Advancing Word Podcast

In Chapter 18 of the Gospel of Luke, Jesus shares a parable about a Pharisee and a tax collector who went into the Temple to pray. The prayer of the tax collector prevailed because he focused on reality not ritual, appeal not applause and mercy not merit. What is the focus of our prayers?

In Part 2 of this message, Jesus’s love for Mary, Martha and Lazarus is a timeless reminder that God weeps with us, offering His presence for our prayers, His promises for our perspectives and His eternal person for our provision. All this is bound up in His declaration that all who lives and believes in Him, shall never die.

In Chapter 11 of the Gospel John, two sisters send an urgent message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” Jesus arrives in their small village four days later, weeps at the tomb of their brother and then raises him from the dead. In the reality of painful paradox, He still shows up in our difficulties, weeps with us and reveals His unlimited power.

At the heart of the Christian faith is the conviction that failure, however daunting, discouraging, or depressing, is not the last word.  Through the grace of God, no matter how far you fall, you can still get up!  In the tragic life of Samson recorded in the Book of Judges, Chapters 13 – 16, failure meets favor. This message helps us to understand the face, fact, folly, and forgiveness of failure...

In the first four stanzas of Psalm 145, the author reminds us that whatever else worship is it is infectious, viral, virulent, transmissive, and highly contagious!  When infected people worship, it is not just transformational but GENERATIONAL!  Contagious worship is characterized by its motivation, mechanics, measure, and ministry.  

Asaph, a worship leader in the Temple during the reign of King David experienced a crisis of faith as he observed around him “the prosperity of the wicked.” When he worshipped, he faced his crisis, found clarity, and framed a confession of his renewed faith in God. His experience still provides insight for the uptight. 

David’s faith exudes high definition clarity and comprehension as he affirmed God’s sovereign authority, sobering appraisal, satisfying availability and searching apprehension of his life in Psalm 139.  If we would see more clearly God's plans and purposes for our lives, we should follow his example.  

A desperate mother welcomes the prophet Elijah to her home during a famine. In an unselfish act of faith, she shares her last meal with him only to discover that miracles happen when the God of Israel comes to dinner! Her faith in a devoted prophet’s daring pronouncement resulted in an unexpected experience of God’s dynamic provision.

Our lives are as much about our detours as our destinies.  After a detour, the prophet Jonah arrives in Nineveh and is focused on his calling and destiny. We can appreciate his present location and purpose and learn from his experience if we understand the discoveries that brought him there.

While pursuing perfection, the Apostle Paul was in a war. The battleground was within him, and the adversaries were the flesh and the spirit.  For those who are struggling with sin today, we learn from Paul’s words and experience that, we cannot win the war with human reason, resolve or resources but only with and through the Heavenly Redeemer, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Frustrated with the condition of his nation, Habakkuk confronts God.  In the encounter, his renewed faith, stretched by purposeful witnessing, patient waiting and passionate worshipping, overcomes his stress. His example is timeless!

In Acts Chapter 9, the risen Lord appears to Saul on the Damascus Road.  This experience was a turning point in Saul’s life.  God’s motion (intervention) in Saul’s life was so compelling and transforming that the persecutor of the church became Paul, its greatest advocate, ally, and apostle. When we second what God motions, He will use us mightily too!

As Jesus’s public ministry comes to an end, he intensifies the training of the disciples.  He teaches them that genuine faith can move mountains!  Faith does not retreat from impossibility but trusts in God. The principles in this message will encourage believers today to talk to and conquer our mountains no matter what forms they take!

According to the author of Psalm 121, as Jewish pilgrims approached Jerusalem to worship,  seeing the pagan shrines on the hills surrounding the city, they reaffirmed their faith in God.  Their positive outlook was influenced by a profound spiritual “uplook”. Today, our personal awareness of God’s powerful availability will give us promising assurance in whatever situation we face in life.  

At the inception of his ministry, the prophet Isaiah summons a rebellious and disobedient nation to repentance. The compelling proposal he shares is a promise to every generation that God provides complimentary and comprehensive cleaning for the crippling contamination of sin.

The Apostle Paul declares his readiness to share the Gospel with the unsaved.  He is without a doubt, a "ready witness".  He was motivated by four factors that should encourage every Christian in this present day to witness to others about the salvation we have in Jesus Christ.   

In the spiritual life, dry ground is the place of confidence, stability, security and the corridor that leads us from bondage to blessing.  In the wet places of trial and tribulation, dry ground is the place where God meets our needs.  

His life threatened, his kingdom in turmoil, David sought God's presence.  In his distress, he wanted to "dwell in the house of the Lord".  In this place, he experienced a perfect getaway.  We can too!  

Proverbs 14:12 teaches that our decisions and choices in life have consequences.  Life is a path or road that we take and wrong turns and detours can be costly or even deadly.  

In John, Chapter 21, the resurrected Jesus meets the disciples near the Sea of Galilee.  His interaction with Peter transformed him.  The Lord redeemed his past, rekindled his passion and reshaped his purpose.  Failure is not final.  

In John, Chapter 21, the resurrected Jesus meets the disciples near the Sea of Galilee.  His interaction with Peter transformed him.  The Lord redeemed his past, rekindled his passion and reshaped his purpose.  Failure is not final.  

In John, Chapter 21, the resurrected Jesus meets the disciples near the Sea of Galilee.  His interaction with Peter transformed him.  The Lord redeemed his past, rekindled his passion and reshaped his purpose.  Failure is not final.  

In the wake of the death of their great leader Moses, the children of Israel are experiencing loss.  Yet, when the textual dust settles, it is not the death of their leader that is on the horizon but the fulfillment of their destiny as a nation as the new leader Joshua leads them to victory.  

In John, Chapter 12, Jesus provides a template for anyone who is seriously interesting in knowing who He is and becoming salt and light in world that has become increasingly antagonistic to the truth and to the church.  

If you had to produce a "spiritual receipt" validating your relationship to the Lord, would that receipt survive the scrutiny of an examination?