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Right Start Radio is a ministry of the Grace Polaris Church of Columbus, Ohio, and was started over 40 years ago with Pastor Jim Custer producing and then delivering it to local radio stations. Today Right Start can be heard in Ohio, Northern Kentucky, Gainesville and New Plymouth, New Zealand. Right Start is an outreach ministry with a three-fold aim: 1) Stimulate an interest in understanding the Word of God among believers (Colossians 1:28). 2) Strengthen local churches by providing a teac ...
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If your Christmas celebration is always chaotic, that's tradition, too! Change is always unsettling, in some ways. "Disruption," is a word we've heard a lot lately. But 2,000 years ago God brought the Change! For shepherds, scholars, and Scripture experts; for Herod, and the victims of Herod; for nations like Rome and Egypt; for individuals like Ma…
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The Magi saw *a* star - we see billions of them! The "Christmas Star" proclaimed the existence of the King. But isn't that what all stars do? This special star shone for a little while, but as David put it, "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they r…
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God was moving the chess pieces around, to get the King into position! It wasn't just entire human populations that were being shifted; the planetarium had been reprogrammed, as well! The heavens and the Earth were simply adjusted, to accommodate the birth of Jesus. The Incarnation is an event that can't be contained in just one place or season - o…
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"It's all a big accident," they tell us. From you to the universe, it's all just random chance. No plan, no direction, no purpose. They tell us. But then how can there be a prophecy about Messiah's arrival on a certain day, hundreds of years in advance? How does blind luck explain hundreds of such predictions, accurately fulfilled? Isn't the better…
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"Keep Christ in Christmas!" It makes a good bumper sticker. Bumper stickers, wall hangings and slogans aren't long enough to let us fully explain an idea. At best they're provokers of thought. At worst they're preventers of thought - simplistic and misleading. So which is, "Keep Christ in Christmas?" Will we let it slide on by our consciousness, or…
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A new administration brought a flurry of activity - in heaven! We're not making any political comments; just noticing that in Daniel's narrative, a change of kings was a time of great spiritual turbulence. In fact, the connection between the spiritual world and the physical world is what Jim would like to bring to our attention, today. Oh, and ther…
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If Daniel were here now, he'd be praying. It's easy to answer "What would Daniel do?" because the guy prays about everything! He finds a prophecy related to current events? He prays. His king signs a law designed to kill him... for praying? He prays. And isn't that at least part of the reason he was "treasured by God?" Daniel: Kings, Prayer and Lio…
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The satraps set a trap! In Daniel, chapter 6, we "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss." There was a different king on the throne, but not much would change except the language on the road signs. The bureaucracy would carry on, of course, and the Hebrew captive Daniel would still be part of it. And once again the cream would rise to the top. But…
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Belshazzar and Belteshazzar: the names were similar, but the men could not have been more different. At the party described in Daniel 5, we see the king, Belshazzar: proud, arrogant, blasphemous - and scared out of his mind. He's looking at Belteshazzar (Daniel): humble, reverent, confident. The king's gods of metal and stone and wood didn't write …
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If you destroy a culture, you erase a people. We would say that the Jews have survived for thousands of years because of God's blessing - including the blessings of Scripture and a cohesive culture. Anyone who attacks those unifying forces, Scripture and culture, wants to dissolve that group. Daniel and his readers were warned of one such attacker.…
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The ram, the goat, and the angel! Do you believe the old saying that, "The bigger they are, the harder they fall?" If it's true, then we should expect the most powerful kingdoms to crash the hardest of all. That should sober-up even the most power-drunk rulers, like Belshazzar of old - and like some of ours, today. Daniel foresaw the destruction of…
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If you want to know about your future, you'll have to go back! The only One who knows the future is the One who wrote it. But, in the Bible, God gives us a broad outline of coming events - and not just once, but several times. The prophecies of Jesus, John, Daniel and others confirm and complement each other. We'll look at some of those interlockin…
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Meet the Antichrist! If we didn't have the Revelation to John, we would still have the revelations given to Daniel, centuries earlier. We'll look at one of them today. In chapter 7 of Daniel's book we get our first glimpse of Earth's final human king - the Man of Sin, the Counterfeit Savior, the Beast. In Dan's dream he's symbolized by a horn. When…
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A revelation from God will change how you feel! We live in a culture obsessed with emotions. If anyone could empathize with Daniel as he's knocked sideways by a divine dream, it's us. What he saw was powerful. He described his emotional state as "troubled," "alarmed," even "terrified." What was this shocking dream? We'll sneak up on it gradually in…
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We see Daniel's righteousness in his preparation. We can only make sense of our lives, in many cases, when we look back. Then we see the significance of events that seemed unimportant - even random - at the time they happened. We can imagine that Daniel looked back on his career, and realized that its huge moments of crisis weren't sprung on him "o…
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It's a long way from the palace, to the pasture. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was in charge. He thought his accomplishments proved his superiority as a human being. But the Most High would prove that the king was no better than an ox, or a bird. All of "his" glory had been lent to him. Now God was calling that loan. The King of Babylon had become an o…
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The king who became a beast. Nebuchadnezzar didn't "lose his mind;" he threw it away. He forfeited his sanity when he refused to humble himself before God. As Paul would write to the Romans much later, "...since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind...." So Daniel, chapter 4 isn't just a story about one, proud …
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"Well, I don't have a crystal ball, but...." If you could see the future - you can't, but if you could - would you change your behavior? If your glimpse of coming days frightened you, surely you'd be "scared straight," wouldn't you? The Bible tells us of a king who dreamed of his own fall - a judgment like a magnificent tree being cut down. And Neb…
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Is the "spirit of the holy gods" in you? In his pagan ignorance the king of Babylon was giving Daniel a compliment. He saw something unusual in the man he called "Belteshazzar;" something astonishing. The explanation could only be supernatural. Nebuchadnezzar's praise was off-the-theological-mark, but well intended. Well, do you have a different sp…
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When you're the king, you can start your letter with the "P.S." Toward the end of Nebuchadnezzar's life he wrote a proclamation. He addressed it to everyone on earth. And we find this late letter early in the book of Daniel. Even more unusually, the king put his conclusion first: that the kingdom of the "Most High God" is "an everlasting kingdom." …
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The king thought he was holding a dedication. He had no idea! Nebuchadnezzar had commissioned a very impressive idol - all of gold - that he wanted to consecrate. But he was about to get schooled in what consecration is really all about. Three courageous men showed him - and showed all of us - that the kind of dedication that matters is the devotio…
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There's going to be a throwdown! There was a gospel musical back in the 70's called, "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God." Well, King Nebuchadnezzar hadn't seen it. Despite his divine dream and its heaven-sent interpretation, the sovereign of Babylon remained unimpressed. He hadn't learned his lesson. And those 3 Hebrew administrators were really …
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When the king says, "Bow," it is treason to stand. The state, the head of state, and the gods of the state were all jumbled together in the minds of the ancients. Christians who refused to say, "Caesar is Lord," or to throw incense on the altar of Jupiter were treated as enemies of the Roman empire. Further back, Daniel's friends got into trouble w…
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"You are the head of gold." That's an unusually positive dream interpretation! A prophet of the True God must tell the truth, no matter what. There always seem to be 4- or 500 "prophets" who will tell the ruler exactly what he wants to hear, and you don't want to be the lone dissonant voice in that choir. Daniel has no problem giving a negative mes…
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"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown." Nebuchadnezzar had made his dream and its interpretation a matter of life or death for the wise men of Babylon. Including Daniel. As we resume the message from Friday, the interpretation of the king's dream has flown us over into the New Testament to notice a remark from Jesus. We're in Luke 21, verse 24 w…
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Are you a prisoner, or a preacher? That may depend on your point of view! Even a captive can be a missionary. Paul and Barnabas found that stone dungeon walls provide great acoustics! Daniel, in the Old Testament, was another ambassador-in-chains, as it were. And he would "speak truth to power" to a degree that very few human beings ever get the ch…
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Daniel was looking up! If this young exile from Judah had looked back, he would have seen only smoke rising from the ruins of his homeland. If he had looked at what was immediately around him he would have seen enticements of prestige and power. But Daniel, as I say, looked up. And he saw things that others did not see. Where are our eyes focused t…
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The people of Judah wouldn't obey God, but they wouldn't submit to Nebuchadnezzar, either! A powerful earthly king and the King of Heaven would both say, "Enough!" to this troublesome lot. It was a time of total calamity. Well, not quite "total." As we saw with the Flood of Noah, God's pattern is redemption in the midst of destruction. Here's Jim w…
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Daniel was different. Daniel was different than the pagans around him in Babylon; different than the unfaithful members of his own tribe and nation; different, even, than the other men that God called "righteous." Today we begin a series exploring The Righteousness that Distinguished Daniel. Jim will start by setting the scene, helping us understan…
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Some might call this the "butterfly effect." Tiny actions can trigger larger effects, and we may end up with conditions that no one could have predicted. The end result in Genesis 9 is a curse on a whole group of people - the Canaanites, who would eventually oppose the Israelites. The cause is a seemingly minor lapse in judgment by an adult, in the…
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In the Flood, God had destroyed all those who belonged to the devil. But Satan didn't quit. If we could close the story of Noah after he came off the Ark and made the sacrifices and heard the promises of God, that would be nice. But we can't. We're about to discover the human side of this prophet. One moment of "letting his hair down," affected gen…
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A lot of bad ideas could be cured by a peek into Genesis. Humans cannot destroy the Earth. Animals are not our ancestors. And we are allowed to eat them - any of them. From dietary codes, to Darwin, to planetary doom, we stagger under the weight of many, heavy misconceptions. We're in need of humility. Noah was a man ready to re-learn some things. …
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After the Flood, God made a covenant... with Himself! Yes, God made that famous covenant with mankind in Genesis 9, but before that, in chapter 8, He spoke to Himself - literally, "in His heart," or "to His heart." This was a very intimate communication within the Godhead. And we are privileged to learn about it. When Noah stepped back on dry land,…
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The Ark wasn't just mercy ship; it was a judge's bench. "By faith Noah condemned the world," reads Hebrews 11:7. What does the Apostle mean by that? Noah's wicked neighbors no doubt felt convicted by his devout life. Our friends and co-workers may have a similar reaction to us. And we, too, have known the sense of "not measuring up" in the presence…
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The water... the wind... the Word. You can't miss the similarities between the creation of the world in Genesis 1, and the renewal of the world in Genesis 8. So the Flood looks back to the beginning, and it foreshadows the end in some ways, too. Everything is under the authority of the voice of God. Death and life, destruction and reconstruction, a…
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God destroyed His creation... and preserved it! Some people believe that God is like a petulant child - making a project, wrecking it when it no longer pleases him, then beginning again. And again. But that's not what we see in the Flood. The Maker preserved His original creation - man and best - through the destruction. He didn't start over; we st…
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How would you like to be confined with your relatives for a year? Or worse, how would you like to be cooped up with your family for a year - in a zoo? Oh, my. We thought the pandemic lockdowns were tough! Noah's name means "comfort," but surely no one was very comfortable during all that time in the Ark. We're voyaging with that man of God, and all…
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Noah knew! We've been thinking about the Flood. The Great Flood, Noah's Flood, the Deluge. And we've been re-reading Genesis with a new purpose: to find out what we can learn from that judgment, about the judgment that's coming. We've seen that the general population didn't perceive they were in danger - though they had been warned. Meanwhile, beli…
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We're not setting dates... but we're smelling rain in the air. "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." With that statement Jesus seems to squelch all questions about the timing of His return. But does that verse stand alone, or can it be illuminated by other Scriptures? We'll…
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Get in the Ark! As we've studied the Genesis account of the Flood, with emphasis on that great prophet Noah, we've been struck by the gravity of the situation. The spiraling wickedness of humanity was unsustainable. God's solution was death. ...with a way out that required faith. Sound familiar? All of these things pre-echo the state of the world t…
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Did God command Noah to build a boat? That is a trick question! Noah was to build an "ark," as we all know. But the Hebrew word for ark means a "box," not a boat. The Ark of the Covenant is a chest holding precious things. God designed Noah's Ark to contain and protect the things He loved. And to teach us. Of course it had to be a seaworthy box! Li…
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God has very good eyesight! Somehow or other everyone knows the line, "... Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD." That's Genesis 6:8. Only three verses later we read, "Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence." Did the wicked know that God saw them? Or did they convince themselves they were getting away w…
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There was a moment when the fate of humanity rested on one woman. It wasn't Mary. And it wasn't Eve. In fact we don't know the name of this heroine of our race; the Bible just calls her, "Noah's wife." God had promised that the "Seed of the Woman" would be our solution, but if you were a betting person in those days, you would have put the odds of …
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Are there people that God can't save? We're taught that no one is beyond redemption; that there's only one unforgivable sin and you haven't committed it; that Jesus saves "from the gutter-most to the uttermost;" and "whosoever" means you. So Genesis 6 hits us between the eyes. Here was a world of people - maybe a billion souls - that God judged to …
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The Flood wasn't just a dividing line for human history. Alongside the watery judgment of humanity, there was another sentence handed down in the spiritual world. That sparked a question from the congregation, and as you know, Jim loves questions! We'll visit Jude, 2 Peter and Revelation before heading home to Genesis. Here's part 1 of, Days of Noa…
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Control is Satan's goal. We don't know that much about demons, as Jim will admit today. But we a have bit more information about their leader, and we know that he is a merciless, lying, power-hungry being.That is not the camp we want to be in! We see the devil's lust to rule in Genesis, we see it in the Gospels, we see it in Revelation. And we'll v…
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Today we'll check the pronouns... of demons. Angels, including the fallen ones, are given masculine pronouns in the Bible. But we know they're not sexual beings.Or do we know that? What is that Genesis 6 "Sons of God/Daughters of Men" dyad meant to convey? Jesus linked three judgments: the Flood, the destruction of Sodom, and the one to come. We'll…
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God had set some boundaries for the offspring of Adam and Eve - which they ignored. We live in a time when restraints are being cast off; laws, regulations, customs - even basic definitions - are being destroyed. The purpose is supposed to be "progress." But the script isn't new; it's very, very old. The last time we tried this experiment, it led t…
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The countdown had begun. With the Flood, God didn't wipe out humanity without notice. He started the clock at 120 years, though He had pronounced judgment long before. And there were other warnings. When Jesus said that this generation "knew nothing" before the rain started falling, we're to understand that they could have known. They died because …
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Did God blindside the world with the Flood? "...and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away." That's one translation of Jesus' words in Matthew 24:39. But did the Lord mean that the entire global population, minus 8, were killed without any warning from God? In Jim's message, Noah: Real Person, we'll re…
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