Living Water Radio: For Today's Christian Life

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   When we proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ, our goal is not for people to hear what we have to say, but to hear what God is saying through us, the very words of God, that God may be glorified. We do not speak on our own, and the results are not our own, but come in the power of the Holy Spirit.    Referenced Bible verses:  1 Peter 4:10-11; John 3:8; John 12:20-21  ...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   Worship, whether in person or on Zoom, is directed to God. The question to ask ourselves after a liturgical worship service, said philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard, is not “What did I get out of that?” but, “How did I do?” I offer 12 way to make worship better, which might be summarized by, “Get out of God’s way.” 😊    Referenced Bible verses:  Colossians 3:...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   Sally’s sister Susan died peacefully last Sunday morning after a valiant struggle with pancreatic cancer, on the First Sunday in Advent, a season of hope and expectation. Everything that lives, dies, until the second advent. Christians believe, however, that death happens in our Baptism and that, just as Jesus rose from the dead, so will we. What the world sees as death...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   There are things to be thankful for even during a global pandemic. The liturgical calendar infuses time with meaning and reminds us that time is a creation of God, that time is in God’s hands, and that it’s meaning has been made known to us in Jesus Christ. We are grateful for our families, for the self-sacrificial work of all those providing essential services for thos...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   The rising number of new coronavirus cases in the United States are no longer described as a spike, but as a surge. Much of this surge could have been prevented, lives could have been saved, and our economic recovery could have been on more solid ground. We need open hearts that receive the surge of the Holy Spirit to produce the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, ge...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   Church development in the post-pandemic New Normal Church will take place through a flattened church hierarchy, a renewed emphasis on the Christian nature of the Church’s institutions and agencies, and a focus on the transformational nature of the Christian faith, in Jesus Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit and embodied and proclaimed by Christians in the world.     R...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:      The Good News of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for our redemption remains the same from generation to generation. The means we use to proclaim Christ are always changing. Church of the post-pandemic 21st Century Church will have more in common with the Church of the 1st Century than with the 20th. We will be more vibrant in our expression of the work of the...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:      The Good News of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross for our redemption remains the same from generation to generation. The means we use to proclaim Christ are always changing. Church of the post-pandemic 21st Century Church will have more in common with the Church of the 1st Century than with the 20th. We will be more vibrant in our expression of the work of the...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   Each of has a spiritual gift (or serial gifts), given at baptism for the sake of accomplishing the work God has given the Church to accomplish. The extraordinary “signs and wonders” gifts like speaking in tongues, divine healing, prophecy, etc, may have ended with the last of the apostles. All of us have received the gifts of the Word and the Sacraments, signs and wonde...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   The Two Kingdoms doctrine is an often misunderstood understanding of how God works in the world. It reminds us of God’s sovereignty over all things while calling Christians to work for the good of all, including through the governments, law enforcement agencies, armed forces, etc. of this world, while holding this world’s leaders accountable to work in accord with God’s...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   Election, or predestination, doesn’t mean that how we live our lives doesn’t matter, it means that why we live our lives does matter. Whatever the outcome the coming election will bring about a great deal of angst. Our hope is in God’s election, or decision, for us and our salvation by grace. Our work to make the world better is done in the context of the only election...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    How we celebrate is as important as what we celebrate. All our celebrations are flawed in some ways, except when we celebrate the gifts, like faith, salvation and baptism, that come from God and make us who we are.    Referenced Bible texts:  Romans 1:16-17; Ephesians 6:10-18    Our Email Address:  TheRevsDavidandSally@gmail.com    Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.c...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    Many feel like they are in a fog right now in the pandemic, they look around and say, “This Is Not My Life”, and they are right. Whatever our external circumstance, our lives are not our own. They belong to Christ.    Referenced Bible texts:  Colossians 3:1-4; Romans 14:7-8    Referenced quote: Basics of Greek Grammar by William Mounce, page 38    Our Email Address:  T...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    Many of us have become accustomed to wearing a bit more “informal” type of clothing at home during the pandemic. Jesus’ clothing was deemed by some to be embarrassing. That tells us something about Jesus and brings us comfort during the pandemic. He emptied himself to provide a means to know the joy of a living relationship with the one true living God now and for all...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    We become a church that is able to make disciples, to invite, nurture and parent people with no, or very limited, Christian experience when we are humble, transparent, real, and prepared.    Referenced Bible texts:  Matthew 18:20;  Matthew 16:17-18;  Matthew 28:16-20    Our Email Address:  TheRevsDavidandSally@gmail.com    Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/dberke...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    There is nowhere in the Bible that Christians are shown how to be the government or even the majority culture. Our role is instead to be like salt and light and leaven, transformational agents as long as we maintain our true character as the people of God.  It is to call the government to seek the common good in a Sinful world, and the Church to be and work toward the...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    The world may look at us with eyes of disappointment based on its standards, but God looks at us with eyes of love, based on God’s nature.    Referenced Bible texts:  Proverbs 29:18; Mark 8:18; Romans 5:3-5    Referenced book: https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Religion-Became-Nation-Heretics/dp/143917833X/ref=sr_1_2?crid=37ML6ZNOW8ETD&dchild=1&keywords=bad+religion+bo...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    So much in our world points to impending doom. Christians look to the hope of impending fulfillment, the perfection of what has been already begun in Jesus Christ, as their perspective in these times. Our baptism and our faith is what impowers us for service to one another and the world.    Referenced Bible texts:  Romans 6:3-5; Revelation 21:1-4; Galatians 3:27; Revel...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:   We are commentators upon and witnesses to the presence and power of God in the world through this pandemic and always. The world is changed for good when we pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” and act upon God’s will as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, with humility, in the ways that we have been equipped and called to do.    Referenced Bible texts: ...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:    God is present for us, whatever our circumstances. Our lives are genuine when they are lived as they were intended to be lived, in a living relationship with the one true living God. That genuine life is made possible by the cross. There is nothing for us to accomplish, but instead to live in response to the gift of abundant life that has been accomplished for us at th...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:     Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism is a common belief system that many accept as a form of Christianity. It is not. It is a counterfeit. It is a product of our self-centered culture. Real historic Christianity if centered on the cross. Life that really is life comes through a living relationship with the one true living God.     Referenced Bible texts:  Matthew 11:29-30; J...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:     How can we live faithfully as time passes quickly and slowly at the same time? Bible reading, the primary way God speaks to us, and prayer, the primary way we speak with God, are means of the streams of living waters by which the Holy Spirit nourishes and sustains our faith. The requirements of pandemic have given many of us the time and pace of life to open our heart...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:     Here is how I know that that I exist, and who I am. The answer is not centered on me, it is outside of myself. God created me, therefore I am.      We were created for a living relationship with the one true living God.  We are God’s son or daughter, we are beloved by God. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. That is our identity and our exist...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:  Civilization begins and sustained by caring for others at some sacrifice for oneself. This is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. The greatest contribution Christians make to civilization is to proclaim Christ and the selfless love that can only come from God.    Referenced Bible texts: Romans 5:6-8;  Genesis 4:1-11;  Hebrews 11:4;  Ephesians 4:1-3       Our...

Send us Fan Mail Summary:  The reason for churches to hope in this pandemic season is that the head of the Church is Jesus Christ. We are the body of Christ. The diversity of gifts given through our members (parts of a body) are the means by which Jesus equips the Church to live in the world, whatever our circumstance.      Referenced Bible texts: Ephesians 4:11-16    Our Email Address:  TheRevsDa...