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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Why You Need God’s Protection in a World Gone Nuts

Podcast: Light on Life Season Eleven Episode Two

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Why You Need God’s Protection in a World Gone Nuts

The faithfulness of the Lord to protect and guard His kids from evil comes into view in today’s podcast. You need God’s protection! We know that God is faithful and reliable in these areas. The question and challenge here is ‘Are we allowing and depending on Him in this area?’ We should understand our part of the faithfulness equation. We are encouraged greatly along these lines. God’s Word speaks about being faithful to the Word, faithful in the small areas of our charge as well as being faithful when we are entrusted with more. All of this encouragement to faithfulness points to that day when we hope to hear the Lord say to us “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Man, I really want to hear those words.” I want to trust Him in all my ways. As the psalmist declared, ‘Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.’ In October 1993, police sharpshooters in Rochester, New York, surrounded a car. In the backseat of the car was a man with a rifle. The police attempted to negotiate with the man. No answer. The police watched and waited. No movement. Finally the police discovered the truth: The armed man in the backseat was a mannequin. When the authorities tracked down the owner of the car, he told them he keeps the mannequin in his car for protection. “You’ve got to do this,” he said. “With the car-jackings, it helps if it looks like you’ve got a passenger.” These are dangerous times. Whom do you rely on for protection? A mannequin or the Mighty One?1 Having faith in His faithfulness to protect is the thought today. Why You Need God’s Protection in a World Gone Nuts, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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How To Put On And Step Out With The Whole Armor Of God

You can experience His faithfulness. But, it all starts with the Word. Accept His Word and you will experience His manner and ways. Click To Tweet
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Why Powerful Prayer to Advance the Gospel Is Right

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Fifty-Two

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Why Powerful Prayer to Advance the Gospel Is Right

Powerful prayer is our season ending, year ending focus today. You know, this is the time of the year where people look forward to the dawning of a new year. With that, they become reflective. They become goal oriented because they realize that the currents of the past year led them to places that they were not happy being. Some of these new year type resolutions deal with course corrections. You know, making a clean, fresh start. The prospect of heading in a direction they knew they should have been going all along buoys them. It’s a hopeful, energizing time, this New Year’s piece. We should encourage it along. The Lord knows we need all the help that we can get. Now, you know how this New Year’s celebration works, right? On the last day of the year at the stroke of midnight in Times Square in New York City, multitudes cheer, horns sound, whistles blow, and people laugh and cry for joy. Amidst the celebration are the shouts of “Happy New Year!” This spectacle is repeated in succession in the various time zones from the Atlantic Seaboard to the far western reaches of Hawaii. We say, “A New Year has come!”

Now what?

Are all things right now that clock has struck 12 on December 31st with your freshly minted resolution in hand? Of course not, the stroke of the hour simply has marked the dawning of another day. Once the fireworks are spent and the confetti has fallen, you are left with your naked decision: “I’m going to read the Bible through in a year” You must ace this.

If you don’t fall back into the same old rut. No, years become new only if we make them so. Resolutions for new days, new beginnings, opportunities, and dreams are not to be made only in the moment’s excitement; but long after the glamor is gone these resolutions are to become the order of each day. This is the stuff of life.

What if you can’t think of a resolution of consideration? Might I suggest one?

As we move on to 2 Thessalonians 3:1–2, we come upon Paul’s request for prayer so that the gospel could quickly move forward. Do you think that might be a resolution worthy of consideration? Pray that the gospel would go forward quicker than ever before? Do you think this is a resolution you can carry forward into a new year and maybe beyond that? Why such a resolution — well first, you have Bible for it — that’s what Paul did. Second, you are a lover of God’s Word and you cherish it to such a degree that you want others to hear this good news. Third, you highly esteem the heavy price God paid that we might have it. Is there a chance that this year is the year where you lay aside selfish ambition and allow God’s will to become supreme? Is this the year you elevate the perpetuation of the gospel to its rightful place in your life? Well, those are good questions. So let’s home in on Why Powerful Prayer to Advance the Gospel Is Right — that’s our focus on this year end episode of Light on Life.

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Did You Know that A Good God Has A Good Plan For Your Life?

The gospel is foot-powered. Prayer propels this foot power to its optimum speed. Click To Tweet
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Reasons Why People Fail to Receive From God

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Fifty-One

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Reasons Why People Fail to Receive From God

In today’s podcast, we want to look at some reasons prayer is unanswered. Or, we could say it this way – why some fail to receive from God. William Wilberforce and some of his contemporaries started enormous social reforms in England. This group accomplished it by dedicating a significant amount of time to prayer and consistently devoting three hours to prayer each day. They organized Christians throughout the country to unite in special prayer before critical debates in Parliament. They knew and persistently proved the power of prayer. William Temple replied to his critics who regarded answered prayer as only coincidence, ‘When I pray, coincidences happen; when I don’t, they don’t. Our Lord’s disciples’ request is probably our most needed prayer: “Lord, teach us to pray.”1 So, that’s a terrific testimony to the power of God’s Word. You can receive answers to prayer. But, what’s the deal when you don’t receive an answer, when you pray and nothing happens? Reasons Why People Fail to Receive From God, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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How to Get to Be the Strong Man God Wants You to Be

To consistently receive from God, you must consistently be fully persuaded concerning God’s Word. Click To Tweet
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Why Jesus Proven Second Coming Produces Ironclad Hope

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-Nine

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Why Jesus Proven Second Coming Produces Ironclad Hope

Hope is a marvelous and essential part of the power triplets, faith, hope, and love. The Lord provides hope and a way of escape in perilous times as the light grows darker among those who refuse to believe. He did such a thing in Noah’s day when the world was even darker than it is right now. God provided hope and a way of escape via the Ark that He commanded Noah to build. There’s a humorous story detailing the Ark building process. Here it is. And the Lord said unto Noah: “Where is the ark which I have commanded you to build?” And Noah said unto the Lord: “Truly, I have had three carpenters off sick. The gopher-wood supplier has let me down—yea, even though the gopher wood has been on order for over 12 months. What can I do, O Lord?” And God said unto Noah: “I want that ark finished even after seven days and seven nights.” And Noah said: “It will be so.” And it was not so. And the Lord said unto Noah: “What seems to be the trouble this time?” And Noah said unto the Lord: “My subcontractor has gone bankrupt. The pitch which you commanded me to put on the outside and on the inside of the ark has not arrived. The plumber has gone on strike. Shem, my son who helped me on the ark side of the business, has formed a pop group with his brothers Ham and Japheth. Lord, I am undone.” And the Lord grew angry and said: “And what about the animals, the male and the female of every sort that I ordered to come to you to keep their seed alive upon the face of the earth?” And Noah said: “They have been delivered to the wrong address but should arrive on Friday.” And the Lord said: “How about the unicorns, and the fowls of the air by sevens?” And Noah wrung his hands and wept, saying: “Lord, unicorns are a discontinued line; you can’t get them for love or money. And fowls of the air are sold only in half-dozens, Lord. Lord, you know how it is.” And the Lord in His wisdom said: “Noah, my son, I know. Why else do you think I have caused a flood to descend upon the earth?”1 Now, hopefully, that put a needed smile on your face. In today’s podcast, we take a look at the actual way hope and deliverance come via the simple expectation of Jesus Return. Why Jesus Proven Second Coming Produces Ironclad Hope, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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What’s So Important about the Days of Noah?

The Second Coming is a future event hidden by time and the will of the Father God. Click To Tweet
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Why God’s Amazing Dynamic Deliverance Is Coming Your Way

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-Eight

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Why God’s Amazing Dynamic Deliverance Is Coming Your Way

In this week’s podcast, we are talking about God’s amazing dynamic deliverance from the standpoint of expectation. We know what to expect from the Lord when evil persecutes God’s own children. There is going to be a response. We can thank God for this response, ahead of time. We know what will happen. It’s a law in the universe. The farmer who plants certain seeds knows what to expect. He knows he will reap what he sows. He may not know exactly how many bushels of corn he’ll get to an acre, but he knows it will all result from the seeds he planted. That is an unbreakable law of nature: we reap what we sow, but we can never know exactly how much the harvest will be. This also holds true in the spiritual realm. We find immutable laws of sowing and reaping there as well. I know some people try to deny the existence of such a realm as the Kingdom of God. They are like moles who are ignorant of the existence of the sunlit world because they are blind.1 Why God’s Amazing Dynamic Deliverance Is Coming Your Way, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why Jesus Substitutionary Death is the Greatest Exchange Ever

When Christians are persecuted and Jesus’ followers are ridiculed and mocked, know that God's response is a prophetic happening. Click To Tweet
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What Does a Spiritually Healthy Jesus Follower Look Like to God?

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-Seven

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What Does a Spiritually Healthy Jesus Follower Look Like to God?

In today’s podcast, we are talking about spiritual health. Naturally, people go to doctors to get checkups because they want to make sure their health is up to par. The same ‘check-up’ idea works for believers in Jesus. How’s your health — your spiritual health, that is? Are you growing in God? Are you closer to Jesus? Do you want to know Him better? Here’s an example of a healthy growing believer.

Have you heard the story of Charlie Riggs? Over 50 years ago, Charlie Riggs came to Christ and Lorne Sanny, a young man being discipled by Dawson Trotman, discipled him. Charlie was willing to grow in Christ, but he was rough around the edges and didn’t seem very promising as a Christian leader. When Lorne wrote to Dawson, he told him that Charlie Riggs was the only man he was working with and he felt discouraged by the prospects. Trotman wrote back and said, “Stay with your man. You never know what God will do with him.” So, Lorne Sanny continued to work with Charlie Riggs. A few years passed and a young man named Billy Graham came on the scene. In 1952, the Navigators “loaned” Charlie Riggs to the Graham team to handle the follow-up in their early crusades. He planned to return to the Navigators, eventually. However, he worked out so well that he stayed with Billy Graham. In 1957, on the eve of the famous New York City crusade at Madison Square Garden, the crusade director suddenly had to be replaced. Who could they get? The lay chairman suggested Charlie Riggs, but Billy Graham wasn’t sure if he could handle the job. “All he does is pray and quote Scripture.” The layman insisted, Charlie Riggs got the job, and the rest is history. The New York campaign became a model for the many crusades that would follow in later years. Billy Graham said, “I didn’t think he could do it. But I had this peace—that Charlie so depended on the Holy Spirit that I knew the Lord could do it through Charlie.” Charlie Riggs retired after many years of effective service to the Lord. What was his secret? How could a man with little formal training rise to such an influential position and hold it for so long? He says, “I always asked the Lord to put me in over my head. That way, whenever I had a task at hand, I either needed the Lord’s help or I was in trouble. He put Charlie Riggs in over his head—and then bailed him out. So many of us dads play it safe with our families. We pray only for what we think we can handle. Our answers are small because our prayers are small. Here’s a challenge. Let’s take Charlie Riggs’ prayer as our own: “Lord, put me in over my head.” It’s safer to stay in shallow water where you can always feel the bottom under your feet, but the real challenge is to jump in where the water comes up over your head. What are the challenges we face when we’re in over our heads? Job changes, teenagers, college costs and church schedules, to name a few. How about it, dads? Are you ready for some excitement? I am. Let’s ask God to put us in over our heads. And then, let’s watch God keep us floating just when we think we’re about to sink. Are you ready to increase and become a spiritually health believer?1

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Why You Should Be Jubilantly Expecting Increase

Husbands and wives should be thanking God for one another way more than they are. Words of appreciation should flow from our lips. You will stop fussing so much with one another if you will simply give thanks. Click To Tweet
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Why Repetition Is a Vital Need for Godly Spiritual Growth

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-Six

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Why Repetition Is a Vital Need for Godly Spiritual Growth

Repetition is a key tool for spiritual growth and development. the same can be said for natural growth as well. Last week, we closed out our look at Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians. But, did you know that shortly after Paul, Silas, and Timothy co-wrote the first letter, this dynamic trio wrote a second? Are you also aware that in the second letter, these marvelous missionaries both repeat and expand on the contents of the first letter? Why did they repeat themselves? Wasn’t one letter enough to get the job done? You may have heard a parent sternly express to their child, ‘I told you to do so and so and I am not in the habit of repeating myself.’ If this approach has some traction in the area of child development, why didn’t the Spirit of God use this same approach? Well, employing sternness is not the best learning method. Developmental growth takes patient repetition. This is a vital tool in helping Jesus followers grow into the image of God which is why we are focusing on this theme in this podcast. Why Repetition Is a Vital Need for Godly Spiritual Growth. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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How Praise Powers You to Remarkable God-Style Growth

Faith is the language of heaven and since it is there are many verses that encourage a trusting lifestyle-type relationship between you and your heavenly Father.
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Why It’s Right to Embrace Prophecies in the Local Church

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-Two

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Why It’s Right to Embrace Prophecies in the Local Church

In today’s podcast, we take a look at prophecies in the local church. Now, the simple gift of prophecy is speaking unto men for edification, exhortation, and comfort. Sometimes this gift of the Spirit goes hand in hand with some of the other gifts listed in First Corinthians twelve. Check this story out from the life of John Wesley for example. Wesley was not an advocate of sensationalism in preaching. But on one occasion, he interrupted his own sermon and shouted, “Lord, is Saul also among the prophets? Is James Watson here? If he be, show Thy power!” And James Watson dropped to the floor and began to cry loudly for God’s mercy!1 Wesley called this man’s name out when he didn’t even know who this man was — the result of this remarkable manifestation was the salvation of that man. There’s a story where Charles Spurgeon, at a Monday evening prayer meeting, suddenly interrupted his sermon, pointed in a certain direction, and said, “Young man, those gloves you are wearing have not been paid for; you have stolen them from your employer!” After the meeting, a young man came to the vestry and begged to see Spurgeon. Pale and trembling, the young man confessed that he had stolen the gloves he was wearing! He promised never to steal again and begged Spurgeon not to expose him to his employer.2 Manifestations of the Spirit — Gifts of the Spirit — Prophecies that come from the Spirit — that’s our focus today. Why It’s Right to Embrace Prophecies in the Local Church all on this week’s Light on Life.

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Being Filled with the Spirit

[Tweet “Receiving the Baptism of the Spirit with the evidence of speaking with tongues is an experience separate from salvation.”]

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Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty-One

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Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God

If you want to know how to grow up spiritually, if your heart desires to know what God’s will is for your life, you’ve come to the right place today. On the heels of knowing God’s will, comes this illustrative story from the lips of F.B. Meyer. Myer was a Baptist Pastor and Evangelist whose life spanned England’s 19th and 20th centuries. When crossing the Irish Channel one dark starless night, F. B. Meyer stood on the deck by the captain and asked him, “How do you know Holyhead Harbor on so dark a night as this?” He said, “You see those three lights? Those three must line up behind each other as one, and when we see them so united we know the exact position of the harbor’s mouth.”1 We are going to see in this week’s podcast that there are three things — three lights if you would — that have to line up in your life to be able to guide your ship into the harbor of God’s will. Three Things You Can Do To Operate in the Will of God. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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The Value of Casting Your Care on the Lord

[Tweet “All Jesus’ followers should rejoice, pray, and give thanks.”]

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Why Doing Righteous Good Instead of Taking Revenge Is The Jesus Way

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Forty

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Why Doing Righteous Good Instead of Taking Revenge Is The Jesus Way

The Word of God warns us against the idea of revenge, taking matters into our own hands, paying evil for evil, or any other similar phraseology. Plotting your revenge against someone who has wronged you is not the Jesus way. It leads to irrational decisions and if executed, potential life-altering results. When he was an attorney, Abraham Lincoln was once approached by a man who passionately insisted on bringing a lawsuit for $2.50 against a man who owed him some money but was totally impoverished. Lincoln tried to discourage him, but the man was bent on revenge. When he saw that the man would not be put off, Lincoln agreed to take the case and asked for a legal fee of $10, which the vengeful man paid. Lincoln then gave half the money to the impoverished man, who pled guilty to the debt and paid the vengeful man his $2.50! The funny part about it is that the man was satisfied — he got paid back with his own money!1 Lincoln was wise to deter this man’s vengeful ways and is just one example of ‘Why Doing Righteous Good Instead of Taking Revenge Is The Jesus Way.’ Understanding this is what our focus will be on this week’s Light on Life.

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Demonstrating the Glory of God

[Tweet “Revenge and retribution are not matters for the Jesus follower. They are solely to be left in the hands of God, the righteous judge.”]

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Simple Yet Effective Directives for Living the Dynamic Jesus Life

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Thirty-Seven

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Simple Yet Effective Directives for Living the Dynamic Jesus Life

The Jesus life is our focus this week. How different His life was from the normal of that day. Illustrating this Sue Monk Kidd shares the following story. “Years ago, she says, while shopping in a mall in Atlanta, I let go of my three-year-old son’s hand to examine a display of scarves. When I looked around a minute later, he was gone. In vain I searched the store aisles, panic beginning to churn in my stomach. Mall security began a search, but no one could find a riffle boy in a red Sesame Street shirt. For twenty minutes I circled the store with the manager, becoming more frantic with every loop. Finally, overwhelmed, I sank onto a bench. My child was gone. As I sat there grasping for direction, I suddenly remembered the scripture I had read that morning. Jesus, walking on the shore of Galilee, called to the disciples in their boat, “Haven’t you any fish?” (John 21:4–6). “No,” they answered. Then Jesus said a curious thing. “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” They tossed their nets on the opposite side and could scarcely haul them in for all the fish. At first, the verses seemed irrelevant to my missing child. Then suddenly, I sat straight up. If I want to figure out where a three-year-old would go, I thought, I need to think like a three-year-old. In other words, I should cast my net on the “other side” of the boat. I should come at the problem from a different angle, with a new vision. All at once it was as if the needle on an inner record player were lifted out of an old groove, and a whole new piece of music began to play. I walked to a children’s shoe store we had visited earlier. There, beside a replica of Big Bird of Sesame Street, I found my son. My nets were full. The verses in John that helped me find my son taught me that creative solutions are fished out of the cistern of our own being only when we break away from rusted, familiar ways of experiencing life and dare to approach it in unique ways.1 We are talking about living the Jesus life today: Simple Yet Effective Directives for Living the Dynamic Jesus Life. All on this week’s Light on Life.

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Keys to A Happy Heart

[Tweet “If your desire is to live the Jesus life — that is live life like He lived it, then you must be an encourager.“]

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Why Grief Is a Killer and How You Can Side Step This Deadly Foe

Podcast: Light on Life Season Ten Episode Thirty-Three

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Why Grief Is a Killer and How You Can Side Step This Deadly Foe

Paul writing to the Thessalonians addresses the subject of believers falling asleep in Jesus and the toxic grief that was occurring because of these deaths. The following illustration speaks to this thought. You know fifty years ago, industrialists thought they could just bury toxic waste and it would go away. We have since learned it doesn’t just go away. Toxic waste leaks into the water table contaminates crops, and kills animals. Buried grief does the same thing. Raw time doesn’t heal a thing. Buried pain leaks into our emotional system and wreaks havoc there. It distorts our perceptions of life, and it taints our relationships. That contamination happens subconsciously.1 You’ve heard the expression ‘time heals all wounds.’ I’m happy to bust the bubble on that. It’s misinformation — it’s incorrect — don’t believe it. Time is not the healer — Jesus is. Why Grief Is a Killer and How You Can Side Step This Deadly Foe. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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#S2-035: Why Calvary is the Home of the Double Cure [Podcast]

[Tweet “It’s not okay to be swallowed up with grief or be down in the dumps with depression or be continuously sad.”]