Word of Life Church Podcast

Discover how to navigate a world filled with fear and violence by moving from a house of fear to a house of love. Explore the roots of the term 'Christian' and the importance of genuine discipleship. Delve into the unity of evangelism and discipleship, emphasizing love—even for enemies. Engage with the radical command to love your enemies and transform your fears into love. Experience the power of spiritual community in fostering support and nurturing divine love, inspired by the early church's fearless faith.

Hans Urs von Balthasar said, "Love alone is credible; nothing else can be believed, and nothing else ought to be believed.The first thing that must strike a non-Christian about the Christian’s faith is that it is too good to be true." And even Christians are hesitant to believe that the deepest essence of God’s being is co-suffering, self-giving, never-ending love. Yet this seemingly inconceivable truth about the love of God is the pinnacle of scriptural revelation.

Here we are now, five-hundred years down the road—five-hundred years beyond the Wittenberg Door. And finding ourselves half a millennium beyond the Wittenberg Door, how should we now think about the Protestant Reformation?

If you are a follower of Jesus you are not what you do. You aren't what people say about you or what you say about you. You are not what your haunted past says about you. These all belong to your old self, your false self. If you are a follower of Jesus, you find your true self in Jesus. Through baptism we have died to our old self and now our life, our new self, is hidden away with Christ in God. Who am I? I am Christian. I am a fellow follower of Jesus. I am a full-functioning member of God’s family. This identity supersedes all other identities. Before race, nationality, and gender, I am Christian. Before family identities, I am Christian. Before political affiliation and ideology, I am Christian. Fight the temptation to trade away your Christian identity for anything else, because your life, your true self, is hidden with Jesus.

A well respected, established pharisee and religious leader comes to Jesus under the cloak of darkness. Why? What is his fear? What does he want with Jesus? Can we begin to understand the life giving work of God through the story of Nicodemus? Jesus comes to bring long awaited changes to a weary and wounded world. His work to transform the world is accomplished through transforming people. Stories of transformation like the story of Nicodemus, reveal a God who cannot be tamed or controlled. Like the wind - the Spirit of God is blowing in new life, new seasons, and new perspective. Are we willing to open up and receive it?

Q&A Session from the message "What About the Book of Revelation?"

What is the book of Revelation? It's basically four things:1. Revelation is a prophetic interpretation of the cataclysmic events of the AD 60s/70s.2. Revelation is a prophetic critique of the Roman Empire.3. Revelation is a prophetic exposé of the idolatry of empire and civil religion.4. Revelation is a prophetic portrayal of the eventual triumph of Christ.

Q&A Session from the message "What About Hell?"

Jesus’ teaching on hell is basically this: If you refuse to love, you cannot enter the kingdom of God and will end up a lonely, tormented soul. But hell in its popular and pagan misconceptions has been a blight upon the beauty of the Christian gospel.

Q&A Session from the message "What About the Violence of the Cross?"