The Mountain Audio

Our verses: I John 5:3 “Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not a burden.” Isa 28:10 “...precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”

Earlier we discussed God's will. We explained that God's will means His thoughts and His personal principles. The things He wants for humanity and for you.

He wrote these principles out for us in the 10 Commandments. They are a guide to relationship with God and with people. Later, Jesus came to earth and explained the 10 Commandments more fully. This is why it is so important to study your Bible. As you read or listen, you'll begin to understand the principles and ask God for help to do them.

Jesus summed up all of God's principles with two basic commands.
First, Love God with all your mind, body, soul and strength. When you love God with all that you are, your mind, your body, your soul, your strength, you won't love things that harm you. The simple principle is loving God comes before everything else. When we see Him as First, then all other things fall into their proper place.

Here is the second command of Jesus- Love your neighbor just like you love yourself. It's easy to love yourself. It's difficult to love your neighbor in the same way that you love you, yet this is God's command, His principle.

You may ask, “Can I do this, obey God's principles?

When you follow Jesus as your Master, He empowers you to obey God's principles, the 10 Commandments and the two great commandments of the Lord Jesus. He helps you live by God's principles. As you do, you gain confidence to know God's will for you. It begins to affect every decision you make...even where you live and what you do! And... you will help others understand God's ways. The world will be a better place because you do!

Summary: God's will is known by understanding God's principles. He makes them available to you!

Our Verse: Phil 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Last time, we defined worry, it's a faithless emotional reaction to life's issues. It's a useless exercise that solves/ nothing.

How do we do this verse? What's our strategy to conquer worry?

Here are three basic steps:

First, memorize Bible verses about faith and about worry. Put God's Word in your heart. Psalm 119:11 says “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You..”

Step two- Speak those verses when you feel worry coming on. The Word of God is powerful when you speak it and it counteracts worry or anxiousness.

Step three- Listen to or read out loud those verses when you feel worry attacking your mind.

These steps build a habit of choosing the “Faith in God thought” from Scripture instead of the “worry thought.”

Daily Bible reading and listening will hone your ability to destroy worry thoughts. As you grow and change into a disciplined follower, a disciple of Jesus, you can face all the worry thoughts of life with powerful faith in God thoughts.

Through your Bible resources, either electronic or paper, do a search for verses related to faith and verses related to worry. Save these in a document you can easily access on your computer, tablet or phone. When a worry thought starts to creep in, open your doc and read or speak your personal list of “Faith in God thought” verses. Your faith in God grows and you will destroy worry thoughts!
Finally, our Philippians verse commands prayer and supplication. Talk to God about your worries and submit your life to His care.

Go one click back to episode text for a “Faith in God thoughts” list.

Mt 6:34 Isa 26:3 Phil 4:6-7 Mark 11:22-24 Luke 10:40 Matt 6:27 Matt 6:31-32 Prov 12:25 I Peter 5:7

Our Verse: Matt 6:34 Jesus said, “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Worries! We all have them. Most of us have piles of them, tugging on our minds every day and keeping us awake at night. So... how can we deal with worries? The Lord Jesus shows us how!

Let's understand some things about worry, then set a strategy to conquer it!

A definition: Worry is faithless emotional reaction to life's issues. A useless exercise that solves nothing.

Worry is not trusting God to help us, and it's destructive. It makes us ineffective to those around us and those who depend on us. It's final form is depression, where we give up. We quit and everybody suffers.

For this reason, we need to counter-attack worry when it comes.

Heres the strategy:
God has promised to be with us in difficulty, to bring us safely through. Our counter attack against worry starts with remembering what God said. We push out the worry thought with a “Faith in God” thought.

An example: We have lost someone very dear to us. We feel alone, abandoned. Many good things we experienced are no longer possible. The worry comes- “I am alone, what will happen to me. How will I live from now on?”
We attack that worry thought with our “Faith in God” thought- I am not alone! God said “I will be with you, I will never leave you or forsake you.” This thought and speaking these words will, in time, kill off the worry thought. In our experience, it's a growing process to let the Faith in God thought become the strongest in your mind. Sometimes God brings a friend to help you stand, sometimes He wants you to trust Him directly.

Fact: Your faith in God can overcome worry. Jesus said, “Dont worry about tomorrow. Another NT writer said, “don't be anxious for anything, but in everything give Thanks!” It is possible to conquer worry!

Next Part 2 Destroying Worry! A Strategy...

Our Verse: I Cor 3:19 the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God.

Text:
We left a few details out in our last episode on wisdom. There are actually two kinds of wisdom, one that's really great, and one that's really bad. The great wisdom, we talked about it last time, is God's wisdom. The other kind, the bad- failure wisdom, is man's wisdom.

So/ what do you mean Man's wisdom?

For this discussion, man's wisdom means non-God solutions to life's issues, attempts to solve life's problems while excluding God. Humans not under God's authority make their own rules. Most times these rules exalt one person or one government over another. Those who are above do what they want, those that are under are forced to obey. Human wisdom is about pride and control, God's wisdom is about humility and obedience.

Down through the centuries, men have continually dominated other men. They have used many cunning devices to enforce control over others. Wars and great suffering have been the result. Man's machines and philosophies often damage our earth and people.

Using human wisdom, man dreams up even religious practices to control others and get what they want. They use God's name, but their own human wisdom, to get what they want. That is hypocrisy in it's purest form.

Don't be fooled by this failure wisdom for genuine wisdom. Reading any history book will tell you that human wisdom is a total failure.

The only authentic wisdom we can get in this world comes from God Himself. His wisdom has proven again and again to be the best. You can depend on His wisdom.

Our brother James (3:5) describes it, “the wisdom from God is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good results.”

Man's wisdom wrecks just about everything. God's wisdom make's the world a better place.

Thanks for coming! Find us at theMountain.info, share this episode with your friends, and join us again...on the Mountain!

The Mountain! Encouraging stories full of discovery and adventure! For Easter...

Our verse is John 10:18 Jesus said: “No one takes (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.”

Some blame the Romans for Jesus' death. Some think the Jews caused it. But the truth is- Jesus decided the day of his death. There were other players of course, the Romans, the Jews, even that slimy betrayer, Judas Iscariot. Pontius Pilate thought he was judging Jesus, but Jesus told him- “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” The director, the master of that death day was Jesus. He entered Jerusalem voluntarily. He prayed publicly, though quietly, in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew exactly what would happen because it was His plan, the plan to become a blood sacrifice for all souls. Blood sacrifice means DEATH. He didn't want to suffer, He chose to suffer. He would become the substitute for our sins.

But... death was only half the story. Listen again to what he said- “I lay my life down voluntarily, I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. The day we Christians celebrate is Take Life Up Day! Three days after Jesus brutal execution, he came out of the grave, he took his life up again. Jesus is the one and only Conqueror of death. Every human lives and dies, Jesus has died and lives again and now He lives forever.. Let's be very happy that Jesus' “Take Life Up Day”- Easter is our “Take Life Up Day!”. Many blessings on every Mountain listener!

Our Verse: 1 Cor 1:30 Christ Jesus became for us wisdom...

First let's define this word wisdom.

Wisdom is the combination of knowledge and understanding to make good decisions. Knowledge is just that, information, the details, the facts.
Understanding is the management of that information to reach a good conclusion. If the information is managed well, a wise decision results.

It is therefore necessary to have correct knowledge then manage that knowledge well to reach a wise decision.
Failure to reach wise decisions happens when inaccurate or incomplete knowledge is used.

Here's an example:
Your marriage is in trouble. Someone gives you this advice. "Just be tough with your spouse and tell 'em how it is".
Poor advice inaccurate knowledge about relationships makes them crash. Good knowledge, wise advice would say, give a little, be patient, work together.

Another example:
You are moving up in your company. Someone is saying things about you that aren't true. Your pride says “strike back” “get em!”, but wisdom tells you to let your actions speak louder than your critic's words. It's likely you will be vindicated.

Maybe it's about sports:
Your whole team is riled up, some angry and shouting. It's tempting to join in, but you realize it's better to think this out before taking action.

So how do we get wisdom, this ability to make good choices?

Heres our verse again: Jesus became wisdom for us. Your relationship with Him brings wisdom. He gives us solid knowledge and helps us understand life and people.

Here's the verse- Proverbs (2:6) ...the Lord grants wisdom! From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

God helps us make good decisions. Read His guidelines in His Book. You will become wise! Be patient, it's a lifelong process! More details in James 1:5

Your Father in Heaven wants you to be wise for the good of all people.
Next episode- the difference between God's wisdom and man's wisdom.

Our Verse: 2 Peter 2:2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment! NLT

Did you ever drink your milk so fast that it drenched your lip? I have. It's cold, tasty and you can't get enough!

Some things in life are so good you just want to chow down! God's Word, the Bible, is just like that. God Himself plants a hunger in the soul of all people to know and understand Him. We all want to know more about Him. When a person becomes a God follower, a new thing happens inside the soul. You get hungry for Him and His ways! This is why one writer of the New Testament explains it as the hunger of the baby for its mother's milk. And, the best thing thing is, the more you read, the hungrier you get! In earlier Mountain episodes, we discussed God's Word and how to get into it. You can listen and read all about this in the series “God's Book” down below on the Series button. In five episodes, we cover various topics- What is the Bible? What is Inspiration? How do I understand the Bible? Which Version for me? And Diving into the Bible. We also cover the “dry times” when nothing seems to click in the episode “Closed!”. Even then, God is at work in you, changing you to the person He wants you to be.

As we mentioned before, if you are new to the faith, a great place to start is the Gospel of John. It's the fourth book in the New Testament, and it's written by one of Jesus' closest friends.

Make a special time each day to chow down on God's Word. It is as important to your soul, as food is to your body! As the writer says, “Cry out for this nourishment now that you have a taste of the Lord's goodness!” You will be a strong follower of our King and a member of the Mountain Team!

Our Verse: Deuteronomy 29:29 “The Lord our God has secrets known to no one.

It often manifests with an aching way down deep. You lost something or someone and the pain just won't go away. We want the pain to go away, but it lingers. By understanding our episode verse “God has secrets known to no one”, we may find a way to be accept loss.

“Missing things” means people and circumstances that don't work out like we want.
There are things in this life we will not be able to keep. There are events in this life that we may never understand. These things and events are within the secrets of God. In our earlier episodes about faith, we learned that trust is the center of our relationship with God. As we grow in trust toward God, we can better accept these things, these God secrets, that we cannot understand or resolve. As with most of our Christian life, trust is slowly gained. Living the Christian life day by day builds our trust. Talking to Him, reading our Bibles, and caring for those around us allows us to trust Him, especially for the missing things.

One missing thing might be a broken relationship. A love lost, a person lost. Some of these God restores, others He does not. Sometimes He brings a substitute. In these deep pains, we learn to trust God more.

Another missing thing might be an opportunity. You have dreamed, planned and worked hard to reach some goal. Suddenly you find the opportunity is gone! At this point, as a Christian, you must trust God that He has another opportunity better for you and those around you. He sees all things ahead and wisely prepares the path for each of us.

Someday, God will replace all missing things. Here is what He says, “Look! I make all things new.” Rev 21:5
“God Himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” Grow in Christ and get ready!

Our Verse: Luke 7:9 Jesus said, “I tell you, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!”

He was powerful. He was a killer, a Roman Centurion; leader of one hundred trained Roman soldiers. With other legions, they had conquered the known world of 50 BC to 30 AD. One day, this Roman officer experienced a miracle in his own house!

This man heard about Jesus while down range in Israel. He heard that Jesus performed miracles. (that's events outside the laws of physics) He might have seen one or been nearby. However he knew, he believed. He sent this message to Jesus:

“Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed.” Luke 7:7

Servants carried his message to Jesus. This officer valued his servant much like an owner or manager today values a good worker. Because he had faith, trust in Jesus, he knew that Jesus didn't need to come to his house. When Jesus got the message, he knew the faith of that soldier.

Without even seeing each other, without touching the servant, Jesus healed! He never entered the soldier's house! Later when everyone compared notes, the healing had occurred just when Jesus said it would!

That is a happy ending! The centurion got home and found his servant completely well!

This miracle demonstrates that Jesus is omniscient- He sees and knows everything.
Jesus knew the man's faith without seeing him and commended him for it- “I have not seen such great faith in all Israel!” That soldier, that centurion, was a Faith Powerhouse!

God is powerful. He is faithful to us and He will answer our needs when we reach out to Him believing. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” Mark 9:23