Word Of Life Church Podcast

Pastor Derek Vreeland presents a bonus track to the 2011 Finding God on Your iPod series: Barton Hollow, by the folk-duo The Civil Wars. This song tells the story of a criminal wrestling with guilt, forgiveness, and doubt. We are fully aware of our shortcomings and failures and while we confess faith in God who forgives, sometimes doubt creeps into our lives. Doubt is never the enemy of faith, because every doubt is based on an alternative belief. Instead of ignoring our doubts, we need to face them, struggle through them in community with other followers of Christ. Wresting with doubt is one of the ways we grow in faith.

In the fifth and final week of 2011′s Finding God On Your iPod, we listen to hall of fame rockers Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and their latest album, Mojo. The song Something Good Coming is a song about hard times and hope. It is a very human song, admitting that life can be hard, but deep down we hold on to hope that something good is coming. As Christians, we believe that God is the creator and that God is good, and that no matter how messed up life can be, it's not the final word. We know God cares and will ultimately intervene and set things right. When you're poor, hungry, and sorrowful because life hasn't turned out the way you would like and you feel terribly unlucky, Jesus says that you are lucky and something good is coming! But why? Why are you blessed? Be careful trying to explain it or you may find yourself thinking you deserve it. It's the mystery of an unexplained grace. It may be better to just say, "I'm lucky!" There's nothing wrong with saying "I'm lucky" if you follow it with, "praise God.

In part four of 2011′s edition of Finding God On Your iPod, we look at the song "If I Die Young" by The Band Perry. The song is loosely based on the poem The Lady of Shalott by Lord Alfred Tennyson and deals with the subject of your own death. Modern society avoids speaking, or even thinking, about our own demise, but the undeniable reality is one day we are all going to die. And faced with that reality, one must wonder then what the meaning of life is; what is it all about? When death is imminent, there can come a clarity as to what really matters in life. The meaning of life is love. We are created by the God who is supremely identified with love. As you work out the equation for the meaning of life, if it doesn't add up to love, go back and recalculate. "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. So now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

In the third installment of 2011′s edition of Finding God On Your iPod, Pastor Brian introduces the blues based rock of The Black Keys and their song Unknown Brother. It's a simple song expressing one of humanity's deepest longings, that someday we will meet again our departed loved ones and family members. The great problem the Gospel addresses is death. Romans tells us, "The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." To believe in Christ and to be baptized into Christ is to pass from the dominion of death and its futility into the promise of eternal life. The great promise of eternal life will be fulfilled in us as it was fulfilled in Christ by resurrection. This is the blessed hope, the Christian hope, the resurrection hope of Easter.

In the second installment of the 2011 Finding God On Your iPod series, Pastor Brian examines the song "Roll Away Your Stone" by Mumford & Sons. The song is reminiscent of the story of the prodigal son, especially the lyrics, "It seems that all my bridges have been burnt / But you say, that's exactly how this grace thing works / It's not the long walk home that will change this heart / But the welcome I receive with the restart." The change of heart that we believe happened to the prodigal son didn't so much happen on his long walk home from the far country as much as it happened because of the way his father welcomed him home, The father did not punish his son for leaving, for squandering his inheritance, but instead celebrated his son's return with a lavish party and meal, slaughtering the prized fattened calf. God is love. And in the end it's the love of God that will change our heart. If we will love God in return, his love becomes like a shared meal. This table where the Father has prepared the fattened c

We used to wait. One of the biggest changes that has occurred in the past century is the speed of life. Much of our technology has been utilized to make things happen so much faster, so much so that we don't have to wait for much. When Arcade Fire tells us to wait for it, they're saying something we all need to hear. The Bible really has nothing good to say about being in a hurry. In fact, the inability to wait patiently is a kind of lust that tends to lead to trouble. When you're in a hurry, you're out of sync with God. Modern man thinks everything can be made better by making it fast or instant. But God disagrees. God says, wait for it. The Bible says things like, "be still, be at rest, have patience, and wait for God". But the beast of our modern life says things like, "be loud, be upset, demand it now, wait for nothing." If we allow our souls to be conformed to the beast of a superpower culture, we become the most impatient people in history, and it explains why we can't even sleep at night!