Episodes
Sunday Jul 11, 2021
THE PROBLEM OF IMMORALITY (Proverbs 7:1-15)
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
THE COST OF ADULTERY (Proverbs 6:20-35)
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
THE PROBLEM OF PRIDE (Proverbs 6:16-19)
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
GOD‘S BUSINESS ADVICE (Proverbs 6:1-15)
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
TO LIVE A VICTORIOUS LIFE (Proverbs 4:14-27)
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
A PARENT‘S ADVICE (Proverbs 4:1-13)
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
TO WALK GOD'S PATH (Proverbs 3:23-35)
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 Mar 21, 2021
TO KNOW THE WILL OF GOD (Proverbs 3:1-6)
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
HOW WISDOM LIGHTS OUR PATH (Proverbs 2:9-22)
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 Mar 07, 2021
THE INFALLIBLE PATH TO WISDOM (Proverbs 2:1-9)
Sunday Mar 07, 2021
Sunday Mar 07, 2021
If you are searching for wisdom from God because you have a question, you have a problem, or you have a need, then there is good news for you. God desires that we have His wisdom so much that He sent His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus, to die upon Calvary’s cross that you might know His wisdom; and He sent His dear Holy Spirit to teach it. The book of Proverbs is indeed God’s book to health, wealth, and wisdom for His children. These proverbs are God’s ways for God’s people.
If you want this wisdom, then God tells us that the first step on this infallible path to His wisdom is that you must pursue the Scriptures. God says, “My son, if thou wilt receive my words …” It’s all predicated on that. If you choose not to receive God’s Word, then you will never have God’s wisdom. God’s Word, the infallible, inerrant, Word of God, is God’s handbook of wisdom for His children. You must pursue it. You must pour over it. You must study it. You must saturate yourself with it.
In order for you to receive God’s Word, then you must appreciate God’s Word. You must be willing to receive it with an open heart. You must welcome it into your heart. Yet, appreciating God’s Word is not enough, you also have to appropriate God’s Word. That means, not only do you need to let it get in, but you have to let it get down deep inside of you. Then, once you have appropriated the Word of God, then you must assimilate it. The word assimilate means to take in information, ideas, and understand it fully. Then, you must activate the Word of God in your life. You must apply it in your daily life.
God says that we must,“…apply thine heart to understanding.” When you apply it—when it gets out of the notebook and into your head, and then when it gets out of your head and into your heart, and when it gets out of your heart and into your life, and you begin to live it, and you begin to apply it, and you begin to activate it—at that moment, it becomes wisdom to you.
Listen, there is no finer food known to man that a plate full of biscuits and sausage gravy, at least the way my wife makes it. But it is not enough for me to simply appreciate that plate of biscuits and gravy. I can sit there and say how wonderful it is all day, but that is not enough. It is also not enough for me to appropriate it by sitting it down in front of me, possessing it. No, that is not enough. It is also not enough for me to assimilate it, to bend down and smell that wonderful aroma of goodness. It is not until I activate my hand to put that biscuit and gravy into my mouth and let it settle down in my stomach that I have put that food into my life. It is the same with God’s Word.
Jer 15:16
16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.
KJV
You must activate the Word of God in your life. You must apply it in your daily life. Now, when you come to God with fervency, consistency, expectancy, and after you have received the Word of God, then you can pray to God for wisdom, and it shall be given. God’s not going to scold you. He’s not going to say, “Is that you again, pestering me?” Oh no! God is pleased when I come to Him daily and say, “God, I need wisdom here.” “Lord, I’m preparing a lesson; Lord, help me.” “Lord, I’m making a decision; Lord, help me.” “Lord, I’m seeking a college, a wife; I need to buy a home; I want to win souls; Lord, I want to be used; God, give me wisdom!” God will give it. God wants you to have wisdom.
However, there is one thing above all else that you must have if you are to have the wisdom of God, if you would know wisdom. There must be the presence of the Savior in your heart. You see, a man can have knowledge, but he needs understanding. He needs wisdom! In order for you to know the secrets of the universe, you have to know the Lord Jesus Christ, for the Bible says,
Col 2:3
3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
KJV
Jesus is the secret of the universe. Jesus is the glue of the galaxies. Jesus is the secret of it all, and the only way that a man can know it, is not by books, but by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. There are some things that you cannot learn from experience. Wisdom is the presence of the Savior. You will never have real wisdom until you know the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart.
Prov 2:7-9
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
KJV
Who is our righteousness? Who is our wisdom? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. God is telling us that in Christ, there is soundness; in Christ, there is strength; in Christ there is security, and in Christ, there is satisfaction.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can have the wisdom of God. Do you want God’s wisdom? Then you must follow the infallible path to that wisdom. You must know Jesus. Christ must be in your heart!
Amen.