Sometimes, You Have to Encourage Yourself (Episode 24)

We all need to be encouraged at times. Believers attend church regularly to be encouraged through the good news of the gospel. In this podcast episode, Evangelist Frank King says it’s also important to be able to encourage yourself.
Sometimes, your need to be encouraged can’t wait until the next time the church doors open. Or the kind of encouragement you need to hear may not be the message for the day at church. Your best friend may not be available to talk to or come by. If you don’t know how to encourage yourself in the face of circumstances that threaten to overwhelm you, you will have a problem standing in times like that.
A time occurred in King David’s life when he had to encourage himself. While he and his army were out at war, the Amalekites came into their city and burned it and took their wives and children captive.
When David and his men returned home and saw the destruction, they were emotionally devastated. “David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep” (1 Samuel 30:4, KJV).
As if that was not enough, the men of David’s army talked about stoning him! Now David did not burn down their city. He did not take their wives and their children captive. He was one with them. He’s feeling the same loss they were. But the men were grieved.
David could have lost it at this point. He could have wallowed in self-pity. But “David encouraged himself in the Lord his God” (verse 6).
Anyone subjected to what David experienced would be emotionally distraught. No matter how spiritually mature you are and how much you love God, a button exists that life can push and bring you to a low point in your life.
But David was able to overcome by encouraging himself in the Lord. No other source of encouragement existed. His entire world had fallen apart.
It’s moments like this one that we find out what we are really made of. All of us know how to thrive when all is well. But what about when the bottom falls out of life? David challenges us in that regard. When he had lost his possessions and his wife and his children, and his own army wanted to stone him to death, he encouraged himself in the Lord.

Seeing Good in Your Bad (Episode 23)

In this podcast episode, Frank King challenges believers to learn to see some good even in bad times. But oftentimes, seeing good in our bad is not an easy thing to do. Too often, when bad times come in our life, all we can see and think about and talk about is what we are going through. God, however, can take those situations and use them for His glory.
One purpose of the gospel is to change our perspective on life and on the challenges we face in life. Since God is with us, even our bad times are seasoned with some good. According to the Bible, God causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. That’s a good reason to believe that even when things are bad for us, God is causing them to trend toward something good on our behalf.
Seeing good in your bad is an act of faith. You must be able to look beyond what you see and believe the hand of God is working on your behalf. Sometimes, He is working out His best in you through the bad things He allows you to endure.
Every one of us is going to be tried in this life at one time or another. That is true even when you faithfully serve the Lord. Paul writes, “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12, NASB). “All” means no exceptions.

How to Be Strong in the Lord (Episode 22)

Being a Christian does not automatically make you strong in the Lord. You can be a Christian and not be strong in the Lord, but you can’t be strong in the Lord without being a Christian. Moreover, being strong in the Lord does not automatically come with the duration of time you have been a Christian. You can be a Christian for 50 years and still not be regarded as being strong in the Lord.
In Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, he writes, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” (Ephesians 6:10, KJV). Every Christian has what he or she needs to become strong in the Lord. That’s because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
Admittedly, some believers have more challenges to becoming strong in the Lord than others do. But the fact remains that every Christian has been endued with the wherewithal to realize that end.
But how do we become strong in the Lord, and why is that important? Paul writes, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (verse 11). The first part of this verse reveals in a nutshell, HOW to become strong in the Lord. We accomplish that end by putting on the whole armor of God.
The second part of the verse reveals WHY we need to be strong in the Lord. It is so we can stand against the wiles—the schemes, tricks, or attacks--of the devil. It stands to reason that if we must put on the whole armor of God so we can stand against the wiles of the devil, then we won’t be able to stand strong if we don’t do that.
In this episode, Frank King underscores the point that we don’t get to determine how we must fight to win against the devil. Rather, the enemy determines that. Why do you think our nation has intelligence agencies? It’s because we must know what works against adversarial nations and what does not. If we ignore the intelligence and we just do what we always do, our warfare will not be effective. The same thing is true about our enemy, the devil. It is the nature of the enemy that dictates the kind of warfare we must fight in order to win.
In our own strength, you and I are no match for the devil. The only way we can win against him is by donning ourselves with the armor that comes from God.

Having the Wrong Concept of Life (Episode 18)

Your concept of life matters because it determines how you live your life. If your concept of life is wrong, then the life you live will be wrong in the eyes of God. And many people today have the wrong concept of life.
This world wants us to believe life is about getting lots of stuff. To some degree, we all feed into that idea. That’s because for almost every special occasion, we celebrate by buying things for people.
Jesus said, “Beware, and be on your guard against every form of greed; for not even when one has an abundance does his life consist of his possessions” (Luke 12:15, NASB).
Jesus taught a parable about a man who had the wrong concept of life. According to Jesus, the parable applies to everyone “who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (verse 21). The sad truth is that many people who attend and serve in the local church fall into this category Jesus is talking about. God wants to be first in our lives. He wants us to love Him more than we love things and worldly success.
It is not unusual to see or read about people who are rich and famous but who are still searching for fulfillment. They underscore the fact that life is not simply about material wealth. True life comes only through a personal relationship with Christ. 
Before we came to Christ, we had a self-focused perspective on life. Everything was about us. Now we must have a Christ-focused life. Furthermore, the Bible says that through Christ, we are translated from death to life. So, it is only through Christ that we can know true life. He came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.

Discipleship and Unbelief (Episode 8)

Discipleship and unbelief tend to not go together. How can someone be a disciple and fail to believe at the same time? But unbelief, as used in this episode, does not refer to a person who does not believe in the person or the redemptive work of Christ on the cross. Rather, it refers to genuine disciples who at times struggle with their faith.
Just because you are a follower of Christ, and you read your Bible, and you have been born again does not mean you can’t have bouts with unbelief. All of us can find ourselves in that undesirable place at one time or another.
Jesus' disciples had a more intimate relationship with Him than any of us can. They virtually lived with Him throughout His public ministry. They heard all of His teachings and saw all of His miracles. You would think that if anybody was unshakeable in their faith, it would be them. But that was not the case. Even they were guilty of unbelief at times. 
This subject is important because faith is the essence of Christianity. "All things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23, NASB). But being a Christian does not automatically make you vibrant in your faith. Strong faith is not incidental to being a Christian. It does not just happen over time. But you must consistently work at growing in and deepening your faith.
The most powerful thing God has given us for strengthening our faith is His Word. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Delighting in His Word daily will starve your unbelief and feed your faith.
 

Do Not Worry About Your Life (Episode 5)

People today have numerous reasons to worry and to be anxious about their life. Reasons include rampant crime and murder, chronic diseases, the high cost of living, etc. But Jesus says, “Do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat, nor for your body, as to what you will put on” (Luke 12:22, NASB).
For believers, God is our heavenly Father. It is a basic requirement for a father to provide for his children. And God is more than able to provide for us. He can do “far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think….” (Ephesians 3:20, NASB). That’s why we should find it hard to obey the words of Jesus: “Do not worry about your life.”
It should be no surprise that Jesus addressed this all-important subject during His public ministry. Being human, we all experience periods of anxiety and worry. But if you really trust God, your life will not be dominated by worry. That does not mean you will never worry, but your life will not be dominated by worry.
The reason this subject resonates with us so deeply is because many people today are seriously worried or anxious about something or several things in life. Through His teachings, Jesus challenges us to live life on a higher level because God is our provider. He wants His children to trust Him. The clear evidence of genuine trust in God is the absence of excessive anxiety and worry in your life.

Our Heart and Our Worship to God (Episode 4)

Worship in its simplest definition is an act of reverence to God. This is one of the biblical ways that we show our appreciation for God to Him. Every week, millions attend the house of God to worship Him. Our styles of worship come in several forms. Some prefer a contemporary style. Others prefer to stick to the traditional. Still others desire a blend of styles. Though some churchgoers are a stickler for one style or the other, that is not what matters to God.
One reason God created us is to worship Him. He does not need our material things. “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1-3, KJV). The question is what constitutes acceptability to God? How do we know that when we gather at a local church or in a similar place to reverence God, that our veneration pleases Him? In this podcast episode, Frank King focuses on the relationship between our heart and the acceptability of our worship.
Our worship to God includes activities such as giving, singing, praying, etc. But these acts of reverence must come from our heart to be acceptable to God. Unlike men, God is not impressed with our external expressions of reverence. People look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).

The Token of Our Inheritance (Episode 3)

Think for a moment about our eternal fate. One day, those of us who have placed our faith in Christ, will forever be with the Lord, and it’s going to be good beyond description. But what is our assurance of such a wonderful eternal future? How can we be sure of that?
Some people are mystified by the depth of a believer’s conviction about Christ. Perhaps, you have had someone ask you, how do you know that Christ is real; how do you know that God is real? And how can you be confident about your eternal fate?
Think about those who choose to risk their life for the cause of Christ. And those who have faithfully attended the house of God for tens of years. There must be something real to being a Christian. And there is. For God has already given us a guarantee of our inheritance through the person of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, "Having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance...." (Ephesians 1:13-14, NASB).
This pledge is not from man but from God who cannot lie. We need not worry about what the eternal future holds for us. After we accepted Christ as our Savior, God sealed us with the Holy Spirit of promise. He has given us that as a token of our inheritance.

Four Habits of Passionate Christians (Episode 2)

According to the Bible, we should be a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1). That is, a living offering to God. How would you define your relationship with Christ? Are you spiritually cold? How about lukewarm? Or are you fervent in serving the Lord?
This episode encourages Christians to become passionate Christians. To be passionate for the Lord means to have a deep love for Christ; to be enthusiastic about living for Him. Sometimes, you can be passionate about something but not know how to go about it the right way. When that’s the case, you expend lots of effort but get little in return.
So, in this episode, Frank shares four habits of passionate Christians. Those who want to become more committed to serving the Lord should emulate these four habits. Frank reminds us that passionate Christian living is the only type of Christian living the Bible endorses. Although many choose to live it, nothing in the Bible legitimizes the casual Christian lifestyle. Duration 12:10.

What It Means to Fear the Lord (Episode 1)

Fear can be healthy or unhealthy. It is unhealthy when to us, the sky is always falling. Fear is a good thing when it motivates us to take the necessary precautions to safeguard ourselves from legitimate danger.
In this podcast episode, Evangelist Frank King teaches on the subject of fearing the Lord. Specifically, he addresses how the fear of God manifests itself in our lives. When a person says he fears the Lord, how does that affect how he relates to God?
Frank says that when you fear the Lord you are not going to disregard what He says. To fear the Lord does not involve a tormenting fear. For God is love. But if you really fear the Lord, you take God seriously. Duration 11:00.