Advancing Word Podcast

In the first four stanzas of Psalm 145, the author reminds us that whatever else worship is it is infectious, viral, virulent, transmissive, and highly contagious!  When infected people worship, it is not just transformational but GENERATIONAL!  Contagious worship is characterized by its motivation, mechanics, measure, and ministry.  

Asaph, a worship leader in the Temple during the reign of King David experienced a crisis of faith as he observed around him “the prosperity of the wicked.” When he worshipped, he faced his crisis, found clarity, and framed a confession of his renewed faith in God. His experience still provides insight for the uptight. 

David’s faith exudes high definition clarity and comprehension as he affirmed God’s sovereign authority, sobering appraisal, satisfying availability and searching apprehension of his life in Psalm 139.  If we would see more clearly God's plans and purposes for our lives, we should follow his example.  

A desperate mother welcomes the prophet Elijah to her home during a famine. In an unselfish act of faith, she shares her last meal with him only to discover that miracles happen when the God of Israel comes to dinner! Her faith in a devoted prophet’s daring pronouncement resulted in an unexpected experience of God’s dynamic provision.

Our lives are as much about our detours as our destinies.  After a detour, the prophet Jonah arrives in Nineveh and is focused on his calling and destiny. We can appreciate his present location and purpose and learn from his experience if we understand the discoveries that brought him there.

While pursuing perfection, the Apostle Paul was in a war. The battleground was within him, and the adversaries were the flesh and the spirit.  For those who are struggling with sin today, we learn from Paul’s words and experience that, we cannot win the war with human reason, resolve or resources but only with and through the Heavenly Redeemer, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Frustrated with the condition of his nation, Habakkuk confronts God.  In the encounter, his renewed faith, stretched by purposeful witnessing, patient waiting and passionate worshipping, overcomes his stress. His example is timeless!

In Acts Chapter 9, the risen Lord appears to Saul on the Damascus Road.  This experience was a turning point in Saul’s life.  God’s motion (intervention) in Saul’s life was so compelling and transforming that the persecutor of the church became Paul, its greatest advocate, ally, and apostle. When we second what God motions, He will use us mightily too!

As Jesus’s public ministry comes to an end, he intensifies the training of the disciples.  He teaches them that genuine faith can move mountains!  Faith does not retreat from impossibility but trusts in God. The principles in this message will encourage believers today to talk to and conquer our mountains no matter what forms they take!

According to the author of Psalm 121, as Jewish pilgrims approached Jerusalem to worship,  seeing the pagan shrines on the hills surrounding the city, they reaffirmed their faith in God.  Their positive outlook was influenced by a profound spiritual “uplook”. Today, our personal awareness of God’s powerful availability will give us promising assurance in whatever situation we face in life.