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Episodes
Each week a new verse-by-verse Bible study podcast given in expository style. Join us and see the Bible come alive as we study the truths that God‘s Word has for us.
Episodes
Sunday May 16, 2021
Sunday May 16, 2021
This message is about a task that God has given to every born-again believer. That task is to allow the light of Jesus to shine through us to reach a dark world full of people who need to hear the gospel message of Jesus Christ. What makes this challenging is that we must live our lives in such a way that brings glory to our Lord, and still avoid the sin that is around us. I believe that is one of the reasons that God has given us the book of Proverbs. To show us how to live a victorious Christian life, in a world full of sin.
God’s wisdom is the key to living in this dark world that is full of evil. Satan would like nothing better than to destroy the witness of a child of God. The world likes nothing better than to see a righteous man fall. This chapter of Proverbs is giving us the instructions from our Creator to live a victorious Christian life so that we can bring people to Christ and eternal life.
Click on the link below to hear a message on God’s instruction manual for living a life that honors God.
Amen.
Tuesday May 11, 2021
Tuesday May 11, 2021
When your children were growing up, did you have certain lessons in life that you wanted to share with them? Perhaps, it was a work ethic, the value of morals and integrity, to be kind, yet strong, and to have the convictions of their faith. Most of all, a love for God that surpasses all other things. A parent shares with their children the things they value the most. Our love of God is what we should value the most, and it is that love that we need to share with our children.
The book of Proverbs is God giving parental advice to His children. He is sharing with us the things that He wants us to value the most, wisdom, humility, honor, integrity, a kind and gentle spirit, a love for others, and most of all to know how much He loves us.
Click on the link to below to hear a message on the value of holding tight to God’s wisdom that He shares with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. God has told us that there is nothing that compares to His wisdom, and that if we will put Christ first in our lives and hold onto His wisdom, then God will bless our lives as we work for His purposes.
Amen.
Sunday May 02, 2021
Sunday May 02, 2021
God wants us, as believers, to be free from the bondage of the world so that we might live a life that follows God’s chosen path for us. But, have you ever asked yourself, how do we walk that path, and what should we expect as we walk that path? That is the focus of today’s message, what does God’s Word say about what it is like to walk God’s chosen path for each of us. God wants you to know that it is a peaceful life. It is peaceful in the good times, and it is peaceful in times of stress.
God’s path requires that you give the Lord your love and loyalty, and to put Christ first in all that we do. If we do these things, then we will have God’s peace. As a result, we know that, come what may, all will be well. There is no greater gift this side of Heaven than to have the peace of God standing watch over our hearts.
Phil 4:7
7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
KJV
When we walk along God’s path for our lives, His wisdom tells us that we can have peace in good times and times of stress because we know the place where faith stands:
Prov 3:26
26 For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
KJV
Faith takes its stand in the Lord. Never believe that this struggle between good and evil, light and darkness, and truth versus lie, is a mighty battle between equals. It is not. It is not even close. God is the omnipotent, omniscient, Creator of all things. He has but to speak and all evil is defeated.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what we should expect when we walk God’s path for our lives. The answer is that God does not ask us to walk that path without His promises to bless us with His wisdom and power to succeed on our course. The key to finding these promises, and to accomplishing His will, is to put Christ first in all things, and to hold dearly to the wisdom that comes with the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts.
Amen.
Sunday Apr 18, 2021
Sunday Apr 18, 2021
Last week we started talking about what it means for a believer to be in financial bondage to the world, and how that impacts their ability to do the work that God has for them to accomplish. We said that God has a plan for every aspect of our lives, and our finances are part of His plan. In fact, God promises that if you will follow His amazingly simple plan, then you will find true financial freedom.
Prov 3:9-10
9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
KJV
Look at the promise the Lord has given us in these verses. He says, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
God wants you to know that He has a plan for you, and His plan for you is not to be in bondage; God’s plan is for you to have liberty and freedom. God does not want His children in bondage to anything or anybody other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you’re in bondage to the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s perfect liberty.
Click on the link below to hear a message about six principles from the Word of God that you can use in your life to find financial freedom. If you want to get out of financial bondage, or better yet, if you want to keep yourself out of financial bondage, to enjoy the freedom that comes from serving the Lord, then these six principles from the Word of God will make that happen for you.
Amen.
Sunday Apr 11, 2021
Sunday Apr 11, 2021
Have you ever had a time when you were sitting there working through paying your bills, and you just thought “Wouldn’t it be wonderful to never have to worry about whether there would be enough?” What if something happened to my health, or a family member’s health? What about losing my job, with no prospects of finding another? What if your brother-in-law came back, again, needing to borrow more money? I mean, he is your wife’s only brother, and it really doesn’t matter that he has never paid back the other loans you have made to him.
One of the leading causes of divorce is financial stress. If you allow it to, worrying about having enough money to meet your needs can consume you. Dreaming about financial freedom is a natural result of that worry.
God knows that these things are all true, problems occur, you have needs, and so the question is, what does God have to say in His word about true Financial Freedom? Does God have a financial plan for you and your family? Well, of course He does. God has a plan for every aspect of your life, and your finances are part of His plan.
Well, in this section of verses God has a very important message for each of us, as believers. God wants you to know that He has a plan for you, and His plan for you is not to be in bondage; God’s plan is for you to have liberty and freedom. God does not want His children in bondage to anything or anybody other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you’re in bondage to the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s perfect liberty, for the Bible says,
John 8:36
36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
KJV
Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can determine if you are out of God’s will for your life and in financial bondage. God loves you and He does not want you to be in bondage.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 28, 2021
Sunday Mar 28, 2021
There is a popular bumper sticker out there that says “God is my Copilot.” Well, if that is true in your life, then you better swap seats. God needs to in the driver’s seat of your life. We all like to be in control of our lives, but if you are to know God’s will, then you must let God be the one who chooses your way, not you. You see, finding God’s will is not something that you are to figure out in your flesh. It is not a puzzle that we need to figure out. God is not leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for us to follow. No, instead, we are called to trust in the Lord.
Someone once said, “To know the Lord Jesus is to love Him. To love Him is to trust Him. To trust Him is to obey Him. To obey Him is to find God’s will for your life. And to find God’s will for your life is to be blessed.” The Word of God says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” No ifs, ands, and buts about it. If you let Almighty God choose the way, control the way, confirm the way, and clear the way, then you will know the will of God for your life.
Now, let me just give you some very practical advice and I want you to think about it. The way to know the will of God for your life is to do the will of God immediately and in all things. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Don’t wait till tomorrow morning. I mean, starting now! Number two: Obey Him in the small things; then the big ones will take care of themselves. Everything big is made of little things. “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.” (Luke 16:10)
It’s hard to steer a ship that’s not moving, that means that God can’t steer a life that is not moving towards Him. I want to repeat again, the way to know the will of God for your life is to do the will of God immediately and to do it in all things. Obey Him in the small things; then the big ones will take care of themselves.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Each of us, as a believer, is seeking the will of God for our lives. We ask, are we doing what God has planned for us? Are we touching the people around us with the gospel message of the cross?
As husbands, are we prayerfully leading our families in the path that God has chosen for us? Are we the spiritual leaders of our families? Does our family even know that we think about the will of God for the family? Do they ever see us praying? Do you pray together as a family seeking God’s will?
As wives, are you the prayer warrior that God wants each of us to be, but so often it is the wife and mother of the family that fills this role? Does your family know that God is the one making the choices in your life? Can they see God in the way you conduct yourself on a daily basis?
As married couples are you walking in the same direction, yoked together, pulling in the same direction, with your eyes on God? Are you both surrendered to God? Not just committed, but completely surrendered to the one, true, living, almighty God of all creation.
How to decide when and where to move in the work of Lord? That is always a crucial question facing those that would do the Lord’s work. Certainly, for most believers, the most difficult part is separating the desires of our own heart from the desires of the Lord. Sometimes they coincide, sometimes they do not.
Seeking the Lord’s will is something each Christian should be doing on a daily basis.
Finding the Lord’s will is the result of quiet, careful, meditation on the Word of God with a surrendered heart.
So how do you know which way is right? You start by asking yourself whether your heart is in a condition that can even hear the will of God? In other words, are you speaking from a surrendered heart that is fully obedient to God? If your heart is not surrendered to God, if you are not obedient to God’s Word, then you cannot know the will of God.
Then, have you prayed and asked God to reveal the sin that is in your heart, and then confessed and repented of it? If there is unconfessed and unrepented sin in your life, that sin will keep you from hearing God’s will.
Isaiah 59:2
2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
KJV
In my experience, this is the single biggest block between the prayer of the believer and the answer from God. Many people want to live in sin, knowingly, and then expect God to ignore it and act like it doesn’t exist. That will not happen. God knows every sin, in every dark corner that you have placed it. If you want to know the will of God, then you must first confess and repent of your sins.
Next, ask yourself, have you prayed about the question and then listened for God’s response, or have you simply told God the answer you want to hear?
Then ask, is what you want meeting the purpose of Christ for this church being here, or for you still being on this earth? Will it bring lost people to know Him? If it doesn’t, then you need to rethink, and change your desires.
Are you willing to accept God’s answer, whatever it may be? You cannot know the will of God by intuition, or based on past experience, you must be willing to pray and accept God’s will, or it will never be revealed to you. Why should God reveal His will if He knows you will not accept and be obedient to it?
Now, we have been talking about how to have God’s wisdom in our lives. We need God’s wisdom in order to discern God’s will in our lives. Our study over the next couple of weeks will be on how to determine the will of God in our lives, and the very first thing we must do is to make Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior. You cannot know the will of God unless you have made the Holy Spirit the president of your life, not just a resident in your heart, but the president of your life. Then, once you are saved, once you have completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit, the very next thing you must do is to be obedient to the Word of God. You must obey God’s commandments. In order to do that, then you must have God’s Word hidden in your heart.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how to determine the will of God for you life.
Amen.
Sunday Mar 14, 2021
Sunday Mar 14, 2021
One of the luxuries of being a seasoned citizen is that we can look back on the choices we have made in our lives and see how our decisions impacted our lives for the better, or the worse. If you are like me, I have made my share of poor decisions, and a few really good ones. The wisdom to choose right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from lies, is something that each of us desperately need in our lives. The Bible describes this as choosing between light and darkness.
John 1:5
5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
KJV
Notice what John says here about the light that shines in the darkness, he says, the darkness comprehended it not. Now, other Bible translations render this phrase in various ways: “the darkness has not overcome it,” “has not put it out,” or “can never extinguish it.”
Whatever the exact words, the message is the same. Jesus Christ stands as the unconquered Ruler of time and eternity, and all of history is a battle between light and darkness. God’s kingdom is a kingdom of light, and Satan’s kingdom is a kingdom of darkness.
But, and this is important for us to understand, don’t ever get the idea that the kingdom of darkness is somehow as strong as the kingdom of light. Satan is a formidable foe, but the grand truth is that darkness is totally powerless against the light.
Satan’s darkness is not the opposite of God’s light, but the absence of it. A lost person’s heart does not know God’s light, because it is filled with nothing but darkness. God’s light is absent from the lost person’s heart. A believer’s heart has a light within it that no lost person can ever know. A believer has the light of the Holy Spirit of God within them, and no amount of darkness can ever overcome that light.
Have you ever been in a room or place where the darkness is just so great that you can almost feel it? It oppresses you, it weighs down on you. For example, have you ever walked in a cemetery on a dark moonless night and felt the darkness surround you?
We once took a tour of Fantastic Caverns in Missouri, and at one point in the tour, the guide shuts off the lights and you are surrounded by complete darkness. They do this, because in a cave underground, you can learn what real darkness is. Yet the simple light of a candle can dispel even the worst darkness, and no amount of darkness can overpower that candle. Satan and his kingdom must bow before God and the majesty of His light. When God’s light comes, Satan’s darkness must go.
It also means that there is only one way to get rid of Satan’s darkness; the light of the Word of God. We have victory in Jesus because no force on the earth, or below the earth, can stand against the mighty majesty of God’s light. When our lives are filled with sin, it is the light of the Word of God that will give you victory over that sin in your life. In fact, it is the only light that will give you victory over Satan and sin. You cannot live the Christian life without the power and light of the Holy Spirit in your heart. The concepts of God’s wisdom and God’s light are intertwined. They are both based on the Word of God, and they both come from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. But, most importantly, they enable us to determine right from wrong, good from evil, and truth from lies.
Click on the link below to hear a message about how God’s wisdom, God’s light, can deliver us from evil. For it is when we acquire wisdom, that we will have light in darkness.
Amen.
Sunday Feb 28, 2021
Sunday Feb 28, 2021
There is an old proverb—not a biblical proverb, just a proverb—that says, “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” But the problem is that a lot of people who go to bed early and get up early, they’re not healthy, they’re not wealthy, and they’re not wise. Going to bed early and getting up early doesn’t make you healthy, wealthy, and wise. However, what is taught in God’s Word will make you healthy, wealthy, and wise, at least by the standards of God’s word. Not by the world’s standards, but by God’s standards.
So, what is a proverb, anyway? Somebody once said that a proverb is a short sentence based on long experience—that is, it is a lot of wisdom that has been distilled, crammed into, packed into, a sentence. That is, by a proverb, we can learn from the experiences of other people. Somebody else said, “You’d better learn from the mistakes of others, because you’ll not live long enough to make them all by yourself.” That is probably a wise statement for most of us, but I know of some people who are definitely trying to do it alone. They like making their own mistakes.
But the proverbs that we find here in the Bible are not like earthly proverbs. Earthly proverbs are learned from experience. But that is not what Biblical proverbs are. Biblical proverbs are truths that are given to us by divine revelation. These are not just simply things that are being worked out by human ingenuity; these are God’s words of wisdom given by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
This is telling us that Jesus is wisdom personified. Let me tell you about wisdom. It commences at conversion, and it deepens by discipleship.
Prov 9:10
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
KJV
That is, a man does not even have a modicum of wisdom until he knows the Lord. When a man reverences God, when a man receives Christ, when a man has a personal encounter, that man receives the wisdom of God.
This is the incomparable worth of wisdom, it is provided by the Father; it is produced by the Spirit, but only by the presence of the Son. When you have the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart, then you are ready to have that real wisdom.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the incomparable worth of wisdom.
Amen.
Sunday Feb 07, 2021
Sunday Feb 07, 2021
This is the second message in a two-part series on the role of a father in the direction that a child will go as they get older, and our message today will be about the way parents can raise a child who is wise and loves God.
Certainly, we would like to think that every parent, every father, loves their child and wants what is best for them. And as believers, we want to believe that the deepest desire of every parent, every father, is that their children will love God with all of their hearts.
But unfortunately, not all children have the benefit of loving parents. Sometimes children are caught up in the mistakes and the pride and the arrogance of their parents, and more often than not it is the pride and arrogance of the father. Sometimes it is the mother, or even both, but more often than not it is the father.
So, what happens to that child who was not taught by their parents to love God? There is an evolution of that child into becoming someone who does not know the love that God has for them. They become someone who lives their life without God. The really sad thing is that they never learn what it means to have eternal life with God in Heaven.
But that is not the way that child starts out. It doesn’t have to be that way. That is where a godly father, and a godly mother, come into the picture. It is their responsibility to teach that child what it means to love God with all of their heart. Now, the fact is that, ultimately, it is the child who must choose to accept or reject Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Even with the best of parents, that child still has to make their own choice, and some don’t choose Christ. But as parents, we can have tremendous impact on the path that child will take.
Click on the link below to hear a message on what it takes to raise a child who loves God with all of their hearts.