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Why You Should Be Best Friends with Books [Encore]

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God believes in books. He believes in you reading them. That should not be a ‘wow’ statement to you. He is the author of the most extraordinary book ever written, the Bible. It is the number one seller on planet earth! He wants you to read it often, even daily. It is your contact with Him and your gateway to freedom. The Bible details the way to God, the way to heaven, and the way to success in life. Many books have been written about the Bible. They are aids to help you understand this most exceptional book. Here are some thoughts to help you engage this material in your everyday life.

[Tweet “You cannot be effective for God and think junky thoughts.”]

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#S3-032: Why It’s Important to Pray for Government [Podcast]

How to Increase the Presence of God in Your Everyday Life

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Tony Campolo, in his book ‘Stories that Feed the Soul’ says these words about the will of God. “Each of us is here by divine appointment. God looks upon each and every person as a parent looks on a growing child, and is filled with specific hopes and plans for each of us. Every person is viewed by God as a unique creation with a special calling. There is something special that God wants to do through you. There is some specific good that God wills for each person who is brought into the world, and if you do not do the good that you were ordained to do, something wonderful will be left undone. Your calling may not be to do something great in the eyes of the world, but what the world calls little is great if God is in it. 1 It’s our part to flow with the will of God. And one of these areas of His will concerns the church praying for government according to 1 Timothy 2:1-4.

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[Tweet “God’s arranging Jesus Second Coming. Our part is to pray in line with His purpose.”]

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What is the Answer to Legalism?

An Introduction to the Epistle to the Galatians

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Legalism teaches that in order to get to heaven, you must obey the law of God and live a good life. In other words, your good deeds will get you into heaven. I once served as a trainer for Evangelism Explosion, taking trainees out into the community once or twice a week, talking to people, and asking the diagnostic questions. Afterward, we correlated the answers we received. Ninety percent of the answers fell into the category of works righteousness. When we asked people what they would say if God were to ask them why He should let them enter heaven, most people replied, “I’ve lived a good life,” “I gave a tithe to the church,” “I worked with the Boy Scouts,” or something along those lines. Their confidence rested on some kind of performance record that they had achieved. Unfortunately, a person’s works are a counterfeit basis for assurance. The Scriptures make very clear that no one is justified by the works of the law (Rom. 3:20; Gal. 3:11). 1

[Tweet “There are modern day Judaizers both of the saved and unsaved variety.”]

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#S3:031: How to Ask Questions and Stay in Humility [Podcast]

How to Increase the Presence of God in Your Everyday Life

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Today, we are picking back up with the series on increasing the Presence of God in your everyday life. The series is about adjustments, adjustments you can make in your heart. We’ve spent some time looking at this prayer adjustment as we look at the believer’s role in praying for kings and presidents and God-ordained authority. We left off talking about a second king, Nebuchadnezzar whom God set-up but then brought down because he refused to acknowledge that it was God who sets men up and takes them down when they don’t act right. Nebuchadnezzar, as we saw, was not acting right. he got over into pride and God took his mind from him for a seven-year period. We looked at Job who also got over into some areas he shouldn’t have gotten into over the trial he experienced. We saw how God mercifully positioned Job into a place of humility so the grace of God could resurrect him from his tragedy. We’re going to pick up right where we left off, with Job, Nebuchadnezzar, and a new king that you would never have guessed that God would anoint to be king. All this and more on this week’s Light on Life.

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[Tweet “God dealing with pride in the world of men is a more common issue than we realize.”]

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What Is Legalism and Why Is It Deadly?

An Introduction to the Epistle to the Galatians

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The essence of legalism is trusting in religious activity rather than trusting in God. It is putting our confidence in a practice rather than in a Person. And without fail this will lead us to love the practice more than the Person.1 Legalism has many faces. Paul’s dealings with the Galatians over this issue was a major theme of his epistle to them. Let’s take a closer look as we continue our study on the Epistle to the Galatians.

[Tweet “Per Jesus, it’s more valuable to heal a man today than to legally wait to heal him tomorrow.”]

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#S3-030: Do You Believe in the Resurrection of Jesus? [Podcast]

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One of my favorite shows from long ago was Get Smart. It was a show about a goofy secret agent. One of the popular catch phrases for the show was ‘would you believe.’ Maxwell Smart would say when he got caught by the bad guys ‘would you believe.’ Here’s some of the dialogue. “I happen to know that at this very’ moment eight Coast Guard cutters are converging on this boat. Would you believe seven? Six? How about two cops in a rowboat?” Or, At this very minute, 25 Control agents are converging on this building. Would you believe two squad cars and a motorcycle cop? How about a vicious street cleaner and a toothless police dog? Or, I once trained a girl to swim across the English Channel five times. Would you believe four times? Would you believe three times across the Mississippi? How about twice around the bathtub? Once around the bathtub? Or, in a short while, General Crawford and a hundred of his crack paratroopers will come crashing into this landing. Would you believe J. Edgar Hoover and I0 of his G-men? How about Tarzan and a couple of apes? Bomba, the Jungle Boy? Or, at this very moment 100 highway patrolmen with Doberman pinschers are surrounding this entire area. Would you believe four deputies and a bloodhound? How about a Boy Scout with rabies? The question arises ‘do you believe in the Resurrection of Jesus? Do you believe it just like the Bible says it or are you believing a watered down ‘Maxwell Smart’ version of the events surrounding Jesus death?

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[Tweet “What death did to Jesus is nothing compared to what Jesus did to death.”]

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Do You Look Like the Galatians?

An Introduction to the Epistle to the Galatians

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Most commentators would agree that quotations from the Jewish Scriptures play a key role in the argumentation of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. From there, it is only a short step to the conclusion that the Galatians possessed a fairly broad knowledge of the Jewish Scriptures.1 How’s your knowledge of these same scriptures? In this series on the Epistle to the Galatians, we will take a verse by verse look at Paul’s strong case for justification by faith and how that helps us in our everyday life.

[Tweet “Certain sins exist in every city. Whatever is going in the world often gets into the church.”]

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#S3-029: Why God Sets Up the Lowest of Men as Authority [Podcast]

How to Increase the Presence of God in Your Everyday Life

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In the last podcast in this series, ‘How Do You Pray for A President You Don’t Agree With?‘ we referenced Cyrus, an ungodly leader, whom God allowed to ascend the throne. Cyrus was a man full of pride. He was a false god worshiper. He was not a lover of the only true Father God in heaven. He treated Him just like any of the other gods of the nations he conquered. God used his religious tolerance policies to His own advantage bringing Israel back to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity. In this week’s podcast, we begin to take a look at a second king whom God allowed to come to power, Nebuchadnezzar.

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[Tweet “The best candidate for President may be the most inferior as far as God is concerned.”]

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Encore Post: How to Be Up In A Down World

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The world is a negative place. Just turn on the nightly news if you doubt it. I very rarely tune into the news because of this. You can protect yourself from all the gloominess but it takes some work. If you aren’t proactive, it’s easy to be swept away in the tidal wave of negativity around you. Jack Nicholson said, “In my last year of school, I was voted Class Optimist and Class Pessimist. Looking back, I realize I was only half right.1 No matter which half are you, you can grow. You can be an up person in a down world.

[Tweet “They say a mind is a terrible thing to waste. The same is true of your heart.”]

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#S3-028: Encore Episode: How To Release Your Faith With Words [Podcast]

Real Bible Faith: How It Works

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Medicine at Work, published by the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, has stressed the critical importance of words spoken in surgery. As the anesthetic is given for surgery, deadly fear may strike the patient when he hears someone say, “I’m going to shoot him now,” or, “Hook up the monitor.” “Monitor” to the drugged patient may sound like “monster.” Or a doctor may declare in disgust, “This isn’t my day!” Dr. Paul J. Moses told a medical audience in San Francisco that “the same directions given by two different physicians could help or fail.” One doctor’s voice, Dr. Moses suggested, might make the medicine work, but the other’s might reveal doubt and the medicine would fail. 1 Words are extremely important in the realm of the faith life. Words are difference makers. They are deal breakers. Jesus said, “By Your words you are justified and by your words, you’re condemned” (Matt. 12:37). In this week’s Light on Life, we are going to take a look at the importance of words and their connection to the faith life.

This is part two of the Series entitled, ‘Real Bible Faith: How It Works’. You can find Part One ‘Why is Faith Important and Who Has It? [Podcast]‘ here.

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[Tweet “Circumstances have a voice and once they speak they need to be answered with the Word.”]

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Why Tithing Brings Great Increase and Blessing

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Did you know that 88% of people believe that the Bible teaches generosity? 1 Did you also know that one part of generosity includes giving back to God? It starts with you being generous towards Him. It starts with tithing. Some raise up with objections or comments about why they think they shouldn’t or why they can’t tithe. But, tithing works. God’s promises are true. It works just like clockwork. Here are a few points to bring an understanding of the Bible system of tithing.

[Tweet “Nothing in God is instant – nothing. You plant seeds. You wait for harvest. That’s how it works.”]

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#S3-027: How Do You Pray for A President You Don’t Agree With? [Podcast]

How to Increase the Presence of God in Your Everyday Life

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Praying for your President, or the leader of your nation is the obligation of every child of God. In the area of prayer, there are many good Bible principles to learn and incorporate like Matthew 5:44. One of these principles is praying for people as opposed to praying against them. What we often do is they bring our sense of what we think is right, politically, into the Throne Room. Our sense, at times, is incorrect. We are not the standard of right. Jesus is.  Unless we have scripture for what we say we believe, then all we have is opinion. Be careful in these areas. How do you know that God holds your viewpoint? You just assumed that God is Republican. He’s not. You assumed God is Democrat. He’s not. He’s nineteen thousand billion miles above all of that. So, when praying for your president learn to pray the Plan not your Passions. We are workers together with God. Find out from Him what you should pray for. That’s where the hearing part comes in. God wants to hear His word in your mouth.

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[Tweet “We have incorrectly thought if we pray ‘for a wicked ruler’ we are condoning their behavior.”]