Adventist Review Podcasts

Bill Knott's GraceNotes: Glad To Pray (March 20, 2020)

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

The men who urged Jesus to educate them about prayer weren’t immature or novices.  Each of them had prayed—in penitence; for safety; for a good night’s catch—as part of a life story that led them to careers in fishing, tax collecting, and even political activism. But they had heard from Jesus—from time in close with Jesus—a whole new way of praying, one that began with an entirely new view of God.  Gone was the angry, frowning deity of their imaginations, the God who was always disappointed with them.  For they had heard their Master call this God His “Father”—even “Daddy.”  The grace they found in Jesus opened up a whole new way to pray.  And they were hungry to know more, learn more, pray more.  Grace made them passionate about prayer. So it will be with us.  When we discover what has always been true—that we are loved and held as closely as a parent holds us; that we were truly, eagerly embraced before we had a righteous thought—we unclench our bodies and our minds.  Our prayer becomes an easy, reverent conversation warmed by love, and all our fears diminish.  The Father who loved this world so much that He gave Jesus to us (John 3:16) rejoices when we trust Him, welcome Him, and tell Him everything. Grace leads us first to gratitude, and gratitude to prayer. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

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Bill Knott: Acts of God (March 2020)

What makes a natural disaster an “act of God?”  Is God the one behind the typhoons, the locust plagues—and this mysterious virus now afflicting the whole world?  Join Bill Knott, editor of Adventist Review and Adventist World for a clear, compelling study of how Christians ought to think about a world in turmoil. www.adventistreview.org

Bill Knott's GraceNotes: Growing Green (March 13, 2020)

In desert canyons, ferns will flourish, sprouting from the bone-dry walls. None of them is kept alive by current rainfall: little ever reaches them. But rain that cooled the mesa 500 feet above 20 years ago seeps down through sedimentary rock to deliver needed moisture. The source is slow, no doubt, but savingly it keeps the green things growing. So it is with grace in us. The saving wrought by Jesus’ sacrifice began a flow that still is watering whatever’s dry in us. We may have been “saved” in a moment, but the slow water of deep holiness seeps down to the stony layers of relationships and attitudes and deserts we’ve never even hoped to water. One day, we give up grudges, half-surprising ourselves—and certainly surprising those who wounded us. Weeks later, we begin to reach beyond our comfort zone to love the unloved and the graceless. Our most important relationships—our friendships and our marriages—begin to shift: we hold our tongues; we listen more; we offer comfort where we once doled out our wit or scorn. The grace that saves us always changes us—sometimes at once; more often slowly,imperceptibly. This is as fully Jesus’ work as blazing, noonday turnarounds. “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). Allow what’s dry to grow toward green. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

 

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Bill Knott's GraceNotes: The School of Grace (March 6, 2020)

When our hearts are full of warmth and we feel in control, it’s easy to be gracious to the ones who give offense. “Forget about it,” we advise them. “It’s no big thing. No worries!“ Forgiveness seems within our reach. We give our grudges to the wind. But when we’re powerless and cold; when we’ve been wounded by deep malice or contempt, we cling to the only weapons we have left—our anger and our memory. We have no grace for villains or the haughty. We pray they get what they deserve. And then we hear again the strange new urgings of the gospel: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5:44). Against our narrative of righteous indignation, grace tells us stories that seem impossible. The Lord who urged us to forgive forgives the sins we love to hate—adultery, betrayal, cruel violence, and greed. There’s no rousing of our will that can teach us to forgive like this. Grace is the gift of Christ—from Him to us; from us to them; from them to others still unloved and unforgiven. The sequence is repeatable. When we’re forgiven, we learn grace. We’ll never lack for opportunities to practice what we’ve learned. Remember now how much you’re loved. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

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Searching The Obvious: Pray For Me

Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?”(Psalm 139:7, NRSV) “Searching the Obvious” focuses on how the Holy Spirit is ever active in our surroundings and in our lives, urging us to serve others. Personal stories challenge the reader to be mindful of our Christian Walk, recognize our own fallibility and slow down to ‘search the obvious’, the active presence of the Holy Spirit ever always around us. Dixil Rodriguez writes from Ohio, USA. www.adventistreiew.org

Wilona Karimabadi: Happy Cereal Day

Wilona Karimabadi is an assistant editor of Adventist Review and editor of KidsView magazine.  www.adventistreview.org

Sharon Tennyson: Reflections From the Servant Queen

Sharon Tennyson is the distribution and logistics coordinator for Adventist Review Ministries

Bill Knott's GraceNotes: Increasing Your Net Worth (February 28, 2020)

We measure the worth of things by their apparent scarcity. Gold, caviar, Maseratis—all increase in value when we think supply is limited. Much of the joy of ownership is the awareness that others don’t—or can’t—enjoy them. And in our poorest thinking, we sometimes foolishly imagine that the grace of God has been reserved for wise and careful people like us. We pretend God’s kindness is a reward for faithfulness, rather than the cause of it. If grace is freely available, won’t its value be diminished? But the old hymn said it well: “The love of God is broader than the measure of our mind.” “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt 5:45). Grace is that rarest of things that becomes more valuable as it is more widely available and more fully embraced. When you love God, my joy is doubled. Heaven has no finite space restrictions, nor is the grace that leads us home reserved for just a few. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life”(John 3:16). Embrace the Lord who embraces everyone. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

 

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Bill Knott's GraceNotes: First Light (February 21, 2020)

Good news is only good because the other news isn’t good. It’s the contrast between light and darkness that makes us glad for everything that’s lit and bright and warm. And the Bible is unsparingly honest about our real condition—about the bad news—of our lostness and our darkness. We got what we deserved: we reaped what we sowed. The news couldn’t get any worse. We were the people sitting in darkness. But then a great light dawned. The gospel of the Father’s unending, untiring affection for us is seen in everything Jesus did to bring us healing, joy, and abundance. ^“He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also give us all things with Him?” (Rom 8:32). Jesus is the proof of heaven’s favor, the certainty that we are still loved—have always been loved, will always be loved. In Him, we learn the news we didn’t know: that our lives can be free, and fun, and filled with meaning. “He is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, because He always lives to intercede for them” (Heb 7:25). Grace headlines every day’s edition. “Now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). “His life brought light to everyone” (John 1:4). Enjoy the news. And stay in grace. -Bill Knott

 

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Bill Knott's GraceNotes: The Struggle To Forgive (February 14, 2020)

Of all the sins to which we fall, none makes us feel so smug as vengeance. When we’re the injured ones, the hurting ones—acknowledged victims of some sin—we live a perilously long moment of unexpected power. The voices of our culture ring too loudly in our ears: “Retaliate. Require groveling. Make certain that they’ll never hurt you—or anyone—like that again.” And sometimes in our weakness, we savor the imagination of how much pain we could inflict—all righteously, of course. We picture those who hurt us getting stings that we’ve endured. It’s grimly satisfying on some scale of “eye-for-eye.” But then the gospel pierces through our fog of pain, and we hear again the words that once changed everything for us: “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). “In Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them” (2 Cor 5:19).” Only people who have been forgiven every truly forgive. The memory of our undeserved redemption pushes through our injury, and we recall how we were once where our abusers are. The grace we give is built on memory of how we’ve been released, and how our hearts have been renewed. So we lay down the lance; give up the sword. We offer others peace and healing Jesus is still giving us. This is His way. So stay in grace. -Bill Knott

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