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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
Monday Oct 17, 2016
Monday Oct 17, 2016
What was the most solemn vow that you have ever made?
Swearing in as soldier? Taking the oath to become a law enforcement officer, or some public office?
For me, it was the day I spoke my wedding vows. Those words meant something very important to me, and they mean just as much today as they did 38 years ago. I promised to love my wife, to comfort her, to keep her, meaning I would provide for all of her needs, and that I would remain faithful to her no matter what comes in our lives till death do us part. Those are pretty powerful words. I have promised to love my wife, protect her, and provide for her. When she needs a home, or food, or shelter, or someone to provide courage, strength, a helping hand, or just someone to stand by her as she deals with a problem, I have promised to provide that for her. It is my promise that I will do these things, and I have lived my life trying to keep that vow. It is the most solemn vow that I have ever made, and most likely ever will make. Now, lots of people get married making this vow to each other, but the problem with vows made by man is that it is a weak person making the vow. Try as we might, we sometimes fail to meet our promises.
Our lesson today is about the promises that God has made to provide for His children, the born again believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master and, therefore, have become adopted into the family of God. The wonderful thing about these promises is that it is the unchanging, supreme, Creator of all things, almighty God who is making them, and He will not fail. Not ever. Not once.
Listen to this podcast to learn that we already have all the wisdom, strength, courage, power, patience, and anything else that we might need to live a victorious life for Christ. Everything that you need is in God and God is in you. Amen.
Monday Oct 03, 2016
Monday Oct 03, 2016
God’s glory. God’s true glory is beyond our ability to even conceive of. Yet, we were given a glimpse of this glory in the person of Jesus Christ, who stepped out of heaven, and for a brief time made Himself a little lower than the angels, just so that we might have our sins forgiven. Is this the quality of God that you cherish the most?
John 1:14
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
KJV
Heb 2:9
9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
KJV
God’s grace.
Eph 2:4-8
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
KJV
For me it is God’s grace that I cherish the most, for it is by God’s grace that I am saved. It is by God’s grace that I can live the victorious Christian life against all evil. It is by God’s grace that I have anything that I have, for I deserve nothing but judgment, but it is God’s grace that allows me to call the almighty God, Abba, Father.
It is by God’s grace that believers can live a victorious Christian life no matter what the circumstances, terror, or adversary, that we face. Peter describes our Lord as the God of all grace. In other words, God has absolutely total control and ownership of this amazing resource. He has a limitless supply available at all times. Now this is a concept about God’s grace you may not have thought of before, God has total control and ownership of this quality. There is none other with this quality.
God's grace provides strength enough for every situation. Grace for living and grace for dying, grace to deal with the penalty of sin and grace to overcome the power of sin, grace to face persecution and grace to forgive the persecutor, grace to see us through and grace to get us home.
God's grace guarantees us a share in God's eternal glory. God's grace is sufficient to translate that into a living reality in our lives. Satan cannot win. God's grace cannot fail, and it is ours because of Christ Jesus our Lord. Let Satan roar and prowl all he wants. Neither Satan, nor ten thousand Nero’s, nor the prospect of a horrible death, nor anything else can stop God's grace in Christ from getting us home.
Rom 8:35-39
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
KJV
This is the power of God’s grace. It is supremely sufficient for all of our needs, and it is the quality about God that I cherish the most.
Listen to this podcast as we learn about God’s grace and God’s glory.
Sunday Aug 07, 2016
Sunday Aug 07, 2016
Certainly, the best example we have of how to prepare ourselves to endure the suffering and persecution for our faith in Christ, is Christ Himself. Christ is not asking us to do anything that He Himself has not endured. In fact, the persecution and suffering that Christ endured was far greater than anything we can imagine. But there was a God-planned purpose in Christ coming to this world knowing that He would be persecuted even unto death, just as there is a God-planned purpose in our suffering as well. The fact that the Son of God entered into human life and became a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief is truly an awesome thing to consider.
1 Peter 3:18
18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
KJV
This verse explains exactly what Christ did when He died on the cross. It tells us why Christ died and what the death of Christ does for man. It is so clear, that it leaves the reader without an excuse. Why did Christ have to suffer and die?
It was for the sins of all mankind that He died. Man is sinful, he stands guilty before God. Man has to be judged; he has to bear the punishment for his sins.
What is that punishment? Death and separation from God forever.
But this is the glorious gospel; this is the declaration of this great verse: Jesus Christ died for our sins. He took the sin and guilt of man upon Himself and bore the judgment and punishment for man. Note one other fact: Jesus died once for our sins. His death never has to be repeated. His death upon the cross satisfies God completely and covers the sins and death of believers forever. Notice carefully that I said believers. Christ died for the sins of all mankind so that the question is no longer have you sinned or not?
If you wish to have eternal life with Christ in heaven, the question is now, did you accept the free gift of grace that God has offered you by sending Christ to die in your place? Have you made Christ your Lord and Savior? Once you have said yes to this, then nobody can take your salvation away from you, and you cannot do anything to lose it. For if you could, Christ would have to die again for your sins to be forgiven.
Christ died so that he might bring us to God. It is our sin that separates us from God. It is our sin that makes us imperfect and unacceptable to God. But note the most wonderful truth, when Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself, sin was removed from us. Therefore, as believers we stand before God in the righteousness and sinlessness of Christ. We are made righteous in Christ.
The vicarious atonement accomplished for us by Christ on Calvary's cross is the great God-planned reason for His sufferings.
Sunday Jul 17, 2016
Sunday Jul 17, 2016
The institution of marriage, as it was created by God, is a wonderful thing. It is defined in the Bible as one man and one woman choosing to love God first and then each other next. They work together to accomplish the will of God in their lives. They are true yokemates working together to please God. Marriage is something which God has given to the entire human family, not just to Christians or to the nation Israel. In the Book of Genesis, we are told that God made man and at that time man was alone. I think the Lord let Adam be alone for a long time to let him know he was missing something. Then Scripture says that God took man and from man He made woman. Using the Hebrew words, Genesis 2:23 reads, She shall be called Isha, because she was taken out of Ish. She is called … an help meet for him (Gen. 2:18); that is, a help that was fit for him. In other words, she was to be the other half of him. He was only half a man, and she was to be the other part of him.
In God’s blueprint for marriage, He has assigned roles for both the wife and the husband. A godly wife was a woman who has a healthy fear and respect of God. A woman who is obedient to God’s will for her life. A woman who seeks to fit into the needs of her husband as they work together to accomplish the tasks that God has assigned to them. She is also a woman who is submissive to her husband. Now, when Peter says to the wives, Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, it absolutely does not mean that the wife is to be a slave to her husband. The Bible does not teach that in any form or way. What is does teach is that a woman is to make a voluntary choice to be submissive to her husband because of her love for God. The Christian wife, in obedience to her Lord, subjects herself to her husband’s leadership, authority, and control. She does this because she fears God, because she loves God, and her duty, just like the husband’s, is to be obedient to God’s will for her life.
Now, this is important to understand, none of this means that men are superior to women or that women are inferior to men. They have simply agreed to work together with the husband leading. In the marriage relationship, it simply means that God insists on order in the home. To establish that order, He assigns the respective roles to the husband and the wife. There cannot be two captains on a ship; neither can there be two people at the helm in the home.
Godly husbands are to be considerate of their wives. Men are not to ride roughshod over their wives, bossing and bullying them, ordering them around, letting them do hard labor which is beyond their strength, or making unreasonable demands upon them. Peter says that godly husbands and wives are heirs together of the grace of life. This means you both are co-heirs of God’s grace. You both are saved from your sin. You both are joint heirs with Christ. You both are adopted children of God. You both have been granted eternal life by God’s grace. The husband and the wife are partners. They must work together. They have something more than marriage vows to bond them together. They have Christ. They are heirs together of God's gracious gift of everlasting life. They are true yokemates. They should work together to establish a Christian home, to bring up children in the ways of the Lord, to provide a measure of stability to a community, and to be the moral and spiritual backbone of the nation.
A godly husband is to dwell with them according to knowledge. For a husband to deal with his wife in the way that God wants him to do, the husband must know and understand several things. First, he must know God’s desire for the marriage relationship. This means he knows what marriage is and what it is to be in the eyes of God. Next, he must know his wife. This means he knows her nature and emotional makeup, what she needs and wants emotionally and spiritually, her strengths and her weaknesses. He must also know the word of God. You cannot be the spiritual leader of your home if you do not know what God says in His Word. The husband has the responsibility to guide the family in the will of God. In order to do this, the husband must know the Word of God. It is amazing how easy it is for a wife to submit herself to a husband that is who and what God says he is supposed to be.
With that in mind, you can see that the marriage relationship is not to be one of a man insisting on treating his wife like a little child who has to jump every time he says so. She is there to help him. She is there to be a part of him. She is there to love him. And he is there to love her, guide her in the ways of God, and protect her. That is God’s desire for the relationship of a man and woman in marriage. This is how a husband is to treat his wife, and this is how a wife is to treat her husband. They both do this because they love God first, and then each other next.
Listen to this podcast to learn what God defines as a godly marriage.
Sunday May 22, 2016
Sunday May 22, 2016
Last week we began talking about how the believer is to live a separated life by his behavior. In other words, people should see a difference in us by our behavior. They are to see in us a type of behavior that brings glory to God.
We are a chosen people, we have a special position before God, we are separated by birth because we are the adopted children of God, we are no longer the slaves of Satan, we are separated by our new birth.
We are a people separated by our belief, our faith is in Christ, our beliefs are unlike any other man-made religion, we believe in our salvation by God’s grace and the precious blood of a risen Savior, not man’s works and efforts. We are separated by our belief.
We are also a people who should live lives that show a new attitude toward the world around us. We are to be strangers and pilgrims in this world that is no longer our home. The world is defined as the society around us, with God left out. God is deliberately not welcome in the minds and hearts of most people in our society. Neither are His adopted children, Christians.
We are strangers in this world. We are away from our home. We are in this world, but we are not of this world.
We are also pilgrims in this world because we are on our path back home. Our eye is on the goal of completing our mission that God has given us. The mission of sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with a dark world.
Peter is telling us that our goodness, a goodness that is to be something beautiful to behold, is how we are to behave. This goodness is to include our obedience of the laws of man. Christians will be, and have been, accused of horrendous crimes, of hatred, and of violence. These are lies on a grand scale, and God wants our behavior to prove that these things are false. Our behavior is to be such that when the world sees a Christian, they are to say that their behavior brings glory to the God that they serve. In other words, we are God's people in a world of lost people. Our behavior is to reflect the goodness of God who has sent us here as His personal ambassadors. This goodness, that is witnessed by others, is to be a result of our separation.
This is the basis for everything Peter teaches in this passage. We are a chosen people who have been saved, reborn, and given a mission from God. That mission is to serve God. It is to be a witness for Him, to lead others to Christ, and to bring glory to God. That is our mission. Everything else takes a back seat.
God has commanded us to live separated lives. He has given us His definition of the words good, moral, evil, and amoral. We do not get to change those definitions as the world has done. Our lives are to meet His standards so that we can represent Him and bring glory to His name. The world is to know God by what they see in us.
Sunday May 15, 2016
Sunday May 15, 2016
If I were to describe someone as a good person, a moral person, what does that mean to you? If I were to describe someone as an evil person, an amoral person, what does that mean to you? Where do the definitions of the words good, moral, evil, and amoral come from? Are these words relative? Are some people better than others, or more evil than others?
Do those words, good, moral, evil, and amoral, have the same meaning today as they did 10 years ago, 20 years ago, even 40 years ago? I don’t think so, so why has the world changed the definition of what good and moral behavior means? Why does the world want a different definition of these words?
As with all words, the meaning depends on the dictionary that you use for it. For example, if I say the word resurrection as it relates to Christ, I mean the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. I get my definition from the Word of God, the Bible is my dictionary. Many Christian religions, and some non-Christian religions, believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but they have a different definition for the word resurrection. They may believe in a spiritual only resurrection, or maybe a symbolic resurrection, but not a physical resurrection. They say the same words, but they use a different dictionary to define the word, so we have to be careful to know which dictionary we are using when we say the words good, moral, evil, and amoral.
The answer to the question of why the world has changed the definition of these words is because God’s definition of these words, as He defines them in the Bible, are too restrictive. They don’t fit in with the new morality. So over time, man has chosen a different dictionary to define these words, they have moved away from God’s definitions in the Bible, to a definition of their own creation. The further man moves from the definitions of the Bible, the more evil behavior is called good, and good behavior is called bad. God warns us of this in His Word.
Isa 5:20
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
KJV
We live in a society today where homosexuality and lesbianism are called good. Men can call themselves a woman, have some surgery, and they are called brave, heroes, and good. It was not long ago that the country had a different name for these types of behavior, but now we are told we must accept evil and amoral behavior as good and moral. In fact, we must go further than just accepting them, we must agree with the world and call them good and moral, or face persecution.
We live in a society today where God’s definitions of good, moral, evil, amoral, and those who preach, teach, and try to live by these definitions are the ones called evil and hateful. Jesus tells how we should react to these descriptions.
Luke 6:22
22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
KJV
So, let me ask you, are you feeling blessed these days?
Our lesson today is about why God wants His followers to live their lives by His definition of the words good, moral, evil, and amoral. We are to be different from the world, not weird different, but a good difference. A difference that people will notice and be drawn to. We will never be perfect by God’s standards, but we are to live our lives more like Christ lived His life every day. God has a purpose in this desire for us. We are to be a separated people, not isolated, but separated from the world’s definitions. We are God’s special people, a peculiar people, a chosen people. We are His ambassadors and our lives should show it.
Sunday May 08, 2016
Sunday May 08, 2016
Today is Mother’s Day. It is a special day for everyone, because no matter who you are, you had a Mother. You may not know who your Mother was. You may not have had a very good Mother, but if you are like most people, your Mother is very special to you. Your Mom was there when you fell. She was there when you cried out in fear of the darkness. She was there when you hit a home run, or when you struck out for the third time that day, and she was there when you walked across the stage as a graduate. She loved you no matter what. She loved you when you didn’t call her, when you didn’t come by to see her, and even when you forgot her on Mother’s Day. She just loved you. How do you respond to that kind of love, to that kind of grace?
Do you tell other people how great she was? Do you tell your children what a great mom you had? Do you do your best to make her proud of you, of what you have become? Not everyone’s Mom is still with us. In fact, in a class with people of our age, some of our mom’s passed away some time ago. I firmly believe that my Mother is looking down from heaven on me and my sister and brother, and she is checking up on us to make sure we are doing what she taught us to do. My guess is that she has a conversation with Jesus every once in a while telling Him what she thinks of us.
How do you respond to that kind of love and grace?
Our lesson today is about several things, we are going to finish up our discussion on our position before God, about the mercy and grace that God has shown us, but we are also going to talk about how we are to respond to our God who has loved us so much, and has shared His grace upon us.
How do you respond to that kind of love and grace? Pretty amazing isn’t it? Listen to this podcast to learn how to respond to God’s grace.
Sunday May 01, 2016
Sunday May 01, 2016
If I were to ask you what your position in this world was, what would you say? What is it that you are identified by?
Are you one of the social elite? Not many of us would say yes to that, even if we were. It would not be politically correct to be so crass. If you are such a person, you just know it, and live it, you don’t have to brag about it, and people just identify you as such.
Are you a victim of something? That is the popular position to be in today, because if you are a victim of some type of injustice, then society owes you something. You have the supposed right to take away something from your victimizer, and declare it as yours, whether you earned it or not. If you can get the government to do it for you, even better. You can usually be identified as a victim by the anger in your actions and your words, your intolerance of others, and the chip on your shoulder.
Are you a proud member of the middle class? Hard working, providing for your family. You are a blue collar worker with a strong back and calloused hands to prove it. You are identified by your work.
Are you a parent? Which means you are a provider, a cook, a teacher, a caregiver, a protector, among a hundred other things. This is what you are identified by, the family that you raise.
Do you have a position in a religion? Are you a priest, a preacher, a bishop, a cardinal, a deacon, a deaconess, a choir member, a Bible teacher, a back row Baptist, or a member of the amen pew? Are you identified by the collar you wear, the cross around your neck, the ring on your finger, or the religious book that you carry around with you, be it the Bible, the Quran, the Book of Mormon, or the New Testament that you have in your pocket?
What is your position in this world? What are you identified by? When someone introduces you, how do they describe you?
Our lesson today is about the position that we have before God, both the believer and the non-believer.
Last week we discussed Christ as the Living Stone, the foundation stone of the church today. Christ was rejected as not fitting in with the ideas of the Messiah that the Jews had, so He was killed, but God raised Him from the grave, and now He is our Royal High Priest serving in the Holy Tabernacle of Heaven. He is the rock that our faith is built upon.
As believers we are members of the family of God, joint-heirs with Christ, and royal priests, in the same manner of Christ. That is our position before God. But, what about the person who rejects Christ? What is their position before the Living Stone that is Christ?
Listen to this podcast to learn your position before God.
Sunday Apr 24, 2016
Sunday Apr 24, 2016
When we think of building a home, we spend a lot of time thinking about how many rooms we want to have, how big they should be, should we use carpets on the floor or some kind of tile or wood; what kind of countertops, marble, Formica, tile, or even solid wood; what color the outside of the house should be, do you want a deck or a fence in the backyard. Everything we spend the most time on is generally on the appearance of the home, and the functionality of the rooms, and that is understandable because that is what we see and use the most.
I would hazard a guess that, other than deciding on whether or not to have a basement, most of us will not even spend 5 minutes making sure the house has a solid foundation to be built on. As Jesus said in His parable of the two builders, there are wise builders and there are foolish builders.
Matt 7:24-27
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
KJV
The foundation of our home may not be the thing we think about the most, but the truth is, if the foundation of your home is not solid, the winds and storms of Kansas will blow all of that nice exterior and interior beauty away in just a brief moment. In fact, after a tornado, often the only thing left is the foundation of the home.
The spiritual house of our church and our own spiritual life, depend on having a solid foundation. You can have the best music program, the most entertaining sermons, even the best youth programs, but if your spiritual house is not built on a faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of the living God, then, you will have nothing but disappointment when the storms of tragedy come blowing into your life.
1 Cor 3:11
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
KJV
This is what our lesson is about today. Jesus Christ as the Living Stone that is to be the foundation that our spiritual house is built upon.
Sunday Apr 10, 2016
Sunday Apr 10, 2016
Have you ever been told by someone in authority that you are to go do something that you don’t believe is within your capability to do? At my workplace, we move people around to different roles a lot. With a large part of the employees, they are moving to a different role about every two years. This means that they have to quickly learn how to do a particular role, and then just when they get a basic understanding of how to do it, they move on to another role.
Quite often they will move a very young, inexperienced, person into a position of greater responsibility and expect them to sink or swim. I often hear people say that they were intimidated by the responsibility of the new role, and that they did not feel capable of doing it. However, the company philosophy is one of if you have the right virtues, talents, and philosophies, then they can put you just about anywhere, and you will succeed. It can be a bit daunting at times.
The one thing the company does do is provide the right tools to help a person who is humble enough to ask for the help. I have watched as a person will try to succeed by his own wit and knowledge, and almost always, you will see them fail, many times quite miserably. I have watched others who were humble enough to ask for help and they can often succeed. The corporate world can be a real meat grinder of people. The proud can rise, but they can also fall quite hard.
The demand that God puts on us as believers is very similar to this. You take a brand new Christian, and you immediately give them the elevated standing of an ambassador to the almighty Creator of all things. You then tell them all of the things that God has done for them to provide them with eternal life and redemption, much as Peter has been doing over the last several weeks, and then you tell them all of the things that this new standing, or position, requires of them.
They are to hate sin, they are to live a life that is uniquely different from the life they led before, and the life of the lost people all around them. They are to tell people about the gospel message of Christ, but more than that because words can be hollow, they are to live a life that is a testimony to the Christ they serve. They are to be a light in the darkness drawing people to them so that they can lead them to the cross of Jesus.
It is easy to be intimidated by this requirement of a holy life. Yet, God formed His plan of redemption for us from the foundation of time. That plan included the tools and resources that the new-born Christian could depend on to accomplish the task that God had given them. They just have to be humble enough to ask for the help. It is absolutely impossible to live a holy life that is acceptable to God under your own wit and knowledge. You simply cannot do it on your own. You must use the power and tools that God is offering you, or you will fail, and fail miserably.
Those tools and resources are the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, and the living, indestructible, incorruptible, and eternal, Word of God. It is the Holy Spirit and the Word of God who are the true source of power in a Christian life. God has provided them as part of His plan of redemption, you just have to be humble enough to seek them out and use them. This is what our lesson is about today. Listen to this podcast to learn the true source of power for the Christian to live a holy life.