Sermon Podcasts

I recently discovered the website SermonAudio.com, which collects thousands and thousands of recorded sermons available for free download. The sermons are searchable by speaker, topic, or Bible passage. Even better, the same website has a smartphone app with all kinds of neat features. In particular, the smartphone apps allow playback at 1.5x and 2x speeds, which means you can listen to a 40 minute sermon in 20 minutes!

At this time, I don't have much advice on which speakers to listen to, because I'm still becoming familiar with the website. (I've enjoyed John MacArthur for some time. I've also been listening to the classic teachings of C. H. Spurgeon. And I even found sermons from a pastor at a church around the corner from my house!)

The point is, we have a nearly limitless collection of sermons available to us!

Focus on Heavenly Matters

In 2 Chronicles 25, King Amaziah of Judah is assembling his army. In doing so, he pays a large sum of silver to hire 100,000 soldiers from neighboring Israel.

But at this time, God is angry with Israel for turning from him. So a prophet tells Amaziah (verses 7-8, NLT),

Do not hire troops from Israel, for the Lord is not with Israel. ... If you let them go with your troops into battle, you will be defeated by the enemy no matter how well you fight. God will overthrow you, for he has the power to help you or to trip you up.

Upon hearing that warning, Amaziah should have trusted God. Instead, Amaziah is worried about the silver! (verse 9, NLT),

Amaziah asked the man of God, “But what about all that silver I paid to hire the army of Israel?”

Amaziah clear is focused more on earthly matters than he is on heavenly matters. The prophet then answers (verse 9, NLT),

The Lord is able to give you much more than this!

The lesson: God's power is infinitely greater than silver, fame, human praise, or any other earthly pursuit. In our prayers, let us turn our focus to heavenly matters, and place our trust in his salvation.

What Does Being "Saved" Mean?

People of faith often talk of being saved. What exactly does that mean? I've posted on this topic previously. But returning to this topic, I am reminded of a sermon I once heard by John MacArthur. In that sermon, he said that Ezekiel 36 provides the perfect description of what it means to be saved.

Specifically, turning to chapter 36, verses 25-27 (NLT),

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.

That's what happens when we turn our lives over to God.  Today in our prayers, let us ask God to give us that salvation.

God's Infinite Mercy

I recently read The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn. First off, the book is not a swashbuckling adventure in the mold of The Da Vinci Code. Rather, the book is a series of dialogues that explore possible links between Isaiah 9:10, the 2001 terrorist attacks, and the global economic meltdown of 2008. The book has generated some controversy, so I won't wade into those discussions here.

Nonetheless, I was completely struck by a conversation that began on page 226. Without giving away important parts of the plot, that conversation notes that, as humans, we tend to grade our own righteousness according to our own self-created standards. But we should be comparing ourselves to God's standards!

The books asks us to consider the most evil person ever born (whoever that might be). How much distance, measured in righteousness, separates us from that person? Maybe a lot, but that distance is finite. Now consider the distance, measured in righteousness, between God and us. That distance is infinite! That means that, from God's perspective, we are worse than the most evil person even born, when viewed from our perspective.

How do we overcome such an infinite gap in righteousness? As Jesus says in Matthew 19:26 (NLT),

Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.

God's mercy is infinite! All we can do is humble ourselves before him, and accept his infinite love.

Anyway, that material in the Harbinger is already in the Bible. But it struck me nonetheless.

David's Prayer in 1 Chronicles 29

I've posted previously about 1 Chronicles 29. In this post, I turn to that chapter again.

Of course, the Bible contains many of David's prayers in the Psalms. What continues to amaze me is David's spiritual understanding, which is many levels deeper than mine! 1 Chronicles 29 contains one of my favorite prayers by David.

To set the scene, the Israelites are preparing to build a temple of worship, and they have collected all of the necessary building materials. David then issues the following prayer, which appears in 1 Chronicles 29:10-20. I won't copy the whole prayer. (Here is the entire prayer.) Rather, here are a few highlights from the NLT translation.

Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength.

O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.

What a prayer! David displays such humility, reverence, and perspective. Today, let us try to emulate David's example.

Avoiding the Backslide

I posted previously about reacting to God's discipline. Now, suppose that we react appropriately, and God removes (or lessens) our affliction. What next?

Unfortunately, when God sends us blessings and good fortune, it's easy to become comfortable and fall into spiritual complacency. Turning to 2 Chronicles 12, God has established Rehoboam as king of Judah. Then, in verse 1 (NLT),

When Rehoboam was firmly established and strong, he abandoned the Law of the Lord, and all Israel followed him in this sin.

The subsequent verses describe how, after this backsliding into sin, God inflicted punishment upon the nation.

The New Testament speaks even more directly about the dangers of backsliding into sin. Turning to 2 Peter 2:21-22 (NLT),

It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”

Similarly, in John 5:14 (NLT), Jesus, after running into someone he had previously healed, says,

Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.

And, again, in Luke 11:24-26 (NLT), Jesus says,

When an evil spirit leaves a person, it goes into the desert, searching for rest. But when it finds none, it says, ‘I will return to the person I came from.’ So it returns and finds that its former home is all swept and in order. Then the spirit finds seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all enter the person and live there. And so that person is worse off than before.

The message is clear. When we are fortunate enough to have our affliction lifted (or lessened), we must fill our spirits with God. Do not return to a sinful lifestyle.

Bible Reading Plans

The Bible is not structured like a novel, so trying to read it in a spiritually meaningful way can be daunting, especially for newcomers.

One approach is to read the whole thing over the course of a year, a process that, somewhat surprisingly, only requires about 10-15 minutes per day. But to get the most out of that process, it's helpful to have a daily reading plan. Some Bibles, such as this one, are specifically designed for daily reading.

But you don't need to purchase a specially-designed daily Bible. All you need is a reading plan! The popular One Year Bible website offers two different options: (1) a daily plan (pdf link) which blends passages from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs; and (2) a chronological plan (pdf link), in which the daily readings are arranged in the (approximate) chronological order in which they occurred.

The website offers options for online reading, or you can print those pdf files, tuck them in your Bible, and use them as guidance. (And, of course, there's no reason to wait for January 1 to begin!)

Whatever route you take, an organized voyage through the Bible can be spiritually fulfilling!