Word of Life Church Podcast

Jesus is forming a movement of people who will join him in announcing and enacting the Kingdom of God. An important understanding about Jesus is the way in which he selects his followers. Jesus does not seem to be very concerned about our categories of “good people” and “bad people”. Instead, he divides people into [...] The post Jesus Among Sinners appeared first on Word of Life Church.

After Jesus completed his 40 days of prayer and fasting in the wilderness, he soon returned to his hometown of Nazareth. Initially, Jesus was well received by his own people. They were brimming with excitement and great anticipation that their hometown kid might really be the long foretold messiah. But Jesus quickly realizes that the people in [...] The post A Prophet In His Hometown appeared first on Word of Life Church.

At Word of Life Church, we practice an Evangelical Eucharist; we invite everyone to the Lord’s Table to share in the body and blood of Jesus in Communion. Communion is as central to the Christian faith as scripture. It is the most tangible way that we encounter Jesus. At the center of our faith, we find [...] The post An Evangelical Eucharist appeared first on Word of Life Church.

Our Gospel is a translation, of course. Jesus did not speak in Americanized English. But the Gospel of Jesus has always been translated. Jesus taught in Aramaic, but the Gospels are written in Greek. The Gospel is supposed to be translated. If we don’t translate the original Gospel for contemporary people, the message is incomprehensible. [...] The post Translating Christianity appeared first on Word of Life Church.

John the Baptist called on Israel to repent in preparation for the Messiah. When people began asking what it was they should do, everything John said had to do with money. When you are willing to rethink what you do with your money… you’ve repented! John doesn’t mention any other sins, but he continually stresses [...] The post The Game Is Afoot appeared first on Word of Life Church.

God did not suddenly appear on the earth in human form one day. He came just as every other human did: He was born to a mother as an infant, and grew through childhood and into an adult. But the Bible tells us very little about Jesus’ childhood life. The only account of his life [...] The post The Child Jesus appeared first on Word of Life Church.

What does it mean to be a Christian? We really need to get this one right. Jesus told his eleven disciples just before he ascended to the Father to “go and make disciples of all nations”. This verse in Matthew 28 has become known as the Great Commission. The key word in the Great Commission [...] The post What It Means To Be A Christian appeared first on Word of Life Church.

When God became Man and came to the earth, he experienced the fullness of humanity. He didn’t merely just appear as a man. He was born as a helpless baby, lived a life as a man in the Roman occupied territory of Israel, and died. Jesus became Immanual, God with us, so that he might [...] The post The Prince of Peace appeared first on Word of Life Church.

December 21, 2012 came and went and the Mayan calendar ended up not predicting the end of the world after all. But we all knew it wouldn’t. Christianity is not an end of the world religion. It’s a redeem the world religion! It’s the religion of the Blessed Hope, resurrection! Doom-oriented theology makes sensational TV [...] The post The End of the World appeared first on Word of Life Church.

What kind of news would make you literally leap for joy, jump up and down, and throw your hat in the air? The end of a long war? The fall of the Berlin Wall? Winning the lottery jackpot? Being cured of cancer? When war ends and tyranny topples, when prosperity comes and sickness goes, that is [...] The post Leaping Baptists and Revolutionary Jews appeared first on Word of Life Church.

We don’t live in a time with tremendous depth of soul. This is a shallow age of hollow men. Our age is characterized by expanding technology and shrinking souls. Our culture is withering. We can make technologically brilliant movie adaptations of great books, but we can’t write those kind of books, and many of us [...] The post God-Bearers and Hollow Men appeared first on Word of Life Church.

What a mystery the mother of Jesus is. Mary is the human, the woman, through whom God enters and takes on humanity. Mary is a mystery because she’s intimately connected with the greatest mystery of all: The Incarnation. In Christ God became fully human and Jesus is fully human as you! The story of Jesus [...] The post The Mystery of Mary appeared first on Word of Life Church.

The final chapter of the Old Testament fills our heart with holy anticipation. The Book of Malachi (like all the prophetic books of the Old Testament) speaks of a coming day: The Great Day of the Lord. The poetic metaphor the prophet uses is that of the rising of the sun. He says the day [...] The post Here Comes the Sun appeared first on Word of Life Church.

We shouldn’t ever think that Jesus just popped into history 2,000 years ago out of nowhere. Jesus is the continuation of a story that began a very long time ago with Abraham & Israel. With the birth of Jesus God is not starting over. God is keeping his promise to bless the world with the seed [...] The post The Birth of John the Baptist appeared first on Word of Life Church.

John says, “Whoever has the Son has life”. That is to say, those who are in Christ have the potential to experience full human potential. Those who are outside of Christ have a measure of life, but they do not experience their full humanity without Christ. This life is not a momentary experience, but we [...] The post The Jesus Way appeared first on Word of Life Church.