Forgivin' Livin' Daily Podcast
Our podcasts are 5-8 minutes in length. We create these messages using one or two brief verses from the Bible that come from a devotional book. Our purpose is to help you hear the grace of Jesus in these verses so that your life may find its grounding in Christ alone. It is this grounding in grace that makes forgivin’ livin’ your way of freedom.
05/02/2025
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00(Tourcast) I Will Never Forsake You (Joshua 1:5; Matthew 3:16)
Jan Hus was one of the first theologians to preach against indulgences and other actions of the Roman Catholic Chuch. He was eventually killed for his convictions by being burned at the stake. On his death, he is reported to have given a prophecy about Martin Luther. Hus said, “today you may kill this goose (Hus) but 100 years from now, God will raise up a swan and him you shall not kill.” That swan was Martin Luther. Hus became a symbol of dissidence and a symbol of strength against oppressive regimes. Because of his opposition to church control by Rome, he gave strength to those who opposed control of Czech area by the Habsburgs in the 19th century, and he became a symbol of anti-Habsburg rule. His arrogant stance in the square in defiance of the cathedral before him (see photo) encouraged others to defy their wicked leaders. When Czechoslovakia was under Communist control, sitting at the feet of the his memorial became a way of quietly expressing one's opinion and opposition against the Communist domain. What Hus began ended sadly in his tragic death but his life inspired many. He blessed those who became the Moravian missionaries who took the message of Jesus to the oppressed all over the world.
05/01/2025
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00(Theta) Humble (Daniel 4:37 & Mark 15:39)
Two people praying versus the East German Government: which will win? We heard yesterday how the cross could not be erased from the surface of East Germany’s proud communication tower. Yet the Moravian Star from Herrnhut has crossed the entire world. But more powerful than these symbols are the prayers of two humble people joining their hearts and words with Jesus for “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done.” The “Daily Texts” are shaking up relationships as people pray these texts together. For 305 years, prayers have gone forth from Herrnhut. The first messengers went from here to minister to slaves in the Virgin Islands. The “Daily Texts” went with them. The prayers of God’s people continue to bring life from dead end tyrannies. It happened in Leipzig in 1989. The wall came down. Humble prayers were prayed. What walls are you and your prayer partner praying to come down? Don’t give up!
04/30/2025
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00(Tourcast) Reflections On The Gospel Freedom Tour (1 Chronicles 29:11; Ephesians 1:9 10)
As our tour on the “faith steps of gospel freedom” now takes us on the road to the founding of the “Daily Texts” in Herrnhut, we thought it would be a good time to let some of our tour guest share a part of what they have received so far. We love the ministry vision that our friend Samuel Chestnutt has for these tours, “explore, marvel, share.” When we practice this each day as we follow Jesus, whether at home or away, we are preparing for the day when our God will create a new heavens and a new earth. We will spend eternity, exploring, marveling and sharing the amazing grace that our God has for us. And beyond that everything else that we will experience together for eternity. Our tours give us a few days to practice these three disciplines on earth in preparation for what we will be doing forever in the new heavens and the new earth.
04/29/2025
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00(Irishcast) Living In God’s Kindness (Proverbs 14v21; Luke 17v10)
What does it mean to be held up and supported by your Heavenly Father? You feel secure and safe. You feel honored. You feel precious. Experiencing the kindness of your God is vital to living in the assurance of His love. The words from God’s promises give life to our soul. Soak in His good word for you like you would soak in the sun but into the depths of your being. Begin today. Let God’s promises go deep into you.
04/28/2025
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00(Tourcast) Just Pray (Psalm 38:22; Luke 18:40 43)
How blind are we? We all think we can see but Jesus warns us in John 9:41, “but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” So what does it mean for us to admit we are blind and need to let our Lord lead us in the path of ministry that we may have never explored before. In our tours we ask our Lord to help us to explore, marvel and to share. That is what is needed for us to do. Explore how our Lord wants to use us now. Ask and it shall be given you. So we are asking. We are acting today as well in the streets of Wittenberg, Germany both in our costumes and in our normal clothes. Thank you for praying with us for this ministry today.
04/27/2025
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00(Sundaycast) God’s Abounding Grace Answers Our Prayers (Psalm 116:1; Matthew 18:26 27)
Are you waiting for God to answer your prayers calling on Him day and night? Today’s prayers are prayed with the anguish that comes when we realize how deeply we know that only God can rescue us from the desperate problems we are facing. It is this powerlessness in our praying that leads us to “hammer on heaven’s door” as the saying goes. As friends from Africa shared with me once, they practice the P.U.S.H. prayers which is, “pray until something happens.” The story that Sonja shares today from Leipzig which we visited on Friday reflects this kind of desperate praying that led to the end of the East Germany and the Berlin Wall. You may find the story presented by German media interesting. (https://www.dw.com/en/how-east-germans-peacefully-brought-the-gdr-regime-down/a-50743302) But notice what book is at the heart of the sanctuary in St. Nikolas Church in Leipzig where the people met for prayer every Monday at 5PM. It’s the “Daily Texts.” Their Monday prayers began with reading the verses you are using to lead your feet into the path of peace every day. May our Lord continue to encourage you in your prayers using the “Daily Texts.”
04/26/2025
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00(Mission Cast) Only One Thing To Do Today … Follow Him (Ecclesiastes 5:10; 1 Timothy 6:7 8)
He is risen! He is risen, indeed! Faith in Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross and his resurrection from the dead offers us the sure and certain hope of eternal life. Our true home and life is with Jesus. If we live only for this world, we are constantly consumed with desire and anxiety for more power, more money, and more wealth. In Christ, we can let go of all of this. The only concern for today is to follow Jesus. Jeff and Mim talk with good friends, Jeff and Paul Thompson (Mercy Projects), life-long missionaries who have dedicated themselves to sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to people of the former Eastern Bloc and former Soviet Union countries. They discuss what would it take to simply “go and tell” like the women did that Easter morning when they discovered the tomb empty and believed he had risen from the dead, just like he said he would. Be blessed!
04/25/2025
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00(Tourcast) Praying Expectantly (1 Samuel 7:8; Philippians 1:19)
Praying with Jesus is the heart of Christian prayer. We pray because we know that Jesus is leading us to pray. He creates the desire in us to make our requests known to the Father. He shows us those promises on which our prayers depend. He reminds of those needs where He is working things for good and we pray for help to keep our eyes open to what He is doing. Our tour group pictured here is part of every praying community that is yearning for the revival that our Lord wants to bring to us. We close the podcast today singing a mealtime song which many of you know. It begins by asking our Lord to be with us, to be “present” at our table. Let us begin everything we do with this simple prayer, “be present at our table Lord.”
04/24/2025
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00(Theta) Rejoice (Psalm 13:5 & Mark 7:37)
Astonished? God the Father is the one who is running after you. His love for you is from everlasting. He is not even waiting for you to come to Him. Our God runs to bless you. The story of the Prodigal Father is about a father who makes a fool out of himself by running to the son who wanted his father dead. When he reaches the boy he hugs him and kisses him and won’t even let him try to make up. He blesses the rebel boy by throwing a huge party for him, by restoring him to full authority in the family, and by giving him precious clothes that make him honored wherever he goes in public places. This is the God who astonished all the people who saw Him do well in Jesus. Do you see God running after you to hug you, to bless you, to restore you to full membership in His family? Do you believe that your God even does this thing well for you? Believe!!!! Be astonished!!!!
04/23/2025
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00(Tourcast) Katie Von Bora Shares How God Freed Her To Escape (Gen 17:1; John 20:27)
Katie Von Bora tells the story of what God had to do to show her that her faith could rest in Christ alone. The theological cornerstones of the Reformation, Word alone, Grace alone, Christ alone, Faith alone and living to the glory of God, alone are woven into her testimony of how God moved her out of the convent. She served in a world where her ministry grew much more creatively than anything she could have imagined as a nun. For all of us who have limited ourselves by habits or traditions that give us some feeling of validation let us ask the question that Katie had to ask. Lord, is there something else that you want me to do with the gifts and talents that you have given me? Lead me!