Why Callousness and Sensuality Are Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus

Podcast: Light on Life Season Nine Episode Thirty-One

Why Callousness and Sensuality Are Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus

Callousness in the spiritual life, what is it? Sensuality? Why is it deadly? According to God, in Ephesians four, these are two traits that are not to be named among Jesus followers. These two traits are part of the life you used to live and not the abundant life you should be that Jesus gave us. Oscar Wilde rose to become the toast of London, appreciated not only for his plays, Lady Windemere’s Fan, The Ideal Husband, and The Importance of Being Earnest, and his novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, but for his grace, wit, and charm. And then, at the height of his success, his star fell. On trial at the Old Bailey, he was convicted of indecent behavior and sentenced to two years of hard labor, which ultimately broke his spirit and heart1 In one of his last two books, he wrote the following. “The gods had given me almost everything. But I let myself be lured into long spells of senseless and sensual ease…Tired of being on the heights, I deliberately went to the depths in search for new sensation. What the paradox was to me in the sphere of thought, perversity became to me in the sphere of passion. I grew careless of the lives of others. I took pleasure where it pleased me and passed on. I forgot that every little action of the common day makes or unmakes character and that, therefore, what one has done in the secret chamber, one has some day to cry aloud from the housetop. I ceased to be lord over myself. I was no longer the captain of my soul and did not know it. I allowed pleasure to dominate me. I ended in horrible disgrace.2 Oscar Wilde fell from the graces of his success because he gave into sensuality. Why Sensuality is Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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More of Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God

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Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life [Encore Podcast]

Podcast: Light on Life Season Nine Episode Thirty

Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life [Encore Podcast]Why Believing and Abiding Is the Key to the Happy Life [Encore Podcast]

Missionary pioneer J. Hudson Taylor of China was working and worrying so frantically that his health was about to break. Just when his friends feared he was near a breakdown, Taylor received a letter from fellow missionary John McCarthy that told of a discovery McCarthy had made from John 15—the joy of abiding in Christ. McCarthy’s letter said in part: Abiding, not striving nor struggling, looking off unto Him, trusting Him for present power … this is not new, and yet ’tis new to me.… Christ literally all seems to me now the power, the only power for service; the only ground for unchanging joy. As Hudson Taylor read this letter at his mission station in Chin-kiang on Saturday, September 4, 1869, his own eyes were opened. “As I read,” he recalled, “I saw it all. I looked to Jesus, and when I saw, oh how the joy flowed!”

Writing to his sister in England, he said: As to work, mine was never so plentiful, so responsible, or so difficult; but the weight and strain are all gone. The last month or more has been perhaps the happiest of my life, and I long to tell you a little of what the Lord has done for my soul.… When the agony of soul was at its height, a sentence in a letter from dear McCarthy was used to remove the scales from my eyes, and the Spirit of God revealed the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before. Believing and abiding is the key to a happy life. That’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.1

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What Are Fruitful and Unfruitful Places with God?

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Why Hardheartedness is Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 29

Why Hardheartedness is Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus

Hardheartedness is what we are focusing on in today’s episode. You know that’s not part of the Abundant Life or the High Life that Jesus references. The Abundant Life is the will of God for your life. In a classic “Peanuts” comic strip, Charlie Brown goes to Lucy for psychiatric help. He says, “What can you do when you don’t fit in? What can you do when life seems to be passing you by?” Lucy leads Charlie away from her booth and says, “Follow me. I want to show you something. See the horizon over there? See how big this world is? See how much room there is for everybody? Have you ever seen any other worlds?” Charlie replies meekly, “No.” She continues, “As far as you know, this is the only world there is…Right?” Even more meekly, Charlie says, “Right.” Lucy pressed on, “There are no other worlds for you to live in…Right?” Charlie admits, “Right.” “You were born to live in this world…Right?” “Right,” says Charlie. Lucy then explodes, “Well, live in it then! Five cents, please.” While we may disagree with Lucy’s counseling technique, we recognize she is on to something. We need to make the most of our lives and really live.1 The point is well taken. If you choose to live the Christian life, then live the abundant life found only in Jesus. Why Hardheartedness Is Not Part of the Abundant Life of Jesus. We’re going to take a look at it on this week’s Light on Life.

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When Is It Right to Fight?

[Tweet “Per Paul, we must not keep living our past life, the life we used to live when we were estranged from God.”]

More of Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 28

More of Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life

The High Life in God is the life you want to live. It’s the life you’ve been looking for. Jesus called this kind of life the ‘abundant life.’ Stanley Jones describes how eight years of strain as a missionary in India had broken him. Even after leave, he kept collapsing. He saw that his missionary career was in ruins unless he regained his health. Then during a meeting at Lucknow, while in prayer, a voice seemed to tell him to turn his problem over to the Lord. He did. A great peace settled into my heart and pervaded me. I knew it was done! Life—abundant life—had taken possession of me. I was so lifted that I scarcely touched the road as I quietly walked home that night. Every inch was holy ground. For days after that, I hardly knew I had a body. I went through the days, working all day and far into the night, and came down to bedtime wondering why I should ever go to bed, for there was no trace of tiredness of any kind. I seemed possessed by Life and Peace and Rest—by Christ himself…. I seemed to have tapped new life for body, mind, and spirit. Life was on a permanently higher level. And I had done nothing but took it!1 The High Life is what we are talking about in today’s podcast. However, we are going to look at it from an unfamiliar perspective. “Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God.” This is part two of this series and our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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When Is It Right to Fight?

[Tweet “Per Paul, we must not keep living our past life, the life we used to live when we were estranged from God.”]

Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 27

Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God

The dark life, a life apart from God, the life that you used to have before you came to Jesus, is a focus of Paul in his fourth chapter to the Ephesians. He first references the Light Life and then contrasts it with the Dark Life. In today’s podcast, we will look at the ins and outs of both kinds of life. Years ago, John F. Kennedy used this story about darkness in so many of his speeches. It concerned Colonel Davenport, the speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives. In the days before Connecticut became a state, an incident occurred during an era known as “the dark day.” One day a thick darkness —probably the result of an abnormal atmospheric condition—blotted out the sunlight. The colonial legislature was in session then, and some of its members concluded that the day of judgment had come. The cry went forth, “It is the day of judgment! Let us go home and get ready!” However, an old church deacon in the legislature stood up and said, “Brethren, it may be the day of judgment—I do not know. The Lord may come. But when he does, I want Him to find me at my post, doing my duty up to the very last moment. Mr. Speaker, I move that candles are brought in, and we get on with the colony’s business.” The Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave us simple instructions to occupy till He comes. I, too, prefer to be found doing my duty and not to default every time some howler of calamity sounds the siren. Jesus would not ask me to “occupy” was it His knowledge that I must be smothered by the unleashing of a nuclear inferno. Dark days do not always mean judgment.1 I like this illustration. I enjoyed that amid the dark day; they brought out candles to light the way. That’s a great lesson; the Light Life is superior to the dark. In today’s Light on Life, we will talk along these lines so that by the time we are done, we realize once and for all ‘Why the Dark Life Is Not the High Life in God.’ That’s our primary focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Why Is It Important to Walk in the Light You Have?

[Tweet “The components of God’s Light Life will keep you from the Dark Life of defeat and death.”]

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

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 26

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

Freedom insights from the book of Romans is the subject we want to dwell on in this week’s podcast. As we get ready to celebrate Independence Day here in the United States, the freedom issue looms even more and more pronounced than ever. Roe V Wade was just overturned, a truly historic moment in the annuals of the human experience. The protests surrounding the decision deal with the idea of freedom of choice. But is that what freedom is really about? Is it only freedom to choose, or is it something more? In Romans 8:2, Paul says, ‘For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.’ You’re totally free because of Jesus if you only know it. Freedom Insights from the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life podcast.

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

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Eight Ways to Fulfill God’s Purpose for Your Life

Eight Ways to Fulfill God's Purpose for Your Life

Purpose, God’s purpose, that is, is what we want to take a look at this week. On the heels of this idea on purpose comes the following illustration. The guest was a body builder a while back on “The Merv Griffin Show,” the guest was a bodybuilder. During the interview, Merv asked, “Why do you develop those particular muscles?” The bodybuilder stepped forward and flexed a series of well-defined muscles from chest to calf. The audience applauded. “What do you use all those muscles for?” Merv asked. Again, the muscular specimen flexed, and biceps and triceps sprouted to impressive proportions. “But what do you USE those muscles for?” Merv persisted. The body builder was bewildered. He didn’t have an answer other than to display his well-developed frame. I was reminded that our spiritual exercises—Bible study, prayer, reading Christian books, listening to Christian radio and tapes—are also for a purpose. They’re meant to strengthen our ability to build God’s kingdom, not simply improve our pose before an admiring audience.1 I like this story; it shows that we need to be intentional about our life and our purpose in God. Eight Ways to Fulfill God’s Purpose for Your Life that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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25 Wisdom Ways to Embrace As a Jesus Believer

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Why Self-Image Is Super Important in All Things Spiritual [Podcast]

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 23

Why Self-Image Is Super Important in All Things Spiritual [Podcast]

Self-image is a vital component for any child of God desiring to do His will. How do you acquire the proper image that God has of you? Psychological studies establish that a child has formed a relatively definite impression of himself by age five. The same studies reveal that self-image is not closely related to social position, family work background, education, or any combination. A young child sees himself from the reflections of those close to him, mainly his parents. How they react to his activities largely determines the self-image he builds 1. Having a wrong self-image can hinder God’s plan for your life. How can we identify and change a negative self-image?

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Why Kindness Is a Giant Fruit of the Spirit

[Tweet “When we run from the covenant, you will not prosper over the long haul because the nature of God’s covenant is provision.”]

Why Jesus Enormous Freedom Idea Is Super Superior

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 22

Why God's Enormous Freedom Idea Is Super Superior

We will talk today about freedom, what it is, and why freedom in Jesus is super superior. Freedom is a big issue for all inhabitants of planet earth, human, animal, vegetable, and mineral. For many years, at the University of Oklahoma, a project was underway to teach a fifteen-year-old female chimpanzee named Washoe to talk by combining sign language with simple recognition. This story intrigued me because two of my children attended the University of Oklahoma.

Since 1966, this chimpanzee has learned 140 signs. Finally, the project directors decided that Washoe was prepared to “conceptualize.” This meant that instead of merely imitating some human words, the chimp would express her thoughts. Now, understand that Washoe was a pampered animal in the university’s laboratory—well-fed, physically comfortable, safe from harm. She had security. And yet, when she was able to put words together on her own into a phrase, these were the first three—and she has repeated them repeatedly—”Let me out.” 1 Freedom is our focus today; why God’s idea of it is better than yours. All this, and more,  on this week’s Light on Life.

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How to Deal with Thieves and Robbers Jesus Style

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Why God Believes in Church and Why You Need to Be There

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 21

Why God Believes in Church and Why You Need to Be There

God believes in church. He believes in you being part of a local assembly. We all need to be involved in the church’s ministry because it is a ministry of people. When a church lives, it lives because the people are vital and active. When a church dies, it withers and dies not because the brick and mortar and carpet and pews get old and begin to crack and rip and crumble. A church withers and dies because the people wither and die. I think a vivid illustration of this comes from a true story of a young minister in Oklahoma who went to this little, though long-standing, church in hopes of really reviving the ministry of it. He had stars in his eyes and great hopes for the future. He thought he could turn it around. And he gave it his best effort and his best shot week after week, to no avail. Finally, he had one last idea, and it seemed to work. On Saturday, he announced in the local newspaper that the church had died, and on Sunday afternoon, there would be a funeral service at the church itself, and all who wished could attend. For the first time in his years there, the place was packed. In fact, people were standing outside on tiptoes looking through the window to see this most unusual funeral service for a church. To their shock, because most of them got there twenty or thirty minutes early to get a seat, there was a casket down the front. And it was smothered with flowers. He told the people as soon as the eulogy was finished, they could pass by and view the remains of the dearly beloved that they were putting to rest that day. They could hardly wait until he finished the eulogy. He slowly opened the casket, pushed the flowers aside, and people walked by, filed by, to look in and leave sheepishly, feeling guilty as they walked out the door because inside the casket, he had placed a large mirror. As they walked by, they saw the church that had died.1 Funerals for churches, that’s not the plan — that’s the target we are to shoot at. Why God Believes in Church and Why You Need to Be There, that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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Seven Witnesses to the Mission of Jesus

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What Jesus Teaches about Who Is Locked Away in the Lower Regions

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 20

What Jesus Teaches about Who Is Locked Away in the Lower Regions

In the book of Ephesians and several other places in the Bible, the Word of God alludes to the fact that there are prisons in the heart of the earth. Paul, speaking by the Spirit of God, calls these places the lower regions. Today’s question is just who exactly is in these lower regions? We can also follow up on that question by asking what are these lower regions in the first place? Everybody knows that hell is below. If a person dies without Jesus, that’s precisely where they go when they die. It’s a hard fact, but it’s an actual Bible fact — a scriptural reality. Some time ago, a traffic officer gave a citation to a woman in Brooklyn. And when the officer handed it through the window to her, she snapped it out of his hands and said, “You can go straight to hell!” So the officer took her to court. A few days later, they appeared before the judge, and he dismissed the officer’s complaint about the woman’s language because he said, and I quote, “It wasn’t a command, or a wish, but a statement of fact, for going to hell is a possibility.” Charles R. Swindoll, The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart and 1501 Other Stories (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2016), 266. What Jesus Teaches about Who Is Locked Away in the Lower Regions that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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#047: What Happens to a Person When They Die? [Podcast]

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What is the Value of God’s Ministry Grace Gifts to Us?

Podcast: Light on Life Season 9 Episode 19

What is the Value of God's Ministry Grace Gifts to Us?

In this week’s episode, we will look at just one of God’s ministry grace gifts to us via the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. God’s gifts are nothing, and I mean nothing, like the gifts that men give to one another. How’s this story as an illustration of this fact? “It’s not the gift; it’s the thought behind it.” You’ve heard that before. Well, these two brothers put a lot of thought into the giving of a pair of pants that they gave back and forth to each other every Christmas. First, the pants were tied to a car wheel and run over snow and ice, then removed from the wheel, wrapped in a lovely box, and presented at Christmas time. When the other brother got them the following Christmas, he placed those same pants in a form where wet cement was poured and allowed to dry. They were presented that year along with a sledgehammer. So, the following year they were placed in the framing of a small tool shed, and the entire shed had to be ripped apart to get to the pants. The following year, the same old sorry, miserable pair of pants sat in the front seat of a demolished car, compressed into a flattened piece of metal. It took a tractor and crowbars to get to that same pair of pants. Again, it wasn’t the gift—it was the fun and joy in giving it.1 I am so glad Jesus didn’t put salvation in a demolished car or bury it in concrete where you would have to work to obtain it. No, Jesus’ gifts are free and clear and easy to access. What is the Value of God’s Grace Gifts to Us? — that’s our focus on this week’s Light on Life.

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The Value of Humility and Consecration in the Miracles of God

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