Dr. Jim Richards

How is it possible that anyone could confuse love with narcissism? It’s something that probably happens every day in millions of marriages, when someone looks into the eyes of their spouse and says, “If you love me you’ll do……!” In our corrupt world, we have somehow come to believe that love is when someone does something for us and we are not expected to respond. This is the way far too many believers attempt to relate to God. I don’t really want to know you, spend time or do what it takes to have a great relationship; I just want you to prove you love me! God does love us, and He does prove it every single day in thousands of ways. But His love is no benefit to us if we do not believe it, experience it, and respond to it. If we do not respond to His love by loving Him and loving others, it becomes a problem that can lead us into extreme spiritual narcissism. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we explore whether our relationship with God is leading us into love or selfishness!

God has a goal in everything He does for us. That goal is to draw us into a deep personal connection with Him through the Lord Jesus so that we can have heaven on earth. He also has a motive for everything He does. His motive is to express the incredible value He has for you. The word “love” in the original language means to value, to hold in high regard, and to consider precious. That is what He wants you to experience in all He does with you and through you. Join me this week as we explore the Goal of God’s Love for you. You will be pleasantly surprised!

God is The God of Truth! His truth is eternal; it doesn't change with time or circumstances. Knowing the dependability of God’s truth gives us confidence in times of trouble. It shines light into the mysteries of life. Hidden in the Hebrew language are secrets that help us understand the depth and riches of God’s truth. Join me this week as we discuss the Eternal Nature of God’s Truth.

I often hear great messages about love driving out all fear. But that’s not what the Scripture actually says. It says that PERFECT love casts out fear! It seems the one thing that is seldom clarified in these messages is, “What is perfect love?” Join me this week as I begin a new series entitled, The Power of Perfect Love. This series will affect every area of your walk with God and your relationship with people! This week, we will begin by discussing the difference between the “love of God” and the “perfect love of God.”

Sometimes it seems that our faith has been reduced to intellectual assent. We are not opposed to the Word of God, yet it isn’t producing power in our lives! Even when our mind agrees with the Word of God we find that our faith isn’t alive and powerful. The Apostle Paul tells us that our faith must be activated to be effective. Join me this week in CyberChurch and discover the secret to activating your faith so you can experience The Power of Perfect Love.

We cannot fully grasp or exercise faith for what Jesus did on the cross beyond our understanding of the Feasts of Israel. The Bible says Jesus is our Passover Lamb. So what does that mean? Understanding Jesus as our Passover Lamb is the starting place for our entire journey with God. Everything about walking with God hinges on our knowledge of Jesus as our Passover. Join me this week in CyberChurch, as we discover the truth of Jesus, My Passover Lamb.

Is the Bible contradicting itself when it tells me there is no fear in God’s perfect love, but then tells me all the benefits of having the fear of the Lord? So, am I supposed to be afraid of God or not? Religion has always used fear as a means of coercing believers into serving God. But it never produces the kind of peace and joy promised to the believer. In the original language of the Bible, it becomes very clear that fear never produces faith or love. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we answer the question, “Am I supposed to be afraid of God?” You will be pleasantly surprised at the answer!

The Bible describes Six Sources of Fear; each one has its own deceptive, destructive properties. More than one source of fear can happen without us even realizing that we are initiating it, yet the consequences are equally destructive. To discover the Six Sources of Fear and the one solution that can overcome them, join me this week in CyberChurch.

Sometimes we are simply afraid to trust God. We are afraid He’ll let us down; we’re afraid of His rejection; we’re afraid we are not worthy. The list is endless. How did we get so afraid of God? It’s all pretty easy. We believed a lie! Join me this week in CyberChurch as we consider the freedom to let God know we are afraid in “Help, I’m Afraid.” Then we can take the crucial first step in moving past our fears.

The Bible tells us to draw near to God with boldness in our time of need. For most of us, our time of need is when we’re about to “mess up,” or we have just “messed up.” In these times, we need to know how to recover our peace with God, and move our hearts back into our legal standing “in Jesus.” The Bible calls this drawing near to God. But, incredibly, He shows us how to do that in a way that frees us from all the fear, guilt, and shame. Join me this week in CyberChurch for this incredible breakthrough message, “Draw Near Without The Fear.”

God has promised He will never leave us, never fail us, and never forsake us. This means when we feel distant from God, it is never Him who has drawn back from us. When we feel distance, it is always us that have drawn away from God. We don’t need to grovel or beg to reconnect with God. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we discuss Loving God, and I will help you discover God’s prescription for connecting to Him in the deepest ways you can imagine.

Religion has led us to believe that God required offerings in the Old Testament, but that is not true. If that were the case, He would have been no different than the pagan gods. The Hebrew word translated as offerings actually means to draw near. The worshiper of Jehovah was not attempting to appease Him so He would come close to them. Their offerings were designed to influence their hearts, in order to facilitate them drawing near to Him. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we explore the positive side of offerings and how they affect our hearts as we draw near to God!

We were created to be intimately joined to God. In fact, we cannot be “normal” if that connection is lost. In this fast-paced world, filled with distractions, we often feel distant from God. But we know that can’t be real because we are with Him and in Him. But like any relationship, we often experience distance. God has provided clear instructions for how to close that gap and discover our connection. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we explore the biblical solution when we long for God!

Jesus said we are the light of the world. We make it possible for people to see God and discover His great goodness. Few people discover how easy it is to use their influence to help others. Join me this week in CyberChurch for “The Power of a Righteous Life,” and discover how you can eternally enrich and influence others.

Religion has led us into a codependent relationship with God, where our every involvement with Him is about trying to get what we need. We are taught to pray about our needs as if He doesn’t see them and needs to be coerced into providing for us! Jesus told us we didn’t need to pray about our needs. He assured us that God deeply desires to meet all our needs. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we explore “A More Excellent Way,” and discover how to walk in the path where God meets all our needs.

Righteousness is given to us through a promise. This promise was not given to us individually. It was given to the Lord Jesus Christ by God the Father. We are not recipients of personal righteousness; we are recipients of the righteousness of God, given to Jesus, as part of His inheritance. In fact, we don’t have a personal covenant with God. If we did, we would have to live a perfect life to maintain it. Jesus has a covenant with God. He has lived a perfect life, therefore His covenant can never be changed or taken away. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we explore the promise God made to Jesus and how we share in His inheritance.

When a debtor had worked off his debt, he was given a legal writ that explained that he had worked off his debt and was now a free man. All rights and privileges of citizenship were restored. On the cross, just before “giving up the spirit,” the KJV translates Jesus saying “It is finished.” The more accurate interpretation of what He said was, “The debt is paid!” This is the equivalent of God giving you a receipt saying, “Your debt of sin has been paid in full. You owe nothing!” Understanding this subtle but powerful truth opens the way to an entirely new depth of love, trust, and thankfulness for what God did for us in Jesus. Join me in CyberChurch this week for Paid in Full.

One of the most important questions we must answer is this: “Am I experiencing God, or am I experiencing my opinion of God?” Our opinion of others influences our experiences with them more than who they really are. Most angry, rebellious children aren’t rebelling against who their parents are; they are rebelling against the skewed, immature opinion of who they are. God wants you to know Him. He wants you to know what you can expect from Him. Fortunately, He has given clear, understandable ways to know Him. Plus, He has shown how we can know if what we are experiencing really is Him or our opinion of Him. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we answer the question, “Am I Experiencing God?”

The undermining issue destroying the world today is the victim’s mentality. The victim makes bad decisions in business, relationships, finances, and other areas of life, and when they face the consequences of those decisions, they feel they are being punished. From that point, they determine that life isn’t fair. Religion has made us believe that consequences are God’s punishment for doing bad things. Consequently, they think God is unfair in His “punishment.” The truth is that the consequences we experience as a result of our choices are not sent to us from God. Free yourself from the victim’s mentality while discovering the keys to being led by the Spirit of God. Join me this week in CyberChurch as we answer the question, “Is God Really Fair?”

Those of us who came out of the “Jesus Movement” were hungry for God. We didn’t want the empty formality of church. One of the famous sayings of the late 60s and early 70s was, “I don’t care about doctrine; I just want Jesus!” Too many Christians substitute a relationship with Jesus for a relationship with their doctrine. The truth is we all have doctrines. Doctrines are basically our beliefs. The beliefs of our heart determine how everything in our life functions. The Scripture warns that there is one doctrine that will affect your life and your walk with God more than any other. Join me this week in CyberChurch, and we’ll consider the belief that causes us to struggle more than any other, and how we can move into a place of absolute victory!