Right Start Radio With Pastor Jim Custer

"Remember your Creator" seems like good advice to anyone. Why does Solomon aim it at young people? One of the keys to unlocking the book of Ecclesiastes is to always keep in mind who is writing. This is the voice of an old man who was given the gift of wisdom as a young man. In these pages the powerful king who couldn't rule himself is speaking. Let's join Jim in chapter 11, verse 9. 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. RS03072025_0.mp3Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 1; 7; 11; 12

"I Did it My Way" is the anthem of the fool. As we go through the book of Ecclesiastes together, my mind keeps digging up these old pop songs. Our culture has embraced "under the sun" thinking for quite a while. Solomon would challenge someone's claim to be the author of his or her own story. Life just doesn't work that way, he might say; the game is rigged! Here's Jim to begin the sermon, Best Wisdom: Fear God and Keep His Commands. 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. RS03062025_0.mp3Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 1; 7; 11; 12

Are we spiritual beings, or are we animals? Solomon ran the experiment; it's a shame we didn't review his findings in Ecclesiastes. For half a century our culture has tried to live as if we are only material beings. And it doesn't work. Mental illness is epidemic. Empty people attach themselves to social causes and political campaigns in hopes of finding meaning. But if meaning is to be found, we'll have to look higher. 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. RS03052025_0.mp3Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 1-7

"Imagine there's no heaven," sang John Lennon. But Solomon had done that thousands of years before! Welcome to our short series on the book of Ecclesiastes. When the wisest of the wise examined life "under the Sun," he was way ahead of the new atheists, and even the old Greek philosophers. King Solomon took human logic to its logical conclusion and found: Nothing. Emptiness. Vanity. Jim believes this book has special relevance for our generation. 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. RS03042025_0.mp3Scripture References: Ecclesiastes 1-7

This is not that kind of Utopia! On Friday we agreed that the "hope" of a Christian is not the ordinary kind of hope; it's more substantial. Today Jim will complete his sermon, Living with People with Utopian Expectations. And this Utopia is not "nowhere," as in the original sense of the word. We mean the ideal condition that Christ will impose on the world when He returns. And we have some things to hope for, even before that! 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. RS03032025_0.mp3Scripture References: Acts 3:17-26

The difference is hope! Those Christians just seem "odd" to me. They're fine with not knowing what the latest trends are. Their values are different - kind of old-fashioned, or something. They pray as if God is right there in the room with them... and listening! And they have this confidence. They call it "hope," but it's not like hoping the weather will be nice this weekend - it's deeper than that. Today Jim will talk about our hope; what it is, and where it rests. 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. RS02282025_0.mp3Scripture References: Acts 3:17-

God won't act until we ask. Perhaps the most basic and most mysterious aspect of prayer is the question of why it's necessary at all. The Almighty knows our needs, He knows what we're going to ask - so why ask? The answer has something to do with how God likes to work. He desires to get us involved in advancing His agenda. And that will change us, as it changes the world. Here's Pastor Jim with Part 2 of this sermon. 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. RS02272025_0.mp3Scripture References: 1 Timothy 1; Acts

First of all... pray! We have this upside-down, don't we? People say, "That proposal hasn't got a prayer," meaning not even such a tiny hope as a prayer. Prayer is last, and least. But in the New Testament we see Christians praying first - before acting, before using the political means available. And we see God answering those prayers! 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. RS02262025_0.mp3Scripture References: 1 Timothy 1; Acts

Would you pay for the sins of people who are murdering you? Jesus did! We stand in awe of the words we hear from the Man on the middle cross: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." And He not only prayed for the sinners, He paid for their sins - our sins. How can we, even in miniature, come up to that standard of selfless love? We're thinking about that, in the sermon, Living Among the Forgivers. Jim's in Luke 23. 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. RS02252025_0.mp3Scripture References: Luke 23:32; Ephesians 4:29-5:2

See how Jesus forgives. The robber on the cross; the soldiers driving the nails; the religious frauds driving the whole nightmarish scene - all aroused mercy, not judgment, in the Lord's heart. We could add the Samaritan woman at the well, and many others. This kind of radical forgiveness isn't intended to be unique to Christ. We Christ-ones are on the same mission, supposedly endowed with the same Spirit. 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. RS02242025_0.mp3Scripture References: Luke 23:32; Ephesians 4:29-5:2

You can remain a caterpillar... if you want to! The metamorphosis that we talked about yesterday - the transformation from an earthbound creature to a spiritual one - is what God has been after all along. But many of us don't know that we can be a butterfly. We may feel a yearning to fly, but we're stuck in our old, wormy ways. Or so we think. Here's Jim with the conclusion of his sermon, Living Among the Extreme Makeovers. We're in Romans, chapter 7. 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. RS02212025_0.mp3Scripture References: Romans 12:1-2, 7:14-24, 8

Are you a Christian - or do you just "identify" as one? In our strange, "Twilight Zone" world where people believe they are something they clearly are not, we want to be the real deal. A pollster surveying the religious landscape will have to take my word for it: If I say I'm a Christian, then that's how my responses will be recorded and labeled. But what is the reality? 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. RS02202025_0.mp3Scripture References: Romans 12:1-2, 7:14-24, 8:6-17

People demand autonomy in the "privacy of their own bedroom." God says, "What privacy?" Nothing is hidden from the One who created us, and who designed us as sexual beings. Since that is true we'll find that His rules are firm, His plan is best, and it just won't do to pretend that we are mere animals. Or gods. In 1 Thessalonians 4 Paul isn't addressing the pagan culture of Greece - he's writing to Christians. 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. RS02192025_0.mp3Scripture References: 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

"The heart wants what it wants," said Woody Allen. At least the famous director had enough shame to pretend that it was his heart, and not another body part, that was leading him. The question before Christians today is, Will we join our society in obeying our instincts, like animals; or will we stand apart? Will we obey a higher calling? Will we model for the world the proper use of God's gift of sexuality? Here's Jim to open the sermon, Living Among the Peculiar. 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. RS02182025_0.mp3Scripture References: 1 Thessal

How can we think about the "fulness" of a limitless God? The desire of the Spirit - and the Son and the Father, too - is to fill. To fill us, to fill the church, to fill creation. And this theme of filling keeps coming up in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Today we'll look at all 8 of the references that are exactly on point, and we think you'll see something new and surprising. It's not a work God is saving for later; this is happening now. 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. RS02172025_0.mp3Scripture References: Ephesians 2 & 4

What does being filled with the Spirit look like? In Psychology class my instructors tried to teach me about "self-actualization." Supposedly it's the state of having reached one's full potential. To "make oneself real" would be a literal definition. That's nonsense, of course, and a pale imitation of what God offers us. We're back in Ephesians 5. We'll drop in around verse 19, as Jim will tell us about four results of being filled with the Spirit. 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. RS02142025_1.mp3Scripture References: Ephesians 2 & 4

Christians are in danger of becoming "comfortably numb." The very freedom and assurance we have in Christ can be misused to build a nice hideaway, insulated from the voice of God. When Paul warned the Ephesians about the hazards of living for pleasure, listening to worldly philosophers, and gradually closing their ears to God's instructions, he could hardly have imagined the scene today. Is our "comfortable" life what the Spirit calls, "futile?" 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. RS02132025_1.mp3Scripture References: Ephesians 2 & 4

"But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you...." Whether it's the King James version or a more recent translation, Jesus' meaning is clear: when the Holy Spirit shows up, He brings power! Power to do what? That's the question we'll answer on today's program. We'll find 4 great goals of the Spirit as we study the latter part of Ephesians 5, and into chapter 6. Here's Jim to finish out his sermon, Living Among the Intoxicated, Part 1. 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. RS02122025_1.mp3Scripture References: Ephesians 5-6

Dumb, drunk, or discerning - which kind of Christian are you? We talk about someone being "under the influence," but maybe everyone is under some kind of influence. It could be alcohol in one case, and the Holy Spirit in another. Some seem to live in a spiritual stupor, never really aware of what's going on. By the numbers, most American Christians are under the wrong influence. Paul warned the Ephesians not to be dumb, and not to be drunk! 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. RS02112025_0.mp3Scripture References: Ephesians 5-6

The Ten Commandments, or the ninefold fruit? Too many professing Christians are trying to live by the Rules. And the Rules are good! But they can't regenerate us, and grow the life of God in us. We need to stop thinking about rocks (those stone tablets of Sinai), and start seeing ourselves as trees. Last time Jim gave us 4 "steps" into this new orchard. He'll remind us of those today, then he'll show us what this Tree metaphor looks like in practice. 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. RS02102025_0.mp3Scripture References: Psalm 1; Galatians 5