CIAM Radio

SEGMENT 1

• Our church is currently without any qualified men to lead worship. Is it sinful for a woman to step into the role of worship leader? – Austin

SEGMENT 2

• When Jesus taught in parables, was he teaching allegorically? – Chuck

• Would you recommend Tim Challies’ book “Season of Sorrow” to a family who is grieving a loss but are not believers? – Matt

• Paul makes clear in Romans that everyone, deep down, has knowledge that God exists. When there are, for example, unreached Amazonian tribes that worship a sun-god, will they be punished for worshiping the wrong god, although they acknowledge that a god exists? – Steven

SEGMENT 3

• Are Christians obligated to stay in, or return to, a marriage where physical abuse has occurred? – Anonymous

SEGMENT 4

• The pastor of a church we are interested in joining doesn’t seem very interested in evangelism or growing the church body. What should we do? – Michael

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Listen to today's Laugh Again with Phil Callaway, "Tricks My Dog Taught Me." Enjoy!

After the rich young ruler walks away, Jesus tells His disciples something shocking: "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Dr. John Neufeld explores Matthew 19:23-30, where Jesus reassures His astonished disciples that what's impossible with man is possible with God, and promises that those who leave everything to follow Him will receive a hundredfold and eternal life. This episode challenges us to ask: what are you really trusting in?

The Ministry of Our Lord: Join Dr. John Neufeld for a journey through Matthew 19-20, where Jesus makes His final trip to Jerusalem. The crowds are growing, expecting triumph and glory. But what Jesus teaches is startling: humility over greatness, sacrifice over power. This Messiah will not rule from a throne—He will reign from a cross. Discover what it means to follow a suffering King.

Two things make Achan’s story especially sad. First, it occurred so suddenly on the heels of an incredible victory—the miraculous invasion of Jericho. And second, it resulted in a devastating toll on so many others. One man—a single, isolated individual—deliberately chose to disobey, yet numerous innocent victims fell in the wake of his sin, bringing calamity to a nation.

From the Series: Fascinating Stories of Forgotten Lives: Rediscovering Some Old Testament Characters

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Tired of feeling too busy to disciple your family? Authors Adam and Chelsea Griffin of the Family Discipleship Podcast stand ready to prove it’s simpler—and richer—than you think. With laugh-out-loud anecdotes, gritty wisdom, and a refreshingly doable framework, they show how small, costly choices shape kids for Christ. It’s practical. It’s hopeful. And it might just reset your whole rhythm.

Show Notes and Resources

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• All small group kits and workbooks are 25% off January 6-31, 2026

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Grace is undeserved. You can’t earn it, it’s free, and you can never pay God back. All you have to do is admit your need and receive God’s grace. That’s how a gift works—you simply accept it.

David Green, the founder of Hobby Lobby, and his ministry partner, Bill High, share their secrets to leaving a lasting family legacy. Learn about transferring family values to your children and grandchildren. Hear David’s inspiring stories of stewarding his business and family with a long-term mindset.

"Family Secrets" - that was the bold headline on a Newsweek magazine. The story was inspired by what happened in the life of then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who was, as she was being considered for that position, learning a secret her family had kept for decades. She thought her grandparents had been Czechoslovakian Catholics who died peaceful deaths. But they were, in fact, Jews who'd been murdered in a Nazi concentration camp. But Newsweek was using that incident to point out how many families have secrets in their closets, from hidden adoptions to hushed-up romances, sometimes with painful consequences. Like one lady the story told about, a lady named Deborah. She was a student at a music conservatory when she married an African American man. She's white and she had two sons. Later that marriage ended in divorce.

When Deborah moved back to her parents' white neighborhood, her sons were not accepted there, so she decided they'd be better off living with an African American family. She put them up for adoption and tried to resume her life. But she was tormented by that decision. In fact, she lost her trained lyric-soprano voice. She said, "I was never able to sing after that." When she remarried, she kept her past a secret for ten years. When she finally confessed it to her husband, he responded compassionately, they went on a search for her sons and there's a happy ending. In the magazine's words, "The family was reunited, the secrets were told, and almost miraculously, her singing voice came back."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Secret That Keeps You From Singing."

It's amazing the torment that can come from a dark secret. Maybe you know that firsthand. In a sense, it can keep you from singing, from experiencing all the joy and all the freedom that you were created to have. It's even more amazing the release that can come from dealing with the dark secret.

Maybe there's a dark secret or more than one secret that are tying you up inside. It may be your secret sins, or the sins of someone else against you. But as long as it's a secret, you're a prisoner to it. And even though others may not know the dark secrets you carry, they're feeling the effects of it. They feel it in your anger, your depression, or some other way it comes out in your personality. Usually when you continue to store a dark secret, it just continues to multiply the pain and keep you from singing.

Well, our word for today from the Word of God, it's got hope in it! John 8:32 - "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free." Now we live like this: "the truth will scare you to death, or the truth will ruin you." Jesus said no, it will "Set you free." Like that woman who could no longer sing, you can't be free until you face and deal with the dark secrets. Jesus goes on to say, "Everyone who sins is a slave to sin, if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Jesus is the Liberator from the bondage of your past! Maybe it's time for you to open up your hurting heart to the Liberator so He can do what only He can do.

If you're going to face the dark secret, you need someone to go with you there who will not condemn you, and that would be Jesus. He's known your secret all along. He died to pay for all that sin. He died to forgive it. You need someone who is also strong enough to carry that secret, to heal its wounds, to restore you. Isaiah 53 says of Jesus, "He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." That actually happened on Jesus' cross where every sin and every secret of your life was dealt with and paid for.

And today He's saying, "I'm ready to help you face it, to make you clean, to become your personal Savior." Would you tell Him toda