Word of Life Church Podcast

By Pastor Brian Zahnd

Society & Culture Government & Organizations Philosophy Religion & Spirituality Spirituality Non-Profit Christianity

What's Word of Life Church Podcast about?

Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri is a thriving non-denominational church led by Pastor Brian & Peri Zahnd. We are followers of Jesus seeking to be an authentic expression of the kingdom of Jesus in the twenty-first century. Additional sermon audio and other resources are available at wolc.com.

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The Anticipated Christ: The...

11.27.2022

Christian theology calls the foreshadowing of Genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium—the proto gospel or the first good news. As Adam and Eve are subjected to death and exiled from Eden, there is the foreshadowed hope that someday a man born of ...

Word of Life Church Podcast episodes:

11.27.2022 The Anticipated Christ: The Proto Gospel (Audio) Christian theology calls the foreshadowing of Genesis 3:15 the protoevangelium—the proto gospel or the first good news. As Adam and Eve are subjected to death and exiled from Eden, there is the foreshadowed hope that someday a man born of ...
11.20.2022 Christ of All Things (Audio) The claims that Paul makes concerning Christ in his “All Things” theopoetics are absolutely stunning! Christ is before all things. Christ has first place in all things. All things were created in and through Christ. All things were created for...
11.13.2022 Springs of Salvation (Audio) Isaiah 12 is a song of salvation for all those who are in need of salvation -- and all the springs of salvation are found in Jesus.
11.06.2022 The Glory of the Latter Temple (Audio) The more glorious latter temple that the prophet Haggai foretold has nothing to do with impressive buildings or national interests or imperial aspirations—all of these things are the petty ambitions of the Pharaohs and Caesars of the world that is...
10.30.2022 Search and Rescue (Audio) In the story of Zacchaeus, we see the search and rescue mission of the Son of Man. Jesus didn’t come to condemn sinners, he came to search for and rescue those who are lost. People can lose their way in ...
10.23.2022 ...Me, A Sinner (Audio) You have heard it said, “Love the sinner and hate the sin.”But I say unto you, Love everyone and hate your own sin.
10.16.2022 The God Who Intervenes (Audio) It’s becoming increasingly common to hear those who have gone through some form of theological deconstruction say, “I no longer believe in an interventionist God.” But this strikes me as little more than functional atheism. Are we back to the ...
10.09.2022 Exiles In Babylon (Audio) "Christians are no different from other people in terms of their country, language, or customs. Nowhere do they inhabit cities of their own, use a strange dialect, or live out of the ordinary. They inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities...
09.25.2022 Where There Is No War (Audio) Where there is no war, is in heaven above, where Christ reigns supreme. In the world above, the world to come, the war is already won. The devil has been cast down and no longer has any place in heaven ...
09.18.2022 Beloved But Hard To Believe It (Audio) This sermon is an exploration of the fundamental truth that many of us know, but most of us find hard to believe. 1 John 4 lays out the extraordinary claim that God is love. The implications for our lives and ...
09.11.2022 Memorial Stones (Audio) After the ancient people of God crossed the Jordan River and entered into the Promised Land, they stacked 12 stones to serve as a memorial that God indeed had remained faithful to God’s people. The resurrection of Jesus is our ...
09.04.2022 The Truth Comes From Above (Audio) The Gospel of John decidedly and deliberately differs from Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John the Evangelist wants to give us a theological Gospel containing the highest possible Christology. In his opening sentence John tells us that this one who is ...
08.28.2022 Finding God In The Music: Sanctuary (Audio) Sanctuary Hiss Golden Messenger Feeling badFeeling blueCan't get out of my own mindI know how to sing about itRing of boneA little lonelyI better hit the road, childWe can cry into the phone a whileJubileeFind meSteady with your hope nowThat...
08.21.2022 Finding God In The Music: Quiet Town (Audio) Quiet Town The Killers A couple of kids got hit by a Union Pacific trainCarrying sheet metal and household appliancesThrough the pouring rain They were planning on getting married after graduationHad a little baby girl, trouble came and shut...
08.14.2022 Finding God In The Music: Unconditional (Lookout Kid) (Audio) Unconditional (Lookout Kid) Arcade Fire Lookout kid, trust your heart You don't have to play the part They wrote for youJust be trueThere are things that you could doThat no one else on earth could ever doBut I can't teach ...
08.07.2022 Finding God In The Music: Waiting On A War (Audio) Waiting On A War Foo Fighters I've been waiting on a war since I was youngSince I was a little boy with a toy gunNever really wanted to be number oneJust wanted to love everyoneIs there more to this than ...
07.31.2022 Finding God In The Music: A Hero's Death (Audio) Life ain’t always empty… Don’t get stuck in the pastSay your favorite things at massTell your mother that you love herAnd go out of your way for othersSit beneath a light that suits youAnd look forward to a brighter futureLife ...
07.24.2022 The Perfect Prayer (Audio)
07.17.2022 Everyday Mystics (Audio) Mary and Martha do not represent two kinds of people—the contemplative person and the practical person. Mary and Martha represent two choices—two choices we all have to make. Jesus said that Mary made the better choice. Mary chose to be ...
07.10.2022 Go And Do (Audio) The life of the age to come for those who are seeking first the kingdom of God is a “go and do” kind of life. Near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "Not everyone who calls ...
07.03.2022 The Fall of the Satan (Audio) Wherever people hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and begin to love God with all their hearts, love their neighbor as themselves, embrace the way of peace and reject war, refuse to be an agent of accusation, choosing advocacy instead, ...
06.26.2022 What Kind of Spirit? (Audio) The "Sons of Thunder," James and John, wanted to call fire down from heaven on a Samaritan village who refused to welcome Jesus. In their petition they were able to cite Scripture because Elijah had done this. But Jesus rebuked ...
06.19.2022 Demons (Audio) Don't surrender your faith in Jesus to an ideological ism. Nationalism, Socialism, Capitalism, Marxism, Conservatism, Progressivism, Fundamentalism, Liberalism, etc. Isms can easily become possessed, turn into a herd, and rush off a cliff. Sit...
06.12.2022 Trinity Sunday: Dazzle Gradually (Audio) This sermon is about the long, gradual, Spirit-guided journey into the dazzling light of all truth. Tell all the truth but tell it slant —Success in Circuit liesToo bright for our infirm DelightThe Truth’s superb surpriseAs Lightning to the...
06.05.2022 Pentecost: The Experience of God (Audio) The Holy Spirit is the experience of God. Thinking about God is theology. And theology matters. Theology is the Queen of the Sciences. It’s important that we think as accurately as possible about the God who is Father, Son, and ...
05.29.2022 Eastertide: The Healing of the Nations (Audio) On the seventh Sunday of Eastertide we look at the culmination of great story of redemption. At the end of the Bible we discover that the gospel story does not end with the lucky elect whisked off to heaven—it ends ...
05.22.2022 Eastertide: The Darkness Will Not Endure (Audio) "I do not know what is happening. The reason of my waking mind tells me that great evil has befallen and we stand at the end of days. But my heart says nay; and all my limbs are light, and ...
05.15.2022 Eastertide: The Road Away From God (Audio) Sermon by Jonathan Martin. In this sermon, Jonathan Martin reimagines Luke's story of two disillusioned disciples walking the Emmas road away from the holy city, where they had watched their hope die a gruesome death right before their...
05.08.2022 Eastertide: Shining In the Light (Audio) With the resurrection of Jesus Christ the darkness is fading and the true light is already shining. But how do we know if we are shining in the light or drifting into the darkness?
05.01.2022 Eastertide: Showings (Audio) The greatest revelations of divine love come from showings of the risen Christ. But these showings are not just for first century disciples or medieval mystics; Jesus wants to show himself to all of us, and in ways that are ...
04.17.2022 Easter Sunday 2022: Christ Pantocrator (Audio) Jesus preaches his own Easter sermon, when in the book of Revelation he says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty (Pantocrator). Fear ...
04.15.2022 Good Friday 2022: The Singularity of Good Friday (Audio) The cross is the true center of history—everything leads up to it and everything flows from it. The death of God upon a tree is not just some event within history, it is the event that defines and explains, reveals ...
04.10.2022 Jesus the Healer: A Temple for All (Audio) During his final days in Jerusalem, Jesus prophesied the end of the old temple and the emergence of a new temple -- a new temple known as the Body of Christ. This new temple is not made of limestone, but ...
04.03.2022 Jesus the Healer: To Harm or Heal? (Audio) The thing that was initially the most obvious about Jesus was that he was a healer. Everyone knew that Jesus was a healer, even his enemies, who sought to use this against him. In the story of Jesus healing the ...
03.27.2022 Jesus the Healer: Hope For The Harassed and Helpless (Audio) What happens when the carriers of hope and healing become the cause of harm and hurt? The wounds cut deeper, the pain becomes unbearable, and the harassed and helpless feel like sheep without a shepherd. Despite the failure of the ...
03.20.2022 Jesus the Healer: Ultimate Healing (Audio) The healing of Lazarus brought the dead back to life. Much like the other events of healing in the ministry of Jesus, this miracle demonstrated God’s glory, majesty, and magnificence. People saw Jesus' authority as he raised the dead and ...
03.13.2022 Jesus The Healer: Bringing the Sick to Jesus (Audio) Jesus carried our sins in his own body on the cross so that he might take away our sins, our brokenness, our sickness. This is the good news buried in the sorrow of Lent. He was wounded so that we ...
03.06.2022 Jesus The Healer: The Faith of Friends (Audio) We tend to make a hard theological distinction between sin and sickness, between iniquity and illness, between guilt and death; but Jesus doesn’t seem to make that kind of hard distinction. In his great compassion Jesus looks upon all of ...
03.02.2022 Ash Wednesday: Into the Ashes (Audio) You have heard it said, God helps those who help themselves. But I say unto you, God helps the helpless and leaves the rest to help themselves. We are saved when we call upon the name of the Lord—and we ...
02.27.2022 Epiphany: Mystics on the Mountains (Audio) One of the most remarkable aspects of the Transfiguration is the appearance of Moses and Elijah—Moses who lived twelve centuries before Christ and Elijah who lived nine centuries before Christ. Moses and Elijah were mystics who had had their own...
02.20.2022 Epiphany: The Politics of Heaven (Audio) During the season of Epiphany leading up to Lent, the Gospel readings in the lectionary are focused on the early ministry of Jesus—that is, from his baptism to his transfiguration. What we find in the first half of the Gospels ...
02.13.2022 Epiphany: Hence Comes the Healer (Audio) When Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee around the age of thirty, the thing that drew the crowds and spread his fame was that he was a healer. John the Baptist was famous as a preacher and baptizer, but ...
02.06.2022 Epiphany: Depart From Me (Audio) "Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self. This is the man that I want myself to be but who cannot exist, because God does not know anything about him. And to be unknown by ...
01.30.2022 Epiphany: Hometown Jesus (Audio) Jesus was rejected in his hometown. What are we to think of the people of Nazareth? Were they just more dull-witted or hard-hearted than the people of Capernaum? No. They had simply stumbled at the offence of familiarity. And today ...
01.23.2022 Epiphany: Praying The Psalms (Audio)
01.16.2022 Epiphany: Vintage Christianity (Audio) My life has become so intertwined with the story of the Wedding Feast at Cana that it has become the primary way that I tell my born again again story. Every time I read about how Jesus turned the water ...
01.09.2022 Epiphany: Water and Flame (Audio) The spiritual genius of the lectionary is on display when the water and flame poem of Isaiah 43 in the Old Testament is connected with Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism in the New Testament. By making this connection, we are ...
01.02.2022 Christmas 2021: The Rising Star (Audio) The star of Bethlehem is not to be found in a re-creation of ancient astronomy. The star of Bethlehem is the "more sure word of prophecy" that rises in our hearts in response to the proclamation of the gospel.
12.26.2021 Christmas 2021: Into the Wonder (Audio) As children we dream of finding our own real-life adventure…and we end up finding a job. Adventure is set aside for a career and wonder is the casualty. As children we are in a hurry to grow up because we ...
12.19.2021 The Season Of Advent: Where the Word Enters the World (Audio) Christ is not just born in the beautiful places of our lives, as if we live in the idyllic bubble of a snow globe. Christ is also born in the war-torn places of our lives, littered with rubber bullets and ...

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