Dr. Jim Richards

God wants us to have the best life possible, but we don’t know how to get there – is it my part or God's part? Join me this week and I will show you how to get there. On multiple levels, you are always creating the world around you for good or bad. God has already done His part by sending His Son and through His death, burial, and resurrection, has given us the New Covenant. Because of that covenant, you already have everything pertaining to life and godliness; your part is to do whatever it takes to believe in your heart about what Jesus accomplished, then make decisions and use your authority in every situation.

If you’ve found yourself in a ditch and don’t even know how you got there, watch this week’s CyberChurch teaching to gain perspective for getting out and never getting in another one! Sin always begins with a sense of lack. The deceitfulness of sin is the hardening of your heart. When you start down a road of compromise, you do not know the end of that road. No matter how small the compromise, hardness of heart begins immediately. This week I’ll share insights from Job’s life that can help you see how to steer your own life more effectively.

The Bible talks about the way of Balaam and the error of Balaam. Join me this week to understand the difference. Balaam was a prophet. He was hired by an enemy of Israel to pronounce a curse on them, but God had blessed His people Israel. If a curse was pronounced on them by God's prophet, that would make God a liar and therefore none of His word would be true. Job's friends believed God had cursed him and they are often quoted as theologically sound, but when God finally speaks He rebukes and corrects Job! Don't adopt the error of Balaam and believe that God has cursed anyone! He is only and always good!

Religion has wrongly condoned and often instigated the blaming of God for our tests and trials, but the Bible clearly states that God tempts no one! Join me this week for a better understanding of God’s interaction with satan and with Job. God cannot be tempted; therefore He was not drawn into a wager with satan about Job’s reaction under duress. God will not curse what He has blessed; therefore, He would not curse or remove the blessing He had poured into Job’s life. God has given us His names, His promises, and His Son as the live demonstration of His own character; and He has given us without revocation the choice to believe Him or not. Will you believe God’s report of Himself?

This statement is often quoted by Christians. Join me this week as I share its true context and if the answer is yes or no. Job is an historical book; it gives an accurate account of events and conversations that took place. It is very important to understand the difference between an account of history and what God actually says. Jesus was the Word made flesh; therefore, we must view every word of God through His life and teachings. If what we hear or believe cannot align with God’s names or the life, teachings, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, then we need to be teachable and allow God to help us understand in a new way.

Job is a book people often refer to when they blame God for their difficulty. Join me this week to examine some reasons we cannot logically do that. One of the ways God has revealed Himself to mankind is by His names. If He brought sickness and death into our lives to teach us, He would have a name that represented that; if He used torment to make us more spiritual, He would have a name defining that. No, God’s names are Healer, Deliverer, Provider! Everything good comes from Him! Criminals and Mafia control by fear with the threat of danger or injury. Is God no better than a criminal?

How can the God who heals you be the God who makes you sick? Join me this week as we look at the truth about Job. Most of what people quote about Job denies the names of God, denies the life and teachings of Jesus, and presents God as an author of confusion and chaos. He is NOT the author of confusion and chaos; Satan is! You can never have solid faith if you have contradictory beliefs about God. Let’s examine together this month what Job really said and what God said about what Job said.

Righteousness has to start from the heart. Join me this week to gain an important distinction between good behavior and true righteousness. The overall concept of righteousness is “as it should be.” No amount of good behavior can produce righteousness, because it has to originate in our heart. We experience life as it should be in our heart when we are first at peace with God. When we believe that He is for us and not against us; when we trust His love rather than expect His wrath; when we seek to know His ways we will develop a hunger and thirst to be like Him. This is righteousness produced in our heart which will bear fruit in our lives.

Righteousness is not just a position with God. Join me this week to study what righteousness should look like in our lives. If you are earning righteousness, it’s about you, not Jesus. Our righteousness is only because we are in Jesus. To experience His righteousness, we must know how He applied it in His life and harmonize our own lives with that. If it doesn’t affect our behavior and how we treat others, it is of no benefit. However, when we walk in righteousness, we find it is the easiest way to live!

The parable of the narrow gate is about the Kingdom, not about getting saved. Join me this week as we look closely at what Jesus said was hard about entering the narrow gate. Jesus never said it was hard to get saved. Getting born again allows us to perceive the Kingdom realm. We enter, experience, and walk in the realm of Heaven on earth as we recognize Jesus as our source, our strength, our Lord. Then we find we’re walking in the place where His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

Join me this week as I share how you can enter a dimension wherein your life will become a representation of heaven on earth! God has given us the prescription for living a divine life. The Bible says it is better than anything we’ve seen, heard, or imagined! But it cannot be perceived by the natural mind. It centers on our having a love relationship with God and conforming our values, ethics, opinions, etc. to His. When our life is great and we know it is because of God, we fall more and more in love with Him and those around us want to know Him as we do. Let’s harmonize our paradigm with God’s so we can live and walk in the unseen heavenly dimension!

There are two realms in which we can live: the world’s system or the Kingdom of Heaven. Join me this week as I share how we can daily enjoy the best quality of life imaginable! The Bible tells us that mankind hasn’t seen, heard, or even imagined how good God has planned for our lives to be! Interestingly, if we have decided that an area of life is as good as it can get or if we settle for less than our dream, our heart and mind will immediately go to work limiting our life to that place. Don’t settle! Keep seeking and keep finding the path of divine life as God has intended!

God designed mankind to live in pleasure. Join me this week to look at the biblical reality of living heaven on earth! Every person has the drive for a better quality of life. Jesus said He had come so that we could have the very best quality of life. The original language defines this to be the quality of life possessed by the One giving it. So, Jesus Himself said we can have God’s quality of life! If that is not heaven on earth I can’t imagine what would be. We can participate in the realm of the Kingdom right now and enjoy safety, protection, provision, peace – all things pertaining to life and godliness!

Jesus taught principles of living by priority. Join me this week to explore the proper order of things in the Kingdom. Priority living can make the difference in how successful your efforts are! When Jesus instructed His listeners to do something first, there was a reason for the priority that directly affected the result. Even obedience can turn out bad if you’ve missed the point for obeying. When first things are truly considered first, your heart is in the best place for receiving the maximum benefit available for whatever you are doing!

Join me this week to hear how you can abide in the realm of the Kingdom rather than survive from miracle to miracle or rescue to rescue. The greatest witness is the person who draws others to God by their joy, peace, and demonstrations of love. The way we become such a witness is by abiding in the realm Jesus said is within. It is the realm where Jesus is fully Lord of our heart, and where all the resources of God are available and accessible. This is truly more than a state of mind; it is a way of living!

Join me this week where I will help you enter the realm in which you recognize and know how to access all the resources of God! The New Covenant is a covenant of promise. It has the same promises as the Old Covenant, but the Bible says the New Covenant is better than the old. Why? It is a covenant between God and Jesus, not God and man. Jesus Himself obtained the promises for all and for eternity. Now, everything we need for life is available to us and this covenant can never be broken!

God has revealed Himself to mankind from the time of creation. Join me this week and let’s explore the abundance of both His existing and intended evidence in the earth. God’s intention has always been for His people to represent Him. He established the nation of Israel as a kingdom to whom He would demonstrate His heart and the other nations of the world could see His goodness and character. King Solomon was filled with the wisdom of God and many kings from other nations came to him for answers. Jesus came as the exact representation of the Father. Jesus said we are the light of the world and as our light shines men will see our good works and glorify God! We are the reason people see God as they do!

It’s difficult to have bold faith if you’re unsure about your perception! Join me this week as I share what Jesus taught about entering and accessing the Kingdom of God. Jesus said becoming born again allowed us to SEE the Kingdom of God; He didn’t say we ENTERED the Kingdom. Seeing the Kingdom of God is more than perceiving that a kingdom exists. It is perceiving the resources and truths of that Kingdom, or realm, being made available to us and operating in our lives! We have to perceive the Kingdom before we can participate in it.

Join me this week to gain greater understanding of how to live in and access the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven right now while living on earth! Jesus taught more about the kingdom of heaven than any other topic. His model prayer demonstrated the need to understand the gospel of the kingdom. It is clearly about far more than just going to heaven after you die; it is intended to be an integral part of our daily lives on earth!

Join me this week as I reveal the map leading directly to the treasures of heaven we should be enjoying on earth now! Jesus talked about heaven on earth which when heard by His audience held meaning tied to history that has been mostly lost in present day. His listeners knew that the reference to heaven on earth was a reference to the Garden of Eden. Well, who doesn’t want to live in the paradise described as Eden? However, many of us have believed the promises, but have been frustrated by not seeing their fulfillment. It might seem as though they are a hidden treasure to which the map is missing.