Just a few Christmas season memories today. This is a video lesson  I did last year and thought you might want to watch it if you have not yet seen it to learn about the scientific possibilities regarding the mystery of the Star. If you are interested in astronomy or history and how this can confirm the Biblical text, you might like this one. It’s a 43.5 mb Flash file, be patient and use your fulll screen to view.

Also, I recorded some short audio thoughts (1 min 48 secs) last year about the Star of Bethlehem.

Enjoy and God Bless

P.S.: my appetite came back today! I never thought taco soup could ever taste so good! Praise God!

There were a number of podcasts I had done last year (2004) up to about March of this year, that had broken links. Evidently they had been like that since last May when I did some reorganization on the server they were located on. The links are fixed now. Scroll down the list after clicking on this link to find them. Be forewarned, these files are located on my home server and the download speed for you will be a litte slower.

I know those of you in my Sunday School class have been waiting to get started in the Sermon on the Mount series I have been talking about doing for so long now. We'll here is a lesson (mp3 audio download) just to whet your appitite a little bit. It is not really part of the series but it is from Matthew chapter 4 leading up to Chapter 5 which is the start of the Sermon on the Mount. So this lesson will sort of set the stage for our long look into the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew says:

Matthew 4:23 (NKJV)

And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease among the people.

Although we will spend weeks talking about this kingdom thing, I touch on it a little bit in this lesson.

There are many different variations on the Good News and that is not good news. Why? Because there ought to be one version. Which one is that you ask? Well, that would be the one in the Bible of course. Here is an audio (podcast) of the Sunday School Lesson I taught on this subject last week. I was inspired by a presentation I saw over at 9marks ministries. 

There is a presentation about One Verse Evangelism over at the Navigators site I was intrigued with. This mp3 file is part of a Sunday School Lesson I did on this technique for sharing your faith. Basically you just have to know one verse, Romans 6:23 and the entire message is contained in outline form within this short verse.

Listen to the podcast: Hebrews 13, April 10, 2005

I can't believe it but on April 3, 2005, I forgot to bring my recorder for the last lesson of this Hebrews series on chapter 13. Arrgh! That really put me in a state of mild depression. I was having some health problems and my energy levels were already low so I just could not bring myself to do the lesson over for my dog at home (I've done that before when I forgot to bring the recorder; my dog is very attentive :-). Also, it did not seem appropriate to ask my Sunday school class to hear the lesson again. Anyway, it turns out that I did not have enough time to finish the chapter anyway. I had skipped the benediction at the end of the book. So, this is a reprise using the writer's benediction as an outline for the last lesson of this series. Actually I am pretty pleased with the way things turned out, because I think God perhaps knew we needed examine this benediction. 

Anyway, here's the bottom line:

• Put Christ First,
• Value Him more than anything.
• Be much occupied with reminding each other of that.

Listen to the mp3 podcast: Hebrews 12:11-27, March 20, 2005

Don’t mistake God’s Loving discipline in pain and suffering for cruel punishment. Otherwise you may become bitter. Suffering has meaning, purpose. It is for discipline that you endure; it hurts temporarily. Esau is an example of a bitter person and what a sad story that was. But even Jesus suffered and benefited from it:

Hebrews 5:8 (NKJV)

Though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

This chapter ends with a discusion about a massive earthquake that is to come. We find out that everything we see here on this earth is just props that are not good things to hold onto in a shaking. But there is something that cannot be shaken and it will remain. It should be obvious as to what that is.

Listen to the podcast: Hebrews 12:1-11, March 13, 2005

Are you coasting through life? You need to be running. The point of this book of Hebrews is to endure, persevere, run, fight, don't drift, don't neglect. I used to run for exercise (wish I still could!). But I did not do it because it felt good while I was running. I did it because it felt so good when I finished. This chapter tells us to lay aside the weights which hold us back. Too many times we ask "Is it a sin to do this or that?" That's not the right question. Ask "Does it help me to run the race." Listen to find out why there is pain and suffering in this world and where it comes from and why.

Listen to the mp3 audio: Hebrews 11:20-40, February 27, 2005

You are reading through this list of heroes of the faith in Chapter 11 of Hebrews and you are amazed at the exploits of these people. By faith, they escaped the edge of the sword, raised the dead to life, fought back armies against impossible odds. Boy, let me in on that! But right in the middle of verse 35 the excitment turns on a period--by faith others were tortured, were slain with the sword, stoned, sawn in two. So what's the deal? Evidently faith is not the factor that determines whether you will suffer or not. Listen to find out what Who the determining factor is!

Listen to the audio: Hebrews 11:7-19, February 20, 2005

Did you know Noah was a preacher? Yep, says so in the Bible. Problem is, by our standards today, he wasn't too successful. Don't be too hard on him though, he is all of our great, great, great, great ... granddaddy. Anyway, his family did get saved. Noah must have been considered quite the nutcase, building an ark there hundreds of miles from any navigable water.

Faith will change your value system. If you are worried whether everything will work out when you take that next big step of faith and obey God, don't worry, it won't work out. You are not going to be satisfied with this world. It's not your home. You were made for another city, one whose builder and maker is God. Once you get your internal value system right by faith and trust in God's promises, your outward actions may seem a bit crazy to the outside world. Noah and Abraham did some pretty astounding things but they are models for the life of faith. Abraham believed God when he did not know where he was supposed to go or how God was going to keep His promise or when he would receive his promise or even why God would ask him to do such a thing as sacrifice his son.

We need some good heros and there are not so many good ones around today. Listen to find out whether Noah and Abraham might be some good hero candidates for you.