Advancing Word Podcast

In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 9, the Jewish religion had become one massive huddle of religious rules, rituals and regulations.  Jesus saw the multitudes and was moved with compassion for them.  He saw them as sheep without a shepherd.  It was time to move from the huddle to the harvest. The church faces the same challenge today!  

In Genesis, Chapter 32, Jacob was overcome by fear at the prospect of meeting his brother Esau whom he had wronged.  Deception, deceit and duplicity had caught up with him and was demanding payment.  To experience the promises that God had made to him, he had to supersize his faith and downsize his fears.  The supernatural support that God provided to Jacob is available to believers today!  

In verses eleven through fourteen of the first Chapter of Ephesians, the Apostle Paul is writing from prison.  He ends a sweeping summary of the plan of salvation by focusing on the unique role the Holy Spirit.  This message highlights the measure, matter and mark of our spiritual oneness in Christ.

In Chapter 11, verse one of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the biblical writer uses the merchant who stocks and sends ships out to sea as a metaphor for the life of faith.  Faith is not afraid!  It lives boldly, broadly, blindly and bountifully. 

This message is based on Jesus’s miraculous feeding of the multitude with only a child’s meager lunch recorded in the Gospel of John, Chapter 6.  If the life and ministry of the church were a musical score, children and youth would be “a major note in a minor key.”

Habakkuk confronts God as he wrestled with the problems of evil and suffering around him.  In Chapter 3 of his prophecy, he declares his faith in God no matter what.  His faith was determined, discerning and dynamic.  His faith overcame his fears.  

In 1 Peter 5:8, the apostle warns us that spiritually every Christian lives in lion country.  Satan, our adversary "prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”  We must be guarded, girded and grateful if we are to survive and thrive in this dangerous terrain believing that the roar of the lion has been met and muted by the silence of the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.   

There is a seismic shift and monumental move in Chapter 7 of the Book of Romans.  The Apostle Paul begins with a searing critique of human good but concludes with a soaring celebration of heavenly grace.  Our good is never good enough.  Only grace is!  

The Apostle Paul conducted a spiritual appraisal that revealed resources that could be leveraged to unify the church at Phillipi.  In a key passage that bridges Chapters 1 and 2 of the epistle he reminded them that they are a church that has the “since” to stand together. 

In the fortieth chapter of his prophecy, verses 25 – 31, the prophet Isaiah is reinforcing to a proud and pompous people the hard lesson that their disobedience and defection had taught them.  God has no equal!  Search the vast array of nations of the world or among the pantheon of illusive idols and distant deities and there are no matches found!