What do you put all your work into?  What is your ultimate goal in life?  Do you want to be rich and famous?  Maybe you just want to buy a car or a house?  Are you saving up for retirement?  Are you thinking any farther than that.  What would you do if you spent your whole life trying to make it in this world and found out after you died that you completely missed out on an eternal opportunity to invest in something beyond this world?

“What do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?  Is anything worth more than your soul? For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.”     –Jesus Christ

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 37:27 — 17.1MB)

This is one of the greatest lines in all of Scripture.  Heck, this is one of the greatest lines in anything:

“O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you.  If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us.  He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty.  But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”

That’s courage, that’s faith in action.  Lots of people talk about believing in something.  But like James said (and I paraphrase) when it comes to faith, you put up or shut up.

What do you claim to believe in?  And does it really make a difference in how you live?  That’s a challenge I think we should all think about and take on in our day to day life!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 45:42 — 20.9MB)

They say if you’re not willing to stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.  Are you standing up for anything.  There’s a lot of universality in our culture, with people touting tolerance and acceptance of everything–except for God.  It’s like we’ll approve of all behavior, as long as it’s not the morality that God calls us to.

God wants us to stand with him.  and the cool thing is, if we are willing to take a stand for God, he’ll stand up for us.

Check out how that scenario worked out for three guys named Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 42:03 — 19.3MB)

We had a fun Vacation Bible School in August, and it was cool to wrap all the lessons around the story of Jesus’ friend Lazarus.  Of course with the kids we focused on the positive of how Jesus brought Lazarus back from the dead.  But for me, the time when Lazarus got sick and died sticks out as a reminder that Jesus really does know what it’s like to deal with suffering and death, to watch somebody you love pass away.  And even though he had the power to bring his friend back from the dead, it didn’t make the loss any less touching.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:43 — 15.9MB)

What’s your motivation in life?  What get’s you out of bed in the morning?  Are you driven by a desire for success, to make the world a better place, to find inner peace?  Would you like to know the real secret of life?  It’s to share a love relationship with your Creator.  And if that isn’t what lights your fire, then you are missing something.  There’s more to life than just being alive, and Jesus came to offer people life to the full.  If you’d like to know what that’s all about, a good place to start is on your knees.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:50 — 20.5MB)

You might not think there’s a lot of idolatry going on in our world today.  But if you look around, it’s not hard to find.  The idols might not be quite the same as what you read about in the Bible, but that doesn’t make the sin any different.  There are still some people who bow down and pray to statues, but more often it’s things like sports and entertainment, cars, clothes, the almighty dollar, that steal people’s devotion from God.  They give their hearts to pastimes and diversions, and they don’t spend any real quality relationship time with God.

How about you?  Is your life so busy with the things of this world that you barely have time to go to church once a week–and even when you go, as soon as you get back home you’ve transitioned to “normal” life because worship is just a once in awhile thing for you and not a 24-7 part of your life?  Or maybe God is not part of your life at all.  That’s what modern-day idolatry is all about.  And like it or not that’s #2 on God’s Not-to-do list!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:46 — 20.5MB)

Have you ever wondered about how to study prophesy?  Have you ever read the book of Revelation and wondered what it all means.  Well the book of Daniel is a great place to practice.  Not only does it start off with specific examples of prophecy explained and revealed to real people, it shows the partial fulfillment of that prophecy, so you can see it in action.  And on top of that, so much of other Biblical prophecy is either linked to Daniel or backed up by it.

So if you want to learn about how to understand prophecy, just turn to Daniel and see what God has to reveal to you today!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:40 — 20.0MB)

As we’ve been going through the book of Daniel, it’s so amazing to think about how the things God revealed through Daniel were all about the future from his perspective.  And now that we look back on it thousands of years later, we can see how the things he told about unfolded just the way he had described.

Of course some of his prophesy has yet to be fulfilled, but I’ve heard people scoff at that, and say it’s all just coincidence, or somebody made up the book of Daniel after that fact.  And it seems that some people will do just about anything rather than acknowledge that God has something to tell them.  Of course they usually don’t want to hear it, because often his message is you need to change how you live, and a lot of people don’t like to be told to change their behavior or especially their way of thinking.

How about you, are you willing to hear God’s Word and obey, or do you resist his instruction?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 48:50 — 22.4MB)

“I’m George…George McFly.  I’m your density.”

Here’s an interesting thing to think about: you don’t have to be a time traveler in order to change your destiny.  Well, I guess technically you do, but technically you are traveling in time, you are constantly moving forward in time.  So the only thing you need to do to change your destiny, is to change your mind.  If you want to end or begin a habit, all you have to do is decide to.  If you want to turn around and go the other way, just turn around.  What makes it so difficult to change our destiny, is that we get lazy and don’t want to change.

Jesus offers anybody a brand new life.  And the magic key to changing our eternal destiny is simple, true, faith.  The thing about faith though, is that it’s not just a word you say, it’s a real mindset.  It’s an eternal commitment.  You dedicate yourself to whatever God wants for you and he dedicates his own Spirit to guide and empower you to follow through on your commitment of faith.

Are you ready to change your destiny?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:16 — 14.3MB)

How would you like to hear from God?  Does that idea scare you, excite you, make you curious?  Real prayer is not just talking to the sky.  Prayer is real communication.  It’s meant to build a relationship.  God doesn’t just want a list of your desires or concerns.  He wants your heart.  So if you seem to have a bad connection when you pray, there’s probably a good reason for it.  If you have ongoing sin in your life, you’re pushing God away.  Why would you expect a good relationship with someone you are continually abusing?  Do you read your Bible?  Why would you expect to receive new communications, if you don’t bother to read the Word he’s already sent you?

If you want an effective prayer life, try having an informed and caring relationship with the God who already knows and cares so much about you.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:32 — 21.3MB)