Listen weekly to the relevant Biblical teaching from FOLKS LISTEN, a ministry of the E-Free Church located in Gaylord, Michigan. Visit Folks Listen online at www.miefree.org for additional messages.
God's love, as revealed in the Book of Hosea, is characterized by three remarkable qualities: it is undeserving, unrelenting, and unimaginable. Through Hosea's relationship with his unfaithful wife Gomer, God illustrates His enduring love for Israel despite their spiritual adultery. In Hosea 11, God describes His love using three powerful metaphors: a father's love for a son, a husband's love for a wife, and a shepherd's care for sheep. Even when we reject God's love and face consequences, His heart breaks for us. The message culminates in the simple yet profound truth that God's love never wavers—there's nothing we can do to make Him love us more or less.
The book of Hosea tells the story of a prophet commanded to marry Gomer, a prostitute, as a living parable of God's relationship with unfaithful Israel. Despite Gomer's continued unfaithfulness, Hosea eventually redeems her from slavery, giving everything he had to buy her back. This powerful narrative illustrates God's love as undeserving, unrelenting, and unimaginable. Like Hosea, Jesus sacrificed everything to redeem us despite our unworthiness, not so we could live however we please, but to restore us to faithful relationship with God.
God's love is not based on our lovability but on His nature of being love.
Prayer should be our first response, not our last resort, in every life circumstance. James 5:13-18 identifies three specific situations calling for prayer: when suffering misfortune, experiencing joy, and facing serious illness. For serious illness, we should call church elders to pray and anoint with oil, examine our lives for unconfessed sin, and trust God's sovereignty. While God doesn't always heal physically, He always responds according to His perfect will—sometimes with physical healing, sometimes with grace to endure, and sometimes with the ultimate healing of heaven.
James provides practical guidance for handling mistreatment with grace and patience. The key is maintaining a long fuse - having the power to retaliate but choosing not to. This patience should extend until Christ's return, focusing on controlling our responses while leaving justice to God. The prophets serve as examples of enduring persecution while maintaining faithfulness, demonstrating that those who remain patient through trials will receive heavenly rewards. The challenge is to maintain integrity and guard against internal resentment, even when facing injustice.
Money and our attitude towards it profoundly impacts our spiritual journey. While wealth itself isn't wrong, the biblical definition of being rich is simply having more than we need. The real danger lies not in the amount we possess, but in our heart's posture towards material wealth. Three harmful attitudes often emerge: selfishness in hoarding resources, self-indulgence in spending, and feelings of superiority over others. The solution lies in cultivating generosity, goodness, and graciousness instead of these negative patterns.
Life's unpredictability reminds us of our need to align with God's will rather than making plans independently. While planning isn't inherently wrong, doing so without consulting God overlooks our limitations as humans who can't fully know what tomorrow holds. Our lives are brief, like a vapor, emphasizing our dependence on God for everything. The path to true fulfillment comes through seeking to know God's will and living within it, recognizing that His blessings flow most abundantly when we surrender our plans to His purpose.
Learning to play well with others in God's kingdom requires genuine humility and submission to His authority. Through practical steps like drawing near to God, resisting evil, and taking sin seriously, believers can grow in Christ-like character. This growth involves cleansing both external actions and internal motives while developing proper judgment toward others. The key to success lies in maintaining an intimate relationship with God through prayer, Scripture, and personal worship.
The resurrection of Jesus Christ provides four transformative benefits for believers. Through Christ's resurrection power, we receive complete forgiveness of sins and freedom from our old nature. This power also gives believers a greater purpose focused on sharing God's message with others. Most importantly, it guarantees eternal life with God, where physical death becomes merely a transition to our heavenly home. This power, demonstrated in miracles like raising Jairus's daughter, continues to transform lives today through faith in Jesus.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus faced His most intense moment of suffering, not just anticipating physical pain, but the spiritual anguish of bearing the world's sin. He demonstrated profound intimacy with God by addressing Him as Abba Father while honestly expressing His desires. Despite His distress, Jesus ultimately chose submission to God's will over His own desires. This pivotal moment teaches us about authentic faith, the power of surrender, and the true cost of following God's plan.
Discover the transformative power of making Christ your ultimate passion through Paul's profound insights in Philippians 3:10. Explore the three dimensions of knowing Christ: personal relationship, resurrection power, and shared suffering. Learn how Jesus' inner circle experienced these dimensions through the Transfiguration, raising of Jairus' daughter, and Garden of Gethsemane. Practical steps for spiritual growth include daily Bible reading, church attendance, and Scripture memorization.Â
Making a real impact in people's lives requires three essential principles: removing selfishness, prioritizing eternal values over temporary gains, and embracing collaborative effort while relying on God's grace. When we put others' needs before our own comfort and focus on eternal priorities rather than material gains, our impact grows exponentially. This approach involves opening our doors to those in need, providing practical help with excellence, and working alongside others in the community. True impact emerges when we combine physical assistance with spiritual care, all while trusting in God's provision.
What is the difference between earthly wisdom and wisdom that comes from God?
Our words possess incredible power to shape lives and reflect our hearts' true nature. Like a small rudder steering a massive ship, our words direct life's course and impact others profoundly. While humans can tame wild animals, the tongue proves uniquely challenging to control, as it flows directly from our hearts. The solution isn't merely trying harder to control our speech, but walking closer to Jesus and allowing Him to transform our hearts. When our hearts are pure, our words naturally become pure.
Discover the transformative power of words and their impact on faith and daily life. Learn practical strategies for mastering speech control across all communication channels - from verbal conversations to social media posts. Explore powerful biblical metaphors about speech control and understand why words matter so much in our spiritual journey. This essential teaching reveals how controlling our words leads to mastering other life aspects. Topics include digital communication responsibility, speech accountability, relationship improvement through better communication, and practical steps for controlling words. Perfect for anyone seeking to improve their communication skills, strengthen their faith, and build better relationships.
The relationship between faith and works in Christianity reveals that while salvation comes through faith alone, genuine faith naturally produces good works. Like wind that cannot be seen but whose effects are visible, true faith manifests through observable changes in behavior and character. Biblical examples like Abraham and Rahab demonstrate how authentic faith leads to transformative actions. This dynamic relationship shows that while works don't save us, they serve as evidence of genuine salvation.
Understanding true saving faith and its relationship to works. Discover the three essential elements of genuine faith: confident assurance, biblical foundation, and visible transformation. Learn why faith alone saves while still producing good works as evidence. Explore the difference between mere intellectual belief and life-changing trust in Jesus Christ.
Discover the hidden impact of favoritism in Christian communities and learn practical steps to overcome this subtle yet significant challenge. Explore biblical teachings on God's impartial nature and how it should shape our interactions with others. This message delves into real-world examples of favoritism in modern churches, from preferential treatment of wealthy donors to social biases based on appearance. Learn how to identify signs of favoritism in your own life and practical steps to create a more welcoming, inclusive Christian community.
Discover the powerful difference between hearing and doing God's Word in your spiritual journey. Learn how to move from being a passive listener to an active participant in your faith walk. Understand the three key areas of transformation: conversations, concern for others, and personal conduct. This message explores the mirror analogy from James, spiritual growth, biblical application, Christian living, faith in action, spiritual transformation, practical Christianity, discipleship, biblical obedience, and spiritual maturity. Perfect for those seeking to deepen their faith journey and looking for practical ways to apply Scripture in daily life. Gain insights into overcoming spiritual stagnation and experiencing true biblical transformation.
Understanding how to properly approach God's Word is essential for daily Christian living. Four key principles guide this approach: being quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, and ready to receive. These principles involve maintaining eagerness for Scripture, avoiding personal interpretation bias, accepting correction gracefully, and preparing our hearts with humility. By implementing these approaches, along with dedicated Bible study time and prayer, believers can better navigate life's daily challenges through God's Word.
Understanding temptation from a biblical perspective with insights from the Book of James. Discover the true nature of temptation, its origins in our own desires, and practical strategies for overcoming it. Learn about the deceptive patterns of blame-shifting, the serious consequences of yielding to temptation, and how to find victory through God's provision. Topics include spiritual warfare, biblical wisdom, Christian living, overcoming sin, spiritual growth, faith development, biblical teaching, Christian discipleship, spiritual maturity, and practical Christianity. Gain valuable insights into the difference between trials and temptations, understanding spiritual death, maintaining strong faith, and finding freedom from destructive patterns. Perfect for believers seeking to deepen their faith and develop stronger spiritual disciplines.
James continues to tell us about the importance of thinking forward when trials come. No matter if you are rich or poor, trials will come.
Today we look at James 1:2-4...Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. What does this even mean?
Today we tackle the first verse of James 1, the greeting. We learn so much about who James is in this short introduction.
We look at Psalm 98 which is the inspiration for the Christmas song, Joy to the World.
Today we look at the song Joy to the World and we learn that this is not your typical Christmas song.
Today we look at three of the feasts more in depth and notice three attributes about each one: Gratitude, Generosity, and Gathering. What does it mean for us today?
We look at the 6 feasts from the Old Testament. Each one has a historical, messianic, and personal significance.
In the Bible, all Jewish men were required to gather three times a year to celebrate certain feasts. In this series we will learn what these feasts were all about, why they were important and what we can learn from them as we celebrate our Holiday Season today.
The Bible refers to the church as the Flock. So what does that really mean?
In 1 Corinthians 12-27, God uses the word body 18 times to describe His church.
Jesus talks about the church and relates it to a temple. That he is the cornerstone and we are all living stones.
Our current message series is called WE ARE THE CHURCH as we look at the many different usages of imagery used in the New Testament to describe the church - a bride, a temple, a body, a family and a flock. Through these pictures we see the beauty and significance of the church and why it is that the local church is the hope of the world.
Paul is dealing with false teachers acknowledging that they use godliness as a means to attaining financial gain. When all we need is to honor God with what he has given to us.
What is the secret to contentment. We find out in Philippians 4 with one of the most quoted verses: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (4:13).
Today we look at 3 more aspects of worship from Revelation 5. We see that worship is prayerful, musical, and emotional.
We see 4 more characteristics of what worship will be like in Heaven. It's physical, sacrificial, vocal and intellectual.
Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty. We was and is and is to come. It's time to worship like it's heaven.
God talks to Job and we quickly find out that we are not in charge
God finally responds to Job...but it's not what you think
God uses our suffering to help us and even benefit us.
Though Job is struggling and his friends fail him, he continues to keep his faith in the Lord.
As we look at Job we see that life is not always fair.
Why do you worry? Why do you weep? These are the questions we look at today.
Jesus says Do not judge. But asks the question, why do you call Me, Lord, and not obey me? We look at what this means.
Jesus asks us three questions... Who do people say I am? Who do you say I am? and finally Do you believe this? We must ask ourselves the same questions.
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