Word of Life Church Podcast

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Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down Feb 01, 2015

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In the New Testament we’re not given just one Gospel witness to Jesus, but four. Each of the four Gospels introduce Jesus’ public ministry in a different way and from a different location.
Matthew: Reissuing the Torah as the Sermon on the Mount.
Mark: Casting out a demon in the synagogue in Capernaum.
Luke: Announcing the Lord’s favor in the synagogue in Nazareth.
John: Turning water to wine at the wedding in Cana of Galilee.
In each case this establishes a particular emphasis of that Gospel.
Matthew: It's time for a New Torah.
Mark: It's time for the overthrow of Satan's kingdom.
Luke: It's time for God's favor upon the world.
John: It's time for the everlasting feast to begin.

Ch-ch-ch-ch Changes Jan 30, 2015

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Into The Great Unknown Jan 25, 2015

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Jesus’ whole ministry consisted in announcing and enacting the kingdom of God. In his three year ministry Jesus never said or did anything that was not toward the end of announcing and enacting the kingdom of God. He did this by preaching, giving parables, healing the sick, casting out demons, forgiving sinners, and by performing a table practice of radical hospitality. During these three years Jesus was training twelve disciples to be the core of a new kind of community he was forming around himself; he called this community his church. The church is the community of baptized Jesus followers who seek to live the kingdom of God, by which we mean the reign and rule of God over the nations through Jesus Christ.

The Cross As Counter-Script Jan 23, 2015

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We are hurled into life without warning. First we are not...then suddenly we are! Waiting in the wings a script is thrust into our hands and we're shoved onto the stage of life. It's a script of family, nation, language, culture, and religion. We have no say in the matter. We are simply handed the script. In our fourscore sojourn we are expected to stick to the script...and then die.
But there is a great secret. There is an alternative. There is a counter-script.

Under The Fig Tree Jan 18, 2015

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We speak of Peter as making the first formal confession that Jesus is the Messiah, and it’s appropriate that we do so; it’s our tradition and Peter was pre-eminent among the disciples. But… A year and a half before Peter’s confession (and upon just meeting Jesus) Nathanael calls Jesus the “Son of God” and the “King of Israel." Both are titles for Messiah. And Nathanael does this all because Jesus saw him under the fig tree. What’s going on? I suspect it’s more than just Jesus’ minor miracle of a word of knowledge about Nathanael’s whereabouts. It’s not just that Jesus knew where Nathanael was when Philip found him, but what Nathanael was doing when he was under the fig tree in Bethsaida.

Responding to the Love of God Jan 16, 2015

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We all want to be loved and feel like we belong. This is a common human experience. Those who experience love and belonging are those with a sense of worthiness which is connected to how a person responds to the love of God. If we respond to the love of God with open-armed acceptance, we experience the life of God. If we respond to the love of God with rejection, we experience what could be called the "wrath of God." God loves and is love. He invites us to respond to his love with love and find ourselves becoming people of cruciform love.

The Baptism of Jesus Jan 11, 2015

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At his baptism the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus in the form of a dove...not an eagle. The eagle was the representative bird of the Roman Empire. As a symbol of power and might eagles were affixed atop Roman military standards. Hawks and doves, then as now, are symbolic of war and peace, violence and gentleness. Empires have long adopted eagles and lions as their emblems -- birds and beasts of prey. Furthermore, Roman religion believed that an eagle in flight over the Caesar (who bore the title "Son of God") was a sign of divine pleasure -- the gods were "well pleased." That Jesus was identified as God's beloved Son by a dove and not an eagle is very instructive, deeply subversive, and absolutely beautiful. Put simply, the Holy Spirit is a dove, not a hawk.

Rebelling Against Secularism Jan 09, 2015

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We live in a secular age. Secularism as a way of ordering society (pioneered by Hume, Voltaire, Paine, and Jefferson) has prevailed in Europe and North America. Secularism carries the sense that nothing is truly sacred; heaven, if it exists, is far away; God, if God exists, should be restricted to the private realm; religion (or spirituality) should be an expression of private individualism. So how do we rebel against the secular spirit of the age? Not through anger, protest, or confrontation, but through an emphasis on Christian Prayer, Story, and Sacrament.

By Another Way Jan 04, 2015

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"And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way." -Matthew 2:12
After the Magi found and worshiped Jesus, they returned to their own country by another way; not the way they came.
A real encounter with Christ will not leave us unchallenged or unchanged. Once we see Jesus as the true King, we have to journey through life BY ANOTHER WAY. We cannot remain the same.

Cohesive, Contemplative, Alternative Jan 02, 2015

Show notes

As I sat in openness with the Spirit I felt three things about Word of Life Church in the coming year.
A Coming together.
A fresh sense of community.
A move toward the contemplative.
The final move away from consumer Christianity.
A willingness to be radically other.
Because accommodation to Babylon is no longer an option.
To sum it up in three words, we're trying to be Cohesive, Contemplative, Alternative.

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