Episodes

Monday Jun 12, 2017
ARE YOU LUKEWARM? (Revelation 3:14-16)
Monday Jun 12, 2017
Monday Jun 12, 2017
When we call something lukewarm, it means that it is too hot to be cold, and too cold to be hot. Now, if I were to say that you were a lukewarm Christian, what would that mean? It means that you are too hot to be a stone-cold atheist, and too cold to be a passionate soul winner for Christ.
How many people in our churches today are room-temperature, lukewarm, Christians? Actually, in most churches today, if you are not a lukewarm Christian, you will stand out and be different from the majority of the other members.
Let me ask you another question, is it a sin to be a lukewarm Christian? G. Campbell Morgan said, “Lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy.” If you are lukewarm in your faith, then you are blaspheming the Lord Jesus Christ.
A lukewarm Christian says, “Jesus, I believe in you, but you just don’t excite me. I believe in you, but I just don’t get anything out of hearing your Word preached from the pulpit. There just is no message. Jesus, I believe in you, but I don’t intend to serve you with fire and fervor.” When you say these kind of things, you are saying to the Lord, who is present in every church service where two or more are gathered, “Lord, I am bored with You.”
Would you sing differently in the worship service if Jesus was standing next to you in the flesh? Would you pay more attention to the sermon, if Jesus was sitting next to you in the flesh? Would you be looking at your phone for the latest post on social media while the pastor preached? Would your mind be on the work you left undone the day before? If Jesus Christ was sitting next to you in the flesh, how would you be different in the service?
We ought to be worshipping and singing as if the Lord Jesus Christ was standing right there next to us. There is nothing pleasing to the Lord about a lukewarm service, full of lukewarm Christians, singing lukewarm songs, and hearing lukewarm sermons.
Click on the link below to hear a sermon about a lukewarm church. It is the last of the seven churches that we have been studying in chapters 2 and 3 of the book of revelation. These churches are real churches, but they are also representative churches of all the churches throughout the church age. There is not a problem in our churches today, that cannot be found in one these seven churches.

Sunday Apr 30, 2017
A FAITH FORGED IN THE FIRES OF PERSECUTION (Revelation 2:5-11)
Sunday Apr 30, 2017
Sunday Apr 30, 2017
The word Smyrna is translated from a Greek word that is also translated as the word myrrh in other parts of the Scripture. It stands for a sweet perfume that came from being crushed. It was also a substance used for medicinal purposes. What did the wise men bring to the baby Jesus? Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It was also given to Christ when He hung on the cross. The Bible says that they gave Him wine mixed with myrrh. It was also used at the burial of Christ, where they scented His burial clothing with myrrh. Myrrh and Smyrna are translated from the same Greek word and they have the same meaning.
It is the providence of God that the suffering church would be in this city that has the name of such a perfume that was extracted by crushing it. This was a church suffering great persecution, but the Lord says I know what you are going through. It is encouraging when we are facing our darkest hours, to know that Jesus is right there with us. Jesus doesn’t promise to keep us out of persecution, but He does promise to get us through it. There is no heartache, pain, or fear that we might face that the Lord does not share. He has faced every kind of suffering, to a much greater degree than anything, that we might ever have to face. He knows about it, and He knows how to get us through it.
Click on the link to hear a sermon on a church that was poor in the eyes of men, but rich in the eyes of the Lord. The first part of this lesson we finish up our discussion from last week of the church at Ephesus, and then in the focus of this lesson, we cover the suffering church of Smyrna. Join us as God blesses the reading of His Word. Amen.

Sunday Feb 19, 2017
GROW IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE (2 Peter 3:13-18)
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
Sunday Feb 19, 2017
In this final lesson of our study of the book of 2 Peter, Peter will complete his exhortation to believers. He has told us what authentic Christianity is. He has warned us about apostates, and their false doctrines, who want to distract, disrupt, and destroy, the efforts of true believers to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ. He has reminded us of the promises of the Second Coming of our Lord and the new heavens and the new earth that will be our home in the day of God. And then he has said that knowing these things to be true, we are to be found blameless and without spot, as we work diligently to accomplish the tasks that the Lord has given us. The corrupt and tragic events of today’s world are not what our eyes should be focused on, but on the coming of our Lord.
In the nineteenth century, there was a world famous tightrope walker by the name of Charles Blondin. He would stretch his tightropes across great structures and natural wonders. One was Niagara Falls. When the press was interviewing him, they asked him how he could do this, how did he keep from falling or getting distracted. His response was, “When you see my tightrope set up someplace, look at the platform at the other end. Above that platform is a great big silver star. I keep my eyes focused on that star and I do not look away.”
This is the lesson that Peter has for us as we close out this wonderful epistle, keep your eyes focused on the coming of our Lord. In fact, look beyond that day to the day when Jesus Christ will create a new heaven and a new earth that we will spend eternity with Him on and in. Focus on that day and do not look away to the things that are happening all around you.
Listen to this podcast as we discuss how the world is full of darkness. Yet, it is the light of Jesus Christ that should occupy your mind and heart. Join us next week as we begin a study of the book of Revelation. We are in the last days, and it is important we understand what the Bible says so can be ready and encouraged by Who is coming.

Sunday Jan 01, 2017
FAKE COLA, FAKE NEWS, and FAKE GOSPELS (2 Peter 2:14-18)
Sunday Jan 01, 2017
Sunday Jan 01, 2017
Coke-Cola used to have a slogan saying that it was the Real Thing. This inferred that all of the other colas were fake colas or not real. Now, I know there are people with strong preferences of one cola over another, but to be honest, I don’t drink enough of it to be able to tell a Coke, from a Pepsi, or a Shasta.
In our news media, there is talk of fake news, and there certainly is. Truth seems to be at premium in our news and social media applications. Political bias, ideology, hunger for power and the wealth that comes with that power, and a desire to live a lifestyle that has been considered immoral, and often illegal for most of this country’s history, all seem to be the drivers of wanting to push the general public into supporting one political group, agenda, or person, or another. They want you to believe they are the real thing, and all the others are fake, or not real. The news media blatantly say they no longer have an obligation to report the truth. Instead, their purpose is to destroy the values and morals that have been the foundation of this country.
When a nation rejects God, gross immorality is usually at the heart of that nation. When a politician embraces liberalism and progressivism, gross immorality and corruption are usually at the heart of that person’s desire to do so. You cannot believe in the liberal, progressive, political platform and believe the Words of the Bible. You are deceiving yourself if you think that is possible.
These progressive leaders know that this is true so they plan, and they strategize, on how they can lure people away from the truth of God’s Word. They don’t want to destroy Christianity, as much as they want to corrupt it, to draw it away from the teachings of God, to lay alongside it their own corrupted ideology and religious teachings. They want to so corrupt the corporate world of Christianity that they can use it to move their own agenda forward. They want to make their own ideas on what is right and wrong the accepted, or normal, behavior in our society. They want the power that comes with drawing people to their movements, and they want the money that comes from these people.
There will always be false teachers, false prophets, and apostates, in our churches. Always. Therefore, we must be able to identify them, in order to remove them. That is the reason Peter is spending so much time on defining what these false teachers look like, act like, and talk like.
Listen to this podcast to learn how to identify that which false, from that which is the true Word of God.

Sunday Nov 27, 2016
UNMASKING THE FALSE (2 Peter 2:1)
Sunday Nov 27, 2016
Sunday Nov 27, 2016
We are surrounded by different kinds of religion. There are Baptists and Buddhists, Islamists and Methodists, Catholicism and Confucianism, Evolutionism and Gnosticism. There are as many religions as there are colors in crayon box. If you don’t like the way one religion makes you feel, pick another, or another. We are encouraged to believe that we all worship the same God, and there are just different ways of coming to Him. Unfortunately, we are being encouraged to believe a lie. When you look at all of the religions of the world, and you analyze the differences between them, when you boil it down to the basics, there are but two kinds of religion, the true and the false. That’s it, the true and the false. That which is authentic from God, and that which in inauthentic and has the curse of God upon it. If it is false it is dangerous and the world is full of dangerous doctrines.
I am going to say something that does not fit in our politically correct society. It is likely to cause college students across the nation to run to their safe zones, to grab a cup of hot cocoa and a binky, and curl up on the coach in their jammies, afraid to face an idea that does not meet their narrative. They may even need counseling after they hear this.
There is but one God, and there is but one way to Him, and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. It is not a religion that will give you eternal life in heaven, it is a relationship with Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior that will give it to you. It is a relationship, not a religion.
Yet, you can hear false doctrines from false teachers on every corner, on every website, and in the pulpits of churches, temples, mosques, and synagogues everywhere. Peter knew that this was true in his day, and the Holy Spirit knew it would be true in our day. There are false teachers among us today, in our own churches, and so we are going to spend the next several weeks studying about that which is authentic and that which is false. If you are going to be effective in your witness you must be able to recognize that which is authentic from that which is false.
Now, I think everyone would agree that it is wrong to tell a lie. You would agree with me on that, right? It is wrong to tell a lie. It is even worse to teach a lie, but it is monstrous to teach a lie about God. There is no greater crime in the eyes of God than to be a false prophet, or a false teacher, who preaches lies about God. God takes this crime very seriously. In the days of the Old Testament prophets, God had this to say about false prophets.
Deut 18:20
20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.
KJV
Now if God acted with a bolt of lightning every time a false prophet spoke a lie about Him, that would certainly thin out the ranks of false prophets. Unfortunately, God does not always act on our time frame. However, make no mistake, God hates lies taught about Himself, and He will punish the false prophet. The Bible says, even that prophet shall die.
2 Peter 2:12
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
KJV
Jesus told the Pharisees that God has reserved a special place for them in Hell because they had led the people away from God. So, it is important that we know and understand that which is authentic and that which is false. We need to be able to unmask the false prophets and teachers so we are not deceived.
Listen to this podcast so that you can know how to unmask the false teachers who are among us.

Sunday Nov 20, 2016
MORE SURE THAN THAT (2 Peter 1:19-21)
Sunday Nov 20, 2016
Sunday Nov 20, 2016
For most things, if we want to know that something is really true, or actually real, we want to see it, touch it, hold it in our hands, shake it around, and simply check it out for ourselves. I am not likely to buy something sight unseen, just because somebody tells me about it.
Important events in our lives are easier to accept if we are able to physically be there, or see them happen. For example, if you told me one of my family members had been seriously hurt, my first reaction would be to immediately go to them so that I could see for myself how they were. When a major tornado hit Wichita, it happened on the other side of town from where I live. I could hear about the destruction on the news. I could see it in the video coverage, and read about it in the newspaper. However, nothing brought home the real amount of damage the tornado caused until I went to see the damage personally. Seeing whole neighborhoods completely flattened made the storm more than just another news story that we hear about every day, it made it real.
This is how many people feel about Christ and the gospel message of salvation. They hear that Jesus Christ was real and that He is the Son of God, and they say, show me. They hear that there is life beyond the grave and they say, show me. They hear that heaven and hell are real and that you will spend eternity in one of them, and they say, show me. They say if you want me to believe that God exists, show me.
God certainly knows that this is true about us, and so He designed a world that no man could possibly create, and no amount of science could explain, no matter how hard they try. He did this so that man would know that an all powerful Creator existed. God made man so intricate in the mechanical and biological portions of his body, that man would know that he was created, and could not possibly have come into existence by accident. Yet, knowing a Creator existed, and that we were the product of that Creator’s work was not enough to allow a holy God to forgive all of the sin that exists in the world. We needed a loving God to provide a path to our salvation from an eternity in hell without God, to an eternity in heaven with God. We needed a Savior, and so God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross that man might find salvation in His Creator.
And so Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, came to this earth to live as a Man, God incarnate in man, fully God and fully man. He did great miracles as signs to show mankind who He truly was. He healed the sick by the thousands. He made the lame walk. He raised the dead, and He fed thousands using the contents of a lunch box from a small boy. Jesus Christ came knowing that He would be rejected, knowing that He would be beaten and mangled, and knowing that He would be crucified and suffer a horrible death. He did this because He knew that it was only His sacrifice and His precious blood that would allow the terrible sins of man to be forgiven by a righteous God. The blood of animals would never be enough. The blood of mortal man would never be enough. It had to be the precious blood of the Son of God that would wash the sin away in the eyes of God.
God, then raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus walked around in His resurrected body for 40 days and he was seen by hundreds of people. People touched Him, felt of Him, put their fingers through the holes in His hands, and ate with Him. People believed because they had seen Him do those miracles, and they had seen Him die and then rise again. They saw Him, they felt Him, and they touched Him. He was real, all those things really happened, and so they believed.
Yet, all those things happened two thousand years ago. Today, people say they would also like to believe, if only they could see those things as well. If they could see Jesus Christ perform miracles, then maybe they would believe that He was truly the Son of God. If they could see Him in His resurrected form, then they would believe that there was life after death, and they would accept the gospel message of salvation. If only, they could see Him, feel Him, and shake Him around a little just to make sure He was real, then they would believe.
Yet, even if God did do this, we know that many would still reject Christ. Christ was seen by many thousands of people, and still He was crucified. So, seeing is not always enough. Sometimes we need something more. Our memories are faulty, that is why we take pictures and videos of our lives, because we forget. We remember how we want to remember things.
God knew this about us. He knew that seeing, touching, and shaking was not enough. People who did not want to believe would corrupt those memories handed down by oral tradition. He knew these things and so He gave us something more sure than that. He gave us His more sure word of prophecy.
Listen to this podcast to learn how God gave us His written Word, and how we can depend on it to live our lives in His will.

Sunday Nov 06, 2016
THE WORD OF GOD SURVIVES HUMAN MEMORY (2 Peter 1:12-15)
Sunday Nov 06, 2016
Sunday Nov 06, 2016

Tuesday Nov 01, 2016
BLESSED ASSURANCE (2 Peter 1:8-11)
Tuesday Nov 01, 2016
Tuesday Nov 01, 2016

Monday Oct 17, 2016
GOD'S PROVISIONS, GOD'S PROMISES (2 Peter 1:3-4)
Monday Oct 17, 2016
Monday Oct 17, 2016

Monday Oct 03, 2016
GOD'S GLORY AND GOD'S GRACE (1 Peter 5:10-14)
Monday Oct 03, 2016
Monday Oct 03, 2016