Episodes
Wednesday Jul 29, 2015
WHY CAN'T CHRISTIANS GET ALONG WITH EACH OTHER? (Romans 12:3-5)
Wednesday Jul 29, 2015
Wednesday Jul 29, 2015
WHY CAN’T CHRISTIANS GET ALONG WITH EACH OTHER?
To be honest, this is a question that at first you might say, well of course we can. We believe in the same God, and we all have Jesus as our Lord and Master, at least this is the case if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ. The problems begin when you start talking about how you go about being saved, who can be saved, and then once you are saved whether or not you can lose your salvation, or even what the word saved really means.
But let’s make it simpler than trying to make all of the various Christian religions get along, because that hasn’t happened in over a thousand years, and it is not likely to happen any time soon. Let’s ask the question of whether or not members of the same church should be able to get along? Now it is even more obvious that we should be able to get along with those who attend the same church that we do, but if you look at the statistics of how many churches split, we would have to say that getting along is not happening the way that it should.
So the question is why? Why can’t members of the same church get along?
The answer is really simple, but hard for people to do. The reason people fail to get along is that they take their eyes off of what God wants them to do, and how God wants them to behave, and they begin to act as the world around them behaves, and they do the things that they think is right.
Paul has given us the basic first steps for members to get along with each other in the first two verses of this chapter, surrender to God, and then let God transform you into the image of Christ. It really is that basic, that simple, but so hard to do. If we are all allowing Christ to show through us, then we will get along with each other.
Listen to this podcast to learn the way Christians are supposed to relate to each other to complete the kingdom work of God.
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
HOW DOES GOD'S WILL CHANGE THE BELIEVER? (Romans 12:2)
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
Thursday Jul 16, 2015
What is God’s will for our lives, and how does that change us? Finding God’s will is accomplished by sacrificing our whole being to God as a living sacrifice. This means that we surrender our life to God. He is ours to command. He is the Master and we are the slave. We obey Him.
Jesus commanded that we are to be salt and light to a dark world. Salt is a preservative, an antibiotic, and a flavor enhancer. It is applied externally and it draws attention to something different. A believer is to be a preservative of the absolute truths about right and wrong that God has established. We are to stand up when the world decides to call that which is wrong, right, and that which is right, wrong.
The believer is also to be a light unto the world. One of the great facts about light is that darkness is simply the absence of light. No matter how deep the darkness, the simple candle will chase that darkness away. No amount of darkness can overpower the light of that candle. When there is light, darkness goes away. Light for the believer comes from within. Salt is external, and light is internal. Light emanates from the core of the believer. We are to be a light to a dark world. We are to show the world that there is an escape from the deep darkness of the world.
In order to be salt and light, the believer must be changed from what they were before. If we look and act like everyone else, then we are neither salt nor light. Yet, this change in who we are does not happen all at once for most of us. Most believers will spend a lifetime having their body, soul, and spirit conformed to the image of Christ. But the world needs to see this difference. It needs to see the light of God’s Word shining through us.
In order to accomplish this us we must consecrate our body so that the Holy Spirit, who has made it His temple, might have free access to all its members, and free control over all its activities. The believer who presents his body in this manner is changed.
Romans 12:2
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
KJV
Listen to this podcast to learn how a believer is not to be conformed to this world, but is to be changed morally and mentally to show the world that the will of God is truly good, acceptable, and perfect for each of us.
Friday Jul 03, 2015
WHO ARE YOU CONTROLLED BY? (Romans 12:1)
Friday Jul 03, 2015
Friday Jul 03, 2015
If you were to ask the general population of this country, Who are you controlled by? Many, if not most, would declare that nobody controls me, I control myself, for this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, right? However, the truth of the matter is that there are likely a number of entities and people that we submit ourselves to be controlled by. For example, the government bodies that we live under, both nationally and locally. We submit ourselves to the authority of, and the rules and procedures of, these men and women who say they have the authority to rule us.
There is your employer, you submit to their authority. Your spouse. Your peers. Your religion. Law enforcement. So there are lots of entities and people we allow to control us. We submit to their authority, and what they tell us to do, we do. We are controlled by them.
Now, most Christians would immediately reply, Well Keith, obviously I am controlled by God. And my reply would be, do your actions match your words? Considering the way society’s shift in morals is moving at breakneck speed today, Christians are going to be faced with some difficult decisions. For many years, in this country, the general moral and ethical principles of the country were based on Judeo-Christian values, so the Christian in this country had it fairly easy.
Yet, we stand today at a crossroad in this country. Nine men and women in black have decided that marriage is defined by what they say it is and that it is not defined by God. Never mind that it has been defined by God as one man and one woman, and for almost all of history, and in almost every civilization, as one man and one woman. Man’s definition is that marriage can be two women, or two men, or three women and men, or ten women or ten men, or in other words, anything goes. For without the absolute truths of right and wrong as established by God, anything does indeed go.
This decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has set the stage for the U.S. government to criminalize Christianity. If you choose to say what the Word of God says about homosexuality, it will be deemed as hate speech. The consequences of this will be that you can be fined, arrested, or have your business, your home, and your job taken away from you for stating what God says.
If you are a Christian, you will then have a choice of submitting yourself to the authority of the government, or to God. While the Bible is clear that we are to submit ourselves to local authorities, which are established and allowed by God, it is also clear that this obligation only goes until they dictate you violate God’s Word. So this question of, who are you controlled by, will quickly transform from an intellectual exercise to a reality.
Now, as for me and my family, our choice is that we are controlled by God, and no government, especially 9 people in black robes, is going to change that. While I understand that those are brave words, and that they will very soon be tested, therefore, we are depending solely on God to empower us to live those words in our lives as we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God, wholly controlled by Him.
Friday Jul 03, 2015
GOD'S PURPOSE IN RESTORING ISRAEL PART II (Romans 11:27-36)
Friday Jul 03, 2015
Friday Jul 03, 2015
Over the last couple of weeks of our study, Paul has declared that it is certainly within the power of God to not only temporarily remove Israel from the place of religious privilege as a result of their rejection of Him, but it is also within the power of God to restore a believing Israel to that place once again. The almighty Creator of all things, has the power to do as He has promised.
Not only is it within the power of God to restore Israel, Paul also tells us that it is within the purpose of God to restore Israel.
Paul has left no question that God will fulfill His promises to Israel. God will restore Israel, for it is God’s purpose to restore Israel. God planned these events from the foundations of time, and nothing that man has done, or can do, will change God’s plan and purpose. God chose Israel to be His channel of truth and righteousness to the world, and that is what they will be when He restores them.
What is God’s purpose in restoring Israel? It is to show His power and His glory to a world that has rejected Him. He is telling the world that there is but one true God, and that He alone is deserving of our worship.
Version: 20230822