Our messages are taken from the archives of Faith for Living, which run from June 1993 through 2024. May the Lord use these to fulfill His will in your life or the lives of those you might seek to reach through these broadcasts.

Share

Subscribe now

In today’s message, we’re turning to the heart of victory—the victory that God has secured for His people in Christ. Just as the Eighth Air Force played a crucial role in the triumph of Allied forces in World War II, so too does the eighth chapter of Romans declare a victory that has already been won for those in Christ. This is not just a historical victory but a present and eternal one, deeply relevant to the challenges we face today.

Subscribe now

How well I remember standing in the congregation of the faithful, lifting our voices to sing "Victory in Jesus." There was a defiance in that song—a defiance born not of strength, but of trust in the resurrected Redeemer. Many who sang were ill, aging, or burdened by trials, yet their voices rang with confidence. Why? Because Christ’s promise transforms every circumstance, even death itself, into a victory grounded in the life, crucifiction, and resurrection of our God and Savior.

Join me now as we explore Romans 8:1-4, a passage that proclaims the ultimate victory for those who are in Christ Jesus.

We welcome you do our Sunday Chapel and Romans 8:1-4, “No Condemnation.”

Share

Do you know for sure?

As I come before you, I am profoundly aware that the passage we consider has, throughout the ages, been a catalyst for transforming countless lives. My prayer is simple: “Lord, despite the frailty of the messenger, may You do it once more—today.”

This week, we embark on a journey through “The Mighty Eighth: The Liberating Power of God in Romans Chapter 8.” Like countless others throughout history, I have found this extraordinary section of divine literature life-changing. It reshaped my mind and, in turn, transformed my entire life. These verses reveal how our thoughts about God shape our lives before Him. Without exaggeration, I can say that the teachings in Romans chapter eight can turn pain into prayer, prayer into praise, and praise into peace.

I have often tried to depict Biblical truths with experiential aids that help reinforce or possibly open up the meaning. While preparing for a series from Romans chapter eight, I gave a series of sermons and lectures in Cambridge, England. As a history enthusiast, I knew the Mighty Eighth Air Force had operated nearby during WWII. So, on an afternoon off, I searched for the sights and even entered an English pub where the “Yanks” signed their names on the ceiling before shipping out. One of those names was Jimmy Stewart, the great American hero and award-winning actor. Having visited the Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, read about the missions, and absorbed the aura of that place while in England, I decided to name my series “The Mighty Eighth.” Indeed, St. Paul’s majestic eighth chapter in his epistle to the Romans resounds with the mighty roar of divinely wrought theology, in tight formation with the soaring teachings of Christian living—on a mission to liberate the human soul from sin and death. The Mighty Eighth is a force, an intellectual and spiritual experience of God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, recorded by one of the most remarkable human beings ever to walk the earth.

Welcome to the Mighty Eighth.

You can also follow the weekly broadcasts at https://faithforliving.live/broadcasts.

Thanks for reading and listening to Faith for Living with Dr. Michael A. Milton. This post is public, so feel free to share it.

Share

Subscribe now

Welcome to the Faith for Living Weekly Bible Messages

Dear Friends,

We are pleased to bring you the Faith for Living weekly Bible messages, a cherished tradition since 1993. These broadcasts, now extended to podcasts, were produced by Atlantic Coast Communications and include sermons, lectures, and selected messages from "Truths that Transform."

Throughout the years, I have dedicated this ministry to bolster and strengthen the various ministries I have been privileged to represent. Therefore, you might hear an introduction from Dan Parker, our long-time producer, referencing one of the three churches I had the honor of planting, the historic downtown church where I served as senior pastor, or perhaps one of the seminaries where I have served in leadership and taught (including present contributions). Other initiatives I founded, such as the C.S. Lewis Institute in Charlotte, may also be mentioned. Rest assured, these messages originate from our archives, and I am suitably stationary in our humble home on a mountain in North Carolina. I foresee no new initiatives other than “shepherding shepherds who shepherd the flock.”

The focus of these broadcasts is on expository preaching. We trust that, to the extent I have been faithful to the text, these messages will resonate across generations. It is important to acknowledge the many fine young ministers today who deliver faithful messages from God’s Word. Seek them out. Prioritize them over these messages. Our decision to continue broadcasting is not borne out of a vain notion (I pray) that our message is somehow unique (it is not); rather, we desire to stay true to the timeless and steadfast proclamation of the old, old Story. We continue to share these messages because if even one soul is reached and moved towards repentance and faith by the Holy Spirit’s blessing upon God’s Word, then it has been more than worth all our efforts.

“For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 NKJV).

“Souls safe in the arms of Jesus.” That is our vision now as it has been since first I recognized the calling of God to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ Jesus our Lord.

To God be the glory.

Yours Faithfully,

Mike Milton

Subscribe now

Share

Broadcasting to:

Google Play Music: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hY2NyYWRpby5jb20vZmVlZC9mYWl0aGZvcmxpdmluZy8

Blubrry: https://blubrry.com/faith_for_living

Spotify: 

Tune In: http://tun.in/pjDKX

iHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-erskine-theological-semina-52369339/Accradio.com: https://accradio.com/teaching-program/faith-for-living/

Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a3b73ff1-cc4b-45d9-bcfc-7675fa7150cb/faith-for-living

Pandora: https://pandora.app.link/BtqUgyBJPtb

Gaana: https://gaana.com/podcast/faith-for-living-season-4

Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/PXfgEnW8aHpLALfW6

Android: https://www.subscribeonandroid.com/accradio.com/feed/erskinetheologicalseminarypresentsfaithforliving/

PodcastIndex:  

https://podcastindex.org/podcast/595976

Podchaser: 

https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/faith-for-living-937108

Pocket Casts: https://pca.st/k064o8r8

Faith for Living with Dr. Michael Milton is available at all podcast outlets, e.g., Apple Podcast, iHeart, plus Audible.

Subscribe by Email

Listen at any podcast outlet, or you can stream the latest here at Substack.

Give to Support Bible Preaching

Follow Faith for Living Preaching

Music

Listen on Spotify

Listen on Apple

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/michael-anthony-milton/120306127

Listen on Soundcloud:

Listen on Reverbnation:

https://www.reverbnation.com/michaelanthonymilton

A Full Service in Audio

Share

Subscribe now

Scripture Reading

John 6:1-15

After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. 2 And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. 3 Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. 4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. 5 Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. 7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, 9 “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” 10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12 And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” 13 So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. 14 When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” 15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), John 6:1–15.

Prayer

Scripture

John 6:1-15.

Bible Message

“A Little is a Lot”

Our Lord Jesus is a master teacher. Jesus is fully God and fully Man. But His role in his earthly ministry was as an itinerant preacher and teacher. And no one in history compares. He is the Master Teacher. In John 6:1-15 we encounter our Lord teaching by doing. And as counselors learn in their education and practice, “The thing is not the thing.” Or, as I prefer, “The presenting issue is the symptom, a signpost, for the real issue. The real issue is invariably spiritual.

Moreover, in the Bible, the real issue is universal, as applicable at the moment it was first taught as it is today. The presenting issue of John 6:1-15 is not a lack of food for the people who had gathered to hear Jesus. The presenting issue was a case study in the economics of faith: what to do when there is a big job before you, and you have few resources.

I had the opportunity a few years ago to teach economics in graduate school and enjoyed it (though my primary field is theology). I admire the works of Dr. Thomas Sowell and the late F. A. Hayak, two giants in the field. I learned basic economic principles from them. However, while some of the principles are the same in this interpretation of John 6:1-15, the context is quite different. This is not about finance. It is about faith.

I have been in situations when my resources did not equal the task before me. For more than three decades, I have preached the Gospel. I always needed more resources for that mission than I had innately. I always needed more. For some of you, it is a daily reality as you don’t have the physical strength to accomplish menial tasks that you would have never thought about a few years ago. Getting up out of bed; brushing one’s teeth, bending over to pat the head of a pup. Little things can be a challenge. I am sure some of you know this reality. Others encounter the challenge of facing down budgets, human resource issues, or paying the bills each month. There is a spiritual value in each of those tasks. It’s always the same:

“Feed the folks;

But we have nothing;

Go see the lad;

But it is only a little.”

In John 6:1-16 God speaks to each of us concerning the scarcity of physical means in the presence of God’s bountiful supply. The Lord Jesus teaches us that with God, a little is a lot. That is, while our resources to meet the mission may be lacking, God’s supply is vast—even more, He is willing and able.

How so? In the text, we learn at least three truths about God’s economics of faith.

One note as we begin: while the miracle proves the Lord’s divinity, it does not mean He conveyed such prerogatives of divinity to any human. Faith is not replicating the Lord’s ruler over creation and the laws of physics. In Christ Jesus, hope has pierced the thin veil between heaven and earth. His presence is the one we long for. Though He has returned to heaven, He is coming again. Until then, He had left us with the spiritual means to traverse our hungry days and face the unthinkable. So, this scripture is about something else. What? Three words summarize the universal truths that come from that day to ours:

1. The Mandate. This is about the world’s needs and our mandate. You and I are called to proclaim the Good News of Christ. Yet, only His Spirit can guide us, and only by His Word can a soul be saved, a life be redeemed. The mandate is that we cannot fulfill the commandments of God without our Lord Jesus. It is not just that we cannot face giants or feed five thousand; we cannot pray devoutly, speak with wisdom, or live a quiet life of meaning without Him.

2. The Means. Secondly, this is about how God chooses unlikely means, demonstrating His power. “You have given us a mandate, Lord. But how?” Then, Andrew says, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many” (9). What happens next is a lesson in divine economics. A human challenge is to be met with a divine response. “And the response?” you ask. Look to God for the means to meet the mandate, whatever it may be. How did St. Paul put it? “But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Corinthians 1:27). How to pray? The Spirit. How about wisdom? Ask. What about my tangled soul, so twisted by events out of my control that I cannot find the beginning of the end? Leave it at the cross. “What? This many people, and just the lad’s lunch?” Take your burdens to the cross, the place of faith in the One who suffered though He was without sin, who was crucified on our behalf, and, yet, who looked down from the cruciform timber that came from an oak that He created to a people He made, who, as the devil imagined, was killing God once and for all. That One rose again. He lives. And He lives to intercede for you. You are not alone. Your soul is not so tangled that the Redeemer cannot use the things that hurt you to become the very things that save you. This is the lesson of the fishes and the loaves. He is the means to unravel the problem. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is Lord and He is able. And He is willing.

3. The Miracle is the means of compounding the interests of faith in Christ. This is about the abundance of good that comes with faith in Christ. There is an exponential effect of faith in Christ. Faith never stops producing good as the fishes and loaves never run out. As you look to Christ, the means to realize the mandate before you, you will see an unending supply of divine blessings follow. More fishes and loaves? Not now. But maybe. Not likely. “Then, what?” How about children of an alcoholic discovering the joy of a happy home? I have seen it. A soul lightened from the weight of sin and shame? I have witnessed the tears of joy and the testimonies of murderers, thieves, adulterers, crooked businesspeople, and “hollow men” of all kinds. To turn from any and all to follow the Lord Jesus is to know the goodness of God, beginning to touch everything you come in contact with. Yes. Yes, and Amen.

Conclusion

With God, a little is a lot. This doesn’t minimize or dismiss the painful reality of suffering or that some of us struggle to have enough strength to brush our teeth or walk to the mailbox. It does mean that Jesus is the One we look to in such times. It does mean that amid a world hungering for truth, we can be confident that Christ is sufficient. We need Him now more than ever. And His love knows no limits. His grace is inexhaustible. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Faith for Living with Dr. Michael Milton is a weekly broadcast of expository Bible preaching proclaiming Christ as Lord at the intersection of faith and life. The weekly broadcast is always without subscription, ad-free, and is supported by small gifts from believers like you.

Our weekly broadcast is produced by Atlantic Coast Communications in Greenville, North Carolina. Dan Parker is the producer of each message. Dan draws from the archive of sermons preached between 1992-2023. You might hear a reference for a contemporary event. However, expository messages from the Bible have no expiration date. Some Bible messages will reach someone whose spirit resonates with that text. Others will find that the preacher is not for them. I am not particularly fond of my preaching and would prefer the guy not to get quite excited. My preaching today, when I can physically do so, is a bit more reflective. That is partly because of health and (one would hope) because reflection grows with experience. I always prayed the prayer of the English Puritan, Richard Baxter, “Lord, let me preach as if never to preach again and as a dying man to dying men.” I have always sensed urgency in preaching as I did not know my departure time or yours.

What I have found is that some sermons, and some preachers, will reach some people that others cannot. And vice-versa. I might have the gift of repelling others. I hope not. But it may be that you find that your spirit can receive the scriptures from another message more easily than from me. I understand. And so it goes with Gospel preachers all over the world. Only Christ, our Lord, draws all men to Himself (for salvation or judgment). We who are His preacher-boys must point to Him. This means: “Preach Jesus Christ and the Cross” (to wit, the fullness of the Gospel announcement), and you can be confident that the Holy Spirit will honor His Word, glorify the Father, and magnify the Son.

I receive no income for any broadcast and never have. Never will. These broadcasts do, however, incur weekly production costs, which we gladly pay to “do the work of an evangelist.” If the Lord leads you to give, your gift is tax-deductible. It will go to supporting the ministries of Faith for Living (Faith for Living is a 501(c)(3) North Carolina religious nonprofit corporation. Your gift will support initiatives like this one and, e.g., the D. James Kennedy Institute of Reformed Leadership, conducting research and writing in public theology, Faith for Living. Faith for Living is a ministry under the doctrinal auspices of the Presbyterian Church in America. While we strive to engage people from every background and faith, our belief commitments are expressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith with its Larger and Smaller Catechisms.

Faith for Living with Dr. Michael Milton is available at all podcast outlets, e.g., Apple Podcast, iHeart, plus Audible. Or, one may listen to this site, which updates the weekly broadcast.

Latest Episode

Subscribe now

Listen at any podcast outlet, or you can stream the latest here at michaelamilton.com on Substack.

Your Gift to Faith for Living

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving100323.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving092623.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving091923.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving091223.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving090523.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving082923.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving082223.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving081523.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving080823.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

https://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving080123.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

http://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving080123.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)

https://accradio.com/programs/erskinefaithforliving/faithforliving072523.mp3

Download (Right-Click To Save)