Word of Faith

This week's episode features Rev Christopher Simonton and focuses on John 3:28-30.  "Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved." -Thomas Merton "I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen--not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else." -CS Lewis What matters most is our relationship to Jesus Christ. John the Baptist under...

This week's episode features Dr. Snider and focuses on Isaiah 6:1-8. Every Christian has the desire to be useful to God.  We are afraid, however, that God will ask us to do something we won’t like or the demands too much of our time.   Isaiah provides the template for our experiences of being recruited by God for the tasks waiting us.  Few of us realize how the moments recruitment are the pat...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Luke 17:20-21. Jesus makes it clear that the Kingdom has both a future fulfillment - and a current expression.   What’s happening next in God’s work is already happening.      Oswald Chambers reminds us the work of the kingdom is not “out there” in the future, it is waiting for disciples who are willing to let it start happening now....

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Deuteronomy 30:11-20. The Baptist “brand” has fallen on hard times.  The image many people have of our churches and worship are a hindrance to many people looking for a place to grow faith.  Each year more churches have removed the word from their name.  Yet, Baptists have a rich heritage.  No faith tradition did more to secure relig...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Matthew 5:1-12 . A few years ago I was researching the Beatitudes for a sermon when I came across a quote by St. Francis de Sales who lived in the early 1600s. After repeating the first beatitude ("Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven"), he adds this commentary: "Cursed then, are the rich...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a . God May Forgive You (But I Won't)   Sung by Iris Dement   lyrics by Harlan Howard and Bobby Braddock  © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC  Well, the kids had to cry for you  I had to try to do  things that the Dad should do  since you've been gone  Well, you really let us down  You may be Heaven 'bo...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Matthew 13:46-46 . The era in which we find ourselves defines almost everything by politics. Are you right or left - red or blue?  We have invested politics with too much of a divine quality, failing to remember only the gospel of Jesus Christ can save us. There is nothing in this life that is more important than the Lordship of Chri...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on James 4:13-17 . Life is unpredictable.   Our days don’t always go as planned.  It doesn’t always meet our expectations.  Our culture’s standard response is to “take control.”   Advertisements encourage us to take control of our lives, our investments, our desire to stop smoking.  The ones on endlessly.  Products that promise to put u...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Deuteronomy 11:18-21 . At the very time religious claims are most ardent, our children know less and less about the basics of their faith.  Try some basic tests for you or your family: Where in the Bible can you find the Lord’s Prayer? Do you know the names of the four Gospels? Can you find the 23rd Psalm? Can you identify where the...

This week's episode features Rev. Christopher Simonton and focuses on Genesis 13 . The Bible as a whole is a quest: God’s story and decision to redeem fallen humanity and be with them through the person and work Jesus Christ.  Abraham’s story, along with ours here today, is part of that grant story. His story goes on for a while here in Genesis. He went through years of learning to trust God....

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Joshua 1:1-11 . The Bible contain very little background on Joshua.  While Exodus contains chapters describing Moses family and upbringing, Joshua simply appears into the action.  Much of what we know is contained in the simple phrase “Joshua, son of Nun…” Consequently, there are few works about Joshua outside of military history.  E...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Genesis 25:29-34 . Angela Duckworth’s work on delayed gratification resulted in her book, Grit .  I’d encourage all parents to read it, whether your child is 3 or 30.  Find her website here. For additional thoughts on the long view of life, here is a link to an article I wrote a few years back.  Locusts and cicadas come in a variety...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Acts 11:19-29 . It’s easy to note how leadership in Acts transitions from Peter to Paul.  Often overlooked, however, is the transition from Jerusalem as the center of Christian activity to Antioch. Multiple kings in the Selucid Empire were named Antiochus, which means something like “helper.”   Antioch was named for one of these king...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on 2 Chronicles 15:8-19 See I Kings 11 for the background on Solomon and his wives.  The historian mentions 700 wives and 300 concubines.  The story mentions specific foreign gods introduced into the court of Solomon and how their worship displeased God. One additional quote on idolatry from Chris Hedges in Losing Moses on the Freeway (...

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Joshua 24:16-28 . I suggest you do your own internet search with the words  "teenage depression Instagram.”  Consider how helpful Instagram is to your child’s mental health.  You could probably substitute TikTok for similar results. For Facebook’s plans to target pre-teens, see: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/facebook-p...

Natalie Davis brings you the first of two episodes this week as part of our Graduate Recognition Sunday. Her sermon focuses on 1 Timothy 4:12 : "Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."

Mason Tribble brings you the second of two episodes this week as part of our Graduate Recognition Sunday. His sermon focuses on Matthew 6:19-24 . The reality TV show, Storage Wars, paints a bleak picture of what happens when we store our treasures on earth, but Jesus promises that something greater awaits us in Heaven!

This week's episode features Dr. Joel Snider and focuses on Psalm 37:1-6 . I wish could link the referenced video.  I failed to bookmark it after viewing one time and could never locate it again.  It was a powerful testimony. Here is the reading referenced near the end.  Although described as a prayer, it has always struck that it does not actually speak to God; rather, it describes what the...

This week's episode feature Rev. Christopher Simonton and focuses on 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 .  Because of the resurrection Paul is able to say:  One died for all; we are invited to live better.  We see everyone in Christ; new creations.  God is bringing the world back to himself.  We are the ambassadors of God’s message.  One died for all; we become truly alive in God.  The YES of God in Jesus...

This week's episode features Rev. Julie Long and focuses on John 20:19-31 :  Here is the good news of Easter:  when we find ourselves afraid, we don’t have to stay stuck there.   The disciples found out that no matter how many locks they fastened on their door, Jesus showed up anyway.  He came to free them.   A garden tomb could not hold him, and locked doors cannot keep him away.  Jesus pene...

Bible times were simpler, but the people were not naïve. Through observation, they collected impressive knowledge on a variety of subjects. Jesus acknowledges common weather predictions ( Matthew 16:2-3 ). The citizens of Nazareth make a back-handed comment on Joseph as Jesus’s father ( Matthew 13:55 , surely related to the timing of Jesus’ birth). On death, Martha, sister of Lazarus, doesn’t want...

Mark 15:25-39 There are actions that disqualify individuals from certain professions: Bankruptcy disqualifies people from banking Sex offenders are disqualified from working with children.  Crucifixion disqualified Jesus from being the Messiah (see Deuteronomy 21:22).  Crucifixion was shameful in the Roman world. Hebrews 12:2 separates the cross into two experiences: pain and shame.  The cross was...

Psalm 119:9-16 Outline The old Holiday Inn commercials capture the  ethos of being smart without any study or preparation. Those commercials capture the ethos of our day: “Google is; therefore, I know.” We all think we are experts because we can look up anything on the internet. Psalm 119 has 176 verses.  It says 176 different ways that God’s way to live leads to life.   Yet, the ways of God seem...

Numbers 21:4-9 John 3:14-21 Outline “Bad decisions” is an explanation of sin that works for children, but is inadequate for mature Christians. Both Testaments speak to the seriousness of sin. Forgiveness of sins is no small issue, but a relationship with Christ goes beyond forgiveness to deliverance. The story in Numbers 21:4-9 combines several biblical images related to sin: serpents, death, deli...

Luke 10:25-37 II Chronicles 28 contains the key ingredients for Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan : the wounded in need of care, binding wounds and clothing the naked, Jericho, and kindness shown by Samaritans to Judeans.   The inspiration for this sermon comes from The En-Gedi Resource Center .  If you enjoy Bible Study, bookmark this site.