CIAM Radio

Read: Mark 4:26-29; 1 Corinthians 3:6-9

It was a beautiful spring morning, and Leah couldn’t wait to help her mom plant their garden. This was the first year she was big enough to help.

“Morning, Mom!” Leah exclaimed as she entered the kitchen.

“Well, look at you, up and ready to go.”

Over breakfast, Mom and Leah talked about what to plant. Leah loved tomatoes, so they’d definitely plant some tomato seeds. They decided on tomatoes, green beans, squash, and cantaloupe.

The garden had already been prepped and was ready for planting. Mom showed Leah how to plant the seeds at a certain depth and make sure there was enough space between them. “The seeds need room to become healthy plants,” she said.

Mom and Leah worked happily all afternoon in the garden. It was so nice to be outside in the fresh air again after being cooped up inside most of the winter. When they finished, they put away the gardening tools and headed into the house.

“That was fun today, Mom,” Leah said.

“I enjoyed it too, and as I was planting the seeds down each row, it made me think of a Bible verse.”

“Really?” Leah asked. “Which one?”

Mom got her Bible off the coffee table. She opened it up and read, “I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.” She smiled at Leah. “We planted all those seeds in the garden today, taking special care to do it properly, and now all we have to do is wait for the sun and rain to do their job—besides weeding, of course. That’s how we plant seeds in people’s hearts too. God wants us to plant seeds of the gospel by telling others about Jesus and showing them His love, and He will make the seeds grow. We may not ever know whose life may have been changed, but we can plant seeds and trust God with the rest.”

“Wow, that’s really cool!” Leah smiled. “And we don’t have to wait for spring either—we can plant seeds in God’s garden all year long!”

–Lisa Fuller

How about you? Are you sharing the gospel with others? When you tell people about Jesus and show them His love in how you treat them, you are planting seeds of the gospel in their hearts. You may not ever know if someone turns to Jesus, but you’re not the one responsible for making that seed grow—God is. Plant seeds of His love and trust Him to make them grow.

Today's Key Verse: [Jesus] told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” Mark 16:15 (NLT)

Today's Key Thought: Plant seeds of God’s love

Your heavenly Father is capable of transforming your life when you start to have great faith in Him.

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Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot is best known for enduring classics like “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” and “If You Could Read My Mind.” But one of his lesser-known songs is titled “The Minstrel of the Dawn.” (A minstrel is a troubadour, a singer who puts his poetry to music.) Like us, Lightfoot’s troubadour longs to be “more happy than blue.” Although there are always “blue” things to think about or dwell on, the minstrel chooses to focus on the happy things as the new day dawns and then sing about them.

The minstrel of the psalms, David, penned a similar line: “In the morning I will sing of your love” (Psalm 59:16). David had plenty of “blue” things to dwell on—from enemies ready to attack him to fierce men slandering and conspiring against him. “They return at evening,” he sang, “snarling like dogs, and prowl about the city” (v. 14). But he chose, as the new day dawned, to focus not simply on something happy but on Someone good—God—and then sing of God’s love, “my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble” (v. 16) on “whom I can rely” (v. 17).

You may not be a singer-songwriter, but you can still be a minstrel of the dawn. Like David, you can tell God, “I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love” (v. 16).

Jesus taught His disciples about the cost of discipleship and the value of the soul in contrast to worldly gains. But the question remains today: is there a spiritual cost to achieving financial success? On the next Faith & Finance Live, Rob West and John Rinehart explore how financial success can lead to spiritual failure. That’s Faith & Finance Live—where biblical wisdom meets today’s financial decisions—weekdays at 4pm Eastern/3pm Central on Moody Radio.

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Today on Wretched Radio, we listen in to a recent breakout session from the Shepherds Conference, where Phil Johnson addresses the growing push to redefine hell. Annihilationism may sound more reasonable—even more compassionate—but does it actually align with Scripture? As Phil works through the issue, it becomes clear this isn’t just about hell—it touches sin, justice, and the gospel itself.

Segment 1

• Phil Johnson explains why the fight over hell is really a fight over biblical authority.

• A “nicer” version of hell is gaining traction—and it sounds appealing for a reason.

• The question starts to surface: if this changes, what else starts to unravel?

Segment 2

• Phil warns how social media is shaping what Christians—even you—believe about God.

• “Crowdsourcing your doctrine” sounds harmless… until it leads somewhere dangerous.

• A real example of how one influential voice triggered widespread theological confusion.

Segment 3

• The emotional objection rises: “this doesn’t feel just”.

• The discussion turns to justice—who defines it, and by what standard?

• A familiar pattern emerges when hard doctrines start getting softened

Segment 4

• The focus shifts to what’s at stake when hell is minimized.

• One doctrinal change starts affecting everything—Scripture, justice, even the cross.

• The question lingers: if punishment isn’t eternal… what exactly are you being saved from?

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Listen to today's Laugh Again with Phil Callaway, "Two Men and a Lawnmower." Enjoy!

Sin is never just a general category — and Nahum makes sure of that. Dr. John works through one of the most confronting passages in the Old Testament, where God names the specific sins of Nineveh with unflinching clarity and pronounces judgment on a nation that traded in blood, lies, and the destruction of others. A stark and searching look at what happens when a culture refuses to repent.

God's Patience Exhausted: What happens when a nation exhausts the patience of God? In this series, Dr. John works through the often-overlooked book of Nahum — the sobering sequel to Jonah — tracing the fall of the Assyrian empire and what it reveals about the character of God. A compelling study in divine justice, and a timely one for anyone who has ever presumed on the kindness of God.