Warm Bible teaching with conviction.
Exploring the Word pairs steady biblical exposition with warm radio-table conversation. Episodes move from Old Testament passages and national reflection into direct Christian application, with Fridays set aside for listener Bible questions.
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Exploring the Word is built like a long conversation over an open Bible. The program reads Scripture as living authority, then keeps asking what obedience should look like in ordinary life. Its pace is measured. Its conviction is not. Bert Harper and Dr. Alex McFarland trade observations, illustrations, memories, and questions with the easy familiarity of speakers who have worked together. Recent episodes spend serious time in Malachi, where the discussion turns to priests, worship, marriage, reverence, partiality, and the pressure to tell people only what they want to hear. Those segments are not abstract. A warning to ancient leaders becomes a challenge to pastors, churches, and individual believers about whether they will preach, receive, and obey the whole counsel of God. The show also works through Numbers with an eye for practical application. Complaints in the wilderness become a lesson in gratitude and consecration. Census details and priestly instructions become occasions to look for what the speakers call hidden gems. On Fridays, the format opens into Fire Away Friday, where Bible questions shape the hour and the answers aim to stay plainly biblical. Holiday and best-of episodes widen the lens. Independence Day leads to freedom, revival, the founders, and Christian responsibility in America. A New Year's Eve reflection on 2020 brings COVID, unrest, economic strain, worldviews, and Christ's return into the same theological frame. The program is unmistakably evangelical and closely tied to American Family Radio's ministry setting. Fundraising appeals and mission language appear around the broadcast, including Preborn and Share-a-thon references. Even so, the editorial center remains the same: Scripture read aloud, interpreted with confidence, and applied with urgency. Exploring the Word is best for listeners who want familiar Christian radio, verse-by-verse attention without academic distance, and a steady reminder that doctrine is meant to become witness, prayer, repentance, and action.
Made for: For evangelical Christian listeners who want weekday Scripture study, encouragement, and direct application to church, family, country, and personal faith.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the preacher-radio cadence: extended Scripture reading, conversational handoffs, repeated emphasis, and a persistent move from biblical text to obedience and witness.
On Exploring The Word, we provide a vast understanding of the principles of Christianity as we discuss the core questions of Christian Faith. We answer questions such as: Is Jesus, God? Why do I need to be saved? What does that even mean? Is Heaven a real place? Hell? What do you mean by Grace? Etc. Join us each weekday at 3:05 pm CT as we discuss these topics and more.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Direct, conversational Bible teaching turns doctrine and close textual study into concrete guidance for Christian belief and practice.
Bert Harper and Alex McFarland keep an open Bible at the center of Exploring the Word, moving between close study of particular passages and direct discussion of Christian belief.
Bert Harper and Alex McFarland take you from Malachi's priests to your own hard conversations.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Malachi 2 as a blunt lesson in priestly duty, courage, and refusing to trim the message.
Exploring the Word spends its hour in Malachi 2, where Bert Harper and Dr. Alex McFarland keep circling the priests, partiality in the law, and the charge that to whom much is given, much is required.
Malachi's rebuke becomes a plain call to reverence, witness, and worship that honors God.
The hour settles into Malachi, returning again and again to God's name, reverence, mission, and the warning against bringing lame, sick, and stolen sacrifices to the Lord's table.
A Fourth of July conversation turns national freedom toward repentance, revival, and freedom in Christ.
Independence Day gives Bert Harper and Dr. Alex McFarland a frame for spiritual self-examination, moving from freedom of speech and worship to the founders' appeal to God and the question of whether a nation absorbed by entertainment, busyness, work, and money could see revival…
A firm Christian defense of creation centered on biblical authority, observable science, and faith claims about origins.
Creation versus evolution is treated here as a question of biblical authority, human purpose, and the limits of what science can directly observe.
A personal church memory leads into a warm study of unity, calling, spiritual gifts, and service.
An old church sign reading "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism" gives this study of Ephesians 4 a personal way in. From there, the episode ties a childhood memory to the chapter's language of one hope and a calling that reaches beyond heaven toward sharing the good news.
Two Bible translators unpack Scripture's hardest passages, from Revelation's 666 to the Witch of Endor.
Live sermons with Easter-shaped urgency.
Alex McFarlane and Bert Harper debate creation versus evolution on Exploring the Word, arguing that Darwinian evolution is a faith-based philosophy that undermines belief in God.
This episode of Exploring the Word is a Fire Away Friday call-in show where hosts answer listener questions about the Bible and spiritual topics.
This episode of Exploring the Word examines Isaiah 59, focusing on the theme of justice in a godless society and God's ability to act amidst national corruption.
This episode of Exploring the Word focuses on studying Isaiah 40:18-31, emphasizing God's uniqueness and strength, while also incorporating a day of prayer for listeners.
This episode of Exploring the Word examines Isaiah chapter 40, focusing on God's immense power and the transition from judgment to hope in the biblical text.
Hosts Alex and Bert explore Ephesians 4:1-12, focusing on living a worthy Christian walk.
This episode examines Isaiah 41:21-42:7, focusing on God's courtroom challenge to false gods and the introduction of the First Servant Song.
Exploring the Word's July 24 Fire Away Friday features Burt Harper and Alex McFarland answering listener questions about Revelation 20, Jephthah's daughter, Acts 2, communion, Satan, baptism, Mary, and Psalm 47.
Exploring the Word hosts Bert Harper and Dr.
Bert Harper and Dr.
Hosts Bert Harper and Dr.
Malachi 2 drives the hour.
Alex McFarland and Bert open with a Preborn appeal and a reminder that the Bible is the Word of God, living and active, then ease into Exploring the Word.
Independence Day frames a conversation about American freedom and Christian faith.
This episode is a call-in show where hosts Alex McFarland and Bert Harper answer Bible questions from listeners on American Family Radio.
This episode of Exploring the Word examines complaints and God's responses in Numbers chapters 11-12, focusing on the theme of consecration and divine provision.
This episode of Exploring the Word focuses on studying chapters 8, 9, and 10 of the book of Numbers in the Bible, highlighting hidden spiritual insights and their relevance to modern Christian life.
This episode of Exploring the Word reflects on the challenges of 2020, including COVID-19, social unrest, and economic hardships, while framing them through a biblical perspective on worldviews and expectations.
This episode of Exploring the Word continues a study of the Old Testament Book of Numbers, focusing on the Nazarite vow and offerings, while also thanking listeners for their support during a recent fundraising event.