Wyoming Valley Church Devotional Podcast: Recent Episodes
Pastor Todd M. Walker
We are ALL prone to weakness in our lives. But we typically don't like to admit our weaknesses. Perhaps that's a mistake, because as we'll learn, we cannot be come truly strong until we recognize how weak we are. The Lord has strength to give us, but we must see our need for Him first. We hope this blesses your soul!
We ALL face sorrow and grief in this world. And the sorrow is real and heartbreaking. And yet, we have something the world does NOT have to help us in our sorrow, and it's the promise from God of future, lasting Joy. This Joy when discovered and believed in can change how we sorrow and how we get back up and keep serving the Lord. We will discuss this Joy in hope of giving us strength today. Many blessings to you!
We might be making our lives harder simply by neglecting to do one profound thing - Staying Close to God. We will discuss why closeness to God changes our lives and how exactly to draw unto God as James 4:7-8 teaches us. We hope this is a blessing to you!
There exists a good type of groaning, and every Christ follower should be groaning properly. We will discuss why that is and what proper groaning looks like. In a nut shell, we are homesick for our Lord and for our eternal home, and we should be properly groaning to be there. We hope this blesses your soul!
Trusting is hard for us because it means we need to rely on someone else to help us. But when the object of our trust is someone Almighty, All-Loving and All-wise, it changes everything. We will discuss why and how to trust the Lord. We hope this would bless your soul!
In the Christian life, we have two options, 1) to live as losers, or 2) to live as victors. And living with Victory is different than we might understand. We will look at three actions that Victory in Jesus will cause us to have, and how they will make an IMPACT upon this world. We hope this would bless your soul today!
There are numerous lights in this world, but only One, True Light. And we need to be careful lest we get distracted by the wrong lights. We will seek to focus our attention on the Lord Jesus and His greatness so that we can give HIM, ONLY HIM our full praise, adoration and sacrifice. We hope this blesses you!
Imagine if we had no access to God through prayer. Imagine life without God's help. That's what we will do today in an effort to change our perspective on the importance of prayer in our lives. And hopefully help draw us draw closer to God through Jesus. Many blessings to you!
Why do some seem to love God and others only claim to? What makes the difference talk and action? We will look at a famous story and one, single but powerful motivator to love our Lord. We hope this would bless you!
We place insurance on almost everything on our life, just in case something bad happens. And if it doesn't, then at least we have the peace of mind. But what about our next existence, the one beyond the grave? Have we considered what it would mean to have the peace of mind that our Eternal Life is secure? In this episode, we will discuss how to be confident that we are safe and secure forever by knowing and following the Savior. Many blessings!
The storms of life often seem to rattle our faith and make us question what we know to be true. So how to we begin handling storms better and maturing because of them? We will discuss this very question and seek to handle the storms of life better than we have up to this point. Many blessings!
What does it take to get a fully devoted Christ follower? That's the question we will explore today. Does EVERY Christian give Jesus everything or only the mature ones? The answer might surprise you. We will seek to get our minds and hearts healthy on this new edition of "Mind Fitness". Many blessings to you!
In this week's episode, we have some very special guests joining us. I will interview my 3 oldest boys about a very serious topic and we will all seek to discover how to prepare for a HUGE storm coming one day soon. We hope this might bless you!
There is a BIG distinction today between what Jesus actually saves us from, and it's a distinction that, if we don't understand it correctly can have serious consequences in the Christian life and where we spend our eternity. The question we ask today is, "What does Jesus save us from?". We hope this answer would unlock power and confidence in your life that maybe you haven't experienced before. It did for me. May we ALL become more like our Lord Jesus here upon the earth thanks to HIS GREAT SALVATION. Many blessings!
In today's special edition podcast, we'll discuss how we're supposed to think about living in this evil world and a couple unique perspectives to keep us joyful and focused on why we're here. Hope this blesses you!
Today we speak about a very serious topic, one that many of us need help overcoming. We will use a metaphor to help us understand the gravity of this issue and how we need to change our spiritual eating habits before we become spiritually malnourished. We hope this would edify your soul and get you to increase your intake of the Word of God. Many blessings to you!
Jesus is MORE to our lives than we realize He is. By deepening our knowledge and our appreciation of Him, we can become more in love with Him AND we can become better Ambassadors for Jesus upon the earth. Everyone is writing reviews today, and we have the privilege of being "Walking Reviews" for the Lord. We hope this would bless your soul!
We begin a new series today called "Mind Fitness", by looking at what captivates us. We often are captivated by earthly things that don't hold eternal value. But there is One who should captivate us more than anything or anyone, as His value to our souls is supreme and immense. We hope you would be blessed by this devotional!
As Christians, we desire to love the Lord with our lives. But like any story, there are rivals and obstacles to overcome in order to accomplish our goal. Today we will discuss these rivals and how to overcome them so that Jesus alone gets our full attention and love. Many blessings!
Oftentimes to gain a new perspective, we simply need to focus on the most important things about something. Today we will look at 5 motivations for living for and serving the Kingdom of God as our first priority in this life. We hope this might bless your soul!
We would have a much better relationship with the Lord and a much better desire to follow Christ if we could always keep the perspective of being privileged. We will discuss why being privileged to be a child of God is perhaps the missing motivation in our hearts. May you be blessed!
We're asking the Lord to change our perspective by allowing us to see the Church as essential for our souls. Today we consider a metaphor and how it might help us appreciate our roles in the Church and be able to commit to it before Jesus returns. We hope this would bless you today!
We're asking the Lord to change our perspective on a few things we take for granted or don't appreciate like we should. Perhaps at the top of that list is the Church body - the people of God. As we'll hopefully discover today or be reminded of, the Church people are uniquely gifted with power to help us accomplish the goal of becoming like Jesus and being obedient to the Will of God. May the Lord shape our perspective in a fresh way today. Blessings!
We begin a new podcast series today called "Change Our Perspective", as we consider amazing blessings we receive from utilizing our nearness to God. We hope you'd be encouraged and motivated to stay near or get near the Lord during these days. Many blessings!
In our final podcast of our series "Fresh Beginnings: New Disciplines", we will use our time to make a plea to everyone. Romans 13:11-14 reminded us all to wake up from our spiritual slumber. And we will declare once again why we must be awake when the Lord returns. We hope this plea would be a powerful tool to help you see what is most important in this life. Many blessings!
When does Eternal Life begin? Does it begin when we start following Jesus, or does it begin when we get to Heaven? The answer might surprise you. We will discuss the Eternal, Abundant Life Jesus came to offer us and how it changes our lives here upon the earth. We hope this would bless you today!
There are some things in life worth working extremely hard to make it work. As we'll be reminded today, Church is at the top of that list. Unfortunately the Church has been re-defined and de-valued and therefore, it's not the priority in our lives like it should be. We hope today's conversation would be a step forward in changing that. Many blessings to you!
There are some things in life that we MUST learn and MUST remember because they're so vital to our lives and our health. Today's podcast is all about the Commandments of our Lord Jesus. Unless we do the necessary work to learn and remember, then we will NEVER obey Him properly. And obeying Jesus equates loving and believing in Him. We hope this lesson would bless you in your walk with the Lord!
When running, it's best to be as loose and light as possible. And the Christian race is THE most important race there is. If we are going to run it, run it well and finish it, we need to be loose and light. Therefore, there are a few things we need to get rid of before we attempt to run it. We will discuss these things today and hopefully encourage everyone to be loose and light for the sake of following our Lord Jesus. Blessings!
In the. Christian life, we are called to both stay on the Christian path AND help others who are not. And interestingly enough, the same strategy is needed to accomplish both. We will discuss staying tethered and what to stay tethered to in the Christian life so we can be spiritually healthy AND so we can help those who are not. Blessings!
Prayer is essential for the Christian life and journey. But what is prayer and how to we use prayer for the purpose it was intended? In this episode, we will discuss these very things and seek to pray on point, according to the Will and Plan of the Lord. We hope this would bless you today!
Are we Christians by chance, or have we been specially and uniquely chosen to be so? And if so, is our calling a privilege? Today we will discuss what it means to be an ambassador of the Lord Jesus and how significant that is. We will also discuss what ambassadors should look like in this world. Many blessings to those who take time to listen!
Perhaps being patient in the Christian life is a difficult thing to do. Perhaps we feel like everything is stacked against us. Perhaps we feel if we could only SEE God, then we would do much better. As we continue our series called "Fresh Beginnings: New Disciplines", we will discover that the unseen God isn't unseen at all, if we're paying attention. Many blessings to you!
We as Christians want to believe that EVERY part of our lives submits to Jesus. But there might be one area at least that Americans struggle giving to the Lord, and that's our finances. Today we will discuss making the new discipline of letting even our budgets become holy and submitting to Jesus and what that might look like. We hope this podcast would bless your soul today!
Perhaps we're still desiring to govern our own lives, and as much as we want to go to Heaven someday, we think we don't need Jesus telling us what to do in this life. We will discuss the options we have for gods and who we REALLY want shepherding our lives when ALL things are considered. We hope this devotional would bless you today!
Sometimes leaders can let us down. Sometimes leaders can be corrupted. And sometimes we just want better leaders than we currently have. But what if the spiritual leaders we have right now were specifically chosen by the Lord for our benefit, then how would we treat them, and with what level would we line up behind them. Today we will discuss the gift of godly leaders and what their role is in helping us all to the Will of God. Blessings to you!
Have you ever wanted to be in charge of something? In one sense, it's fun to be in charge, but in many other ways, being in charge is nothing we want for ourselves. In our new podcast series of 2021, we will discuss who is in charge of our lives, and why we want it that way, as we all strive for Fresh Beginnings and New Disciplines in the New Year. Blessings to you!
We all want to stay faithful to the Lord and the thought that He would ever consider us adulterers is about as painful as anything we can consider. But perhaps the way to stay faithful to the Lord Jesus isn't just about NOT sinning, maybe we need to go even further. We will discuss these strategies and how can reverse adultery and stay in a loving, faithful relationship with our Lord. Many blessings to you!
As we continue dealing with 2020 and everything happening around us, we want to help ourselves be better at loving those around us. In an effort to do so, we need to clear a few hurdles that have been placed in front of us. We will discuss one of the biggest ones - The Self Hurdle, and how we can clear that hurdle and strive after loving our neighbors. Many blessings to you!
As we continue trying to deal with 2020, we ask ourselves today, "What is the riskiest way to live?", so we can avoid whatever that is, because risk, true risk is dangerous for us. But the true risk may be different than what we imagine it to be. We will discuss this. Many blessings to you!
Today we need something that seems endangered and on its way to possible extinction - we need courage. There is something in the Scriptures that EVERY Christ follower has been commanded to do and it's going to take courage to get it done. Today we will discuss courage and why we need it it during this very scary and unpredictable year. Many blessings to you!
2020 has been a rough year. Don't you wish just once we could have the ideal year, or even the ideal life - where everything went the way it should. Well, the Lord Jesus actually promises us this ideal life, but it's different than what and when we expect it to be. We'll discuss this ideal life and what this life on earth is all about. Blessings to you!
Every day wrong messages are being sent to our minds from the evil one, it's propaganda of the most evil sorts. Today, we will discuss propaganda tailor made to make us worry and to be anxious people. We will discuss what some of this worry propaganda is and how we can properly fight it. We have the answers to overcoming worry and must utilize it! Blessings to you!
We all desire to be responsible people and sometimes even fear and worry seems to be deemed "responsible"...but is it? Today we will discuss the relationship and contrast between responsibility and fear and what the solution is to not going to far in either direction. Many blessings to you today!
In a new podcast series titled "Dealing with 2020", we want to handle the biggest thing we're all facing today - anxiety. The Scriptures have a LOT to say about this subject, but today from Matthew 6, we just might unlock the very thing that will give us victory over ALL our anxieties. We hope this would bless you today!
Perhaps we're finding it difficult to be a Christian during 2020 with all the trials we're currently facing, but there was someone in the Bible who faced MUCH MORE than we are and kept pressing forward to serve Jesus more and greater. And today we find out his secret. I hope this would inspire and motivate us, or perhaps even be used to awaken us for the first time to a compelling force unlike any other. We hope you'd be blessed!
We love custom making things, but what if we could custom make our Judgment Day experience. Well, as we'll learn from Scripture, we sort of can. We'll discuss why it's important to show mercy if we want to receive mercy when it matters the most. Wow hope this blesses you today!
Is Christianity a religion of works? That is the basis for our podcast today. James and the rest of Scripture has A LOT to say about this topic and we want to help make sense of it for us all. We hope this blesses you today!
Hopefully we all want to be good witnesses of our Lord Jesus. But what does a good witness look like? In today's episode, we'll discuss why we are to be witnesses and how a proper witness should think and act. We hope you are blessed in the hearing of this!
Sometimes we are pretty forgetful people. Most times that doesn't greatly affect our lives, but if we forget the wrong something, or in this case Someone, it will gravely affect our lives. We will discuss how important it is to help us remember the One who impacts every area of our lives and how we can stop being so forgetful towards what matters most. Blessings to you!
There are pressure points in the body, but there are also pressure points in the flesh, that the devil seeks to utilize for his evil purposes. We will discuss what these look like. BUT, the devil also has pressure points. And if we're disciplined, we can not only defend ourselves from an attack, but flip the script and use attacks to even advance the Kingdom of God. We hope you would be blessed by this!
Today as one of my best friends, Aaron Haas joins me, we discuss an important word, something that we need more than we know - steadfastness. The word is crucial to our full maturity into Christ likeness and we need to know how important it is. So today we'll talk about steadfastness and why we need it and how we get it. We hope you'd be blessed by this!
Today we discuss what the devil's strategy is against us and how we can use a winning strategy against him that its guaranteed to give us eternal victory over him. This strategy is our only hope against the powers of darkness, so we must be disciplined in it. We hope this devotional would bless you today!
Perhaps you are like me in that sometimes you jumble up your words and sentences and end up sounding foolish. It's not a big deal, we all do it from time to time. But there is one thing that if we jumble it up, it will be tragic. Today we will discuss what a jumbled Kingdom is and how to avoid living in it. Many blessings to you!
Did you ever hold someone to a different standard than you hold yourself? Well, most of us do from time to time, but we may be surprised at how our relationship with the Lord often has different standards guiding it. In this episode, we will discuss why the Lord should expect and demand ONLY what He is willing and faithful in giving us. Many blessings to you!
Do you make "To Do Lists"? Sometimes they're necessary to remember things that are important, so that we accomplish those things without neglect or forgetting about them. Today we want to discuss what is the MOST important "To Do List" of all time and encourage all of us to consider what needs to be done in order to get the right things done. :) We hope this is a blessing to you!
Did you ever neglect the laws of the road? I'm sure we all have at some point. Interestingly, those laws are placed there for our protection, and so are the Laws of God. As we'll discuss today, the Commandments of Jesus are crucial to validating our faith and giving us assurance of our Eternal Life. Obedience to Jesus is not only our job description, but it's how the Lord takes care of us forever. We hope this would bless you!
The Scriptures tell us that there is a storm coming, a storm SO big that no one can survive it on their own. Using a dream I had, I hope to inspire and motivate everyone listening to heed the words of the Bible in regards to this coming storm. Thankfully our God has provided a MIGHTY and ETERNAL Refuge, and we MUST be in that Refuge before this storm arrives. We hope this might bless you!
Today we will discuss why some people choose to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and why some do not. The reasons behind this decision are surprisingly simple, BUT the choices we make will most definitely affect us for the rest of eternity. Today we hope you would be encouraged to remain following Jesus or to finally give up your resistance and embrace what is the ONLY True Lord and Savior. Many blessings to you!
Perhaps you feel like I do when it's cloudy out and the sun isn't shining. Perhaps you want to pull the covers over your head and wait for a sunnier day to come out and live. What is it about sunless days that affects us so much? Well, we'll discuss this question, only on a spiritual level. Because the sun we will be talking about today is actually the Son of God. And when He is shining into our hearts, we are doing just fine. But when the clouds cast over Him, we immediately begin to struggle. We'll discuss all of these things including the solution to this problem. Blessings to you!
It's a wonderful thing to be given a fresh beginning in life, especially our spiritual life with the Lord Jesus. But what is a fresh beginning for and how to we utilize it and not waste it? That question is exactly what we will discuss and study today. God's mercy is new every morning, thankfully, but this morning is a day when we will hopefully begin utilizing that mercy for a true, lasting spiritual beginning. Blessings!
We all know what it's like to do foolish things and make foolish decisions, but what if we made THE worst decision of all time and built our lives upon the wrong foundation? That is what we will explore today as we look at how to be truly wise and set ourselves up for the rest of eternity on a Foundation that cannot and will not ever collapse. Many blessings to you!
We have all made bad choices in our lives, but what if we chose to live for error instead of Truth for our entire lives, even though we knew better? Well, sadly there is a character in the Bible who has this legacy. We will use his life as a warning to us today to NEVER choose to live for vanity over verity. We hope this blesses you today!
With all the crazy things happening in our world, how should we as Christians be acting? Should we be fearful, on the attack or something completely different? We'll discuss this question on a very brief podcast "on the go". Blessings!
The question we want to answer today is "Why do some people love the Lord a lot, and some people only love Him a little?" That question is a sad question to ask, but we hope that by answering it, that we can all arrive a better and greater love for the Lord - one He is truly deserving of. We hope this blesses your soul today!
The Children of Israel left many lessons for us, especially through their failure to stay devoted and committed to the Lord. Today we discuss how we can take those lessons and use them as fuel for staying committed to the Lord in our Covenant relationship with Him. We will discuss 3 Commitments from Exodus 32 to hopefully help us see the value of staying devoted to the Lord and utilizing the means He gave us to do so. Many blessings to you!
What is a Covenant and why should the knowledge of it change our lives? Today we will explore that question as we walk through some of the most amazing blessings that come to us through God's Covenant of Love. If we will open our minds and hearts to these truths, then we will gladly hand our lives over to Jesus. We hope this would bless your soul today and you would love the Lord even more based on His incredible love for you.
Oftentimes in life we aren't ready for what's to come. Sometimes this isn't a big deal, but in the Christian life it can be devastating if we're not ready for what's next. This happened to an entire people group in the Old Testament. And hopefully by listening to Scripture, we can act differently than they did when the waves of life come at us. We hope you'd be blessed as we all seek to Be Ready!
Many times in life we feel pinned down, unable to move forward or backward. The Coronavirus Pandemic definitely feels that way right now. But as we'll see, that feeling doesn't come from our Lord, but from the evil one. As the story of the children of Israel with the Red Sea crossing will teach us once again, the Lord will guide and protect us if we do what He's called us to do. We hope this would bless you as we seek to deal with the Coronavirus Pandemic in a way that honors our Lord.
The classic story of Moses and the children of Israel teaches us some very valuable lessons. But perhaps the most valuable lesson is that we need to remember ALL the Lord has done for us. Although forgetfulness doesn't seem like that big of a vice, we will consider that it's one dangerous step closer to something truly devastating. We hope you'd be blessed as we strive to actively remember God's goodness and grace in our lives!
When big, scary things come into our lives, we often ask "Why?". And that's precisely what we want to answer today. What is the point of this pandemic and what's the point of life in general? Why do some people have it easy and some have it very difficult? Why do some live long and others die young? Let's get to the point of all this today. The answer may surprise us all, but hopefully this perspective will shape our thinking towards the point of life on this earth in a way that gives us hope and confidence, even amidst something scary. Blessings to you all!
We all know what it's like to have to trust the Lord when things don't make sense to us. That is precisely what Abraham went through once. He was called to trust God's promises and be willing to obey when it didn't line up with Abraham's wishes and desires. And because he passed his test, it means we can also, IF we'll remember exactly what Abraham remembered about God, that He loves us and He cannot break the promises He made to us. We hope these lessons would be helpful to us during our current pandemic. Blessings!
In this episode we will discuss what it means to trust in and obey the Lord, using the classic story of David & Goliath as our backdrop. We are in the midst of a weird and scary time, but if we have and can keep the right perspective, then today is a day that we can and we must trust in and obey our Lord because of who He is and ALL He's proven to us already. We hope this would bless you today!
What is expected of us during this time of quarantine and isolation? Not much probably. We have been commanded to stay at home and shut down our lives. So that must mean that we are hampered in serving the Lord for a while, right? Well actually, as we'll discuss, that would be the WRONG perspective. In fact, if we'll listen to a lesson from 3 individuals in Philippians 2, now might be the perfect opportunity to serve the Lord in ways we otherwise never could or would. We'll explain what we mean. We hope this blesses you during this season!
We all know what it's like to be fearful and to be at peace. And we also know that they never happen simultaneously. Meaning, we can either be full of fear or full of peace. As we deal with something like the Coronavirus and all the "What Ifs" that it brings to our minds, I want us to be reminded that we can have peace simply by looking to the Peace-giver and remembering His long resume of love in our lives. I hope this little reminder would do something profound for us all, get us to look to the Lord and let Him chase away our fears and grant us the Peace that we desperately desire. Blessings!
We're all talking about this Coronavirus and its implications on our society. And we believe the Word of God has the best answers concerning this. We want to help us discover how a child of God might think and act properly in the midst of a widespread time of panic. You may be surprised to find out that this isn't a new issue for the church, but it is one that we can think balanced about and more importantly think holy about. We hope this would help give you peace and trust during a very fragile time in our society. Blessings!
In our final Harder Things podcast, we will discuss what it looks like to persevere in the Christian life. We have learned much from Ephesians 6 about the using the strength of the Lord and the Armor of God, but now we'll learn that we need perseverance as well, to never stop following the Lord until we reach the end of our race. We hope this would inspire and encourage you to go forward today and strive to reach the prize and enter the Eternal Rest of God. Many blessings!
In life, there are two ways to look at everything, either from the standpoint of a victim or, as we'll learn today, someone that desires to redeem the time. Our spiritual enemy is big and bad and he bullies us every day so that we give into our insecurities and lie down and stop moving forward in this Christian race. Our goal is quite simple, to move forward no matter what. So that we can do just that, the Lord has given us a Sword, a really powerful Sword. And if we'll be determined to redeem it, we will WIN. We hope this would encourage you today to press on and redeem the time you've been given by the Lord. Blessings!
God has several pieces of Spiritual Armor for us to wear so we can be protected in this battle against the forces of evil. But as we'll discuss today, in order to put on the Helmet of Salvation and the True Hope in Jesus, we need to let go of false hopes first. The harder thing is NOT desiring more hope, but to let go of all those things on earth which promise us hope, but cannot deliver. Lord willing, we will be motivated once again to put our entire hope in Jesus and realize and recall that He is the only REAL HOPE in this world. Blessings!
The Shield of Faith is our topic today. How we do we get this Shield and how do we properly use this Shield? Pastor Mel Walker joins us in this important discussion as we seek to do as Ephesians 6:16 tells us to "extinguish ALL the flaming darts of the evil one". We hope you'd be blessed by the encouragement that not only can we take up the Shield, but that we are promised certain victory when we do so! If our disciplines and training come together with God's power, we cannot be defeated. Many blessings!
As we've learned recently, we are engaged in an epic spiritual battle. We need God's strength, we need God's Armor, and as we'll learn today, we need to be ready at ALL TIMES. Readiness is something that is overlooked many times in Christianity, but God wants it for us and getting ready is going to take work. We hope you'll be motivated and inspired today to get ready! Blessings!
What does it take for us to give everything we have to some cause? Obviously whatever that cause is needs to be pretty important. As we'll be reminded today, the Christian path and battle IS that cause. We will challenge ourselves to go faster, greater, and be MORE disciplined because our enemy is vicious and determined to take us down. We need to DO ALL we can to stand firm! We hope this would be a blessing in your fight against evil today.
We all should be good employees and servants at our place of work, but the reason behind why is actually very deep and profound. We will discuss why we should be good employees, what are the motivations for doing so and what it all means. Once again, it's the harder thing but it's also the most rewarding life anyone could live. We hope this blesses you today!
In this episode, we discuss the greatest and most important topic anyone could discuss. We'll seek to align and calibrate our minds and hearts to the Truth that God's glory is greatest and best pursuit and it's also what we should want as His people. We'll discuss how that living for the glory of God is "The Trump Card" in every decision we make upon the earth. We hope you'll be blessed by this!
It's the Christmas season and it has us all seeking to buy presents for our loved ones and of course celebrate the coming of Jesus to this earth with the best present anyone has ever given, salvation. But, do we know that we too are called to give like Jesus gave to us? We will explore one of the hardest topics in the entire Scripture and perhaps the universe - sacrifice. We hope the sacrifice of Jesus would inspire and encourage you to do the same this Christmas season, and your entire life, so that God would be glorified. Blessings!
In this life, we are called to live obediently and sacrificially. It's the very same in marriage. But the answer as to why we are supposed to walk on this narrow path is may surprise us. Today we will discuss the goal of doing everything for Jesus' sake. We hope this greatly encourages you!
Is life ideal for you right now? Is everything going smoothly and without hiccups? I doubt any of us can say that it is. But especially for the Christ follower, life seems to be constantly filled with hardships. Has God forgotten us? Are His promises not as steadfast as we hoped? Perhaps we're not even saved? It might surprise us to find out that our path is one of great difficulty. In fact, great difficulty can even validate that we are actually following Christ. We'll strive to encourage everyone going through a hardship in the Christian journey by what this pain and difficulty is all about. We hope you are strengthened by this. Blessings!
Is the Christian life simply one of duty, void of joylessness and excitement? Perhaps we've fallen too far on the side of duty, and forgotten that God is the best gift giver ever. When we strive to obey and follow the Lord, we find more joy and excitement than the world can ever know. In our new podcast series "Harder Things", we want to explore what's difficult in order to gain what is most sweet. We hope you'll be blessed on this journey!
It might surprise you that in the Christian life, our job isn't to avoid sin. Of course that's a part of it, but we have a much higher pursuit than avoiding ungodly behaviors. We will discuss the greatest pursuit God ever gave man and how obeying it achieves everything God wants from us. We hope this blesses you!
The Christian life is full of disciplines. We learn from Ephesians 4 that there are three crucial disciplines for every believer. The instruction is important, but the motivation behind them is just as important. God through the Apostle Paul is going to seek to convince us that we must follow these disciplines unto Life, because there is only one path to Life and this path was paved by our Lord Jesus. We hope and pray that you would be convinced! Blessings!
The Lord has given us His Church for the accomplishing of His glory, the building of His Kingdom and the defeating of evil on the earth. He also has left us many instructions on how to build and operate this Church. As we'll explore today, we can either adhere to God's instructions and have a Church that is truly formidable and strong and guaranteed to succeed, or we'll neglect God's instructions and have a man-made church that is sure to fail. We hope this has the proper tone of encouraging us all to invest into God's Church and do it His way for His glory. Blessings!
The Church is made up of individuals. But the Church is called to function as ONE unit. How and why should the individuals who make up the Church unify as ONE unit? We will discuss this very thing as we seek to ALL live out our calling as children of God, citizens of Heaven and ambassadors of Jesus. We hope this blesses you!
The Apostle Paul once prayed that a church would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. He prayed that they would know the breadth, length, height and depth of God's love through Jesus. But as we'll discuss, loving someone opens yourself up to vulnerability and the possibility that you'll be hurt. So why would God want His people to know His love to such degrees? Couldn't that cause Him a great deal of pain? We will discuss God's vulnerability of love and what His hopes are for us knowing His deep and profound love through Jesus. Blessings!
God once had a mystery that was the greatest hidden mystery of all-time. That mystery, once revealed changed the course of a people group for the rest of eternity. And yet there's another mystery that perhaps isn't be noticed today like it should be. Today we will discuss the mystery of God's church and what it means for God's people. We pray this blesses you!
Is the family of God (the church) a true gift from our God? It is if we understand how far we once were from God at one time. In this episode, we will discuss what a true privilege it is to be apart of God's eternal family and how unifying together is a strength God gave us that we cannot do without. We will also seek to be motivated towards unity by our Lord Jesus and what He came to this earth to do, simply because He loves us and wants us eternally healthy. We hope this would bless you!
Today in "The Deep End" we will explore a topic that can be a little tricky to discuss. But the Word of God is clear on it and it's very important for us to know so we can live the way we were intended to. We hope this would bless your soul and that you would be inspired and motivated to live for good works. Thanks for listening!
What are the best tools we have to staying forward for Christ Jesus all our lives? The Apostle Paul considered that eternal hope, riches and power in Christ Jesus is what the church needs to truly do what God has called them to do. So he prayed that the Ephesians would know these 3 things, profoundly. And what if we knew them as well? As we'll discover, they would change our lives, forever and we would buy into following Christ permanently. We hope this blesses you!
What could we do with MORE knowledge, MORE hope, MORE riches and MORE power? Well, if that all pertains to God, then the answer is A LOT. We struggle in this life simply by not knowing what God knows. But, the reality is that we don't have to struggle, at least the way that we often do, with the lack of joy, confidence and security. The Apostle Paul once prayed for a church that they would know MORE and see MORE CLEARLY, and that request to God is one that we need as well. Today in "The Deep End", we'll discover what true enlightenment really is. Blessings!
Is God's glory really the thing we want to live for? That's an honest question because it's not always. Sometimes we're in conflict with God's will and glory because we think we can find better happiness and contentment elsewhere, and that truly is a shame. But if we see God's glory and will the way the Scriptures intend us to, then we will not only live for the glory of God, but we will find the MOST joy, security and peace we could ever find. Pastor Mel helps me discuss this very profound topic. Blessings!
Do we exist for no reason? Do we exist for our own desires and will? Of course, not, we know that we exist for something much higher. But perhaps we don't quite know that purpose like we should. Today, we'll explore the Glory of God and why living for it is the best thing for us, and better yet, the best thing for our God. We hope this blesses your soul!
There are some things we "need" to do in this life, and then there are legitimate, crucial things that if we don't heed them will endanger our physical lives. Well, Jesus told us in the Gospel of John through 7 "I AM" statements that He is CRUCIAL for our souls. And if we don't listen to Jesus, the consequence will be off the charts. We hope this reminder today would encourage you to NEED Jesus and do exactly as He taught us to because He loves us. Blessings!
We all know what it's like to prepare for things, especially big events of our lives. But the question we as Christians must primarily concern ourselves with, is "Are we preparing to meet Jesus?". In this episode we will discuss the poor souls from Matthew 25 who were unprepared to meet Jesus and how we can use their foolishness to our advantage by taking this precious time on earth to get ready to meet Jesus in way that loves Him. We hope this blesses you!
The Lord Jesus once asked the Apostle Peter if he loved Him "more than these?" The "these" aren't defined for us, but the question itself is plenty to chew on. Do we love Jesus more than anything and anyone? The question is necessary for the Lord to know that He can ask us anything and to have the confidence that we'll follow Him all our days. Peter passed the test. So, do we love Jesus with our highest love? We hope this blesses you!
Just how amazing and profound is the experience of trusting in Jesus and being saved from our sins? We all might attest that there is nothing more profound, but do we live that way? We will take time again to reflect on the power of Jesus and its effect on our souls so that this world can be greatly impacted by those who have experienced that incredible power. Blessings!
Jesus is the Bread of Life and He came to nourish us forever. But are we too concerned with "today's candy"; the things that make us happy only today? We will seek to dive into "The Deep End" and discover that the Bread of Life is exactly what we truly want, if we'll only have the proper perspective. Hope this blesses you!
Do we want to love the Lord as He commanded us to, as He is worthy of? Today we will discover that loving the Lord is best done by a deep love for His people. We don't need to guess how to love the Lord, we just need to listen to what He commanded us to do. And He wants us to love one another. But since this is "The Deep End", we will discover a secret motivation to loving one another that will motivate us like nothing else can. We hope this blesses your soul!
We start a new podcast series called "The Deep End" and our first deep end conversation is how we can be truly committed to our Lord Jesus. We'll look at what Jesus meant when He said in Luke 9:62, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God." We will consider what it looks like to plow forward in the Christian life and how we can keep that proper mindset at all times. We hope this blesses your soul!
Having the right and proper perspective in the Christian life is so important that it might make or break our success. As we'll discuss, the devil is doing some very crafty things in order to pervert our perspective, and we'll discuss how we can not only combat his deceptions, but to offensively strive after keeping the right perspective. We will once again seek to put our shield up faith up against the devil today. We hope this blesses your soul!
In this episode we look at the nature of trials or storms in the Christian life. We often have the wrong perspective of the storms we face, and a lot of that comes from listening to the lies of the evil one. But storms are actually a blessed gift from God for the sake of our maturity in Christ. We will explore this very deep topic and hopefully come out of it with a better perspective on the purpose of the storms God allows into our lives. Hope this blesses you!
Every day we avoid or seek to navigate around things that would be harmful to our lives or progress, but do we also do this with our spiritual lives? The devil is crafty and he's doing all he can to place traps and pitfalls along our path so we fail to reach our destination of maturity in Christ. We will discuss 7 spiritual traps and pitfalls we can face every single day and then hopefully make sure we avoid each of these so we can make swift, profound progress in the Christian journey. Blessings to you as you strive to follow the Lord today!
We all neglect do to things from time to time and forgetfulness is how we justify the things we neglect to do. But we also know how to discipline ourselves to do things every single day without missing. So where does acting like the Church line up? Do we neglect to act like the Church or are we disciplining ourselves every day so we will NEVER neglect to act like the Church? We will talk about why it's important to have spiritual alarm clocks in this Christian life. Hope it's a blessing to you!
Is the devil stealing our identity as Christians? Are we seeing ourselves as something much poorer than God intended? Is the Church beyond what we consider it to be? We will discuss these questions as we seek to put our shield of faith up against the devil and hopefully find our true identity in Christ as His Church. Blessings to you!
God's Church is the greatest institution ever designed and yet sadly our culture often devalues it or seeks to tailor-make it to fit our desires. So in an effort to figure this out, we bring in Pastor Mel Walker, who (along with being WVC's Assistant Pastor) is a long time youth minister and an observer of cultural trends, especially in the Church. In this interview style podcast, we will seek to combat the devil's perversions and attacks against Christ's Church so that we can properly value and invest in it. We hope this is a blessing to you!
We like to have things in the proper dosage in our lives. Having too much of something can cramp our lifestyle. But does this happen with the Church too? Do we like having just enough Church? We'll explain this and discuss what is a dangerous trend in our day and age - having just enough Church. The Church is God's singular plan of accomplishing His Will and glorifying His Son. The question can be posed, if we're not totally invested, are we invested at all? We hope this blesses your soul!
We love having options in our lives. Most of us love feeling as if we're not chained down and we can make something custom-made for what we desire. That might be fine with certain things, but when it gets into how we see Christianity, it becomes deadly. We will discuss why there are only two clear options in Scripture and how we can defeat the devil's deception that a 3rd option exists. Many blessings!
In Scripture we find a lot of things that we need to obey, and 1 Peter 5 is no different. The Apostle Peter has several exhortations for us in the last few verses, but perhaps we need to make very sure we notice HOW exactly we are supposed to obey. Obedience towards Jesus is a true gold mine, but there is one very important way to obey, and if we miss it, we miss everything. We hope this encourages and blesses your soul!
Why does "church" seem to be so confused and devalued in our culture today? How is devil been able to convince us that we may not need the church like we used to? Pastor Mel Walker will help me discuss the value of the church and how we can recalibrate our minds to the value of the church today. We hope this is a blessing to you!
Champions live differently than the rest of the world. They discipline themselves while others spend their lives on recreation. Well, Christians are victors through Jesus and that means that we are called to live for higher and better things than what the common world does. The way to arrive at living like a victor us by simply asking questions. We'll explain as we seek to change our perspective from "What is lawful?" to "What is helpful?". Blessings!
We often find things to worry about in this life. The Lord wants us to know that we can simply do what He has called us to do and live for good and entrust the rest of our lives to Him and His promises. Yes, it's a tricky lesson to learn, but if we learn to trust Him instead of being anxious, we will be filled with God's peace - the peace that passes all understanding. Blessings!
Should we pray that God performs miracles in our day and age? Will and can God heal those who are close to dying? These are serious questions that we all wonder from time to time. Today we'll explore if God is still in the business of performing miracles and what the proper way to pray is when needing a miracle. We hope this blesses you!
As we begin a new format for our weekly podcasts, we discuss the sin of pride and how heinous it is and how it negatively affects everything in our lives. We'll discuss where pride started and how we can defeat it and live the way we were designed to. Hope it blesses your soul!
What would you do if you had total freedom to do anything? Most of the world would think that living purely for self is what true freedom looks like. But is it? Or has the devil once again thrown a cloak over our eyes? We will discuss what true freedom and true victory is in Christ and how we can live in them. Blessings to you!
Do Christians have a blind faith? Are we serving an intangible Lord who can't be seen and touched? No, actually. Our Lord is very tangible, more than anything in existence - just maybe not like what is expected. We will discuss how tangible our Lord truly is and why it's essential that we build our entire lives on this precious Stone of Life. Blessings to you!
When did "Commitment" become an ugly word? It we don't like to commit to things, it may be because our perspective is wrong. This is certainly the case with committing to Christ. We will discuss how we can combat the devil and finally and fully give ourselves completely to Jesus until the end. I pray this blesses you!
We all need to actively remember something important from time to time. But nothing could be more so than our salvation and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. In this episode we will discuss how the devil seeks to take our attention away from Jesus and our salvation and what we can do to combat his attacks. Blessings!
The devil loves using "What Ifs" to deceive us and move us off the path of following Christ. We will look at 7 "What Ifs" the devil seeks to tell Christians and how we can stay secure to the Word of God and God's promises for us. Blessings to you!
Why do we often neglect Scripture? You may have heard the old adage "The devil made me do it". In this case, there is actually some validity to that. Of course we still make the ultimate choice and the responsibility is ours. But we will look at how the devil seeks to move us away from Scripture by using several "justifiable excuses". We'll explain this... Hope it's a blessing to you!
How does the devil lie to us? What are his approaches as a deceiver? You may not be surprised that he takes a subtle approach to many of his attacks so that we're not aware that we're actually being lied to. In this episode, we'll discuss how the devil attacks us and look a specific instance from Matthew 8 in which Jesus' disciples were attacked. Hope this strengthens your soul today and that we all get our Shields Up! Blessings!
We start a new podcast series called "Shields Up!" as we look at the devil's rebuttal to what we learned this past Sunday from the Word of God. Seeking to combat the devil's lies and deceptions, we need to know and listen to God's truth and to value His Word above anything else. Hope this blesses you!
In our last podcast from the book of 1 John, we'll discuss the significance of Jesus being our Eternal Life and what it would look like if we didn't have Him. I hope it blesses your soul!
Do you need confidence in life? How about in the Christian life? How about in prayer? We have great news for you if so. The Lord wants us confident people and He is here to answer our requests! We'll discuss why we should have confidence when praying and even for the Day of Judgment all because of Jesus Christ. Blessings!
We celebrate Christmas time by looking at a present we receive from Jesus - it's humility. We'll explain why this gift is so valuable to us and hopefully be inspired to also give this gift to the Lord and others. Blessings to you this Christmas season!
Is fear a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it depends on what type of fear it is and for what purpose. But as we'll discuss, ideally all fear should and can be replaced with love - God's perfect love for us and our love for Him. We'll discuss why perfect love casts out fear. Hope it's a blessing!
Sometimes the hard truths of God's Word tastes bad initially, but once we realize the purpose for them, they become sweet to the mouth and heart. 1 John is full of blunt truths that seem harsh, yet they're given to us for the sake of eternal confidence. We'll explore this idea. Blessings!
What if victory was certain? What if we always won? In this world, that may be a bad thing, but in the Christian life, that would be a huge blessing. We'll discuss why we will have certain victory and what that means for us in the Christian life.
There are some great combinations in this world, but nothing beats love teamed with joy. We'll discuss why joy and love are the best combination ever and how to secure them forever. Blessings to you!
Everyone needs a purpose in this life, and thankfully God has given a very significant purpose to every single child of His. We will discuss this incredibly important purpose and how it should drive us to be thankful for it and to utilize it. Hope it's a blessing to you!
There are tests all over this world, some of them we pass, and some we fail. There are several spiritual tests John gives us through the book of 1 John and these tests are for our eternal welfare. We'll discuss what it means to pass and fail these tests and what it will take to pass the final, ultimate test at Judgment Day. Blessings!
Have we actually been saved and been made a child of God or have we only learned how to behave in Christian circles and yet still practicing sin? We'll discuss this very important topic. Blessings to you!
Supplements can be truly helpful, both physically and spiritually, but in order to be healthy, we need the True Nourishment. We'll discuss the difference in this episode from 1 John 2.
Everything ends in this life, nothing lasts for long. That's a sad reality of this world, but it's so comforting to know that following Christ changes that reality. We'll look at the abiding desires of doing the will of God. Hope it's a blessing to you!
Have you ever regretted doing something? How about NOT doing something? Regrets happen and they're unfortuntate to be sure. But nothing could be of greater regret than neglecting to love as the pattern of our lives. We'll discuss this idea from 1 John 2:8. Blessings!
We'll study how we can know we have God's perfected love in oure lives. It's not our perfection, but His that we need. It's such a warm promise. We hope this blesses you!
In this episode, we'll seek to change our perspective from seeing a harsh God who dersires to take our fun away, to the most loving, kind, compassionate God we could ever hope for. I hope this is a blessing to you as we focus on the cleansing Light of our God.
Are we convinced Jesus is the True Messiah? What if we're wrong? What if we've been handed a forgery? What if we only have a 3rd party experience with Jesus? We'll explore all these questions in an effort to cement in our minds that Jesus IS the True Messiah and worthy of our everything.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of, if not the most important detail of the Gospel. In this episode, we'll focus on why it's so important to our salvation and to our daily following of Jesus. Hope it's a blessing!
In our last "Sermon Extras" from Colossians, we'll discuss the idea of maturity from Colossians 4 and contrast it with childish behavior in the Christian life. Paul and Christ have better things for us than what this world can offer. We'll discuss what that is...
Is serving Christ a privilege to us or does it often just seem like hardship or even a chore? The Apostle Paul asked prayer from the Colossians for a very powerful request, and today we'll discuss the privilege of serving Christ and proclaiming His Name.
This time we'll discuss common denominators and how Scripture even has one main denominator that we need to always focus upon. This Common Denomiator has nothing common about Him, and He's the Key to unlocking every spiritual treasure and He's the Motivation to live the holy life that God expects. Of course, it's Jesus Christ. I hope this podcast is a blessing to you! I apologize for the audio cutting out in the first couple minutes of the podcast.
This time we'll seek to unlock the key to eternal joy that transcends the joy of this world. God's joy is rooted in obedience and faithfulness to Jesus. We'll discuss this eternal investment plan. Hope it's a blessing!
This time we study a really heavy topic called sin and the punishment of that sin. We speak about the danger of sin and how we can conquer it with God's help.
In this episode we'll look at a a cross reference for Colossians 3:1-4 and discuss what treasures we're seeking after, what our focus is, and who is our true master. Our goal will be to "set our minds on things above" as Paul taught us from Colossians 3:2. Hope it's a blessing!
This time we'll discuss shadows, spiritually, and contrast them with the substance, which is far better than the shadow. Our goal once again is to treasure Christ Jesus as the substance that all good shadows point to.
This time in our Sermon Extras we look at Jesus' victory over the devil and his minions through the cross and what it means for us who follow Jesus. Hope it's a blessing!
In this episode, we'll discuss common "plausible arguments" that we may hear today from the media and other sources that can deceive us into not treasuring Christ. Towards the end of the podcast, the audio cuts out for a little, and the phrase you miss when it does that is the phrase "You're so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good". Is that ever possible, really?
Suffering is a topic no one wants to discuss, let alone experience. Yet, suffering is meant for our eternal good and for Christ's glory. In this episode, we'll discuss some of the biggest arenas of suffering and how we can overcome them like breaker waves in the ocean.
The bar for follwing Christ needs to be raised in this culture. We'll discuss how we can do that...
The 10th and final commandment of the 10 Commandments deals with covetousness - which is idolatry. We'll study this broad and incredibly dangerous sin and we'll also discuss the key to defeating this sin - true contentment in Christ.
Bearing false witness against our neighbor is speakiing lies and hurting the character and name of our neiighbor. It's well beyond just telling lies. We'll study the harm of breaking this 9th Commandment and the solution to obeying it.
Stealing is something people of all ages do. The 8th Commandment God gave man was to not steal. We will look at several ways in which people can steal from each other, including the most important way, to neglect loving our neighbor.
Adultery is an ugly word, it's an even uglier sin. We all would agree that those who commit adultery are not in step with Christ. But once again, adultery goes well beyond the actual act of infidelity; it begins in the heart and mind. We'll discuss this very awkward and very serious sin.
Commandment #6 is the the most ancient commandment ever written upon man's hearts and it's so obvious it need not be stated. And yet it hides more truth than any of us could have imagined.
This time we study Commandment #5 - Honoring your father and your mother. This is well-timed as we find ourselves between Mother's Day and Father's Day. Perhaps the Lord will encourage us all to honor our parents much more than we do now.
In this podcast, we'll look at the trickiest Commandment of the 10 Commandments; keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Are we as 21st century followers of Jesus supposed to observe the Sabbath, disregard it or something in between? The answer may surprise you.
We continue our study into the 10 Commandments. This time we look at how important it is to keep the Name of the Lord holy and hallowed. There is more than just one way to take His Name in vain and we'll discuss a few of these.
We continue our study into the 10 Commandments and their relevancy for today's Christian. Commandment #2 is very similar to Commandment #1, yet it's also unique. We'll discuss this.
In this series of podcasts, we'll be studying the 10 Commandments and their relevency for Christians today. This time we'll look at Commandment #1 "Have no other gods".
What is it like to be in debt? It's horrible. Except there's one debt that Christians should embrace as a command from God. We'll explore this truth from Romans 13.
Can you have too much of a good thing in the Christian life? Actually, yes, in a way. We'll explain from James 1.
What was the best gift you ever received? The answer is a no-brainer and yet may surprise you. We'll explore this amazing gift from Mark 1.
Everything in this life depreciates, or does it? We'll explore treasures with lasting value from Matthew 6.
Have you ever been caught off guard by an event in life? A few events in mankind have caught many people off guard and an even bigger event is coming soon. We'll discuss how not to be caught off guard.
Do the unknown details of life make you anxious? How about not knowing God's will for your life? We'll explore the answer to this from 1 Thessalonians 4.
My wife joins me in this podcast as we discuss how things that are supposed to remain inward often come outward from 1 Peter 3.
Have you ever felt the need for reassurance in life or in the Christian walk? It's actually a very important tool and a wonderful gift from God. We'll explore this from 1 John 3.
With Halloween around the corner, it has people thinking about and celebrating fear. In this podcast, we will study and celebrate true fear - the fear of God.
What are you afraid of? What should we be afraid of? Should Christians have fear? The answer may surprise you. We'll explore fear from Luke 12.
Have you ever stumbled upon a great bargain? In this episode, we'll explore bargains, including the most incredible bargain of all time from Matthew 13:44.
Let's face it, alarm clocks are annoying. But they're also useful and quite necessary - especially the spiritual kind. We'll explore this from Romans 13.
There are many possibilities for swinging pendulums in life as well as Christianity. We'll explain from Colossians 2 & 3.
In this podcast, we'll look at why following directions as it pertains to the Word of God is crucial.
Ever had to make a tough choice? The Apostle Paul did. We explore tough choices in this week's podcast.
In this episode, we'll study the tongue and discuss how the Scriptures teach us to guard it because it's full of danger and poison.
In this episode we'll study and discuss the importance of works along with faith and define what those works are.
In this episode we'll study the sin of presumptuous judging from James 2:1-13 and why it's so distasteful to the Lord. Email any questions or comments to vfycampusministry@gmail.com.
In this episode, we study how important it is to both hear and obey the Word of God from James 1:19-27. Listening and doing are crucial to our walk with Christ and we'll look at both sides of these truths.
In this episode, we talk about the difference between trials and temptation and how to deal with the evil desires within us. Email any questions or comments to vfycampusministry@gmail.com
Join us as we study the book of James together and seek to be more obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ. In this episode we study the topic of trials and how to view them and succeed during them, while finding true joy. Email any questions or comments to vfycampusministry@gmail.com