Accidental Wisdom
A few years ago, a woman shared with me a story about finding her preteen son watching news coverage of a violent event. Instinctively, she reached for the remote and changed the channel. “You don’t need to be watching that stuff,” she told him rather abruptly. An argument followed, and eventually she shared that he needed to fill his mind with “whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely . . . ,” (Philippians 4:8). After dinner, she and her husband were watching the news when suddenly their five-year-old daughter burst in and turned off the television. “You don’t…
The Delight of Despair
It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.
The Timeless Wisdom Of God’s Word
For many of us, the Old Testament is a little more mysterious and raises a few more questions than other parts of the Bible. But today, the Discover the Word team joins Dr. Danny Carroll once more for another discussion in the series titled, “Why the Old Testament?” You’ll see that there’s relevance in the […]
The Day I Realized Looks Aren’t Everything
It wasn’t until I faced the operating table that I realised the one thing I treasured the most was a functioning, healthy body.
Tossing and Turning
What keeps you awake at night? Lately I’ve been losing sleep, tossing and turning on my bed, trying to work out a solution to an issue. Eventually I began fretting about not getting enough rest to handle the challenges of the next day!
Sound familiar? Troubled relationships, an uncertain future, whatever it is—we all give in to worry at one point or another.
King David was clearly in distress when he penned Psalm 4. People were ruining his reputation with groundless accusations (v. 2). And some were questioning his competency to rule (v. 6). David probably felt angry for being treated so…
Teamwork – For The Good Of All
Teamwork—getting people to come together—is usually a good thing. But not when it’s teaming up for evil! And today on Discover the Word, the team considers one of the earliest occasions when people united together for a dark purpose. Learn how to direct your potential to good, and not evil when you listen today to […]
Our Careful Unbelief
Jesus summed up commonsense carefulness in the life of a disciple as unbelief. If we have received the Spirit of God, He will squeeze right through our lives, as if to ask, “Now where do I come into this relationship, this vacation you have planned, or these new books you want to read?” And He always presses the point until we learn to make Him our first consideration. Whenever we put other things first, there is confusion.
Why Don’t I Feel Like I Belong in Church?
I have been attending the youth service at my church for five years. This was where I planted my roots and grew spiritually.
The Babushka Lady
The “Babushka Lady” is one of the mysteries surrounding the 1963 assassination of US President John F. Kennedy. Captured on film recording the events with a movie camera, she has proven to be elusive. This mystery woman, wearing an overcoat and scarf (resembling a Russian babushka), has never been identified and her film has never been seen. For decades, historians and scholars have speculated that fear has prevented the “Babushka Lady” from telling her story of that dark November day.
No speculation is needed to understand why Jesus’s disciples hid. They cowered in fear because of the authorities (John 20:19)…
Bringing Your Passions In Line With God’s Will
When it comes to ambition, there are two extremes we can fall into. An unhealthy lust for power or an apathetic ambivalence. Well, today on Discover the Word, the team, along with our guest Dr. Danny Carroll, looks at our God-given ambition to rule and discovers not only how that ambition got perverted, but how to […]
The Explanation For Our Difficulties
If you are going through a time of isolation, seemingly all alone, read John 17 . It will explain exactly why you are where you are— because Jesus has prayed that you “may be one” with the Father as He is. Are you helping God to answer that prayer, or do you have some other goal for your life? Since you became a disciple, you cannot be as independent as you used to be.
God reveals in John 17 that His purpose is not just to answer our prayers, but that through prayer we might come to discern His mind. Yet there is one prayer which God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus— “. . .
How Christianity Ruined My Life
I had a very clear vision of what my life should look like. I was supposed to be married by now, for one. There was someone I had called the love of my life.
Up a Tree
My mother discovered my kitten, Velvet, atop the kitchen counter, devouring homemade bread. With a huff of frustration, she scooted her out the door. Hours later, we searched our yard for the missing cat without success. A faint meow whistled on the wind, and I looked up to the peak of a poplar tree where a black smudge tilted a branch.
In her haste to flee my mother’s frustration over her behavior, Velvet chose a more precarious predicament. Is it possible that we sometimes do something similar—running from our errors and putting ourselves in danger? And even then God comes to…
“Out With The Old, In With The New”
“Out with the old, in with the new!” That’s often our attitude, we have a fascination with things that are new. But isn’t there still value in old things? Today on Discover the Word, the team welcomes Old Testament professor Danny Carroll to the table to talk about how the Old Testament can give insight […]
