The ON BEING CHRISTIAN Podcast
provides weekly episodes of Bible centered, Christ honoring messages for encouragement and edification of Christians.
Being a Christian isn’t about what you label yourself as, it’s about your relationship with Christ and how that relationship motivates you to live for the cause of Christ.
120 | Repentance that Saves
Repentance may be perhaps one of the most misunderstood aspects of Biblical Doctrine within Christianity today. It has been defined incorrectly as "a work" for many years by most "scholars", which has led to a lot of confusion with respect to genuine Salvation. This episode aims at understanding from true Biblical Doctrine what repentance to God looks like and what one must repent from. Episode #120 ties in very purposefully with last week's episode (#119), which was about the role of faith in Salvation.
119 | Salvation Without Faith?
This episode is an important one, although regrettably, not a new subject of debate within Christianity. I have recently beeb brought into a conversation with respect to the idea of whether or not an individual in their "natural state" (a lost individual or an individual who has not accepted the forgiveness of their sins available in Jesus Christ our Savior), can even have the faith required to put their trust in Christ for their Salvation. This is one of the false tenants of Calvinistic philosophy known as "limited atonement", due to what is called "the total depravity of man". This debate has been repackaged and redesigned for years in the attempt to make it make sense, and yet still, it is nonsense. This episode will show from the Bible, why faith is the only means for an individual to receive forgiveness of their sins.
118 | Having the Correct Focus
In life we are asked to focus on many things, not all of it is helpful, and very little of it is necessary (or at least not as necessary as we may think). How do we have the "correct" focus? Is there even such a thing as correct focus? There is focus that benefits and focus that hinders, and that is what this episode is all about.
117 | Correction is Coming
There’s two things that you can do with doctrinal correction - you can accept it or you can reject it. The acceptance of doctrinal correction (done with love and compassion) will lead to personal blessings and fulfillment in your life, not to mention that God can then use you for the purpose in which He designed you to be used. Rejection of doctrinal correction will lead you to being stuck and unusable concerning the intent for which God designed you. So being a Christian is about accepting correction; whether you accept it or reject it, correction is coming.
116 | When It’s Too Late To Obey
God will always forgive, when we seek that forgiveness by repentance through faith. There's no question about that, by the study of God's Word. However, at times, even though we have received forgiveness, we're still left dealing with the consequences of our disobedience toward God. This episode is about a story that shows us what it looks like when it takes us too long to obey.
115 | The Two Desires
Contrary to what many may believe, there are only really two desires in this world. The desire of the Lord God (the Designer), and the desire of Satan (the Deceiver). The Deceiver keeps you from the Designer by many methods, but none are more effective than comfort and complacency. This episode is about choosing the correct desire.
114 | The Dangerous Mentality of Experts
I've noticed a trend in which we are increasingly being told that we need to surrender what we think to the will of those who have more "expertise" than we do. Except when it comes to serving the Lord and living in accordance to the Doctrine of the Bible, we are commanded to walk by faith and not by sight; we are commanded to accept what the Lord says, even if the "experts" don't agree with the Lord.
113 | As the Hour Approaches
Each one of us will have a final hour. Our final hour is inevitable, but where we will be after that, by God’s grace, is changeable now. Those who wait to deal with their final hour until it comes, will find that they waited too long. Whereas those who allow the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to deal with their final hour now, can begin their life in Christ now and look forward to their final hour.
112 | The Established Heart
My Grandfather used to tell me, "the world is full of things that men have started, however it's not so full of things that men have finished." As a Christian, to run your course with confidence, requires an established life; to have an established life, you must possess an established heart, and an established heart is the product of humility and mentorship, which is what this episode is all about. God Bless.
111 | Exploiting Vulnerability
There are a lot of concepts within ministerial leadership in today’s culture that are implemented with the justification that the vulnerable are being helped. However, what you’ll find from the Word of God is that when you attempt to do the work of the Lord differently than how the Word of God instructs, the resulting affect can be more of a curse to the vulnerable than a blessing.
110 | The God of the Living
This episode is about the God of the living, and how He can only be understood by faith. We tend to attempt to place God into categories, which we then attempt to control. But understanding God has always had more to do with accepting what He says than it has had to do with logically attempting to control what He says. He is the God of the living, and we are dead without Him.
109 | We Will Not Forsake
Many times we like to think ourselves capable of accomplishing the things we intend to do, without actually making any plans to do them. In the same way, we tend to think declaring ourselves to be Christian is all it takes to “live” as a Christian, when in reality, there are some procedural steps that are needed. This episode is all about those procedural steps you need to take to stay faithful to the house of God.
108 | On Relationships
There are very few things in life that can affect you for the better or for the worse, like relationships. There are beneficial relationships and there are destructive relationships; there are very few relationships that don’t lean towards one of these two extremes. This episode is about the Biblical doctrine of being able to differentiate between the two.
107 | God’s Desire for His People
So much of cultural Christianity today revolves around the question of “what can God do for me?”, or “what can church do for me?”. What if being a Christian had less to do with what our desire from God is, and more to do what God’s desire from us is? This episode attempts to answer from God’s Word what God’s desire is for His people.
106 | Who Is Your Captain?
There are very few decisions in life that will affect you as much as the decision you make concerning who’s in charge of your life. For Christians, the decision of who is in charge (who your captain is), should be clear, but as I look at our Christian culture today it seems to me that we may have forgotten that the Lord Jesus Christ should be more than just an “advisor”, but rather He should be in complete control.
105 | God Never Speaks Without Reason
There's a certain level of reverant attention that folks seem to give to men who speak with clarity and purpose (as long as that clarity and purpose comes from a place of correct understanding). However, when the Lord speaks, we seem to have developed a culture that says it's ok to form committees to discuss whether or not the Lord knows what He's talking about. I believe this to be incorrect, unhelpful to the Christian walk and in need of correction, because God does not speak without reason.
104 | Remaining Faithful in Hardship
Most of the time we tend to think of being faithful as that attribute which we portray when everything is going just right. The reality, however, is that the attribute of faithfulness becomes most valuable when everything is going wrong. This episode is about a few realities from the Bible that I pray will help you stay faithful, not just when things are going good, but especially when they’re not.
103 | Why We Feel Alone
I think it's fair to say that part of the reality of life is that there will be times when we feel alone. This episode is about the fact that that reality does not need to occur perhaps as much as it does. The truth is, as Christians, (regardless of how we feel) we are never alone according to God's Word. I pray this episode finds you well. God bless.
102 | Biblical Multitasking
The idea that serving the Lord will be a free and easy endeavor without any resistance seems to be popular in today's "Christian" culture. However, the Word of God knows nothing of easy Christianity, and you might find that God asks you to be more than a "one-trick pony".
101 | He Sought for a Man
This episode is indeed about the fact that God is looking for qualified individuals to serve Him. However, what may not always be understood is that the qualifications that God is interested in are not based off who you are or what you can produce, but rather they are based off who Christ is and what you allow Him to produce through you. God doesn't make the qualified faithful, He makes the faithful qualified.