Jesus is Real Radio with Daniel Fusco
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When the Jews were about to perform the first Passover, God told them to get all of the leaven out of their houses. The Bible tells us that leaven is a metaphor for sin. Pastor Daniel will be teaching about the importance of having God cleanse us of sin and asking other people to come beside us and help us in our walk. You’ll learn that having someone praying for you and answering to them about your sin is a way to stay on the straight and narrow.
Modern man has problems with belief systems that emphasize blood sacrifices. They think it’s inhumane and barbaric. The truth of the matter though is that they’re right. What they miss, and what Pastor Daniel will be teaching about, is that God’s holiness is so high, and man’s stain of sin is so bad that it requires something to die. You’re going to learn the principle of substitutionary redemption and its relationship to the Passover.
The early church was known for its outreach to those around them. Over time, it seems as though the Church has pulled inward and concentrated on being its own club. Meanwhile, the world around them has gotten worse, and trying all kinds of things in their pursuit of truth. Pastor Daniel will be teaching about the sacrifices that Jesus made to redeem the world and the responsibility the Church has to share that story with everyone.
People like to make out as though there’s some impersonal ‘force’ that made the universe. That’s very comforting because they then don’t have to worry about confronting a personal being. Using the Bible, Pastor Daniel will show you that God is very personal and that His intent and desire is to interact with you on a one-to-one basis. He began by showing the Hebrews what His plan was for them and eventually the whole world.
We humans signify special days and celebrate them: birthdays, wedding anniversaries, even remembering the day someone dies. God knows this – He made us this way – and so when it was time for the Israelites to get out of Egypt, He made sure they’d remember it. Pastor Daniel is going to teach about the origin of the Passover. You’re also going to find out what the Passover is a foreshadowing of and why it matters to Christians.
We all have people in our lives that we trust to give us advice and those we absolutely would not trust for counsel. Still, of course, the final decision is ours to make, and we deal with the consequences of those decisions. Pharaoh, as Pastor Daniel will be sharing today, was being crushed by the judgments of God. But because of his pride, he wouldn’t listen to anyone’s advice, not even from the men that he paid to give him wise counsel.
If you’re a parent you’ve probably had times when your child has tried to negotiate their way out of being disciplined. You warn them when they’re acting or doing something they know they shouldn’t but they keep on until the punishment is imminent. Pastor Daniel is going to show how Pharaoh is acting the same way as that unrepentant child. God continues to judge Egypt and Pharaoh only feels sorry when the pressure gets too great for him.
People who aren’t really dialed into how God works in people’s lives tend to misunderstand what following God is like. They think that when you begin living your life God’s way you become some kind of robot. Pastor Daniel will be teaching that God will try to get you to follow Him but that He will not force you to do so. We’ll hear about God’s continual attempts to get Pharaoh to obey His will and Pharaoh’s constant rejection of God.
When a manufacturer develops a product, they offer an owner’s manual along with it so that the purchaser of that product can know how the creator of that item intends it to work. God is the same way. The product is this life, and the owner’s manual is the Bible. Pastor Daniel is going to be teaching about the attempt of the people of Israel to follow the commands they’ve been given by God and the blocking of their attempts by the king of Egypt.
Maybe you know somebody who could only be described as “hard-headed”. They won’t do what’s right, no matter what. You pray for them and try to talk sense into them but it doesn’t do any good. That’s what we will hear in Pastor Daniel’s teaching today. Pharaoh is going to be confronted with clear evidence of the power of the God of the Israelites but won’t admit the truth of what is shown him. This story will be a good warning to us to pay attention when God is talking to us and act positively on it.
Ever been to a prayer meeting? If you’re like most people, probably not. Prayer meetings are not the place to go if you want to see the flash that is common to a lot of church services these days. But as Pastor Daniel will be teaching, going before the throne of God in prayer, trying to find God’s will for situations, is where the power to do God’s will comes from. You’ll hear about Moses interceding with God on Pharaoh’s behalf.
Biblical skeptics will look at something like the flood or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and say, “How can you worship such a bloodthirsty God?” It might seem to be hard to find an adequate answer but as Pastor Daniel will teach, these people don’t understand the holiness of God. They also ignore the signs of God’s patience with people. You’ll see examples of God’s patience in the midst of His judgment of the Egyptians.
We “modern”, “sophisticated” people tend to look at people who worship…cows, for instance, as backward and ignorant. The truth of the matter, though, is that everybody worships something; that’s how God made us to be. Pastor Daniel will be teaching about the beginning of the showdown between Yahweh and the gods the Egyptians worshipped. It’ll be a reminder that when the things you worship fail you, it’s time to turn to God.
Everybody likes to feel that when they do work they'll see what they – and everybody else – consider to be success. And when you’re doing what God told you to do, the expectations might be even higher; after all, you’re doing God’s will for your life! Pastor Daniel will show that again, God’s definition of success isn’t the same as ours is. You’ll be reminded that God always has the end goal in mind, which we often don’t know what that is.
When a child is adopted into a family, they have no idea the depth of the changes that are coming to their lives. They have hopes and dreams, of course, but they also have limited information about what “family” means to their adoptive parents and existing family. Pastor Daniel is going to teach that this was much the same for the children of Israel. They’re going to learn through the events that will take place what being Yahweh’s kids actually means.
Very few things are created instantly. Not a book or a piece of music or a sculpture – if they’re going to be of a high quality, they take time. Sometimes lots of time, even years. As Pastor Daniel teaches about the process God used to get the people of Israel free from the Pharaoh, he’ll show how the principles used there apply to you and me. God wants us to end up the way He envisioned us to be, so He is willing to work on us for years.
If you want to become stronger or more fit, it’s going to take work – maybe a lot of it. It will require changing your priorities and your schedule. You’re going to be sore and you may have to give up things you like. But the end goal is worth all the work. When God’s working in your life, there are definitely hard times along the way to victory, and that’s what Pastor Daniel will be teaching about as we hear about the Israelites’ process of being freed from slavery.
We don’t understand God at all and cannot. It would be like a single-celled organism trying to comprehend quantum physics – it’s just not gonna happen! We get tripped up in matters of justice and judgment, trying to understand God’s reasoning for how He handles situations. Pastor Daniel will remind us in his teaching today that one of God’s attributes is that He knows everything, including the intent of men’s hearts. He never gets it wrong.
When people think about the idea of doing service for God the reasons they can’t do it spring to mind. They usually focus on the lack of talent they are cursed with. Moses was no exception; he had a list of reasons for God to take a pass on him and find someone else. But as Pastor Daniel will be teaching today, we tend to forget that we’re talking about God here. All He wants from us is to be willing; He’ll give us the ability, just like He did with Moses.
Isn’t that true, though? We think that it’s all about us when God calls us to do something. All we can do is think about all of the times in the past that we’ve failed, and we project that into the future. Moses was no different than we are. Pastor Daniel is going to teach about the important point, though: when God calls, God equips the person for the task. You’re going to hear, though, about Moses’ reasons that God shouldn’t use him.
It’s so hard to slow down and live in the moment. The pressures of work and family obligations can overwhelm us and we choose to ignore the things we consider unimportant. God, however, is never in a hurry to do anything, despite the urgency we might feel. Pastor Daniel is going to teach about the calling of Moses by God. Moses has been on the earth for forty-plus years and has become content being who he is, but that’s all about to change.
It’s interesting how often somebody who has success in the world system has a hard time living life as a follower of Jesus. The temptation to use the same techniques and attitudes that garnered acclaim by the world, as Pastor Daniel will be teaching today, can be strong. You’re going to hear about the way that God prepares His leaders and you’re going to be challenged to embrace the ways of God and find success in His kingdom.
Lots of people say that the Bible is hard to understand, and there is some truth to that. Unless the Holy Spirit gives you the insight you need, the Bible is mostly words on a page. Pastor Daniel, as he teaches today, will show the links between the Old and New Testaments and how, if you know where to look, God tells of the coming of the Messiah all over the place. You’re going to hear about one of those parallels today with the story of Moses.
A lot of people will say that God’s standard for getting into heaven isn’t fair. Why can’t all the good people get in? Or at least the people who were good…most…of the time, like us? That one-hundred-percent perfection thing is just too cruel. Pastor Daniel will be teaching about the reason that God has the standard He does. You’re also going to learn about the way He made for you to be considered perfect and therefore eligible to become part of His family.
Everybody likes to win, right? Win enough in the right field of competition and you get your name in books and even have statues made to commemorate your success. Today, Pastor Daniel is going to talk about what winning looks like from God’s perspective. Along the way, you’re going to learn some interesting math equations that should help you to remember the things that matter to God and how to be pleasing to Him.
How seriously do you take sin? If you look at the condition of the Church today, it seems that most followers of Jesus either wink at sin as if it’s a joke or don’t even try to excuse it – they do whatever they want. Pastor Daniel will teach today what sin looks like from God’s viewpoint. You’re going to learn that God has a zero-tolerance policy toward sin and He expects His followers to do the same. You’ll find out how to begin to do that today.
Our relativistic world says that there are many paths to God and that we’re all children of God. If you’ve been the parent of a teenager you might have used the phrase, “My house, my rules” at some point. Pastor Daniel will teach that when it comes to who gets to be considered a child of God, God says “My family, My rules”. And that is hard for our pluralistic society to handle, which points out their basic problem, which is rebellion against God.
It’s easy to get caught up in movements that seem to want to help change things in society but cause you to think about life and people in a way that doesn’t honor God. In addition, they can sometimes persuade you to think about the people who disagree with you as the enemy, unworthy of love and compassion. Pastor Daniel’s teaching today will use God’s word to shine a light on this way of thinking and show a biblically alternative way to look at things.
You may have heard people say that they’re going to heaven because they’re an American. Somehow they’ve gotten the idea that American equals Christian. Pastor Daniel will be teaching today what the Bible defines a Christian as. You’re going to learn that God’s requirements for someone who He determines as part of His kingdom is quite different than what many people think it is. The good thing, though, is that His kingdom is open to everyone.
We humans tend to have a rather narrow view of who we want to let into our lives. We want to be around people who are for the most part similar to us in how we live our lives. But as Pastor Daniel will be teaching today, the kingdom of God is open to everybody, and that means that we’re going to be interacting with people very different than ourselves. The great thing about it, though, is that through the Holy Spirit, we all have common ground.
