Episodes

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson wraps up the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man, and unpacks a caution every believer in the middle of revival needs to hear: don't let emotion be your guide. Revival is real, and it does stir real feeling, sometimes higher highs than you've experienced before, and sometimes real opposition. But feelings rise and fall. What stays steady is God's Word. That's why perseverance in faith often looks less like a mountaintop moment and more like qu...

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson opens Luke chapter 5, the story of a paralyzed man whose friends carried him to Jesus and, when they could not get through the crowd, tore open a roof to lower him down in front of Jesus. Jesus responds to a detail that is easy to miss: he forgives the man's sins after seeing their faith, not only his own faith, but the faith of the friends who refused to give up on him. It is a picture of the quiet, persistent role other people can play in someone...

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson asks a simple but searching question: how would you like the Lord's power to be strongly upon your life? Drawing from Luke 5:17, he points out that the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus, not simply because Jesus was God, but because Jesus, in His humbled human state, withdrew regularly to pray and depended completely on the Holy Spirit, just as Acts 10:38 describes. This episode walks through the first practice of revival: urgent, desper...

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson unpacks a phrase from Luke 5 that's easy to read past: "the Lord's healing power was strongly with Jesus." Even Jesus, in His earthly ministry, depended on the Holy Spirit to do the work of the Father, as Acts 10:38 makes clear. That raises a real question for our own lives: why do we so often try to live for God without leaning on His Spirit the way Jesus did? Pastor John explains that sin and the Holy Spirit have an inverse relationship. When unc...

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson continues through Luke chapter 5, where Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins while Pharisees and religious teachers, who traveled in from every village across Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, gather to criticize Him. This episode traces a pattern found in every true revival throughout history: opposition always follows. It's spiritual, but it is also deeply human. Nehemiah faced relentless harassment from Sanballat and Tobiah while rebui...

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson continues the study of the man with leprosy from Luke chapter 5 and turns our attention to one verse that changes everything: verse 16, where we're told that Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness to pray. This wasn't occasional for Jesus — it was a pattern. Even while crowds pressed in around him, hungry for another miracle, Jesus made a habit of pulling away to listen for the Father's voice, because for him, that voice mattered more than any crow...

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson teaches from Luke chapter 5, the story of the leper who came to Jesus and was instantly healed. Instead of telling him to broadcast the miracle right away, Jesus gave him a specific instruction: go to the priest first, follow the process God had already laid out in the law of Moses, and then let that healing become a public testimony. Pastor John unpacks why that order matters, and what it teaches us about real revival — it always stays rooted in S...

In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson opens Luke 5 to the story of a man covered in leprosy who begs Jesus, if you are willing, you can heal me. Jesus reaches out, touches him, and speaks just three words, be healed, and the disease disappears instantly. Pastor Dickerson pauses on the power behind those words: this is the same God who spoke the stars and planets into existence, and who still holds authority over anything that feels hopeless or beyond repair. From there, he leads listen...

No one had touched this man in years. Not out of cruelty, but because touching a leper made you unclean too. So why did Jesus reach out and touch him before he ever spoke a word of healing? In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson continues the story from Luke chapter 5 of the man with leprosy who begged Jesus, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Jesus' response wasn't just a word of healing. Verse 13 says Jesus reached out and touched him, before he was clean, while he was s...

Have you ever prayed for healing, or for revival in your family, your city, or your nation, without knowing if God would actually say yes? In today's Daily Hope, we look at the prayer of a man with leprosy in Luke chapter 5, and it might be the boldest, most honest prayer in the Gospels. The man doesn't doubt that Jesus is able to heal him. His only question is whether Jesus is willing. He falls with his face to the ground and says, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. That kind of f...

Have you ever wondered if God is finished with you after you fail again? In today's Daily Hope, we look at what actually happens the moment you repent, and it is not what most people expect. In the Old Testament, after Nehemiah repents on behalf of his people, he calls God a God of love who keeps his covenant with those who love him. Even under the old covenant, God's first response to repentance was love, not rejection. The same pattern shows up with Peter in Luke chapter 5. After the biggest c...

What if your definition of a good life is completely different from God's? Most of us define a good life as an easy, comfortable one. But in Nehemiah chapter 1, when Nehemiah hears that Jerusalem is in ruins, he doesn't ask God for comfort, he repents. He confesses his own sin, his family's sin, and his nation's sin. And it's after that repentance that God moves. In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson traces what happens next: a pagan king, Artaxerxes, gives Nehemiah favor, authority, a...

When's the last time you were genuinely awestruck by God, not just going through the motions of faith, but actually amazed by His goodness and His glory? In Luke 5:9, after Jesus performs a miracle, Peter and his partners James and John aren't just impressed, they're awestruck. That's the response real spiritual sight produces. In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson asks why so many of us stop being amazed by God the longer we walk with Him, and why that's something we can actually pray...

Is it possible to have your theology completely right and still have God resisting you? James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5 both say the same startling thing: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. You can have an accurate statement about the Trinity, salvation, and Scripture, and still miss God's blessing if pride has crept into your heart. In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson continues walking through Peter's early days with Jesus in Luke 5, where Peter falls on his knees and s...

Do you ever feel like you're too sinful, too messed up, or too far gone for God to actually use you? In Luke 5, right after Jesus performs a miracle in front of him, Simon Peter doesn't celebrate - he falls to his knees and begs Jesus to leave him, because he suddenly sees his own sin next to God's holiness. In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson unpacks this raw moment in Luke 5:8 and what it teaches us about coming face to face with God. Getting close to Jesus doesn't make you feel mo...

You may not see it yet, but reviving your love for God never stays private - it reaches your spouse, your kids, your grandkids, your friends. In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson teaches from Luke 5:7, right after Simon Peter's nets become so full of fish they start to tear. Peter shouts for help, and his partners James and John row over in the other boat - and now both boats, both crews, experience the miracle together. Pastor Dickerson points out that our culture tends to treat fait...

Do you ever feel like you're too flawed, too inconsistent, or too immature for God to actually use you? In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson points out something most people miss about Simon Peter: he wasn't perfect. Scripture shows him as impulsive, selfish, and immature - a guy who messed up more than once. But Jesus kept choosing to work through Peter anyway, because Peter kept obeying, even imperfectly. In Luke 5, Jesus asks Peter for three things in a row that didn't make sense: ...

Too tired to keep trying? In Luke 5, Simon Peter had already worked all night, his nets were clean, and it wasn't even the right time of day to fish - but Jesus asked him to row out into deep water and let the nets down one more time. In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson unpacks what happened next: Peter obeyed anyway, and the result was a catch so massive it nearly sank two boats. But the real lesson isn't the miracle - it's what came right before it. Every revival Pastor Dickerson h...

Have you ever wondered why you haven't seen the breakthrough you've been praying for? In Luke chapter 5, Simon Peter had every reason to say no to Jesus. He'd fished all night, caught nothing, and the request to try again made no sense. But he obeyed anyway, and his nets filled with so many fish that they began to break. Peter had fished this lake his whole life. His dad and grandfather taught him the trade. He had never seen anything like this. And here's the key: between the miracle and Jesus'...

Have you ever told God honestly that what He's asking doesn't make sense, and then obeyed Him anyway? In Luke chapter 5, Simon Peter has just spent twelve exhausting hours fishing all night and catching absolutely nothing. Then Jesus tells him to row back out and let his nets down again. Peter doesn't pretend it makes sense. He says it plainly: Master, we worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing. That's real, honest confusion. But then comes the hinge that changes everything: but if y...

Are you exhausted from trying something that hasn't worked, and now it feels like God is asking you to try again anyway? In Luke chapter 5, Simon Peter had fished all night, caught nothing, and was already done for the day when Jesus told him to push out into deep water and let his nets down one more time. From a human perspective, it was a ridiculous request. Peter had grown up fishing this exact lake. He knew what time the fish were out, and it wasn't now. He was physically spent, his nets wer...

Have you ever wondered if God can really use your ordinary life? Not just your Sunday morning faith, but your actual job, your family, your daily routine? In Luke chapter 5, Jesus does something unexpected. He walks up to a tired fisherman named Simon Peter and asks for something completely ordinary: his boat. Peter had already worked all night and caught nothing. He was washing his nets, his shift was over, and he was ready to go home. But Jesus steps into his boat anyway and asks him to push o...

You don't have to be a prophet to pray with power. James 5:17 says something most of us skip right past: "Elijah was as human as we are." In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson unpacks James 5:16-18, where James reminds us that Elijah, the prophet who prayed and stopped the rain for three and a half years, wasn't superhuman. He was as ordinary as anyone reading this. And yet when he prayed with bold faith, God changed the spiritual and physical climate of an entire nation. Pastor John c...

If you've ever wondered why your prayers feel powerless, or why it seems like God isn't listening, James 5:16 points to something most of us skip: confession. In today's Daily Hope, Pastor John S. Dickerson reads James 5:13-16 and shows how the early church treated ongoing repentance and honest confession as a normal, daily way of life, not a one-time event. James gives practical instructions for real life: if you're suffering, pray. If you're happy, sing praises. If you're sick, call for prayer...