Living Water Radio: For Today's Christian Life

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  As churches re-open, at what we hope is the waning of the Coronavirus pandemic, we are being given an opportunity to re-open the life of the Church to in some ways resemble the early Church, begun on the Day of Pentecost, as an inclusive community. We start by being a servant Church before we are an institutional Church.

   Referenced Bible texts: Acts 2: 1-8; Matthew 5:14-16; 
   Referenced magazine article: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/may/george-floyd-ministry-houston-third-ward-church.html
   Referenced book: How To Knock Over a 7-Eleven and Other Ministry Training by Michael Cheshire, copyright 2011 by Michael Cheshire, WestBow Press; 
on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/How-Knock-Over-7-Eleven-Ministry/dp/1449727379/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?dchild=1&keywords=how+to+knock+over+a+7-Eleven+and+other+ministry+tales&qid=1591546195&sr=8-1-fkmr0

Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  The first 2020 pandemic is the COVID-19 pandemic, and the second is the widely seen and growing demonstraitions that are following the murder of George Floyd by 4 Minneapolis police officers and the broad public response. I propose a third pandemic that is a pandemic of lives transformed by God into God’s new creation, a viral movement to change the world beginning with the proclamation that with God as our parent all people are children of God. Transformed lives transform the world.     

Referenced Bible Texts:  2 Corinthians 5:16-17, John 3:3-8, Romans 8:12-14; 1 John 4:4
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  The murder of George Floyd, and its capturing on videotape, has brought the need for difficult confersations on race to the fore, again. George Floyd was a brother in Christ, a human being created in God’s image. Christians are called to show love toward the murderers, the rioters, and police. We are called to our humanity as children of God in one another and to press the difficult dialogue on racial justice forward.    

Referenced Bible Texts:  Genesis 1:26-27; Galatians 3:27-28; John 7:37-39
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  The conditions for opening churches during the pandemic raises questions about the Church’s core beliefs. A living relationship with the one true living God is at the center of all that we do. Our worship is our life, and our life is our worship. Our guide is our love for all people, because God has first loved us.

Referenced Bible Texts:  Luke 10:38-42; 1 John 4:17-1
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  We remember on this Memorial Day those who gave what Abraham Lincold called “the last full measure of devotion” dying in our nation’s wars. We also note that close to 100,000 people have died, just in the U.S. in this coronavirus pandemic. How can Christians help bring down the numbers of those who have died of the virus? When should Christians return to being physically present in worship? One important guide is the Bible’s high value of love for Christian life. It’s been said that everything the Bible says about love can be summarized in two words, “Jesus Christ”. We respond to God’s love for us at the cross by loving others. We seek the welfare of all, especially those who are most at risk, by wearing masks, washing or sanitizing our hands frequently, practicing social distancing, and for some of us staying at home unless it is necessary to go out. 

Referenced Bible Texts:  Matthew 22:34-40; 1 John 4:7-12; John 15:12-17
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  We are not yet at herd immunity or a vaccine, or even very good treatment yet, so precautions like social distancing, frequent hand-washing, and wearing facemasks are necessary to protect others as well as ourselves until we can get back to something like the way things were. The Kingdom of God is a return to the way things God intended them to be from Creation. It is entirely and gift from God. It has begun in Jesus Christ but will not be perfect until God makes a new heaven and a new earth. Meanwhile, we are called to open our hearts to a living faith with the living God and, in response, make this world more like the perfect world that is to come. We both are there and we are not there. Yet. 

Referenced Bible Texts:  Mark 1:14-15; Acts 16:29-31
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  We need to wear no masks to protect others from the coronavirus. We need wear no masks before God.
 
Referenced Bible Texts:  Matthew 6:5-6; Proverbs 21:2
Referenced magazine article: https://www.fastcompany.com/90479846/the-untold-origin-story-of-the-n95-mask
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  We have an opportunity to spend more time working on what is inside our selves while we are spending more time inside our homes.

Referenced Bible Texts:  Luke 5:15-16; Matthew 23:25-26
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  We struggle in this world because of our rebellion against God, but God calls us into God’s presence through the cross, both in this world and in the next. The purpose of our lives is to love God and to serve others. Paradise is where God is.

Referenced Bible Texts:  Luke 23:39-43; Genesis 3:19; 1 Corinthians 2:9
Our Email Address:  [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

Summary:  The world is not the way it’s supposed to be, but God accompanies us through our strggles as well as through the good times. Even in times when we can’t feel it, God never abandons us. 

Referenced Bible Text:  Psalm 139:7-12
Referenced Article: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/05/coronavirus-renew-faith-in-god-reflect-on-what-matters-column/5114700002/
Our Email Address:  [email protected]