Faith and Life Podcast

Getting help is essential to making it through the land between. There are always challenges in the land between. The Israelites faced the hostile Amalekites in battle. As long as Moses held up in arms, the Israelites prevailed in the battle.  When Moses could no longer hold his arms up, those around him helped him and the battle was won. Our first move when we are in the land between is often to think that we can go it alone and prevail. That is very rarely true. When we rest on Jesus (the stone in v. 12) and allow others to help us and hold us up, we are much more likely to overcome the challenges we face in the land between.   Next Step: Identify where you are trying to go it alone and it is wearing you down. Change what you are thinking and doing in order to rest on Jesus, determine what help you need from others, and then secure that help.   Lessons: Exodus 17:8-16   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

God sometimes gives signs when we thirst for reassurance, but our trust in God cannot rest on God proving his love and care for us. Trust is the most necessary quality for an eternal relationship. In an account Water-from-the-rock account found in Numbers 20:1-13, the necessity of trusting God is tragically illustrated when Moses goes beyond the direction of God and strikes the rock and is therefore not permitted to enter the Promised Land. Trusting in God is so vital to our relationship with Him that He used what appears to be a momentary and minor lack of trust on Moses' part to teach us the tragic results of not trusting in God. This is because only God fully understands that trust is most necessary for an eternal relationship.   Next Step: Determine where you might be putting God to the test to prove that he is with you and working for you. Spend some time listening to what He thinks about this and determine whether this is helpful to your faith. Make a change in your thinking if necessary.     Lessons: Exodus 17:1-7, Numbers 20:1-13   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

The Israelites were thirsty, really thirsty.  They had traveled three days and found no water, and then the water they found was bitter.  One can imagine the disappointment and possible frustration with Moses.  After all, they were out there because he had led them there.  Couldn't they find some water after all? Bitterness, psychologists tell us, is a smoldering resentment.  We are wronged, we feel angry and then we ruminate on the wrong.  We become bitter.  We think, "Someone must be to blame for my misery."  In this case, Moses.  Fueling their complaint to Moses, "What are we going to drink?" is a frustration and growing bitterness.   The people were helpless in the face of the growing and real threat of dying of thirst in the wilderness.  Their situation went from bad to worse at Marah.  The people wondered, and then concluded, that there was nothing that could be done.  They had learned helplessness.   Life is filled with adverse conditions, including this pandemic, which leaves us feeling helpless and possibly hopeless.  What can be done?   Moses does something.  He cries out to God.  The people didn't ask God for anything. God provides a branch to throw into the waters, a branch that possibly everyone had seen, including Moses.  Once thrown into the water, the branch becomes the means by which the water turns sweet.  The same waters that were once a source of bitterness and frustration, were now a source of refreshment and blessing.  Moses was able to do something...a small gesture with a common object, by God's direction, to change the situation for the better.       Next step: Ask God to empower you to help change a situation you are in from a bitter situation to a blessing to others.     Lessons: Exodus 15:22-27   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

We live in hope today because tomorrow's worst is taken care of. The resurrection of Jesus was never far from the minds of the apostles. The resurrection of Jesus infused the apostles with justifiable hope for their future, freed them from the dread of death, and empowered them to sacrificially serve others for the sake of the gospel. What have you learned about your fears during this pandemic? It is possible for our sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life to empower us to live lives of great courage in the face of external threats.   Next Step: The Apostle Paul wrote this, "I desire to depart and be with Christ." (Philippians 1:23) By "depart" Paul meant to die. Try saying this verse out loud and be aware of how this feels.    Lessons: 1 Corinthians 15:1-8, 12-26, 54-57   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel  

To live an excellent life, love drives everything we do.  When love is the beginning, middle, and ending of everything, we increase our ability to be influential in the lives of those around us.  What's possible now is leaving a legacy of faith, hope, and love to generations beyond us.   Take away: excellence begins with how we approach things, our intentions.  Embrace the intention of living each moment, each interaction, and each task with faith, hope, and love.    Lessons: 1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13, Mark 12:28-31   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel

Paul reminds and encourages the church in Thessalonica, that despite the hardship they face as chosen followers of Christ, God is using their "work produced by faith, labor prompted by love, and endurance inspired by hope" to bless those around them, including in places l Ike Macedonia and Achaia, miles away from the city of Thessalonica.  The presence of the risen Christ by the Holy Spirit in the lives of the Christians then, and in the lives of us who live in 2021, amplifies our impact to those around us.  Lives that go to "11" are now possible.   Take away: Live open hearted to God and others, and reframe work from occupation to ministry.   Lessons: Acts 17:1-9, 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10, Mark 13:9-11   Watch: stlukecolumbus.com/ondemand   Subscribe to our Youtube channel