Anchored by the Word

In this episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin reflects on the lives and ministries of two theological giants—R.C. Sproul and John MacArthur—who, despite their significant doctrinal differences, modeled faithful cooperation for the sake of the gospel. Pastor Justin discusses how these men courageously stood against cultural compromise while maintaining theological integrity and mutual resp...

In this important and timely episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin steps outside our series on favorite bible verses to tackle a topic that’s both theologically rich and culturally relevant: How should Christians think about Israel? With Israel frequently in the headlines—from the October 7th Hamas attack to ongoing tensions with Iran—many believers are asking where the modern nation of I...

In this episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin continues our series on favorite Bible verses by diving into one of Paul’s most practical commands: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). He explores the historical and spiritual context of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, a church encouraged to stand strong in faith and love while eagerly anticipating Christ’s return. What did Pau...

In this weeks episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined by occasional guest and full time tech guru Josh Davis to discuss one of Josh's new favorite passages of scripture, Isaiah 49:1-7. They explore the powerful vision of Jesus as the Servant of God, prophesied in Isaiah and fulfilled in His earthly mission. From before His birth, God appointed Christ to accomplish salvation throug...

In this episode of Anchored by the Word, we continue our listener-submitted series on favorite Bible verses, focusing on Philippians 4:6—“Do not be anxious about anything…” Pastor Justin explores the historical and biblical context of Paul's letter to the Philippians, written from prison to a church facing internal conflict. He explains how understanding the full context of verses is crucial to fa...

In this episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin continues our series of discussions on "favorite verses," walking us through the powerful truths found in Psalm 3, a psalm submitted by one of our listeners and born out of David’s darkest hours as he fled from his son, Absalom. Pastor Justin explores the raw emotions and deep trust expressed in these verses, showing how David turns fear into...

In this weeks episode of Anchored by the Word, we explore the powerful truths behind Pastor Justin's favorite verse, Philippians 1:6. He is once again by his wife, Diana, as they discuss how this verse reminds us that no matter where we are in life, God is still working in and through us. We are not finished products, and that's a beautiful thing. Join us as we reflect on God's ongoing work in our...

In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin and Diana begin a series in which we dive into submitted "favorite verses" from the members of Westlake and our listeners. Today, they dive into Diana's favorite verse, Esther 4:14 to explore the profound truth of God's sovereignty. While God doesn't need us to fulfill His plans because His plan will succeed with or without us, He graci...

In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined by tech Tsar Josh Davis to sit down with Dr. Keith Foskey for a deep diving discussion of Reformed Baptist theology. Together, they explore the rich heritage of historic Baptist confessions, the distinctive of Reformed Baptist doctrine, the foundational truths of covenant theology, and a discussion around avoiding sin in the C...

In the final episode of Season 1 of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined once more by Diana to discuss a truth that is often hard to embrace: sometimes God's greatest blessings come wrapped in disappointment. When plans fall apart, it can often feel like failure-but what if it is divine redirection? In this episode, Justin and Diana explore biblical examples like Joseph, showing how God u...

"Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12 highlights the deep truth that our time is limited and how we use it matters. In today's fast paced world, however, distractions are constantly stealing our attention, crowding our hearts, and distracting us from the intentional, God-centered life we are called to. In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor...

In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined once more by Director of Family Ministries Chris Belknap to discuss the other major way to study theology: Biblical Theology. In contrast with the Systematic Theology we looked at last week, Biblical Theology looks at the major themes of the Bible and how the Old and New Testaments form one book with one message.

According to American Professor Kevin Vanhoozer, the goal of the Theologian "is to move beyond the acquisition of knowledge to its application in real life: in a word, to gain wisdom." But how does one study Theology? What even IS Theology? In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined by Chris Belknap- Director of Family Ministries at Westlake-to begin a discussion of th...

Theologian and philosopher Francis Schaeffer once said "People function on the basis of their worldview more consistently than even they themselves may realize." This is because your worldview-fundamentally-is the vehicle by which you understand and make sense of the world. Your worldview determines how you view reality, interact with other people, and make decisions  while also determining your b...

In the last decade, hundreds of thousands of people who claimed to be Christians have gone through an intellectual exercise by which they challenged their deeply held convictions. This process of "deconstruction" as it has come to be known has let to dozens of high profile people leaving the Christian faith. The question is: is deconstruction automatically a bad thing? In this weeks episode of Anc...

Historically, one of the defining doctrines of the various Baptist conventions is that baptism is only for believers, but WHICH believers should be baptized and when? In short, when should a church agree to perform a believer's baptism? In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin goes it alone for the first time in months to discuss this important historical doctrine and what the...

What does it mean to raise Godly children? How should a Christian raise their children? How do we navigate the complexities of an ever changing world so that our children love God first and foremost? In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined one last time by his wife, Diana, to complete the series on relationships by answering these and other questions in a biblical w...

Have you ever been angry at someone that hurt you? Has anyone ever been angry at you for hurting them? Have you ever struggled to figure out how to honor God when you have hurt someone or someone has hurt you? As you strove to forgive them or to plead with them for their forgiveness? Of course you have. In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined once more by his wife,...

In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin is joined once more by his wife-Diana-to continue the mini series exploring Godly relationships. This week, they take a deep dive into a topic that many in the church only give cursory attention to and even less discussion of: singleness. This episode is not just for the single Christian though. Even for Christians who have been married...

In this first installment of a four week series on Godly relationships, Pastor Justin Likens welcomes his wife of 20 years on as co-host. Justin and Diana discuss what it means to have a Godly marriage, discuss what to look for in a spouse, and give life saving advice to new couples.

Have you ever struggled with God's will for your life? Prayed earnestly, begging God for an answer? If you have, then you are in good company- most believers throughout history have wondered how to know God's plan for their life, and in this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin and Josh discuss how you can know that you are living in God's will. 

In this week's episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin has his oldest son, Andrew Likens, on as a special guest Co-Host. They discuss the question of whether or not failure is a blessing. In this touching episode, father and son discuss how Andrew's first semester of college and the challenges it brought can be used to learn deep biblical truths, along with addressing the most common modern...

Have you ever heard the phrase "Man, God understands! That's why he sent Jesus!" Better question: Have you ever considered whether or not that statement is biblical? In this weeks episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin and Josh discuss the heart beneath this lie from Satan, and also share the biblical truth that has been twisted to create this lie.

On this weeks episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin Likens and co-host Josh Davis tackle the issue of "Christian Perfectionism," which is an old, old belief that Christians can be perfectly sinless in life before Jesus comes back. Of course, this belief does bring about no small amount of frustration for many who hold to it, so this week, Pastor Justin and Josh encourage each other and th...

What does it mean to truly forgive? Does it require that you forget the offense, or that you pretend it didn't happen? In this weeks episode of Anchored by the Word, Pastor Justin dives into the Lie of Satan that forgiveness requires forgetting that the person who hurt you ever hurt you, and explains the biblical truth of what it means to truly forgive as scripture commands us.