The Word Unleashed - Radio

Faithful financial stewardship and generous giving are not optional for the Christian life—they are clear, repeated commands of Scripture directed to every believer without exception.

Today, we explore how this was perfectly demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ. From feeding the hungry crowds to welcoming the hospitality of others, Jesus modeled a lifestyle of generous care—reminding us that far from being optional, this virtue reflects a heart tethered to Christ's church and lived for His glory. As a follower of Christ, are you actively pursuing growth in this virtue?

Hospitality is not optional for believers; it is explicitly commanded in Romans 12, Hebrews 13, and 1 Peter 4 and is even listed as a qualification for elders. So, if we want to reflect the heart of our God, resist the individualistic nature of our culture, and build the kind of genuine Christian community in the local church that the New Testament calls us to, we must recover and pursue the virtu...

How can a holy God continue to show mercy without compromising His justice? The answer is the death of Jesus Christ. At the cross, God vindicated His righteousness by fully executing His judgment against sin in His Son, so that He could remain perfectly just while justifying sinners who believe.

Pastor Tom explains that our justification before God is entirely His work: planned in eternity, received by faith alone, given by grace alone, and accomplished through Christ alone. And at the very center of this great plan is the cross, where God publicly displayed His Son as a propitiation—meaning the full satisfaction and turning away of divine wrath.

In Romans chapter 3, the apostle Paul explains that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was not humanity’s idea, but God’s. Scripture reveals that it is the Triune God who is responsible for salvation: God the Father decreed salvation, God the Son accomplished salvation, and the Holy Spirit applied salvation.

Today, Pastor Tom Pennington explains that just as the Old Testament sacrificial system is portrayed through countless offerings, the only way for sinful people to approach a holy God is through a substitute who bears their guilt.

At the very heart of the Christian faith lies a truth that shapes every believer’s daily life: justification. In Romans 3, the apostle Paul teaches that while our justification is a free gift of grace, it came at an immeasurable cost—the life and death of Jesus Christ our Lord.

In the heart of Paul’s letter to the Romans, we come to one of the most powerful truths of the Christian faith: how guilty sinners can be declared righteous by a just God. Like a rescue of the spiritually dead rather than merely the struggling, salvation is wholly God’s work from beginning to end.

Pastor Tom helps us understand one of the most well-known and sobering verses in all of Scripture—Romans 3:23—where the apostle Paul delivers God’s universal verdict on humanity: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

After proving that every person stands guilty before God, the apostle Paul introduces a stunning reality: that righteousness from God is not earned by human effort or merit but given as a gift through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

Pastor Tom addresses the great question of the Gospel: Justification. We'll see how God can remain perfectly just while declaring guilty sinners righteous—a mystery solved only at the cross. What about you, friend? Does it humble you to realize that God’s justice was satisfied, not by your penance, but by the work of Christ in your place?

Today, we discover from Scripture that salvation by faith alone has always been God’s plan, as witnessed throughout the Old and New Testaments. With one voice, the Bible declares that salvation was accomplished not by our works but solely by the person and work of Jesus Christ. It’s that truth of the gospel message that helps us understand that we cannot produce a righteousness of our own but must...

Today, we look at the means by which this righteousness is received. We'll see that faith is not a "work" we perform but the empty hand that reaches out to receive the gift that God has provided in Jesus. Friend, when you look to your own heart, do you see a reason for God’s favor, or do you see only the need for a righteousness that must come from outside of yourself?

Understanding that our righteousness is entirely Christ's and not our own is essential because it determines whether we have a true and lasting standing before God at all. Paul makes clear in Romans 3 that by our own law-keeping and moral effort, "no flesh will be justified in His sight.

Now that we understand what the Bible teaches about depravity, how do we as Christians practically respond? And how do we continue to guard against our own patterns of sin and leading others into temptation to sin? Today, Pastor Tom Pennington explains these realities and more and helps us see clearly our desperate need for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Tom discusses the danger of ""moralism""—the attempt to fix our external behavior while leaving internal corruption untouched. We'll see why a ""good life"" without a new heart is still a life under condemnation. Are you trusting in moral improvements to save you, or have you come to the end of yourself and cast your hope entirely on Jesus Christ?

According to the Bible, no human being, no matter how sincere or religiously motivated, has the natural capacity to come to Christ, obey God's law, please God, or even embrace spiritual truth apart. Only a sovereign act of Almighty God can deal with this problem. From John 6:44, Pastor Tom explains this sovereign act of divine grace and compels us as believers to live in light of the gospel—knowin...

Pastor Tom tackles the common objection: ""But don't I have a free will?"" We’ll see that while we choose according to our desires, because our nature is corrupted, our desires are naturally enslaved to sin. Friend, is your ""freedom"" leading you toward Christ, or is it merely the freedom to follow a heart that is naturally at enmity with God?

Tom gives a devastating verdict in that the doctrine of total depravity is the only soil in which true humility can grow. When we realize there is nothing good in us to merit God's favor, our pride is crushed and we are finally positioned to worship Him rightly. Is your worship fueled by a sense of your own worth or by a deep gratitude for a grace you could never deserve?

Tom Pennington explores the judicial reality of our condition. We aren't just ""broken"" people; we are guilty transgressors who stand condemned before a holy and righteous Judge. When you stand before the mirror of God's Law, do you see a person who is ""mostly good,"" or do you see a sinner whose only hope is the mercy of the Judge?

Pastor Tom addresses the devastating consequence of this reality: spiritual inability. Because we are ""bad to the bone,"" we are completely incapable of understanding the things of God or coming to Him for salvation on our own. Friend, does it humble you to realize that you didn't ""find"" God, but that He had to give you life while you were still dead in your sins?

Pastor Tom helps us understand the ""total"" in total depravity. We'll see that sin hasn't just touched a few areas of our lives but has permeated our minds, our wills, and our emotions, leaving no part of our being untouched. As you examine your life, can you see how sin has influenced even your ""best"" intentions?

On today's program, we look at the origin of our condition. We’ll see how the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden didn't just affect them but resulted in a corrupted nature passed to every descendant—leaving us not just ""sick"" but spiritually dead in our trespasses. Do you realize that your struggle with sin is the outward expression of a nature that has been ""bad to the bone"" since the Fall?

Understanding our depravity in light of the fall in Genesis 3 is essential because it reveals the magnitude of what sin has done to us. Sin is not simply a series of bad choices but a fundamental or radical corruption of our entire nature as human beings. When Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, every aspect of the image of God in man was marred: our minds were darkened, our emotions became disorde...