Bibles For America Podcast

In Mark 16, Jesus says to “proclaim the gospel” to all the creation. Find out who Jesus is talking to and why we need to proclaim the gospel.

The day we get saved is a wonderful, momentous day. In this podcast, though, we want to talk about the days that follow. After experiencing the joy of salvation, a person may wonder how to continue experiencing the Lord Jesus. Questions such as these come up: How can I know Jesus personally? How can I experience Jesus in my life? Is being forgiven and saved from God’s judgment all there is to the Christian life? Some may try different ways to experience Jesus like they did the day they were saved. Perhaps they try studying the Bible more, but though they learn something new, the Lord Himself still seems far away. Similar to how we need the right key, not just any key, to enter into a locked room, we need to use the right key to experience Jesus. What’s the key for us to know Jesus personally in our day-to-day life? Before we get into what the key to experiencing Jesus is, we need to grasp two important facts. The first fact is that Jesus redeemed us by His death on the cross. How we thank Him for this! And Ch

The Bible mentions the flesh throughout the Old and New Testaments. But although Christians are clear about what sin is, many haven’t heard much about their flesh. Unfortunately, Satan’s obscuring of the truth about the flesh over the years has allowed him to damage many of God’s people. What is the flesh, and why is it so bad? Is it still bad now that we’re saved? Does our flesh get better the longer we’re Christians, or the more spiritual we become? Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about the flesh. First, what is the flesh and where did it come from? God created man with a spirit, a soul, and a body so man could contain God and express Him. Every part of man was pure, including his body. But when Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, something terrible happened. They took in the sinful nature of the devil. This deadened their spirit, damaged their soul, and corrupted their pure body, changing it into the sinful flesh. We can see the apostle Paul’s awareness concerning the f

This podcast presents a Bibles for America staff member’s testimony about discovering her human spirit and how it affected her. We hope you enjoy her story: The blog post “A Life-Changing Discovery: My Spirit” really touched me because what it talked about is exactly what I have experienced. Since I began to see in the Bible that I have a human spirit, and then began to actually experience the Lord who lives there, my life has never been the same. I had always felt deep within that something was missing in my Christian life. When you believe into the Lord and get saved, then what? What did God want? What was being a Christian all about in my daily life? For a period of time I thought that maybe the Lord wanted me to help people. For instance, I thought of becoming some kind of doctor, or joining the Peace Corps. And then other times, I thought He wanted to me pursue and fulfill my dreams. There is a very specific moment in my life after graduating from high school that I’ll never forget. As I laid in bed with

You’ve managed to pick up the nasty cold that’s going around. Sniffling, headachy, stuffed up, and feverish, you feel awful. Seeking relief, you drag yourself to the store to pick up one of those multi-symptom relief medications. After taking the first dose, you start to feel better. Nobody likes to be sick physically. But have you ever felt spiritually “sick”? You want to express Christ to people, but you find you’re not able to. You try to be patient with someone, but eventually you blow up. You’re “ailing” from a shortage of patience, or of kindness, or humility. You ask the Lord to give you more love, more kindness, or you ask Him to help you be patient. Have you ever wished you had a multi-symptom dose of something for the many problems in your Christian life? Well the Bible has good news: you do! Just as different elements are compounded into one medication to address multiple cold symptoms, we have an all-inclusive, spiritual remedy, a dose compounded with the wonderful ingredients of all Christ is to

You’re not alone if you’ve asked yourself the question, “I’m saved. What comes next?” Many of us didn’t know what came next after we received the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. We surely greatly appreciate the tremendous steps God took to redeem us and to impart His eternal life into us so that we could be born again. But believing in Jesus Christ is just the beginning of our Christian life. So much more lies ahead! Let’s talk about some things that follow our first believing in the Lord. First, we can be baptized. Our believing in Jesus Christ is the inward aspect of our being saved, and our being baptized is the outward affirmation of our being saved. So after we believe, what comes next is the step of baptism. These two go together. Mark 16:16 says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved.” The New Testament Recovery Version has a rich note on this verse that can help us understand why both believing and being baptized are necessary: “…To believe and to be…baptized are two parts of one complete

In previous podcasts we talked about the importance of spending time with Jesus every morning and how to build up such a habit. This wonderful habit is key to our relationship with Christ. Perhaps you see the benefits of this kind of habit and want to build it up, but aren’t sure what to do during that time. How do we spend time with Jesus? What do we do in our mornings with Him? Throughout the centuries, Christians who loved the Lord and sought to know the Lord have discovered many enjoyable, beneficial ways to spend their mornings with Him. We’ll go through some of these discoveries. But first, let’s quickly refresh our view on what this morning time with Jesus is all about. Spending time with the Lord Jesus each morning isn’t to fulfill some kind of religious duty or perform a ritual. If we just “clock in” and “clock out” without our heart being in it or our spirit engaged, we may develop a habit, but it won’t be an enjoyable one nor will it help us know the Lord more or grow in Him. Keeping a lifeless pra

In another podcast we discussed one of the biggest questions a Christian may have: Can I lose my salvation? We saw the clear and definite assurance the Bible gives us that once we believe in Christ and receive Him as our Savior, we’re saved eternally. We can’t lose our salvation. But here’s another question: Does it make any difference whether we know we can’t lose our salvation? The answer is yes, and in this podcast we’ll talk about why. There are dangerous consequences of thinking you can lose your salvation. To think you can lose your salvation at any time makes progressing in the Christian life extremely difficult, if not impossible. In fact, this thought can undermine your entire Christian life. Let’s see how this could happen. When we sin, we naturally feel ashamed and regretful. This is a healthy reaction. But if we don’t know that we can confess our sins to the Lord to be forgiven and washed, then we don’t know what to do about our sins. Our conscience becomes weighed down. And as we commit more sins

In a previous podcast, we saw the benefits of reading the Bible daily and why it’s an excellent habit for every Christian to develop. But how do we get started? What can we do to develop this healthy and necessary habit? In this podcast, we’ll cover seven practical points to help you build up a daily habit of reading the Bible: First, pray for a hunger for God’s Word. In Psalm 119 we can see the psalmist’s love and hunger for God’s word. In verse 103 he overflows with his joyous experience of God’s word: “How sweet are Your words to my taste! Sweeter than honey to my mouth!” We, too, can have this kind of joy in God’s Word; we can simply ask God to give us a hunger and a taste for His Word. Surely this is a prayer God would like to answer. Second, choose a set time to read the Word. It helps to schedule a set time for reading the Bible. Morning is an excellent time, before the hustle and bustle of the day begins. Other times like during lunch or before going to bed can also be good. A scheduled time helps us

In our podcast on “The Best Time of the Day to Spend with the Lord Jesus,” we discussed the benefits of having a habit of spending morning time with the Lord. In this podcast we’ll discuss some helpful points for building up this healthy spiritual habit. First, being motivated is key to building up any good habit. And knowing the advantages of a particular habit positively motivates us. Likewise, knowing the disadvantages of not having that habit also motivates us. For instance, we know regular—not occasional—exercise helps us feel better, work more efficiently, and even live longer. Keeping these positive benefits in mind motivates us to get off our chairs, get active and moving, and persevere, especially when we don’t feel like exercising. As another example, we know we’ll have dental problems if we don’t regularly brush and floss. So we floss, not because we enjoy it, but because the negative outcome if we don’t encourages us to. Similarly, habitually spending personal time with the Lord Jesus each morning

We’ve all heard someone say, “I’ve been blessed by God,” usually in relation to success, health, family, wealth, or a job. We’ve even heard athletes say this after winning a big game. We all want to be under God’s blessing. The common understanding of what it means to be blessed by God is that He gives us good things. In this respect, we can say that God’s blessing is on everyone, believers and unbelievers alike. Matthew 5:45 says that the Father who is in the heavens causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and unjust. But does God’s blessing pertain only to material things? Though these are included, thinking of God’s blessing as mainly material things severely limits our understanding of what is in God’s heart for us as believers. So what is the fuller meaning of being blessed by God? Let’s begin with the blessing of Abraham by God in Genesis 12:3: “And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” We might think being blessed here means something outward, like h

Consider these two scenarios: Scenario 1: You hear the alarm go off, roll out of bed, and start to get ready, already anxious about the day ahead. During a hurried breakfast, you catch up on news, texts, and email. Eventually you set off, preoccupied with your to-do list. Scenario 2: You hear the alarm go off and begin your day by saying, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” You get up and spend time to talk with the Lord in prayer and to read His Word. Refreshed and nourished by His Word, you feel strengthened and supplied for the day’s challenges. You eat breakfast and head out. We’d probably all prefer the second scenario. Our spiritual life would benefit greatly and perhaps change dramatically if we made a habit of starting our day with the Lord. But building up any habit takes more than a fleeting inspiration; it helps if we see the reasons why it’s worthwhile. Let’s look at three reasons for developing a habit of spending time with the Lord in the morning. First, our spiritual health depends on it. We can only exp

After reading the post on the Bibles for America blog titled, “Can You Lose Your Salvation?”, someone wrote to us with the following comment and questions: “I am so glad that I was able to find this article. I know that God’s decisions cannot be changed and that He holds us in His hands. Yet I still feel insecure about my salvation. Can you please answer these questions: Is the unforgivable sin not accepting Jesus as Savior? Can a Christian commit the ‘unforgivable sin’ talked about in Mark 3:28-29?” In this podcast, we’d like to share with you our reply to this note in the hope that it will be helpful to others who have these questions. Dear Reader, Thank you for your comment asking us about the unforgivable sin and referencing Mark 3:28-29: “Truly I say to you that all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they blaspheme, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit has no forgiveness forever, but is guilty of an everlasting sin.” Let’s also look at Matthew 12:31-32, a related pa

How did I get here? The young man took a long look at his life. He was penniless, homeless, filthy, and starving. You would never know that he had once lived under the loving care of his wealthy father. But he had left home, cut off his relationship with his father, squandered his inheritance on a life of sin, and ended up in this pitiful state. He finally came to his senses, and a deep feeling welled up in him: I need to go back to my father. But he was so ashamed. After all he had done, he wondered whether his father would even want him as a son anymore. In desperation, he decided he would return home and ask to be a servant. He was unaware of the depth of his father’s love. Little did he know that his father had been longing for him, waiting and watching for the day he would return. As the young man made his way home, his father spotted him, even when he was still a long way off, and ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him affectionately. Filthy and ragged, the repentant young man confessed to his father

In this podcast we’ll discuss a practice by God’s people seen throughout the entire Bible: the practice of calling on the name of the Lord. Let’s see what it is to call on the name of the Lord and how this practice can benefit us. All Christians have at some point prayed to God. God hears these prayers, whether they’re silent, quiet, or loud. But the practice of calling, which is a form of praying, is definitely audible. In the Bible, the Hebrew word for call means to call out to, to cry unto, and the Greek word means to invoke a person, to call a person by name. For example, when a little boy falls off a swing, he immediately cries out loud, “Mommy!” His mother hears and runs to him, wipes away his tears, and soothes him. Children cry out to their mothers when they’re hungry, tired, or scared. They cry because they’re helpless and they need to be cared for. Similarly, by crying out to the Lord, we’re saying we’re hungry for Him, we need Him, and we can’t make it without Him. When did people begin to practice

We sometimes receive questions from our blog readers. After reading our blog post titled, “How Can I Be Sure I’m Really Saved?”, one reader wrote to us, concerned that they were not the kind of person that could be saved. We aren’t able to answer every question, but we responded to this one and we thought our response might be helpful to many others. So, here is our response, still in letter form. Dear Reader, Thank you for the question you sent in response to the post “How Can I Be Sure I’m Really Saved?” on our blog. You were concerned that you were not the kind of person that could be saved. We’ll start by looking at what it means to be saved in the Bible. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” This verse shows us God’s great love for all mankind, a love so great that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. Because of this, as the verse clearly states, every person in the

Daily Bible reading is an excellent habit that can benefit every Christian in many ways. We’ll discuss three main benefits in this podcast. When we read the Bible, we’re fed by God’s Word and supplied for our Christian life. Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 4:4 when He said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God.” Other verses in the Bible also make it clear that God’s Word is nourishment to us. For example, 1 Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, long for the guileless milk of the word in order that by it you may grow unto salvation.” And in the Old Testament, Jeremiah 15:16 says, “Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart.” When we eat physical food, we’re supplied with the nutrients we need to live and be healthy. We get the energy to go to work, exercise, and spend time with family and friends. Conversely, when we skip a meal, we feel weak, tired, and even grumpy. And if we keep missing meals, we

When the love of the Lord Jesus first touched us and we repented and confessed His name, a previously unknown joy filled our hearts. What a joy it was to be forgiven and born again! God wants us to continue to be joyful in His wonderful salvation for our whole life. And this isn’t only for a select few; it’s normal for all God’s children, as we read in 1 Peter 1:8: “You exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.” We can never lose our eternal salvation, but we have to admit that at times we lose the joy of our salvation. Let’s talk about two reasons why that is, how we can recover our joy in the Lord, and what habits we can develop to have a joyful daily life. First and foremost, the sins we commit cause us to lose the joy of our salvation. Although we’re saved, all of us have sinned, failed the Lord, or disobeyed Him. And after we sin, we feel something’s wrong; we sense a barrier has come between us and the Lord. Isaiah 59:2 tells us, “Your iniquities have become a separation between you and your

It’s interesting how we can read the Bible, even repeatedly, and miss something important. For example, we probably remember that the Bible mentions the Holy Spirit many times, but what about the human spirit? It may surprise you to know that the human spirit is mentioned scores of times in both the Old and New Testaments. To see the place our human spirit occupies in God’s purpose and in our Christian life can be a life-changing discovery, enlightening our understanding and leading us into a real and living relationship with the Lord. In previous podcasts, we’ve talked about how God created us as a three-part being with a spirit, soul, and body, and what the difference between the soul and the spirit is. In this podcast, we’ll focus specifically on our spirit, the deepest part of our being and the key to all spiritual experience. First, let’s consider the significance of the spirit in God’s eyes. Zechariah 12:1 says, “Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the eart

People, even Christians, have many concepts about what the church is. But what is the church exactly? Is the church a building Christians go to on Sundays to worship? Is the church an organization of people who believe in Jesus Christ? To discover what God’s thought is concerning the church, we must come to the Bible. While we can’t cover this enormous matter in a single podcast, we’ll begin to look at what the church is according to God’s Word. A good principle in reading the Bible is to pay special attention to the first mention of a matter. This sets the stage for understanding that matter in the rest of Scripture. The first mention of the word church in the entire Bible is in Matthew 16:18. In this passage, Jesus brings His disciples outside Jerusalem and asks them who they think He is (v. 15). Peter responds by declaring, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). Jesus tells Peter that he received this revelation from God (v. 17). After such an important revelation, we might think the Lord