Category Archives: Commentary

The Bridge Commentary is a running verse by verse breakdown of the Books of the New Testament including word definitions, significant historical background and comments.

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How to Live Satisfied and Gain Victory Over Strife

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Thirty-Three

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How to Live Satisfied and Gain Victory Over Strife

What does strife mean in the the Bible? For one, it is an ugly thing that should never be the hallmark of the way a Jesus follower lives. In a political world world gone crazy with conflict, the Word of God stands in bold contrast. Proverbs declares ‘it is the glory of a man to overlook an offense.’ There is an old legend that speaks of Hercules and his encounter with a strange animal on a narrow road. Hercules strikes the weird animal with his club and continues down the road. Soon the animal overtakes him, but now it’s three times as large as it was before. Hercules strikes it with speed and fury, but the more he clubs the beast, the larger it grows. Then Pallas, the Titan [the little g] god of war appears to Hercules and warns him to stop. “The monster’s name is Strife,” he said. “Let it alone and it will soon become shrink down to nothing.” This is valuable advice for those of Jesus followers who wish to engage in verbal eye for an eye conflict. Overlook the offense, only then does strife cease.1 We’re talking the negative impact of being a contentious person. How to Live Satisfied and Gain Victory Over Strife, that’s our focus today on this week’s Light on Life.

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What is Carnal Minded and How to Grow Out of It?

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How to Crucify Carnality and Live a Happy Life

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Thirty-Two

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How to Crucify Carnality and Live a Happy Life

Carnality isn’t a comfortable topic for followers of Jesus, and it becomes even more challenging when we talk about “crucifying” it. Yet, crucifying our carnality is key to a truly happy life. The Bible lays out the keys to real life in Jesus, and who doesn’t want that kind of genuine happiness? The problem arises when there’s a mixture of affections. Many love Jesus, but also indulge in the sins of the world. This creates misery, and happiness evades them. Francis Chan said, “It’s like loving lemonade and Frappuccino and drinking from both instead of one or the other. It will make you sick. Loving the world and loving God will make you miserable.”1 Some things just don’t mix, like oil and water. While some things complement each other, other mixtures are toxic. The interests of the world and God are contradictory; spiritual life and carnality are the same way. They are mutually exclusive. First Corinthians 10:21 states, “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too.” Therefore, the path to real happiness and genuine spirituality involves cutting off the carnal component – what the Bible calls “crucifying.” This week’s Light on Life podcast tackles this very subject: “How to Crucify Carnality and Live a Happy Life.”

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The Importance of Knowing Where Your Faith Lies

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Why Tremendous Liberty Is Found Only in Jesus

Encore Podcast: Light on Life Season 12 Episode 26

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Freedom Insights from the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus

True liberty is found only in Jesus, a truth revealed in Romans. As we celebrate Independence Day here in the United States, the concept of freedom looms more pronounced than ever. The overturning of Roe V Wade a few years ago was a historic moment, sparking protests from those who saw it as an infringing on freedom of choice. But is the freedom to choose all there is to freedom? Romans 8:2 says, ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.’ Only Jesus offers real liberty from sin and death. Why God’s Tremendous Liberty Is Only Found in Jesus, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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#S2-027: What It Means to Walk After the Spirit and Not the Flesh [Podcast]

[Tweet, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ will set anyone on any day free from the law of sin and death.”]

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Valuable Lessons From Instructive And Inspiring Healing Testimonies

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Twenty-One

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Valuable Lessons From Instructive And Inspiring Healing Testimonies

Testimony’s of God’s delivering power are both thrilling and awe inspiring to hear especially the divine healing variety. In today’s podcast, we will try to dissect one such healing testimony. It is a little different from our normal podcasts. Now, this testimony that I am getting ready to share is not the one we are going to be examining but it’s cool none the less to see our Great God at work. Tyler Clarensau, fifteen, shuffled to the altar in Park Crest Assembly of God in Springfield, Missouri, to ask for healing. The surgery he’d had to correct his malformed knee joints had left him with swelling and terrible pain. Forty Pentecostal teenagers formed a circle around Clarensau and began to pray. Gradually, the whole congregation joined in. Some forty-five minutes later, silence fell. Then one of the church volunteers announced that God had healed Clarensau. Clarensau shakily stood up, then did deep knee bends—something he hadn’t accomplished in years. Today Clarensau can walk—even run. “I’d heard about people getting healed,” he says. “I thought it was pretty cool. But I didn’t know for sure about such healing until it happened to me.”1 Healing can happen to you. You can receive God’s restoring touch from heaven as well as learn from others who have already experienced God in this way. Valuable Lessons From Instructive And Inspiring Healing Testimonies, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why Your Miracle Testimony Gives Glory to God

It doesn’t cost to walk close to Jesus, it pays and, really, it’s in your heart to do so. Share on X
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Why Faith and Patience Makes You Victorious

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Nineteen

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Why Faith and Patience Makes You Victorious

Have you ever pretended to be patient? Perhaps the partner you were courting kept you waiting or a colleague delayed the start of the meeting. You smiled and told the person that it didn’t matter as you prided yourself on your calm endurance. But patience is not just blind resignation to unavoidable facts. During the shock and numbness of tragedy, many adopt a fatalistic acceptance that whatever will be, will be. But that acceptance is made in defeat rather than in hope. The patience that God wants to build in us must be more dynamic than resignation to the inevitable; it must be authenticated by true peace.1 Patience that depends on a particular temperament or personality is doomed to failure. There was an impatience survey of 1,003 adults done in 2006 by the Associated Press and Ipsos and they discovered: While waiting in line at an office or store, most people take an average of seventeen minutes to lose their patience. On hold on the phone? — most people lose their patience in nine minutes. Women lost their patience after waiting in line for about eighteen minutes. Men lost it after fifteen minutes. People with lower income and less education are more patient than those with a college education and a high income. That’s what the survey said. People who live in the suburbs are more patient than people who live in the city.2 I put the link in the podcast notes for this survey. We need patience the inspired writer of Hebrews declares so that we can inherit God’s promises. That’s why it’s vital for us to take a look at Why Faith and Patience Makes You Victorious all on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why Should You Embrace Patience to Overcome Trials? – [James 1:2-4]

Staying power or hang in there power when dealing with tests and trials designed by the enemy should be our calling card. Share on X
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How You Can Talk Your Way Into Faith and Healing

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Thirteen

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How You Can Talk Your Way Into Faith and Healing

There are some who have not realized that they can talk their way into a place of faith if they need healing for your body. There is a marvelous truth here concerning the dynamics of trusting God and understanding how His Word works in our spirits. Faith comes by hearing and it doesn’t matter whom you are hearing from. Whether you are hearing your pastor teach, or your Sunday School teacher, or a favorite faithful minister of God’s timeless Word on TV or radio, faith comes by hearing. There are so many ways you can hear the Word in this digital age. You can listen to healing scriptures on YouTube. Why, there are even Bible apps that will play the Word for your hearing. I have several audio book versions of the Word of God. I play them in my car as I am traveling hither and thither. But in this podcast, we are going to look in on a particular woman and how she schooled herself into faith. We’re going to come to know a wonderful truth that you can build yourself up in faith by hearing the Word of God come out of your own mouth. Faith comes by hearing. How You Can Talk Your Way Into Faith and Healing, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Manifestation of the Gift of Faith

If you have been sick for a long time know that God put this story of the Woman with the Issue of Blood in the gospels just for you. If this woman's faith made her well, your faith can make you well. Share on X
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Why Your God Given Vision Makes You Special

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Two

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Why Your God Given Vision Makes You Special

Looking at the life of Jesus, it becomes evident that he possessed a clear vision that directed all his actions. He serves as an exemplary figure in this regard. This vision was bestowed upon him by his Father God in heaven. Similarly, God desires for you to have a well-defined purpose in life. It is crucial that you navigate your path based on the dreams that reside within your heart. Additionally, it is essential to safeguard the vision that God has instilled in you once it has emerged within your heart. Many obstacles will attempt to discourage you from embracing this divine vision. The Lord gave you. Here’s one example. It started like so many evenings. Mom and Dad at home and Jimmy playing after dinner. Mom and Dad were absorbed with jobs and did not notice the time. It was a full moon and some of the light seeped through the windows. Then Mom glanced at the clock. “Jimmy, it’s time to go to bed. Go up now and I’ll come and settle you later.” Unlike usual, Jimmy went straight upstairs to his room. An hour or so later his mother came up to check if all was well, and to her astonishment found that her son was staring quietly out of his window at the moonlit scenery. “What are you doing, Jimmy?” “I’m looking at the moon, Mommy.” “Well, it’s time to go to bed now.” As one reluctant boy settled down, he said, “Mommy, you know one day I’m going to walk on the moon.” Who could have known that the boy in whom the dream was planted that night would survive a near fatal motorbike crash which broke almost every bone in his body, and would bring to fruition this dream 32 years later when James Irwin stepped on the moon’s surface, just one of the 12 representatives of the human race to have done so?1 James Irwin had challenges to the vision in his heart but he overcame them and so can you. Why Your God Given Vision Makes You Special, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why God’s Love and Direction Are a Match Made in Heaven

Aren’t you glad Jesus fulfilled the vision for His life? Know that here are people right now on Planet Earth, who are going to feel the same way about you for filling your vision for your life. Share on X
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Why It’s Essential To Operate In God’s Stunning Wisdom

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Fifty-Three

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Why It’s Essential To Operate In God’s Stunning Wisdom

In order to maintain our connection with God’s wisdom, it is crucial for us to also recognize and understand the wisdom of the world, which opposes it. Solomon’s life serves as a powerful example of how even the wisest person can become a fool if they do not continue to walk with God. Despite being blessed with immense wisdom and understanding beyond measure, Solomon eventually strayed from the path of the Lord and committed evil acts. This foolishness, or folly, as described in the Scriptures, is something we should strive to avoid. That is why, in this week’s episode of Light on Life, our main focus will be Why It’s Essential To Operate In God’s Stunning Wisdom all on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why Your Powerful Victory Over Satan’s Wisdom Is Certain

God’s wisdom to believers — is a precious treasure because we have the mind of Christ. Share on X
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Why Growth Is An Essential Mindset For Jesus Followers

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Fifty-One

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Why Growth Is An Essential Mindset For Jesus Followers

As with any earthly parent, the expectation of God, our Heavenly Father, is that His children grow. Now, that’s a valid expectation because that’s how God wired creation in the first place. All of creation grows. It never stops growing. Way back in Genesis when God said, let there be light, that was actually a statement of growth. When God spoke those words, light propelled forward from inside of Himself at the magnificent speed of 186,000 miles a second. Light has never stopped traveling, never stopped growing since that day. It’s no surprise that things grow. One day a lady asked a question of her landscape gardener. The question caught him off guard. “Will you say that again, ma’am,” said the landscape gardener? The lady-of-the-house waved her hand to include several acres of the woodland she was having landscaped. This is what the lady said — “I want a picture of how it will all look when it’s finished—fish pond and rose garden included. Could it look like this picture in Better Homes and Gardens?” The gardener replied, “Hard to say, you know, we’re dealing here with living things. I can show you a pattern, I guess, but these things grow. Okay? So you’re going to have to keep on planting, cultivating, and trimming. Who’s to say what it will look like some day? It’s just never going to get finished growing!” … “I had no idea I was hiring a philosopher,” [my friend] said over coffee. “But that little speech reminded me that growth doesn’t stop when we reach our full height.” 1 We’re talking about growth today. Why Growth Is An Essential Mindset For Jesus Followers all on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why Jesus Shocking Bread of Life Statement is the Only Way to Heaven

Bible reading is not just about gaining knowledge, it’s about providing food for your spirit man so that your spirit man can grow. Share on X
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What Does A Spiritually Mature Jesus Follower Look Like?

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Fifty

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What Does A Spiritually Mature Jesus Follower Look Like?

What does a spiritually mature Jesus follower look like? Great question, right? If we are asking — ‘what does a mature believer look like? — it stands to reason that there must be a picture somewhere that we can compare to. How else would you be able to measure yourself? In the physical world, a tape measure is a must when you need an accurate measurement. How long is that bolt that you need? About 4 inches? Maybe 5? If you need one that is exactly 4 inches, you’ll need an exact measurement. If you’re trying to set a piece of furniture in your house, do you just wing it or do you measure? A random measurement is not effective when you need to be precise. Take this idea over into our spiritual life. Do we live our live’s randomly? Are we just coming to church and winging maturity? Is there a way to measure our maturity in Christ accurately? There must be — after all, we’re talking the Creator of the Universe here. The one who according to Job [26:7], stretched out the north over the empty places and hung the world on nothing. God never wings anything so a random measurement is simply not His style. So in the Bible, God laid out for us how we are to gauge spiritual maturity. What are the fundamentals of Christian growth? In Hebrews, God gives us six elementary precise principles all tied up for us in chapter six. Throughout the rest of the Word of God, we are given other benchmarks like, a thankful heart for example, or your body as a house of prayer, or the joy of the Lord as a measure of strength. There are other bull eyes to hit of course. We may get into some of them later on. These measured pictures are in place so that we can lift our eyes and look upward. The images of maturity are available — God took the guess work out of it for us.1 So in this podcast, we are going to take a walk on the mature side of the Jesus life as we endeavor to answer the question, ‘What Does A Spiritually Mature Jesus Follower Look Like?’ All on this week’s Light on Life.

What is Carnal Minded and How to Grow Out of It?

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Spiritual maturity is the destination on the ‘yellow brick road’ of Holy Spirit life. Share on X
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Why Quality Decisions Can Positively Frame a Better Tomorrow

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Forty-Nine

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Why Quality Decisions Can Positively Frame a Better Tomorrow

Quality decisions, good God honoring choices, frame the future. You are where you are today because of the decisions you made yesterday. On her golden wedding anniversary, a certain grandmother revealed the secret of her long and happy marriage. “On my wedding day, I decided to choose ten of my husband’s faults which, for the sake of our marraige, I would overlook,” she explained. A guest asked her to name some of the faults. “To tell the truth,” she replied, “I never did get around to listing them. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, ‘Lucky for him that’s one of the ten.’”1 You see this grandmother made a decision and stuck to it so much that she realized fifty successful years happily married to the same man. You are today the total of the decisions, commitments, goals, and systems you made yesterday. You may think, wow, “I’m not a good place today — life is messed up for me right now.” Well, here’s some good news for you. God is a good God and the game of life is not over yet. As long as you have breath in your lungs, you can make different decision that will frame your tomorrow. Why Quality Decisions Can Positively Frame a Better Tomorrow, that’s our focus on today’s edition of Light on Life.

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The Role of the Spirit in the Life of A Believer

Walking in love is a decision and not a feeling. God’s love is not an emotion. It’s a policy. Share on X
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What Tools Do You Need to Pray for Others?

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Forty-Seven

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What Tools Do You Need to Pray for Others

Today, we are going to examine some tools that are declared for us in the Word to God to help us with our prayer lives. The Lord did not just leave us on our own in these matters. The Word of God contains distinct prayer principles that we should become acquainted with. You know your enemy has some tools as well. Tools that will hinder your prayer endeavors. One gentleman said that he read once that the Devil was having a yard sale, and all of his tools were marked with different prices. They were a fiendish lot. There was hatred, jealously, deceit, lying, pride—all at expensive prices. But over to the side of the yard on display was a tool more obviously worn than any of the other tools. It was also the most costly. The tool was labeled, DISCOURAGEMENT. When questioned, the Devil said, “It’s more useful to me than any other tool. When I can’t bring down my victims with any of the rest of these tools, I use discouragement, because so few people realize that it belongs to me.”1 The enemy uses discouragement as a tool especially when answers to prayer are not manifesting as fast as we think they should. Of course, it’s easy for us to have opinions on such matters. This is where the Word of God helps us. And that’s why we are focusing today on “What Tools Do You Need to Pray for Others” all on this week’s Light on Life.

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[Tweet “Praying for the rulers and leaders of your nation is both right and pleasing in the sight of God.“]