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A Totally New Life…. In Christ

Submission, Not what you Think

Message #12 in the Series

Airing Week of 12/28/2020

Ephesians 5:21


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This Week – This is the last week this program will air on Sirius/XM.  After 10.5 years on the “Family Talk Channel”, the decision was made to end this phase of the ministry.  The program will continue to air on WFCJ- FM 93.7 in Dayton, Ohio.  (It will have the new name, “Heritage” radio on the Dayton station.) 
We’re simply using the very next message in the series in Ephesians.  It’s a message on one word, the word submission.  That is a very unpopular word in our culture today, but if you’re brave enough to listen, you actually may look at the word differently!

Submission, Not What You Think
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (12/28) – We look at one of most “unpopular” passages of scripture.  It’s the passage that talks about “submission” to others, not just in marriage.  We talk about the context of this passage.  It was written in the context of the Jewish, Greek, and Roman cultures.  It will be an eye opening experience just to hear what we share about that!

Submission, Not What You Think
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (12/29) – The submission we talk about is voluntary!  It is mutual and reciprocal.  We choose to submit, whether people acknowledge that or not.  Submission is three things.  First, we talk about submission being about “cooperation”.  That is really radical to some people!  Have you ever experienced a non-cooperative spirit from someone in your family, work, or even church?  We all have.  Submission is cooperation in the name of Christ!

Submission, Not What You Think
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (12/30) – We tell a story from World War II about a four-star General expressed his desire to “cooperate” with the lower ranking officers.  Secondly, submission involves “serving”.  We all know people who believe the purpose of everyone else in their world is to serve them!  It’s cute when the person in a preschooler; it’s not very cute when it is someone older.  Get the picture?

Submission, Not What You Think
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (12/31) – We tell a powerful story about servanthood.  It’s a story about the typical church camp, where two boys refused to do anything expected of them.  What the camp dean did may astound you.  He became a servant to the very people disregarding the rule.  The last term to describe submission is honoring.  Honoring means “placing value” on other people’s opinions and feelings.  That speaks to every adult child of an elderly parent!   It may speak to you!

Submission, Not What You Think
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (1/1) – We close with an emotional story of a wedding that I conducted, where the couple wrote their own vows.  What they wrote and spoke to one another, literally moved people to tears.  Basically their vows pledged to submit to one another by cooperating, serving, and honoring each other.  What a concept!  Are you willing to try it?

Submission, Not What You Think
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Christmas Time… Management

Message #11 in the Series

Airing Week of 12/21/2020

Ephesians 5:15-20


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This Week – We begin with an announcement that our program will not be heard after December 31 on the “Family Talk Channel” on Sirius/XM.  It will continue on WFCJ 93.7 FM, in Dayton, Ohio.  We will say more each day over the next two weeks on CrossHope.  We have been on the “Family Talk Channel” on Sirius/XM for 10.5 years!  It has been a great relationship.  We will miss the daily contact with you!

Christmas Time,,, Management
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (12/21) – Time management is a big thing in today’s culture.  One expert says that there are hundreds of books available on the subject.  This week is Christmas week, 2020.  The Apostle Paul in the book of Ephesians has something to say about what we do with our time at Christmas and any other time for that matter.  His admonition to the church at Ephesus is a word for you and me!  This message just may speak to you about this week in a profound way!  It really will!

Christmas Time,,, Management
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (12/22) – The tee-shirt on the young man at a local mall said this:  “It’s not that life is so short, it’s that death lasts so long!”  The Apostle Paul says that we are to be “very careful how we live, not as unwise but as wise men and women.  Make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil!”  What would happen differently in our lives if we really believed that statement?  The word evil actually is from the Greek word that means “diseased”.  The days we live in now are diseased!

Christmas Time,,, Management
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (12/23) – You may think the words of Paul that we read today are raining on your Christmas plans.  Many people will!  Paul says, “Don’t get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery “.  (We will give a frightening definition of debauchery tomorrow on the program.)  Debauchery is actually worse than you think it is. Whatever fills my life controls my life!  Truth be known, what controls your life and mine?

Christmas Time,,, Management
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (12/24) – We often give definitions of Biblical words in our messages on CrossHope.  Today the word we share, “debauchery”, has the most frightening of all the definitions I have ever given in a message!  Its meaning is the “opposite of salvation”!  Talk about a frightening definition!  When Paul says, “Don’t get drunk of wine, because it leads to “debauchery”.  It leads to that which is the opposite of salvation!

Christmas Time,,, Management
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (12/25) – Merry Christmas!  We close with the story of me sitting on an airplane near a woman who had just lost her 22-year-old son to cancer.  She said that no one wanted to talk about her son, Eric, perhaps out of fear of upsetting her.  I encouraged her to tell me about Eric.  What she said about his last two weeks on earth will both convict and bless you.  It did me!

Christmas Time,,, Management
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Who Is Your Model?

Message #10 in the Series

Airing Week of 12/14/2020

Ephesians 5:1-8


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This Week – This we look at one of the most “unpopular” scriptures in the entire Bible!  It is particularly unpopular in a culture that says that today in 2020, “there is no such thing as sexual sin or impurity”.  We have grown up and beyond that kind of thing.  We are “free” to do whatever we please.  It begins with a command to pattern our lives after the Lord Himself: “Be imitators of God, as dearly loved children”.  Who is your model in life?

Who Is Your Model?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (12/14) – We begin with the true story of former tennis legend, Arthur Ashe.  He was called a “world class” father in life in his time.  He was the “model” father according to one author.  The Apostle Paul told the church in Ephesus to model their lives after God Himself!  That is a remarkable command as well as a remarkable possibility!  We talk about that first!

Who Is Your Model?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (12/15) – Paul says that before coming to Christ, we WERE darkness.  He doesn’t say that we were IN darkness, but we were darkness!  That speaks to our world in 2020.  We live in a world of darkness, spiritually, morally, and ethically.  We are now live in the light of Christ and thus are light!  We either live or operate in spiritual darkness, or we all living a life of light!

Who Is Your Model?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (12/16) – We focus on the most controversial verse of this passage, verse three:  “But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity….”  What is there a hint of in your life and mine?  People see what is “hinted at” in your life and mine!  Does that give you pause, and make you think?  It does me!  (I tell an embarrassing story out of my teen years.  We tend to tell the same stories over and over in life.  Do you?)

Who Is Your Model?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (12/17) – When people talk about “breaking a commandment” out of the Bible, they perhaps are misspeaking.   We don’t break the commandments, they break us.  They break lives, marriages, families, and careers!  Every sin in our culture in 2020 has its defender or apologist!  They are people who defend sin and disobedience!  You and I know them and have interacted with them!

Who Is Your Model?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (12/18) – Dr. Scott Coyne happened to be the only doctor on the scene for one hour, after a plane crash in Long Island, New York.  The year was 1990.  What he says about hearing the distracting noises around him as he treated survivors of the crash speaks to our listening to the distracting voices of our culture in 2020.  We either to listen to the cultural “noise” of today, or we listen to the Word of God!

Who Is Your Model?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

New Wardrobe?

Message #9 in the Series

Airing Week of 12/7/2020

Ephesians 4:22-32


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This Week – Figuratively speaking, coming to Christ according to the Apostle Paul, was coming into a “total wardrobe change”.  Everything was changed because of the new relationship with the Lord.  The change begins with our minds, moves onto speech and behavior.  Most of all, the greatest change of all is to be a person who can forgive for one vital reason:  in Christ, we have been forgiven!

New Wardrobe?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (12/7) – We begin with an illustration of a street mission in Columbus, Ohio that would often tell people to “put off” their old clothes and put on new ones given by the mission.  It was both symbolic and personal of what the Lord wants to do with us, spiritually.  Paul says it begins with a new attitude of our minds!  We not only live differently, we think differently!  Has that happened to you?

New Wardrobe?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (12/8) – Two psychologists researched criminals and came to the conclusion that “criminals are criminals because of the way they think”.  What are you and I because of the way we think?  Everything in our lives is connected to the way we think.  Paul then says first of what we need is to be people that tell the truth to others.  What a concept!  Think about the lack of truth telling in your own circle of influence.  Truth telling can be a representation of our relationship with the Lord!

New Wardrobe?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (12/9) – Secondly, Paul says that we need to deal with the anger in our lives.  The most requested message I’ve given in 38 years on the radio was a message about anger!  What does that say to us?  It says that I’m speaking every day to angry people like you and me! Thirdly, Paul mentions “stealing” as a mark of the old life!  Is it an issue in our lives today in 2020?  We then talk about verse 29 that a psychologist said if he had one verse to share with people, it would be this one!

New Wardrobe?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (12/10) – We share a comment of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who said his only ministry in a concentration camp was his words!  Most of the “ministry” that you and I do with others in life is with our words!  Words are important in our lives today!  We read the verses that talk about “brawling, rage, slander, and malice.”  This is disturbing when you find out the meaning of some of these terms!

New Wardrobe?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (12/11) – We share what I feel just may be the most moving, gut wrenching story about forgiveness that you and I have ever heard!  (Please be aware of the subject matter if children are present listening as well.)  The most Christ-like thing that you and I will ever do is to forgive someone in the name of Christ!  This story may change your mind about forgiving someone you have said that you would never forgive.  It’s that powerful!  Listen if you dare!

New Wardrobe?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

United For a Reason!

Message #8 in the Series

Airing Week of 11/30/2020

Ephesians 4:7, 11-16


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This Week – Any group can be united if they work at it! Even a group that believes little or nothing can be united. The Apostle Paul told the church at Ephesus that they were to be united for a reason: to build up the body of Christ, and to “prepare God’s people for works of service”. He goes on to say that the primary task of “pastors and teachers” is to share Christ, and what He has done for us all on the Cross!

United For a Reason!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/30) – Someone asked me a “loaded” question, years ago at a church. Here it goes: “what is more important in a church, unity or doctrinal correctness?” Either answer had a down side! So I answered with this intellectual response: I don’t know! I also added that a church that wasn’t unified would not draw others, regardless of their doctrine! We share the text that speaks to the issue of why we are to be unified as a church!

United For a Reason!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (12/1) – We share a verse from the Old Testament book of First Samuel. It says that Jonathan helped David (who would eventually be King) to find his strength in the Lord. Is there anyone that can say that about you or me? That’s part of unity in the church, to help other people to find their strength and power in life from the Lord. That’s part of building up others and preparing people for works of service! We are in the business of teaching “Christ confidence”, not self-confidence!

United For a Reason!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (12/2) – Tim Keller of New York City says most churches are more interested in hiring staff that are the confident, the competent, and the successful. What they really need people who have been convicted and humbled by the gospel, and are willing to share that with others! We share a strong story that you may be uncomfortable having young children hear. It’s about a conflicted marriage.

United For a Reason!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (12/3) – We begin by talking about the importance of “speaking the truth in love”, from verse 15. It just may be one of the most important things you have ever considered in a marriage and family. If you and I don’t speak the truth in love, we will have conflict on every level of life and relationships! Even children can learn the principle of “speaking the truth in love.” We illustrate that truth.

United For a Reason!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (12/4) – We finish the illustration of a young baseball player told by his coach to “stay home and not come to play” in a championship game. The Lord would never do that with you or me in the Body of Christ, the church! Author Patrick Morley says that “anyone can recruit 6 people to be pall bearers at their funeral.” Then he asks, “Can you think of three people that you have had a spiritual impact on their lives?” I close with the question: “Can you think of even one?”

United For a Reason!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

United or Divided?

Message #7 in the Series

Airing Week of 11/22/2020

Ephesians 4:1-6


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This Week – We read out loud six verses from Ephesians.  One of these verses is so powerful; we made the claim that if we practiced this verse, it could do dramatic things in a marriage, a family, and in a career!  When you hear the passage read, try to guess which verse it is! It’s a passage about unity in the body of Christ.  Unity is something that is not just “nice”; it’s absolutely vital to the church of Jesus Christ!  We are under orders to be unified.

United or Divided?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/22) – We begin with the story of a Las Vegas minister who was the father of several sons, including an eventual pitcher for the Houston Astros.  He tells a story about his wife’s gift for making French toast.  His sons always pushed and shove to be first in line to get breakfast.  What he says next will make you laugh and give you pause at the same time!

United or Divided?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/23) – Remember the “Andy Griffith Show”?  We tell the story of an episode where Andy refers to a meeting down at the local church where the people are voting on the color of new choir robes.  He laments, “I reckon they’ll be fighting about it all night!”  Perhaps you have memories of church meetings where people “fought all night”.  We laugh but it is sad as well!  It’s all so true!

United or Divided?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/24) – Paul exhorts the folks at the church in Ephesus to practice patience.  Everyone has someone in his or her life that manifests impatience.  It takes patience to be a parent, a teacher, a spouse, and a member of the body of Christ.  Do you manifest patience in the lives of other people?  If not, why not?  Patience is a gift of the Spirt of God!

United or Divided?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/26) – We talk about what “gifts” that cause disunity in churches.  You and I just may possess one of the qualities that lead to disunity.  If you agree with that, would you be willing to admit it?  We talk about a 3,000 member church in Detroit that experienced 2 years of peace.  Why?  Two little boys in the church family were dying of leukemia.  It’s a sad story that may convict you and me!

United or Divided?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/27) – We close with a powerful story told by Tim Keller of New York City.  It illustrates the gospel of Christ by a supervisor who defends an employee, and prevents her dismissal.  Many people will be able to relate to the incident.  It demonstrates what the Lord has done for all of us.  He took our sin to the cross and paid the price for that sin!  Have you ever demonstrated the “cross” in the life of someone you know or love?

United or Divided?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Gratitude and Memory

Message #6 in the Series

Airing Week of 11/16/2020

Psalm 106:1-13


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This Week – There’s a connection between gratitude and memory.  If you forget what someone has done for you, you’re not real grateful to that person.   That’s true in a marriage, a family, and in your relationship with the Living God!  But the word “forget” means more than just “ceasing to remember”.  It actually has a frightening definition that we discuss this week.  It’s a fitting passage for Thanksgiving week.

Gratitude and Memory
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/16) – Psalm 106 says that the people of Israel had forgotten what the Lord had done for them!  He delivered them out of slavery, performed one miracle after another, and yet the Psalm writer said they did not remember the many kindnesses and went on to rebel against the Lord!  If you’re honest, you can relate to that forgetfulness.  So can I!

Gratitude and Memory
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/17) – Part of gratitude involves “listening to the Lord”.  Listening reminds us to remember and call to mind what the Lord has done.  If you have ever taken communion or the Lord’s Supper, the Lord was speaking to you about the cross!  Were you listening?  If you’ve ever heard a message shared from the Word of God, He was speaking to you!  Again, were you listening?  We tell a humorous story about listening that you will remember!

Gratitude and Memory
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/18) – Today we give the definition of forgetting that some have never heard!  Talk to any marriage counselor or psychologist about his or her counseling, and they will tell you that this is one of most serious problems in a marriage.  Listen today to hear this definition of forgetting!  You may need to hear it for your marriage alone.  Your spouse may need to hear it as well.

Gratitude and Memory
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/19) – We tell a story written by Ben Patterson about two people in his life: an uncle who lived for money and not much else, and his wife’s grandmother who lived for the love of God and family.  Ben describes life “whittling their lives down to their essence.”  What is left of us is really what we were all along! This is a great thought perhaps for your Thanksgiving dinner today!

Gratitude and Memory
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/20) – Have you ever known someone who has searched for his biological parents?  This story that we close with has a “surprise ending”.  This man discovered after nine years of searching that he grew up just three blocks from his biological parents!  What does that have to do with gratitude?  More than you may realize.  Gratitude is connected to memory! Your level of gratitude to the Lord is directly related to your memory of what He has done in your life.

Gratitude and Memory
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Humble Servant or Proud One?

Message #5 in the Series

Airing Week of 11/9/2020

Ephesians 3:7-13


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This Week – Does humility play a part in your life?  In many people’s lives, humility takes a back seat.  In some lives, it rides in the trunk.  This week we look at why humility is not a suggestion, but a strong admonition to you and me!  The Apostle Paul gives us all a lesson in humility, the why of humility, and the result of not being humble! Someone reading this needs to listen to this.

Humble Servant or Proud One?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/9) – We begin with a humorous story about President Ronald Reagan.  He spoke in Mexico City and was embarrassed at the “cool” response of the audience.  What happened next will amuse you, but will speak to you and me about humility as well.   Humility has to be at the front of our lives, if we claim to follow Christ. Where is humility in your life?

Humble Servant or Proud One?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/10) – Paul identifies himself to the church at Ephesus as a servant who was a recipient of God’s grace.  So are you!  It’s by grace that you and I are alive in 2020.  Every day is a gift or a grace.  Grace means undeserved or unmerited favor.  Everything we do, everything we are is a result of the grace of God.  When you and I realize that, life is never the same!

Humble Servant or Proud One?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/11) – This wasn’t planned to happen today, but November 11 is Veterans Day. The focus of today’s program is the story of “Dunkirk” from 1940 at the beginning of World War II.  As strange as it may sound, it’s an illustration of the grace of God!  Over 300,000 men were rescued from the clutches of death and/or imprisonment because hundreds of ordinary vessels were used as “rescue” boats.  God can do extraordinary things with ordinary people like you and me!

Humble Servant or Proud One?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/12) – We discuss the verse in this passage that says we can “approach God with freedom and confidence” in prayer.  Have you ever felt that your problem or issue of concern in your life was too “small change” to bring before the Lord?  We all have at some point in our lives!  Nothing that happens in your life and mine that we cannot bring to the Lord in prayer!  Why?  We can approach the Lord with freedom and confidence.

Humble Servant or Proud One?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/13) – Max Lucado has written more books in his life than just about any author I know!  Perhaps that has given him a boldness that you and I don’t have.  He asks people if they think they will go to heaven.  The common answer is for people to give Max their “list”.  The list consists of reasons that they “qualify” for heaven.  There’s only one reason for heaven for you or me; it is the cross of Christ, and His substitutionary death for our sin!

Humble Servant or Proud One?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Two Words: Peace and Hostility

Message #4 in the Series

Airing Week of 11/2/2020

Ephesians 2:12-14


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This Week – Occasionally, we discover another meaning to a word we use commonly.  Perhaps it will happen to you this week on CrossHope with these two words we use often, peace and hostility.  They are the two operative words in our text today in Ephesians.  The Apostle Paul reminds new Christians who were Gentiles or non-Jewish believers of what they were before coming to Christ.  Before becoming Christians, they were “without hope and without God in the world.”  But now, they have been “bought near to God through the very blood of Jesus Christ!”

Two Words: Peace and Hostility
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/2) – We tell a story that I heard years ago, but I’ve never shared in any message anywhere I’ve served.  It’s a story about what we call the “foundational teaching” of Christianity.  After the real foundation of Christianity, the death and resurrection of Christ, we talk of forgiveness.  Forgiveness has more to do with your mental wholeness and stability than we are willing to admit! Listen to this unbelievable story.  It may help you in more ways than one!

Two Words: Peace and Hostility
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/3) – We simply read the three verses of Ephesians 2. We redefine the word “peace”; we redefine “hostility”.  These two words have a lot to do with the way you live.  Peace isn’t simply the cessation of strife; it means being reunited with those you have been separated from!  Hostility is not just anger.  You can be angry with the people with those you love!  Hostility is when we treat the “other” person like the enemy! Who are the enemies in your life in 2020?

Two Words: Peace and Hostility
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/4) – There are husbands who treat their wives as their “enemy”.  There are wives who treat their husbands as the enemy.  There are parents who treat their children as the enemy; children who look at mom or dad as their enemies.  There are churches that look at the church down the street as the “enemy”!  We create hostility with others who don’t deserve it; people do the same with us!

Two Words: Peace and Hostility
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/5) – We share a story about a three-year-old boy that will send a chill up your spine!  It really will. Anger and hostility will do more damage in your life than you and I are willing to admit.  What have anger and hostility done in your life?  Everyone has a wall of hostility at least with one or two people.  We close by setting up one of the most powerful stories I have ever told and will tell tomorrow on CrossHope.

Two Words: Peace and Hostility
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/6) – The closing illustration is from World War I, about British soldiers wanting to bury their dead sergeant in a Catholic Church cemetery in France.  What happens will touch you deeply.  It really will!  What happens in this story will speak to you about a “wall” or “fence” in your life that needs to come down in the name and power of Christ.  What wall needs to come down in your life today?

Two Words: Peace and Hostility
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Dead or Alive?

Message #3 in the Series

Airing Week of 10/26/2020

Ephesians 2:1-10


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This Week – Years ago, someone asked me this question.  “If there were just one scripture you were allowed to share with people to lead them to Christ, what would that passage be?”  Today’s text is that passage.  This is the passage that I honestly believe is possible to lead someone to Christ, if they could only read this one!  It simply says we are “dead” without Christ in our lives and “alive” with Him!  It really “cuts to the chase”. Death and life are pretty basic terms to most of us.

Dead or Alive?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/26) – We talk about the medical issue of autism in children.  We quote an article from an author in England nine years ago, who defined autism in terms of “words having little meaning and significance”, to a child with autism.  Often there is simply no reaction to what is spoken.  He then referred to a term I have never heard before:  “spiritual autism”.  People who hear the word of God and simply have no reaction whatsoever!  That happens all the time!

Dead or Alive?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/27) – We read the text in its entirety.  Listen to it as a whole.  It speaks for itself.  It convicts and convinces!  In verse one, the Apostle Paul uses the Greek word, “nekros” to describe those who are “dead in their trespasses and sins”.  Doctors will speak of necrotic skin or tissue on a person’s body.  It has to be removed, it will not heal.  Why?  It’s dead!  Christianity is not a matter of comparative difference; it’s a matter of “life and death”!

Dead or Alive?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/28) – We define the “ways of the world” or the “spirit of the world” in 2020.  John Macarthur defines those terms with three words:  “humanism, materialism, and sex”.  That may sound simplistic, but it actually works in defining those terms.   Look at what we are exposed to in our culture just in advertising alone.  Everything we read or see will fall under one of those terms!

Dead or Alive?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/29) – We share a powerful story involving the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team to illustrate the grace of God and His mercy!  Listen today and see how everything we have in life is a gift from the Lord God almighty.   Does everything really come from the Lord?  Yes, everything good comes from His hand.   We explain how from this passage in Ephesians.

Dead or Alive?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/30) – Jim Cymbala of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church in New York City, tells the story of “life and death” of a woman who lived behind the church across an alley.  Sometimes when a person has a near death experience physically, they realize that they are “dead” spiritually.  This woman hated hearing the music of choir rehearsal at the church.  That all changed because of a drug overdose that nearly took her life!  It just may speak to you in a powerful way.

Dead or Alive?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Prayer: Matter of Pride or Humility?

Message #2 in the Series

Airing Week of 10/19/2020

Ephesians 1:15-23


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This Week – People can take pride in just about everything!  That’s true in our physical lives, but also in our spiritual lives, if we are honest.  The Apostle Paul compliments the people of Ephesus about their faith in Christ and their love for others. His compliment was sincerely given, but not meant as a source of pride and bragging on their part.  Pride can be spiritual, but it’s still pride!  Don’t ever forget that!

Prayer: Matter of Pride or Humility ?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/19) – We share a true story about the pride of man and his wife.  They both had a pride to match the other!  It’s a great introduction for the passage we study in Ephesians where Paul commends the people there for their faith, their love, their enlightenment, and their spirit of “wisdom and revelation”. The Lord doesn’t enable us in those areas so we can brag on ourselves, we “brag on the Lord, the giver of everything!”

Prayer: Matter of Pride or Humility?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/20) – If people compliment you and what you excel in, in life; do they comment on your spiritual situation?  We like people noticing our intelligence, our talents, or our skills in life.  But do we ever have anything in our lives that draws attention to the Lord?  That’s the purpose of spiritual gifts.  It points the way to the living God, who lives in us and in everything we do or say!  Ultimately, it’s not about us, it’s about Him!

Prayer: Matter of Pride or Humility?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/21) – We discuss the two types of relationships we have with others:  transactional and personal.  We define the difference between the two, through an illustration from a minister from Toronto, Canada.  He uses the “donut mecca” of Canada (Tim Horton’s) as an example.   It will not only make you smile, it will speak to your spirit!  We define the term Paul uses, enlightenment.  It relates to the story at hand!

Prayer: Matter of Pride or Humility?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/22) – Our relationship with the Lord God Almighty is not transactional; it is personal!  Your life is messy, and so is mine.  Meaning what?  Meaning that life is not simple but rather it is complicated.  Our lives are problematic, difficult, and impacted by our own sin and the sins of others.  We are not the answer to all of our problems; the Lord is!  We share how that is true in 2020.

Prayer: Matter of Pride or Humility?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/23) – We close with a powerful story about a man who has been sober for 25 years.  You need to hear his story, so do I.  We talk about how every day we have on this earth is a gift from God, not something we have earned or deserve.  Faith, hope, and love are ultimately gifts from the Giver.  You do know that, don’t you?  What matters in your life at the end of it is your relationship with the God who made you, through His son, Jesus Christ.  Your past, present, and future are all connected to Him!

Prayer: Matter of Pride or Humility?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Words That Change My Life!

Message #1 in the Series

Airing Week of 10/12/2020

Ephesians 1:1-13


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This Week – Many scholars think that the book of the New Testament we begin studying, just maybe the most important of all the letter of Paul!  The words we study today in chapter one can honestly change someone’s life as they read and internalize them.  Words are important in your marriage, in your family, and in your relationships.  They are words that can impact your life and mine today in 2020!

Words That Change My Life!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/12) – We begin with the life story of man who was rejected by two fathers.  His biological father walked out on the family before he was one!  His “second dad” never spoke his name, but referred to him as “that boy”.   That boy would grow up to become a medical doctor and a Biblical scholar.  It’s a great story to introduce this opening passage in Ephesians.  Words are important!

Words That Change My Life!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/13) – We talk about terms in this passage that speak power and blessing in our lives.  What are they?  We have been chosen, we have been predestined, we have been adopted, and we have been redeemed, forgiven and sealed!   They are the most important words in your life and mine!  We talk about what that means to you in 2020!  Those words just may change your life, today.  Seriously?  Yes!

Words That Change My Life!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/14) – There are “physical blessings”; there are “spiritual blessings in Christ”.  Do you and I know the difference?  We quote someone who says that we are exposed to 250 to 3,000 advertisements a day.  Think about that.  Through the radio, television, newspaper, billboards, and internet we are bombarded with ads.  Are we exposed to the words in this passage?

Words That Change My Life!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/15) – Have you ever had to deal with student debt?  Have you had to deal with the student debt of someone in your family?  We share a powerful story of student debt that was paid without the student’s knowledge.  It’s a great illustration about the “sin debt” in our lives, which is “under the blood of Christ”.  If you don’t know that, you need to know that, today!  It’s all connected to the cross of Christ!

Words That Change My Life!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/16) – Most people don’t recognize the name of a woman from Vietnam by the name of Kim Phuc.  But many of you remember her picture from the Vietnam War.  She was shown running down a street in Saigon with a group of other children.  Napalm bombs burned their bodies.  Kim is shown with her arms extended, running in agony.   If you’ve seen the picture, you can recall it.  Kim would become a believer in Jesus Christ!  You really need to hear her story.  It could become your story!

Words That Change My Life!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Is Jealous!

Message #17 in the Series

Airing Week of 10/5/2020

Jeremiah 44: 1-6 and Exodus 34:14


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This Week – People usually won’t admit to jealousy, but it is a common “malady” in our lives today in 2020.  Jealousy exists in marital relationships, friendships, work, school, and neighborhood interactions. Rarely do people talk about the jealousy of the Lord God Almighty!  That will be the running theme in this last message of the Jeremiah series.  God was provoked to jealousy by the idolatry of people who claimed to know the Lord!

The God Who Is Jealous!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/5) – After telling you an imaginary story about jealousy, we share the overarching theme of the message that our God is not only jealous of His relationship with His people, Exodus 34:14 states that one of God’s titles is Jealous with a capital J.  His jealousy is rational and righteous!  We will intentionally repeat this verse at the end of each day! Memorize it and internalize it!

The God Who Is Jealous!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/6) – We read from the text in Jeremiah 44, that God’s people provoked God’s anger and jealousy by one thing:  the worship of idols or pagan gods.  People often say, “We don’t have idols in 2020!”  Perhaps we don’t have idols like a statue of stone or wood.  We just drive them, live in them, we wear them, or we pull them behind our cars!  Does that resonate with you or me? Maybe?

The God Who Is Jealous!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/7) – We share a story from college days where a fellow student was jumping up and down in a rage.  He had just seen his girlfriend having a conversation with another young man. That’s it, you say?  That was it.  It was an irrational jealousy.  God’s jealousy is both rational and righteous!  We ought not to forget that.

The God Who Is Jealous!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/8) – Believe it or not, I never owned a dog in my life. So, I don’t commonly use “dog stories or illustrations” in my messages.  But I share a powerful story about a Chihuahua dog owned by a colleague. It is both funny and compelling at the same time.  We learn something of God’s jealousy of you and me.  We talk also about idols in people’s homes!

The God Who Is Jealous!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/9) – We close with a story of Christian friends of mine from India who minister in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.  At the time I last spoke there, they told me about living on the 24th floor of a 34 story apartment/condo building.  A fire broke out on the 17th floor.  Blessen and his wife Roshen grabbed their two daughters (7 and 3) and ran down 24 flights of stairs!  They had a “jealous love” for their daughters!  God has a jealous love for us and His church!

The God Who Is Jealous!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Demands Obedience!

Message #16 in the Series

Airing Week of 9/28/2020

Jeremiah 42: 1-6 and 43:7


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This Week – Obedience is a touchy subject in most families.  Some children are naturally obedient; others seem naturally disobedient.  Which one were you? This week, we study about God’s people in the southern Kingdom called Judah who promised God total obedience.  Unfortunately, they did the very thing the Lord told them not to do!  They paid a dear price for what Jeremiah says they did: “They entered into Egypt in disobedience to the Lord.”  Can you and I relate?

The God Who Demands Obedience!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (9/28) – We begin with a marriage counselor’s admonitions.  The second one we discuss was initially thought to be a mistake in my hearing.  But I heard it correctly.  Here it is: “Most men want to be close to a woman who leaves them alone!”  That’s true spiritually.  Many people would prefer a God who leaves them alone!  What about you and your life?

The God Who Demands Obedience!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (9/29) – God’s people appeal to the prophet Jeremiah in asking for his prayers on their behalf.  They actually ask him to pray for them, and whatever God tells him in response, they will obey!  They not only didn’t do what God told them to do, they did the very thing God forbade them to do!  Sound familiar in your life or family?  Maybe it does!

The God Who Demands Obedience!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (9/30) – It’s better not to pray at all, than to tell God you will do what He says but have no intention of actually doing it!  That’s exactly what Gods people did.  They were told NOT to go to Egypt to escape the domination of the Babylonians.  Jeremiah 43:7 says that they entered into Egypt in disobedience to the Lord’s command.  Have you and I ever entered into a business deal or relationship in disobedience to the Lord?  Many of us have!

The God Who Demands Obedience!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/1) – We tell a powerful story of a man who was in the grips of alcohol and cocaine.  He was kicked out of his own home, his mother’s home, his brother’s home, his sister’s home, and even an aunt’s home.  He finally found the Lord whom he believed “raised him from spiritual death”.   The God of the resurrection gave him a new life in Christ.  What could the Lord do in your life with your obedience to Him?

The God Who Demands Obedience!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/2) – Our hope has got to be ultimately in the Lord and in obeying His will for our lives.  It’s all connected to the cross of Christ.  We share a word from Ravi Zacharias who tells of reading a “Christian best seller”.  The book is called, “Your Best Life Now”.  Ravi said he read every word of the book, but discovered not one mention of the cross.  He wonders, can we have our best life now without the cross of Jesus Christ in our lives?  Absolutely not!

The God Who Demands Obedience!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Says, Pay Attention!

Message #15 in the Series

Airing Week of 9/21/2020

Jeremiah 37: 1-10


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This Week – Do you remember being asked by a parent, a teacher, a spouse, a child to pay attention to what I am saying to you?  We all can.  God asks the same thing of you and me!  In one of the final messages from this book of the Bible, Jeremiah says the Lord God Almighty wants your attention to what He says!  Have you ever not listened to what God was trying to impress upon your heart or spirit?  If we are honest we all have.

The God Who Says, Pay Attention!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (9/21) – What have you put off in your life recently or routinely?  We share a passage from Jeremiah 37, where the Lord chastises His people for not listening to anything He has told them.  And yet while the city of Jerusalem is under attack by the Babylonian Army, they beg for Jeremiah to pray for them. Have you ever done something similar in your life?  I know I have.

The God Who Says, Pay Attention!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (9/22) – There is a power in the Word of God that most people don’t even recognize!  It has power physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And yet, the people of God in Jerusalem didn’t listen to anything that the Lord spoke to them through the prophet Jeremiah.  Isn’t that hard to believe?  Yes, but more bizarre than that was their desire to have Jeremiah pray for them in the “crisis”.  We give dramatic illustrations of that in our lives.

The God Who Says, Pay Attention!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (9/23) – We share a most powerful story shared by Ravi Zacharias who died in 2020.  He told the story of Leighton Ford (brother in law of Billy Graham) when they met in an airport accidentally.  Leighton told him that we was given up for adoption by his mother at birth.  When he was 40, he found her!   The meeting was awkward and uncomfortable.  What happened will perhaps move you to tears!

The God Who Says, Pay Attention!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (9/24) – We share a gut-wrenching story of a woman was married from 20-22 to a man who was arrested and convicted for committing a violent crime that she doesn’t reveal.  He was sentenced to decades in prison.  She had every legal and logical reason to leave him, but she didn’t.  You won’t believe what she did every week until age 50!  It is a parable of what the Lord has done for both of us!

The God Who Says, Pay Attention!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (9/25) – We live in a political world of “right wing and left wing”.  But no one talks about the spiritual world of “up and down”, meaning our relationship with the Living God. We do today! We share a quote by W.A. Criswell who talks about people coming to Christ with tears.  He says God will “break your heart”, not in a cruel way but in the most loving way possible.  If you only listen to one day of this program, today is the day!

The God Who Says, Pay Attention!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Teaches a Lesson

Message #14 in the Series

Airing Week of 9/14/2020

Jeremiah 35: 6-7, 12-17


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This Week – This is the most unusual story in the entire Bible!  A man named Recab ordered his existing family and all their future descendants to do two things.  They must never ever drink wine; and they must always live in tents, never in houses.  The remarkable thing is this:  they obeyed his edict for 250-300 years!  The Lord uses this as an object lesson for His people, about obedience!

The God Who Teaches a Lesson
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (9/14) – Most people are unaware of this story in the Bible. But it provides the Lord and His prophet Jeremiah a lesson to use with the people of Judah.  The Lord wonders why people would follow this order (without question) for generation after generation, and then turn around and disobey the commands of the Living God! What does this say to you and me?

The God Who Teaches a Lesson
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (9/15) – Have you ever felt a prompting from the Lord through His word or a message you heard? Have you ever disregarded that prompting?  We all have!  Jeremiah is puzzled by the “blind obedience” of this family or clan in keeping the edict of the patriarch for 2-3 centuries.  He then is most mystified by their disobedience to God’s word.  Does that resonate with you?

The God Who Teaches a Lesson
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (9/16) – Jeremiah warns Gods people about refusing to honor God’s word, and following other gods.  Is that possible in 2020? It certainly is.  Three of the gods in our day are money, sex, and things.  You probably can name a few more.  Whatever dominates our lives, whatever we obsess over can be our “god”. We share a powerful true story about listening, listening to the Lord!

The God Who Teaches a Lesson
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (9/17) – God spells out the disaster He is going to bring upon His people because of their disobedience.  Is it possible that God would actually bring disaster upon any country?  Someone might say, “God forbid!”  I’m walking on “dangerous ground” to ask this question, but is it possible that God brings disaster on nations today?  What do you think?  What are you afraid to think?

The God Who Teaches a Lesson
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (9/18) – Does God permit things in our lives to get our attention?  Would it upset you to find out that maybe He does? Steve Cole was a minister who was asked to visit in the hospital a man who was a bartender at the most notorious bar in the city.  He told the minister he didn’t need the gospel because he was basically a “good person”.  The real problem was not his being a bartender; it was thinking his own goodness was enough.  He needed Christ, so do we!

The God Who Teaches a Lesson
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Message #13 in the Series

Airing Week of 9/7/2020

Jeremiah 32:16-25


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This Week – Most people pray in a crisis or emergency situation, but not much more than that.  Others pray as a matter of “religious behavior or obligation”.  Still there are those who pray because of their relationship with our heavenly Father.  For them, prayer comes naturally and from the heart.  Where are you on that spectrum?  This week we look at Jeremiahs prayer to the Lord and what it means for us in 2020!

The God of our Prayers
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (9/7) – Jerusalem is under siege by the Babylonian army. Siege ramps are being constructed for the soldiers to go “up and over” the walls of the city.  It is a most serious crisis. Jeremiah tells the Lord in his prayer that “nothing is too difficult for you, Lord”.  We are “under siege” in 2020 with the Pandemic. You may feel under personal siege, medically, financially, or in any number of ways.

The God of our Prayers
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (9/8) – Jeremiah describes the power of God in one word: Sovereign.   It means all powerful, all knowing, all seeing!  That’s the One we pray to.  We need to know that. His sovereignty means blessing for us from Him.  Jeremiah recognizes that God created the heavens and the earth with His “great power and outstretched arms”.  That’s who we pray to!

The God of our Prayers
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (9/9) – Jeremiah recounts the disobedience of the people of God.  It’s not a “pretty thing” to read. The Lord actually tells Jeremiah to buy a piece of property from his cousin and put the legal documents in an earthen jar for safe keeping!  Perhaps it was a message of hope in that jar, because the Lord tells him to preserve those documents!  Sometimes the only hope we have in life is in the Lord!

The God of our Prayers
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (9/10) – I explain the outline of what I say at virtually every funeral I conduct.  It’s worth listening to you, if you are facing life or death!  I also share a story that is one of the most unusual stories I have ever told.  It’s about a church organist that would fantasize about killing her husband while she played the organ at church. Yes, you read that correctly!  It took the God of the impossible to deal with her hostility.

The God of our Prayers
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (9/11) – We close with a true story of a man who was a drug addict for 26 years.  Truly, it was a hopeless situation, even by the man’s admission.  The God who Jeremiah prayed to is the same God this addict appealed to for help. He has been clean for 8 years, and is now in the ministry and an author!  The God of hope can and will work in your life and mine!  What does He need to do in your life?

The God of our Prayers
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God of the Covenant

Message #12 in the Series

Airing Week of 8/31/2020

Jeremiah 31:31-34


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This Week – If you are believer in Jesus Christ, you are in a covenant relationship with God the Father through God the Son!  It’s His covenant, and we step into that covenant for the rest of our lives.  People end or even break covenants today in 2020.  (Including a covenant called marriage) Breaking covenant with the Heavenly Father is the most serious of all.  Jeremiah talks about the “old covenant” God made with Moses.  He then refers to the “new covenant” in a prophetic way.  You and I live under that covenant!

The God of the Covenant
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (8/31) – We use a humorous story told by a woman minister whose first paragraph absolutely grabbed my attention.  It will grab yours!  We begin a message from a passage that is actually quoted in the New Testament in its entirety! It’s about our “covenant relationship” with the Living God through His Son.  If you own a house or a car, you have been or are in a covenant relationship!

The God of the Covenant
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (9/1) – We describe a children’s book that talks about a pig who wanted to become a sheep.  He pulled off the deception for a time until he missed the life in the pigsty.  He went back to the slop and the filth of the sty.  An author talking about the story makes the parallel to you and me wanting to go back the old life of the past before coming to Christ.  We “break covenant” in order to do that.

The God of the Covenant
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (9/2) – We quote an author who says Christians often “try” to do this or “try” not to do that.  It doesn’t work, we need a new heart.  It’s an inside job, a work of the Holy Spirit!  Jeremiah says the time was coming when God would write His message upon people’s hearts.  That’s you and me! We’re in a covenant relationship with God the Father through the Son.

The God of the Covenant
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (9/3) – I rarely use imaginary or hypothetical stories in my messages.  They’re not a favorite literary device for me. But I do today, using myself and my wife Annie as characters in the story.  The story makes the point about those who talk about getting serious about the Lord, someday in the future.  It becomes the someday that never comes.

The God of the Covenant
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (9/4) – We close with the powerful story of a marine sergeant during the Korean War, who was a wounded POW in a Communist Chinese prison camp. He would later become the assistant superintendent of the local school system where I ministered for 18 year, and a member of the church. His story that I share will touch you deeply!

The God of the Covenant
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God With a Plan

Message #11 in the Series

Airing Week of 8/24/2020

Jeremiah 29:11-14


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This Week – Would it surprise you to know that God has a plan for your life?  He does, if you believe Jeremiah in the 29th chapter of “his” book of the Bible.  Although some would say that this passage does not “apply” to us, it does reflect the heart and character of God!  God is a God concerned for His people.  He always has been, and He is today in 2020!

The God With a Plan
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (8/24) – God has a plan for our lives that didn’t start yesterday; it doesn’t end tomorrow! He actually intends good for you and me!  God even takes the seemingly unrelated events in our lives, and weaves them into the fabric of our lives.  If you really believed that, would it make any difference in your today and tomorrow?  I think it would!

The God With a Plan
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (8/25) – In the King James Version of the Bible, this passage says that “God’s thoughts” are for His people.  The word for thoughts in the original means “intentions”.  His intentions were for the good for his people centuries ago; I believe they are the same for us today in 2020.  What a great thought for us in our world today; God intends good for us!  What a concept!

The God With a Plan
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (8/26) – Have you ever wondered what you should pray for your children and grandchildren?  There’s a powerful suggestion in this text.  The Lord says He wants His people to have a “future and a hope”.  Have you ever thought about praying that for your children of any age as well as your grandchildren of any age?   It’s a great prayer request for the people you and I love!

The God With a Plan
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (8/27) – We share about a movie made 10 years ago that made one billion dollars!  It was made by James Cameron and called “Avatar”.  The place called “Pandora” in the movie created a sense of “depression and sadness” because people wished it really existed in our world!  The book of Ecclesiastes says that God has created in all of us a longing for eternity.  Is it possible that’s really what people are longing for?

The God With a Plan
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (8/28) – Over the years in counseling, many people have told me that God seems like “a million miles away” from their lives.  I’ve never said this personally to anyone, but here’s what I’ve thought about saying:  “Is it possible that’s where you have put Him?”  Does that speak to you at all?  If God has a plan for your life, aren’t you at least curious?  Yield your life to Him, see what happens!

The God With a Plan
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Loves

Message #10 in the Series

Airing Week of 8/17/2020

Jeremiah 31:3-4, 9


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This Week – We are known by whom we love and who loves us.  It’s a bigger issue in our lives than we may think.  Your life has been impacted not only by the people that love you; we are impacted by the people that should love us, but don’t!  Jeremiah says that we are loved by God with an everlasting love.  No one in your life or mine loves us like that.  His love and kindness actually draw us to Him!

The God Who Loves
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (8/17) – We quote an author by the name of Robert Fulghram who talks about finding the meaning of life, but also in life.  This week we study an attribute of God that covers both! Jeremiah claims that the Lord loves us with an “everlasting” love.  This is a passage that can impact your todays and tomorrows.  No one loves us with an everlasting love, other than the Lord Himself!

The God Who Loves
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (8/18) – A.W. Tozer writes about the seven things that mark our lives.  We need to hear these words for more reasons than one.  Listen carefully.  They not only describe you, but the people you know and love.  Jeremiah says in the past the Lord appeared to us.  How?  We share three ways that God has “appeared” to us in the past and even today!  You may be surprised by what is shared!

The God Who Loves
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (8/19) – God can use unlikely people in our lives to speak to us.  We give a real example that illustrates that truth.  God says He “draws” us with acts of lovingkindness.  How do you draw people to you?  Or if truth be known, do you repel people?  Many people do.  We quote an article about the “causes of depression in children.”  The top three were family violence, the mental illness of a parent, and parental divorce.  Love in a family is crucial!  It’s not optional.

The God Who Loves
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (8/20) – Love builds up; hatred tears down.  The greatest thing a husband does for his wife is to love her.  The greatest thing a wife does for her husband is to love him.  The greatest thing a parent does for a child is to love them.  Loving those close to us helps to convey the love of God!  Do you and I assist in people discovering the love of God?  Or do we do just the opposite?

The God Who Loves
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (8/21) – God tells His people He will lead them by “streams” of water.  We don’t appreciate that in our day with bottled water, faucets producing water, and watering the yard.  In Biblical times, water meant life itself!  God is the source of every good and perfect gift.  He is the source of life.  Why?   He loves us with an everlasting love.  The God of love is the God of life!  What are you to other people?  We are to represent life and love to our families, our neighbors, and our co-workers.

The God Who Loves
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Is the Mighty Warrior

Message #9 in the Series

Airing Week of 8/10/2020

Jeremiah 20:7-18


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This Week – Jeremiah is the most self-revealing author in the Bible!  The prophet who said that the Lord knew him in the womb, and had a plan for his life before birth tells us he wishes he had never been born!  How do you get that way?  I think from bitterness and depression.  He reveals his depression in this passage.  Thankfully, he reveals much more than that!

The God Who is the Mighty Warrior
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (8/10) – We begin with a humorous story that perhaps you’ve read about or heard this.  A woman leaves the hose for a vacuum cleaner in the bottom of a parakeets’ cage.  You know what happened. “Chippy” the parakeet is sucked into the canister.  We share the dramatic ending that sets up this message of Jeremiahs depression.  Perhaps you can relate!

The God Who is the Mighty Warrior
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (8/11) – Jeremiah reveals the source of his depression that we call “angry depression”. Some of the depressed people that you know are actually angry people as well.  Maybe that includes you and me!  The anger can produce a depression and bitterness that some counselors call “dark”.  It’s no small thing that Jeremiah recounts.  See if you can relate!

The God Who is the Mighty Warrior
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (8/12) – The prophet regrets his birth and entry into the world so much, that he curses the man who brought the good news of his birth to his father!   That’s quite dramatic.  Right in the middle of this passage of anger rantings, He says yet the Lord is a Mighty Warrior! You and I need a mighty warrior in our lives; He’s called the Lord God Almighty!

The God Who is the Mighty Warrior
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (8/13) – We talk about a movie that was released in 2006.  It starred Will Farrell and Emma Thompson.  I never ever even heard of it, let alone saw it.   And yet in connects with the theme of this passage in a powerful way.  What depression are you experiencing right now in your life?  Some think that their depression is sinful.  Do you?  We talk about that concept.

The God Who is the Mighty Warrior
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (8/14) – Depression can be and is a very powerful force in people’s lives.  That may be true with you or me!   We need the “mighty warrior” in our lives today!  Is He in your life?  If not, why not?  We close talking about two recent funerals that I had conducted.   One was a Viet Nam veteran and medic.  The other was a real estate agent.  I shared the same hope in death message with both families!  Death is the great equalizer.  Jesus is the “Mighty Warrior” was all need in our lives today!

The God Who is the Mighty Warrior
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Molds Us

Message #8 in the Series

Airing Week of 8/3/2020

Jeremiah 18:1-12


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This Week – Many scholars say that Jerimiah 18:1-12 is the most famous of all the passages in this book of the Bible.  Others would say it is one of the top three!  Regardless, it’s an important statement for your life and mine.  Simply put, God is the “potter” of my life; I’m simply the clay or material formed!  That’s a scary thought for some; it means God is in charge of my life from start to finish.  To some that is comforting; to others it is downright offensive.

The God Who Molds Us
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (8/3) – We begin with a true story of a man who did a backflip off of the bar at a tavern.  He sued the bartender and won a $5,000.00 judgement!  He contended it was the bartender’s fault.  We talk about the spiritual lesson of that story that involves our disobedience to the God who made us!  The text will illuminate your thinking on that as well. He’s the potter; we are they clay.

The God Who Molds Us
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (8/4) – People resent this scripture about God being the “potter” and my being the “clay”.  You may privately resent that thought line.  Why?  It’s because that it means that God is in charge of my life.  The potter has full control and discretion over the clay.  That’s just an unacceptable concept to many if not most people.  We like to think that we are both the potter and the clay.  We are in charge of this thing called my life!

The God Who Molds Us
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (8/5) – What part does “brokenness” play in the life of a minister?  We talk about that today.  We then share a story about a box of broken pottery pieces (from Israel) that meant absolutely nothing to me for years.  Then I took it to a professor of archaeology who explained each piece in terms of history.  God can take the broken pieces of your life and mine and do even more with them than the professor did!

The God Who Molds Us
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (8/6) – We share the story told by Chuck Swindoll about a young man who came into a church sanctuary late at night, probably under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  What he did, what he wrote, and what he prayed to the Lord God almighty may be something you and I need to do! God can hear you regardless of your level of sobriety right now! He’s the potter; we are the clay!

The God Who Molds Us
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (8/7) – We close in a special way today.  We tell the story of a young man who was told he has terminal cancer by his doctor.  He goes home to tell his father that he loves him, something he admits he has never done before.  What happens next in the story will grab your heart; it did mine.  We close with the song, “Change My Heart, Oh God!”  You may never sing that song in the same way again!

The God Who Molds Us
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Knows Our Hearts

Message #7 in the Series

Airing Week of 7/27/2020

Jeremiah 17:9-10


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This Week – Have you ever had your heart checked by the family physician or a cardiologist?  Did you know that the Lord claims to search the heart and examine the mind?  But, Jeremiah says that the “heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure!”  He’s talking about your heart and mine.  We can be deceived or conned by our own hearts.

The God Who Knows Our Hearts
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (7/27) – A few of you will remember a plane crash from 1982 in Washington, DC.  It was Air Florida, flight 90 that crashed into a bridge on the Potomac River.  The NTSB determined that the pilots believed things that they shouldn’t have believed and they did not believe things that they should have believed! The story introduces the text from Jeremiah 17:9-10.  Have you ever been deceived by your own heart? We all have at one time or another!

The God Who Knows Our Hearts
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (7/28) – Your heart is the part of you that thinks, reasons, desires, and decides.  It’s the part  of you that God appeals to; it’s also the part of you that can be deceived!  We share a piece of writing where I don’t tell you the person who said it or the date until after we read it.  What the author says will speak powerfully to what is going on in your heart and mine in 2020!

The God Who Knows Our Hearts
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (7/29) – Would it bother you to know that the Lord searches your heart and examines your mind?  Have you ever asked God to change a family member or even yourself?  I’m going to ask you today to stop praying that prayer!  We need to ask God to give us and others a new heart.  God is the only one that can do that.  (In Jeremiah 24, the prophet says that God will give people a heart to know Him and love Him.)

The God Who Knows Our Hearts
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (7/30) – We share a powerful story of a minister that had a daughter who was literally dying of the eating disorder, Anorexia Nervosa. He and his wife came to the place of total “surrender” where they simply gave her to the Lord; thinking life was over for her.  It speaks to some of the heart issues we discuss this week.  What “heart issues” do you and I struggle with?

The God Who Knows Our Hearts
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (7/31) – This just may be one of the most “personal” messages from this series. Why?  The issues of our hearts are very personal with you and with me.  We all have “heart trouble” to one degree or another.  Ultimately, the Lord is the only One who can deal with our hearts and its problems.  Like some of you, I have had heart surgery.  The Lord is the only One who can perform spiritual heart “surgery and transformation”.  Let Him do it, He can and will!

The God Who Knows Our Hearts
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God Who Demands Humility

Message #6 in the Series

Airing Week of 7/20/2020

Jeremiah 9:23-24


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This Week – God is interested in humility in your life and mine.  In fact, He doesn’t suggest it, He demands it!  Why would the Lord of Heaven and Earth be worried about pride, bragging, and boasting in our lives?  The ultimate extension of boasting and bragging of something is worship!  We can worship the very thing or things we boast of in life.  This passage may not only speak to you, but convict you as well!

The God Who Demands Humility
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (7/20) – We begin with humorous examples of bragging and boasting in our lives.  If you’ve ever received a lengthy “Christmas Letter” from a friend or relative, you’re familiar with boasting!  I found on the internet that there are 17 things that people brag about.  The Lord (through the prophet Jeremiah) says that there are only three!  Everything that you and I could brag about will fall under one of these headings in the 9th chapter of Jeremiah.

The God Who Demands Humility
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (7/21) – The three headings are these: 1) what we know (knowledge and wisdom), 2) what we can do (strength and abilities), and 3) what we own (money and possessions).  Everything you and I boast in will fall under one of these headings.  I share what I feel is one of the most powerful pieces of writing I’ve ever read.  It was so powerful; I stopped reading it right in the middle of the piece!

The God Who Demands Humility
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (7/22) – Jeremiah tells us what we are to boast in.  Are you ready for it?  We are to boast of what we know about the Lord and what He has done and is doing in our lives!  What would happen in your life and mine if we really did that? You and I need to cultivate our understanding of the Lord, what He is interested in, and what He is doing in my life!

The God Who Demands Humility
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (7/23) – God says He delights in three things. They are kindness, justice, and righteousness.  Are you and I interested in those three things?  We better be!  When you love someone, you’re usually interested in what they’re interested in!  Why?  That’s what love does!  This may be the most convicting part of this message!  When you hear it, you’ll know why.  We define those terms in a personal way.

The God Who Demands Humility
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (7/24) – We close with talking about a funeral I conducted in recent weeks for a Vietnam veteran who was a combat medic with the 82nd Airborne.  He was a friend of mine since the early 80’s.  He was a friend who impacted my life in some dramatic ways.  Have you impacted the lives of those around you? Would they say that about you?

The God Who Demands Humility
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God that Children Remember!

Message #5 in the Series

Airing Week of 7/13/2020

Jeremiah 17:1-8


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This Week – This is one of a few passages in scripture that speaks of the spiritual impact on the lives of children by the belief and practices of their parents.  Unfortunately, it is not positive.  Reflecting on the idolatry of God’s people earlier, the prophet Jeremiah says that “even their children remember the altars and Asherah poles (of the pagan worship)” of their mothers and fathers!  What memories are we creating for our children spiritually?  It was given on Father’s Day, 2020.

The God That Children Remember!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (7/13) – We begin with a powerful true story of a woman’s life being shaped by the negative words of her father. We all have memories both positive and negative from our childhoods.  The passage speaks to parents of all ages.  Even older parents may benefit from this message.  Younger parents definitely will!  What memories have shaped your life spiritually?

The God That Children Remember!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (7/14) – The Supreme Court has been in the news.  We share the story of a former justice with the court who reflected on the positive memories of a dying father.  His father was near death, and yet provided his son Godly memories still fresh in his life as an older man.  What memories are we creating for our children and grandchildren?

The God That Children Remember!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (7/15) – The spiritual memories of the children in this passage of scripture might have actually been graphically horrible.  Why?  They may have remembered losing a brother or sister to infant sacrifice!  We don’t dwell on this or the details, but it should at least be mentioned.  We actually have no idea what the children remembered in their past. Jeremiah doesn’t tell us!

The God That Children Remember!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (7/16) – We share a story by John Ortberg of California who talks about surfing on the Pacific Ocean and running into an 8-year old boy surfing by himself.  What happens will amaze you in the conversation and observations that John makes about the boy and his father.  The father was “disguised” on the beach watching his son!

The God That Children Remember!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (7/17) – Jeremiah says that the sin of the people was “engraved on their hearts” like a tombstone.  What is engraved on our hearts?  We close with a most emotional story about a woman who was the daughter of a prostitute and a stranger she never knew.  You simply need to hear this story that will impact your heart and soul!  It really will!

The God That Children Remember!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God that is To Be Heard!

Message #4 in the Series

Airing Week of 7/6/2020

Jeremiah 6:10-15


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This Week – Have you ever felt that the people closest to you don’t even listen to you?  Parents can feel that with their children.  Men and women experience that with their spouses.  The Lord God Almighty expressed that thought with the very people He delivered out of the slavery of Egypt!  Here’s what He said, “Who will listen to me?  Their ears are closed!”  God was offended.  He wants to be “heard” by the people He loves.  That’s you and me!

The God That Is To Be Heard!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (7/6) – We share the medical illustration of new mothers in a maternity ward of a hospital who were able to distinguish the cries of their baby within hours of giving birth.  The God, who can hear your cries, wants you to listen to Him!  We introduce the text in Jeremiah 6 where God says His people found His words offensive to them! Have you ever found God’s word offensive to you?

The God That Is To Be Heard!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (7/7) – Listening to God is a lifestyle!  How would you describe your lifestyle? Most people describe their lifestyle in terms of money, possessions, hobbies, and exercise habits.  Don’t you agree?  Does your lifestyle include listening to God through His word, through other people, through circumstances, and through messages we hear from God’s word.

The God That Is To Be Heard!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (7/8) – We train ourselves to listen to the other people in life.  Is that possible with the word of God and listening to Him?  We all know people who are offended by hearing even verses from the Bible.  “Don’t you quote the Bible to me?”  I’ve heard that many times in life.  We share a true story of a man where I lived as a youth minister who shot himself in the chest.  I dressed the wound, but he needed much more than that.  He needed surgery!  Listening to the Lord can be a form of spiritual surgery!

The God That Is To Be Heard!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (7/9) – We share the story of an attorney from Tennessee who had a brother who survived the Vietnam War, only to be killed in an automobile accident in Tennessee.  The lawyer said he had to “believe in God in order to hate Him!”  What a statement!   He tells of the Lord speaking to him through a song on the radio.  It just may speak to you as well as we quote the lyrics.

The God That Is To Be Heard!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (7/10) – The time will come when you will need to listen to the Lord.  It could happen this week, this month, or this year. When God knows that you are serious about listening to Him, something happens!  He speaks.  Let Him speak to you through the Word, first and foremost.  But also be open to His speaking to your through other people, through circumstances, and even to what the Bible calls that “still small voice”.  Are you listening?

The God That Is To Be Heard!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God of Truth!

Message #3 in the Series

Airing Week of 6/29/2020

Jeremiah 5:1-3, 30-31


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This Week – Whatever you may think of God and what kind of being He is, you and I need to know this very simple statement.  God is the God of truth.  Truth matters to Him so much, that He told the prophet Jeremiah that if he could find “one honest man or woman” in the city of Jerusalem, He would spare the city from destruction!  That is no small thing!

The God of Truth!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (6/29) – God reveals something of Himself in this passage of Jeremiah.  Truth matters to the Lord of Heaven and Earth!  How much does truth matter to you?  We introduce the concept of lying by sharing some comments from psychiatrists and psychologists and what they say about what people lie about, and how much they do it.  For instance, we lie to make ourselves appear more likeable, and we lie to make ourselves appear more competent.

The God of Truth!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (6/30) – We talk about the comment of God saying, “If you can find just one person of truth, I will spare the city!”  We talk about the power of one.  You may feel that you are the only one at school, at work, or in your neighborhood that is a person of truth.  If you are married, you may be the only “one” in your marriage that is honest!  Commit to being the one in whatever circumstance you are in!

The God of Truth!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (7/1) – People lie on the average of twice a day!  (According to a psychologist I reference.)  He or she went on to say that we save our deepest lies for the person we are the closest to!  People lie about everything according to the “experts”!  If you’re looking for a mate, start with personal integrity or honesty.  You might ask, “Why?”   That’s what God does!

The God of Truth!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (7/2) – We share some material written by motivational speaker, Zig Ziegler.  He writes about marrying the “right person” or marrying the “wrong person”.  He believes it’s more important to “be” the right person than it is to choose the right person.  You may not agree with him initially, but eventually it will make sense!  Why? Because of what Jeremiah says!

The God of Truth!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (7/3) – We close by looking at the last words of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 6.  He talks about the prophets of the day and the Old Testament priests not speaking the truth and ruling by their own authority.  We talk about “people of the lie”.  Dr. Scott Peck who wrote a book with that title says that nothing makes a man or woman more like Satan than lying habitually and accumulatively.  Does that speak to you at all? God is the God of truth!

The God of Truth!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God That Is Forgotten!

Message #2 in the Series

Airing Week of 6/22/2020

Jeremiah 2:5-6, 11-13, 32


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This Week – The biblical term for “forgetting” actually has two meanings.  First, to forget can mean to “cease to remember”.  Worse than that, it can mean “to cease to care”.  We’ve all been all the receiving end of someone else’s forgetting.  But if we are honest, we have been on the giving end of ceasing to remember or ceasing to care, by choice!  The most extreme example is when a person does that with the Lord of Heaven and earth!  The Lord tells us of the sin of forgetting through Jeremiah 2.

The God That is Forgotten!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (6/22) – A story about Bear Bryant, the former football coach at the University of Alabama, told by author Lewis Grizzard, starts this message on forgetting the Lord. We often forget the people we are the closest to in life.  That includes the Lord!  We introduce the text from Jeremiah 2, where the prophet says that God’s people had forgotten the Lord, “days without number”.  In plain English, that means  a lot of forgetting!

The God That is Forgotten!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (6/23) – I tell the story of a couple from rural Colorado where the husband drove off at night from stopping.  Unbeknownst to him, his wife (sleeping in the back seat) had also gotten out of the car.  He left without her! They laugh about that now, but it wasn’t funny then!  There’s nothing funny about people forgetting the God who made them, who delivered them, and led them.

The God That is Forgotten!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (6/24) – Jeremiah talks about God’s people “finding fault” with the Lord.  We find fault with spouses, children, parents, siblings, co-workers, and neighbors.  This may come as a shock, but people may even find fault with you and me!  We talk about what that means.  We find fault with those by something they did or said!

The God That is Forgotten!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (6/25) – Jeremiah tells us that God’s people basically committed two sins:  they had forsaken the Lord (the spring of living water) and they had “dug their own cisterns”.  They had replaced the living God with a “dead idol”.  The word forsaken simply means to “let go”.  We all know what it means to let go of a friendship or relationship. People do that with the Creator and Redeemer!

The God That is Forgotten!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (6/26) – The closing illustration involves a young man dating a cheerleader from a neighboring town who had the nickname, “Hot Mama”.  His momma was not happy with the relationship, to say the least!  (He’s now a minister with a PHD in preaching!)  While I probably would not have told this story, I’m so glad he talked about what his father said and did! It’s powerful!

The God That is Forgotten!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Our Sins Testify Against Us!

Message #3 in the Series

Airing Week of 6/8/2020

Jeremiah 14:7-12


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This Week – Did you know that everything we do, everything we say, and everything we think or imagine makes a statement about who and what we are?  Why would we say that?  Because the prophet Jeremiah told the people of God that “their sins testified against them.”  The word “testify” means to bear witness.  What does your sin say about you; what do mine say about me?  We may not like that concept, but biblically it’s true!

Our Sins Testify Against Us!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (6/8) – We begin with a piece of writing quoted by nationally remembered newscaster,  Paul Harvey from at least the 70’s. (Some think it is actually older than that!) It’s not olny powerful, it is so appropriate for this day in 2020.  It speaks to our nation and our world.  More than that, it speaks to what you and I allow in our lives today!

Our Sins Testify Against Us!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (6/9) – We begin today by sharing about a 13-year old girl who did something that resulted in the death of another person.  The judge said even though she was just 13, she did need to face some of the consequences of what she set in motion.  She wasn’t a preschooler!  She needed to realize that conduct has consequences.   What would happen if you actually believed that in your life?

Our Sins Testify Against Us!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (6/10) – Did you know that the way you treat strangers bears witness about what kind of person we are?  The way we treat our spouse, children, co-workers, and neighbors testifies about us.  We talk about the old fashioned term “backsliding” means.  It means to “turn our back” on the Lord.  Have you ever been somewhere where someone turned their back to you?  Believers can actually do that with the Lord God Almighty!

Our Sins Testify Against Us!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (6/11) – To call ourselves Christians means that we bear the name of Christ.  God speaks to Jeremiah about His people.  He said that their feet “love to wander”.  We know what that means if a friend used that term of their spouse.  It’s a reference to unfaithfulness!  God’s people were spiritually unfaithful the God who delivered them and provided for them!  We don’t worship idols today, we drive them or live in them!

Our Sins Testify Against Us!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (6/12) – We close with the true story of a private pilot falling asleep on a solo flight from Kentucky to Crossville, Tennessee.  He woke up over the Gulf of Mexico!  And you thought you were lost recently!  We talk about people who are “asleep” spiritually and emotionally.  Has that ever described you or me?  Everything we say and do bear witness against us.  It really does!  That’s why Jeremiah said, “Our sins testify against us!”

Our Sins Testify Against Us!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The Fairness of Life?

Message #2 in the Series

Airing Week of 6/1/2020

Jeremiah 12:1-2, Psalm 73 (selected verses)


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This Week – This new series comes partially out of what we are dealing with in terms of the world crisis with the Corona Virus.   Suffice it to say, we have never been impacted in the way we have been with all that surrounds us in 2020.  These messages come from a book of the Bible that contains some of the harshest words of scripture.  It’s a book about the judgment of God; it’s also a power statement about the love of God.  Both speak to your life and mine in the days ahead.

The Fairness of Life?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (6/1) – The oldest question of God’s fairness comes out of this passage in Jeremiah.  Jeremiah says to the Lord, “I’ve got an issue with you!”  “Why do the wicked prosper; why do they seem to be doing better than those who follow you?”  You and I have heard of the term, “health and wealth gospel”.   Jeremiah talks about “health and wealth paganism!”  We can end up envying the faithless!

The Fairness of Life?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (6/2) – Envy doesn’t start out as bitterness, but it usually ends up that way!  See if you don’t agree.  When we envy (even the “wicked”), we can sink into bitterness.  The writer of Psalm 73, a man named Asaph freely admits that.  Don’t base your judgment of God based on the distribution of wealth and health, base it on the Cross!

The Fairness of Life?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (6/3) – We quote author John O’Neil talking about the rich and famous and successful.  We would perceive them as “having it great”.  John O’Neil offers a different perspective. Sometimes our perceptions can be totally wrong!  We share some powerful illustrations of this.  We close this day with a story of people who literally got away with murder.  But did they really?

The Fairness of Life?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (6/4) – I don’t like imaginary stories, I never use them!  But I use one today by author Rubel Shelley.  You will either appreciate this story as a creative tool, or think it is the stupidest story you’ve ever heard!  It’s that different.  But I promise you, you will remember this story tomorrow!  It makes a point that you can’t forget!

The Fairness of Life?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (6/5) – We talk about the resentments that you and I have for people, for family, for schools and colleges, for employers and frankly anything or anyone else!  We conclude with a story by Warren Bennis, the former president of the University of Cincinnati.  What is the focus of your life, right now?  Make your focus of your life the cross, not your resentments.  It will change your life, today!

The Fairness of Life?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

We’re In Control, Right?

Message #1 in the Series

Airing Week of 5/25/2020

Jeremiah 10:23-25


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This Week – This new series comes partially out of what we are dealing with in terms of the world crisis with the Corona Virus.   Suffice it to say, we have never been impacted in the way we have been with all that surrounds us in 2020.  These messages come from a book of the Bible that contains some of the harshest words of scripture.  It’s a book about the judgment of God; it’s also a power statement about the love of God.  Both speak to your life and mine in the days ahead.

We’re In Control, Right?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (5/25) – We begin with a private survey that I did of people reflecting on their college memories.  What is your most significant college memory?  Athletes have different memories that those of academics; “party people” have different memories than that of introverts. I share a personal memory that is both serious and sad.  It sets the stage for this message from Jeremiah 10.

We’re In Control, Right?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (5/26) – Jeremiah, the prophet of God plainly reminds us that we are not in control of our lives, even when we think and say we are! He says, “I know that a man’s life is not his own.”  We tell a powerful story of a minister friend that experienced that personally with a sick child.  He and his wife endured more grief and suffering than most of us could even imagine.  He then shares the lesson that he learned.

We’re In Control, Right?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (5/27) – We continue the story of the minister and his wife and their son.  Let his wisdom speak to your life and soul. There is no room in the Kingdom of God for control freaks!  That just may be the most spiritual moment of a man or woman’s life to acknowledge that.  Listen how this story fleshes out to speak to your life and mine.  It really will!  Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s life, but it is the Lords purpose that prevails.”  What would happen if you believed that?

We’re In Control, Right?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (5/28) – We share a biographical sketch of Abraham Lincoln that you may have heard, but I really would like to you to internalize a principle or two from it today.  We talk about your prayer for your children, that I doubt most people have ever prayed.  That’s not meant as a condemnation, it’s meant as an admonition to us both!  This may be the most important prayer you will make for a son or daughter.

We’re In Control, Right?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (5/29) – We close with an illustration from the old television show on ABC called, “Wide World of Sports”.  Do you remember the video opening of the skier coming down the jump, falling and hitting a supporting structure?  It’s a parable for your life and mine about the need to change course.  Do you need to change course now in your life?  Someone reading this does!

We’re In Control, Right?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Wandering from the Truth

Message #16 in the Series

Airing Week of 5/18/2020

James 5:19-20


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This Week – Have you ever known someone to cease being a faithful follower of Christ, only to seemingly slip away from the Lord and His church?  Maybe it was a friend or family member.  James calls it “wandering from the truth”.  If “truth” in Christianity is what we claim it to be, to wander from the truth is to wander from the Lord Himself.  Jesus made the boldest statement of all when He said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!”  He claimed to be truth itself!

Wandering From The Truth
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (5/18) – Sometimes the last thoughts of a letter just may be the most important part of the letter or email.  Have you ever noticed that?  I personally find it interesting that the last thoughts of James in his letter to Jewish believers; he talks about those who have “wandered away from the Lord”.  He talks also to those who could help “retrieve” those who do.  Could the passage be speaking to you and your family perhaps?

Wandering From The Truth
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (5/19) – We talk about a professor of mine in college who said that he had a problem with the parable of the prodigal son Jesus taught.  His problem was that the story never tells us the grief that the Father in the story went through due to the wandering away of the youngest son. I have never heard someone say that about the parable.  What the professor said speaks to this passage in James.

Wandering From The Truth
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (5/20) – We talk about three two word phrases that speak to the issue of people wandering away from the Lord or wandering from the truth.  First we “act humbly”.  When someone wanders away from the Lord, pride should not be our response!   We act in the humility that we are sinners too!  Secondly, we are to “pray specifically”.  Do we pray at all for people?

Wandering From The Truth
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (5/21) – Thirdly, we are to “love intentionally”.  That means we can actually love the unlovable in our lives!  It’s not our job to punish people; it’s our job to love.  What a concept!  What would happen if you and I would decide to love someone that normally we might even hate!  Only God can enable that process; He gives the capacity to love the unlovable.

Wandering From The Truth
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (5/22) – I close by retelling a story I have told before by memory.  Today I read part of the actual account written by a minister telling about a vile man who was near death in a hospital.  He heard the doctor tell his wife that he had minutes to live.  The man in his semi-conscious state reached out to the Lord in prayer.  What happened will deeply impact you today.  Don’t miss this segment!

Wandering From The Truth
Part 5
Randy Snyder

A Second Look at Patience

Message #14 in the Series

Airing Week of 5/4/2020

James 5:7-12


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This Week – Have you ever prayed for “patience” in a personal situation, a family matter, or a work or school difficulty?  Maybe you have, perhaps it never occurred to you to do so!  The book of James talks about patience in suffering.   The early church did suffer persecution and intimidation for practicing their faith.  Do you need patience for anything going on in your life right now?

Three Money Myths
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (5/4) – We begin with a true story of a woman who lived with blindness for 74 years!  At age 80, she had a procedure that gave her sight.  She saw the face of her husband for the first time in her life!  (One woman told me that could be pretty traumatic for most women!  No comments, please!)  We introduce the passage where James exhorts his readers to be patient in their suffering.

A Second Look At Patience
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (5/5) – We look at the last verse first, where James says “Let your yes be yes, and your no be no”.  In other words don’t bring God’s name into the conversation as proof of your truthfulness.  We all know folks who routinely say, “I swear to God I’m telling you the truth”.  That can be a form of taking the name of God in vain!  We then talk about the phrase in verse 7 about the “Lord’s coming”.  It may mean more than we think it does!

A Second Look At Patience
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (5/6) – Patience can mean to “not lose heart”.  Keep on keeping on!  Secondly, it can mean to persevere in misfortune and trouble.  Thirdly it can mean to be “slow to anger and slow to seek revenge”.  We talk about all three in your life and mine.  James says to “stand firm in the belief in the Lord’s return!”  The coming of the Lord may just involve more than His return in the sweet by and by!

A Second Look At Patience
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (5/7) – One of the most dramatic moments I’ve ever experienced in the ministry was at a cemetery.  The widow of the deceased man pointed to her husband’s casket and dramatically told me, “That man made my life miserable every day of my life!”  I was speechless; all I could say was that I was sorry!  Hopefully, no one will ever say that about you or me.   We talk about James admonition to not “grumble against one another”.  My guess was the deceased was a grumbler, or worse.

A Second Look At Patience
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (5/8) – We close with the story from California from what was called the “Oakland Fire”.  A woman and two firefighters survived by jumping into a back yard pool, covering themselves with a tarpaulin.  What the woman said later about her non-existent relationship with the living God will speak to you about the God we can believe in.   James says “He is full of compassion and mercy!”

A Second Look At Patience
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Three Money Myths

Message #13 in the Series

Airing Week of 4/27/2020

James 5:1-6


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This Week – A myth is defined as an opinion or belief that is unproven.  We discuss three “money myths”, using the passage in James 5:1-6 this week.   Money is the most sensitive issue in people’s lives!  If you don’t believe it, start a “discussion” that involves money.  Watch the sparks begin to fly!  That’s especially true if it happens in a family conversation.

Three Money Myths
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (4/27) – We deal with the last verse first, because of the dramatic verbiage.  Verse 6 says that James’ audience was guilty of “murdering innocent men”.  We explain that this is probably a reference to the “day laborer” practice; the worker was paid at the end of day for a day’s work.  Why?  If they weren’t paid, the man’s family wouldn’t eat! Christians were withholding the pay of those day laborers.

Three Money Myths
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (4/28) – We identify the first myth about money:  “that it doesn’t matter what I do with my money”.  Some people believe that we are therefore not accountable for what I do with my money.  After all, it’s mine!  Psalm 24:1 says that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”  If that’s true, that includes everything that you and I think we possess!

Three Money Myths
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (4/29) – The second myth is: “everything we own is permanent”.  That’s a big myth in your life and mine. Nothing we own, nothing we earn, nothing that we inherit is permanent!  The third myth is this: “money doesn’t affect relationships!”  We all have had relationships impacted by money given, borrowed, or inherited.  Money changes the tone of a relationship.  You know that from personal experience, if you are honest!

Three Money Myths
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (4/30) – We tell two stories that just may cause an argument between you and your spouse or you and a friend or family member.  You may want to listen to today’s program alone!  The stories will touch a responsive chord in people that are close to you.   They both provoked some strong response when I gave it originally.  They really did!

Three Money Myths
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (5/1) – We end this message with actually a “4th” myth today.  It’s not about money; it’s a myth about your life in general.  It’s the myth that says “as long as I live a good life etc., I’ll make it into heaven.”  At many funerals I conduct, people give me the “list” of their loved one’s accomplishments, organizations, and their resume.   But then privately I ask this question, “If we can make it on our own, then what was the cross of Christ for?”  It’s all about the cross!

Three Money Myths
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Tomorrow Thinking?

Message #12 in the Series

Airing Week of 4/20/2020

James 4:13-17


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This Week – If there ever was a passage of the book of James that was more current or timely to study, this has to be one of them!   It’s about people who are what we are calling “tomorrow thinkers”.  We live, work, and socialize with people who are always talking about what they’re going to do tomorrow.  Does that describe you or me?  James talks about “tomorrow thinkers” and how tenuous that can be physically and spiritually.  If the current crisis has taught us anything, it’s that we need to heed these words from the Word of God!

Tomorrow Thinking?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (4/20) – We talk about short-range planning, long term planning, and strategic planning.  James comes along, not condemning planning, but reminding us that we might not even be alive tomorrow!  We can plan as if there were no God; we can plan as if it is all up to us!  Sound familiar in your circle of influence? How about in your life and mine?

Tomorrow Thinking?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (4/21) – I’m not one to use poetry in my messages, but the poem we quote of Edgar Guest will speak to you in a mighty way about the danger of being a ”tomorrow thinker”.  We tell a powerful story about parents praying for their graduating seniors in a huddle.  Many of them were quietly weeping.  I speculate as to why.  Maybe there were things that they were going to do tomorrow, but never happened.

Tomorrow Thinking?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (4/22) – The story I tell today is one I might not have believed if I heard it given by anyone else.  But it’s a story my brother told me personally about a conversation he had with someone, days before they lost their life in a tragic accident.  It turned out to be a chilling conversation. What was said will perhaps speak to us about our lives and our “tomorrow thinking” spiritually.

Tomorrow Thinking?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (4/23) – Life doesn’t always go according to “our plans”.  Have you noticed that? Do you assume that because you’re healthy now, you always will be?  Do you assume that because things are good financially, they always will be?  If life has taught us anything in the last month or two is that nothing in life ultimately follows “our plan”.  Life changes; God is in control!

Tomorrow Thinking?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (4/24) – It’s not wrong to plan; it’s wrong to plan as if there is no God!  Have you and I learned that lesson yet?  We live ultimately in God’s will for our lives!  The French have a phrase that means “my reason for being”.   Have you ever thought about what your reason for being is?  Hopefully, it involves in recognizing the will of God for your life and mine.  Decide today, maybe for the first time!

Tomorrow Thinking?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

A Second Look at Slander

Message #11 in the Series

Airing Week of 4/13/2020

James 4:10 -12

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This Week – Most people think of the word “slander” as a legal term.  That’s because it is!  It means to defame someone verbally or orally.  (Libel is defamation in writing.)  But Biblically, slander is “speech that injures”.   James deals with the issue in chapter four.  It evidently was a problem in the early church, just as fighting and arguing were as well!  Does it play any part in your life?

A Second Look at Slander
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (4/13) – We begin with a humorous test to indicate self-centeredness.  One of the marks of self-centeredness is when a person doesn’t hesitate to slander or speak ill of others.  We introduce the concept of slander being “speech that injures”.  James says pointblank, “brothers, don’t slander one another.”  He then explains how we are sitting in judgement of the Law of God by speaking slander!

A Second Look at Slander
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (4/14) –Most people think of slander as just the “spreading of lies”.  Did you know that Biblically, slander can also be the “spreading of the truth”!  Sometimes, we do not speak the truth in love as the Bible teaches.  We often speak the truth in hatred or hostility!  Has anyone ever done that to you?  Have you ever spoken the truth to someone for revenge?

A Second Look at Slander
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (4/15) – James says that when we routinely judge other people, we are actually “standing in judgment of the Law”.  It means to place ourselves, in a sense, above the law in our authority and position.  He uses the phrase, “we are not keeping the law, but rather “sitting in judgment” on it!  However you interpret that, it is no small thing!

A Second Look at Slander
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (4/16) – You may have seen the famous prayer of Francis of Assisi.  You may have it on a plaque on a wall of your home.   If you follow it, it can change your life, your marriage, and your relationships.  Proverbs 18:21 says “the tongue has the power of life and death!”  Words can kill a relationship!  You may have killed a relationship with words. Perhaps someone killed a relationship with you with words!

A Second Look at Slander
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (4/17) – We conclude with a famous parable that illustrates how our words can harm and even “kill”.  It illustrates the scripture that says that once we release the bow, we can’t retrieve the arrow!  So it is with our words; we can’t retrieve words that have been spoken, no matter how much we wish otherwise. We have all spoken words we wish we could pull back; we can’t!

A Second Look at Slander
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Children of the Resurrection?

Airing Week of 4/6/2020

Luke 20:27-40

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This Week – Several years ago, my mother died on the Tuesday before Easter.  On that following Sunday, I decided that I “needed” to preach that Easter Sunday to remind myself of the hope that we have in the Risen Christ. This week we air that message from Luke 20, where Jesus talks about the people who are the “children of the Resurrection”.   That is an exclusive title that applies to believers in the One who conquered death and walked out of the grave alive!

Children of the Resurrection?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (4/6) – For many people, their view of heaven is that heaven is just an extension of the “good life” down here on earth.  If they’re golfers, heaven is the finest golf course one could ever imagine!  (Several funeral directors have told me that they have been asked to include a husband’s favorite golf club in the casket!)  No joke! You and I may have notions of what heaven may be like.  The expert authority on heaven is Jesus Himself!

Children of the Resurrection?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (4/7) – Jesus was confronted by members of a sect known as the Sadducees.  They did not believe in life after death.  They came to Jesus with a hypothetical situation, thinking they would entrap Jesus.   A woman was married to 7 brothers sequentially.  Each one died and left no children.  Then the woman died.  In heaven whose wife would she be?  Jesus answer stunned them!  It may surprise you!

Children of the Resurrection?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (4/8) – We have trouble with describing heaven because we actually have no point of reference on this earth. We give two dramatic illustrations of that.  They both will get your attention in a moving way!  The main point of Wednesday’s message is this:  death doesn’t change your relationship with the Lord!  You need to know that and so do I.

Children of the Resurrection?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (4/9) – We conclude an illustration from a 1998 movie with actress, Drew Barrymore.  It’s a story of her being rescued from captivity by an evil character.  What she told someone who thought he was coming to rescue her speaks to our life and death on this earth!  We all will experience rescue through our resurrection from the dead.

Children of the Resurrection?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (4/10) – We close with a story I’ve used before.   It’s about a place in Stuttgart, Germany where a hill was created out of the ruble from the 53 bombing missions over the city during World War Two.  On top of the 1675 foot hill is a 40 foot cross that towers over the city and hill.  Its message rings loud and clear!  The empty cross means He is alive forever more.  Because He lives, we shall live also!

Children of the Resurrection?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

LIVING THE LIFE…. FOR REAL!

Wisdom or Intelligence?

Message #9 in the Series

Airing Week of 3/23/2020

James 3:13-18


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This Week – For some reason, this passage of scripture was difficult for me to preach.  Why?  Perhaps we have trouble comprehending the difference between worldly intelligence and Godly wisdom.   Intelligence is measured by tests and exams; Godly wisdom is measured by a life that is lived.  God gives wisdom; that means He has something to do with the way we live!

Wisdom or Intelligence?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (3/23) – We refer to the book “The Seven Types of Intelligence” by Dr. Howard Gardner. Since we didn’t have time to include the list in the message, we include it here. They are 1) Body/ Kinesthetic (Sports) 2) Linguistic 3) Logical /Mathematical 4) Spatial (Having to do with how  things are placed) 5) Interpersonal 6) Intrapersonal, and 7) Musical.  We can possess all 7 and still not have Godly wisdom!  We share the text from James that explains why.

Wisdom or Intelligence?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (3/24) – Wisdom is seeing life from God’s point of view.  What’s your point of view?  James begins by talking about “bitter envy” and “selfish ambition”.  We not only define both terms, we illustrate them in families. Chances are, if there is strife in your family or extended family, you will find bitter envy and selfish ambition in one or more people!  Maybe you’ll find it in many!  We talk about something dramatic:  Satan being involved in our lives.

Wisdom or Intelligence?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (3/25) – James says that where you find envy and selfish ambition, you will find disorder and all kinds of evil in people’s lives!  You and I can research our own families and our personal history and verify that idea.  We tell the first half of a story of two women in a church who hated one another.  (This is actually more common than you may think!)  It’s an introduction into a story about “peace making”, not peace keeping!

Wisdom or Intelligence?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (3/26) – Lloyd Ogilvie was told by leaders of a church he newly arrived at, that there were two women who couldn’t have anything to do with the other.   He thanked them for the “heads up” advice.  But the Lord led him to be a “peace maker”, not just a peace keeper.  What happened became one of the most dramatic moments in his ministry!  Have you ever felt led to be a peace maker?  What did you do?

Wisdom or Intelligence?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (3/27) – Veteran pastor, Ray Ortlund advised another minister: “you need to decide where you want to give blood as a minister”!  What did he mean by that remark?  We answer that question.  We talk about people who are “peace makers”.  We then we talk about the opposite:  “strife making”.  Some people are dedicated strife makers!  They need to “flip” and become dedicated peace makers.

Wisdom or Intelligence?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Power of the Tongue

Message #8 in the Series

Airing Week of 3/16/2020

James 3:3-12


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This Week – The most powerful “part” of the body is the tongue!  In the same way that a ship’s rudder is small, yet it directs the movement of a massive ship.  The bit of in a horse’s mouth is small, yet it boasts great power in controlling the whole animal.  The tongue directs your body and mine! We can all give evidence of the power of someone’s speech in our lives.  With our capacity to speak comes the power to bless and the power to curse!

Power of the Tongue
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (3/16) – After telling a humorous story of someone saying the wrong thing and recovering from that, we begin with the “folksy” statement:  “What’s in the well of your life, comes up in the bucket!”  The bucket is your speech!  We read the text from James about your words that just maybe the most convicting passage of scripture having to do with our words.

Power of the Tongue
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (3/17) – Your tongue or speech directs what happens in our lives, it really does.  We begin with a true story about Karen Carpenter of the “Carpenters” of the 1970’s.  She died in her 30’s of heart failure partially blamed on anorexia.  We quote and article that possibly explains what led to that condition in her life.  It may surprise you!

Power of the Tongue
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (3/18) – We quote an article by a man by the name of Steve Stephens.  He gathered a group of friends together to share the words that they thought negatively impacted marriages.  What he pulled from that discussion will convict you and me!  Why?  We said these words this past week, month, or year to the person we’re married to.  We really have!  It will speak to you and perhaps convict you.

Power of the Tongue
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (3/19) – Jack Hayford tells of riding with a 19-year old person from the airport of the city where he was speaking to the church.  They encountered a drunk driver on the highway, swerving across the four lanes of the business highway they were on. What transpired just may speak to you and me about our speech.  Our speech in a crisis situation reveals much more than we may know.

Power of the Tongue
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (3/20) – We close with a story of a minister who lost a younger brother, years earlier in a bicycle accident.  Thirty minutes before his brother was killed, his sister had an argument with the brother that lost his life.  She told him, “Mark, I wish you were dead!”   A half hour later, he was.  We talk about the fallout of words that she wished many times she could take back.  Have you ever said something you wish you could take back?  We all have!

Power of the Tongue
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Talker or Doer?

Message #7 in the Series

Airing Week of 3/9/2020

James 2:14-26


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This Week – Did you know that in church history there were some who didn’t think the book of James should be included in what is called the “Canon of the New Testament”?  Some thought that James perhaps contradicted the writings of the Apostle Paul when he said that “faith without works is dead”.  Paul taught that we are saved by grace through faith!  James took the matter a step further.  What does your faith enable you and I to do?

Talker or Doer?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (3/9) – We begin with an imaginary story that is similar to the illustration that James uses about talking about our faith, and yet not doing anything that suggests that our faith is real! The operative phrase in the book of James is this:  “Faith without works is dead!”  The Greek word for “dead” is the medical term, “necrosis” or necrotic.  Necrotic skin or flesh is dead!

Talker or Doer?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (3/10) – There is nothing more final than death.  And yet that is the term James uses to describe a faith without obvious works is the word for dead.  James says that even the demons believe there is a real God, and they shudder in fear!  Just acknowledging the existence of God is not enough!  We use an illustration by a contemporary comedian that bears this out!

Talker or Doer?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (3/11) – We use a story about the “running of the bulls” in Spain.  An author, who wrote a book telling people how to do it, was gored by a bull in the event in recent years.  His comment after the injury was this: “I probably need to update the book!”  That was an understatement!  Things that happen in our lives may require an update in our book, perhaps!

Talker or Doer?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (3/12) – We tell a story by a former sociology professor by the name of Tony Campolo.  He tells of a congregation that is made up of ducks. That’s correct, not a typo!  It will bring a smile to your face and a conviction to your spirit!  We then tell the first half of a story that is honestly one of the most powerful stories I have ever told on CrossHope.  It’s about a missionary in India who contracts tuberculosis.  You will be deeply moved by this story.

Talker or Doer?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (3/13) – This story is very unpleasant on the face of it.  And yet if you can listen to it, it will illustrate James 2:14-26 better than anything I could say or suggest!  The first time I heard it, tears came to my eyes just as I read it.  What have you and I ever done in our lives that actually motivated someone to ask about our faith?  That’s an important question for you and me both in 2020!

Talker or Doer?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Law Breaker or Law Keeper?

Message #6 in the Series

Airing Week of 3/2/2020

James 2:10-13


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This Week – I doubt if there are many people reading this that would think of themselves as a “law breaker”.  If we’re believers, we’re all “law keepers”, right?  Don’t be too quick to answer that question. This message contains one of the most powerful illustrations I’ve ever used.  It’s not a “tear jerker” type of story, it’s simply a story that illustrates the text better than any other story I could use.

Law Breaker or Law Keeper?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (3/2) – We begin with a story of two men who died on the same day, December 8, 2016, less than four years ago.  This story will powerfully illustrate what James says about our guilt of sin in our lives in 2020.  Told by a Huntsville, Alabama minister, this story will touch your life.  It really will!

Law Breaker or Law Keeper?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (3/3) – The most important point of this message comes out today.  We talk about a wedding in Indianapolis, Indiana that never happened!  The bride’s family spent $30,000.00 on this wedding that was canceled one week before the “day”.  What the bride did was unbelievable in our world today.  It was an act of grace and mercy.  Listen to this story!

Law Breaker or Law Keeper?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (3/4) – James says “mercy triumphs over judgment.”  Our understanding or lack of understanding of that verse may have a profound impact on your life.  We share about a man who thought he had figured out the “system” of God’s judgment in your life and mine.  He ignored the above phrase in James.  Don’t you ignore it or avoid even hearing it!  It is one of the most important thoughts from the Word of God!

Law Breaker or Law Keeper?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (3/5) – I share about the most favorite thing I do at this point in my life.  That may be a little provocative, and it may surprise you when you hear it.  We use it to introduce the most favorite time for the Lord God almighty.  I may be wrong, but I really don’t think so.  Listen and make up your own mind, based on this passage in the book of James.

Law Breaker or Law Keeper?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (3/6) – The closing story is a “confessional “story told by a nationally known minister.  I don’t have the courage to admit to what he acknowledges.  I really don’t.  This story speaks to all of us about showing mercy and grace in the lives of our families, co-workers, neighbors, and even church family.  Have you ever put God’s grace on someone?  Why not?

Law Breaker or Law Keeper?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

God’s Least Favorite Thing

Message #5 in the Series

Airing Week of 2/24/2020

James 2:1-9


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This Week – The word is “favoritism”.  What does that word mean to you?  Maybe it brings up memories from childhood about a brother or sister, or even a classmate.  Did you know that in the early church, favoritism was a problem?  People showed favoritism toward people with money and fine clothes.  James tells his audience plainly, it is a sin!  Like any other sin, it requires the forgiveness of Christ!

God’s Least Favorite Thing
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (2/24) – We begin with a fictional story about rich people pulling up to a local church in a limousine.  We describe in detail the people of that church “fawning” over them and putting them in the front row of the church service. Likewise, they tell people of lower net worth to move to the back to accommodate the “rich folks”.  James says, “Don’t show favoritism!”  That tells me that it happened in the early church!

God’s Least Favorite Thing
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (2/25) – The first verse we discuss in James 2 uses the term “believers” to describe Christians.  It’s a great functional term to use, it really is.  Believer means you believe everything that Jesus claims for Himself.  You do believe He is the way, the truth, and the life.  You do believe He is the resurrection and the life.  We tell the story of a wealthy man who told me he was treated differently as a “poor man” and then later as a “rich man”.  Money does impact how people are treated!

God’s Least Favorite Thing
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (2/26) – James tells an imaginary true story of people discriminating in the early church because of money, one way or the other.  Did you know in this day people could actually “rent” jewelry to wear to a public gathering?  For instance, a man or woman could rent a gold ring or bracelet to wear.  Why?  They would do it to impress others!  That’s true today in 2020!

God’s Least Favorite Thing
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (2/27) – Dr. Robert Coles was a psychiatrist who taught at Harvard University years ago.  He tells of an experience and conversation with a poor woman who lived in the mountains around Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.  Her observations about the rich and poor will humble you and me!  It’s a powerful illustration for this passage in James.

God’s Least Favorite Thing
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (2/28) – We close the message with a prayer that was found on the body of a confederate soldier during the Civil War.  It is the most powerful prayer I’ve ever read in my life!  It really is.   It will speak to you about what’s important in your life and to the subject of favoritism.  It’s a moving way to close the study of James 2:1-9!

God’s Least Favorite Thing
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Anger! II

Message #4 in the Series

Airing Week of 2/17/2020

James 1:22-27; Matthew 12:33-37


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This Week – This is the second half of a 2-part message on the subject of anger.  According to an author by the name of Clarence McCartney of years gone by, “Anger negatively impacts friendships, destroys peace and concord in the home, and generally wreaks havoc in groups of any size!”  What has anger done in your life and circle?  More than you know!

Anger! II
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (2/17) – We begin with a story about “hidden or repressed” anger.  Not all anger is obvious in your life or mine!  Some people hide their anger for years from their closest family members and friends.  We set up the text in James today by talking about the “spiritual dimension” of anger in your life.  There is a spiritual dimension to everything in our lives!  Married, single, parent, or child, it doesn’t matter.

Anger! II
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (2/18) – We connect anger with the tongue.  Why?  Because the primary vehicle for our anger is our words!  You still remember angry things that have been said to you, even decades ago.  And yet we can have amnesia when it comes to remembering our angry words.  Does that resonate with you at all?  My guess is that it does.  What we do with our tongues matters to the Lord!

Anger! II
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (2/19) – The strongest words ever spoken about our tongues is from Jesus in Matthew 12.  He said that we will “give an account” for every idle or “throw away” word we utter.  When I heard rock star justify the vile lyrics of his music, I thought of what Jesus said!  We share a confessional story told by a minister about his outburst with a teenage son.  It will speak to you and your family!

Anger! II
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (2/20) – Anger usually creates more anger.  Haven’t you found that to be true?  We relate how an author describes the physiological l response in your body to anger.  He says what happens may be helpful when we are in hand to hand combat or being attacked by a bear.  It’s not so good when we are in a conversation with a spouse or family member!  What do you think?

Anger! II
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (2/21) – Mike Minnix is a minister from the Carolina’s who describes what happened in service when he spoke on anger.  What happened in the service was not only unexpected, but extremely moving.  I close by talking about a family doctor who told me that many of his patients needed “deliverance” more than they needed medication.  One of the things that they needed deliverance from was and is anger!

Anger! II
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Anger! I

Message #3 in the Series

Airing Week of 2/10/2020

James 1:19-21


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This Week – I am beginning to believe that anger just maybe one of the most sensitive issues in people’s lives.  When I preached about anger from this passage in James years ago, more people requested copies of the message more than any message I’ve given over 37 years on the radio!  That speaks volumes to me. We are all the victims of someone else’s anger; we are also victim makers!  We’re both!

Anger! I
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (2/10) – We begin with an illustration from the old television series, “Little House on the Prairie”.  It’s a great example of anger in a person’s life that was over 30 years old!  How long have you been angry at someone in your life?  Anger can destroy a friendship or a marriage.  Anger is responsible for some of the depression in your life. We begin a study of James that speaks to us all about anger’s power in our lives!

Anger! I
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (2/11) – The key verse is verse 20 that says, “Man’s anger does not produce the righteous life that God desires”.  If the positive is true, I believe the negative is also true.  If man’s anger does not produce the righteous life that God desires, what does it produce? Is it possible that anger produces the life that Satan desires?  Surely not!  What do you think?

Anger! I
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (2/12) – Anger agitates, anger alienates, and anger humiliates.  That’s just for starters!  We talk about all three of these verbs in your life and mine.  You have been angered by someone else’s anger; you have made others angry by your anger.  Anger alienates us from other people!  Anger not only humiliates that person on the receiving end; it can humiliate the dispenser of the anger.

Anger! I
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (2/13) – We quote a Christian psychologist from Atlanta who explains why so many people requested this message given in earlier years.   He said it without a moment’s hesitation, which was powerful to me! It may speak to you about anger in your own life, marriage, family, and work!  We set up a story we complete tomorrow which just maybe the most dramatic story I’ve ever told to date on CrossHope!

Anger! I
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (2/14) – The story we conclude with is about a man whose life was nearly ruined by anger!  What destructive things has anger done in your life, your marriage, or your family?  This man tells an unbelievable story about his coming to Christ in a maximum security prison in London.  You may need to do what he did to deal with the anger in his life.  You really may need to do this!

Anger! I
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Test of Maturity

Message #2 in the Series

Airing Week of 2/3/2020

James 1:12-16


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This Week – Do you remember the moment when one of your children showed some maturity in a situation, never shown before?  It can be a “Kodak” moment in their life and yours.  One of the signs of maturity in a Christian’s life is when they understand and apply the verses in James that we study today.  James says that “God does tempt anyone to do evil”.  He then tells us from where temptation actually comes.  It may surprise some people!

Test of Maturity
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (2/3) – We use an illustration from the world of professional dancing.  Martha Graham was a “world class” dancer, the first to ever perform in the White House. She danced and taught dancing for 70 years!  She believed that it takes 10 years to become a mature or professional dancer.  We pose the question, “What does it take to become a mature Christian?”  The answer is in this text.

Test of Maturity
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (2/4) – We read the text where James tells us the source of temptation in your life and mine.  He tells us that we are tempted when we are “dragged away and enticed” by our own evil desires!  Did you ever realize that in your life?  God is not tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone to do evil!  When you and I realize that, maturity soon follows in our spiritual lives.

Test of Maturity
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (2/5) – We are under tremendous pressure in our world in 2020 to do evil.  We really are!  We all know what it is that is the enticement that works in our lives.  It takes honesty to admit it and face it.  It takes boldness to identify it.  Have you identified the temptations that are specific to you?  It’s a sign of spiritual maturity in your life when you can do that! (We share the first two of the works of Satan.)

Test of Maturity
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (2/6) – We complete the sharing of the “5 works of Satan”.  Some of you have heard these before, many have not.  It’s an important list in your life to know.  Why?  James says that sinful desire in your life and mine gives birth to sin.  And then he says that when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death!  Sin ultimately equals death!  Did you know that?  How has sin led to “death” in the people you know and love?

Test of Maturity
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (2/7) – Occasionally I receive a letter from someone in prison who listens to our radio program.  I share a letter from a woman that I think was in the women’s reformatory in Marysville, Ohio.  It is one of the most powerful statements of a person’s struggle with evil and their victory over sin through Christ.   You and I both need to heed what she says.  Maturity doesn’t take “years”; it takes “yielding” to the power of God!

Test of Maturity
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Count It as Joy

Message #1 in the Series

Airing Week of 1/27/2020

James 1:1-8


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This Week – The book of James quite possibly was a sermon given by James.  It was then written down and the manuscript or book was sent to Jewish believers all over the known world. It’s a book that deals with practical Christianity; Christianity lived out in everyday life.  James exhorted his listeners and readers to manifest or demonstrate a “real” faith, acting like a Christian!  Not bad advice for us in 2020!

Count It As Joy
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (1/27) – We introduce the text with a story about Joni Erickson Tada, the radio speaker and author who is a quadriplegic, living in a wheelchair for the rest of her life.  She models for me the first 8 verses of the book of James.  As you hear part one, see if you don’t agree. She models a person who lives her life for Christ in real life, her real life of paralysis and handicap.

Count It As Joy
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (1/28) – We read this famous text that says to consider it joy when we face trials of “many kinds”.  It may not make sense to you at this point in your life; it will in terms of your overall life and eternity!  What is going on in your life right now that might not make sense, but God can and is using it in our lives to accomplish something that can’t be accomplished in any other way.

Count It As Joy
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (1/29) – I share the 10 common problems that I have seen in the lives of people I have ministered to over the years.  See if you can relate to those things!  We talk about Lloyd Ogilvie who talks about this passage in terms of his life.  Hopefully you are able to do the same thing.  He found peace in spite of the difficulties of life. Why?  Because of the peace giver, Jesus Christ!

Count It As Joy
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (1/30) – I rarely quote Dr. Charles Stanley, but perhaps I should more often.  He believes that many of the trials in our lives are self-inflicted!  Are you honest enough to admit that?  He also gives some other reasons that may actually surprise you.  We share some of those today as a part of the program.  It’s powerful stuff that will speak to you.

Count It As Joy
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (1/31) – We close with the story by a woman named Crystal who tells an embarrassing observation of her early life.  It’s about her family’s extreme poverty. There was often no food, no electricity, and even no water. The one word she uses to describe her childhood: neglect!   And yet Crystal’s testimony will bless you, it really will!  Please listen to today’s CrossHope.

Count It As Joy
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Successful, In Whose Eyes?

Tolerant?

Message 14 in the series Successful, In Whose Eyes?

Airing Week of 1/13/2020


Joshua 23:6-11

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This Week – Tolerance is an important word in our culture today in 2020.  It’s become a political “doctrine” to be upheld!  And yet Joshua, in one of his final messages to the people of Israel commands them not to tolerate the pagan gods and idols of the people of Canaan.  Why did he say that?  Because some of the people were actually invoking the names of the pagan deities and praying to them!

Tolerant?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (1/13) – What do you tolerate morally and spiritually in your own life?  If we would be totally honest, we might be surprised at others tolerance levels.  We might even be shocked at our own!  We introduce this message given by Joshua when he was over 100 years old, perhaps approaching 110! He challenges the people about their tolerance of pagan religion in their lives.  What would the Lord say to you or me regarding those things in us?

Tolerant?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (1/14) – The passage begins with this phrase: “be very strong!”  It takes strength to be a believer in 2020, it really does!  Joshua tells the people not to “turn to the right or left” in their belief system.  We retell a story we told around Christmas that T.D. Jakes of Dallas, Texas tells about his father.  His dad (from West Virginia) refused to look at a map or ask for directions on family trips.  You can guess the rest from there!

Tolerant?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (1/15) – We invoke the names of what we call “cultural gods” in our nation today.  We really do!  We quote a famous story converted into a country song called, “Don’t Blink!”  We quote the famous passage in the book of James about how fleeting our life is. In the King James Version of the Bible, the word “vapor” is used instead of “mist”. Ironically, the word vapor is more evocative today in 2020!

Tolerant?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (1/16) – I quote a minister from Washington State who is quite blunt about people today.  He says something I have never said in a message.  It’s about the “farewell messages” that we all give to our families before death comes.  They’re said in casual every day conversations.  It’s a very sobering quote, don’t miss it!

Tolerant?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (1/17) – We close with a quote from a famous musician and author from Australia about young people as musicians.  (If you are a parent of a child into music, you need to hear this!) What he says about music applies to life, death, and even eternity!  Listen to it and let his quote speak to you about your spiritual life in Christ!  We then wrap us this message on tolerance in your life and mine!

Tolerant?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Mission Statement: 3 Words

Message 13 in the series Successful, In Whose Eyes?

Airing Week of 1/6/2020


Joshua 22:1-5

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This Week – You may work for a company that has a “mission statement”.  Most companies and organizations do.  Some are quite serious, others are humorous. Most are quite creative.  Do you have a personal mission statement?  Is there a statement that sums up your life and purpose as a believer in Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God?        We talk about one this week from the book of Joshua.  It may surprise you; it will possibly change your life if you adopt it!

Mission Statement: 3 Words
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (1/6) – We begin with a humorous story regarding a piece of chicken and the governor of Massachusetts.  It sets up our reading the text where Joshua tells the people of God how to live and how to follow the God of their lives.  It may just be one of the most important messages of this series.  It’s about the gut issue of your life and mine: obedience.  Hopefully it’s part of your mission statement!

Mission Statement: 3 Words
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (1/7) – The three words of your mission statement and mine begin with the word “love”.  Everything in our lives falls out of the love that’s in our lives or isn’t.  That’s true in a marriage, a family, and the church!  When you and I love someone, we are drawn “out of ourselves”.  Joshua tells the people to “love the Lord your God”.  It wasn’t a suggestion; it was a command!

Mission Statement: 3 Words
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (1/8) – We re-share a story told by an author by the name of Frederick Buechner that I shared six months ago. He was facing the death of his grown daughter from anorexia nervosa.  She ate absolutely nothing.  Death was approaching.  There was nothing he knew to say or do.  What he did is simply remarkable.  You need to hear his “gesture of desperation” before the Lord. It could be life changing!

Mission Statement: 3 Words
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (1/9) – Joshua tells the people to “walk in ALL His ways”.  What does that mean?  We talk about that admonition.  It starts with loving God, and then we move on into “walking in all His ways”.  We then move on to the third word of our mission statement: “obey His commands”.  We love God, we walk in His ways, and then we obey His commands!  What part of this do you and I not understand?

Mission Statement: 3 Words
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (1/10) – I talk about a funeral I would be conducting that upcoming week.  We talk about Proverbs 10:7, where the writer says the “memory of the righteous will be a blessing”.  Hopefully, your life will be blessing after you are gone, even by people simply “remembering your life”.   When people recall your life, will they recall the words, “love, walking in His ways, and obeying His commands”? Or will they recall something less, a lot less?

Mission Statement: 3 Words
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Putting Off, Putting On

Special Message 20

Airing Week of 12/30/2019

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This Week – As we end 2019 and begin 2020, we share a message about what the Apostle Paul says we are to “put off” in our lives; then he says what we are to “put on”.  He uses a clothing analogy to illustrate the message.  We all can relate.  What would you think needs to come out of your life? What is it you know intuitively needs to be “put on” in your life like a new garment?

Putting Off, Putting On
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (12/30) – We tell the story of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. An official called the “mistress of robes” takes some of the things off of Princess Elizabeth that represented her role as princess.  Then, that official puts on Elizabeth that which represents her Queenly role! In a very real sense, she “put off the old” and “put on the new”.  We do something similar when we come to Christ!

Putting Off, Putting On
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (12/31) – Coming to Christ is not a subtle change or tweaking of our personality.  It’s much more profound than that!  Paul says that we were created to be like God, not in power, but in character.  Paul says first to put off lying.  What would that do in your life today?  What could happen in your marriage or family?  How would that impact where you work or go to school?

Putting Off, Putting On
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (1/1) – Paul identifies anger as the next thing we need to rid from our lives, families, and marriage!  Most of the anger in our lives is egocentric.  Did you know that?  Anger yields spiritual territory to Satan!  We share that anger destroys friendships, peace and concord in the home, incites crime and violence, and it turns love and affection into hatred!  What a statement!

Putting Off, Putting On
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (1/2) – Paul deals with stealing next.  He has a simple admonition to you and me about stealing.  Stop it!  That’s it?  Yes, that’s it.  Stop stealing and work, doing something useful to have something to share with others in need.  We talk about the uncleanness of the soul.  Do you know what that is?  It is bitterness.  Bitterness does to the soul, what immorality does to the body.

Putting Off, Putting On
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (1/3) – Slander must come out of our lives, it means speech that injures.  Paul says get rid of “malice” out of our lives.  Malice is ill will toward others.  We have been on both ends of malice!  Paul ends with three terms: kindness, compassionate, and forgiving.  Those might be the last words you would use to describe people close to you.  Would those people use them to describe you?

Putting Off, Putting On
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Favorite Christmas Stories

Special Message 19

Airing Week of 12/23/2019

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This Week – All this week on CrossHope, we air five favorite Christmas stories that come from various messages on our program over the last 8 years.  Each story stands on its own to convey truth and power for the season.  We hope you will not only enjoy them, but share them with others.

Favorite Christmas Stories
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/23) – Jean Gietzen lived in North Dakota during World War Two.  Her story of Christmas of 1943 may just move you to tears in a quiet and yet powerful way.  It really will!  Listen to her recalling a memory of blessing a family in deep need at Christmas.Some may call what happened an accidental encounter; don’t tell Jean Gietzen that!  She saw it as the hand of God!

Favorite Christmas Stories
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/24) – This is the only Christmas story I know involving the game of chess.  And yet it has a much needed message for Christmas of 2019.  We live in a culture today that “sees no Jesus, hears no Jesus, and speaks no Jesus. “  You’ve seen that at Christmas in our community, in our media, and even in families.  Unfortunately, we need the “King” at Christmas as well as the rest of the year.

Favorite Christmas Stories
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/25) – This is my absolute favorite Christmas story!  It’s told by Lillian Smith of Georgia.  You won’t believe what her father did one Christmas, when he invited a group of state prisoners in what used to be called a “chain gang” over for Christmas dinner!  And you are worried about having your relatives over!  It truly is a scene out of a movie, yet it really happened one Christmas in her life!

Favorite Christmas Stories
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/26) – This just may be the most important message of the week.  Why?  It’s about forgiveness.  Christmas is about forgiveness for one simple reason:  Christ is about forgiveness!   This is a story of a man who didn’t speak to his father all during his teen years and beyond.  What he did at his father’s grave will impact you in a mighty way!

Favorite Christmas Stories
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/27) – We close the week with a story about the father of Dallas preacher, T.D. Jakes.  It describes the direction this country is going this Christmas of 2019.  It just might describe the direction your marriage, your family, or even your circle of friends is going this Christmas.  It’s not just the “wrong” direction; it’s going in the ‘opposite’ direction!

Favorite Christmas Stories
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Not One Promise Failed!

Message 12 in the Series Successful, In Whose Eyes?

Airing Week of 12/16/2019

Joshua 21:43-45

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This Week – We’ve all been impacted by “promise keepers”.  We’ve all been impacted by “promise breakers”.  But to be honest, we have all been keepers and breakers in the area of life.   It may be too painful for you to discuss either end of the spectrum, but this week we do looking at the promises of God.  According to Joshua, not one of God’s promises to Israel failed!  We talk about that and the power of promise keeping in your life.

Not One Promise Failed!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/16) – We begin by talking about the men’s movement, 3 decades ago known as “Promise Keepers”.  Our lives have been greatly influenced by those who have kept promises in our lives.  We all have been influenced by those who have broken promises to us.  For some, it’s too hurtful to talk about!  What promises have you kept; what promises have you broken?

Not One Promise Failed!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/17) – First, we talk about what people “sing” about all the time.  We all sing about grievances against us, wrongs that have been done to us.  You know the drill.  The Psalm writer says “I will sing of the Lord’s great love for us!”  It’s an introduction to eh promises of God that were given without fail to Israel.  Joshua says not one of His promises failed!  Can you and I say that?

Not One Promise Failed!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/18) – When God gives you something, you need to receive it and utilize it!  What are you doing with the gifts, promises, and skills God has given to you?  Joshua not only says that God promised physical things; He promised “rest” to God’s people.  That’s no small thing.   It has to do with His presence and peace!  We share a great story about God rescuing a group of orphans in a life and death situation.

Not One Promise Failed!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/19) – We discuss a promise made to us today from Isaiah 42.  It’s where God promises to lead the blind.  Who are the blind people?  Us!  How is it that we are blind?  We are blind to the future!  Do you know what will happen in your life tomorrow, next week, or next month?  Of course not, we are blind to the future.  We need His promise to “shine” the light upon our way!

Not One Promise Failed!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/20) – A promise that we claim at the death of a loved one, or when we face our death is from second Corinthians about life and death.  It says “to be absent from this body (death), is to be present with the Lord!”  That’s a promise you not only need in your life, you need the hope that promise gives.  It’s like every promise in scripture; it’s connected to Christ!  Don’t ever forget that!

Not One Promise Failed!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Procrastination

Message 11 in the Series Successful, In Whose Eyes?

Airing Week of 12/9/2019

Joshua 18: 1-3

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This Week – The universal sin in the minds of many is procrastination.  We put off doing the necessary in relationships, in finances, in physical labor, and in the spiritual.  Where have you procrastinated in just the last week or month?  Seven tribes in the book of Joshua had procrastinated in the possessing of the land they had conquered.  Joshua asked the question, “How long are you going to take to do what God has asked you to do?”  Anyone relate to that? That’s what we study all this week on CrossHope!

Procrastination
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/9) – We begin with a humorous story about a young man procrastinating in a farming situation.  It’s funny to everyone but one person.  Listen to the program to find out who that is.  It’s our introduction to the text from Joshua about the subject of procrastination.  How has your life been affected by the procrastination of others, as well as your own?

Procrastination
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/10) – We share the top 5 things people procrastinate in according to one newspaper.  We mention the procrastination of many fathers with the “tomorrow” syndrome.  You and I both know the drill.  We then share a powerful true story about procrastination in regards to the issue of baptism.  It just may bring a tear to your eye and tug at your heart!  It’s that powerful!

Procrastination
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/11) – Some people procrastinate out of fear of failure, out of the fear of success, or just simply out of laziness!  Why do you and I procrastinate?  Perhaps you know the reason for you.  We can joke about procrastination, but there are people in your life have been impacted by your procrastination.  You can recall how your life has been negatively impacted by the procrastination of a parent, spouse, or child!

Procrastination
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/12) – We share a real life example that you perhaps have witnessed in your life time.  Picture an elderly man or woman on their “death bed” with the family gathered around him or her.  A minister or priest stands nearby.  People are praying, hoping for the person to perhaps repent and turn to the Lord before they die.  Sometimes they do; sometimes they don’t.  Many times a deathbed conversion is really a deathbed confession.

Procrastination
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/13) – We will share something about procrastination that I believe you have never heard!  It’s a quote from a rap singer named Trip Lee.  It’s actually one of the most profound statements about procrastination in your life and mine.  It cuts to the chase and gets to the heart of procrastination in your life and mine.  It may just prompt you to do something today or this week that you have been putting off for a long time.

Procrastination
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Found Faithful!

Message 10 in the Series Successful, In Whose Eyes?

Airing Week of 12/2/2019

Joshua 14: 6-14

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This Week – When the Lord looks at our “history” and current life, what does He see?   Hopefully, one word hopefully would be the word, “faithful”.  All this week on CrossHope, we study a man named Caleb who was described as faithful for 45 years, waiting on a promise of God made to him.  The last book of the Bible, Revelation, written by the Apostle John says, “Be faithful, even unto death!”

Found Faithful!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/2) – We begin with a story about the difference between “involvement” and “commitment”.  We can be involved with an organization or cause; but truth be known, we’re really not committed.  We introduce a man named Caleb whose life from age 40 to 85 is described as being faithful.  What about us? What’s your level of commitment to the Lord God Almighty?

Found Faithful!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/3) – We read Caleb’s story where he appeals to Joshua for the fulfillment of a promise made to him 45 years earlier! He was claiming land that was committed to him when he was 40 years old.  That’s a long time to wait on a promise to be fulfilled.  Yet, the emphasis was on Caleb’s faithfulness to the Lord. What does that say to you and me?

Found Faithful!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/4) – We are told that Caleb followed the Lord “wholeheartedly”.  What do you do wholeheartedly?  You may have a hobby, sport, or skill that you utilize wholeheartedly.  But what about our relationship with the God who made us, redeemed us, and sustains us?  Would the real description be “half-hearted” or even less?

Found Faithful!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/5) – Caleb said that he believed God kept him alive for 45 years.  Have you ever wondered if God has kept you alive for a specific reason?  What would that reason be?  We talk about the host for Good Morning America, Robin Roberts being made to look like an 85 year old woman by Hollywood make-up artists.  Can you picture yourself as an 85 year old man or woman?  Can you picture your faithfulness, or something less?

Found Faithful!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/6) – I often quote a minister (even in 2019) that I haven’t seen since the early 80’s!  And yet I appreciate his writing so much.  I quote him today talking about what someone said to him at his ordination into the ministry.  What his mentor and friend said to him, speaks to both us today in December of 2019.  What’s it about?  One word: faithfulness!

Found Faithful!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Compassion and Capacity

Special Message 19, Airing Week of 11/25/2019

Matthew 15:29-38

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This Week – Perhaps you have felt compassion from someone who cared about your situation in life.  But truth be known, they didn’t have the capacity to do anything about your problem.  Likewise, we’ve all known people who have had little or no compassion, but did have the capacity to help.  The Lord God Almighty has both in your life and mine!  We pull away from the Joshua series for Thanksgiving week to look at what is called, “the feeding of 4,000” in Matthew.

Compassion and Capacity
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/25) – God is a God of compassion, but also a God of provision and capacity.  It’s demonstrated by the miracle of Jesus in Matthew in feeding a crowd of over 4,000 people.  We share the story of a woman who not only lost her husband; she was stressed greatly in providing for her family without him.  She acknowledges the power of God in her life to provide what she needs.  Do you?

Compassion and Capacity
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/26) – We read the text from Matthew 15 the account of Jesus meeting the needs of people who had not eaten for 3 days!  Jesus feeds them miraculously.   Many have trouble believing this miracle.  Many believe that God can do nothing about their needs in 2019!  What do you believe about that?  We talk about the people that look to you to meet needs!

Compassion and Capacity
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/27) – We talk about people “flocking around” Jesus.  How do you relate to your “flock”.  If you are a parent, a neighbor, a coworker, you have people flocking around you.   How do you relate to them?  Do you look at them as a nuisance?  Many people do!  Or do you have compassion for them? Did it ever occur to you that God may bring people into your life for a reason?

Compassion and Capacity
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/28) – One of the titles for God in the Old Testament is a Hebrew term that means, “God is my provider.”  Do we actually believe that?  On this Thanksgiving Day, it may be a good idea to thank the Lord for that fact.  We talk about praying before a meal.  Many people do, most do not!  How about today?

Compassion and Capacity
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/29) – We close with the story of a woman with 50 years of regret about an earthly father who didn’t provide what she needed the most from a father.  Maybe you can relate? If this miracle of Jesus from Matthew 15 teaches us anything it says that God is both a God of compassion and provision.  He is a God who has the capacity for both!  Do you know Him?

Compassion and Capacity
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Deceived!

Message 9 in the Series, Airing Week of 11/18/2019

Joshua 9:1-15

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This Week – No one likes to be the victim of deception.  And yet we all have been the victim of someone else’s scam or deception.  It may have involved money, romance, or business; but the bottom line was a lie.  We study the story of the Israelites being deceived by group of people known as the Gibeonites in the book of Joshua.  It’s a plot right out of a movie; yet there are lessons for us all in 2019!

Deceived!
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/18) – We begin with a simple story of deception in a family among children.  The writer of this story finds out that a cousin deceived him many years earlier in regards to a “dead fish”!  We’ve all been deceived in more serious ways in life.  Satan is behind ultimately all deception; Jesus called him the “father of all lies.”  God’s people were deceived in a major way in Joshua 9.  We find out how and why!

Deceived!
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/19) – We read the text of the ruse perpetrated on the Israelites.  It was actually a creative scheme by a group of people known as the Gibeonites.  They deceived Joshua and the people of God into believing that they were from a “far country”, when they were actually from a town 6 miles northwest of Jerusalem!  God had forbidden the Israelites from making a treaty from any people in the land of Canaan or the Promised Land.

Deceived!
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/20) – The Gibeonites used flattery to deceive the Israelites.  Has anyone used flattery to attempt deception with you?  As the father of all lies, Satan entices us to believe falsehood rather than the truth of God’s word.  We share the story of my being “taken” by a con-artist in my high school job.  It was a great lesson for me the rest of my life!

Deceived!
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/21) – The most important verse is verse 14 that says the Israelites didn’t seek the Lord’s guidance or counsel in making a decision.  We share a thought about this process that I have never, never shared before in any message!  You really need to hear this!  We also share a bold quote about being willing to say “no” until you seek the Lord in the matter!

Deceived!
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/22) – We share how that the Lord can even work in our failures, not just our successes!  God can not only work in our mistakes, He can overrule anything He chooses in our lives.  We close with a powerful story that we’ve used before on CrossHope about a woman who stayed married to a man who went to prison for decades.  Her story will not only speak to you, but perhaps speak to God working in the mistakes of your life and mine.

Deceived!
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Guilt and Fear

Special Message 18, Airing Week of 11/11/2019

Psalm 102:1-11

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This Week – Guilt and fear usually travel together in our lives.  Show me a guilty man or woman, and I can probably can show you a fearful man or woman.  Show me a fearful person; you probably are looking at a “guilty” person.  The writer of Psalm 102 is David.  He’s an afflicted man!  He’s afflicted with both guilt and fear.  On this Veteran’s Day week, we share a message given on a Veteran’s Day weekend.

Guilt and Fear
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/11) – We introduce this text with a story told by the brother of Gary Sinise, Hollywood actor and the one who portrayed “Lt. Dan” in the movie Forest Gump.  Coincidentally, this is an appropriate story for Veteran’s Day, 2019.  Psalm 102 speaks to the guilt in King David’s life for the sin of adultery and murder, but also to his fear!  It will speak to you and me!

Guilt and Fear
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/12) – There is power of the mind in affecting us physically!  So it is with guilt.  What has guilt done in your life physiologically? David describes the power of guilt and fear in our physical bodies.  And he didn’t know Christ and the cross.   You and I do.  Listen to his description of what guilt and fear did to him.

Guilt and Fear
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/13) – Guilt has more to do with your health than you may know.  He describes being in a “fog”.  Sound familiar?  When he says “his bones burn like glowing embers”, he is describing arthritis or inflammation perhaps?  When he said his heart is blighted, could he be experience what we call rapid heartbeat etc.?  What he referred to in “agricultural terms” just might have significance to a cardiologist!

Guilt and Fear
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/14) – When David said he was eating ashes, he was!  We explain that in terms of what David would have done in his repentance.  When he talks about his heart “withering like grass”, we translate that into the physical power of guilt in our lives.  Guilt and fear have power in your life and mine!  They have more power than we know!

Guilt and Fear
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/15) – Brennan Manning was a former Catholic priest who counseled Christian singer, Rich Mullins.  While he was a tremendous help to Rich; he will be a tremendous help to you and me with our guilt and fear.  He says things about guilt that I have never heard anyone say, ever!  We close with the details of the bombing of the city of Stuttgart, Germany during World War II.  It will speak to the power of the cross of Christ in your life and mine.

Guilt and Fear
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Renewing the Covenant

Message 8 in the Series, Airing Week of 11/4/2019

Joshua 8: 30-35

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This Week – I’ve never wept at any wedding I’ve attended or officiated.  But I have choked up with emotion at a “wedding vow renewal” more than once. Why?  There is something moving about people renewing their marriage covenant after years of marriage.  This week on CrossHope we look at the passage in Joshua where the people of God renew their covenant with the Lord God almighty!

Renewing the Covenant
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (11/4) – The Israelites were victorious over the city of Jericho.  Their second battle was at a place called Ai.  They lost the battle, soldiers were killed, and they ran away from the fight in fear!  The Lord reveals to Joshua that a man named Achan had stolen things that were forbidden to be had.  The whole nation suffered from one man’s disobedience!  That’s not fair, right?

Renewing the Covenant
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (11/5) – Perhaps you and I need to renew our covenant or commitment to the Lord today!  The people of God did not recommit to morality, or being nice, or even being more religious.  They committed to the Word of God!  That’s it?  That’s it; but it’s so powerful!  What would happen if you recommitted your life to reading and following the Word of God!  Our lives would be impacted in a most powerful way!

Renewing the Covenant
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (11/6) – Author Sam Storms from Oklahoma City says that people do four things with the Word of God.  Some people trivialize the Word of God.  Some people trifle with the Word of God.  Some people tamper with the Word of God.  Lastly, some people tremble at the Word of God. We define each term and then ask the question, “Which one describes us?”

Renewing the Covenant
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (11/7) – You and I have got to come to a decision about what the Bible or Word of God really is in our lives.  We don’t “break” the word of God or break the laws of God, they actually “break” us!  We explain the scripture that says God’s word is a “light and lamp” to our lives.  That means we see everything in life through the lens of the word of God!

Renewing the Covenant
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/8) – We close with a powerful story by a doctor who is confined to a wheelchair.  Her confinement to a wheelchair impacts how she treats patients.   Your relationships in life will be impacted by the word of God and your covenant to Him.  Your family, your marriage, your career, your health everything is seen through the light of God’s covenant with you!  Start reading the word and you’ll discover that!

Renewing the Covenant
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The God of Promises

Message 7 in the Series, Airing Week of 10/28/2019

Joshua 6:22-25

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This Week – Promises are important in our lives, more than we know.  We’ve all been on the receiving end of a “kept” promise; we’ve been on the receiving end of a “broken” promise.  We’ve been on the other end of those equations with people close to us.   This week we continue the story of Rahab in the book of Joshua.  She was promised protection when her city of Jericho was destroyed by the Israelites.  That promise was fulfilled by Joshua and people of God!

The God of Promises
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/28) – We begin with a story by Dr. John Buchanan who tells of the “unlikely” people that would show up in his church in downtown Chicago, years ago. That was and is the nature of being in a downtown location in a major city. We reintroduce the woman Rahab who was an unlikely follower of the living God.  She was given a promise; it was fulfilled in chapter six this week on CrossHope.

The God of Promises
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/29) – After the walls “came tumbling down” at the city of Jericho by the hand of God, Joshua tells his soldiers to bring out the family of Rahab (the prostitute from chapter 2) safe and sound.  She had hidden two spies on the roof of her house.  She could have betrayed them and turned them in, but she didn’t because of her faith in the living God!  They promised her protection; in chapter 6 the promise is fulfilled!

The God of Promises
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/30) – We share the story of a librarian from Martinsburg, West Virginia.  After 25 years of marriage, she was homeless owning a truck, some clothing, and $56.00.  She lived in an abandoned house for four years, paying $50.00 per month rent.   Her story of recovery from that and her “ministry” to homeless people is tied in to the story of Rahab!

The God of Promises
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/31) – We tell the rest of the story of Rahab today.  She was told by the spies that if she put out of her window a scarlet cord or rope, she and her family would be spared by the 40,000 Israeli soldiers that invaded her city.  Talk about a promise that might be hard to believe!  She believed it and she claimed it!  What promises of God do you believe today?

The God of Promises
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (11/1) – We close with another story of Dr. John Buchanan telling of a man named Glen in a Hospice Care facility in Munster, Indiana.  What encouraged this man near death, was hearing about the promises of God from John’s messages.  (He had 100 of his messages on cassette tape!) Listening to John lifted his spirit and encouraged him in a dying world.  What could the promises of God do in your life?  More important than the promises is the One who made them!

The God of Promises
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Taking Down Strongholds

Message 6 in the Series, Airing Week of 10/21/2019

Joshua 5:13-6:5

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This Week – It’s the most famous of all the stories out of the book of Joshua.  Even people who have little or no familiarity with the Bible may know something about “the walls of Jericho come tumbling down”.  Are there any “strongholds” in your life that need to come down in the name of Christ? Let’s about that this week on CrossHope!

Taking Down Strongholds
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/21) – When the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River (from east to west), they encountered what has been termed a “fortress or garrison city” known as Jericho. It was built for combat, perhaps double walled.  It was designed to repel attacks from invaders.  This is the city of scripture and song that was taken down by the power of God!

Taking Down Strongholds
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/22) – We do initially recognize some strongholds in your life and mine.  There is the stronghold of unconfessed sin.  Is that in your life today in 2019?  Unconfessed sin becomes a stronghold if we don’t deal with it.   We talk about the stronghold of a bitter spirit.  Bitterness rarely starts out as sin; it always ends up that way!  We talk about the stronghold of pride in your life and mine! We talk about the angelic being who confronts Joshua.

Taking Down Strongholds
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/23) – We share a story that I hesitated to use!  But I did.  It’s a story about a minister’s criticism of a former congregation.   You may cringe a little hearing it a first; you may thank God for what he says at the end of it!This is an anonymous story that actually is one of the most powerful I have ever used!  Please listen today!

Taking Down Strongholds
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/24) – Rosalind Moss was a chaplain at a women’s prison in Lancaster, California in the 1980’s. She tells of a confrontation with a crusty sergeant guard at the prison.  The sergeant suffered from the stronghold of pride in his life.  Many people do!  Many church people do!  Do you need to “march around the city of pride” in your life and take it down in the name of Christ?

Taking Down Strongholds
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/25) – We close with the story of Barry Black, a man who grew up in the inner city of Baltimore, Maryland.  His family owned a record player and only one record!  You read that correctly.  His story of God working in his life demonstrates the power that can “take down a stronghold” in your life and mine.  God loves to demonstrate His strength in our weakness!

Taking Down Strongholds
Part 5
Randy Snyder

The Price of Disobedience

Message 5 in the Series, Airing Week of 10/14/2019

Joshua 5:6 and Psalm 106:32-39

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This Week – Have you ever used the phrase, “He or she paid a big price for that choice or decision”?  We know what that means.  A big price is often paid by people for their choices in life.  God’s people, the Israelites paid a big price for their disobedience to the Lord God Almighty!  They made willful decisions not to follow the Lord’s commands.   Have you?

The Price of Disobedience
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/14) – Disobedience to the Lord can be costly.  The book of Joshua tells us that Israel had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of their not obeying the Lord!  That’s an incredible statement from just one verse, Joshua 5:6.  It is, but true.  What has disobedience to the Lord cost you or me?  More than we may realize.  We talk about that all this week on CrossHope.

The Price of Disobedience
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/15) – We read a companion passage in the book of Psalms that illuminates exactly what the people of God had done to disobey the Lord’s will for their nation.  It’s not a pretty picture.  In fact, it’s an unbelievable passage that describes the vile behavior of His people.  You may need to be aware of the nature of this passage if children are present!

The Price of Disobedience
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/16) – We explain in depth the “horror” of this passage in Psalms.  God’s people “rebelled” against the Spirit of God.  They rebelled against His very essence.  Today in 2019 we would say, “They rebelled against the Holy Spirit of God”.  We tell the story of a man from Texas who perhaps did that very thing, by his own admission.  It’s a powerful story that perhaps you can relate to!

The Price of Disobedience
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/17) – This country singer we discuss said he came to the place where he realized that he either had to change or die!  That is a desperate situation, and yet someone reading this may relate!  The Israelites were actually sacrificing their children to demons.  We share 7 or 8 things that Dr. Charles Stanley says we experience when we rebel against the Lord.

The Price of Disobedience
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/18) – This story by John Fountain, a former professor of journalism brought tears to the eyes of people who heard this story.  It may just provoke a reaction like that in your heart.  John’s story illustrates what the disobedience of a father can do to the heart of his son.  What has your disobedience done in the lives of the people you lead and love?

The Price of Disobedience
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Stones of Memory

Message 4 in the Series, Airing Week of 10/7/2019

Joshua 4:1-9, 24

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This Week – Do you have something in your life that is a reminder of a place, a person, or an event?  Sure, we all do!  This week’s message is about what the book of Joshua refers to as “stones of memory”.  They were 12 stones that were taken out of the Jordan River to remind the Israelites that God had miraculously made it possible for the whole nation to cross the river!  What reminds you of something the Lord has done in your life?

Stones of Memory
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (10/7) – We begin with a humorous story told by Alistair Begg of Cleveland about a golfer with great eyesight, but a lousy memory.  Forgetfulness causes a great deal of grief in our lives and the lives of those around us.  To forget spiritually is not just to “cease to remember”; it means to “cease to care”!  Does that resonate with you and me?  I believe it does with all of us!

Stones of Memory
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/8) – We have been “called” by God to remember.  In both the Old and New Testaments, we are admonished to remember what God has done, what He has said, and what He has prompted us to do.  That’s why he had the people erect a memorial to the crossing of the river.  It was intended to prompt even children to ask, “What do these stones mean?”  What spiritual questions has a child asked you?

Stones of Memory
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/9) – We have memorials in our lives, even in what we call “church”.  We journal, we collect photos, and we have souvenirs as tokens of memory of a trip or vacation. You do know that communion and baptism are memorials with symbolic meaning in our lives, don’t you?  Edith Shaffer says that as adults and parents, we provide a “museum of memories” in our homes!  What kind of museum have you helped to create?

Stones of Memory
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/10) – Are you prepared to give spiritual answers to spiritual questions?  Many Christian adults would tell a child to ask someone else!  We tell an interesting story about a 10,000 meter race where 123 out of 128 runners ran the wrong way, and laughed at those who went the right way!  What a parable for spiritual life and choices in 2019.

Stones of Memory
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/11) – The last verse of this text says this: “God did this so that all people might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and that you might always fear the Lord your God!”  God doesn’t want us to cringe like a frightened child, but to have respect and reverence for almighty God!  He’s God and we’re not!  Forgetting God is one of the most devastating things we do spiritually!   You know that, don’t you?

Stones of Memory
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Rivers Uncrossable?

Message 3 in the Series, Airing Week of 9/30/2019

Joshua 3:1-17

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This Week – Most people have an “uncrossable” river in their lives.  It’s something from our past that seemingly cannot be dealt with, moved, or transversed.  It could be a past failure or sin. It could be an embarrassing situation never faced.  It could be the inability to change.  Perhaps you know what that is in your life.  This week we study the river Jordan and the crossing of 500,000 to 1,000,000 people of Israel.  It’s a remarkable story and a lesson for your life and mine!

Rivers Uncrossable?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (9/30) – We begin with 3 examples of problems that are seemingly unsolvable.   What is in your life right now that is unsolvable or a river that can’t be crossed? You know what it is!  The Lord is in the business with helping people to cross uncrossable rivers! We know it because of the Jordan River crossed by the people of God after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  It’s really a great message for your life and mine!

Rivers Uncrossable?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (10/1) – After reviewing the first two messages from this series in the book of Joshua, we share the text for this week.  The people are told to “consecrate themselves” for the next event in their journey.  We’ll talk about this word tomorrow in detail. They’re told to follow the Ark of the Covenant across the river.  They weren’t told to “worship” it; they were told to “follow” it.  We all follow something in life in 2019.  What is it for you?

Rivers Uncrossable?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (10/2) – “Consecrate or sanctify” yourselves was the command of Joshua to the people. You may be surprised about what we suggest to you to follow this command.  We talk about a group of drug addicts in a worship service who were told to “lay down their drugs” at the altar.  Many of them did exactly that!  What do you and I need to “lay at the altar” before the Lord today in 2019? You may already know!

Rivers Uncrossable?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (10/3) – The Lord tells Joshua that HE will exalt him in the eyes of the people.  We all know self-appointed and self-exalted people in our lives.  The greatest leadership quality for Joshua was this: God was with him!  We then talk about God driving out the nations of the Land so that Israel could take the possession of the region.  We actually share some graphic things about this activity, which parents may need to note!

Rivers Uncrossable?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (10/4) – We close with a powerful illustration from World War 2 about a group of pilots called the “Pathfinders”.  We talk about the Lord being the “pathfinder” in your life and mine.   He will direct the man or woman who seeks His guidance.  He will deliver people from that which need to be removed from your life and mine!  What does He need to do in your life in 2019?  What does He want you to decide to do in order cooperate with that process?

Rivers Uncrossable?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

A Woman with a Past and a Promise

Message 2 in the Series, Airing Week of 9/23/2019

Joshua 2:1-20

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This Week – Have you ever known anyone with a “past”?  We all know what that means, but the surprise comes when we realize we all come to the Lord with a past.  You do and so do I!  This week we study a woman named Rahab.  I doubt seriously that you have ever met a woman with that name.  She was a prostitute, a liar, and perhaps a con artist.  She went terribly wrong in life; she also believed in the One God of heaven and earth!  What a lesson for us all!

A Women With A Past And A Promise
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (9/23) – You may have though that all of the people of the Bible were people who walked around with folded hands and wearing robes.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Most people in the Bible were broken people, lives who were made new by the power of God!  We introduce a woman named Rahab in this second message from the book of Joshua.  Her life just may inspire you!

A Women With A Past And A Promise
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (9/24) – Rahab runs a “business” in the city of Jericho.  She hides and protects two Israeli spies up on her roof.  The local authorities were looking for them, probably to kill them!  She acknowledges to the spies that she knows that “their God IS the God of heaven above and the earth below!”  That was no small deal, to acknowledge that the God of Israel is the one and true God!  Do we believe that?

A Women With A Past And A Promise
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (9/25) – We quote John MacArthur who described Rahab with a wicked past and history.  And yet her present and future life was dramatically impacted by the One she believed in!  Tell me whom you truly believe in and I think I can tell something of who you are! MacArthur says that God could see through the “debris” of her life and could see her faith in the living God!  He can do the same with us.

A Women With A Past And A Promise
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (9/26) – We share a powerful story from the life of C.S. Lewis, who lied to a group of hunters chasing a fox.  God is a God of forgiveness, grace, and mercy, even when you and I are not!  The spies told Rahab to hang a scarlet cord from the window when the city was attacked by the Israelites. Her life and the lives of her family members would be speared because of her help.  The cord is a “pre-type” for the blood of Christ!

A Women With A Past And A Promise
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (9/27) – We talk about a man who described his life as a man who was “born with a rusty spoon in his mouth”.  That play on a familiar phrase may describe your life!  That may capture what’s happened or is happening in your life now.  And yet the God you and I believe in can change what’s going on in our lives now, because of His grace, mercy, and forgiveness!  The God who forgave Rahab can forgive you and me through what Christ did on the cross.  Believe that today!

A Women With A Past And A Promise
Part 5
Randy Snyder

Successful, In Whose Eyes?

Message 1 in the Series, Airing Week of 9/16/2019

Joshua 1:1-9

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This Week – We begin a new series on CrossHope from the book of Joshua.  It is the sixth book of the Old Testament, right after the five books of the “Law”, Genesis through Deuteronomy.  Joshua covers about 25 years of Israel’s history under Joshua, Moses’ assistant and successor.  It is relevant to our lives today in the way it speaks of God’s presence and faithfulness to His people.  But it speaks of our need to be rightly related to Him and to His word!

Successful, In Whose Eyes?
Podcast
Randy Snyder 

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Monday (9/16) – We begin by talking about an out of print magazine called, “Success Unlimited”.  I was a faithful reader of the publication for years until I realized in moment that success is having the presence of the Lord in one’s life.  Any success in our lives must be determined by the one whose eyes are always watching us:  The Lord God almighty!  Are you successful in His eye?

Successful, In Whose Eyes?
Part 1
Randy Snyder 

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Tuesday (9/17) – We read the first nine verses of the book of Joshua.  The definition of success is not only different than ours in 2019; the One who observes our “success” is also different than most people have today.  Moses is dead; he is referred to as “God’s servant”.  That’s no small thing.  The highest office in the kingdom of God (and the church) is servant!  What a concept!

Successful, In Whose Eyes?
Part 2
Randy Snyder

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Wednesday (9/18) – Three times in this passage, the phrase “Be strong and courageous” is used.  It’s used a fourth time at the end of the chapter.  We are to be strong and courageous in the Lord, not in our capacity!  He gives the strength and courage to all those who serve Him.  The more we submit to His authority, the more strength and courage that He gives. We talk about eight different areas of life where we need HIS strength and courage.

Successful, In Whose Eyes?
Part 3
Randy Snyder

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Thursday (9/19) – We need God’s strength and courage in 2019 because of the influence and power of Satan!  We see his influence in family, in work, in school, and in our community!  Look around you!  We share an illustration from a Hollywood movie from 1995 where someone says that Satan’s biggest deception is to make people think that he doesn’t exist!

Successful, In Whose Eyes?
Part 4
Randy Snyder 

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Friday (9/20) – Rarely do I close a message with a humorous story.  This week I do!  I tell the story of a minister who baptized a young man and then said a few words to him immediately after the baptism.  What the minister said was powerful; what the young man said at first simply funny, but maybe it was profoundly true.  Listen and see if you don’t agree!

Successful, In Whose Eyes?
Part 5
Randy Snyder

3 Comments

  1. Randy: In listing to your 8:55 broad cast on July 25th you mentioned an author by the name of Robert
    Wise writing on traditional and contemporary worship services. I have gone on amazon and put his name
    in and cannot find the book. Can you help with the title or where to find his book?
    Len

    Reply
  2. Thank you for your series! I listen every morning on XM radio during my morning commute in Everett, WA.

    Reply

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