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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 27, 2022
Sunday Mar 27, 2022
Who was it that thought up this idea of salvation? Not you, not me. It originated in the heart of Almighty God. Before God ever swung this world into space, before God ever scooped out the seas, and heaped up the mountains, and flung out the sun, moon, and the stars, salvation was in the heart and mind of God.
Why is this salvation so great? Because Jesus, with His rich, red, royal blood tasted death for every man. Jesus died instead of you. His death had your name on it. Only the dead in hell can even begin to know what Jesus suffered on that cross, and He did it for you. If you refuse this salvation, if you just drift on by, then you trample underneath your feet the precious blood of Jesus and pour contempt upon His death.
So, the writer of Hebrews asks this question: “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation.” That’s the question. That’s a question that no lawyer can answer. That’s a question that no scientist with his computer can answer. That’s a question that no philosopher with his thick volumes can answer. That is a question that no soothsayer can answer. That is a question that even God Almighty cannot answer because there is no answer to the question “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?” There is no answer because there is no escape.
Click on the link below to hear a message on our so great salvation that God has provided for us.
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 Oct 04, 2020
Sunday Oct 04, 2020
Have you ever known someone who did something foolish? Most of us have, and we generally only have to look in the mirror. Now, have ever known someone who died foolishly? They may have been a very intelligent, successful, and well liked, person, but they died foolishly. I have known some. They did things like jumping out of perfectly good airplanes for the rush of seeing the ground come up at you really fast. I just never understood someone who would do that. But generally, people die a foolish death because they got their priorities out of order. The forget what is really important and choose to follow something that promises a quick rush of pleasure. They live for today. They allow greed, or addiction, or self-gratification to become the most important thing in their lives, even it means destroying their family, or hurting their loved ones.
But there is something even more basic than that where people choose to die foolishly. When it comes to choosing eternal life in heaven, or eternal death in hell, people will foolishly choose to reject God’s free gift of eternal life, and choose death instead. Whether it is because they think they have all the time in the world to choose, or they just don’t want to believe in life after death, death comes, and they die a foolish death. Our message today is about just such a foolish man.
Now, I have said before that all of the Bible is about the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the theme of the Bible is salvation, or how to be right with God. The hero of the Bible is Jesus. The villain of the Bible is Satan. The story of the Bible is salvation. God has packed salvation stories from Genesis all the way through to Revelation. It is within the pages of this Holy Bible that we can find the words of eternal life. We can find the story of how to be saved and how to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the foolishness of spending an eternity in Hell. Don’t believe the lie of the devil when he says that he is your friend, and that God is your enemy. The devil will tell you that it is hard to be a Christian. That is not what Jesus Christ tells us.
Matt 11:28-30
28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
KJV
John 10:10
10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
KJV
Contrary to what the devil says, it’s not hard to be a Christian. The Bible says, “The way of the transgressors is hard” (Proverbs 13:15).
If you are looking for eternal life, come to Jesus Christ.
John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
NIV
Amen.
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Sunday Sep 20, 2020
Our story is going to be about a beautiful woman named Abigail who is trapped in a marriage to a crude man named Nabal. Now, how many of you remember the story of Abigail? I will be honest, I had forgotten it, until I came upon it in my study this week. We have a lot to learn from this Godly woman.
As we look at the various people that come into the life of David, most are disappointing in one way or another. But when we come to Abigail, we come to one of the very rare individuals who truly loved David, and whose whole life radiated the light of her spiritual comprehension, compulsion, and commitment when it came to David.
Click on the link below to hear a message from the Old Testament that gives us a picture of the gospel message, and the choice that each of us have of choosing a Savior, or rejecting Him, and the consequences of that choice, eternal life or death.
As believers, we are living in the waiting day right now. We are living in the power of that new life in Christ which is ours. Our circumstances are wrapped in His grace. This is the waiting day. Tomorrow will be the wedding day of the bride of Christ, the church, to the Bridegroom that is Jesus Christ. Jesus is coming, and when He does come, He will take us to be with Him forever to be His own beloved bride.
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 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 Oct 13, 2019
Sunday Oct 13, 2019
Our messages over the next couple of weeks are going to be about the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. Now, I have heard many sermons on this portion of Scripture, and the majority of those sermons focused on being humble servants of the Lord, and we will talk about that, as well. But, I am also going to talk about what the Bible has to say about foot washing, and how that applies to us in this day and in this age.
In the Lord’s day, foot washing was a common practice. It was not a religious service, or ritual, but it was a very common practice. It was just something everybody did on a regular basis. There were public baths, and going down the street, if your feet were tired and dirty and dusty, you could go in there and a slave, or a servant, would wash your feet. If you had a wealthy home, generally there would be by the door a basin of water, and if you were receiving guests into your house, the first thing they would do would be to slip off their sandals and step inside the threshold of your house. Again, if you had a servant, that servant would be there with a towel and a basin. You would put your feet in that basin. There'd be a little stool there, and this servant would wash your feet, give them a gentle massage, and dry them with a towel.
Now, this exercise wasn’t just a luxury, or for show, there was a practical reason why they did this foot washing. What was that reason? Well, think about it for a moment. They didn't have paved sidewalks like we have. They didn't have asphalt or concrete streets either. Only the busiest streets were paved with bricks, but most were just hardened paths. This means that everything was dusty and dirty, and the people, for the most part, wore sandals. They didn't have leather shoes like we have today to keep out the dust and the dirt. Therefore, foot washing was a practical thing, but it was also a mark of hospitality.
Now, there are some great lessons here for us to learn in this portion of Scripture, and I would pray to God that we can all learn it. Today, I am only going to get to one lesson that we can learn, but next week we will cover several more lessons concerning foot washing.
Click on the link below to hear a lesson concerning salvation. We need to know that salvation is essential. Today, you may be sitting a church with an open Bible in your hand, taking notes, but you've never been saved. You may be reading this blog, or listening to the podcast message, but you have never been saved. When Jesus said, "Ye are clean, but not all of you," He's teaching us that salvation, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, is essential. If your desire is to live with Jesus in heaven for all of eternity, then it is absolutely necessary.
Amen.
Sunday Oct 14, 2018
Sunday Oct 14, 2018
What was the very first Bible verse that you can remember memorizing?
It would be John 3:16 for me. In fact, with my memory going away in my old age, it is probably the only verse I still have memorized. I know lots of verses by their context, but if it wasn’t for the internet search engines and the Bible concordance on my computer, I would have a hard time finding them. But John 3:16 is one I still remember.
So, why do you think that is? Why would this verse stay with me so readily, when others do not? It is because it tells me of God’s love for the whole world, but it is written in such a way, that it seems like He is talking to just me. God loves the world, but the word whosever means including me.
Who does the verse say loves this poor lost world? The one, true, almighty God. The eternal, self-existing, uncreated, and having need of nothing, God. It is God, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. It is God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. It is God, who takes the initiative. It is God, who loves and gives. It all begins with God.
That God is “not willing that any should perish” is a great Biblical truth that is revealed to us. John tells us in 3:16 that “whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” That is God's earnest desire for all the children of Adam. The gospel invitation is extended to all. If you want to make the invitation of this verse personal, then put your own name in the verse. For example say, For God so loved the world (including Keith Martin), that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever (including Keith Martin) believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God’s plan for salvation, includes me, even me. God does not want me, or you, or anybody else to perish.
The word Perish is a word that should make us all tremble as we think of the consequences of our sin against God. The word perish reveals the other side of God's character. He is not only a God of immeasurable love, he is also a God of infinite holiness. It is the finality of the word that terrifies us. Death, and what occurs on the other side of death, is a mystery to the lost person, but John 3:16 brings clarity to the mystery. In it, God puts a choice before us. He says, “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.” The choice that God gives us is to believe in Jesus Christ or perish. If we reject Christ, then God will allow sin to complete its work beyond the grave of condemning the soul to an eternity in torment.
But that is not what God wants for us. God would have every person come to repentance. That is why the invitation of John 3:16 is universal, hinging on believing in him. Those who do, become heirs of everlasting [eternal] life. God created us with eternity in mind. We have an immortal soul and spirit that will exist for all of eternity. This great verse, which summarizes the whole gospel story, begins with God and ends with everlasting life. It begins with one who had no beginning. It ends with that which has no ending.
The fact that Jesus Christ has come into the world provides each person with the ultimate test of believing or disbelieving, of choosing whether to continue in their sins and surely perish, or whether to believe in him and pass from death to life. The coming of Christ into this world is the single decision point of eternal destiny for each of us.
This great verse is the essential foundation of the gospel of Christ. God loved the world, including me, so much that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever, including me, believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Don’t walk away and reject such a gift. Choose Christ. Choose eternal life.
Click on the link below to learn just how much God loves you.
Amen.
Sunday Sep 23, 2018
Sunday Sep 23, 2018
In the first part of this series on why you must be born again, we talked about the deficiency of our natural birth. Why is it deficient? Because we are born into the natural world, we are bound to the sinful world, and we are blind to the spiritual world. So, why did Jesus come as God in man? Because of the deficiency of our natural birth.
How did Jesus Christ come into this world? He came through the portals of a virgin's womb. He is the only begotten Son of God. There never was, nor will there ever be, another like Him. He is the God man. He is God's only begotten Son. That which was conceived in the womb of Mary was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God, and He is the only begotten of Son of God. He is the virgin born Son of God. That is what it means when we say He was virgin born.
He came as He did, born of a virgin, to be what He was, sinless. He was what He was, sinless, to do what He did, die for our sins. A sinner could die for nobody's else's sin except his own. He had to be sinless to be a substitute. He came as He did, to be what He was, to do what He did, that we might be what we are, sons and daughters of God. He came to earth that we might go to heaven.
He was born of a virgin that we might be born again. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but should have everlasting life." That is redemption. Thank God for the virgin birth. Don't think it's incidental. Don't think it's mythological. It is the foundation stone of our faith that God became man. This is the incarnation, the Second Adam from above, who came to reinstate us in God’s love.
Click on the link below to hear a message on the three types of miracle births that we are studying about in this third chapter of the Gospel of John. The natural birth, the virgin birth, and the new birth. All three are miracle births created by God.
Amen.
Sunday Sep 16, 2018
Sunday Sep 16, 2018
Let me ask you a question, how many of you were born as a baby? Imagine that, I will bet that this is the only question that I could ask and get a 100% positive response to. Everyone that is reading this post, and listening to this lesson, was born as a baby.
Next question, was your birth a product of man’s scientific prowess, or was it a miracle of God? Who is your creator? Your mother and father, a scientist with a test tube, or God? Is it possible to create a living body, soul, and spirit, without God? If the answer to this last question is “No”, and it is, then God is your Creator.
In our lessons over the next couple of weeks, we are going to talk about three different kinds of miracle births, and let me be very clear, only God can create a miracle birth. But, today, we are going to focus on the fact that our natural birth, even though it is a miracle birth, is deficient, and, therefore, we must be born again.
Click on the link below to hear a message on why Jesus had to come. Why the agony of Gethsemane? Why bloody Calvary? Why did Jesus come to this earth as God in human flesh? Why you must be born again.
Amen.