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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 Aug 08, 2021
Sunday Aug 08, 2021
God’s Wisdom is available to us through the words that we find in the Bible, and the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit as He helps us to interpret God’s Words and apply them to our lives. God’s Wisdom is not hard to find. It cries out to us in every sermon given by a preacher who loves the Lord and is anointed by the Holy Spirit to teach God’s Word. But the most important place we hear God’s Wisdom is when we let His Word, the God-breathed, divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, and wholly dependable Word of God, speak to us and apply it to our lives.
There is no other book available to man that holds the words of eternal life. The Bible is unique because it contains a distillation of the wisdom of God concerning the children of men. Such a book is a mystery to most because they are spiritually blind and deaf. Yet, the meaning of these words is available to anyone. There is no secret club that you must join. No school tuition that must be paid. God has promised to send His Spirit to speak to those who wish to learn who God is, what He has done for them, and then make Him their Lord and Savior.
John 16:13
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
KJV
When a person makes Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior, then the Holy Spirit of God will come and live in the heart of that person. It is then, that the person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit has the capacity to understand the Word of God. This is the Wisdom that we can apply in our lives, and we know that it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
Prov 8:17
17 I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.
KJV
This is one of the most profound and comforting messages in the Bible. Right here in God’s Word, He promises that He “loves them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” This says, if we love God, and we seek His wisdom, then we have the promise of the Word of God that we will find Him.
The wisdom of God is seen in creation—and in redemption too. Before time began, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit planned both creation and redemption.
In the wisdom of God, creation was to be the stage on which God would display His power.
Rom 1:20
20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
KJV
In the wisdom of God, redemption was to be the stage on which God would display His love.
Eph 2:4-6
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:
KJV
Click on the link below to hear a message on how we see the majesty of God’s Wisdom in creation and redemption.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 01, 2021
Sunday Aug 01, 2021
Our message today is about the characteristics of God’s Wisdom. The things about God’s Wisdom that makes it so beneficial and good for our lives.
During the week as I work on these messages, I sit in an office at home that is mostly quiet. My wife doesn’t make much noise, and there are no kids living with us anymore to make a racket. The only real noisemakers are our dogs, and one in particular, that cannot stand to have people walking up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. He especially can’t stand it when a package is delivered to the front door. So, for most of the time that I am studying, it is real quiet. Sometimes too quiet and I will turn on a selection of piano solos of hymns in the background to give a little bit of noise to focus my mind.
I have learned that most of us can operate at two levels of thought, one of direct focus, and another in the background. For example, most of us can have an instructor behind us walking us through how to do something while we concentrate on the task at hand. However, if a third person tries to talk at the same time, we cannot manage it. For me, I can be focused on studying and composing the lessons with God speaking as my instructor, but in the background, the activity of the day wants to intrude on my mind and distract me. So, I will play a selection of piano solos of the old hymns that I grew up with and love so much. I don’t have to concentrate on them because I know them so well, and they don’t distract me, but they do help to shut out the events of the day that are trying to distract and take over my mind. It is like having God speaking to me through His word and His music at that same time. It fills up my two levels of thought and I can study.
Now, I study very differently than how my father did. He used books and hand wrote everything. I do all of my work on a computer. I hand write very little. All of my notes are on the computer. I have 26 versions of the Bible on the computer. I have all of my reference material, commentaries, inter-linear Bibles, sermons, Greek and Hebrew translations on the computer. They are all available to me at the touch of a button. Yet, that same computer puts at my disposal all the news of the day, entertainment, and connection with my friends and family via the airwaves and the internet. All in a machine that I work on in my quiet office, in my quiet home. Often the only sound is the clicking of the keys as I type.
It is all available to me, but as I type my lessons, I’m not even aware that all of that communication and entertainment is there. If the music gets too loud or distracting, I can turn the volume down, or up, or even off.
Yet, I also have a different kind of receiver in my room. The highest and holiest wisdom is as close as that computer, but it is not on that computer. This different receiver sits on a table right next to me and it is my old Bible. The one my parents gave to me 40 years ago as a graduation gift. It is still very special to me. The Bibles on my computer are just study tools, there is nothing special about them, I never use them to really open my mind to God. However, there is just something special about being able to reach out my hand and take up that Book of books, turn its pages, and open my heart and mind to the words of the Holy Spirit. The wisdom of the Word—the revealed and inspired wisdom of the living God—is right there in my room. God’s Wisdom is never farther away than that Book. It calls to each of us. It says, “Unto you, O men, I call.” God speaks to me when I listen to the words found in His book and apply them to my heart.
God’s Wisdom says that “All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them.” All the words of the God’s book are inspired by God, they are true, righteous, and nothing twisted can be found in them. We may not understand all of the Bible, and we may not always interpret it properly. Nevertheless, every word of the Bible is God-breathed, divinely inspired, inerrant, infallible, and wholly dependable. All of God’s words are righteous. All of God’s words are right. We may not like them, and we may not want to obey them, but they are right.
The Scriptures contain unfathomable depths. How could it be otherwise when the words are those of an infinite God? A man can study the Bible all his life and still feel he has but touched the fringe of Inspiration’s garment. At the same time a little child can read and understand the Bible. It is that simple.
There is enough truth in the Word of God to save a soul and truth enough to occupy the sharpest mind for a lifetime.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the characteristics of God’s Word.
Amen.
Sunday Jul 18, 2021
Sunday Jul 18, 2021
I believe that God wants us to understand this problem because of the devastating impact the sins of immorality will have on our lives. God loves us, and He wants what is best for us, and so in His Word He warns us about the dangers of immorality. He then commands us to not commit those sins. Then, He follows that up with the story of the flood, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, where He shows us the consequences of His judgment on those who ignore His warnings, ignore His commandments, and choose to commit the sins of immorality.
Now, the wonderful thing about God is that He doesn’t just command us not to do something without providing us the wisdom that we need to avoid committing those sins. God tells us in His Word,
Prov 7:1-2
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
KJV
Our news media never tires of exposing the scandals of mighty men. The headlines tell of the fall of religious leaders, politicians, and celebrities, and it doesn’t matter if happened yesterday or 20 years ago. We also see that most people have a double standard. They expect a much higher moral profile in those they elect to public office than they expect from themselves, and woe betide the person who lets them down. Many a promising career has suddenly been shipwrecked because of a past immorality.
This warning may sound overly dramatic, especially in the times that we live in today, with its acceptance of all things evil as good. But, this is God’s warning, and it is a warning that is to be taken literally. God will judge those who commit the sin of immorality.
There is also a spiritual application in these words for us. So far, we have been talking about committing physical adultery and immorality. However, the Scriptures also have a great deal to say about spiritual adultery. That is what God called it when His people left Him and went after idols. They departed from the living and true God. They were to be joined to Him, but they had separated from Him. They were actually playing the harlot; they were being unfaithful and untrue to Him. That is spiritual adultery.
Today we have many cults and “isms” and all types of false religions around us. For example, someone will say that “You don’t need to follow Christ any longer as you are following Him. There are many ways to heaven. What you need to do is join our group and do what we do, act as we act, and worship who we worship, and you can earn your way to salvation.”
Yet, the Bible is clear that we are saved by the grace of God alone.
Eph 2:8-10
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
KJV
Paul is telling us that “Faith plus nothing equals salvation.” We are to be absolutely, utterly cast upon Jesus Christ as our Savior. Yet, many people cannot accept a salvation that they did not earn.
God’s answer to this is that the believer is joined to Christ. A person who has been saved by grace, and grace alone, is joined to Christ. Then, once saved, Christ has said that we are to keep His commandments if we love Him, and His commandments are not grievous. We are to love one another. We are to be filled with the spirit of God. We are to witness to the world. Those are His commandments today. We are joined to a living Christ; we live on a higher plane. The fruit of the Spirit should be evident in our hearts and lives.
Today there are isms and cults all dressed up like a woman of the street. They are flattering and they are calling men and women. Yet, God tells us that to follow them is like an ox going to slaughter. It is like a fool going to the correction of the stocks. God is reminding us that we cannot settle for anything less than the person of Jesus Christ!
Amen.
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
Here are a couple of questions for you. What type of sin caused God to destroy the world with the flood? Immorality. What type of sin caused God to bring fire from heaven to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Immorality. So, some of the most dramatic and seriously devastating judgements from God have been caused when man allowed immorality to consume their lives.
Gen 6:5
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
KJV
When we think of the sin of immorality, we often think of the sins of pornography, adultery, fornication, or any sexual act that takes place outside of the bonds of Holy Matrimony as it is defined by God. However, immorality is more than just sexual sins, it includes those sins, but it also includes sins that violate the moral standards established by God as right and wrong. Words like evil, wickedness, promiscuity, sexual deviation, are all associated with the sin of immorality. But make no mistake about it, sexual sins are the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about immorality as it is discussed in the Bible.
The fact that God has reserved some of His most severe judgments upon man because of the sins of immorality should tell us a great deal about how God feels about the sins of immorality. I believe it is important to God because of the devastating impact the sins of immorality will have on our lives. God loves us, and He wants what is best for us, and so in His Word He warns us about the dangers of immorality. He then commands us to not commit those sins. Then, through the story of the flood, and of Sodom and Gomorrah, He shows us the consequences of His judgment on those who ignore His warnings, ignore His commandments, and choose to commit the sins of immorality.
God is speaking to His children, to you and I as believers, and the overriding message that He repeats over, and over, and over again is to keep His commandments and to bind them in our hearts. God’s wisdom is found in His commandments, and the solution to every problem that we have in our lives can be found right here in God’s Word. All we have to do is follow them and bind them in our hearts. Amen?
Click on the link below if you want to hear a message on how to stop immorality in your life. There is only one way, you have to deal with it in your heart using God’s Word. Although the irresistible logic of God’s Word may be clearly understood and accepted in the head, the irrepressible love of God’s Word in the heart is what holds tight the fortress walls of the soul against the full force of the foe.
Amen.
Monday Jul 05, 2021
Monday Jul 05, 2021
Our lesson today is about a sin that is destructive to the lives of so many people in our world today. It is the sin of adultery. Adultery destroys marriages, families, and our relationship with God. Adultery is a sin, like so many others, where the person puts their own lusts and desires ahead of the needs of their spouse, their family, and their duty to God. It is a self-centered sin, and it is a sin that will destroy your life, both physically and spiritually. If you repent of it, God will forgive you of the sin of adultery, but the consequences of that sin will spread far beyond your own life, and even God’s forgiveness does not usually change that.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the high cost of adultery. God reminds us of these consequences, and then, as always, He tells us how to avoid it.
Prov 6:20-21
20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
21 Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck.
KJV
As the children of God, we are told to hear and to heed our parent’s commandments, and most of all, we are to hear and to heed God’s commandments.
Amen.
Sunday Jun 13, 2021
Sunday Jun 13, 2021
Every one of us, everyone, wrestles with pride, and pride is a dangerous sin. I don’t know of anything that is doing more to hold back revival, doing more to ruin our nation, doing more to break up homes, doing more to blast lives, doing more to steal power from Christians, doing more to populate and fill that place called hell, than the sin of pride. It is a damaging, destroying sin. But it is also such a deceptive sin. The people who are the proudest are the least likely ones to admit that they are the proudest. And many people think that they don’t need to hear a lesson on pride. They say, “Well, my goodness! If there is one thing I don’t need, it is a message on pride.” As a matter of fact, they are quite proud of their humility. And many of us have pride that is well hidden, but it is right there.
Now, when the Bible condemns pride, it is not talking about self-respect. It is not talking about taking pride in how you work and dress. It is not talking about giving or receiving honor when honor is due to be given, or honor is due to be received. However, the type of pride that the Bible does condemn is an attitude of independence from God. It is when we say, “God, I don’t need you; I can do it myself.” This attitude of independence from God is what the Bible calls “pride.”
Click on the link below to hear a message on the problem of pride. How, pride is the basic sin. It is the sin that leads to all other sins. It is the sin of independence against God. It is wrapped up in not believing God. Countless people will spend eternity in Hell because they shook their fist in the face of God, and said “God, I don’t need you,” and God will turn His back on them and say, “as you wish.”
Amen.
Sunday Jun 06, 2021
Sunday Jun 06, 2021
In today’s message God gives us some advice that is good for anyone in the business world today, for Christians or non–Christians. These are simply some good business principles. It is interesting that God has given us a lot of good advice for all mankind, the saved as well as the unsaved.
So, if I were to ask you what are the keys to running a successful business, what would you say the main ones are? Making sure you have a product that people want, right? That it sells for an amount that people are willing to give up their hard-earned money for. Good customer service, both before and after the sale. When it comes to choosing who you are going to buy from, customer service will usually win the ties. Price is generally first, but if it is a tie, or close to it, customer service can win out. Having good employees. Being innovative with your product, always improving it. Being able to manage your finances well, like when to borrow money, and just plain hard work, right?
Now, these are the things that you can learn from any business training class. Well, God has some pretty good advice for the business person in our lesson today on the topics of loans, hard work, and the kind of people you need to be careful around.
Click on the link below to hear a message on God sharing His wisdom on how to handle our business life, and our moral life. He tells us to beware of borrowing or co-signing on a loan, then He tells us that it takes hard work to succeed in anything that we need to do, most of all in completing the work that God has for us to do. In other words, don’t be a sluggard, and then we are to beware of the wicked person who has no other intention than to harm us. These seem like pretty common-sense pieces of advice, the question is, are we smart enough to listen and apply it to our lives?
Amen.
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.