341 – What are your hopes for 2026? Who do you want to be? At the beginning of a new year a lot of people set goals and make resolutions of what they want to accomplish or stop doing during the next 12 months. The focus is usually on achievements and results, changing behavior, establishing new habits, things like that. Other people like to pick out a phrase or a word as a theme for the year. But a lot of folks I know have trouble keeping their resolutions and their theme for the year b...

340 – Ever have trouble admitting your mistakes? Have you ever had a hard time accepting responsibility for the mistakes you’ve made and the sins you’ve committed? I know, it’s all too easy to blame someone else or circumstances, the way you were brought up, the way someone treated you, or whatever it may be. But if you really want to heal the burden of guilt you’re carrying around, you’ll accept full responsibility for your mistakes and sins. This will bring healing and freedom into your lif...

339 – Thank You 2025! It's been a great year in many ways, but it had its challenges as well. There have been ups and downs for sure, but from all the people I talk to and interact with online, I feel a gradual and growing momentum in the way people’s hearts are reaching out for things of the Spirit. Before we launch out into a new year, it can be really helpful to appreciate all the lessons learned in 2025 and the good received and experienced. In that spirit, that’s what this ep...

338 - It's Freedom Friday How often to you compare yourself with others? How's that workin' for you? One of the things I’ve really had to work at over the years is not to compare myself with others. When I’ve seen someone who is more successful, is smarter, stronger, better looking than me, it’s easy to feel inferior to them. I've felt guilty I didn’t work as hard as they did, or maybe I tried but didn’t succeed like they did and it adds to the guilt of feeling I’m not good enough. ...

337 – Let the light of Christmas shine bright One of the major themes at Christmas time is the light of Christ shining into a dark world. In fact the Christmas story has all kinds of light in it. There’s the star that appears to the Wisemen from the East. There’s the glory of God shining on the shepherds as the angels talk to them. And most important of all is the birth of Jesus, who came as the Light of the world. But Jesus didn’t come just for us to be passive recipien...

336 – What makes you want to obey God? People sometimes ask: "Is there a way to obey God from a place of love instead of from a sense of duty or fear of punishment?" And my answer is always: Absolutely, Yes! It is totally possible to obey God from a place of love instead of duty or fear. God doesn’t want you to obey Him because you’re afraid of Him. God wants a loving relationship with you. When you realize He always has your best interests at heart, you really do want to ob...

335 – Will you or anyone you know be alone for Christmas this year? An estimated 14 million Americans will spend Christmas alone in 2025. That’s a lot of people! I don’t have numbers for other countries, but this really opened my eyes to a problem that’s a lot bigger than I realized. There’s a wide variety of reasons why people are alone at Christmas, and a small percentage of them actually prefer to be by themselves. But the vast majority of these 14 million people would rather ...

334 – It's Freedom Friday How good are you at overcoming temptation? What do you do when you are tempted to do something you know you shouldn’t do? How do you resist the temptation? Or do you just give in to it? A question I get a lot is: How do I resist the temptations in my life? This is something we all have to deal with. And at some point, as you grow spiritually, it’s not just about resisting temptation, but getting to where they are no longer temptations and you have freedom and p...

333 – God still uses ordinary people to accomplish His purpose Christmas is just a few weeks away, and a lot of people I know are busy getting ready for this special time of year when we celebrate Christ’s coming. And I don’t just mean making all the preparations for holiday meals, gifts, and seasonal activities. A lot of people take very seriously getting ready spiritually to be more receptive to the spirit of Christmas, the appearing of Jesus here on earth and the significance of that...

332 – FREEDOM FRIDAY You are made in the image and likeness of God. The Bible makes this clear in the very first chapter of Genesis. But then the Bible tells story after story of how people have sinned and not been true to the way God created them. Someone asked the other day: If I’m really made in the image and likeness of God, why do I keep sinning? That’s a pretty deep question and that's what this episode of Freedom Friday is all about. It has a LOT to do with how you see yourself. ...

331 – What gives you a sense of self-worth? Over the years, I've met some people who are very, very wealthy. I've also met people who probably didn’t have $20 to their name. And lots of people in between. Some of these very wealthy people, even though they have been incredibly successful in many areas of their life, have a very low sense of self-worth. And a few of the homeless people I’ve met, who don’t have enough money to get a good meal, have a remarkable sense of their own va...

330 – Does God ever tempt us? A lot of people are convinced God sends temptations to see if they are faithful. You’d be surprised how many Christians believe some version of this, that God tempts us or puts tempting things and thoughts in our path. But nothing could be further from the truth. God never tempts you. That's what we're talking about this week on FREEDOM FRIDAY. ∞∞∞∞∞∞∞ Show notes: Full transcript at thebiblespeakstoyou.com/330 Text me your questions or comments. Support the...

329 – Are you grateful when things don't go the way you want them to? A lot of folks I’ve been talking to lately are facing some pretty serious challenges. And they don't really think they have anything to be grateful for. They’re worried about the rising cost of living, if they can pay their bills and put food on the table for their families. They’re worried about the rising costs of health care. Some folks have lost their jobs and haven’t been able to find work. Other people are...

328 – How do you quit being influenced by others? Have you ever worked hard to quit making the same mistakes or committing the same sins and finally got your life cleaned up and straightened out, when someone, maybe even an old friend, tries to pull you back into that old life style? You feel negatively influenced by others to do things you don’t want to do. It can be a pretty hard situation to deal with. But there are things you can do and new ways to think that will help you not to le...

327 – What are you most hungry and thirsty for? What do you want more than anything else in the world? To be successful, to have a great job and make lots of money, to have a loving family and good friends? Do you want to have a lot of power and influence? Do you want to make a difference in the world and help people who are less fortunate than you? Maybe a better question is: What does God want you to do more than anything else? You may already have an answer for that and be working in...

326 – FREEDOM FRIDAY How do you deal with judgmental people? Have you ever been talking to someone who gets very judgmental of you because of mistakes you've made in the past, things you're not still doing, attitudes and actions that you have left behind, but they want to keep you in the past? Do you know how to deal with judgmental people like this? Maybe it's not on purpose, but they make you feel guilty all over again for something that happened a long time ago. In their mind they ju...

325 – Does your life ever feel incomplete? How often do you feel like there’s something missing in your life? It could be a relationship, a better job, enough money to pay the bills, better health. It could go deeper than that. You might feel like your life is incomplete because you don’t know what your higher sense of purpose is, and if you do, you’re not sure how to fulfill it. Why is it that most of us at some time or another feel like something is missing in our lives? W...

324 - What do you do when someone won't forgive you? Have you ever apologized to someone, but they won’t forgive you? They're still feeling hurt or betrayed and they just can’t bring themselves to forgive you. It’s a pretty lousy feeling. And sometimes it seems like you can’t get on with your own life until there’s some reconciliation and you get that relationship healed. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen. So what do you do when that happens? How do you pray and what do yo...

323 – You’ve probably heard of the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem when the Roman army destroyed it in 70 AD. But have you ever wondered how that event is relevant to us today? What can you and I learn from the destruction of Jerusalem, now almost 2,000 years later? Well, actually there’s a lot we can learn and my guest this week, Ward Sanford, and I are going to dig into some important lessons we need to learn, individually and collectively as the church, that can make al...

322 – It's time to accept God's forgiveness Have you ever had trouble accepting God’s forgiveness for mistakes you made or sins you committed? And you still feel a burden of guilt even though you’re not making those same mistakes or committing those sins anymore? That’s what we’re talking about this week on Freedom Friday. Here are a few key points to help you in this process. Forgiveness is a gift from GodYou are worthy to accept this giftConfess your mistakes and sins to yourself and ...