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The Great Crescendo
My parents taught me to love all sorts of music—from country to classical. So, my heart beat rapidly as I walked into the Moscow Conservatory, one of Russia’s great music halls, to hear the Moscow National Symphony. As the conductor drove the musicians through a masterful Tchaikovsky piece, themes developed that gradually built to a powerful crescendo—a profound and dramatic musical climax. It was a magical moment, and the audience stood to roar its approval.
The Scriptures move toward the most powerful crescendo of history—the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the moments following Adam and Eve’s fall into sin…
The Ultimate Satisfaction
As we distributed snack food for children at a Bible School program, we noticed a very hungry little boy. After devouring his snack, he also ate the leftovers of the children at his table. Even after I gave him a bag of popcorn, he still was not satisfied.
As leaders, we were concerned as to why this little boy was so hungry. But are we perhaps like him when it comes to our emotions. We look for ways to satisfy our deepest longings, but we never find what fully satisfies us.
The prophet Isaiah invites those who are hungry and thirsty to…
The Counterintuitive Ways Of God
Today on Discover the Word, we conclude our weeklong study on the counterintuitive ways of God. God’s plans and methods often seem like the opposite of what we’d expect, but can we trust God in seasons of pain and when life doesn’t make sense? Get the faith-building answers today on Discover the Word!
God’s Value System
What do employers, directors, and coaches have in common? They’ve got their eyes peeled for the best and the brightest. But today on Discover the Word, we reveal how God isn’t necessarily looking for the most qualified people to rescue. In fact, He’s got a whole other value system He’s working from! Learn more when you […]
Heart Hunger
Riding along with my husband on some errands, I scrolled through emails on my phone and was surprised at an incoming advertisement for a local donut shop, a shop we had just passed on the right side of the street. Suddenly my stomach growled with hunger. I marveled at how technology allows vendors to woo us into their establishments.
As I clicked off my email, I mused over God’s constant yearning to draw me closer. He always knows where I am and longs to influence my choices. I wondered, Does my heart growl in desire for Him the way my stomach…
God Is Full Of Surprises
God is full of surprises. And often times, it’s when we least expect it that our faith flourishes! That’s what the Discover the Word team is talking about today. Join us as we study how God’s plan for eternal life, first required death. God’s ways are not our ways, but we can always trust Him! Tune in today […]
The Most Ambitious Rescue Plan In History
The whole world seems to rally around a rescue effort, like when the group of Thai soccer players was stuck in a cave last month. Today on Discover the Word, we discuss the most ambitious rescue plan in history. Discover God’s counterintuitive plan to rescue His enemies. Listen today to Discover the Word!
Having Faith In God’s Surprising Plan
Are you the planner in your family or group? And maybe that means you hate surprises! Well, today on Discover the Word, the team jumps into a new series on the counterintuitive ways of God. Hear how your faith in God’s surprising plan can grow when you listen today to Discover the Word!
What’s Your Passion?
One of the tellers at my bank has a photograph of a Shelby Cobra roadster on his window. (The Cobra is a high–performance automobile built by the Ford Motor Company.)
One day, while transacting business at the bank, I asked him if that was his car. “No,” he replied, “that’s my passion, my reason to get up every morning and go to work. I’m going to own one someday.”
I understand this young man’s passion. A friend of mine owned a Cobra, and I drove it on one occasion! It’s a mean machine! But a Cobra, like everything else in this world, isn’t…
A Blind Man’s Plea
Some years ago a traveling companion noticed I was straining to see objects at a distance. What he did next was simple but life changing. He took off his glasses and said, “Try these.” When I put his glasses on, surprisingly my blurred vision cleared up. Eventually I went to an optometrist who prescribed glasses to correct my vision problem.
Today’s reading in Luke 18 features a man with no vision at all; and living in total darkness had forced him to beg for a living. Word about Jesus, the popular teacher and miracle worker, had reached the blind beggar’s ears;…
The King’s Crown
We sat around the table, each person adding a toothpick to the foam disc before us. At our evening meal in the weeks leading up to Easter we created a crown of thorns—with each toothpick signifying something we had done that day for which we were sorry and for which Christ had paid the penalty. The exercise brought home to us, night after night, how through our wrongdoing we were guilty and how we needed a Savior. And how Jesus freed us through His death on the cross.
The crown of thorns that Jesus was made to wear was part of…
The Via Dolorosa
During Holy Week, we remember the final days before Jesus’s crucifixion. The road Jesus traveled to the cross through the streets of Jerusalem is known today as the Via Dolorosa, the way of sorrows.
But the writer of Hebrews viewed the path Jesus took as more than just a path of sorrows. The way of suffering that Jesus willingly walked to Golgotha made a “new and living way” into the presence of God for us (Hebrews 10:20).
For centuries the Jewish people had sought to come into God’s presence through animal sacrifices and by seeking to keep the law. But the law…
Everyone Likes A Winner
Everyone likes a winner. And when the Jews imagined the Messiah, they imagined a conquering king, not a crucified criminal. But today on Discover the Word, we’ll discuss how Jesus’s “kingdom” is different than we might imagine. It’s a kingdom the thief being crucified on the cross next to Jesus wanted in on! Join the […]
Amazing Faith
When you think of stories about amazing faith, what comes to mind? Today on Discover the Word, the team shares what they believe is one of the most amazing stories of faith recorded in the Gospels. Be inspired when you join the Easter week conversations on Discover the Word today!
Look and Be Quiet
In the song “Look at Him,” Mexican composer Rubén Sotelo describes Jesus at the cross. He invites us to look at Jesus and be quiet, because there is really nothing to say before the type of love Jesus demonstrated at the cross. By faith we can imagine the scene described in the Gospels. We can imagine the cross and the blood, the nails, and the pain.
When Jesus breathed His last, those who “had gathered to witness this sight . . . beat their breasts and went away” (Luke 23:48). Others “stood at a distance, watching these things” (v. 49). They looked…
