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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 Apr 07, 2014
Monday Apr 07, 2014
If you were to list the characteristics of Jesus as He lived on the earth you would probably use words like, peacemaker, gentle, easy to approach, merciful, pure, unbiased, and without hypocrisy. These are the characteristics of God’s wisdom, and they are the characteristics that a true Christian is to exhibit as they deal with those around them.
When someone makes Jesus Christ their Lord and Master, they are reborn and regenerated, they become a new person, and with the power of the Holy Spirit working through them these characteristics become the way a believer will behave. It is the evidence that a revolution has occurred in that person’s life, and that Jesus Christ is their Lord and Master.
Being a Christian is more than just saying a prayer and mumbling some words. We are saved by God’s grace, we do not work for our salvation, but our lives must show the evidence of the transformation that has occurred in our life. The words we say, the works that we produce, the way we control our tongue, and the way we deal with those around us are the evidence of the salvation that has occurred within our lives and they identify the Master of our hearts.
Listen to this podcast to learn how God’s wisdom is to shine through the life of a believer to such a degree that the world sees a positive difference in their lives. Your behavior is your trademark as a Christian.
Monday Mar 31, 2014
Monday Mar 31, 2014
When you need wisdom, where do you go to find it?
Your family, your friends, your mentors, your teachers, the internet, or maybe even some TV or radio show host?
There is certainly some merit in going to someone who has experienced what you are going through to give you guidance on how to handle some problem that you may be facing. If we were to look back over man’s history we would find that man has discovered many great things and overcome many difficult challenges using the knowledge and wisdom that is available to him. Think of the advances in science, medicine, psychology, and even religion, that have occurred in just the last 100 years.
Yet, when you consider how much more knowledge there is for man to discover, and then compare that to what we already know, you begin to realize how little we truly know today. It would be a bold man that declared that he knows even 10% of all the knowledge that is out there to be discovered. And with each new discovery, man must rethink everything that he knows to put it into context with what he has just discovered. It can be an exciting and humbling experience.
So as you go to other people in your search for wisdom, the first thing you must realize is that everyone you are talking to is giving you answers from that 10% of knowledge that man knows, and they are ignoring all of the answers that could be found in the 90% that man knows nothing about. If you were to go to a doctor and ask him what was wrong with you, and he told you that he could tell you, but that he only knows 10% of what he needs to know to be a doctor, you would probably be skeptical of the answer, as you should be.
So, if you don’t go to other men to find wisdom, who can you go to that can provide you with answers from all of the knowledge that man will ever be able to discover, and all of the knowledge that man can never know?
Listen to this podcast to discover that there are two kinds of wisdom; human wisdom, and God’s wisdom. Human wisdom comes from man’s limited knowledge. God’s wisdom comes from the infinite knowledge of the Creator of all things, the omniscient, the omnipotent, and the omnipresent, living God.
Monday Mar 24, 2014
Monday Mar 24, 2014
Is it possible to control what we say?
We usually want to say the right thing, so why don’t we? Most of us will find ourselves having to apologize for saying something that hurt someone else on a regular basis. Is there no way to control what our tongue says?
The tongue is powerful enough to impact all of the circumstances of life.
It is destructive enough to affect the whole realm of human activity.
And it is vile enough to contaminate the whole sphere of our earthly life.
The tongue can ignite all of our worst passions of lust, envy, hatred, malice, and murder and the fallout is all kinds of evil.
When our political leaders use their words to lie to us, to mislead us, to defraud us, and to stir up feelings of class envy, of class warfare, and of racial hatred, the fallout affects everyone in this country and of those around the world. It affects the circumstances that we live in.
James tells us that no man can tame his own tongue. We can tame the wild beasts, but we cannot tame our tongue even when we use our best efforts. The words we say can bless those around us, and they can curse the same people. They can sing praises in harmony one moment, and then explode in profanity the next.
But there is a way for you to control your tongue. Listen to this podcast to learn that God can tame your tongue. It is when the Holy Spirit of God is in control of the heart of a believer that God can use the words that come from your tongue for His work.
Tuesday Mar 18, 2014
Tuesday Mar 18, 2014
Be careful what you say.
Have you ever considered how you would feel if you knew that someone was recording every word that you said or wrote somewhere? And if you knew your words were judged each day by someone to determine if those words were good or evil?
How would that impact the words that you allowed your tongue to say? Would you filter them more closely?
In our world today we get very concerned when the government intrudes on our privacy, such as with the NSA listening in on our phone conversations. We have the concept of presumed privacy in our lives. In countries such as the U.S. that right of privacy is protected, but with technology as it is today, any real privacy is a myth.
Listen to this podcast to learn that God has always been listening in on all of your conversations. God has the sovereign right to bug your conversations, and He has recorded every word that you have ever said.
James tells us that the words used by a person identify who they are. Your tongue gives you away. It tells where you came from. It tells whether you are ignorant or educated, cultured or crude, whether you are clean or unclean, whether you are vulgar or refined, whether you are a believer or a blasphemer, whether you are a Christian or a non–Christian, whether you are guilty or not guilty.
What has your tongue said about you today?
Monday Mar 10, 2014
Monday Mar 10, 2014
If you believe God, will you act on that belief?
There are a majority of people in this country who believe in God, as well as those who claim to believe what God says in His Word. For many years there was a popular bumper sticker that said “God said it, I believe it, and that settles it.”
Yet, if you were to ask those same people if their belief in what God says has made a revolutionary change in their lives, the number of people who said yes to this question would likely be much smaller. The term believer means that you believe what God has promised you in the Bible about what Jesus has done for you, about His shed blood, about forgiveness of your sins, and about death and eternal life. But God demands more from those that He calls His own.
A true believer will take what God says, internalize it, and then act upon it. The promises that God makes to us will create a revolution in the life of person who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. They will view life differently. They will view death differently. The things that were once important to them are no longer important. There are new things that are the focus of their lives, things that God wants you to accomplish. Things that you want to accomplish for God, because of your love for Him. You will take what God has said, and because you believe it is true, you will act upon it in your life. You will create works for God and through God.
Listen to this podcast to learn the story of Rahab. How she heard the promises of God. How she believed those promises, and how she then acted upon them.
Tuesday Feb 25, 2014
Tuesday Feb 25, 2014
Do you believe God?
Not do you believe in God, but do you believe God?
Do you believe what God says in His Word, the Bible?
Do you believe God the Father when He said of Jesus Christ, this is my Son in whom I am well pleased?
Do you believe God when He says that your salvation is by His grace alone, and not by works, lest any man should boast?
Abraham was a man that believed God. What this means is that Abraham said amen to God. God had said, “I will do this for you,” and Abraham says to God, “I believe You. Amen. I believe it.” And that was counted to him for righteousness. Abraham did not work to earn his salvation, it was his faith that was counted for righteousness. But it was not just faith in anything.
It is important to note what Abraham believed, for God to count it for righteousness. It was when he believed the promise of THE SEED. That is when God counted it to him for righteousness.
Ultimately it is the same for all ages. It is the faith in Jesus Christ that our salvation rests. He is The Seed.
It is not mere faith that saves, but it is the object of your faith that saves.
It is not mere faith that saves, but it is your faith in Christ that saves.
Abraham just believed God. He just accepted what God said about the promised Seed, and he believed God. That is the way each of us get saved. That is how we receive God’s gift of eternal life.
You must believe that God has done something for you, that Christ died for you and rose again.
It is then, that God will declare you righteous by simply accepting Christ.
Listen to this podcast to learn that it is not good works that will allow you to stand imputed with righteousness before God, but it is when you believe God.
Wednesday Feb 19, 2014
Wednesday Feb 19, 2014
What is the test of your love?
Valentine’s Day has just passed and most of us demonstrated our love for that special someone in our life by buying a gift, candy, flowers, or a special meal of some kind. This custom is so ingrained in our society that to fail to do something leads to being called a callous, worthless, uncaring, bum, by your recently past, not-so-special anymore, loved one in your life. There are those that see this as an actual test of their spouse’s love.
It is not enough that you say that you love them, for the word love is an often used word that can have various levels of intensity.
It is not enough that you believe that you love them, for how many times have you really believed that you loved someone, just to find out that it was more of a physical attraction, instead of real love?
There must be more, there must be a demonstration of that love, or your spouse will consider your love dead, or missing, or simply a mental assent to the concept of love, but it must not really reach down into your heart.
In other words, love without works is dead. You can tell your wife that you love her, and then she will probably look at you and tell you how nice that is, but that she shows you her love by her works.
Therefore, the test of your love for your spouse is your works.
It doesn’t mean that you do not love her if you do not have works. You can be married without works, but if you truly love your wife, or your husband, there will be works that are the natural result of that love. They will come from the emotional, heartfelt, desire, to do things for your spouse that will demonstrate your love for them. Those works will be the fruit of your love.
You will do things for your spouse all of the time, not just on Valentine’s Day, not just because you want to pass a test, or a judgment to come, but because to love someone in the manner that God has intended for a man and a women to love each other, means that what they want and need is much more important than your own wants and needs.
Now, if you can understand this concept, then you will be able to understand one of the most widely misinterpreted, and misunderstood, sections of the Bible as we study it today. Listen to this podcast and learn what the Book of James says about a test of your faith, and how a faith without works is dead.
Tuesday Feb 11, 2014
Tuesday Feb 11, 2014
What is the perfect law of liberty?
Have you ever considered what it would be like to go someplace where there were no laws, and no police officers to enforce those laws? To be totally free to do whatever you wanted, for as long as you wanted, and in any way that you wanted to do it?
Sounds pretty good doesn't it? If I don’t want to get up in the morning, I don’t have to. If I want to drive my car as fast as it will go, then I can.
This is pretty much what it was like for the early pioneers who opened up the western part of the United States. When they stepped out into that wilderness, they were free from the laws and those that would enforce it. They lived by their wits, their strength, and their courage, for even though there were no societal laws, there were always the laws of nature, and the laws of the strongest shall prevail.
So the question is, are you truly free when you step out of the boundaries of the laws of a civil society? Is this true liberty?
Without laws, is there such a thing as criminal behavior? To be a lawbreaker there must be a law to break.
God, as our Creator, knew that man needed laws to establish the absolute truths about right and wrong, so He gave us His Word that we call the Bible. It contains the Mosaic Law, The Sermon on the Mount, and it contains Christ’s Law, which is the perfect law of liberty. These laws identify what is sin for man. They let man know that he has broken those laws, that the penalty of that sin is death, and that man needs a Savior. The very Savior named Jesus Christ who died on a cross to pay the penalty for man’s sin.
As a believer we are no longer under the Mosaic Laws, but our behavior is to be controlled by two commandments.
The first is, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind. This is a believer’s responsibility to God.
The second is, To love thy neighbor as thyself. This is a believer’s responsibility to others.
How do we find perfect liberty? Listen to this podcast to learn that the answer is to be redeemed, released, and ruled by Christ.
Monday Feb 03, 2014
Monday Feb 03, 2014
How good are you at judging a person by their outward appearance?
Can you define a person’s character by the way they dress, or how they speak?
As a believer, we know that the world judges us by how we dress, how we act, and the things we say. Our purpose on this earth is to create a desire in people to want to know more about Jesus Christ by what they see in us. Paul tells us that even in our deepest trials we are to have our hair fixed and a smile on our face. The world needs to know that our relationship with Jesus Christ makes a difference in how we handle adversity.
But what does the Bible say about how Christians are to treat others?
Are we to treat someone who is dressed in nice clothes differently from someone who is dressed shabbily?
Are we to treat someone who has the outward appearance of success differently than you do the homeless person you see on the street?
Are we to judge the value of a person based on the color of their skin, the quality of their speech, or the length of their hair?
James will tell us that as a Christian we are to treat others without distinction to their outward appearance or their place in society. Jesus was just as gracious to the woman at the well as He was to the rich young ruler. He was as kind to Lazarus the beggar as He was the ruler of the synagogue.
This is the way our churches should be, they are to be hospitals for sinners, all sinners, not some special, select, club, for the sisters of society.
Listen to this podcast to learn how a Christian is to behave towards others.
Monday Jan 27, 2014
Monday Jan 27, 2014
How does a Christian behave?
Should the world be able to identify you as a Christian just by your behavior?
The Biblical view of a Christian is that of someone who has the love of Christ in their hearts and they express that love towards others. Christians, Christian churches, and Christian organizations have been meeting the needs of the hungry, the sick, and the lonely, for two thousand years and they have done so far more effectively than any government handout could.
It is true that as Christians we live lives that are different from others. There certainly are types of behavior that we will not participate in. But, we see that choice not as a restriction, but as freedom from the consequences that a life of alcoholism, drug abuse, greed, and sexual promiscuity and depravity, can bring to a person’s life.
We also see a life of service to God. God has commanded us to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ to the entire world. Our lives are likely the only Bible most people will ever read. What the world knows about salvation, eternity, the love of Christ for all people, and the power of the Holy Spirit of God in our lives comes from what they see in our behavior, our words, our actions, and our attitudes.
We see a life of duty to the call of God, to accomplish the work that God has given us to do.
We see a life that is free from the worry of what will happen tomorrow, because we know that God is control of all things, and He is in control of our lives.
Listen to this podcast to find out what the book of James says about how a Christian should behave.