In this solo devotional episode of the Voices in My Head podcast, Rick Lee James introduces himself and the show, then shifts focus to logistical updates: he urges listeners to subscribe to his Substack for future episode distribution, promotes his Mr. Rogers tribute podcast “Welcome to the Neighborhood,” and teases upcoming guests such as William Willimon. He shares that he is currently pursuing a master’s degree at Loyola University, appreciating its emphasis on prayerful Scripture reading. The core of the episode is a reflective reading of Romans 8:35, 37‑39, where James emphasizes that nothing—hardship, persecution, death, or any created power—can separate believers from the love of Christ. He interprets this as the true starting point of the gospel, urging listeners to recognize God’s unbreakable love, repent, and allow that love to transform their lives. Throughout, he offers pastoral encouragement, calls listeners to review the podcast, visit his website, and ends with a benediction invoking the God of hope.
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Welcome to Voices in My Head, the official podcast of me, Rick Lee James. I'm a recording artist, a singer, a songwriter, an author, a worship leader, and an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene. The Voices in My Head podcast is where I discuss music, movies, books, pop culture, theology, and more with friends, colleagues, and sometimes just by myself. Now make sure to let me know what you think of today's episode by leaving me a review on iTunes or by tweeting at me @RickLeeJames on Twitter. And please join my mailing list at RickLeeJames.com where you can receive an email every time a new episode is released. By the way, in case you're interested in a daily dose of kindness and encouragement beyond this podcast, I also run the Twitter account @MrRogersSay where I post daily quotes from Fred Rogers, one of the voices in my head. Well, I guess that's it for the intro, so sit back, relax, and listen to the latest episode of Voices in My Head.
Hey friends, Rick here again. I hope that you are doing well. This is going to be another short episode today. I hope that you have by now gone to rickleejames.substack.com and signed up there with your email address, because very soon no longer will I be offering this podcast, um, maybe where you're listening right now. I'm not sure, uh, wherever it is that you're listening, whether it be on iTunes or wherever it is that you listen to podcasts through. Um, because I'll be offering it through Substack, and it will still go out to all of the normal podcast providers, but it's going to be linked through a different place. So if you sign up with your email address there, you'll get notifications when new episodes release, and then you can use that link to listen wherever you like from there. It's just a matter of simplifying life on my end now that I'm in master's courses and life has gotten busy. And it's also a little cheaper on, on my end too. And that's the name of the game right now, is simplifying life and not spending as much money on things where we don't have to. So if you have not yet, I encourage you to go to rickleejames.substack.com and sign up for free to follow me at Substack there. You can sign up to follow the Voices in My Head podcast, or you can sign up for my other podcast, which I want to tell you about. Welcome to the Neighborhood, the Mr. Rogers Tribute Podcast, which in the last 2 weeks we've actually had 2 really great guests. We had a week ago, we had Mr. McFeely from the Mr. Rogers Neighborhood show on there, David Newell, and had a great conversation with him. And then this week we had Joe Handyman Negri, who used to be on the show, and he really, in real life, he's 95 years old and is still just so amazing and a really wonderful guitar player, virtuoso guitar player. Just retired from teaching on the university level, has played with everybody, has an incredible story to tell. And so if you have not had a chance to listen to that episode yet, that just came out this week. I'm a little bit behind in getting this Voices in My Head episode out to you, so I want to apologize about that. We do have some guests coming up. I was actually just contacted by William Willimon's people again. They want to have him back on the show with a new book that he has coming out. So hopefully we'll be having him on again soon on the Voices in My Head podcast to talk about his new book. And a variety of other guests we're kind of have coming up in the works soon. But we don't have a guest this week on the show. This week is more a reflection As I told you last week, I am studying my master's at Loyola University right now. And one thing I appreciate about Ignatius Loyola is the emphasis that he had on prayer and, and really this idea that we come to God and we listen to scripture and allow scripture to just speak to us., and it wasn't always about how much Scripture we would read, but it was about allowing Scripture to just speak to us, and we would read it, and then read it again, and then read it again, and think about the ways that God would speak to us through Scripture. And I have to tell you that the way that they teach through the program, it's very much about listening to God even through the teaching of the program too, and listening for what God might be teaching. Through the education process, and I really appreciate that about them. So today on the podcast, there's a verse, couple verses in Romans that have been speaking to me for a long time now, but especially this week they've been speaking again. And so I wanted to share them with you today. So this, this is maybe something that you'll want to maybe pause until you have a quiet moment, just kind of sit down, maybe grab a Bible and listen with these words. But from Romans chapter 8, I'm going to share from verse 36— I'm sorry, verse 35— and then I'm going to share verses 37 and 38 and 39. And I just want you to hear these words today because I think this is the place we need to begin with the gospel. The good news about Jesus, because too often I think we start with this. We often start with, "You are so separated from God because of your sin." But that's not where the gospel begins. The gospel actually begins here with good news. And it says this, verse 35 of Romans. Reflect on this a moment. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Think about that and reflect this morning. I believe that's where the Gospel begins. We come as sinners, yes, but we come not with anything that is blocking God off. In our sin, we are simply putting a stumbling block before ourself, but nothing is separating God. There's nothing keeping God from us. God just pushes those things out of the way as easily as we would move over a piece of paper. It says, there's nothing that can separate you from me and my love in Christ. Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life Nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You need to just dwell on that this morning, or this afternoon, or this evening, whenever you might be listening to it. Who is it that you think you are, and how bad do you think you have messed up? Be reminded of this. This passage of Scripture has been preserved through centuries. The church fathers decided it was important enough that it needed to be canonized and put into Scripture. Of all the passages over time that could have been preserved, God saw fit to preserve these particular verses in the Bible for us. And the church decided, not just one person, but the church, the body of Christ together decided these verses were important for us to hear together. And that at this time today, in this moment, we needed to hear it. That you are not separated from God. That God is a prayer away. That God is a breath away. That God is as close as your heartbeat. That God is as close as you want God to be today. That the only thing separating you from God is your willingness to be separated from God. Think about that this morning. It says in scripture, who will separate us from the love of Christ? Hardship? I know some of us are going through that. Distress? Some of us are going through that. Persecution? My goodness, around the world there is persecution going on.
Famine, yes.
Nakedness, peril, sword, all these things are happening. None of those things can separate from the love of God in Christ. And Paul says it again, he is convinced not even death, not life, not angels, not rulers, not things present. That means things happening right now. So that means coronavirus, that means politicians, that means present circumstances, that means finances, that means sins that you just committed. Things to come, that means things in the future. Nor powers That just means powers. Think of anything, any powers you can think of, things bigger than you. Nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation. Anything in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's good news that should draw repentance from us. It is the kindness of the Lord that leads us to repentance. That's good news that should say, thank you, Lord, for forgiving a sinner like me. Thank you, Lord, that even though I don't deserve it, that even though I am sinful, that I have not loved you, Lord, with my whole heart, that I have not loved my neighbor as myself, Lord, I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus, pray for your mercy again. And I am so grateful for this love that will not be separated. And we accept it again today. Maybe we just need to start over again and say, thank you, and I accept it again, God. I start over again. All that is to say, doesn't mean there's not consequence. For things we've done. Doesn't mean there's not consequence for actions we may have taken. I don't think Paul— you can't read Romans and think that there are not consequences to actions that we've taken. I'm not trying to say that at all this morning. There are always, you know, there are always things that we do that we need to make right. And that's why I say these These words should draw us to repentance, to a change of lifestyle, to turn and go the other way, which is really what repentance means, a complete change of action. Like Zacchaeus, when Jesus came to dine with him and Zacchaeus gave what he had away. Instead of swindling people out of their money, he began to take that money and give it back in abundance. Even more than he had stolen, he gave it back. And that's what repentance is. That's what the love of God does for us, is it changes our hearts. It renews us. It makes us new, and it calls us to repent. That's the beauty of the gospel at work in our lives. That's what the love of God does. That's what this unseparating love does in our hearts and our lives. I hope you realize this morning how loved you are. And how unseparated from the love of Christ you are this morning. It's good to be reminded of that sometimes. We need to be reminded of that, especially in this age where, where we are so often tempted to not only follow after half-truths and listen only to voices that tell us what we want to hear. It's good to be reminded that we can turn and go another way. It's good to be reminded that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. All right, that's about all I have this week. Thank you for listening to Voices in My Head. Thank you for all your support. Your kindness, your love, your generosity. I hope you all have a great, great week, and I will talk to you next time. God bless you.
Thank you for joining me here this week on Voices in My Head. I hope you'll visit me on my website at rickleejames.com, where you can find out more about me, get my music on vinyl and CD, follow my blog, and even schedule me for a concert or a speaking engagement, better yet, even a book signing in your neighborhood. You can find all that and more at rickleejames.com. Also, it would mean a great deal to me if you could write a review of this podcast on iTunes. The more positive reviews that we receive, the more visible this podcast will be online. And now for the benediction: May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. God bless you, and thank you for listening to Voices in My Head.
