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Praise Thursday

Praise Thursday – Easter Edition

Good afternoon! We are in the home stretch of classes here at MVNU, and we’re all very excited! Today on the show, we read the story of Easter and then played songs that went along with the verses, telling the story of Easter not only through the bible, but through music as well. Check out the verses and songs below!

First, we read Mark 14:12-42, and this section deals with the Last Supper, Peter’s betrayal of Jesus and the Garden of Gethsemene.

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)

After that passage, we played ‘Don’t Deserve You’ by Plumb, which reminds us that we are Peter. We are the disciples. We are not faithful, we are not loyal, and we do not deserve the love of Christ, but He gives it to us anyway.

Listen to “Don’t Deserve You’ here!

Next, we read Mark 14:43-72 which talked about Jesus’ arrest, Jesus going before the Sanhedrin, and Peter denying Jesus.

“You have heard the blasphemy. What do you think?” They all condemned him as worthy of death. Then some began to spit at him; they blindfolded him, struck him with their fists, and said, “Prophesy!” And the guards took him and beat him.
(Mark 14:64-65)

We played the Sidewalk Prophets song “You Love me Anyway” which reminds us that we are the thorn in His crown, the sweat from His brow, Judas’ kiss, but Jesus loves us anyway. Nothing can take away the grace and love that Jesus has for us.

Listen to “You Love me Anyway’ here!

We then read Mark 15:1-41 which covered Jesus going before Pilate, Jesus being mocked by the soldiers, and the crucifixion and death of Jesus.

“It was nine in the morning when they crucified him. The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the jews.” (Mark 15:25-26)

After this passage of scripture, we played “At the Cross (Love Ran Red)” from Chris Tomlin, which reminds us that all of our sins are washed white in the love of Christ and His blood shed for us.

Listen to “At the Cross” here!

To finish off, we read Mark 15:42-47, which deals with the burial of Jesus, and then we read Mark 16:1-8, which brings the good news that Jesus had risen!

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’” (Mark 16:6-7)

There are so many songs to play that talk about Jesus’ resurrection, and the hope that we have because He lives. So, we played a lot of those songs! Check them out below!

Remember – Passion
God’s Not Dead – Newsboys
Victor’s Crown – Darlene Zschech
Because He Lives – Matt Maher
Forever – Kari Jobe
Glorious Day – Casting Crowns

Have a great evening! God Bless!
-Lilly

 

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Praise Thursday – Let it be Love

Good afternoon! Most things are back to normal here after Lifeline, and I took the show today to rehash some of the topics we hit during Lifeline, and also to thank you for your incredible support of our ministry!
If you would like to hear our staff testimonies, why we love working at WNZR and what ‘Let it be Love’ means to us, all you have to do is click here and then click on the hyperlink of the name of the DJ who’s testimony you want to listen to!

I rehashed a little bit of our Lifeline theme today, so I talked about Romans 5:8, and how God still sent His son to die for us even we didn’t deserve it. We are sinful, and while on earth, we will always be sinful. Jesus died knowing that we aren’t perfect, but He died in hopes that one day, because of Him, we will be.

I talked today about Jordan Feliz and his song ‘Beloved’. That song holds such a great encouragement because you ARE beloved. This world is going to tell you so many lies, but in this song, Jordan Feliz says to forget the lies you’ve heard, and to rise above the hurt because we are children of God. That is the truth and that is the truth that we need to focus on.
Also, today, I talked about MercyMe’s new song ‘Even If’. There are days where we feel awful. We feel defeated. We feel broken. It’s easy to sing when nothing is wrong, but when we feel destroyed, it’s not so easy anymore. God is able to do more than we could ever ask or imagine, and the song talks about how we know that God is able and how we know that God can do all things, but sometimes our plans don’t line up. The hardest part of going through a trial is saying “Even if You don’t, God, You are still my hope. You are still good, and I will continue to put my hope in you alone.” This is my challenge to you this week, whatever trial you are going through, walking through fire, feeling like David up against Goliath, when you pray to God, say “I know you can do this, but even if you don’t, Lord, you are still my hope.”

The word of the day today was: PROGNOSTICATE /präɡˈnästəˌkāt/
This word is a verb that means to foretell or prophesy (an event in the future).
To read more on the history of this word, click here!

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Praise Thursday: What is our Response?

We opened the show today with a powerful section of scripture from Romans 8:31-35…
 31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

That was the perfect way to open our show today, being that we are talking about our response to the various situations that life throws at us.

God is for us, and NOTHING can ever stop us. God is fighting our every battle and we can stay confident because trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword have no power in the face of our all-powerful God.

We talked about how we should respond to victories in our lives, and that is with a spirit of thankfulness and love because we know that God is walking side by side with us through whatever we’re going through and that He has already won the war.
And we are also thankful that God not only gives us salvation, but He equips us with everything that we need to fight any battle that we may face in our lives.
Check out Ephesians 6:11-17…
“11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

We also talked about how to respond to the defeats in our lives.
It’s disheartening to think that the enemy wins some battles, but it does happen. We can take heart because Jesus is fighting for us. He is fighting every battle along side us and He has already won the war.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

 So whatever you’re going through right now, whatever mountain you’re facing, whatever Goliath is in front of you, whatever defeat you are experiencing, whatever challenges are plaguing you right now, let your response be love. Love toward God because He is fighting fervently for you! God is going before us and making our paths straight! He is walking along side us through the valley of the shadow of death, so our response simply should be love for Him, because that is God’s response toward us, even in the midst of our sin.

Thanks for listening!
Have a great night, and enjoy this nice weather!
-Lilly

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Praise Thursday!

Hello, good afternoon, and a happy Praise Thursday to you!
Today we transitioned from the topic of ‘Fingerprints of God’ to our Lifeline theme, ‘Let it be Love’. We talked about the lyrics of the songs “Let it be Love’ from Family Force 5, which you can listen to here, and ‘Evidence’ by Citizen Way, which you can listen to here!

“I’ve never seen a soul set free
Through an argument
I’ve never seen a hurt get healed
In a protest
But I’ve seen sinners turned to saints
Because of grace
It’s love, love that lights the way,
Love that lights the way”

These lyrics really echo our theme verse for Lifeline this year, which is John 13:34-35
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We are called to be reflections of God and His love. Life is 10% what happens, but 90% how we react to it. So when we talk about ‘Letting it be Love’, the ‘it’ is our response. We need to be responding to every situation in our lives with God’s love.

Ben Calhoun got to sit down with Newreleasetoday about their song ‘Evidence’. He said…
“Christianity isn’t something I can argue to bring someone to Christ. It’s not a flag on a field, it’s not a sign in my yard. It’s the real, tangible evidence of Jesus. He’s way better at drawing people to Himself than I am. All I can do is be His messenger. I’ll be the mailman, not the message.”
If you’d like to check out the rest of the interview, click here!

Our word of the day today was: decry (verb || dih-KRY)
This word means to depreciate (as a coin) officially or publicly, or…
to express strong disapproval of.
To read more about the origin of this word, click here!

 Have a great night!
-Lilly
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Fingerprints of God: Animals

Good afternoon! Today we wrapped up our five-week series on the Fingerprints of God, and today we talked about how we see the fingerprints of God in the creation and existence of animals!

We started in Genesis, with chapter 1, verses 26 through 28…
26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

We dove into the Psalms a little bit today too, and there is just some incredible encouragement to be found in Psalm 36:5-7. It reads…
“5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.
6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.
7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!
People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”

Here’s an excerpt from Job 12, where Job is being made a laughing stock, but he tells us that the animals are still pointing to the existance of God, and Job stood firm and praised God through all the trials and tribulations that he experienced. 

4 “I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
    though I called on God and he answered—
    a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
5 Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune
    as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
6 The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
    and those who provoke God are secure—
    those God has in his hand.[a]

7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.
9 Which of all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words
    as the tongue tastes food?
12 Is not wisdom found among the aged?
    Does not long life bring understanding?

Our word of the day today was animal related, and it was ‘diurnal‘! (Adj, [dahy-ur-nl]
In the animal world, this word means ‘active by day, as certain birds and insects’
To see the rest of the definitions, check out Dictionary.com’s definition here!

I left you today with the encouragement of Matthew 10:29-31…
“29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.[a] 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

As always, thanks for listening, and have a great day!
-Lilly

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Fingerprints of God: Our relationships with others

Hebrews 13:1 set the tone for today: “Keep on loving each other.”
Simple, or so you would think.

Writer Martha Orlando says: “Wouldn’t this world be a better place if we recognized and honored the fingerprints of God in every person we meet?”

We had 3 full pages of scripture today that talked about how we should treat one another, and a couple of great verses on this topic actually happen to be our theme verses for Lifeline! It’s John 13:34-35, and it says:
“A new command I give you, love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”

We also read some verses from Romans 12 today, and the whole book of Romans is just a great book with lots of great wisdom.
Check out the entirety of Romans 12 here!

John 16:33 says: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world, you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
We listened to Victors Crown today, and it really gives encouragement that no matter what we’re going through that God has overcome the world and He wears the Victor’s Crown!
IMG_4862.jpgThat picture up there is a picture of my little beastie, Tula.
Our word of the day was beastie! This is a noun, and this word describes a small animal, especially one toward which affection is felt. So Tula is my beastie, and Belle is Joe’s beastie! Drop a picture of your little beastie in the comments! We’d love to see them!

Thank you so much for listening! Enjoy this beautiful weather!
-Lilly 

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Fingerprints of God: Our Relationships with God

What are the obvious outward signs to others that we’re part of, and maturing into God’s family?

Mark 12:28-31 – The Greatest Commandment

28 One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

These verses really set the tone for our discussion on the Fingerprints of God when it comes to relationships. It is made pretty clear in these verses that loving God then loving one another is of great importance. God gave us the definition of love when He sent His son to die for us.

1st John 3:16
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.”

Martin Luther said that “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing.” We also talked today about how our relationships with God are strengthened by spending time in prayer and in scripture! Once we have a strong relationship with God, then we can really begin cultivating relationships with others.

Our Word of the Day today was ‘transpontine’! adjective trans-PAHN-tyne
This means situated on the farther side of a bridge, or, in Britain, situated on the south side of the Thames. 

Check out David Crowder and his band singing ‘How He Loves’here! They really enforce God’s powerful and unceasing love for His children, and that’s how we know how to love others.

Thanks for listening and have a great night!
– Lilly

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Fingerprints of God: Creation

Good afternoon! Today, we continued our series on the Fingerprints of God!
We’d like you to leave us a comment on what part of creation you love most! Let us know what part of creation just leaves you speechless!
For me, it’s a beautiful sunset, and for Joe, it’s snowflakes!

We read Genesis chapter 1, and it really lays the baseline for creation.
“And God saw that it was good.”
Read the story of creation here! 

We read from Job 12 today, and this chapter is just an incredible reminder that God holds the world in His hands. He is powerful and He is faithful even in the midst of trial.
Job 12:10 says:
“In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.”
If you’d like to read the whole chapter, which I strongly encourage, check it out here!

We focused on two songs today that went along with the theme of creation, and those songs were Indescribable from Chris Tomlin and Overwhelmed from Big Daddy Weave.

When we played Indescribable, I read some of the program notes I wrote when my elementary choir performed this my senior year of High School. Here’s a bit of it…
“Indescribable – adjective – too unusual, extreme, or indefinite to be adequately described. That is a perfect word to describe our perfect God. Indescribable, uncontainable, amazing, all powerful, and all the other adjectives that Chris Tomlin uses in this song make the point that our God is truly amazing.”
Check out the song here!

We also looked at the song Overwhelmed, and the opening lyrics of this song point straight at the glory and majesty of God.
“I see the work of Your Hands
Galaxies spin in a Heavenly dance oh God
All that You are is so overwhelming”
Take a listen to the whole song here! 

In animals, we see patterns and we see the work of Gods hand. In a ram, we see the spirals of the horn that grow with age, like the rings in trees that you can count to see how old they are. Check out this article from FaithHub that goes into further detail on this here!

Also, the universe is proclaiming the name of God through its’ vastness and incomprehensibility. Did you know that the Andromeda galaxy is our closest galactic neighbor? It’s roughly 2.5 million light-years away. It’s 140,000 light-years across, but it isn’t bright enough to be seen in the night sky by our eyes. If it were brighter, it would appear six times larger than the full moon!
There was a video I saw a while ago at the Creation Museum, and it talked about how complex and incredible our universe actually is.
I highly encourage you to check this out. It’s a 22-minute video, but it’s well worth your time. Check it out here!

Our word of the day today was very relevant! It was ‘overwhelm‘. [oh-ver-hwelm]
This is a verb and it means: to overcome completely in mind or feeling.

I’m so thankful for an overwhelming and indescribable God today!
Thanks so much for listening!
-Lilly 

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Even When I’m Not

Have you ever been thankful that Gods’ love, goodness, and faithfulness are not dependent on our human actions? Because I sure have been! I was reading Paul David Tripp’s devotional ‘New Morning Mercies’ a while ago and that days’ devotional was about how God is faithful even we aren’t. My High School Choir director, Heidi Zentz always talked about how awesome this devotional was, and she was my secret prayer partner my Senior year, so she bought me ‘New Morning Mercies’ and it’s full of really quality devotionals that get you thinking. If you’d like to read more about Paul David Tripp and his devotionals, click here!

Paul David Tripp begins his devotionals with ‘tweetable tidbits’ that are 140 characters or less. The ‘tweetable tidbit’ for this devotional was this…
“Yes, it is true, God will remain faithful even when you’re not because His faithfulness rests on who He is. Not on what you’re doing.”

Right when I read this, it struck me, because I don’t think about that particular quality of God very often. (Though I should).

One of my favorite parts of this devotional was when Tripp said: “Security isn’t found in your faithfulness but in His. He can be trusted even when you cannot. He will be faithful and good even when you are not. He’s going to do what is right and best even when you don’t, and He is faithful to forgive you when convicting grace reveals how unfaithful you’ve been.”

No matter what we do, God is faithful. We will often stray away from God, we will not always be good and faithful, we won’t always do what is right or best, and we won’t always be faithful to forgive. When I really think about it, I think that God’s faithfulness regardless of our actions is my favorite quality about God. God will not abandon us or stop being faithful to us when we are not faithful to Him, or when we don’t do what is good, right, or best. HE IS FAITHFUL NO MATTER WHAT.

One of my favorite verses that go along with this concept is Lamentations 3:22-23. That says: “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;  His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” 
Another verse that is relevant is 2 Thessalonians 3:3. It says: “But the Lord is faithful. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one.” 

Our word of the day today was ‘fulminate’! – Verb – [fuhl-muh-neyt]
Fulminate means: to explode with a loud noise; detonate.
To read more about this word, check it out on dictonary.com! Link here!

Also, if you would like information about the WNZR Valentines Banquet, click here! And if you would like to be a part of our Big Blue Music Crew, send us an email at wnzr@mvnu.edu and we will send you back the survey! In thanking you for participating in our survey, we will also send you an exclusive Big Blue Music Crew shirt!!

Remember that God loves you and will continue to be faithful to you no matter what.
Thanks for listening and God Bless!

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