Radical life, what is it? What is radical life? The dictionary says as an adjective, that it means relating to or…far reaching and very thorough like radical change or radical action. Radical reaches to the fundamental and basics.

Radical Life Support is what we are calling our podcast but Rick also had a band back in the day and it was called the RLS band, Radical Life Support. Rick started the band, doing some gigs and rockin’ at churches, youth groups, high schools and people would say what is the name of what you do, what is the name of your band? The first few times he just said they didn’t have a name, they just rock and play music. 

At the time in the 1980’s the word radical was quite a popular word with young people. In California, they had taken the word radical and they had shortened it up and everything was rad. It was rad man, that’s so cool, it was rad.

One day Rick saw an ambulance go by and on the side of the ambulance it said basic life support unit. Because Rick had looked up in the dictionary what the word radical meant, it stuck out. Radical meant basic, fundamental, back to basics, elementary, it jumped out at him. So in his brain he saw Radical Life Support unit. Rick wasn’t sure if he brought it to a band meeting or if at a concert one night said, we’re the radical life support band; but eventually it got shortened to RLS band. And the rest is history. The high schools that brought us in the kids bought our t-shirts, and bought our tapes and eventually our CDs and here we are in 2020 talking about it.

So we decided to call our podcast Radical Life Support too. We want to be support for you our listeners to life a radical life for Jesus. It is really not radical ‘life-support’ it is ‘radical life’ support. We want to challenge and inspire you and have the Holy Spirit stir you inside to live a radical life for Jesus Christ. So when we were thinking about doing a podcast, that is our heart. To be that encouragement for folks. Living a radical life for Jesus is not always easy but it is worth it, always worth it.

On the first episode to launch our podcast, Rick and Robin also share a part of their testimony to let people know a little but about them. Listen and know that God is always pursuing you to live a radical life for Him.

[Spoiler alert: we learned after this podcast, not to record on garbage pick-up days.] 😊

The first podcast discussed that the word radical means back to basics, fundamentals, extreme, far out there. Take your pick. Is it extreme or fundamentals? When we talk about a radical life, we mean a basic fundamental life that is lived with one thought in mind, to glorify God and lift up Jesus. That is what we want to do here at Radical Life Support.

We launched on April 8th because its a memorial day.  For Rick, it was the day that his dad went to be with Jesus. As hard as death can be, it was a beautiful day. The family stood around and prayed and read Psalms 23. For Robin on that same date her son stepped in front of a train and his life ended. Learning that they both had the same memorial date made it one that could be shared together.

To begin the podcast on April 8th represents a beginning of life not a memorial of death. You can wonder when someone is gone, does life go on, does it continue and it does. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life and we believe like Him we will one day after our dying, we will rise again.  We will be alive like Him forever.

With so much talk and fear of death weaving its way through the 7 billion people on the planet, the tragedy isn’t that people are dying or going to die. The tragedy is to die without Jesus. Because without Jesus you do not enter into eternal life or to that place of rest, peace, paradise, heaven. The bible is so plain when it comes to eternal life, it is not a mystery. He didn’t place us on earth to get it all figured out. He came to show us that it is figured out and that Jesus is the answer still today as it was 2000 years ago. 

Rick began living his radical life on journey on July 9, 1976. There was a radical difference between pre and post July 9th. He gave his life to Jesus Christ and dedicated his life to Him at a bible camp in Minnesota. He prayed for the first time and asked Jesus to come into his heart and be born again as it says in John 3:3, “unless we are born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” When that was shared with him, he knew he wanted to live forever with Jesus.

There were three events that happened right after the bible camp in one afternoon that really cemented the change upon the other:

1.    First, was when a fellow classmate who had also been born again at the camp explained on the bus home that things were going to be different when they got home. She specifically mentioned that not all of their classmates would be as excited as they all were to be born again. She prompted Rick to kneel in the bus in front of everyone and pray for their new journey with Jesus and pray for their friends and family.

2.     Second, after the bus ride, he was picked up by his mother and taken home to the farm with his sisters. When asked by his mother how camp went, it was his first time to share of his decision to accept Jesus in his heart. He was saying with his lips what was going on in his heart and in his mind. 

3.    The third thing that happened was that his friends came to invite him to town to go drinking with them. Rick explained that things had changed and he wouldn't be drinking any more. When he said drinking wasn’t going to be a part of his new life, his friend said, “They got to you didn’t they, you have become a ‘Jesus freak,’ a ‘holy Joe,’ a ‘bible banger.’” 

These events sealed something inside Rick’s heart, something locked as to who he was going to be and how he was going to be. This fresh encounter with God filled his life with new purpose, meaning, and resolve. He knew that if he was going to follow Jesus, he had to take it seriously. He knew he was called to reach out to those around him.

Living a radical life with Jesus means taking a courageous step to identify yourself with Him.

Rick and Robin discussed what it might have been like for the disciples on Saturday, in between Jesus' death and resurrection.  It may be Friday but Sunday is a comin'! Robin also shares the story of her son's death and why the Easter season is so meaningful to her.

Easter 2020 was certainly non-traditional and very memorable. Rick and Robin share memories of traditional and non-traditional celebrations of Easter and discuss whether Easter should only be celebrated once a year.

Robin shares how the injury of her back 22 years ago brought a wonderful communion with God.

Do you have a desire in your heart? Rick shares from the bible and says now is the perfect time to start something radically new. 

Robin loves thinking about God and who He is. It started about 20 years ago when a lady at her church showed people how to put together a prayer notebook and it included verses in the bible about God’s names, characteristics, and attributes. There was a page for every day of the month. She used that notebook for many years reading about God every day. When she found an alphabetized list of God’s attributes, she adapted the prayer notebook to fit that layout.

Then while singing a song in the choir on the names of Jesus, Robin added an alphabetized list for Jesus to the notebook. Of course, a study on the Holy Spirit lead her to also include verses on this person of the glorious Triune Godhead. Then, she began to think about how believers should respond to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and created a list of responses. Finally, in her journey, Robin developed a list for the church. It progressed over many years, one building on top of the other. 

So now she has five lists for each letter of the alphabet and it was really fun to look up verses. Doing a study in the bible can bring you great joy as you learn more about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and how they view us and the church.

What really brought great insight for Robin was when she did a study on a book by A.W. Tozer entitled, Knowledge of the Holy. It was an in depth, eye-opening exploration on God and it absolutely, dramatically, and radically changed how she viewed God.

Many people put God in a box, but this busted out the sides of the box. A famous quote from the book is the basis of this podcast series, “What comes into your mind when you think about God is the most important thing about us.” What a person thinks about God affects how they live their life, all that they do in life, how they view others, what their purpose is and how they make decisions. Many people view God wrongly. If you view God how He really is, it will change your perspective on life.

Can you know God? Maybe not in His entirety but God reveals Himself in the word, in creation, in the Person of Jesus, and in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. These will be the areas that will be studied for each attribute of God.

One thing will be explored in all God's attributes. What is true about one attribute will be true for all the other attributes. So, if God is eternal then His faithfulness is eternal and His love is eternal. They are all God and all interconnected. One doesn’t work outside of any of the others. If He is unlimited then His knowledge, resources, and power are without measure too. 

Robin’s favorite attribute of God is that He is unchanging. It gives you an unmovable firm foundation to stand on. You can always trust that God is a certain way. He will always keep His promises, be with you, and provide for your needs. You don’t have to worry because He is 100% reliable in who He says He is. 

Robin’s goals for doing this series on the attributes of God are so you could:

1.      Love God for all He is.

2.      Be moved with passion and emotion through knowledge of His being.

3.      Know Him more

4.      Accurately proclaim to others who God is.

5.      Bust open the sides of any box you have put God in

Robin hopes you will go on this journey with her. Maybe you couldn’t put your life into the hands of the God you thought Him to be; but after this study Robin hopes you will want to put your complete trust in this God you are learning Him to be.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him will not perish but have eternal life. This is who God is. 

Living a radical life for Jesus means glorifying the Father in all His attributes.

Rick Moe shares how the Radical Life Support band began.  And he answers the question, "How do you know if you are called?"