Biblical Moments with Frank King

The Bodily Resurrection of Christ (Episode 136)

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, NASB). These words penned by Paul the apostle underscore the importance of believing in the bodily resurrection of Christ. Our eternal salvation depends upon it. That is the focus of this Easter episode by Frank King.
In his first letter to the church at Corinth, Paul addressed the church members who said there is no resurrection of the dead. “If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen,” Paul said (1 Corinthians 15:13, KJV). 
Paul also saw the argument that there is no resurrection from the dead as an attack on the credibility of the apostles.  He said, “We are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not” (verse 15).
All the apostles saw the Lord Jesus Christ with their own eyes. The original twelve were with Him throughout His public ministry. After He returned to heaven, they became witnesses of His life, His death, and His bodily resurrection.
A false witness is a person who claims to have seen something that he has not seen. That’s, in effect, what the apostles would be, Paul argued, if there is no resurrection of the dead.
Believing Having Not Seen
Just as it was in the church at Corinth, some who listen to this episode may not believe in the resurrection of the dead. They wrestle with the idea of the bodily resurrection of Christ. Perhaps many who attend church weekly have the same struggle. This is not a minor issue. Rather, it is a matter of eternal consequences. That’s why Paul so passionately addressed the subject in his letter to the church.
According to the Scriptures, early on that first day of the week, God raised Jesus bodily from the grave. He took victory from the grave and the sting out of death. Because He lives, those who believe in Him will live forevermore. And that’s what we celebrate this awesome time of the year we call Easter.
Everything we hope for and live for rests upon the fact that God raised Christ bodily from the grave. That’s why this is such a big deal for us. And why Paul was inspired to challenge the unbelievers in the church on this matter.
But accepting the bodily resurrection of Christ is a matter of faith. None of us have witnessed it. No one can show us infallible proof of the same. “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed,” Jesus said (John 20:29, KJV).

God's Progressive Work in You (Episode 135)

No matter how long you live as a Christian, plenty room will always exist in your life to become more like Christ. The good news is that God is still working in your life toward that end. This episode addresses God’s progressive work in our life.
The basis of this episode is found in the words of Paul in his letter to the Philippians. There he writes, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6, KJV).
Note that Paul refers to God’s work in us as a “good work.” Furthermore, until the day of Christ, should we live until then, God will be working to perfect His good work in us.
Accordingly, we must be careful and not judge a person based upon some current snapshot we see of the person. Every genuine believer in Christ is a good work in progress. How we see someone today is no indication of who he will be tomorrow. That this is true attests to God’s progressive work in us. He wants to make and mold each of us into the image of His Son.
It is important to note that this episode is not about salvation. Salvation is an instant and complete work of God in our life. If someone were to genuinely accept Christ as his or her Savior today and die tonight, that person will go to be with the Lord. This episode, however, addresses our spiritual growth, which is not instant but ongoing.
Cooperating with the Process
We can impede God’s progressive work in our life. We should instead cooperate with what God is doing in us. He does not force change upon our life. This is the reason some Christians grow more quickly than others do.
Imagine that you are on the interstate, and you find out that some road work is going on. The exit you need to take is closed temporarily. So, you must go down a couple more exits and then take some back roads to get to where you are going. Going that way still gets you to your destination; it’s just a longer route because of the roadblock.
That’s the situation with God’s efforts to further His work in some Christians’ lives. They build personal detours and roadblocks to what God wants to accomplish in their life. So, He has to work through those issues with them. He can still get them where He wants to take them. But it takes longer when we don’t cooperate with His ongoing good work in us.

Four Christian Principles to Live By (Episode 134)

We all have physical, emotional, and mental limitations. That means a limit exists as to how much we can be subjected to physically, emotionally, or mentally. No one is an exception to that reality.
Consider our men and women in the military. Upon entry, they are mentally and physically strong. But even for them, a limit exists as to what they can be subjected to before they become overwhelmed physically, emotionally, or mentally. Hence, it’s not unusual for some of them to return from the horrors of war experiencing mental and emotional trauma.
The reason this is true is because God has not made any of us to carry the weight of our world upon our own shoulders. Those who try to do so will learn that to be true. Our ability to endure and overcome overwhelming situations in life is a function of our relationship with the Lord. This episode addresses four Christian principles every Christian should incorporate into his or her life.
Salvation Is Not Enough
We have not arrived just because we have accepted Christ as our Savior and become born again. After this conversion, we have only just begun. Of course, that experience is enough to get us into heaven. But meanwhile, we must live down here. And our adversary the devil wants to destroy us.
About that Peter writes, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8, KJV). Paraphrase: If you are a Christian, the devil is your enemy, and he wants to destroy you. That’s why the Christian principles discussed in this episode are important. They will help you to be victorious, amid the enemy’s assaults against you.
Incorporating these principles into your life is not a requirement for salvation. Rather, they are a matter of your quality of life as a Christian. They will enable you to live a more effective and fulfilled Christian life. The better you are at incorporating these Christian principles into your life, the stronger and more rooted in the faith your life will be.
 

Three Ways Salvation Changes Your Life (Episode 133)

What happens to a person when the Lord saves him or her? Is there any power in that experience? Or is the subject of salvation no more than religious jargon? This episode addresses three life-changing effects of a genuine salvation experience.
In his first epistle, John writes these words: “Hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:3-4, KJV).
Now that’s blunt language. But it does not get any clearer than that. When we accept Christ as our Savior, we become born again through faith. Through that born-again experience, our life radically changes.  We become a new creation; old things are passed away; all things become new (2 Corinthians 5:17). Because of that transformation, John can write so emphatically in the two verses above.
Somebody may argue that although he lives like he doesn’t know God, the truth is that he does know Him. But according to what John writes, the way you know that you know God is that you keep His commandments. And if you don’t, you are lying. We conclude then that one of the ways salvation changes your life is that you will thereafter keep the Lord’s commandments.
It's important to note that the message in these verses is not that you MUST keep the Lord’s commandments to be saved. Rather, because you are saved, you WILL keep His commandments. In this episode, Evangelist Frank King addresses two other powerful ways salvation changes your life.
Examine Yourself, Not Others
According to John, no one who claims to know the Lord is an exception to what he states above. Nevertheless, the cited obedience may or may not be reflected in the lives of babes in Christ. One the other hand, we should not preoccupy ourselves with judging other believers’ relationship with the Lord.
Please note the first part of John’s words above. He says, “Hereby WE do know that WE know him.” In other words, it's not how we know others know Him, but how we know we know Him. Accordingly, the main objective of this episode is for us to look at ourselves and not others. We should view ourselves in the mirror of the Word. Then we must decide if the person we see really knows God or is merely a religious churchgoer. If it is the latter, we must take the necessary corrective action.
What’s the big deal about knowing if you really know the Lord? The most important decision you need to address in this life is where you will spend eternity. Jesus asks the question, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36, KJV).
Jesus’ question is relevant because of the value of your soul. Your soul is priceless. Your soul is immortal. It involves your emotions and your will. Your soul is who you are. Even gaining this entire world—if you could--is not worth losing your soul.
What’s so amazing about the incredible ways salvation changes your life is God’s simple plan for experiencing these life-changing benefits. Simply put, you must repent of your sins, confess Christ as Lord, and believe that God has raised Him from the dead.
 

Receiving a Good Report Through Faith (Episode 132)

The Bible contains numerous accounts of men and women who successfully walked with God while on earth. We share something in common with them. They successfully walked with God, and we are currently striving to do the same. This episode focuses our attention on the Old Testament servants whose faith enabled them to receive a good report. We do well to heed the biblical accounts of their lives, if we want to please God.
According to the writer of the book of Hebrews, these heroes of faith, “Having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise” (Hebrews 11:39, KJV). We tend to think that if someone says he has faith in God and he does not receive what he desired, he must not have had faith. According to the verse, however, these servants obtained a good report by faith--even though they did not receive the fulfillment of the promise.
It can be hard to remain faithful to God when you don’t receive what you are believing Him for. But that’s what real faith is all about.
So, what is the promise they did not receive? This is a reference to the promised coming of Jesus Christ. These faithful servants didn’t live to see the fullness of blessings that would come through the promised Messiah. Still, they remained faithful while living in anticipation of the Messianic promises given them.
Our Cloud of Witnesses
The writer refers to the men and women of faith mentioned in the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, as our cloud of witnesses. He says we are “compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses” (Hebrews 12:1). A witness is someone who has experienced or seen something firsthand.
The heroes of faith mentioned in the book of Hebrews are witnesses because they know firsthand what it takes to receive a good report through faith.
When you read the Word of God, imagine that you are stepping into an arena to run a race. And there is this big cheering squad of faith heroes rooting for you. Abraham is saying, “Keep the faith.” David is saying, “Worship the Lord.” Job is saying, “Endure the hardness.” Samuel is saying, “Obey the Lord.” Through what has been recorded of their faith journeys, they are saying you can do this because we did it.
Now imagine stepping into an arena to run a race, and you have no one cheering you along. That’s how it is when you fail to read the Word of God so these great men and women of faith can pour into you along the way. The truth is that to be a winner in the faith, you need to connect yourself with other winners in the faith.
From the beginning of the Bible until the end, we have testimony after testimony of real people who had real challenges. They walked with God by faith, and they overcame. According to the Bible, the things that happened to them were written for our examples.

The Way, the Truth, and the Life (Episode 131)

“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me,” Jesus said (John 14:6, KJV). To those outside Christendom, this is one of the most arrogant statements Christians can make. It suggests that Christianity is the only valid faith. Frank King expounds on these powerful words of Jesus in this episode.
We have countless religions to choose from today. Also, in America, we have the right to freedom of religion. Ironically, when it comes to knowing and getting right with God the Creator, you don’t get to exercise freedom of religion. 
That worldview goes against the grain of our culture. In virtually everything, we have options. But in this matter of eternal consequences, Jesus says, in effect, we don’t have options.
Christology is the area of Christian theology pertaining to the person, nature, and role of Christ. These aspects of Christ lay at the very foundation of Christianity.
For a religious community to be deemed Christian, it must adhere to the biblical teachings regarding the person, nature and role of Christ. We can disagree on many things and still be fellow Christians. But not on these vital truths about the person of Jesus.
“The Way, the Truth, and the Life” is a loaded self-declaration. We do well to take a closer look. So, let us unpack this phrase:  
The Way
Every place in America and in the world has a specific location. Because of that, you can take your favorite navigational equipment, input your destination, and your device will guide you there. For most places, there is more than one route to get there. But as for heaven and the Father, Jesus says He is the only way. Absolutely no alternative way to God and to heaven exists. In John 10:9, Jesus refers to Himself as the door.
The Truth
Truth is not relative. Truth is not in the eyes of the beholder. It is not situation ethics. In other words, it’s not a function of the circumstances. Truth in the eyes of God is absolute. In John 17:17, Jesus says to God, “Your Word is truth.” Hence, God’s Word is the standard by which all claims, philosophies and doctrines are evaluated, relative to the truth. Jesus was the embodiment of the truth. Everything He said, taught and did was consistent with the Word of God.
The Life
Jesus says He came that we might have life (John 10:10). In that verse, the word for life is not the word bios (bee-oss), which denotes merely physical life. But He uses the word ZOH-ee, which is life in the absolute sense. Only one source exists for obtaining this true life. In John 5:24, Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (KJV).
Coming to the Father
After proclaiming Himself to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, Jesus drops the bomb. He says, “No one comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6, NASB). That's the point Jesus was leading up to. In other words, to come to the Father, we must follow the Way He showed us.  Accept the Truth He taught. And receive Life through faith in Him.
 

Focusing on What's Important (Episode 130)

In this episode, Evangelist Frank King addresses our need for time-management and setting priorities. He says these are two of the keys to success in life. God has given us only 24 hours in a day to work with. We must know what’s important in life and how to be a good steward with our time.
A limit exists to how much we can prevent life from imposing itself upon us. Each of our lives is inseparably connected to the lives of others.  For instance, you may need to help care for an elderly parent or family member. You didn’t ask for that, but you have it. The only way we can get through the challenges of life is by determining what’s important and disciplining ourselves to focus on those things first.
Think about Jesus. While He was on earth, He was clothed in human flesh. Hence, He was physically confined. He couldn’t be everywhere solving everybody’s problem. He didn’t try to because that was not His mission. Jesus knew what His mission was, He focused on the mission, and He did that with perfection.
We tend to overrate the importance of some things in our life at the expense of other things that truly are important. Overrated activities may include things such as a hobby or a personal routine. For instance, your daily trip to Starbucks for coffee. Or your weekly trip to the golf course. Those things in the life of some people are overrated. At the same time, we may underrate some things that really are important.
Sitting at the Feet of Jesus
One day Jesus stopped by the house of Martha and her sister Mary. When He arrived, Mary sat down at His feet and heard Him speak. Martha, on the other hand, was busy serving and trying to be a good host. She went to Jesus and said Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me alone to serve.
“Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things.” Jesus said (Luke 10:41, KJV). “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (verse 42).
What Jesus says about Martha is true about many of us today. We are full of care and troubled about many things. Amidst it all, there is one thing that we need to make our priority. That is to spend time with the Lord daily and let Him speak to us through His Word and through prayer.
For some of us, however, we are so busy trying to manage everything in life that we may leave our need to connect with God to chance. We say if I get around to spending time with God, OK. But if not, that’s OK too. But if you are willing to leave it to chance, then it’s not important to you. One does not leave to chance what's important.
With time, life will become increasingly more demanding upon our limited time. The best single thing you can do to succeed is to make it a priority to spend time alone with the Lord each day. Your time with Him will positively impact every aspect of your day.  

Victory in Life Through the Word of God (Episode 129)

Many people who read the Bible don’t value it as they should. For some, it's because they don’t know how to properly use it for life. In this episode, Frank King teaches on how to experience victory in life through the Word.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he writes, “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11, KJV). The armor of God refers to the weaponry God gives us to fight with as opposed to physical armor.
The wiles Paul refers to in this verse refer to deceitful strategies. They lie at the heart of everything the devil does. He is a liar and a deceiver. But according to this verse, through the armor of God, we can endure and stand against the schemes of the devil.
Paul refers to the wiles of the devil because we are not wrestling against flesh and blood. Rather, our fight is with the rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places (verse 12). We know how to fight against flesh and blood because we were born with that ability. We have perfected how to do that over the years.
The problem, however, is that our ability to fight against flesh and blood means nothing to the devil. He is our real enemy, and he is not flesh and blood. He often works through people to oppose us. But the real enemy are those demonic entities Paul mentions. They are the ones we must know how to successfully fight to experience victory in life.
The Sword of the Spirit
Though Paul addresses the whole armor of God, this episode focuses on one piece of the armor—the Word of God. Paul refers to God’s Word as the sword of the Spirit (verse 17). That makes it an offensive weapon.
The Greek word translated as “Word” in this case is "rhema" (hRAY-ma). This word does not refer to the Word of God in its entirety. Rather, it is the portion of God’s Word that we speak or apply at the right time for the situation at hand. We must learn how to use the Word of God as our sword against the enemy, if we want to have victory in life.
Many Christians understand the basic message of the Bible, but they don’t how to properly apply the Word to the situation at hand. This is a main reason they fail to experience victory in life against the enemy.
A good example of the principle of rhema at work is when the devil came against Jesus to tempt Him in the wilderness. This account is recorded in Matthew chapter 4. Notice that in each instance, Jesus knew the right scriptural thing to say to the devil at the right time. Jesus’ responses were preceded by words, “it is written.”
Jesus overcame the devil through the Word. After His third response to the devil, the devil retreated, and angels came and ministered to Jesus (Matthew 4:11).

Four Benefits of Salvation (Episode 128)

The word “salvation” is a household word the Christian community. That's understandable. It is our ultimate goal in this life.  But for those who don’t know our Christian jargon, the term salvation can be somewhat of a mystery. In this episode, Frank King shares four benefits of salvation.
It is in chapter 5 of Paul’s letter to the church at Rome that he shares these important benefits of salvation. The very first word in the chapter is the word “therefore.” That’s because in chapter 5, Paul is continuing his discourse from the end of chapter 4. He ended that chapter making the case for justification by faith and not by works.
Paul’s objective in chapter 5 is to reveal some of the benefits exclusive to those who have been justified by faith. For instance, he writes, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1, KJV).
So, one of the benefits of salvation is that we have peace with God. According to the verse, the reason we enjoy peace with God is because we have been justified by faith. To be justified means to be declared a just person in the eyes of God.
When Jesus died on the cross for us, He paid the penalty for our sins. And when we place our faith in Him and His bodily resurrection, God declares us to be righteous. That means He regards us as being freed from the penalty of sin. Accordingly, our sins no longer separate us from Him. Instead, we are at peace with God.
In the following verses, Paul reveals several other benefits of salvation that Evangelist Frank King addresses in this episode of the podcast. To listen to this episode, click the play button above.
Inviting Others to Christ
Oftentimes, when reaching out to others to accept Christ, we tell them about John 3:16. Or perhaps Romans 10:9. These are perhaps the most popular verses used for that occasion. We may choose to not go any deeper than those verses when witnessing to someone about accepting Christ. But the person may ask you what’s the rest of the story. How will believing in the promises of those verses change my life? Paul the apostle speaks to that question in Romans, chapter 5.
So many people in the world today need to experience the life-changing benefits of God’s salvation. That’s why it’s vital that Christians share their faith with the lost. You don’t have to be a theologian for God to use you to reach the lost for Christ. All the benefits of salvation Paul reveals happen automatically when a person chooses to accept your invitation to follow Christ.
It happens that way because we are laborers together with God. He is with us. We plant and water, but He is the One who gives the increase for our efforts.
When was the last time you invited someone to accept Christ?

Preparing for the Coming of the Lord (Episode 127)

Sad but true, many churchgoers today are not prepared for the coming of the Lord. Jesus warned us about that during His time on earth. He said, “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’” (Matthew 7:22, NASB). “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you…’” (verse 23).
In this episode, Frank King addresses the importance of us being properly prepared for the coming of the Lord. People often talk passively about the Lord’s return. For instance, they may have a favorite verse they often quote about His return. Or they look at the signs of the times around us and say something like, we must be close to the Lord’s return. But the question is, how seriously do we take the idea of the coming of the Lord?
Jesus taught a parable about ten virgins going to meet the bridegroom (Matthew 25:1-13). Of course, the bridegroom is a foreshadow of Jesus. The virgins represent those who aspired to attend the marriage feast. The fact that they are referred to as virgins denotes their purity. Still, Jesus referred to five of the virgins as foolish.
These five failed to be adequately prepared to wait for and to meet the bridegroom. Unlike the wise virgins, they did not take enough oil for their lamps. Their lamps went out at the worst time possible. So, they could not go and meet the bridegroom at midnight. Accordingly, they missed out on attending the wedding feast.
The "Oil" We Need
In the parable, Jesus focused on the oil. The wise virgins took adequate oil for their lamps, but the foolish virgins didn’t. In the Bible, oil often represents the Holy Spirit. An analogy can be made between some churchgoers today and the foolish virgins. The latter were not prepared to meet the bridegroom because they had no oil. Similarly, any churchgoer who does not have the Spirit of God indwelling himself is not prepared for the coming of the Lord.
Jesus told Nicodemus, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God” (John 3:3, KJV). Many people today attend church regularly. They join in singing songs of worship and praise, and they listen to the Word of God being preached. But they lack a born-again experience through Christ. They are like the five foolish virgins in this parable. It’s not an option. We must be born again. That’s how we get that spiritual oil, the Holy Spirit.
In the parable, all ten virgins went to meet the bridegroom. But the foolish virgins, to put it in modern-day language, were just playing church. They hung out with the real folks, but they themselves lacked diligence in preparing to meet the Lord. They chose to wing it and hoped it would turn out all right—but it didn’t.