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#S3:034: How to Overcome Racism in the Church [Podcast]

Overcoming the Spirit of Division

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In the 1960’s the church deacon board mobilized lookout squads, and on Sundays, these took turns patrolling the entrances lest any black “troublemakers” try to integrate us. I still have one of the cards the deacons printed up to give to any civil rights demonstrators who might appear: Believing the motives of your group to be ulterior and foreign to the teaching of God’s word, we cannot extend a welcome to you and respectfully request you to leave the premises quietly. Scripture does NOT teach “the brotherhood of man and the fatherhood of God.” He is the Creator of all, but only the Father of those who have been regenerated. If any one of you is here with a sincere desire to know Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, we shall be glad to deal individually with you from the Word of God. (Unanimous Statement of Pastor and Deacons, August 1960) When Congress passed the Civil Rights Acts, our church founded a private school as a haven for whites, expressly barring all black students. A few “liberal” members left the church in protest when the kindergarten turned down the daughter of a black Bible professor, but most of us approved of the decision. A year later the church board rejected a Carver Bible Institute student for membership (his name was Tony Evans).1. What is racism and how can we overcome it? We’ll be taking a look at this in this new series.

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[Tweet “Racism is a demonic spirit of division who’s aim is to magnify the difference between people.”]

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What Is The Lord’s Strong Opinion of Legalism?

An Introduction to the Epistle to the Galatians

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Chuck Swindoll shared this story illustrating the foolishness of legalism in his book, ‘The Grace Awakening.’ He said, “I heard about a fellow who attended a legalistic college where students were to live according to very strict rules. They weren’t supposed to do any work on Sundays. None! Guess what? He spied on his wife and caught her hanging out a few articles of clothing she washed on Sunday afternoon. Are you ready? The guy turned in his wife to the authorities! I’ll bet she was fun to live with the next day or two.” 1 Legalism has no pity on people. Legalism makes my opinion your burden, makes my opinion your boundary, makes my opinion your obligation. 2

[Tweet “In the New Testament, God calls legalists, dogs, evil workers, and mutilators.”]

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#S3-033: How to Pray Practically for Presidents and Kings [Podcast]

How to Increase the Presence of God in Your Everyday Life

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Someone once said these words concerning prayer. “Prayer should be the breath of our breathing. The thought of our thinking. The soul of our feeling. The life of our living. The sound of our hearing. The growth of our growing. Prayer in its magnitude is length without end. Width without bounds. Height without top. Depth without bottom. It is unlimited in its breadth. Exhaust-less in height. Fathomless in depths and infinite in extension.” How can we pray practically for those who are over us politically? We’ll take a look at the subject of prayer and praying and how it applies to our walk with God.

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[Tweet “Few and feeble prayers are always a sign of a low spiritual condition.”]

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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.”]