FRESH Official Podcast

Have you ever picked up an old book, read it, and thought to yourself, man, that is so old-fashioned? Those attitudes, the way the world was back then … it’s all so irrelevant today, given the world we live in! Every now and then someone will post an ad from an old newspaper on social media showing, for instance, how people saw the role of women back in the 1950’s. Their place was in the home, vacuuming, cleaning, cooking. You wouldn’t dare print something like that today! And similarly, the way the Bible perceives gender roles appears to stand in such stark contrast to what might be considered the norm, here in the 21st century. So today, and over the next few days, we’re going to check out some ‘old-fashioned’ wisdom, if I can call it that, about the role of men and women in today’s world, starting with this: Titus 2:1,2 You, however, must tell everyone how to live in a way that agrees with the true teaching. Teach the older men to have self-control, to be serious, and to be wise. They must be strong in faith, in love, and in patience. The Bible is nothing if not intensely practical, and what Paul’s saying here to his ministry protégé, Timothy, is that he must teach everyone to live according to God’s Word. First cab off the rank is amongst the most important of all people, the older men. Why? Because their role is to set an example. Their role is quite literally to be role models. Older men, people are watching you so listen up to this old-fashioned bit of advice. Control yourself. Be serious, be wise and be strong in these three areas – faith, love and patience. People are watching. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

There are, it would seem, two types of people in this world; those with a teachable heart, and those without; those who are open to admitting their faults, learning a better way, and leading a better life … and those who aren’t. So … might I ask you today, which type are you? Now slow down, think carefully, don’t kid yourself – because the human heart has a great propensity for self-deception. Consider the last conflict that you were involved in. Did you accept responsibility for your part in making it happen, or perhaps in escalating it? Or did you simply blame the other person? Did you ask God to show you how to forgive, how to handle things better next time, or did you bury the whole episode to fight another day? They’re challenging questions, aren’t they? And while you’re turning them over in your mind, listen to how another struggling servant of the living God prayed over this very issue: Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! (ESV) That’s King David, whose enemy had pursued his soul, had crushed him into the ground, had made him sit in darkness like those long dead. (verse 3 of that same Psalm). So … what did he pray? Crush my enemy, destroy them, O God? Nope. He was much smarter than that. David knew that the most important thing in that difficult situation was to discover God’s will. The best way forward was to allow the Holy Spirit to lead him on level ground. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

The truth, as things turn out, can be a dangerous thing when used in the wrong way – much as a sharp knife can be deadly if wielded in anger. Sure, the Good News of Jesus is the truth. The question is, how do you use it? Well known Canadian psychology professor, Jordan Peterson, is without doubt a polarising character. But whatever you think of him, he makes a good point when he says that ideologies are substitutes for true knowledge, and ideologues are always dangerous when they come to power, because a simpleminded I-know-it-all approach is no match for the complexity of existence. And the danger for anyone who believes in Jesus, who knows the truth of the Gospel of Christ deep down in their hearts, is that we turn the love-transaction of faith in Him into an ideology. The danger is that we become idealogues who beat people over the head with the truth. You and I have both seen it drive people away from Jesus in droves. Life’s complicated, life’s messy, people are struggling with addictions and alienations, with circumstances so dire sometimes that they defy description. So it’s time, I think, for … how shall I say it … a ‘word from our Sponsor’: 1 John 4:7,8 Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God’s child. And so everyone who loves knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. When I was in the most dire circumstances of my life, it wasn’t Christians beating me over the head with the truth that drew me to Jesus – it was their love. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

When was the last time that you felt ashamed of what you’d done? It’s not a nice feeling, is it? And like Adam and Eve back there in the Garden of Eden, our natural instinct is to run and hide from God. Yep, shame makes you want to cover your face. I mean, how would you feel if every wrong thought, every mistake, every appalling thing you’d ever done was turned into pictures and hung in a public gallery for all to see? You’d never show your face again! Perhaps you know Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son about a young man who rebelled, took his inheritance and squandered it on loose living. When the money ran out, he fell on hard times – which is what inevitably what happens when we rebel against God. But eventually, he … Luke 15:17-19 … realised that he had been very foolish. He thought, ‘All my father’s hired workers have plenty of food. But here I am, almost dead because I have nothing to eat. I will leave and go to my father. I will say to him: Father, I have sinned against God and have done wrong to you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But let me be like one of your hired workers.’ So he left and went to his father. The turning point came when his hunger outweighed the shame of going back to his father and admitting his mistake. If you know the story though, you’ll know that Dad welcomed him back with open arms. That decision to turn back can be a struggle. So if you’re ashamed, if you’re struggling, know this: religion says, I messed up. My Dad’s going to kill me, but the Gospel says, I messed up. I need to call Dad. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

My mother used to read the horoscope in the newspaper every morning. It’s something we often chatted about over a cup of tea when I was a child. Surely there can’t be any harm in that. So what’s wrong with a horoscope? Well, they’re an abomination to God because they involve us putting our trust in something other than Him. The same’s true of Karma, luck, yoga … a whole bunch of seemingly innocuous things that have their roots deep in belief systems that involve putting your faith in things other than God Himself. Nebuchadnezzar was the king of Babylon. He’d surrounded himself with sorcerers, magicians, soothsayers. He even built a huge golden statue of himself and demanded that all bow down and worship it. But after a powerful, life-changing encounter with the living God through Daniel and his friends, he comes to this conclusion: Daniel 4:34,35 I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honoured him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” (ESV) Or, as Bible teacher Dr Stephen Lawson puts it: The Lord reigns. Not Satan, not man, not God AND man, not “good luck”, not “bad luck”, not random events, not chance occurrences, not the alignment of the stars, not accidents, not blind fate, not good or bad Karma; Only God and God alone! That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

So let me ask you, what causes your anger to flare up from time to time? We all have triggers that set us off, and when the adrenalin’s pumping through our veins, man … we can do some seriously stupid things. Perhaps you’re one of the fortunate people with an easy-going nature, so anger isn’t a huge problem for you. Well, God bless you, but I’m not like that. I was born with a strong sense of right and wrong woven into my DNA and it completely sets me off when people step over the line to do wrong. So learning to control my anger is a big deal. Perhaps you’ve heard that old saying ‘when you’re angry, count to ten’ before reacting. But even then, as a cartoon character by the name of Lucy once said: counting to ten only makes it premeditated! So, whatever your personality type, what’s the answer when one of those triggers threatens to set off your anger? Psalm 37:8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret —it leads only to evil. (NIV) There are three simple but powerful verbs – doing words – in that short verse. To refrain from anger – let it go, slacken it off, release it. (I guess that’s the counting to ten bit). Secondly, to turn away from the actions that flow out of anger, from your wrath, to relinquish your desire for revenge. Literally, walk away. And finally, not to fret – in other words not to let the long, slow fuse of anger burn away in your heart because if you do, there’s only one outcome: evil. So, in case you missed it, here it is again: Refrain from anger, turn from wrath; don’t fret —it leads only to evil. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Have you ever had that sense that “I simply don’t have enough faith to get through this tough spot?” Right when you need it most, out there in that wilderness, your faith seems to desert you. Well, you ain’t alone! Being a double math major, I can tell you that it’s precisely ten thousand and six days since, on the 15th of October 1995, I went to Jesus, asked Him to forgive me and laid my life down at His feet. As you might imagine, there’ve been quite a few ups and downs over that time. And, just like you, during many of those “downs” in some deep and dark valley, my faith seemed to have gone missing. As I said, you’re not alone. In fact, we’re in very good company: Matthew 17:19,20 Then the followers came to Jesus alone. They said, “We tried to force the demon out of the boy, but we could not. Why were we not able to make the demon go out?” Jesus answered, “You were not able to make the demon go out, because your faith is too small. Believe me when I tell you, if your faith is only as big as a mustard seed you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. You will be able to do anything.” I saw a meme recently, a photo of a tiny, tiny mustard seed – the smallest of all seeds known in Jesus’ time – perched on the tip of someone’s finger. The caption read: Step back, I have a mustard seed and I’m not afraid to use it. If that’s all the faith you have, then it’s more than you’ll ever need. That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

If you’re anything like me, you like a bit of order in your life. I think we all hope that life will make sense, that it’ll be predictable, that people will see things our way and respond to us the way we’d expect. Yeah, right! But no, life isn’t always like that. Take Jesus for example. All He ever did was good. He healed lepers and blind men and bleeding women. He showed the grace of God to sinners and outcasts. He preached with a power and a down-to-earth common sense that moved people so incredibly deeply. Yet still, the religious leaders weren’t satisfied. Mark 8:11-13 The Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him questions. They wanted to test him. So they asked him to do a miracle as a sign from God. Jesus sighed deeply and said, “Why do you people ask to see a miracle as a sign? I want you to know that no miracle will be done to prove anything to you.” Then Jesus left them and went in the boat to the other side of the lake. Really? They had to test Him? They couldn’t just see all the good He was doing and just be amazed and moved like everyone else? But that … that’s the cost of being about the Father’s business. Artist, author and pastor, Mandy Smith puts it like this: Jesus walked dusty roads, He waded through muddy waters, He touched thousands of germ-laden hands. He overturned tables, long-held ideas … and death. Does that sound like a well-ordered, safe, predictable life? No! When you choose to follow Jesus, know this: life’s going to get messy. Get used to it. It’s the cost of doing Kingdom business. And that’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

Success is a word that we all like to embrace. After all, who doesn’t want to be successful at whatever it is they turn their hand to? But as alluring as it may be, success is a deceptive concept. Now, I’m not saying that success is a bad thing – at least not in and of itself. On the one hand, we can strive for success in the wrong things for the wrong reasons, going about it all in the wrong way. That’s how I lived much of the first half of my life and I don’t recommend it. On the other hand, it’s a good thing to labour hard for the Lord; to follow His calling, doing our utmost under His hand, in His power, to see His plan unfold for His glory. Consider the Old Testament Prophets – Isaiah, Ezekiel, Job and the like – it’s easy to consider them a success at all they achieved. But hang on just a minute: James 5:10,11 Brothers and sisters, follow the example of the prophets who spoke for the Lord. They suffered many bad things, but they were patient. And we say that those who accepted their troubles with patience now have God’s blessing. You have heard about Job’s patience. You know that after all his troubles, the Lord helped him. This shows that the Lord is full of mercy and is kind. In other words, the “success” that others perceive in us is just the tip of the iceberg. Under the surface it involves hard work, persistence, late nights, rejection, sacrifice, discipline, criticism, doubts, failures, risks. That’s what success looks like in the Kingdom of God. But remember, all that shows that the Lord is full of mercy and that He’s kind. That’s His Word. Fresh … for you … today.

So … a question for you today. Given a choice, would you prefer to live the rest of your life with your hands and feet shackled in chains, or would you rather be free? You’d think, wouldn’t you, that the answer’s obvious? And yet, obvious though it may be, so many people – men and women, young and old, Christians and not – choose to remain shackled in the chains of unforgiveness. Perhaps you’re thinking, “Berni, we talked about forgiveness just the other day. Why are we circling back to it again today?” Answer; because as destructive and restrictive as the shackles of unforgiveness is, forgiving people is really, really hard. Because instinctively, we want to hang onto the injustice until justice is done. So we think on that terrible, unfair thing that that person did to us way back when, and the more we allow it to dominate us, the more bitter we become, and the tighter the shackles feel. It’s a vicious circle. But Christ came to set you free. If the Son makes you free then you are free indeed. Christ came to give you victory – over your sin, over your circumstances and ultimately over your death. So, if you’ll allow me to, I want to speak that word of freedom (His freedom), that word of victory (His victory) into your heart today. Because the word of God is alive and active. Are you ready? Ephesians 4:31,32 Never be bitter, angry, or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other the same as God forgave you through Christ. May the Holy Spirit write that word on your heart. Because it’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.