Right Start Radio With Pastor Jim Custer

Your gifts won't save you. The Jewish leaders thought they were sitting pretty on a five-legged stool... until Jesus knocked each leg out from under them, one by one! These five things were gifts from God, given uniquely to the Hebrew people. That's surely evidence that they were on the road to Heaven! And all of these gifts were real. And their recipients were not on the road to Heaven. We're in the Gospel of Mark. Here's Jim to open a sermon called, The Authority of Jesus. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02202026_0.mp3Scripture References: 

"I can't recall, Senator." In the 11th chapter of his Gospel, Mark describes a scene with "the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders." These prominent men lied in their answer to Jesus about John the Baptist. He knew they'd lied. Everyone knew they had lied. And they knew that everyone knew they had lied. Such beacons of righteousness! But just when we're about to write them all off, there is one - just one - scribe with a good question. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02192026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 12:1-12

Just who do you think you are?! When Jesus dared to do some much-needed housekeeping in the Temple, the religious elite were furious. They challenged His authority. He challenged their authority... and identity... and destiny. Before the day was over Christ would checkmate the scribes, the elders, the Pharisees, the Sadducees and even the Herodians. It was a bad day to be a hypocrite. Here's Jim to open a sermon from Mark 12 called, Who Owns the Vineyard? Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02182026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 12:1-12

There will be another mountain after this one. We're rejoining Jesus, Peter, James, John, Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. There will be One more joining us. And then we'll make our way down to the challenges of our daily lives. And we'll face away from this mountain, and toward the much less impressive hill called Golgotha, or Calvary - only 777 meters high. Here's Jim with the final segment of his message, The Transfiguration. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02172026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 9

Mountain men! Moses received the Ten Commandments on a mountain. Elijah defeated the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. The elevation of Carmel, by the way, is about 1800 feet. Sinai rises 7500 feet above sea level. So, on the day we're about to study, Moses and Elijah were higher than they'd ever been: If this is Mount Hermon, it's 9,000 feet. That's a "high mountain," as Mark calls it in chapter 9 of his Gospel. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02162026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 9

If Jesus is the king, when is the coronation? Peter had declared to Jesus, "You are the Christ (the Anointed, the coming King)." But then the King says some very strange things: "Tell no one," and, "I'm going to be rejected and killed. But the kingdom is coming." The death of the prince before He can ascend to the throne is not defeat... it's the plan. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02132026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 9

"I'll take one large-size salvation, please - hold the suffering." Once the Disciples finally understood who the Lord is, He could disclose some more things to them. Yesterday Jim described three imperatives - three "musts" - that follow from the revelation that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. One of those is that we must deny ourselves and take up our cross - pretty much the opposite of the popular, "your best life now" gospel. We're in Mark, chapter 8, with Jim. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02122026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 8:29

If Jesus is the Christ... so what? As we've followed Mark's Gospel - and now would be a good time to remind ourselves that this is most likely Peter's Gospel - it's become clear that the Disciples' training has been leading up to this moment: "Who do you say that I am?" That will prove to be the defining question of their lives, our lives, and the course of the world. But, once we've answered that question in unison with Peter, what follows? Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02112026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 8:29

What is the lesson of the loaves? Whatever the lesson was, the Disciples were not grasping it. Maybe it was that the God who had made the wheat, as well as the Sun to shine on it and the rain to fall on it, could just as easily make the loaves. Maybe it was that, if you give your little bit to the Lord, your next problem is going to be where to put all the leftovers. We're in Mark 6, looking at the Feeding of the Five-Thousand. Here's Jim to round out his sermon, He Sent the Twelve...with Power. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02102026_0.mp3Scriptu

The Disciples were doing it, but not getting it! If you feel like you're just taking the same life-lessons over and over again, this message may help you. The Twelve had the same problem. Jesus would show them a miraculous sign... they would marvel at it... but their minds didn't click into a new gear. So they went 'round again. In fact, Mark writes that their hearts were hardened! Jim has asked a young man to read the text for his message, He Sent the Twelve...with Power. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02092026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mar

Mark gave us the most powerful parenthetical of all time! "Thus He declared all foods clean" is the way it's most often translated. And it's not even the main thought of the sentence, just a little aside, a little "oh, by the way," usually set off in parentheses. But wow! What a potent tangent! That's enough geeking out about words. What was Jesus saying in the seventh chapter of Mark, and how does it apply, not to the Pharisees, but to us? Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02062026_1.mp3Scripture References: Mark 6 & 7

Lip-syncing isn't as easy as it looks! The people in Jesus' audience were giving a very bad performance. Their lips were out-of-sync with their hearts, just as Isaiah had prophesied. Their leaders had taught them to break God's Law in order to keep their traditions (and line their pockets). They were defiling themselves in an effort to make themselves clean. How can Christ untangle this mess? We'll read about it today, as our survey of the Gospel of Mark moves forward. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02052026_1.mp3Scripture References: Mark 6

What does it mean to be clean? There is physically clean - and that's good. It's a sign of mental illness to prefer to be grubby. Karl Marx was infamous for his horrible hygiene. Then there's spiritually clean. But the Scribes and Pharisees were focused on another type of purity - the ceremonially clean. And for some reason they thought their cleansing ritual should be endorsed by God, and mandated for everyone. Jesus had other thoughts. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02042026_1.mp3Scripture References: Mark 6 & 7

Worries, wealth, and the Word. In the field - I'm talking about a farmer's field - the crops are competing with other things for the resources of the soil. Thorns, Jesus called them. When the soil is the human heart, the good seed of God's Word is contending with just about everything else that will cross your mind today. As we've studied Jesus' Parable of the Sower in Mark chapter 4, we've talked about the hard ground and the rocky ground. Today Jim will help us think about the thorny ground. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS02032026_1.mp3Scripture

Most people are lost, and getting "lost-er." Jesus' Parable of the Sower went right over the heads of the crowd. But the Disciples would have missed the meaning, too, without the Lord's explanation. It's that relationship between the Teacher and His learners that we'll bring out today. We're continuing a message called, Teaching the Twelve. If you were with us on Friday, you'll remember that Jim is helping us hunt for 7 pivotal events in the Gospel of Mark. And we were talking about the Scribes, and the unforgivable sin. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free

Have you ever gone hunting... in the Bible? We're not talking about hunting for a verse - I know you've done that. There are insights in the Word of God that are like deer walking around in a forest, to borrow a picture from Augustine. We'll never see them if we're not looking for them carefully, and if our souls are not still. Jim will help us spot seven of these wild and beautiful creatures, these revelations roaming the Gospel of Mark, in the sermon he'll begin today. It's called, Teaching the Twelve. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS01302026_0.

The Disciples got prime teaching, but they also became prime targets. We imagine what it must have been like, to be a Disciple; to see those miracles with our own eyes, to hear Jesus' parables and their explanations. But we must include in our daydream the persecution of the Twelve. Satan wasn't going to take the assault on his kingdom lying down! Being a disciple isn't something we can volunteer for; it starts with a call. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS01292026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 3:13-19

A "superstar" is what Jesus refused to be. The crowds were coming to see a show. Standing-room-only crowds. The kind of multitudes that any ministry would love to have. But the Lord shut that down, hard. He wasn't trying to gain an audience to watch, listen, and get a free sandwich on the way out. Christ was after commitment. Everything He said and did made a claim on our lives. And that's not the road to celebrity; it's the road to the Cross. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS01282026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 3:13-19

God's New Thing is not going to fit in your old religious box! Jesus said that He had not come to abolish God's Law, but to fulfill it. Human traditions, on the other hand - oh, those have got to go. And some of those traditions seemed pretty sacred and solid, like the customs that had accreted around fasting and the Sabbath. They were opportunities for the King to illustrate how the new Kingdom works. Here's Jim at Mark chapter 2, verse 18. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS01272026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 2

Jesus starts an argument! The author of the second Gospel apparently had never met the greeting-card version of the Savior: the "gentle Jesus" who finds merit in all religious ideas. No, Mark tells us of a Christ who liked to stir things up. He wanted us to know the truth, and that required Him to expose falsehood - especially sanctimonious falsehoods. The reality behind this argument is central to Jesus' ministry - and it is shocking. Listen to Right Start Radio every Monday through Friday on WCVX 1160AM (Cincinnati, OH) at 9:30am, WHKC 91.5FM (Columbus, OH) at 5:00pm, WRFD 880AM (Columbus, OH) at 9:00am. Right Start can also be heard on One Christian Radio 107.7FM & 87.6FM in New Plymouth, New Zealand. You can purchase a copy of this message, unsegmented for broadcasting and in its entirety, for $7 on a single CD by calling +1 (800) 984-2313, and of course you can always listen online or download the message for free. RS01262026_0.mp3Scripture References: Mark 2