The prophet, Isaiah, lived during a difficult period for the ancient Israelites. Turning away from faith in God and under the control of corrupt kings, the nation entered a period of darkness. They needed hope more than anything. In our discussion this week, we will talk about this human condition. Today, we are really no different from people in ancient times: We all need a relationship with our Creator. Isaiah 40:31 says, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on...
May 17, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 771
One reason people use for rejecting the claims of Christ is that there somehow isn’t enough evidence to prove that the events in the New Testament actually happened. In other words, some say the Bible isn’t true. We’re talking about the life of Jesus this week. So what is the true story? Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” There are more than 25,000 ancient copies of the books of the New Testament, in various languages. There are only a handful of acco...
May 14, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 770
Of the many gods throughout world history, almost none of them seem to care about individuals. They might alter the weather so that crops can’t grow. Or cause some global upheaval. But only one claims to care about you. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Isn’t that amazing? The story is that Jesus left His place of royalty in heaven to come to Earth as an innocent baby, then grow into a man ready to carry our sins for us. He came to find you! You! God...
May 13, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 769
As we talk through the Good News of Jesus this week, we must always make it personal. In other words, deciding to believe in Christ is a very personal thing. We all come from different backgrounds and belief systems. In the end, though, what will you do with the story of Jesus? Do you believe it is true? Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Over and over in the New Testament, Jesus talks to the individual. He knew us before we were born, and knows all t...
May 12, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 768
When we as Christians talk about the saving power of Jesus, what exactly do we mean? In our discussion this week of this all-important topic, are we clear about who Jesus is? Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” The facts are that Adam and Eve broke their faith in God by disobeying Him. Some dispute that this even happened in history, or some are just upset that God would demand complete obedience. But if we believe He is the Creator, we understand that...
May 11, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 767
There is a move in our society for a return to simple living. We might not want to give up all of our technology—much of it is wonderful and helpful. But it is true we want to quiet our minds and find some peace. This week we are talking about the simplest, sweetest truth around: Jesus Saves. With that knowledge in hand, we can all find peace that the Bible says is from another world. Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” It seems we are moving at near t...
May 10, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 766
Hers is the greatest motherhood story of all time. You know who she is. Magnificent Mary! Her story has been told many times, but how grateful we are that it’s recorded in Scripture. Whatever God’s reasons for choosing this particular woman to give birth to Jesus, we know that she must have loved the Lord with all her heart. And just think how her head and heart must have been spinning when the angel visited her and told her the special job God was going to give her! We know little about her bey...
May 07, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 765
Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to be close to Jesus when He was on the earth? It would have been amazing to be in His inner circle. We know of a remarkable woman, a family member, who would have been able to be around to watch the most amazing life unfold. Her name was Elizabeth. An aunt of Jesus. We read in Luke that everyone thought that the time for Elizabeth to become a mother was passed. In those days people thought sin prevented pregnancy, so this godly woman went thro...
May 06, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 764
Are you a woman blessed with the gift of a wonderful mother-in-law? We can hardly think of a more important relationship. Through the ages, this mentoring friendship has sealed families and nurtured them. Likewise, we easily see the pain inflicted when this relationship isn’t good. In the Old Testament, we read of a really remarkable mother-in-law. She showed great kindness to a young woman at just the right moment. After returning home to Bethlehem after a famine is over, Naomi wants the best f...
May 05, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 763
We don’t even know her name, but we know what she did. Let’s just say there was great strength in her household! Known only as the wife of Manoah, from the Israelite tribe of Dan, this godly woman was unable to have children. But then, in a kind of foreshadowing of another, more famous visit by an angel hundreds of years later, she was told by the Angel of the Lord that she would become pregnant and have a son. Samson! The last of the judges of Israel, Samson was his people’s deliverer from the ...
May 04, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 762
She’s not well known even though she’s, you know, in the Bible. But Jochebed…who’s heard of her? Raise your hands. This great woman deserves a bigger story in our culture, because she modeled what it means to act with bravery, and to value all life. Exodus 2:3 says, “But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.” Jochebed, you see, was the mother of M...
May 03, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 761
Of all the gifts God gives His children, joy is perhaps the one closest to heaven on earth. Who isn’t aware just how wonderful it feels to experience true joy? It is as if the Lord has freed a prisoner. When American POWs returned from captivity in Vietnam, the looks on their faces as they emerged from the planes carrying them to freedom…well, no one will ever forget that! Psalm 16:9 says, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. Scripture tells us t...
Apr 30, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 760
Have you ever been fooled by someone? Doesn’t feel good, does it? But the absolute worst is when we fool ourselves. We try to manage some problem on our own, or analyze why our boss is so mean. But the Bible has a better way of thinking about it. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” We have to do two things here: give total control to God, and de-emphasize our own judgment. Sometimes our gut is wrong. “Following our heart” often ends ...
Apr 29, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 759
Gwen closed her eyes and didn’t dare to even breathe. Japanese troops were right outside her house, looking for her and other missionaries. It was World War 2, and American forces in the Philippines were nearby. Just when Gwen and her friends thought someone would throw open the trapdoor to their basement hiding place, loud voices began getting dimmer. The enemy troops were distracted, and left in a hurry! Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, ...
Apr 28, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 758
When trouble is on the horizon, it can be hard to trust in God’s promises, and to believe He has a plan for us. The book of Judges in the Old Testament gives us an awesome example of trusting God in the story of Gideon. God called Gideon to lead Israel into battle with the Midianites, who had a sizable army of 135,000 men. Gideon gathered an army of 32,000 men to battle with the Midianites, but despite odds in favor of the enemy, God told Gideon there were too many men in his army. Through a sel...
Apr 27, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 757
Life is a process. We know that if we’ve lived very long at all. And this week, we’re talking about the process of trusting God. John 16:24 says, “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” Could Jesus meet our needs by just giving us something instantly? Of course. He made everything! And sometimes He does that; the miracles he performed that are recorded in the New Testament tell us that he often instantly met a person’s need...
Apr 26, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 756
1 Peter 5:6–7 says, “Humble yourselves, then, under God’s mighty hand, so that he will lift you up in his own good time. Leave all your worries with him, because he cares for you.” These two short verses tell us several things: One - if we submit to God’s power by acknowledging we can’t solve our problems, He is strong enough to intervene and bring about the outcome we really want. Second, He does this in his own time, on His own timetable. Third, we are to leave our problems at His feet. There ...
Apr 23, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 755
Do you get tired of being alone or afraid? Have you had enough of feeling like you can’t take any more stress? If you’re honest with yourself, there are times when you think you’re just going to lose it. The cares of this world can be like that. You stress about not having enough money each month just to pay your bills. You can’t sleep at night because your mind is racing, striving to create a workable plan for every possible scenario. And no one can actually do that successfully. So what do you...
Apr 22, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 754
Standing in the door of the plane, with a fierce wind whipping his whole body, Curtis wondered why he’d volunteered for the paratroopers. It was glamorous, they said. It’ll make a man out of you, they said. Shutting his eyes, Curtis prayed the most honest prayer of his life. He stretched out his hands and took a step… Lamentations 3:25–26 says, “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Rolling on the grou...
Apr 21, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 753
Carl loved working on his farm. He loved the solitude and sense of accomplishment. One day though, working alone, he was injured severely. In fact, if he didn’t get to the hospital, he would likely die. So, he banged the door of his old pickup shut and took off. He pulled into the hospital parking lot and lost what little consciousness he had. Waking up 24 hours later after surgery, he realized he remembered nothing of his injury or even getting to the hospital. In effect, the God he loved and t...
Apr 20, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 752
Do you like scary movies? Is an evening spent looking through your fingers appealing to you? It is to a lot of people. Some of us really like to be scared! But hopefully, that doesn’t translate to real life. Screaming in a dark theatre can actually be fun, but you don’t want to live a life of fear. Psalm 23:4 tells us, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” To be blunt about it, God made ...
Apr 19, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 751
Have you ever had the pleasure of waking up in a cozy cabin…after you’ve let the fire go out from the night before? If you don’t get out of bed and put more wood in that furnace, the squirrels or raccoons aren’t going to do it for you! Much more serious is the tendency to get lazy about the fire inside us to share the love of Christ. After so many years of being a Christian—especially living in a free country—sharing the Gospel can be put on the backburner. Romans 12:11–12 says, “Never let the f...
Apr 16, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 750
As followers of Jesus, we are meant to be witnesses. And Christ’s majesty and power are meant to blanket our world. He is intimately aware of you, and where you are in life. Isaiah 60:1 says, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.” When we trust Christ—when we believe the simple Gospel—we are called to get in the game. Sitting on such good news doesn’t make much sense, does it? Are you guilty of failing to shine a light in a dark world? It’s not too lat...
Apr 15, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 749
Think of what Jesus was asking of His followers. He had just risen from the dead. That doesn’t happen every day. His ministry had been destroyed, so they thought. He wasn’t coming back. But then He did. Only days after being killed on a brutal Roman cross, Jesus was standing in front of his friends, looking very much alive. And He was telling them their futures were dicey. Mark 16:15 says, “He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.” Jerusalem at the time was ...
Apr 14, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 748
Table salt today is so common, it becomes another thing we take for granted. You go to the store, pick a cylinder or jar of salt off the shelf, then go home. You don’t even think about it. Now, consider that 1,000 and more years ago, if a person wanted to use salt on his dinner, this required some prior work. A lot of work! The Romans boiled seawater in huge, lead-lined pans. So valuable was salt in the Roman Empire, it was used as currency! Mainly, it was used as a critical food preservative. M...
Apr 13, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 747
Defending the faith can sometimes be a subjective thing. As examples of extremes, we have seen the Crusades, and the modern form is perhaps an aggressive “pitch” to someone who isn’t a believer. The thing is, it’s great to be zealous for our faith, but let’s also be disciplined. We don’t want to alienate a person who might otherwise listen. To put it simply: an angry Christian is usually a lonely Christian. Jude 1:3 says, “Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salva...
Apr 12, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 746
Are you the kind of person everyone looks at and assumes you are strong, and you have it all together? You too, huh? Many of us look fine on the outside, but the human condition is often much different on the inside. Proverbs 31:25 says this of a godly woman: “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” As believers, we can laugh in the midst of struggle because God did not make us to have a spirit of fear. He never planned for us to suffer from depression or an...
Apr 09, 2021•3 min•Season 1Ep. 745
Do you remember the last time you laughed? Do you remember the last time you laughed from sheer joy? Many of us don’t. The weight of life presses down on us…it weakens us. Proverbs 31:25 says this of a godly woman: “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” Did you know that God means for you to be strong? He wants you to have dignity. You are a child of the King. You are a woman of faith. Or maybe you are a man who seeks God. That beautiful proverb reminds us...
Apr 08, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 744
Human kindness is healing for the soul. A viral video made the national news: a police officer cut the hair of a prisoner being released so that he could go on a job interview. It was one of those inspiring random acts of kindness that we love to hear about. Proverbs 31:26 says, “She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” The thing that made Jesus stand out to people in Israel was his incredible kindness. He stopped to heal someone physically, or offered kin...
Apr 07, 2021•2 min•Season 1Ep. 743
China in the 19th century was as remote and mysterious a place as has ever existed. Its countless villages, mountains, and hidden places were a challenge for inhabitants. Imagine what it was like for a small Christian woman from Virginia! Charlotte Moon, who went by the name that would become famous, “Lottie,” was a missionary to the Asian country for 40 years. Proverbs 31:25 says this of a godly woman: “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” Walking here a...
Apr 06, 2021•1 min•Season 1Ep. 742
