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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 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 17, 2016
Sunday Jan 17, 2016
God is both an exterior and an interior decorator. He is an exterior decorator in that He enables us to stand before Him because He has paid the penalty and removed the guilt of sin from us. But He is also an interior decorator. As the Holy Spirit, He moves into our hearts and lives there. It is by the power and work of the Holy Spirit that He make us the kind of Christians we should be. God does not leave us in sin when He saves us. He doesn’t walk away saying well I hope things turn out right for you. Instead, He moves into our heart and He empowers us to become the Christian that He wants us to be.
Justification declares the sinner righteous. It is our position in Christ, we are justified in Christ. When Christ died on the cross for our sins, God was able to look at sinful, hopelessly lost, man and declare him righteous through the blood of Jesus Christ. Not because we had earned it, but because God declared us to be righteous.
Sanctification makes the sinner righteous. When we are saved the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and begins the lifelong work of sanctification, or the process of making us more like Christ. We are purified by the trials that we face. We are tempered by the persecution that we face. We are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit who makes us righteous.
Justification removes the guilt and penalty of sin.
Sanctification removes the growth and the power of sin.
This work of the Holy Spirit in a human heart begins with conviction. Before sanctification can occur we must be born again and that begins with the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. Once we are properly convicted of our need for salvation, He then moves on to our regeneration. After the Holy Spirit completes our regeneration, He begins the process of our sanctification, and then the climax is our ultimate glorification.
Listen to this podcast to learn how the Holy Spirit of God performs the work of sanctification in our lives.
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 06, 2015
Sunday Dec 06, 2015
The word obedience is a great Biblical word in the life of the believer. It is at the very heart of our service, our salvation, and our sanctification. Many an invitation call has been made with these words.
Trust and obey,
For there is no other way
To be happy in Jesus,
But to trust and obey.
In our lesson today, we learn that to be obedient to the Word of God we must be skillful and intelligent in the truths and ways of God.
Matthew 10:16
16 Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
KJV
We are to be wise in the Word of God so that we can determine that which is really good, from that which is counterfeit; wise so that we can distinguish things that are untrue, in order to improve our opportunities to serve. All the while knowing that we remain surrounded by those who would deceive us, and therefore take us away from God’s work.
Proverbs 14:8
8 The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit.
KJV
We talked last week about how the believer is to recognize the truth among a sea of counterfeit. You learn to tell the difference by diligent study of the real thing. To rightly divide the word of truth requires meticulous, constant, study, an open heart to the words of the Holy Spirit, and simplicity in our faith in Christ.
We are to be wise enough not to be deceived, and yet so simple that we will not be deceivers. It is a Holy simplicity that Paul describes here. To have a holy simplicity means that you are someone who does not contrive, or have evil intentions. We are not to be sophisticated in the ways of evil, we are to be simply faithful in our knowledge of the Lord.
An obedient believer is to recognize wisdom, recognize evil, and recognize that both can be found in the church. To believe otherwise is to be naive and foolish. To be obedient to God requires that we know the truth of what God says so that we will not be deceived by the lies of Satan.
Sunday Nov 08, 2015
Sunday Nov 08, 2015
The way to happiness and harmony between God’s people is not always easy, for people are different. Imagine that, I am different from you, and you are different from me. In fact, praise God that we are different, for it shows that we are a unique creation of God, with a unique task to perform for the Lord.
We are different because we are saved from a multitude of backgrounds including, racial and religious differences, and even social and educational differences. It is inevitable that people of different ages and temperaments, abilities and drives, concepts and natures should have trouble adjusting one to another within the fellowship of a local church. But it can be done. It cannot be done by our nature, nor can it be done by our own self-will, but it can be done through the grace of God working in us.
When you think about it, the things that unite us are far stronger than the things that divide us. We are united in Christ by a common birth, by precious blood, and by one belief.
Eph 4:4-7
4 There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
KJV
Certainly, it is true that the things that bind us are far stronger than the things that divide us, and it is the fact that these things are true, that we have only One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all, and it this truth that makes it possible for us to make sure that we are…
Eph 4:3
Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
KJV
When our eyes are on the Lord, when we remember that our love of Christ is the tie that binds us and it is far stronger than the things that divide us, then our ability to get along is simple and assured.
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
Sunday Nov 01, 2015
The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a message just for the few, or the select. It is a message for the world. It is a message of God’s grace, God’s love, God’s truth, God’s sacrifice, and ultimately God’s judgment.
As Christians, we are the ambassadors for Christ on this earth. Our home is in heaven and our eternal destiny is secure resting safely in the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not have to be good to get into heaven, for we are already citizens in heaven. Christ has paid the price for our sins, and our faith in Him has made us the adopted sons and daughters of the almighty God. I know beyond a shadow of doubt that I will be greeted and welcomed by my Lord Jesus in heaven when I leave this life.
We are sojourners on the earth, with a message of the good news of God’s grace to declare. Part of that message is how we embrace and accept our fellow believers in Christ. This is what our lessons have been about over the last several weeks, for we are to treat our brothers and sisters in Christ in a way that will build them up, and that will be for their lasting benefit.
In areas where we have the flexibility to accommodate a weaker brother’s beliefs in debatable issues, we are to accommodate them. Our guide is to never be a stumbling block, but to always be a stepping stone in our brother’s spiritual growth. In all things we are to love our God with all of our heart, mind, spirit, and soul, and then we are to love our neighbors as ourselves.
This is the witness that we are to have to the outside world, one of compassion and love for one another. As a body of believers, we are to have unity in essential beliefs, and we are to have liberty in non-essential beliefs.
Yet, there is also a time when we are to stand up for what is God’s truth. There can be no compromise in the areas of vital truth.
This is what our lesson is about today, how the believer is to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ to the world.
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
Sunday Oct 25, 2015
Over the last two chapters of our study, Paul has certainly made it clear that part of lovingly exercising our religious liberty to do the debatable things, the things not clearly defined as wrong in the Bible, is knowing when not to do something, or knowing when it might cause harm to someone else.
I believe Paul would sum up his argument in this chapter by saying the spirit of charity, or the spirit of love, outweighs all of our other concerns. If we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, then we will not do anything that will harm them. Just as we would not do anything to harm ourselves.
Paul has told us that in the area of essential beliefs, or the things clearly defined in the Bible, we are to have unity. How do we have that unity? By moving closer to Christ.
In the area of non-essential beliefs, or the debatable issues, we are to have liberty. How do we express and enjoy that liberty? By moving closer to Christ.
In all things we are to have charity towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. How are we to show this charity? By loving God with all of our heart, mind, soul, and spirit. How do we show God that we love Him this much? By moving closer to Christ.
If we do the first commandment, the second commandment will take care of itself.
If we do the second commandment, then we will be our brother’s keeper, and we will do, or not do, what it takes to help build our brother and sister in Christ, spiritually.
So this is the spirit of charity, or love, that we are to have towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. But Paul has not finished yet. I think he knew that if he left it here, depending only on our love for our neighbor, we would respond as we have. So, he has an even higher ground to map out for us. It is a great thing to treat a weaker brother in the spirit of charity, or love. It is a far greater thing to treat them in the spirit of Christ.
In this lesson, Paul will basically ask the question of how far would Christ go in building up a fellow brother or sister in Christ, and then he will tell us that is how far we should go.
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
Sunday Oct 18, 2015
We spent a lot of time last week asking the question of whether or not we are to be our brother’s keeper, and we said that Paul would tell us that yes we should be. We defined the term my brother’s keeper from a Biblical perspective as generally meaning to be responsible for the care of someone. We said to think of the roles of a shepherd or a vine keeper. That our role was to edify our weaker brothers and sisters in Christ.
So let me ask the question, how far are we to go to edify our brother or sister in Christ?
If your brother in Christ believed that handling snakes was a testament of the power of the Holy Spirit in you, in other words, it proved that you were saved, would you go up front in the church and handle a deadly snake so as not to offend them?
If your sister thought that wearing slacks to church was disruptive to the service, would you stop wearing slacks?
If a brother and sister couple that you did a lot of things with thought going to the movies was a sin, would you stop going to the movies? Would you stop, only with them, or all together?
Is there anything that you would say, No, that is just too far for me to go to help my brother or sister in Christ out?
So let me change the question, and you knew this was coming, how far do you believe Jesus would go to help you? Is there anything, like dying on a cross for you, that Jesus would not do for you?
Paul is going to tells us in our lesson today that selfishness has no part in the Christian life. Yet, Paul is going to tell us that we do not have to continually modify our behavior just to satisfy the weaker brother’s desires. Rather, we are to act in a way which will be to his lasting benefit. We are to help him carry the cross of his weakness until he has matured spiritually as a Christian.
We are our brother’s keeper and, in the spirit of love, we are to look to Christ to determine how far we are to go in order to ensure the spiritual growth of our brothers and sisters in Christ. The question becomes, not how far will you go for them, but how much do you love them, and what does that love tell you to do? Is there anything too far for someone you love as much as you love yourself?
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Sunday Oct 11, 2015
Where does the phrase my brother’s keeper come from, and what does it mean? We see the first Biblical use of the phrase in:
Gen 4:9
9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?
KJV
Now, when Cain gave this reply to God, he was clearly trying to be sarcastic to God, which is never a really good thing to do. But Cain was essentially telling God, How should I know where my brother is, is he my responsibility?
From a Biblical perspective the phrase generally means to be responsible for the care of someone, think of the roles of a shepherd or a vine keeper. But does that mean that we are responsible for the sin that others do? No, the Bible is clear that we have no excuse for our own sin. So with this said, when it comes to the debatable issues that we have been talking about, those not clearly defined in the Bible, are we our brother’s keeper?
Is the answer the same towards our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as it is towards a lost person?
Did Christ live a life here on earth that could be described as being His brother’s keeper?
What does Christ mean when we say that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and how does that fit in with the concern that Christ would say that we need to have about our brothers and sisters in Christ’s walk in faith?
How far are we to go before we say, well I have tried to tell him and show him what is right, but eventually he has to make his own decision?
How do we know that whatever we are doing will not be a stumbling block to someone, but will be a stepping stone, because really anything we do might offend somebody else? We see it everywhere in our politically correct world today, somebody is offended by anything related to Christianity. So should we just totally shut down any outward religious activity in the fear that it might offend somebody?
The answer to all of these questions is to move closer to Christ. The more we conform our mind and spirit to the will of Christ and fully surrender our lives to Christ, then He will control our lives, and we will be our brother’s keeper.
The more we move toward Christ, the less we will have to worry about offending a brother or sister in Christ.
How do we enjoy our full liberty in Christ? By moving closer to Christ.
How do we educate our conscience about what the word of God says about certain activities? By moving closer to Christ.
How can we truly be our brother’s keeper in the way that Christ would have us do? By moving closer to Christ.
Sunday Oct 04, 2015
Sunday Oct 04, 2015
THE RESPONSIBILITY OF LIBERTY
We live in a country where our liberty to pursue our lives as we choose is a cherished right. It is such a cherished right that many of our men and women have fought and died so that we could keep that right. Yet, that same liberty requires that we regulate our own behavior in a manner that does not harm others. Self-government requires self-regulation.
For example, I have the liberty to purchase the car of my choice. I could buy a convertible Honey Bee yellow 1970 Hemi Plymouth Cuda that can go from 0-60 in less than 5.8 seconds or top out at a speed of 160 mph, but if I want to drive that vehicle on the road with others there are limits to what I can do with that liberty of owning such a powerful vehicle. Our traffic laws have been put in place to help me from doing something that might harm someone else, but even acting within these laws my behavior can potentially harm others.
We choose to limit our liberty because we value the lives of others and we protect their rights to choose how they want to live their lives.
We also have to be careful how others see us and what we do. I used to ride motorcycles when I was 15 to about 17. I really enjoyed it, in fact, I still have a motorcycle designation on my driver’s license just in case I ever get a wild feeling and decide to ride again. So why haven’t I ridden a motorcycle since I was young?
It is because I got married, and had then I had two boys who watched everything that I did. Getting married meant that I had someone else depending on me to go to work every day to provide a place for us to live. Having sons meant setting an example of the kinds of behavior that would keep us, and them, safe. It is not that riding a motorcycle is bad or evil, in fact, it is a lot of fun, nor, am I concerned with my own ability to ride safely. What I am concerned about is riding on a small, two wheel, fully exposed vehicle, in amongst a bunch of 2,000 lb. heavy metal vehicles driven by people who do not even see a motorcycle rider coming down the road, and hit them on a regular basis.
So I have the full liberty to do something that is not evil, yet I choose not to do that activity because of what the impact may be on those around me. I choose not to exercise my liberty because it may impact my ability to be a good provider, and it might set an example that would cause someone else around me to stumble, or to get hurt, just because they saw me doing something.
We choose to do, or not do, certain things because we love Christ and we want to be more like Him. We also choose to do, or not to do, certain things because we are to love our neighbors as we do ourselves and we do not want to be a stumbling block to them.
This is what our lesson is about today, being, or not being, a stumbling block to others.