Born to Win Podcast - with Ronald L. Dart

Born to Win
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Born to Win's Daily Radio Broadcast and Weekly Sermon. A production of Christian Educational Ministries.

  1. 2d ago

    Everyone Needs to Give

    Why on earth is a man expected, even commanded, to give to God? We are, you know. But before I explain that, let me get one thing out of the way. If you are one of those people who get upset when a minister talks about money, or if you assume the guy is just trying to line his own pockets, I have one request of you: Please do not send any money to this ministry. Let's get that idea off the table, because it may be standing between you and something that can change your life. Just hear me out, okay? This is for you, not for me. Now, back to my question. Why is a man expected, even commanded, to give to God? It is certainly not for God's benefit. Consider what he had to say in one of the Psalms: Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. Psalms 50:7–15 NIV

  2. 3d ago

    Christian Origins #38 - Corinthians

    When the time comes to give, how much is enough? When someone is taking up a collection to help poor refugees, and they have shown you heart-rending pictures of starving children, how much should you give? When a preacher tells you that you ought to give to your church—that Jesus died for you and that you owe him everything you have—how much should you give? All of it? Sometimes fund raisers can get carried away with their rhetoric, and sometimes givers can hurt themselves in the process. I think Paul may have gotten a little concerned about his own rhetoric when he was raising an offering for the poor saints at Jerusalem. A prophet had foretold a coming famine in Israel, and the Gentile churches in what we now call Greece and Turkey had determined to send an offering to help out. It was not money, it was goods they were collecting. Paul was really pleased with the Philippian church. He wrote: For to their ability, I bear record, yea, and beyond their ability they were willing of themselves; Begging us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we expected, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. 2 Corinthians 8:3–5 KJ2000These were poor people, and they were prepared to put themselves in trouble to help someone else. And so Paul had to balance out his appeal to the Corinthians: And in this I give my advice: for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to desire a year ago. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have. For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man has, and not according to what he has not. For I mean not that other men be eased, and you burdened[.] 2 Corinthians 8:10–13 KJ2000

  3. 4d ago

    Christian Origins #37 - Corinthians

    How does it feel to walk up to someone, put out your hand and say, Hi, my name is Bob, only to have the other person simply turn his shoulder and walk away? It is pretty hard to get very far in life without getting snubbed once or twice, so most of us know what that feels like. It is an embarrassing moment, but when it has happened to me, I generally feel embarrassment for the other person, not for myself. I figure I was brought up better than that. But there is a more serious thought connected with this. God reveals Himself to man as one who has approached us and put out his hand, saying, Hello, my name is Jesus. And I suppose it is fair to say that God knows precisely what it feels like to be snubbed. Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, drops a hint. We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he says, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I helped you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) 2 Corinthians 6:1–2 KJ2000It is almost as though God is saying, What do you mean, I’ll do it tomorrow? I am here right now. Right now is the day of salvation for you. The grace of God is the extending of his hand, and right now is the time to take it.

  4. 5d ago

    Christian Origins #36 - Corinthians

    Surely, no one would ever manipulate the Bible to his own ends, would he? Well, yes, I am afraid some do. I have heard some egregious manipulation of the scriptures by preachers who were trying to raise money. If you want to collect your own examples, just write in to all the TV evangelists you see and get on their mailing lists. Some are quite ethical, but a lot of them are highly creative in the use of scripture to support their fundraising schemes. But that is probably not the worst kind of deceit relative to the Bible or the most common. Far more common is the failure to say I don’t know when he really doesn’t know. When you read the Bible, it is far better to be in awe of the things you don’t understand and to hope that someday you will, than to fabricate an explanation for everything. Men have made this or that doctrine a requirement for salvation, when the doctrine is highly problematic to you and me when we read the Bible. There are some fundamental doctrines of many churches that a simple reading of the Scriptures from front to back would never uncover. It is wrong to be confident where the Bible does not give you grounds for confidence. The truth is that you have done a lot when you read the Bible and do your best to live by the clear parts while you leave the unclear parts until later. Paul was driving at this when he wrote 2 Corinthians 4. Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. 2 Corinthians 4:1–2 KJ2000

  5. 6d ago

    Christian Origins #35 - Corinthians

    Just how good do you have to be to avoid criticism? Do you have to be a saint? Is it even good enough to be a saint? Regrettably, no. The Apostle Paul, whom we affectionately call St. Paul, was criticized roundly in his time. I would stand in awe of the man who wrote more of the New Testament than any other man, but a lot of people didn’t. The Judeo-Christian world of the 1st century was a real hot bed of dissent and religious argument. The early church was shot through with politics. The overtones of it are everywhere in the New Testament. In many places, the ferment was over doctrine and theology. Some believing Jews wanted to maintain, not only the law of God, but the tradition of the Jewish sages, the oral law. They saw Paul as a traitor to Judaism. But Christianity was not Judaism and was never intended to be. As in any political context, when those who disagreed with Paul couldn’t win the argument on the merits, they began to attack the man. As a result, Paul had to defend himself again and again at the personal level. I think this was more the case in Corinth than in some other locations for a curious reason. The Corinthians were more dedicated to Paul at the personal level because of the length and intensity of his service there. So, in an effort to break the loyalty of the Corinthians, it was Paul’s person they attacked. Often you find Paul in his letters defending himself. He is plainly pained by the unjust criticism. What makes it doubly painful is the fact that he made enormous sacrifices to avoid these very criticisms. Take, for example, this passage in 2 Corinthians, chapter 1.

  6. Jul 30

    Christian Origins #34 - Corinthians

    Take a look at your shoes. A little worn, are they? If they aren’t, they will be. And your favorite sweater—how long before the elbows come out? Shoes, clothes—all this stuff—wears out if we use it. In ancient times, people didn’t have a closet full of shoes and clothes. They were lucky if they had one change of apparel. And so it seemed significant, one day in the wilderness north of Mount Sinai, that a Hebrew sat down to rest and looked at his shoes and noticed that they were no more worn than they had been six months ago. Then he examined his clothes. They weren’t new, but they had not worn out when they should have. It seems like such a small thing, but something was going on here. Toward the end of the wilderness wanderings of Israel, Moses explained to them what had happened. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; The great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles: Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes have not worn out upon you, and your shoes have not worn out upon your foot. You have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you might know that I am the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 29:2–6 KJ2000One very small, daily miracle. Your clothes didn’t show wear, nor did your shoes, for 40 years. It was a miracle they hardly noticed. It was a miracle that was taken for granted just like manna. And the lesson is that in your long trials, though they not be taken away, you are never left without encouragement—without evidence that God is with you. But you may have to stop and look for it. Chances are, you have been taking it for granted. For example, let’s look at this little play on words in Paul’s introduction to 2 Corinthians.

  7. Jul 29

    Christian Origins #33 - Corinthians

    Okay, so you already believe in the resurrection. You believe that man will be raised from the dead. That raises the most interesting question of all: What for? When man has finished out his miserable existence here on earth, why not just leave him dead? He has no pain any longer. He may be sleeping sounder than at any time in his life. Why wake him up? To go to heaven? I’m sorry, but some of the most boring sermons I have ever heard in my life have been descriptions of what life in heaven will be like. Now, I don’t know how much self-analysis you do, but you probably already know that there is nothing you do in life that would not become boring if you had to do it all the time. I think it was Rita Rudner who observed that someone she knew had been in labor in childbirth for 24 hours. Rita said she didn’t want to do something that felt good for 24 hours—and I thought that put it things in perspective. So, walking around on streets of gold, dining on milk and honey, singing praises with the angels, looking up into the master’s face…I don’t mean to be irreverent, but don’t you think all that could get a little tedious after a hundred million years or so? I will admit that it sounds a lot better than burning in hell for a hundred million years or so. But there is something wrong with this picture. If God is going to pass by and wake us up from our eternal sleep, he must have something in mind. And it has to be rather more than milk and honey, don’t you think? And that brings me back to Paul’s letter to the Corinthians again.

  8. Jul 27

    Curse Not the Deaf

    There’s a curious law in Leviticus; it seems like a very small thing—something unlikely to ever occur. And you wonder, in the economy of the Bible—since there isn’t space for that many words, why it is even in there. It is just one verse, and it says this: You shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind, but shall fear your God: I am the Lord. Leviticus 19:14 KJ2000Now, the first of these particular crimes seems utterly harmless. You can’t possibly hurt a deaf person’s feelings by cursing them behind their back. To curse someone who can’t hear the curse—how can it possibly harm their feelings? The latter—placing a stumbling-block before the blind—has the potential for harm. But who would ever do such a thing? I was a mischievous little kid, but it would never have occurred to me to put a stumbling-block in front of a blind person. I never would have done that. Now, the person who cannot see beyond the letter of the law will never understand this passage of scripture or have occasion to apply it in their life in a meaningful way. But there is something about this verse that you need to understand. To help you understand, I need to draw a comparison with another law—one that is interpreted in the New Testament. We’ll find it in 1 Corinthians, chapter 9.

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Born to Win's Daily Radio Broadcast and Weekly Sermon. A production of Christian Educational Ministries.

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