Episodes

  • Standing Firm in Holy Exile

    Standing Firm in Holy Exile
    Jun 18 2024
    Where do you set your hope? Peter calls us to fully set our hope now on the grace to be revealed when Jesus returns. This has been God’s endgame for His children from eternity! Moreover, when we fix our hope each day on the sure and certain Great Day, it changes how we live in the moment. Amidst the lure and pull of this present, evil age, we – as spiritual exiles – live sober-minded and holy lives, distinct from those around us…ever fighting the desires of sin. [Perhaps recall a time when you were in a unique social setting and felt like a complete outcast/outsider who didn’t really belong there.] For in our holy exile (Jesus has called us out of this world so that we do not belong to it anymore), we know that Christ has ransomed us not with silver or gold, but with His precious blood; and He has been raised from the dead and received glory, so that our faith and hope are always in Him.
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  • Standing Firm in God’s Mercy

    Standing Firm in God’s Mercy
    Jun 10 2024
    Peter writes his first letter to a diversity of believers who have been dispersed throughout Roman provinces in Asia Minor. While many Christians were literal exiles in the Greco-Roman world, Peter especially has in mind “spiritual exiles” who are awaiting their heavenly inheritance. He encourages his readers then/now to endure suffering and hardship by standing steadfast in Christ. Peter reminds us from the start that the God who has called us, given us His Spirit, sprinkled us with Jesus’ blood, and rebirthed us into a living hope via His great mercy (vs3), is the same God who continues to guard us by His power for the salvation to be revealed on the last day. Hence, whatever our earthly trials, we rejoice; and though our faith be tested by fire here, we know that our faith will culminate in the salvation of our souls.
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  • I Am His Story: Melissa

    I Am His Story: Melissa
    Jun 3 2024
    This section of Hebrews 11 continues the long list of OT believers who accomplished great feats through their faith in the LORD & His coming Messiah. The author draws our attention to the stories of “Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection….” Our faith in Jesus wields the same power, and today we celebrate the faith-story of one such daughter of the King.
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  • Transformation Leads to Gratitude and Generosity

    Transformation Leads to Gratitude and Generosity
    May 28 2024
    This portion dovetails the preceding by noting: “Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they [the siblings] gave a dinner for Him there.” Mary, Martha, and Lazarus respond to Jesus’ transformation work with gratitude and generosity. We can only imagine the extravagance of this banquet feast, for the brother who was 4-days dead lives. In yet another grateful act of worship, during the meal Mary takes a very large amount of fragrant oil and anoints Jesus’ feet…so much so that the aroma fills the house. Given what Jesus meant to this family pre-Lazarus and post, Mary’s anointing was not a spontaneous act but an offering she had set aside for this very purpose. Gratitude and generosity mark a transformed life. When we experience Jesus’ transformation ourselves – something beyond our own ability to effect or manufacture – a posture of gratitude and sacrifice is our faith-response too. Ordinary people give in extraordinary ways when Christ has touched their heart.
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  • Transformation Thrives in Resurrection Community

    Transformation Thrives in Resurrection Community
    May 19 2024
    In today’s text, we see the rippling effect from Jesus' resurrection of Lazarus. Many of the Jews who had come with Mary saw plainly what Jesus did and believed in Him. As we can imagine, word based on irrefutable proof spread rapidly, so much so that a large crowd of Jews came “to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead” (v9) … and “were going away and believing in Jesus” (v11). Here we see an important principle: transformation flourishes in community. Lazarus’ new life impacted the crowd. One person’s transformation by Jesus inspires others, and so does yours! The Bible is full – not with trophies of transformation that few can attain – but with ordinary men and women who exemplify God’s transformative work in their lives as they do life in community with other believers. Today more than ever, we need each other to move forward in our spiritual life – to show up for each other, to reach out, to help one another on this journey of transformation with Jesus. A community that’s conducive for transformation provides a safe space to share stories, embodies grace and truth, and practices acceptance. We form a circle of resurrected people with the same desire to know Jesus more.
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  • Words That Bear Transformative Power

    Words That Bear Transformative Power
    May 13 2024
    The stone rolled away from Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus prays to His Father, crying out with a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out.” And the man who had died came out. John emphasized throughout the story Jesus’ love for Lazarus: “Lord, the one you love is sick” (v3); “Jesus loved…Lazarus” (v5); “See how Jesus loved him” (v36). The love of Jesus speaks, acts, and transforms a person – not power, information, or personal efforts. Yet as Henri Nouwen says, we live in a “world filled with voices that shout: ‘You are no good; you are ugly; you are worthless; you are despicable; you are nobody.’” We hear plenty of internal voices too, inner words filled with self-rejection, fear, guilt, shame, and disappointment. Only the voice of Jesus is life-giving! “Lazarus, come out!” The more we get to know Jesus, the easier it becomes to hear His voice where there is no shortage of powerful, charismatic, and other influential voices. Daily, keep coming back to His voice. He alone is the first word to us and the last word to us – The Voice of Love.
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  • Jesus Transforms Us Wherever We Are

    Jesus Transforms Us Wherever We Are
    May 6 2024
    In today’s portion, Mary runs out of their house to meet Jesus where Martha had met Him. The Jews who were there consoling Mary and Martha followed her. Jesus asks to see where they have laid Lazarus, and there He weeps. Through His weeping the gathered see the depth of Jesus’ love for Lazarus. John describes the tomb as a cave with a stone laying against it. In astonishment, Jesus commands them to remove the stone. Martha raises concern about the strength of odor, for he had been dead four days. (p95-111) Jesus answers Martha, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So the people take away the stone. Whether you find yourself in grief, disappointment, shame, brokenness, doubt, fear, worry, burnout – or a dead man in a remote tomb outside a small village called Bethany, Jesus can transform anyone at any time in any circumstance! “Take the stone away.” Are you longing for something different from the life you’ve been living so far? Tired of keeping external appearances up to hide internal pain from others? Ready to surrender personal efforts to control sin (i.e., “sin management”...p15-21) ? Jesus can help.
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  • Eternal Hope in the Storm

    Eternal Hope in the Storm
    Apr 29 2024
    Admittedly, we usually hear today’s words when we gather around a freshly dug graveside. The pastor speaks: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.” (v25) However, these words are not meant for the dead but for the living. We need the story of Lazarus to bring hope to our weary lives, to experience the transformation that we long for most. In our text, Jesus finally arrives in Bethany some four days after Lazarus has died. When Martha comes out to meet Jesus, He comforts her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live…. Do you believe this?” Martha answered, “Yes, Lord; I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.” Though this sister is neck-deep in grief and sorrow, she holds onto the firm hope that her brother will rise to eternal life – to full and complete transformation – on the last day. We carry Martha’s ultimate hope of resurrection and transformation into our storms of life too.
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