Speaking of Grace

Transitions: Navigating Change – ‘The Winding Path’ – by Chad Hess   What does it look like to follow God’s calling for your life? God’s plan is not a straight journey to a destination. There are always twists and turns, brought about by change. These changes can be painful and difficult, but they make us into who we are and the person that God wants us to be. God has led Chad down a ver...

Our annual church retreat canceled all live and online services last week so this week is just a quick setup for this week upcoming and invitation by Randy to join the Loop this week and participate with your questions and comments by using one of the following: ■ Text/Voicemail: 407-965-1607 ■ Email:  podcast@wholelife.church ■ WLC Mobile App: Media Tab/Podcast Banner and Use Text...

Following Jesus Beyond the Cross – ‘The Follower’ In their hearts, Jesus' disciples struggled to fill something, to prove something, and to make something of themselves (just like us today), but the whole time he was there with them, all he wanted was for them to follow—just follow. How could this change Jesus' followers today?  This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways :  When was the last t...

Following Jesus Beyond the Cross – ‘The Leader’ When Peter followed Jesus out of the boat to walk on the water, it seemed like an incredible feat to do what Jesus did. But the thought was there, “If he can do it, why can’t I?” until he realized it was God all along. The Leader is not just our teacher, though his words are incredibly thought provoking. The Leader is not just our friend, but he’s fo...

Following Jesus Beyond the Cross – ‘The Destination’ He is risen and is our ‘destination’. This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways:  We very rarely look at being a "follower" as being a positive position. What do you think are some of your own personal resistances to this request of Jesus to "Follow Me?" Consider the question above and how the disciples just left their current lives to follow Je...

Things To Remember – ‘There’s A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow’ There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow. This isn't just optimistic thinking; it is the promised reality of God. However, before we step into the ultimate one at the end of earth’s history, maybe one between now and then would be God’s friends finding unity on three platforms: Jesus is the Savior, God calls us to love, and There’s a glor...

Things To Remember – ‘Love Each Other and Everybody Else It is our mission to love people—to love people so well that in, and through, and because of God’s love being exercised through us, the people we love will be drawn into a lifelong friendship with God, and they too will start loving people. Religious organizations like denominations will codify, policy-make, and set rules to follow. Hon...

Things To Remember – ‘Trust The Gospel’          The gospel teaches us that salvation is always the work of the Savior, not the saved. Anything added to the good news of the Gospel of Jesus turns it into bad news. Remember to trust the gospel—it is God’s work, work done by the Divine, and it can be trusted.   This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways:&n...

Things To Remember – ‘Fix Your Eyes On Jesus’             What is your first line of defense? When you face good times or bad – When your relational world is stable or messed up – When you are the epitome of health or can’t get well – When the bills are all paid and there’s extra or when none are paid. Do you turn to your own mind for ans...

Jesus Doesn’t Make It Easy – ‘Stored Treasure’  We all have treasures we store. Where do you store yours?   This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways:  What do you think about this series “Jesus Doesn’t Make Life Easy”? Of the four-murder, adultery, payback, and treasure which one most easily plagues you? In your life what have, you thought about Jesus’ counsel “Do not store up treasure...

Jesus Doesn’t Make It Easy – ‘Proper Payback’  You punch me, so I punch you back. In the Bible, it’s called the lex talionis or the law of retaliation. Of course, one of the problems is that, if you punch me, I don’t want to just punch you back; I want to punch you back just a bit harder than you punched me. Rather than revenge, how do we move to reconciliation? Jesus' teaching about proper p...

Jesus Doesn’t Make It Easy – ‘Easy Adultery’        Adultery has become part of our entertainment. Modern media has hardened us to the pain of adultery for all parties involved; however, we’ve not spent much time on heart adultery. What will it mean to guard our hearts and minds against objectifying and marginalizing others? Jesus’ imagery is pretty drastic when he sa...

Jesus Doesn’t Make It Easy – ‘Acceptable Murder’         When we think of murder strictly in the realm of physically taking another’s life, it's never acceptable! However, Jesus expands the concept to being out of sync with someone—being angry, calling them an idiot, or cursing someone. How can we be reconciled when another doesn’t want to be? This week’s #W...

Stewarding the Gospel…of Reconciliation             Sin separated us from God. God is the source of all life, so sin separated us from life. God is love, so sin separated us from love. We cannot be the answer to our problem. Quite apart from any action on our part, God’s action by Jesus, through Jesus, and because of Jesus brings us back into...

Stewarding the Gospel…of Equality   When we steward well the gospel, we recognize that it calls us to a radical oneness, a radical equality. We are called to give up the pride of separation and see that we are all equal in two amazing ways: all distinctions of prideful hierarchy are leveled in both the condition of being lost and being found.    This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways:&nbsp...

Stewarding the Gospel…of Others First   God’s free amazing grace to each of us calls us to a new way. Solving the sin problem is Jesus leaving the comfort of the adoring angels and the forever unity of the Trinity and putting others first. The gospel is the perfect picture of self-donation, and when Jesus’ followers follow best, that picture of self-donation recurs in good stewarding of...

Stewarding the Gospel…of Unfairness   If I run a good race, if I keep the faith, if I obey the law, it seems to be fair that there’s a crown of righteousness and glorious future awaiting me. But how can it be fair for God to do it all, and I just benefit? How can it be right that everyone gets a gift? Who really wants to be treated fairly?   This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways:   W...

Stewarding the Gospel...of Worthiness   You are worthy of God’s love. You cannot hear this clearly enough or often enough, and you will never understand the depth of this great truth. When we look soberly at ourselves, we might be inclined to believe that we are not worthy. However, we are worthy, not because we deserve the love of God, but because he has declared it so.   &nbs...

Expecting the Unexpected: An Unexpected Life   Our world is not as God had intended, and while we’re here, we can separate ourselves from our community and live a safe and secluded life – not allowing the “unholiness” of the world to invade. Mary and Joseph made a home in Egypt, which during that time required both giving to and receiving from a community. How can we engage, connect, and brin...

Expecting the Unexpected: An Unexpected Responsibility   What if God gives you a purpose for which others have told you that you don’t qualify? “Build my kingdom on earth” is a pretty big responsibility. The shepherds were given the task of announcing the beginning of this new kingdom, and now it’s up to us to begin establishing it in our world. Will we listen to the voices telling us we don’...

Expecting the Unexpected: An Unexpected Gift   There are times when good things come out of unexpected circumstances, things we never could have planned. Change is never easy, rarely anticipated, and often life-altering. A barn was not Joseph’s and Mary’s first choice of where to meet their son but holding the son of God in their arms made their surroundings insignificant. How can we choose a...

Expecting the Unexpected: An Unexpected Arrival   Elizabeth and Zechariah wanted a child, and when they discovered they would receive just that, Zechariah couldn’t speak to share the exciting news, and Elizabeth was going to deal with all the challenges of pregnancy in her 80’s! How many times in our life have we been waiting for something and, when things finally fall into place, we’re just...

While We Wait: Trust God’s Word Jesus’ first Advent was prophesied about, but then time marched on. How do we maintain trust that he’s coming again? What can we do while we wait to build our faith and be hopeful?  This week’s #WholeLifeTakeAways: Whose word do you trust today? How has trusting gotten harder or easier in 2020? Why does it look like almost the whole of the “chosen people”...

While We Wait: We Give Thanks                When things are going well, we may begin to believe that we are enjoying the life and success we are due for our hard work, wise decision making, focused attention, and careful planning and execution. However, when days of desperation come, we may become depressed and discouraged...

While We Wait: Isaiah                      Isaiah says that we can renew our strength as we wait. We can build relationships while we wait—relationships with each other and with God. We can develop patience, and we can follow the wisdom and avoid the pitfalls of the patriarchs of Scripture, lea...