Word Of Life Church Podcast

The fame of Jesus spread throughout Galilee, then Judea, then the Roman Empire, and then throughout the whole world, so that Jesus of Nazareth is far and away the most famous person in history. Fame is connected with fascination. We're fascinated by famous people—we want to know more about them. And fascination with Jesus Christ is the essential thing. But wherein lies the fame of Jesus? What is Jesus famous for?

To follow Jesus is to embark upon the risk of becoming—it’s the lifelong journey of becoming who you are meant to be. And this journey is always a risky adventure. There are gains and losses, successes and failures, victories and defeats. Sometimes you walk on water for ten seconds—and the next moment you're crying out, “Lord, save me!” And in that moment of risk Jesus does save you. But the greater truth is this: As long as you're moving toward Jesus, there’s really never any risk at all.

The story of Jacob's Ladder in Genesis has a powerful influence upon our theological imagination:It speaks to us of the reality of another world called heaven.It speaks to us of another order of being called angels.It speaks to us of the possibility of a ladder of interaction between these two worlds.

One of the reasons that after nearly fifty years of following Jesus and after over forty years of full-time ministry that I’m not bored, burned out, jaded or cynical, is that many times and in many ways—including by dreams—I’ve been warned and wooed by the Holy Spirit to travel by another road.

Ours is an age of acute empirical perception that affords spectacular scientific and technological developments, but our age is also an epoch of dire spiritual dullness leading to a deep poverty of the soul. This lack of spiritual perceptivity engenders a profound sense of emptiness and meaninglessness. To recover meaning we need to rediscover the paths of unseen existences.

MonstersDave Matthews BandBroke old toy soldiers lined up one, two, threeLittle kid and everything I did just to save my paper queen'Cause love won't let me goYeah, no army's gonna save my soul'Cause love won't let me goNothing in the closetNothing underneath the bedJust the monsters in your headI hear strange voices at every step I takeNo, you can't cross the ocean if you can't get past the breakEven if fear don't put you downWon't you lean on me while I'm aroundOh, no rope to hang the deadNo line to save the drowning manJust the monsters in your headNothing in the closetNothing underneath the bedJust the monsters in your headSee killer's eyes and painted facesThe Devil wants your soul, but Jesus savesTraffic jam is an angry mazeThe Devil wants your soul, but Jesus savesChutes and ladders, pick-up sticksCounting cars and counting bricksDriving past the ol' five-and-dimeCan't get nothin' for a nickel since a long, long timeI won't let you downNothing in the closetNothing underneath your bedJust the monsters i

The Holy Trinity is a sanctuary of perfect love where there is never any fear, discord, or sorrow. It is from this sanctuary that the the Holy Spirit is sent as the Paraclete—the one who comes alongside to help us.

John the Evangelist originally concluded his Gospel with chapter twenty. But sometime later, perhaps to affirm the leadership of Peter and to dispel a rumor about himself, John wrote and additional chapter -- a chapter that can be described as a lovely coda.

On the first Sunday in Lent the lectionary takes us to the wilderness temptation of Christ. As Jesus prayed and fasted forty days in preparation to launch his ministry—a ministry that would announce and enact the arrival of the kingdom of God— he was beset with three satanic temptations. The first two temptations involved misuse of miraculous powers. But it was the final temptation that was the most insidious of all: the temptation to receive political dominion over the kingdoms of the world in exchange for bowing down to the devil. The third temptation deserves special attention, not only because it was the most sinister, but because it is the temptation that has beguiled and beleaguered the church for seventeen centuries.

Jesus knows that all forms of spirituality built on legalistic, rule-based religion focused on behavior modification is a dead-end road. It cannot produce life. Inward transformation, a change of the heart and the formation of character, becomes the foundation for real life in the kingdom of God. Jesus warns us of the judgment that is to come if we allow anger to become angry words that seek to hurt and destroy. It is ok to get angry, but there is a massive difference between being a person who feels angry and being an angry person. One is Christlike and one is not. If we are to be made new, renewed in the likeness of God, we have to deal with our anger issues. To do so we need to answer at least three questions: How do I respond to the anger I feel? How do I resolve the anger that seems to linger? What about righteous anger?

When Isaiah penned his “Rivers In the Desert” poem, Judah was in a bad way—internally Judah was corrupt and externally it was under threat of foreign invasion. But the poet of audacious hope does not despair; instead he proclaims that God will come, and in that day it will be said, “Here is your God!”

Paul says that Christ has abolished death and brought immortality to light, and he says this is the gospel. And it is! But it’s not the gospel we’re accustomed to hearing. Over time the gospel has been reduced to be almost exclusively about forgiveness. Of course forgiveness is a beautiful component of the gospel, but that’s not all there is. The gospel in its fullest and most grand presentation is about the abolition of death.

Where there is no war, is in heaven above, where Christ reigns supreme. In the world above, the world to come, the war is already won. The devil has been cast down and no longer has any place in heaven above. Heaven is the place where there is no war, so keep your head in heaven above.

This sermon is an exploration of the fundamental truth that many of us know, but most of us find hard to believe. 1 John 4 lays out the extraordinary claim that God is love. The implications for our lives and the world we live in are profound and unlimited in the light of this reality - if only we can come to know and believe that it is true. May we let go of our false self and let our true self be known and loved by the God who is love.

After the ancient people of God crossed the Jordan River and entered into the Promised Land, they stacked 12 stones to serve as a memorial that God indeed had remained faithful to God’s people. The resurrection of Jesus is our memorial stone as the renewed people of God. Jesus’ resurrection was not a collection of stones stacked by human beings, but a single stone that God rolled away when life triumphed over death. Resurrection as a memorial stone is a way of seeing. Our painful past is often recorded in our memories in black and white, but resurrection colors everything with hope and life. The resurrection as a memorial stone changes how we look at our suffering personally and collectively because the resurrection of Jesus is a signpost pointing us to a future resurrection of our own.

The Gospel of John decidedly and deliberately differs from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John the Evangelist wants to give us a theological Gospel containing the highest possible Christology. In his opening sentence John tells us that this one who is the Word of God is fully divine. While the other Gospels give genealogies and tell us that Jesus comes from Bethlehem and Nazareth, John is not interested in those particular biographical details. For John the only genealogy of Jesus that really matters is that he is the Son of God, who was in the beginning with God, and that he is the truth of God who comes from heaven, that is from above.

SanctuaryHiss Golden MessengerFeeling badFeeling blueCan't get out of my own mindI know how to sing about itRing of boneA little lonelyI better hit the road, childWe can cry into the phone a whileJubileeFind meSteady with your hope nowThat little light's gotta last a whileLike an arrow to the marrowI know it feels like hell now'Til we make it to the other sideYou want good newsYou want sanctuaryWhen you try to get realOh, they break you on the wheelYou wanna moveYou want sanctuaryThat's all that I can offer to youFrom the bottom to the boneTo the boneGet used to the bad newsIt's all part of the show, childHandsome Johnny had to go, childDid you feel the bad news?Oh, there's something you should know nowLittle things that'll cut you downRagged peopleHard timesAnd the lightning strikes the poorhouseThe rich man cries like a crocodileSalvationDespairBut the game that they taught meSometimes it feels like it just ain't fairYou want good newsYou want sanctuaryWhen you try to get realOh, they break you on the wheel

Quiet TownThe KillersA couple of kids got hit by a Union Pacific trainCarrying sheet metal and household appliancesThrough the pouring rainThey were planning on getting married after graduationHad a little baby girl, trouble came and shut it downThings like that ain't supposed to happenIn this quiet townFamilies are tightGood people,They still don't deadbolt their doors at nightIn this quiet townWhen we first heard opioid storiesThey were always in whispering tonesNow banners of sorrow mark the front steps of childhood homesParents wept through daddy's girl eulogiesAnd merit badge milestones with their daughters and sonsLaying there lifeless in their suits and gownsSomebody's been keeping secretsIn this quiet townThey know how to liveGood people who lean on JesusThey're quick to forgiveIn this quiet townNow whenever I'm near the townI'll find some reason to giveAnd I will walk with the dead and the living where I used to liveAnd every time I see my parents in the prime of their livesOffering their son the kin