This episode is not solely a Mother’s Day message, but it aims to encourage mothers in particular in the area of prayer. In one of His parables, Jesus teaches on the importance of persistence in prayer. The parable involves a widow and an unjust judge. According to verse 2, the judge did not fear God, nor did he respect people. The woman wanted the judge to avenge her of her adversary. But again, he was a heartless judge. To really grasp how powerful the message of this parable is, one should think about what Jesus does here. He juxtaposes a needy, helpless, and oppressed widow with a powerful, heartless judge. The widow’s only hope and weapon for such vast mismatch was her persistence. She was so persistent that even a wicked judge moved in her favor. “Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me,” the judge said (Luke 18:4b, 5, JKV). His words reflect the power of persistence. Frank King encourages mothers to be women of prayer. Of if they already are, to continue do so. Mothers, one of the most powerful weapons you have for your family and against the enemy is your prayer life. And remember to always pray and not to faint. Perhaps, some of you mothers have children who are teens and/or young adults. They are living in a challenging and spiritually dark world. It behooves you to cover them with prayer. Moms have a special bond with their children because they brought them into the world. When they pray for their children, they are not only praying with faith but also with compassion. In Gal. 5:6, Paul talks about faith that works by love. When a mother in Christ prays for her children, she prays with faith mixed with motherly love. And that’s a powerful thing. Frank says Mothers should cover their children and their home at large with prayer, and don’t grow weary in praying for them. Jesus said, men—and women--should always pray and never give up.

All of us will have unpleasant experiences in our life. God has not promised us that everything in our life will be positive or that everything will go the way we want it to. If your goal in life is to eliminate everything that's bad in your life so that all is good, you we will miserably fail. No means exist for you to accomplish that goal. What the gospel can do for you is equip you to have a positive attitude and to maintain a position of faith in God even when things are difficult and bad. There are some things in life that you and I have no control over. What we do have control over is how we respond to and how we react to those unpleasant episodes in our life. We may not always do it when we should, but in Christ, we have what takes to remain positive even when life goes negative. While Paul was in the Roman jail, others became emboldened to preach the gospel. But not all of those preachers had the right motives. “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will,” Paul writes (Phil. 1:15, NASB). Needless to say, this was not a totally good experience. But still, Paul chose to look at the bright side of what was happening. “Whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I will rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,” he says (verse 18). This is an example of being positive in a negative situation. As Christians we have the capacity to respond to negative experiences in positive or negative ways. Paul says, in this matter, I will rejoice. Rejoicing during unpleasant circumstances is a matter of choice. Even Spirit-filled Christians can a have pity-party if they choose to, but they don’t have to.

Water baptism must be important to God because even Jesus Himself was baptized by John. After Jesus died and rose again, He commanded His disciples to disciple, teach and to baptize others. But what is the significance of water baptism? In this episode, Frank King teaches on that subject. On one end of the spectrum, there are those who believe water baptism is a requirement for salvation. But on the other end, there are those who see it as no more than a religious ritual. In his epistle to the church at Rome, Paul writes, “Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3, KJV). So, here Paul is talking about us being baptized into Jesus. Then in 1 Corinthians 12:13, he says that by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. So, baptism into Jesus is a work of the Holy Spirit. So, how does water baptism fit into this discussion? Water baptism is the ritual that portrays the burial or being baptized into Jesus’ death that Paul talks about in the verse above. Water baptism is how we publicly identify with the death of Christ. Accordingly, water baptism should occur only after one makes a commitment to follow Christ. It should be noted, however, that water baptism alone does not save anybody. Being immersed into the water symbolizes a burial and our coming out of the water symbolizes a newness of life that we are to walk in. That's the implications of water baptism. Every believer who can do it should submit to baptism because Jesus has commanded us to do so.

How often do you seriously include God in your plans? Do you only do that on big matters? Or do you only include Him AFTER you have done things your way, and your way has failed? In Proverbs 3:6, Solomon writes, “In ALL thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Prov. 3:6, KJV). Accordingly, in this episode, Frank King addresses the importance of doing that very thing, acknowledging God in all our ways. The key word in the verse is the word "acknowledge." We all know what it means to acknowledge someone. But remember, here we are talking about God. You see, if we were in a large room with a crowd of people and you walked over to someone and spoke to that person, it would be appropriate to say that you acknowledged that person’s presence. But that wouldn't cut it with God.  We have not acknowledged God just because we go to Him in prayer and tell Him what our plans are before we go about implementing them. But acknowledging God in all your ways includes reverence and obedience and consideration of His will for the matter at hand. We may not be able to grasp when God is directing our path when we obey the verse. But we must walk by faith and not by sight that when we acknowledge God in all our ways, it will change the direction we take in life for the better because God is directing our paths. Of course, the promise found in the verse means nothing if we don't believe that.

Jesus said we are, among other things, the light of the world. That's such an appropriate term today because we live in a spiritually dark world. The devil is the prince of the powers of darkness. And people who are in darkness need light. And Jesus says we are the light of the world. In Paul’s second letter to the church at Thessalonica, he wrote to the church members to underscore the importance of being good examples of Christian behavior.  He wrote, “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thess. 3:6, KJV). Perhaps, to some Christians today, advice such as this—to withdraw from all disorderly believers-- would seem extremely harsh. But Paul was writing under apostolic authority in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ saying we command you to do this in the name of our Lord Jesus. In Paul’s epistle, he specifically addresses the problem of Christians in the church who refused to work, but the point is applicable to every area of our life. For instance, as Christians, we should be good examples in our homes as parents, in our neighborhood, on our job as employees or employers, etc. Frank King says this message is not about salvation by works. We know we can’t do enough good to earn salvation. Jesus has already done it all at Calvary. But this is about believers being good examples of Christian behavior. This in turn is how we become the light of this dark world.

The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is one of the most phenomenal aspects of the Christian life. In the book of Acts, we see how radically the lives of the disciples were changed through the infilling of the Holy Spirit. In this episode, Frank King argues that the transformation and empowerment the disciples experienced through the work of the Holy Spirit was not for them only, but it is for us as well. After Jesus had risen from the dead and before returning to His father, He ordained His disciples to carry on the work of spreading the gospel. “Behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high,” He said (Acts 24:49. KJV). Jesus was saying, in effect, I am sending you to be my witnesses, but first you must tarry in Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit to empower you for this work. Think about how profound Jesus’ words were. These disciples had followed Him His entire ministry. They heard His teachings and preaching. They saw Him cast out demons and heal the sick. Still, Jesus told them they were not ready until their lives were empowered by the Holy Spirit. Similarly, God has given us the Holy Spirit because it's not an option but a must for our lives to be empowered by the same to advance the message of the Kingdom. Frank reminds us that God does not want His people to live a comfortable Christian life; rather, He wants us to live a bold and supernatural life. It is to this end that after we accepted Christ as our Savior, we were indwelt by this phenomenal person called the Holy Spirit.

Though we have been born again and we have the character of Christ, none of us has yet arrived. Every one of us is a good work in progress. In Phil. 1:6, Paul the apostle writes, “He which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (KJV).  In the OT, the high priest was the people’s representative before God. In the NT, Jesus as our High Priest, is our representative before God. First John, 2:1 calls Him our Advocate with the Father.  About Jesus, the author of the book of Hebrews writes, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15, KJV). Our infirmities, mentioned in the verse, refer to our weaknesses and shortcomings. Every one of us has them. The reason Jesus can relate to our struggles and weaknesses is because He was tempted in all points as we were. He knows what it is to live for God daily in an ungodly world and to be tempted on every level. He came down and did exactly that—yet without sin. If Jesus had succumbed to temptation and had sinned, He would have been no better than the high priests of the OT. They had to offer sacrifices for their own sins. This would have disqualified Jesus from being our great High Priest. The writer says we should come boldly to the throne of grace so we can find help in time of need. It is there that Jesus Christ our Advocate sits at the Father’s right hand. The good news is that wherever you are in life, the grace of God is available for you, and it is sufficient for you to find help in your time of need.

Except one be born again, he cannot see or enter the Kingdom of God, Jesus said (John 3:3,5). But some misconceptions about what it means to be born again exist.  Or should we say there is a side of the story that we are not telling. Accordingly, some new converts can have expectations that are not met. Some things they expected to be true about their experience after they became born again did not turn out to be so. As a result, some may question whether or not they had a genuine born-again experience with the Lord. In this episode, Frank King teaches on the truth about being born again. Consider these words from Paul the apostle in his letter to the church at Galatia: “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16, KJV). First, let’s focus on the last part of that verse. It talks about the lust of the flesh or the desires of the flesh. Now Paul is writing to the believers in the churches at Galatia. The point is that even after you have become born again, you will still have wrong desires of the flesh. So, after a person becomes born again, that man or woman can still struggle with being tempted by the opposite sex. If you were an uncontrollable eater at the dinner table before you became born again, you can still be a glutton after your salvation experience. If you loved to gossip and couldn’t stay out of other people’s business before you were born again, that’s can still be true about you after you become born again.  But according to the verse above, bona fide Christians don’t have to obey these wrong or sinful desires. They can choose to walk in the Spirit instead. This simply means to discern the “voice” of the Spirit, to obey His voice, to discern his will for your life, and to follow His lead. The bottom line is that being born again does not necessarily eliminate your wrong desires of the flesh. Being born again does not make you do the right thing. Rather, it empowers you to do so.

We live in turbulent times, but that in no way changes the message of the gospel. God still wants us to faithfully serve Him. In this episode, Frank King addresses how we can walk with God today. According to the Scriptures, Noah walked with God (Gen. 6:9). One thing that stands out about the fact that Noah walked with God is the time in which He did. “God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (verse 5, KJV). Frank says the biblical term for walking with God is "fellowship" with Him. Fellowship occurs when we have common interests with someone else, and we interact with that person accordingly. The more two people have in common, the more they like talking to each other. Communication flows freely when that is the case. Accordingly, the more we like the things God likes and the more we dislike the things He dislikes, as revealed in the Scriptures, the more intimate our relationship with Him will become. We will have lots to talk about and conversation will flow freely.  Some people don’t spend much time in prayer because they don’t share common interests with God.  That means they lack fellowship with Him.   According to 1 John 1:6, if we say we have fellowship with God and we walk in darkness, that is a lie and not the truth.     God wants us to walk with Him in these last days.   If Noah did it in his day when the world had become so wicked that God destroyed it, we can do the same in our day.

At times during His public ministry, Jesus affirmed the authority of the Law. “For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled,” He said (Matt. 5:18, KJV). At other times, Jesus spoke about eternal life through faith in Him. For instance, in John 3:16, He says God so loved the world that He have His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting love. The truth is that nobody can make it into heaven through obedience to the Law. The good news is that Jesus came to establish a new and far better way to heaven through His death. That way is grace through faith in His work on the cross. So many people today are trying to make it to heaven by keeping the commandments of the Law. But they can’t attend church enough, can’t pray enough, can’t read the Bible enough, can’t live good enough to do so. As Paul writes, “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight” (Romans 3:19, KJV). The reason for making such a big deal about the difficulty of the Law is because it helps us to appreciate the message of grace through faith in Christ. According to Frank King, the better we understand the impossibility of being right with God through the Law, the more we will appreciate the good news of the grace of God.