FRESH Official Podcast

When you do something that you know is wrong, the reality of that sin lingers like a blood stain on a white cloth. It feels impossible to get rid of, so the guilt eats away at your soul like a cancer. That’s a pretty glum synopsis, but there’s nothing new in that. In one of Shakespeare’s famous plays, Lady Macbeth, wracked with the guilt of murder, looks upon her blood-stained hands and cries “Out, damned spot! Out, I say.” That desire for absolution, for the wrong to be undone, the guilt to be erased, is universally part of the human condition. It explains why God took the drastic step of allowing His Son to be crucified on our behalf. Can we ever be absolved of our sin? Can we ever be truly free of the guilt that eats into our very bones? Or are we, like Lady Macbeth, doomed to its consequences for all eternity? Here is God speaking into that very real life and death dilemma today: Isaiah 1:18 I, the LORD, am the one speaking to you. Come, let’s discuss this. Even if your sins are as dark as red dye, that stain can be removed and you will be as pure as wool that is as white as snow. There is one place – only one – where that stain can be removed. There is one Person – only One – who can cleanse it from you: Jesus, the Son of God, who died to pay for your sins. And when we believe in Him, our sins are forgiven. Completely. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. In Christ and Christ alone. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

No doubt you’ve had the experience of feeling a bit down, and then someone’s come along with a simple word of encouragement, and in an instant lifted you up, changed your day – perhaps even your life. So let’s just stop and imagine if today, tomorrow, you and I were that person in someone else’s life. Because if we call ourselves Christians, if we believe in Jesus, then the Holy Spirit yearns to fill us to a floodtide of overflowing with His joy. And that’s a floodtide that can bring life to many a parched, hurting heart around you. Now, we don’t always feel like we have enough joy inside to share, let alone to overflow out of us. So, here it is … Ephesians 5:19,20 Encourage each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord. Always give thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Music is such a wonderful gift from God. Whether it’s on the radio or through the many hi-tech digital channels available these days, those hymns and songs are so powerful. And God doesn’t care how off-key your singing may sound to the human ear. He loves it when you sing His praises. He loves it when you make music in your heart. He loves it when you give thanks to Him for everything in Christ’s name! And at that point, you won’t be able to help it. That floodtide of joy is going to burst forth from you as a powerful encouragement to those around you who so desperately need it! Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

One of the things that most of us aren’t all that good at is reading other people’s emotions … before we say or do what we were going to say or do. But there’s something else that we’re even worse at. And that something else is being aware of our own emotional state before we speak or act. Perhaps you’re feeling a bit down, so instead of thanking someone, you treat them like an object rather than a person. Or maybe you’re angry, so you say something without even realising you’re angry that you’ll never be able to take back. The realm of emotions can be as murky as pea soup, right? And how we recognise and respond to emotions – our own and other people’s – has a profound effect on the sort of life we’ll end up living. Well today, wisdom – God’s wisdom – is crying out to us: Proverbs 9:6 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight. (ESV) The answer to getting some clarity around emotions is to eat and drink in God’s wisdom. And His Word – the Bible – is cram-packed full of it – the sort of insight and, indeed, Holy Spirit power that we need in order to think about how we’re feeling before we speak and act. The sort of wisdom, the sort of insight that we need, to figure out where the other person is coming from. So … leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight. That’s what God’s calling you. That’s what He’s offering you. Because that’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Okay, let’s imagine that somewhere deep in your heart, you want to do the right thing; you want to do what God says you should do. But as we saw yesterday, that ain’t always that easy … is it? No, it’s not! In fact, some day’s it feels downright impossible. That’s the truth of the matter. You set out on your journey each morning with the best of intentions, but then someone or something comes along and you trip at the very same hurdle as you did yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. But God, I wanted to do the right thing … and then that idiot came along and annoyed me, so I bit his head off. That’s how it goes. Whatever the situation, whatever the circumstance, it happens to us all. So today, let’s get on the front foot – let’s get proactive about doing the right thing. Galatians 6:2 Help each other with your troubles. When you do this, you are obeying the law of Christ. What a powerful scripture. Those people who annoy us have their own foibles, their own stresses and strains, their own hurts, their own demons to deal with. Often, we have no idea what they’re going through. And I believe – in fact I know – that today, through His Word, God is giving us the power to treat them differently, to help them in their time of trouble instead of reacting the way we normally do . Let’s just stop and think about that; let it sink in. If we choose in that moment of temptation to love them, to help them instead of biting their heads off … when we do that, we’re actually obeying the law of Christ. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Power and suffering are not two words that we use all that often in the one sentence, and yet when we’re suffering is precisely when we need God to unleash His incomprehensibly great power in us. Yesterday we chatted about Paul’s desire to know Christ and the power that raised Him from death. Resurrection power. Holy Spirit power. We can all say a resounding hallelujah and amen to that. But the twist in the tail of that comes when he adds the idea of suffering to his desire. Really? Philippians 3:10,11 All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him from death. I want to share in his sufferings and be like him even in his death. Then there is hope that I myself will somehow be raised from death. Paul, did you have to spoil it by adding suffering to it? But suffering, as we well know, is universal in this fallen, sinful world in which we live. And fortunately, God stepped down into that and He Himself suffered on that Cross for our sake. Yet He didn’t stay nailed to that cross or dead in that tomb, because death could not hold Him down. It’s that resurrection that Paul yearns for, and hopes for. And it’s that same resurrection that you and I can look forward to when our time here on earth is done. So friend, when you’re suffering, as you will no doubt do again before your time is out, yearn for Christ – yearn to be like Him in His suffering, because you can live in the rock solid, certain hope of your resurrection into eternity when your suffering days are done. Yearn for Christ. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

As a father, there have been many times over the years when I’ve wished that I could impart to my children the wisdom of my years and the power of what I’m able to do for them. And that’s just how we fathers are. But if I as a sinful man can have that desire, how much more does our Father in Heaven have that same desire? And how much more successful do you imagine that He’ll be at that than I can ever be? Wisdom and power … it’s for that reason that the Apostle Paul, writing to his friends in Philippi, has this to say: Philippians 3:10 All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him from death. I want to share in his sufferings and be like him even in his death. Paul yearns to know Jesus and the power that raised Him from His death. He yearns to know His Lord and Saviour so deeply, so closely, that the incomprehensibly great power – the Holy Spirit power that brought Jesus from death back to life – would be at work in him, in his life, in his ministry, in his walk with Jesus. All that sounds great until the second half of that verse: I want to share in his sufferings and be like him even in his death. There is no place, no time in our lives when we will experience more of God’s power than during times of suffering. We know that He does His mightiest character-building work in us during those times. That’s because that’s when we need, and He unleashes, more of His power than any other time. To know Christ amidst suffering is to be like Christ. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Any husband and wife will tell you that arguments are one thing, but letting that discord fester – you know … that silent treatment that can last for days – is a disaster. It’s the path towards divorce. In many respects, it’s the same in our relationship with God. There are going to be times when we fail Him. Hopefully there are fewer of those today than perhaps five years ago. And in five years’ time, there’ll be fewer still as we grow more and more like Jesus, amen?! But if, when we sin against Him, we allow days, weeks, even months to pass by without turning and asking for His forgiveness … then our relationship is at grave risk of falling apart. If you’re ever in that place, here’s a powerful and encouraging word to remind you that you can always … always! … turn back to Him and ask for His forgiveness. Philippians 3:9 I want to belong to him. In Christ I am right with God, but my being right does not come from following the law. It comes from God through faith. God uses my faith in Christ to make me right with him. Our right-standing before God has never and will never come from our ability to do the right thing. Our right-standing before God comes only through our faith in the fact that Jesus died to pay the price of our sin, and rose again to give us a new, eternal life. This is a free gift from our Father in heaven to the children whom He loves. Never be afraid of turning back to God and asking Him for His forgiveness. That’s why Jesus died for you! And that’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Invariably, whenever we have something to hide, it involves sin. Not always, but most times. If you have something that you want to hide from people, then the most important question to ask yourself, is “why?”. Yesterday we chatted about the shady deals that people get involved in. They hate the light, said Jesus, because it’ll expose their evil deeds. That’s a wakeup call for me. What things might we be doing that, if brought out into the light, would shame us? John 3:21 But anyone who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that whatever they have done was done through God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. So the “true way” is the way that follows Jesus. A huge part of growing up in Christ is to step out of the darkness into the light. What does that mean? So, might I ask you today, what things in your life are you doing that you’d prefer to keep in the shadows? Come on, what are they? Well, it’s time to bring them out into the light. In our ministry, even though I’m the CEO, I’m held accountable by a strong and independent board; we have an explicit code of conduct, and we have a whistleblower policy that requires anyone in the ministry to raise their concerns of anything untoward with the Chairman of our board, and protects them if they do. Why? Because it’s about keeping me accountable; it’s about making sure that my actions, my behaviours, are out there in the light and not tucked away to fester in the shadows. What do you need to bring out into the light? That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

We love getting good news, no matter what’s going on in our lives. But the best time to get good news is when things aren’t going all that well; when we’re down in a valley rather than on a mountain top. I don’t know where you’re at in your life just at the moment, but you can be absolutely certain that God does. And if perhaps you’re stuck in a place that, given a choice, you wouldn’t be in, then now would absolutely be a great time to receive some good news. God knows that. That’s why to Israel, who’d been stuck as slaves in exile in Babylon for going onto three generations, God sent the Prophet Isaiah to tell them this: Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me. The LORD has chosen me to tell good news to the poor and to comfort those who are sad. He sent me to tell the captives and prisoners that they have been set free. And fancy … around 700 years later at the very beginning of His public ministry, Jesus chose to read that particular Scripture down at the local synagogue, after which He said of Himself: Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. In other words, He came to bring good news to the poor, to comfort those who are sad, to tell the captives that they’ve been set free. Friend, no matter where you are, how stuck you may feel, no matter what the world is shouting at you … Jesus came for you. And I implore you today to grab hold of His promise with both hands and hang on tight. Jesus came to bring you this good news. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Have you ever felt locked in your circumstances? It feels like a straitjacket, right? If feels as though nothing’s ever going to change; as though you are going to be stuck in this particular spot forever! There was a time when Israel had been stuck in exile in Babylon as slaves for close on seventy years. Seventy years! That’s a long time. And since Babylon was the world power back in the day, you bet ya it felt like nothing was ever going to change. So God sent the Prophet Isaiah to convince them that things were about to change; that He was about to do something mighty that none of them could even contemplate – to set them free and return them to the Promised Land. And if you read the last twenty-six chapters of the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament you discover that through the Prophet, God had to do rather a lot of persuading. Because when you’ve been stuck in slavery for three generations, you’d be pretty convinced that nothing was ever going to change. Listen to God and, I pray, hear Him speaking into your life too: Isaiah 60:22 The smallest family will become a large family group. The smallest tribe will become a powerful nation. When the time is right, I, the LORD, will come quickly. I will make these things happen. From small to large, from tribe to powerful nation, from slavery to restoration – that’s what God’s promising them. But when, O Lord, when will you get us out of this mess? How will you do it? Answer? When the time is right, I, the LORD, will come quickly. I will make these things happen. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.