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Many seniors today are facing real financial strain—some even resorting to borrowing to cover their basic needs. For retirees on a fixed income, a reverse mortgage can be a practical solution to access the equity in their home and bring much-needed stability. On the next Faith & Finance Live, Rob West and Harlan Accola provide a message of hope for those looking for margin in their retirement years. Then, Rob responds to your calls and financial questions. That’s Faith & Finance Live, where biblical wisdom meets today’s finances—weekdays at 4pm Eastern/3pm Central on Moody Radio.

Faith & Finance Live is a listener supported program on Moody Radio.  To join our team of supporters, click here.

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To learn more about Rob West, click here.

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How dating impacts other relationships, plus navigating changes in your doctrinal beliefs, and a commitment-phobe’s guide to serving at church.    

Featured musical artist: Abandon

Roundtable: Maintaining Friendships While Dating

It happens all too often: You have great friendships and a robust social life. You’re involved in church and maybe even have a mentor. But soon after you start dating, things change. You spend more and more time with your bf or gf, and other relationships start to fade. You don’t think you have time for them. You’re so caught up in this new person that other people take a back seat. Some changes are expected, but what does it look like to date and navigate engagement in a way that still preserves the other important relationships in your life? Our panel weighs in.      

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Culture: Why Doctrine Matters

A listener recently contacted us, saying some of their Christians beliefs on secondary issues have changed since childhood. Now they’re wondering how to have conversations about these topics (baptism, worship styles, election, etc.) with their friends and family members. Pastor Mark Bates shares how to approach doctrinal topics with grace while keeping your focus on unity in the body of Christ.    

True Community: The Biblical Practice of Koinonia 

Inbox: I Want to Serve but Am Afraid to Commit 

Our listener wants to start serving at church but is afraid to commit to a church home. What’s the core issue here? Pastor Vince Hoppe offers advice.  

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What role should the doctrine of hell play in motivating people toward faith? Dr. John addresses modern objections to "hell-fire preaching" by demonstrating that Jesus Himself frequently warned people about hell - citing twelve passages from Matthew alone where Christ threatened eternal punishment. He challenges contemporary self-esteem culture where most people assume they're good and deserve heaven, calling listeners to recognize their desperate need for Christ's mercy while they still can.

Hell Explained: In this one week series, Dr. Neufeld unpacks the often difficult and uncomfortable doctrine of Hell. This study will discuss the biblical description of hell, how we can reconcile hell with the God of the Bible, and how it’s important for Christians to reflect on the seriousness of hell.

Listen to today's Laugh Again with Phil Callaway, "That Man With the Cross." Enjoy!

Are you struggling to reconcile a good God with a hard life? Hosts Dave and Ann Wilson sit down with Mark Vroegop, author of "Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy" to explore the vital biblical practice of lament. Mark reveals how lament, though prevalent in Scripture (making up one-third of the Psalms!), is often missing from modern Christian life. Drawing from his own profound experiences with loss, he explains how lament provides a faith-filled language for expressing grief, pain, and doubt directly to God, preventing despair and even the deconstruction of faith.

Show Notes and Resources

• Learn more about Mark at his website 
• Purchase Mark's book, "Dark Clouds, Deep Grace" online
• Purchase Mark's book "Waiting Isn't a Waste" at the FamilyLife online store
• See our shop for 25% off Small Group Studies 

• Find resources from this podcast at shop.familylife.com.
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Dive deep with Pastor Chuck Swindoll into Romans 1:1–13 to learn the substance and purpose of the Gospel.

From the Series: Romans: The Christian’s Constitution

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Sometimes we’d like to know the future, but God created us to live one moment at a time. And He gives us the light we need for each step we take—it’s when we go ahead of God we flounder.

Based on his book, Renaissance, Os Guinness calls the current generation the “crunch generation” because the many challenges facing today’s world are converging quickly and need resolution. He asks Christians to pay “focused attention” to listening to non-believers around them in order to connect. Os advises believers to think deeply for themselves when it comes to loving God with their minds. When witnessing, they must ask questions to those questioning Christianity, rather than making statements, allowing the non-believer to think and come to their own discovery of salvation in Jesus.

Two roller coasters. Only one seemed like a real option to me. I should point out that I really don't ride roller coasters much. "Because you're chicken," you say. No, because I'm too short. I just don't measure up to that little height chart that they have at the entrance to the coaster. Actually, I have a friend who declines roller coaster invitations by saying, "I can't. I have an inner ear problem." I like that. I may have to remember that one. For whatever reason, my rides on roller coasters are few and far between. But at this particular amusement park that I visited a few years ago, they had two roller coasters side by side and two lines to get to them. Over one line was a sign that said, "Forward." Over the other line, a sign that said - yeah, you guessed it - "Backward." You can ride looking forward or looking backward. Like this is a choice?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking Backward, Missing What's Ahead."

There are two lines in life, and two cars you can ride in. One says, "Forward" and the other says, "Backward." You choose. Frankly, I don't want to ride looking back at where I've already been. I want to ride looking ahead to where I'm going. I hope you do, too.

And that's what God wants for you. In our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 43:18-19 - some of my anchor verses. Here's what He says: "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." God wants today to be the first day of the rest of your life, not just another day of what your life has been up until now. This can be page one of a whole new volume or just another page of the same old story.

Maybe you've been riding too long looking backward. You keep rehearsing and reliving the hurt of your past, your failures, and the regrets over what you've done or what you should have done. But that's the past, and none of it can be changed. But if you don't move beyond the pain, the anger, the bitterness, the self-pity, the grief, and the self-condemnation - if you keep dwelling on that, you'll miss the part of your life that can be changed - the future.

One of God's great representatives, Paul, said, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). Jesus is the Lord of new beginnings, of fresh starts, of clean slates. You need to come to Him and let Him release you from being tied to the people who've hurt you, by getting His grace to forgive them. You need to ask His help to begin to define your life, not by what has happened, but by what's going to happen; what can happen because of Jesus in your life.

Just a few verses after God's call to forget the past and go for His new thing, He tells us how that's possible. He says, "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions...and remembers your sins no more" (Isaiah 43:25). That's what Jesus wants to do for you. It's why He died on that cross and why He rose again from His grave. He paid the death penalty for every wrong thing you've ever done so He could erase your sin from God's book forever, because otherwise, your sin will cost you heaven.

A new beginning. A fresh start. A clean slate. If you're at the point in your life where that's what you want, then it's time to open up your life to Jesus Christ. He's the Lord of new beginnings. You can reach out to Him right where you are and tell Him something like this, "Jesus, I'm done running my own life, I'm turning it over for You to run. I'm grabbing you with both hands because you died for my sin and I want today to be the first day of a new life; of a new me."

There's a lot mo