Why do people fall in love?  What’s their motivation?  I mean, why does anybody go through all the trouble of pursuing and building a love relationship.  I’m not talking about lust and sex.  I’m talking about people who fall head over heels and are willing to put on their best and spend their money and make extra time for dating and gifts and trips –and all the emotional stress and upheaval that comes with the risk of putting your heart on the line hoping for somebody else to respond with the same feelings.  Why do people do that?

The answer is pretty obvious–even if it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense when you think about how much time and attention a good relationship takes.  People give their love because it’s rewarding to share real love with another person.  When husbands and wives love each other or parents love their children et cetera, it often requires a lot of sacrifice, but anybody with a good relationship will tell you that it’s more than worth it.

Living for God is the same thing.  Serving God often requires sacrifice and takes work and dedication and commitment.  But anybody who has a good relationship with Jesus Christ will tell you that it’s more than worth it.  The joy and contentment and deep love that fills your life as a result of belonging to God makes living life God’s way a desire rather than just a regulation.

Do you know what I mean?  If so, congrats!  If not, would you like to?

(This podcast is a retelling of the same idea from the December 27th podcast.)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:05 — 23.8MB)

Do you know Jesus?  How do you know that you know?  Did somebody else tell you?  Are you just guessing?  Do you have any proof?  If you claim to know Jesus, are you sure he’d claim to know you?

Do you know why Jesus tells people to “Depart from me.  I never knew you.”?  Don’t you think that might be something important to know about?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:45 — 21.9MB)

Too many times I’ve been asked the question, “Do you have to go to church to be a Christian?”

The technical answer is, of course, no.  Going to church does not make one a Christian.  There are plenty of non-Christians who go to church all the time.  They might even think they’re Christian because they go to church.  But going to church doesn’t make you a Christian anymore than going to Washington makes you the President.  And going home again doesn’t remove any of your Christianity.  Proximity to a church building, is not how one determines whether or not they belong to Jesus Christ.

However, the question itself reveals a flawed view of Christianity.  A Christian IS the church.  All true believers are part of the body of Christ.  You can’t help it.  And the body has to work together.  You simply can’t work as part of an integrated body of believers if you disconnect yourself from it.  So real Christians seek out the opportunity to worship in unison with other believers, to serve and encourage each other in community, to carry out their mission to preach the Good News of the Gospel to the world as a team.

So you can become a Christian without ever having darkened the doors of a church building.  But you can’t live as part of the body of Christ while keeping yourself removed from the fellowship of the church.

In other words, don’t just go to church…BE the church.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:20 — 21.7MB)

Do you think you’d get a better report on the Civil War from a modern historian or by spending some time with Abraham Lincoln?  Do you think you could get a better picture of what the Apollo 11 moon landing was like by checking out the NASA website or by sitting down with Neil Armstrong and having him tell you the story about when he took that small step/giant leap?

Obviously, if it were possible to talk to the people who had been a part of events in the past, you’d get some amazing stories about those events.  You could get a feeling for what it was like by talking to the people who were there when it happened.

Did your parents ever tell you about when you were born?  Did your grandparents ever tell you about what it was like to live through the Great Depression or to watch the Apollo Moon Landing on live TV?  Wasn’t it cool to hear those stories from the people who’d seen it happen?

So along those same lines, would it be better to learn about the history of the world from somebody who was never there but had made a guess about what might have happened as the world started or from Someone who was there, Someone who actually built the Earth, Someone who designed the universe as a star spangled backdrop for His favorite creation to enjoy when the sun went down?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 52:32 — 24.0MB)

What could be worse than a virus that destroys your organs and causes you to bleed from your eyes and ears and other openings and eventually killing you in extreme physical agony?

How about something that causes you to be in agony without the possibility of finding relief through physical death?

And how many people will wash their hands multiple times a day to keep from getting sick, but won’t think twice about sinning against God and dooming themselves to an eternity in Hell?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:48 — 19.6MB)

Paul said, in 1st Corinthians, that if Christ has not risen from the dead that our faith is pointless.  What use is it to believe in a man who said he would rise from the dead who never rose from the dead?  So all of Christianity is hinged on the fact of Christ’s resurrection.  And if Jesus did not really live, die, and then live again, then it makes no sense to put our faith in anything else about Jesus.

In the same way, if you can’t accept part of the Bible, then what’s the point of accepting any of the Bible?  There are plenty of things in the Bible that people have a hard time accepting–Jonah and the fish, Noah’s flood, the creation of the universe in 6 days, etc.  But if you can’t take those things at face value, how can you put faith in other parts?

Jesus taught from Genesis.  So if you believe Jesus, then you need to take the whole Bible seriously.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:27 — 21.3MB)

What drives you?  What’s your main motivation in life?  Do you enjoy being alive?  Or are you bored or depressed or unfulfilled?  What trips your trigger?

What about you Christians…why do you live a life of love and purity?  Why do you live a holy life and always make righteous choices? (By the way, if you’re not living that way, it proves you don’t belong to Jesus?  If you are a true Christian your life will produce the fruit of the Spirit and you will rid your life of sin.  You can’t love God and commit evil against him at the same time.)  Anyway, why do you live for God?  Because you love to or because you have to?

How do you think God wants you to be motivated?  Fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom.  But love casts out fear.  So if you are motivated by love–if you enjoy living for God–then you have no need to be afraid because your love will drive you to live a life that pleases God rather than incites his wrath.

So, which do you prefer?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:16 — 20.7MB)

I’ve heard people say they think Jesus is cool–he was a nice guy, a good teacher, a miracle worker–and they say they believe in him because he was all about love and peace and helping people.  But some of those same people say they don’t like church or they don’t like Christians or they don’t like the Bible.

The sad thing is that there is only one Jesus.  In spite of all the opinions about him today.  There are cold, hard facts about who Jesus was and what he taught.  And a lot of people who are confronted with that truth don’t want to follow Jesus–just like a lot of people who heard Jesus speak blunt truth and walked away from him.

Jesus is great, but he also taught hard truths, like real love for Jesus is shown by total obedience to his commands, and you aren’t worthy to follow him unless you are willing to walk away from everything else.

Don’t get me wrong.  I think Jesus is awesome.  And the benefits of knowing him totally outweigh any sacrifice you might make to follow him.  But if you REALLY want to know Jesus, you have to accept him on his terms, not yours.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 47:59 — 22.0MB)

“Don’t judge me.”

I’ve heard that a lot.  In other words, they’re asking for you to ignore the decision they’ve made.

“Yeah, I decided to do what I know is wrong.  And I know that you know it’s wrong”  But I’m trying to convince myself that I’m not a bad person for doing it.  So please don’t mention that it’s wrong to me.  Don’t use your brain when you think about me.”

Well, you know, I wouldn’t have to “judge” you if you used good judgment yourself when you made the decision to do something wrong.  If you would do good, then you would want me to judge you and notice the good.  It’s only when you do bad that you don’t want people using discernment about your behavior.

And keep in mind that my judgment can’t do much more than cause embarrassment or inconvenience to you.  But we will all be judged by God for all of our thoughts and actions, and his judgment determines our eternity.

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I think too many people think marriage is just a wedding.  It’s all about planning the perfect day.  And usually that day flies by and after a few months you can’t even remember everything that happened on that day that was supposed to be so special.

How much more stable could our society be if people took planning for marriage as seriously as they took planning for the wedding?  If people actually kept their wedding promises, it would mean the relationship would be lifelong and rewarding, so the families would be stable and the culture made up of all those stable families would be stronger.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 39:03 — 17.9MB)