King of Kings Lutheran Church Podcast

On Ash Wednesday, we remember that "we are dust and to dust we shall return." We remember our humanity and our brokenness as well as remembering that we are marked with the cross of Christ. 12 Step programs are so effective at engaging our humanity and brokenness in a way that leads to hope. In fact, there is value for all Christians to "work the steps."

Too often, we gravitate to either the mountaintop experiences of following Jesus or the messy experiences of following Jesus. The reality is that we need both if we are to truly become Christ's disciples.

Too often in the Christian life, we think obedience is about sin management and behavior modification. True obedience is following Jesus wherever He goes, even into the places of brokenness and hurting. When our lives become centered on Jesus' mission and not our own, Jesus produces in us the right way to obey.

We all know the joy of being chosen and the sting of being rejected.  While the world bases these decisions on performance, Jesus chooses us to invest His power into...and He NEVER gives up on His investment.

As disciples of Jesus, we are called into broken situations even when we don't think we can do anything about that. The authority we carry as disciples of Jesus is not found first in the manifestation of God's power, but in message of God's promise.

I hear the question often, “What is God’s will for my life?” Sometimes it feels difficult to know what God’s will is for us, but God’s Will isn’t hard to find. We just need to follow the signs.

The story of Christ's birth is familiar, but if we aren't careful, we can miss the unexpected. Jesus doesn't show up when and where we expect Him. He shows up when and where we need Him.

We want to believe we are strong, that we have it together, that we can figure it out. However, it is not until we realize just how dependent we are on God and how desperate we are for God to act that we are open to the joy of the Lord. That joy comes when Jesus defines our direction as part of God's plan to save the world from itself.

No one likes a hypocrite, but when we take an honest look in the mirror, a hypocrite is what we see. In baptism, however, we receive the gift of God's power to not only confront us but change us.