-city-church-podcast-343089","podcast_index_feed_id":343089,"rss_url":"https://iowacitychurch.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"http://iowacitychurch.libsyn.com/website","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/f/5/5/a/f55a23ca9f8c6766/logo_yellow1.jpg","author":"Tom Steele","episode_count":100,"summary":"The Iowa City Church Podcast brings you the weekly sermons from our teaching team. We know life can feel confusing, overwhelming, and at times just plain hard. That's why we believe the best way to navigate life is by following King Jesus. Each episode is grounded in the Bible as our final authority and is designed to encourage, challenge, and guide you as you follow Him. Our hope is that these messages strengthen your faith and help you take your next step as a disciple—wherever you are on the journey.","last_synced_at":"2026-09-22T18:22:24.604624+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iowa-city-church-podcast-343089"},"episode":{"title":"What If The Way Up Is Down?","slug":"what-if-the-way-up-is-down","published_at":"2026-08-31T15:42:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iowa-city-church-podcast-343089/what-if-the-way-up-is-down","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iowa-city-church-podcast-343089","url":"https://iowacitychurch.libsyn.com/what-if-the-way-up-is-down","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/iowacitychurch/Up_Is_Down.mp3?dest-id=1291523","summary":"From the time we are young, we're taught to climb the ladder—work hard, accomplish more, move up, and become successful. There's nothing wrong with pursuing excellence or using the gifts God has given us. But what happens when climbing the ladder becomes our definition of a successful life? In Mark 15, what appears to be Jesus' greatest defeat is actually the coronation of the King. At the cross, Jesus reveals a radically different vision of greatness: in the Kingdom of God, the way up is down. Greatness is found in serving, power is expressed through sacrifice, and true life is found by surrendering ourselves to Jesus. The world hands us a ladder and tells us to climb. Jesus hands us a cross and says, \"Follow me.\" In this message, we wrestle with a question that gets to the heart of discipleship: Am I going to spend my life climbing, or am I going to follow Jesus?","meta_description":"From the time we are young, we're taught to climb the ladder—work hard, accomplish more, move up, and become successful. There's nothing wrong with pursui…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2347,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/iowa-city-church-podcast-343089/episodes/what-if-the-way-up-is-down/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/iowa-city-church-podcast-343089/what-if-the-way-up-is-down.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}