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.
093 | Is God Fair?
The question of whether or not God is a fair God is often one of the most asked questions that I encounter when talking with people who are considering Christianity. In this episode, my desire is to first show the Biblical Doctrine that God is absolutely fair, but then perhaps more importantly, to show from the Bible WHY He is fair. I hope you enjoy episode #93!
092 | What is A Good Man? No.2
At times if we're not careful, we tend to use Biblical phrases for secular purposes. The term "a good man", is objectively defined by the Word of God, but we may have swapped out that definition for a more subjective one in keeping with our own opinions. This episode is about what it means to be a good man, specifically from the objective doctrine of God's Word. Episode #92 is Part 2 of 2.
091 | What is A Good Man? No.1
At times if we're not careful, we tend to use Biblical phrases for secular purposes. The term "a good man", is objectively defined by the Word of God, but we may have swapped out that definition for a more subjective one in keeping with our own opinions. This episode is about what it means to be a good man, specifically from the objective doctrine of God's Word. Episode #91 is Part 1 of 2.
090 | Trouble
The idea of trouble, as we experience it ourselves and/or see others experiencing times of trouble, is interesting because it's never as hard to understand that you're in trouble as perhaps it is to understand how you got into trouble, or more importantly, how to get out of it. Knowing that there is a problem is not nearly as valuable as understanding how to resolve the problem. Which is what we're going to look at today - resolving problems or getting out of trouble. I pray this is helpful to you.
089 | Significance
I think it's safe to assume that most of us would like to have "significant" lives and make "meaningful" contributions, to know that who we are and what we do matters. However, many times we do this by comparing what we can see, understand, and accept as valuable to what we define as invaluable, again based off what we can see, understand, and accept. If our definition of value/significance changed to be more in keeping with the doctrine of God's Word, do you think we the things we pursue from the desire to be significant would change? This is what episode #89 is all about. Enjoy and God Bless!
088 | The Christ of God
Across "religious" beliefs there is a general acceptance as to who God is, however there is widespread debate and confusion as to who Jesus Christ is. This episode makes very clear, from the perspective of Biblical Doctrine, exactly who the Christ of God is.
087 | Misplaced Fear
Fear is a powerful emotion. When fear manifests itself as reverence (fear) towards God, it becomes very appropriate and useful in the Christian life. However when fear is misplaced, it becomes a disease. Fear, as a disease, causes us to make inappropriate and unhelpful decisions with respect to being a Christian. This episode is about what not to fear.
086 | Pure Religion
The word religion has become a term we use to define almost any position that anyone might take on any issue. Pure Religion however, is actually definable by the Doctrine of the Word of God. The Bible says that Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith, so I'm not sure when we decided that we could change definitions defined in His Word. This episode is about the simplicity of definable Pure Religion (Spoiler Alert - it's very different from Denomination).
085 | Why Obedience Can Be So Hard
Somehow being a Christian has been allowed to become about culture, status and experience, when in reality being a Christian is really just about being obedient to the Word of God. In fact, culture, status and experience can get in the way of being just simply obedient. This episode is about the human qualities that make obedience needlessly difficult.
084 | Our Problems vs God’s Power
At times we face significant challenges/problems in this life, some of which have the power to change the course of our life. Some of these challenges and problems are just part of the human experience, and some, as powerful as they are, can be the result of our own foolish decisions. Whichever may be the case, sometimes our problems linger, not because they can't be solved or overcome, but rather because we refuse to accept the solution. The solution being the truth and power of God's Word. My prayer is that you find this to be helpful.
083 | Look Up
Our society is becoming increasingly more filled with chaos and anarchy; we’ve never had access to more information, while at the same time we’ve never been more inept at utilizing the information. We have all the “smarts” in the world and yet we seem to have zero wisdom, this causes anxiety and depression and fear. Jesus Christ in the Gospel of Luke chapter 21, gives us 5 things to consider as a way to combat this anxiety, depression and fear. Hope Episode #83 is a blessing to you!
082 | Christian Standard Operational Procedures No.2
In the Military, we had an acronym we called SOPs, which stands for Standard Operational Procedures. SOPs served as a selection of known, unchanging responsibilities, so that even if the plan fell apart, we knew the fundamentals to fall back on. In the Bible, we find some Christian SOPs, and if you apply this doctrine, regardless of what life may throw at you, you’ll have the proper fundamentals in which to guide your behavior and actions as a Christian. Episode #82 is Part 2 of 2.
081 | Christian Standard Operational Procedures No.1
In the Military, we had an acronym we called SOPs, which stands for Standard Operational Procedures. SOPs served as a selection of known, unchanging responsibilities, so that even if the plan fell apart, we knew the fundamentals to fall back on. In the Bible, we find some Christian SOPs, and if you apply this doctrine, regardless of what life may throw at you, you’ll have the proper fundamentals in which to guide your behavior and actions as a Christian. Episode #81 is Part 1 of 2.
080 | Obedience
In many ways we tend to look for reasons to make things more difficult than they really are, it’s one of the ways we attempt to make ourselves feel better about not taking immediate action (we say we’re “deliberating” or “thinking about it”). This episode attempts to put all of that nonsense aside. Here’s the simple reality from the Word of God when it comes to obedience - either you are obedient, or you’re not. There is no grey area… choose wisely.
079 | The False Prophet
In our society, we like to try to convince ourselves that there are "styles of truth" or grey areas, between the truth and the lies. When it comes to those who tell you about God, there are Preachers of God's Word (those who preach the truth), and there are False Prophets (which is literally everyone else). My prayer for you is that you listen to what God says about Himself in His Word, as opposed to the personal take on God that some man tries to sell you.
078 | The Provoking Father
This episode is about the influence of a father. A father (however active or involved in his children's life, he may or may not be), will have a negative influence or a positive influence. It is impossible for him to have no influence. We will use the Word of God to show the stark differences in the two types of influence that a father may have, and how you personally can have the most positive influence in your children's lives.
077 | The Devouring Mother
This episode is about the damage that can be done when the one who should be protecting you and advocating and preparing for your future success, instead advocates and prepares for their own personal continued success, because of an unbiblical and consuming focus on their own self.
076 | The Price of Partial Service
So many of our life systems are set up from the perspective of what's called "risk management" - we purchase insurance to protect ourselves against the potential of loss, we form boundaries around our friend groups to keep people we don't want to interact with separate from us, we look for jobs based off benefit packages, and otherwise live life continually in the pursuit of what benefits us. If we're not careful, this "risk management" philosophy of life can seep into our relationship with Christ, and we then serve Him, only in so much, as we are still in control. This episode is about the Biblical truth of the fact that partial service to our God is exactly the same as not serving Him at all, and the price for rejecting God is indeed high.
075 | Awareness of Self
This is the final installment of our three-part series concerning Awareness. We've looked at Awareness of the Pastor, and the required Awareness of the Brethren (fellow Christians), now we're going to take a close look at perhaps the most difficult form of awareness -Awareness of Self. Not in keeping with what we think, but rather in keeping with the objective doctrine of the Word of God. It's often easier to see how others would benefit from a more vulnerable acceptance of the Word of God, but often it's far more difficult to let the Word of God show you who you really are, without making any excuses.
074 | Awareness of the Brethren
Continuing our look at 'Awareness', in this episode we’re talking about the 2nd thing - Awareness of the Brethren. Because of today's technology we all seem to be very aware of many things which have nothing to do with our duty to the Lord and our Christian walk. The Scripture lays out three relationships (relationship with the Man of God, relationship with fellow Christians, and our relationship with ourself), that we should be focused on; not according to our own agenda, but according to the Bible. Enjoy!