Journey RVA Podcast

Our big mouths can be destructive, but they also have the power to build others up. What we say can impact the quality, and even the direction, of the lives of the people around us. How can we use this power for good?

Like a small spark that has the potential to scorch an entire green forest, our tongues are untamable, with the power to control our whole bodies. We have a tool that can be used to build up those around us or tear them down in just a few words. What do we do with that kind of power? We can't lock it away. But we can, by God's grace, learn to control it.

We all know what it's like to be hurt by someone who just couldn't listen long enough to understand us. Maybe in their attempt to be right, they damaged a relationship that could have been saved with a little patience and curiosity. You've probably been on the other side of that coin too. Taking the verbal offense may have won the argument, but you lost relationally. What if we didn't settle for being right, but tried to make things right instead? The longer we listen, the more we learn, and the better chance we have of protecting ourselves from our own big mouths.

Sometimes church people get confused about what it is they are supposed to be doing. Jesus, however, was very clear about what he expected — commanded — his followers to do. Getting and maintaining clarity on Jesus's mandate for his followers is essential if we desire to fulfill his mission for us in this world.

God wants us to pray. He wants us to present our needs and requests to him. God's desire for our prayers, however, goes far beyond simply presenting our needs and requests to him. God also has a strategic purpose for our prayers.

Christians in the first century were not content with simply gathering in a holy huddle. From the beginning, they were on a mission to spread the Gospel of Jesus to anyone who would listen. Even though they were persecuted and martyred for spreading the Gospel, they would not stop. But why? What motivated them to a continue to call people to repentance and to surrender their lives to Jesus? What can we learn from their example?

Nero burned Rome in July of A.D. 64. Shortly thereafter, persecution broke out against Christians. The Apostle Peter wrote to a scattered group of Christians to encourage them and to instruct them on how to live in incredibly difficult times. What Peter wrote to these Christians is relevant to us today, more than 2,000 years later.

Christians in the first century were not only a minority group, practicing their faith was a challenge. Sometimes they grew discouraged and simply stopped engaging in the community of the Church. This is one of the issues the writer of the New Testament letter of Hebrews was addressing. What can we learn from their experience?

People who were not like Jesus liked Jesus, and he liked them back. Since the church is the body of Christ, people should be drawn to Jesus followers. Even if they don't agree with the message of the church, they should like the church. So, why isn't that true?

There is an assumption that good things happen to good people, and bad things happen to sinners. But clinging to that myth will cause your faith to eventually be ground into dust.