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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 Feb 28, 2016
Sunday Feb 28, 2016
We have many great promises of God that we base our faith on. We are certain of these promises and of the truth of God’s Word. If God’s Word is not true, then our faith is in vain. Praise God that we know the inerrancy of God’s Word.
2 Tim 3:16
16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
KJV
John Phillips states that the great message of Scripture is salvation. It is contained in the history books of the Bible, chorused in the poetic books of the Bible, and contemplated in the prophetic books of the Bible. It is crystallized in the Gospels, confessed in the Acts, clarified in the Epistles, and consummated in the Revelation. The Bible is the book in which salvation truth has been revealed. The purpose of the Bible is not to teach us things that we can otherwise discover for ourselves.
The Bible is not a handbook of history, although it contains a great deal of history, and the history it does record is unerringly accurate. It is not a textbook of science, although it speaks to many scientific themes, and its astronomy, meteorology, physics, and medicine are totally inerrant. It is not a treatise on legislation, although it contains a thoroughly comprehensive legal code that is so sublime as to be the foundation of all modern Western civilized codes. It is not a book about psychology, although it speaks with authority on all matters of human behavior.
The Bible is a book about salvation. It goes beyond the reach and scope of human reasoning. It tells us truth that can be known only by divine revelation. It tells us all that we need to know about the salvation God has given us.
Human reasoning says that we must work for our salvation. God’s Word says that our salvation is by grace. Christ has already done the work for us.
Man says, Do! God says, Done!
Man says, Try! God says, Trust!
God has provided us a great salvation. Listen to this podcast to learn how God’s Word reveals the truth of this salvation
Sunday Feb 14, 2016
Sunday Feb 14, 2016
When I was a child and my Father wanted me to learn something that I would remember, he often had me experience it first, and then explain how important that concept could be in my life. He called it character building and it usually involved me doing some type of work around the house. For example, when he wanted me to learn that it is better to earn what you have in this world, than to steal it from somebody else who had worked for it, either by outright theft or by getting the government to steal it for you, he would put me to work. He taught me that a benefit of hard work is the payment of something you want in return, be it money, or something else.
Learning from experience can come in a couple of ways, we can learn from our own experience, or we can learn from the experience of watching or listening to others. For instance, I don’t have to jump from the top of a tall building to know that this is not something I want to do. I have seen what happens to others when they contact the ground at a high rate of speed, and it is not pretty. I learned this lesson from the experience of others.
When we learn from our own experience, we often have a deeper understanding of what it takes to get through this type of trial. I know that I never had a true appreciation for what a person goes through when they lose a very close loved one until I lost my father, and then my mother. There is a deep feeling of anguish that does not come from watching others. I have a much deeper sense of empathy for others now and it is because God allowed me to experience this trial myself.
One of the key concepts that Peter is trying to teach us in the very first verses of this book is how certain our faith is, and how it is not based on a hope-so type of knowledge, but it is based on a know-so type of knowledge.
When he talks of having hope, it is not a vague type of hope in the things that are to come, it is a know-so type of hope, an expectant hope, and a certain hope. We know that Jesus is alive today because we know that He rose from the grave. The Bible tells this is true, and secular history tells us that this is true.
We know for a fact that Jesus is coming again to reign as Lord of lords and King of kings, and we are absolutely certain that Jesus has prepared for us a place in heaven where we will spend eternity living with Him. This is our know-so, expectant, hope.
Peter now moves from the certain hope we have in Christ, to our faith based on experience and substance. Faith is another weak word in the English language, but in the Bible our faith is based on the promises of God, the certainty of Christ, and the experiences we have in times of trial, and through watching others go through trials. It is a faith based on the experience we have in Christ.
Sunday Feb 07, 2016
Sunday Feb 07, 2016
As believers, our expectant, certain, hope looks forward to the things that the Word of God promises are to come for us. That hope includes eternal life with our Lord Jesus in a heaven that contains wonders and beauty beyond anything that we can imagine or know about on this earth.
1 Cor 2:9
9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
KJV
In times of our deepest sorrow, this is our certain hope.
In times of our greatest tragedy, this is our certain hope.
In times of our greatest loss, this is our certain hope.
When death comes for us, this is our certain hope.
That Jesus Christ is coming again and that He has prepared a place in heaven for us.
John 14:1-3
1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
KJV
This is our certain hope that we base our faith on. This is our certain hope of the things that are to come.
Monday Feb 01, 2016
Monday Feb 01, 2016
What do you worry about most when you face a difficult hardship?
Being physically harmed? Ridiculed? The loss of a job and the financial problems that follow? The loss of your health? The loss of a loved one? Loneliness? Your own death?
The word hope is commonly defined as a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. We say things like “I hope we have something good to eat tonight,” or “I hope my boss is in a good mood today.” Hope is always looking forward and it is important to have hope, or a positive outlook on life, to hope that better things are coming our way. To not have any hope during difficult times can make recovering that much more difficult or even impossible.
The amount of hope a person has is often based on those people around them who can help them, to provide comfort, and assistance. When you are alone, without help, it is hard to find hope. Our hope is also based on the certainty, or uncertainty, of the future we see for ourselves. When good things are coming in our lives it is easy to have hope. It gets much more difficult when we see nothing but dark clouds or hardship in front of us. This is the way the world generally thinks of the world hope. It is a wishful desire for better things to come.
How does the meaning of the word hope change when you become a believer in Jesus Christ? Instead of simply having a wish or desire for a certain thing to happen, the word hope means certainty for a believer in Jesus Christ. A believer never has to worry about who will be around to provide support, for they have the certainty of the Holy Spirit living within their heart to provide strength, wisdom, power, and comfort. This is not just a feeling, but an absolute certainty of His presence and power in their lives.
The believer also knows with total certainty that there is eternal life in heaven that follows this temporary life on earth. Imagine the hope that comes from knowing without a doubt that you will have endless thousands upon thousands of years of living without old age, hunger, persecution, disease, or death. A believer knows that heaven is real and, therefore, hell is real, but this is not a concern to the believer, for they have absolute certainty that living in heaven with Jesus Christ is their next destination.
A born again, child of God, a true believer in Jesus Christ, who has Jesus Christ as their Lord and Master, looks at difficult times with an expectant hope. The word expectant means that they are eager for the future to come, and they are excited about what is coming. They can be expectant because they have absolute certainty in the promises that God has provided for them.
They can easily ask themselves, how can I fail to overcome the problems of this world with the power of the Holy Spirit of Christ in my heart. How can death harm me, if I know what is going to happen next? Death is nothing more than a weigh station to eternity.
In his final words to Timothy, Paul expressed this expectant hope eloquently.
2 Tim 4:6-8
6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.
7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:
8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
KJV
There was no doubt in Paul’s mind what laid beyond the grave. He was absolutely certain of his eternity with Jesus. He knew that Jesus would be waiting for him, ready to say, welcome home thou good and faithful servant. This is the expectant hope of the believer. Listen to this podcast to learn how you can have an expectant hope.
Sunday Jan 10, 2016
Sunday Jan 10, 2016
The Bible emphatically teaches the doctrine of election, and this is a doctrine that has caused endless debates and disputes throughout the ages. People will either go off the deep end into hyper-Calvinism with this doctrine, or they avoid it like the plague because they don’t understand it. When it really is quite simple to understand. Man complicates it by assuming that God cannot know anything that man does not know. That really is the heart of the problem for man in understanding this doctrine.
However, the truth is that man’s mind is limited, and God’s mind is unlimited. Man’s capacity to know things is finite, and God’s knowledge is infinite. Man’s knowledge is bounded by the constraints of time, it encompasses what has happened in the past and what is happening right now. Man can only guess at the future.
God created the concept of time so His knowledge is unconstrained by time. He knows all things from before time began until well past the day when eternity makes time irrelevant, and He knows it all at the same time. God cannot learn anything, since by definition He already knows it all.
In today’s lesson, Peter gives us his own inspired insight into the subject. He bluntly declares that our election is based on God’s foreknowledge. Without hesitation, or qualification, Peter says that God has elected a certain company to become members of the royal family of heaven. However, God does this and never violates our own volition, or our own right to choose. God woos, He does not ravage. He does not endow His creations with wills of their own, with the power of choice and personal accountability for their behavior, and then act as though they had no such thing.
God’s election of certain members of the human family to become members of the royal family takes into account the response of each individual when confronted by the Holy Spirit with the offer of salvation. While this may sound difficult to understand, the simple truth of it is that if you want to be a part of the elect of God, then choose Christ when the Holy Spirit presents salvation to you.
Salvation boils down to one question, will you accept or reject Jesus Christ as your Lord and Master.
If you say yes, then you will become part of the elect of God, and you will spend eternity in heaven with Christ.
If you say no, then you will not be part of the elect of God, and you will spend eternity burning in the fires of Hell, forever without the light of God.
Listen to this powerful Biblical doctrine of God’s foreknowledge and how it can bless you because God knows who you are, where you are, what you are going through, and He has a plan for you. If you are believer, then God will empower you to deal with any persecution or trial that you may be going through. He knew about this before it ever occurred and He has prepared you for it, and He is with you every step of the way.
Sunday Dec 13, 2015
Sunday Dec 13, 2015
One of the great Biblical promises that we have as believers is that God’s plan will be done. No matter what man does to mess things up in this world, no matter what schemes and plots that Satan has for this world, God’s plan will be done. It will be done just like He set it up to be done before He created the universe and everything in it. Nothing has changed in this plan, and nothing will change. God’s plan will be done, period.
The fact that I know this promise of God to be true is comforting to me, and that is why God gave us this promise, so that we could be comforted knowing that God was in control. Paul closes out this epistle with a declaration of this promise. The almighty God of the Bible is the everlasting God, and His purposes and His goals are pursued by Him from age to age. Christians may be feeble and frail, but God is strong. The church may look like it is weak and divided, but it is the body of Christ and therefore it is linked to Omnipotence. Whatever else may fail, the work of God cannot.
Paul draws our thoughts to Him whose loving counsels foresaw the fall of man, provided for it before the foundation of the world, foreknew us, foreknew you and me, loved us into the kingdom, and who arranges for all things to work together for our good and His eternal glory. Paul also draws our thoughts to the Son of His love, our blessed and glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And having filled our hearts and mind with these thoughts, Paul says a final Amen to this great epistle.
Friday Jul 03, 2015
Friday Jul 03, 2015
Over the last couple of weeks of our study, Paul has declared that it is certainly within the power of God to not only temporarily remove Israel from the place of religious privilege as a result of their rejection of Him, but it is also within the power of God to restore a believing Israel to that place once again. The almighty Creator of all things, has the power to do as He has promised.
Not only is it within the power of God to restore Israel, Paul also tells us that it is within the purpose of God to restore Israel.
Paul has left no question that God will fulfill His promises to Israel. God will restore Israel, for it is God’s purpose to restore Israel. God planned these events from the foundations of time, and nothing that man has done, or can do, will change God’s plan and purpose. God chose Israel to be His channel of truth and righteousness to the world, and that is what they will be when He restores them.
What is God’s purpose in restoring Israel? It is to show His power and His glory to a world that has rejected Him. He is telling the world that there is but one true God, and that He alone is deserving of our worship.
Saturday Apr 25, 2015
Saturday Apr 25, 2015
What does it mean when we say God’s sovereign will?
Does it mean that God, and God alone, determines the absolute truths about what is right and what is wrong, or does the concept of right and wrong depend on the social values established by man?
Does it mean that no matter what man does, God’s predetermined series of events, or God’s plan for the universe, will be completed? In other words, will God’s will be done, no matter the choices that man makes?
Does it mean that God can show mercy to whom He chooses to show mercy to, and wrath to whom He chooses to show wrath to? Do the actions of man determine whether they will receive God’s mercy, or God’s wrath?
God’s actions toward man are always just and righteous because God defines the meaning of the words just and righteous. If this was not the case, and man decided what was just and righteous, then God would not be the sovereign God.
Does the creation have the right to question the actions of the Creator? Can a potter make one vase cherished and special and the other vase ordinary and common? Does the potter’s creations have the right to challenge the work of the potter?
These are the questions that Paul will answer in our lesson today. Certainly the sovereignty of God is one of the more difficult concepts for a stiff-necked, willful, and arrogant, mankind to accept. But God is sovereign, God is also merciful, and we have much to be thankful for that both of these facts are true.
Listen to this podcast to learn about the sovereign will of God.
Friday Mar 27, 2015
Friday Mar 27, 2015
What is the security of your faith based on?
Is it how much good you will do versus how much bad you will do? If this is what your faith is secured by, then you have already failed, for no man can be good enough to meet the perfect and righteous demands of God.
Is it how faithful you are to your church or religion? If this is what your faith is secured by, then your faith is in your religion and not God. A faith based on anything but God will fail because God will accept man on one basis only, faith based on the completed work of Jesus Christ which provides for our salvation.
Is it based on your performance of certain religious rituals? If this is what your faith is secured by, then your faith is based on the works of man, and nothing that man can do is sufficient to meet the demands of God.
For the true believer in Jesus Christ, our faith is based on the power, the complete sovereignty, and the grace of God.
Paul says:
Romans 8:38-39
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
KJV
The closing verses of this magnificent chapter of comfort for the believer explores all of the possible ways that man can think of to try and mess up our salvation and separate us from the love of God. In our lesson today, Paul refutes each one of them and states that they are blocked by the grace of God.
Once you have made Jesus Christ your Lord, then nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate you from the love of God. Your faith secure because your faith is in God.
Wednesday Mar 18, 2015
Wednesday Mar 18, 2015
If someone were to tell you that God already knew whether you would go to heaven or hell before you were even born, in fact He knew it before He formed the universe, your reaction may be one of saying “Well, that’s not fair, I should get to choose.” You might also say that “If God already knows what’s going to happen, then we are just robots going about the things that God has already determined for us.”
Predestination and election are two biblical concepts that have divided theologians, churches, and religions, for centuries. How God can be sovereign with an unstoppable will, and man can have a free will is simply beyond our capacity to understand. For it is a concept difficult for man to accept that everything that God planned from the dawn of time has happened, is happening, and will happen. There have been no changes and no surprises. There are no emergency meetings in heaven between the Holy Trinity to react to something man has done. Man can try as hard as he wants, but nothing that man has done, is doing, or will do, can change the purposes, the plan, or the will of God. If man could, then man would be sovereign and not God.
Predestination is the biblical teaching that declares the sovereignty of God over man in such a way that the freedom of the human will is also preserved. It is only when we accept this truth that we can begin to completely surrender our lives to God.
Yet, it is important to emphasize that God's predestination of human events does not eliminate human choice. We cannot bypass verses such as:
Romans 10:13
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
A simple key to the concepts of predestination and election is that if you want to be a member of the called ones, or the elect, then accept God’s calling to be one of the whosoever ones that call upon the name of the Lord. It really is that simple.
Listen to this podcast to learn what Paul really means when he tells us:
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
KJV