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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
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
Sunday Mar 13, 2022
“You may learn to love Jesus better, but you can never love anything better than Jesus. He is our superlative Savior.”
H. G. Wells, wrote in his outlines of history the 10 greatest men of all history, and number one on his list was Jesus Christ. But, the truth is, that Jesus Christ does not belong on anybody’s list. Why? Because, He is God’s unique, only begotten Son. He is our singular Savior. He is our superior Savior. He is our superlative Savior.
Jesus is unique in comparison to all of the other religious leaders. Buddha was a religious leader. Mohammed was a religious leader. Confucius was a religious leader. But let me tell you what all of these have in common. You can take them out of their teachings and still have their teachings. You can take Buddha out of Buddhism and still have Buddhism. You can take Mohammed out of Islam and still have Islam. You can take Confucius out of Confucianism and still have that system of thought. You just follow the deeds, the teachings, the precepts, the creeds of those particular faiths, and you have it.
But you can’t take Christ out of Christianity and still have Christianity, because Christianity is not a code, not a cause, not a creed, not a church, but Christ. It is a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you tried to take Jesus out of Christianity, that would be like taking the notes out of music. That would be like taking the water out of a well. That would be like taking numbers out of mathematics. If you take Jesus out of Christianity, you don’t have anything left, because Christ and Christianity are the same.
Christianity is not just believing some thing; it is receiving someone. And this is the difference between Christianity and any other religion: Christianity is a vital relationship with a person, and that person is Jesus Christ. He is alive and well and living in me today. If we are to be Christ followers, born again believers in Jesus Christ, then we need to understand that Jesus Christ is our singular Savior, and therefore He is our superlative Savior.
Click on the link below to hear a message on Jesus Christ, our Superlative Savior.
Amen.
Sunday Dec 20, 2020
Sunday Dec 20, 2020
Now, I’m aware that the world laughs at the idea of a virgin birth. They think of it as some sort of primitive, medieval superstition or something. They laugh, they mock, at the idea of the virgin birth. I can tell you furthermore, the devil hates the idea of the virgin birth, because it teaches both the humanity and the deity of his nemesis, and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. But worse than the mockery of this world, and worse than the hatred of Satan, is the ignorance of many so-called Christians concerning the virgin birth. Many of them doubt it. Some don’t believe it at all. And others think that it is incidental.
One of the most frequent challenges about the virgin birth of Christ is that Jesus Christ is not the Son of God. They will state, “You say that Jesus Christ is the Son of God because He was born of a virgin, and that He didn’t have an earthly father. Well, Adam didn’t have a father or a mother. Wouldn’t that make Adam more a Son of God than Jesus?” The answer to that question is found at the very root of our knowledge about who Jesus Christ is. The answer that the Word of God gives us is that Jesus was not the Son of God because He was born of a virgin. Instead, He was born of a virgin because He was the Son of God.
What the other faiths do not understand is that Jesus did not have His start in Bethlehem. Jesus Christ has been the Son of God from before the foundations of time. In other words, He was the Son of God before Bethlehem, and He chose to step out of the glory to become God incarnate in man, and He did so by being born of a virgin.
Click on the podcast below to hear a message on why the virgin birth is so important to our faith. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was born of a virgin that we might be born again. He came to earth that we might go to heaven. He became the Son of man that we might become the sons and daughters of God. That’s what it’s all about. That is why we have the virgin birth.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Sunday Aug 09, 2020
Today, we come to the last chapter of the gospel of John. It begins with the same dynamic life of our Lord Jesus Christ that all of the other chapters in the gospel begin with. Jesus has some unfinished business with His disciples before He ascends into heaven. He has directions to give them. Directions that they will need in order to share the gospel message to a dark world that needs to hear the words of eternal life. But, He needs to speak to Peter most of all.
Peter was to be the great preacher of Pentecost, the first disciple to reach out to the Gentiles, and the one who will lead this group of men on the trail to share the gospel. But, at this moment, Peter was a broken man, full of self-doubt. Jesus had already spoken to him separately, but He had more to say. The Lord now had to minister directly to Peter's conscience. Jesus knew the role that Peter would play in the days to come, and so He needed Peter to know that he had been forgiven.
In each of our lives, there is a place, a time, where something happened, something where we failed the Lord by what we did. I know that is true of me. I have hurt those close to me when I sought to please myself instead of the Lord. If you are a Christian, with the Holy Spirit living in your heart, then these are things that you come to regret with all of your heart, something you would give anything to undo. You wish you could go back and live the incident over again, only doing it differently this time. You cannot erase the memory.
Click on the link below to hear Part 1 of a two-part message on how the great physician deals with our own conscience. How he lays even the persistent ghosts of our past to rest.
Amen.
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
Sunday Aug 02, 2020
John had a purpose when he gave us the gospel of John and it was that we might believe in Jesus, and that by believing, we might be saved. God wants us to know that Jesus is the answer to man's darkness.
John 20:30-31
30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:
31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.
KJV
Jesus Christ is the light of men. Now there can be no greater sin than to reject the light that is Jesus Christ. Once a man hears the gospel and his heart is open to the Word of God, if he does not act upon that light, and go from faith to faith until he believes in Jesus Christ, his condemnation is doubled. Because not only is he judged for his sin, but he is also judged that he refused the cure for that sin. He refused to believe in Jesus Christ.
John 3:19-20
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
KJV
When God comes to judge the world, he's not going to judge the world primarily by the sin that was committed, but by the light that was rejected. Jesus is the Light of the world. We are born as spiritually blind beggars, but those blind eyes can be opened and will be opened by the grace of God. It's not just turning on the light, the heart and the mind have to be opened and quickened to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. And once the heart, once the mind, are opened and quickened, then we go stepping into the light we are given until we come to Jesus. Man's greatest need is to come, admit and confess his spiritual blindness, his spiritual darkness. When he says God help me, I'm blind, then God opens his eyes and gives him light.
John tells us that the purpose he had in writing this gospel was “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” God wants us to know that Jesus is the answer to man's darkness.
Click on the link below to learn how you can find God’s answer your darkness. That answer is Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Sunday Jul 19, 2020
Let me ask you a question, is Jesus God or man? Is Jesus God or man? Well, the answer to that question is yes. He is the God-man. He is God incarnate in man. He is God in human flesh. Now, the fact that Jesus is both God and man is absolutely foundational to our faith. There is no compromise on this fact that allows our faith to be real. The rock our faith is built on is Jesus Christ, who came to this earth as fully God, and fully man. Yet, it is this question that vexes the world, and there are so many false religions, major, world religions, that deny this is true.
The prophet Isaiah said, "Unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given..."
When Isaiah said, "a child is born," he was speaking of Christ’s humanity. When he said, "a son is given," he was speaking of Christ’s deity. Jesus Christ is the God-man. Now, as a child, He was born in Bethlehem. As God, He has ruled from eternity. But, understand this, He did not have His beginning at Bethlehem, only His birth. As a man, Christ was born to die. As God, Christ died for our sins.
Now, as I was preparing this lesson, I had to pause and think about how I envision God in my mind. So, I want you to think of God, and then think of the very first image that comes to mind. Now, notice that I am deliberately using the name God, here. Is the image you have of God, as He is described in the Bible, the baby Jesus there in the manger that we think of at Christmas time? Probably not, I just don’t think of God as a baby. He was, but that is not how I think of Him. Is it the man with white flowing hair sitting on a throne with a light so bright coming from Him that you cannot even look at Him? This is closer, right? When I think of God, I think of Him sitting on His throne. Ok, if that is not your image of God, then is it Jesus as the kind and gentle man that we see in all the portraits? Sometimes, right? But let me ask you, do you draw a distinction in your mind between God and Jesus? God is indeed a triune God, three persons, but there is just One God. All three make up the One God. So, when you think of Jesus, do think of Him as God, just as you would the Father and the Holy Spirit?
Ok, do you have the image of God in your mind, the very first image that comes to mind? Now, in that image, do you think of God, the triune God, as having scars? It just doesn’t seem to fit with our images of God, does it? Yet, those scars in the hands, feet, and side, of Jesus, the God-man, the second part of the triune God, are real, and they tell us so much about God. That is what our lesson is about today, The Scars That God Bears.
Now, it's very important that you understand this—that, as a man, Jesus suffered. When Jesus appeared before Thomas, He invited Thomas to examine those scars. They were a brute testimony to the fact that Jesus, indeed, was pierced with those hideous nails.
There is a great problem in the world today when you try to testify about God. The problem is not primarily science. The problem is not primarily history. The problem is primarily suffering. When you try to tell people about God, they will ask you again and again how can you believe in a God, if there be a God, who allows so much suffering? And this causes great doubt because here's the way the human mind works. "Well, if God is love, and God is all powerful, why does God allow so much suffering?" And so, they think well, perhaps He is a God of infinite love, but He has no power; therefore, He is a weak God. Or else He is all-powerful, but He has no love and so He is a cruel God. Or perhaps He has no power and no love, so He is no God at all.
That's the way people think. But there is a more important question that you should be asking. Not why do men suffer? No, the more important question for us to understand and consider is why does God suffer? That is the most important question that should be in your heart. Not why do we as humans suffer, but those scars tell us that God in human flesh suffered, and so why did God suffer?
Click on the link below to hear a message that tells us why God allows suffering in this world, and why God chose to suffer.
Amen.
Sunday Jun 07, 2020
Sunday Jun 07, 2020
Our message today is going to be about a simple phrase. A phrase that contains just three words, and yet they are three words that shook the world then, and they are still shaking the world today. They are “It is finished.”
John 19:30
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
KJV
There is a prayer in my heart about this message today. It is that God would anoint this message with supernatural power. I pray that God would make these words a blessing. I pray that the Lord will speak through me, and as a result, that Christians will be strengthened, and that the unsaved will be convicted, and converted, and drawn to confess Christ as their Lord and Savior. I pray that everything that is said and done here today will glorify and magnify the name of Jesus. That is my prayer for this message today. I hope that is your prayer as well.
Now, I want you to notice that Jesus did not say, "I am finished." Even though all of the demons in Hell were howling in glee and saying, "We got Him, He's gone. He's finished." it is really important for us to see that Jesus didn't say, "I am finished."
Even though the disciples were mournful and brokenhearted because their leader, their Sovereign, their King, was dying there upon a cross. We need to understand that it was not that Jesus was finished. Instead, Jesus said “IT was finished.”
Click on the link below to hear a message on what Jesus meant when He said IT is finished. We will talk about the prophecies that were completed, and the suffering that was completed, but, most importantly, I want to tell you, thank God, God's way of salvation was finished. God's mighty work of redemption was finished. When Jesus died, all that was necessary for you to be forgiven and to be saved was done. There's nothing for you to do but to receive what Jesus Christ has already done, because "It is finished."
That is the difference between any false cult and biblical Christianity. There's nothing for you to do. What you must do is to receive the finished work of Calvary. Jesus Christ said: "It is finished". It is not what you do to be saved, it's what He has done. It's spelled d-o-n-e. "It's finished." Jesus Christ has purchased your salvation. It's paid for.
What I want you to hear in this message are God’s promises to you. When Jesus Christ said “It is Finished, He is telling you that if you want to be saved, you can be saved. If you want God to give you a new life, He'll give you a new life. If you want power over Satan, you can have it. Because "It is finished"
Amen.
Sunday May 31, 2020
Sunday May 31, 2020
There is no hour in the history of the human race that is darker than when Jew and Gentile alike hung the Son of the Almighty God on a cross to die. Before time began, when God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit chose to act in creation, they also decided to act in redemption. Before the first breath of life was placed into the body of a man, God knew that Jesus Christ would have to come to this earth to die for the sins of the world. God knew the hatred and rejection that Jesus Christ would face, and yet He still created man. God knew the pain and torture that Jesus Christ would face on the cross, and yet He still created man. Jesus Christ came to this earth to redeem fallen man. He died on the cross, He was buried in a tomb, and then three days later He rose from the grave to bring eternal life to every person that would accept Him as the Son of God and the free gift of salvation that He offered. He did this because He loved each of us and wanted us to have everlasting life.
John 3:16-21
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
KJV
In return for this sacrifice that was freely given, the vast majority of the human race has spent every day since Jesus Christ came denying that He existed. Denying that He was the Son of God, and denying that He ever rose from the grave. They have chosen the darkness of sin over the light of truth and eternal life that Christ is. They chose to crucify the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 19:30
30 When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.
KJV
Notice that Jesus was in complete control. He determined that “It is finished.” Every jot and tittle of the law, every word and deed, all that he had been given to do while on earth, was finished. Then, still sovereignly in charge of the situation, he bowed his head and dismissed his spirit. That triumphant word, finished, has been echoing down the centuries. All the work of salvation is finished. It is accomplished. No one can add to a finished work. We can add nothing to the saving work of Christ. Yet, we can accept the free gift of salvation that the Lord has provided for us by the shedding of His precious blood on the cross of Calvary.
Amen.
Sunday May 24, 2020
Sunday May 24, 2020
Jesus came to this earth to reveal the true nature of the sin that is in the heart of every person. He came to show the world that there was a way out of the darkness of sin and into the light of truth and eternal life. But Jesus was judged and condemned to die on a cross by a world that did not want to come out of the darkness to have their deeds reproved. They chose darkness over light.
John 3:19-20
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
KJV
All of us face this timeless challenge and respond one way or another. Salvation, and eternal life in heaven, is not about our works, it is about what we decide to do with Jesus Christ. Just as the men who rejected Christ did, we either cry "Crucify him" or "Crown him." There is no middle ground. You can’t work your way into heaven, pay your way, or be religious enough to be saved. You must decide to crown Him Lord of your heart or crucify Jesus in your heart. Just like each of the men who put Jesus Christ on trial, you must decide to crucify an innocent man, or make Him your Savior.
Click on the link below to hear a message on how the Jews and the Gentiles alike rejected the one true Son of God and the free gift of salvation and eternal life that He offered them.
Amen.
Saturday May 16, 2020
Saturday May 16, 2020
Satan inspired, false religion, has been the reason behind much of the world’s evil. It has caused men to be deceitful, greedy, and power hungry. It has caused violence, war, and the torture and deaths of millions upon millions of people throughout the history of mankind. Jesus Christ came to this earth as God incarnate in man to put an end to false religion and to give the human race the gospel of Jesus Christ. A gospel of divine love, eternal life, forgiveness, mercy, and salvation. He sealed that gospel with His own blood on the cross at Calvary. Jesus did not come to start a new religion. He came to bring redemption to those who would accept God’s free gift of eternal life. The gospel of Christ is not a religion, it is a relationship with Christ. It is not ritual, it is not a building, it is not a denomination, it is a personal relationship with the Son of God as your Lord and Savior.
The Jewish religious establishment had corrupted the religion of Judaism given by God to His chosen people. They rejected the Word of God as being incomplete and wrote their own laws, and then they created endless rituals to support it. When Jesus came and spoke against this corruption, He had to be stopped. The Jewish religious establishment conspired to murder the Son of God and they did not care how much they had to lie, cheat, and bribe, in order to accomplish this goal.
Click on this link to hear a message on how the two governing bodies in Judea at that time, the Jewish religious establishment and the Roman system, determined that Jesus was guilty of a crime that warranted He be hung on a cross and crucified. They chose to try an innocent man and condemn Him to death or the sake of false religion.
Amen.
Saturday May 09, 2020
Saturday May 09, 2020
I want to start by telling you something important, and here it is, the true test of your character is not seen in your actions but in your reactions. Have you ever gone to the doctor? And, when you were there, he was checking you out, and he put you up on the table, and took that little hammer and tapped your knee? He wanted to see if you had a particular reaction. He's trying' to find out something about you. Now, you could sit up there, and he could say, "Lift your knee," and you could raise it up and down like he said. But, he doesn't want to see what you planned to do, or that you can follow instructions. He wants to see the reaction he gets from you when he hits your knee with the hammer, because it is that reaction that is going to tell him something about you.
Now, all of us can control our actions. But, it's our reactions that really count and really show what we are. How you react, what comes out of your mouth, when somebody cuts you off as you are driving down the road, or if you stub your toe, or hit your finger when you are trying to hit a nail, says a lot about what is in your heart.
The difference between our actions and our reactions is really the difference between reputation and character. Somebody once said that reputation is what others think about you. Character is what God and your wife know about you. Sometimes there is a vast difference. But I want us to think today about reactions, and what we can learn about how we should react from how our Lord Jesus reacted to the events leading up to His crucifixion.
Jesus Christ gave himself for us on the cross to pay for our sins, and then he rose again to give himself to us that he might live his life through us. The same Jesus who reacted that way so long ago will react that way in you today, if He is inside of you. If he's not there, if He is not in you, they you are just an imitation of Jesus. But, if he is there, you can say, "The life I now live I live by the life of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Isn't that wonderful?
Click on the link below to learn how when we begin to live that way, the joy begins to come, the power begins to come, our loved ones get saved, our friends get reconciled, and God is glorified. That's what I want. That's what we want. We want our reactions to show people who we really are, a twice born person and a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.