Biblical Moments with Frank King

The Power of Persistent Prayer (Episode 175)

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.

Being Positive in Negative Situations (Episode 174)

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.

The Implications of Water Baptism (Episode 173)

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.

Acknowledging God in All Your Ways (Episode 172)

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.

Being a Good Example of Christian Behavior (Episode 171)

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.