Relational Grace Podcast

Send us a textFocusing on the first chapter of the book of Acts. The church, the body of Christ was transferred from his physical body and the church was transferred to us and we become the church. In this teaching we will discuss the betrayal of Judas. Many of us have our own theory of Judas, maybe when we were younger we formed this opinion based on a lot of the artistic renderings of him with the scowl and so forth.However, maybe Judas was the politician of the group, pretty savvy, pretty smart. Probably better educated than the rest of the group. After all, he was in charge of the money for the group. He was a fairly popular and charismatic member of the group.There are several theories of why Judas did this.  As we grew up we basically thought he was just the bad apple of the bunch but at the same time we have probably realized he did not do anything worse than things we have done in our lives. Did Judas see all this coming and turn states evidence? Did he see all this coming and jump to the other side real quick and maybe they would take it easier on him.  Did he do it for the money? Probably not, 30 pieces of silver wouldn't have gone very far, I am sure he had access to the whole treasury and that had a 100x more in it.Did he feel like he had a hatred for Jesus and Jesus could read his mind and he was somehow an evil person? We like to point our finger at the other guy and say at least I dont do that.. But the thumb is pointing back to us as a reminder.Maybe the betrayal of Jesus was done because it was Judas' own way of bringing this whole thing to a head.  He honestly thought Jesus was the Messiah and he was going to an earthly ruler and he was going to help make it happen.  He was going to jump ahead of God and instead of getting involved in what God was doing, he was going to ask God to get involved in what he was doing.  He was going to go out first and get his blessing later.  This is our best guess as to what happened.Don't  you think that at the last supper when Jesus says, go ahead and do what you must do Judas took that as confirmation that he knew what he needed to do. The fact is that he did indeed betray Jesus and he immediately felt a horrible sorrow when Jesus did not become the earthly king and therefore he hung himself.  But now that leave 11, not 12 and they had to find a suitable replacement.  We know him to be Mathias.Support the show

Send us a textIf the religious leaders of the church thought they had an issue with Jesus when he was alive, well boy they have a bigger issue now! It's kind of like one of those sci-fi movies when you chop the little monster in half and it basically multiplies and creates two more little monsters. That is exactly what is happening.  All of the sudden, Jesus is no longer here physically, but he has multiplied in the believers.Now there are 300, 600, 1000, 2000, 10000 and this thing is completely out of control.  And that is what the book of Acts explains, it explains how this all happened.  It was not by chance or circumstance it was absolutely planned.  This is what Jesus referred to when Jesus said to the disciples that it was necessary that I go, but you will not be alone. You are going to have me with you, in a slightly different form.This is another personal sermon. Jesus was not just talking to the disciples, he was talking to us.  The reality of Christ living in us is exactly what Pastor Harris's teachings are all about. He always teaches relationship, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and how it manifests itself.  In this teaching Pastor Harris will teach on the events that happen on the Mount of Olives as Christ left after 40 days.  We call it the ascension, because that is exactly what he did, if you recall as soon as he ascended the disciples and believers are standing around and looking up and suddenly there are two more of them.  These two guys are all dressed in white and they are obviously angelic beings of some kind and they are saying men of Galilee, why are you looking up into heaven, the same Jesus you just saw go up will come again in the same manner.  That is obviously our hope and we know that to be true.Support the show

Send us a textAt Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the week preceding that we typically focus on the events leading up to the cross. That was the culmination of the perfect life of Jesus which was sacrificed for all of us. Now in this series we will focus on the other side of the story.  If you can imagine, just for a moment, it is AD 31, 32, maybe and we are believers, maybe we are one of the 11 disciples that remain, perhaps we are one of the several hundred believers, or maybe we are one of the several thousand people that actually saw Jesus when he was living and he performed a miracle in front of our face and we believed he was something special, maybe we didn't know quite what it was but we experienced it.  We are in Galilee and we hear that he's dead.  There is no instant communication, so maybe it's been a week or two. Maybe it's a rumor, we just aren't quite sure, we are devastated and we don't know what to think.The disciples were in disarray, we know they were at least until resurrection day.  The several hundred believers were probably despondent at the news. It seemed like to us, to the believers, that the vail that had fallen as Christ was dying was still there. The sun was up but the vale was still there. We didn't know what we were going to do.Suddenly the Church emerges.  In this series, we are going to study how this happened. Our reference will be the first chapter in Acts which many of us are familiar with. However, as Pastor Harris always does, he will give us the details and insights that will make it come alive.We know that Acts was written by Luke.  Luke, as Pastor Harris will point out, Luke wrote more of the New Testament than any other person.  We think of Paul as the primary author of the New Testament but Luke was very instrumental in the writing of our gospel. Luke was not one of our 12 disciples, sometimes you will ask people, “who are the 12 disciples?” and they will throw Luke in there, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and you know… but nope, he was not a disciple.  Luke was from the area above what is now known as Greece called Macedonia. He encountered Paul on one of his missionary journeys and became a believer through Paul and apparently Luke and Paul became very close.  From there Luke will take on the role of early church historian. By profession Luke was a physician, he was a learned man far more educated than most of the disciples.  Maybe not as educated as Paul, but close. So here you have these two deep thinkers together and they begin to share with us the history of the church.  We invite you to follow along as Pastor Harris tells us the details of the birth of our faith in this series titled, “The Birth of the Church”.  So let's kick it off  with the first teaching in this series titled, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit”.Support the show

Send us a textIt is truly hard to believe that we are approaching the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. As many of you are well aware at this point, Pastor Harris, was the pastor of First United Methodist Church, which is situated directly east of the OKC bombing site.  Pastor Harris was at the church that day, and we have shared his story both in audio podcast as well as video on our YouTube channel.  However, in this episode we will hear from Kris Skinner, a cherished family friend and a former employee of First Church that was there meeting with Pastor Harris at the moment the bomb went off on that day that for many has been frozen in time.As a reminder, we have published several OKC Bombing related episodes over the life of this podcast. Four that I will mention specifically. There is episode 50 which features the sermon Pastor Harris delivered April 16th 1995, just three days before the bombing, this would be the last sermon that would be delivered in that 100 year old sanctuary. In episode 51 we hear from Pastor Harris as he tells his story of the day of the bombing. In episode 52 we feature an interview we had with OKC Bombing Survivor, Arlene Blanchard who was in the Murrah Building when the bomb went off. Arlene had attended “Loves & Fishes”, a lunch Bible Study that First Church facilitated and Pastor Harris taught for many years. In this discussion with Arlene, she reveals one word that Pastor Harris taught on that gave her the strength to persevere. And finally, in episode #100 we feature the story of a surprise concert that Rich Mullins himself gifted the people of First United Methodist Church.Support the show

Send us a textIn the first three episodes of this series, Pastor Harris touched on one key topic in each teaching. In episode one, “The Performance Snare”, Pastor Harris discussed the topic of Justification and that we are completely forgiven and have become fully pleasing to God.  We no longer have to fear failure.  In the second episode, “Approval Addiction”, Pastor Harris touched on the topic of Reconciliation and that we are totally accepted by God and we no longer have to fear rejection. In the third episode, “The Blame Game”, Pastor Harris delivered a message of Propitiation and that we know we are deeply loved by God and no longer have to fear punishment nor do we have to punish others.Jericho was in the Roman province of Judea, the very wealthy lived here including King Herrod and he stayed there five months out of the year so it had to be pretty nice. In and around Jericho there were other palaces as well. The reason it was so popular had to do with the weather and its geographical location. It's situated some 833 feet below sea level in what is now known as the Jordan River Valley. It's the site of the world's largest oasis supported by the world's largest natural spring. In addition, its climate is ideal, it is virtually summer time all year round. Date palms can be found everywhere and citrus fruits of all varieties abound. The fences and the trellises are covered by flowers. The city was and is a tropical paradise. This is true even today, and was also true in the time of Jesus.  Even the great Egyptian Queen Cleopatra vacationed there in the winter. However, not only was Jericho very beautiful, it was also very prosperous. Some of this had to do with the tourism the city had attracted. Yet that was only a small part of it.  The vast majority of its wealth had to do with a great highway that passed through the city. The great trading caravans of antiquity made their journey there from India and Arabia. Crossing into the lands of Judea at the forge of the Jordan River located three miles east of Jericho.  Here in this city, the great caravans would stop and resupply and remit their border tolls making it the tax center of Judea. The tax collectors and publicans of Jericho were very wealthy but paid a huge price for their wealth.. They were hated by everyone in their country and they should have been hated.  For the most part they were all dishonest and crooked, it is not hard to imagine that these tax collectors had a real image problem.  Many of them wanted to change but they had believed the fourth great lie that Pastor Harris will talk about in this episode, and that is this, “I am what I am and I cannot change.”Support the show

Send us a textIn the first two episodes of this series, Pastor Harris touched on one key topic in each teaching. In episode one, “The Performance Snare”, Pastor Harris discussed the topic of Justification and that we are completely forgiven and have become fully pleasing to God.  We no longer have to fear failure.  In the second episode, “Approval Addiction”, Pastor Harris touched on the topic of Reconciliation and that we are totally accepted by God and we no longer have to fear rejection.In this episode Pastor Harris will walk us through the third or four lies that Satan tells us. This third lie can even be seen as a game we play.  Pastor Harris refers to this as “The Blame Game”. When playing this Blame Game we may tell ourselves lies like this, “I am not responsible for what I do, someone else is.”  Has anyone out there listening ever played this game?  Hopefully Pastor Harris's insights can shed some light on this game we play and how we might win, lose or simply choose not to play as we all work to move forward.Now before we kick off this teaching, I wanted to give those listening a heads up that about 12 minutes into this original recording, something altered the recording speeds which in-turn altered Pastor Harris' voice a touch.  Fear not, it's not your device, the issue has to do with the original recording from 10 years ago. It's a small issue but we can't let these small issues get in the way of publishing these important teachings.Support the show

Send us a textLast week Pastor Harris started a series of sermons in which he will examine four of the major lies that Satan uses to destroy the lives of far too many people.  We looked at the first of these lies in the last episode which is this, “I must meet certain standards of behavior so I can feel good about myself.”  In this episode, Pastor Harris will deal with the next lie which is this, “I must be approved by certain others to feel good about myself.”  This leads to a condition Pastor Harris refers to as Approval Addiction.  This condition is totally linked to the fear of rejection that is one of our deepest human fears. We do not want to feel rejected.  We seek approval from others and we do this because we are biologically wired with a longing to belong.  We fear being cut off, demeaned or isolated. In other words we fear being alone and above all else we dread change.  The greater this fear becomes the more we experience a need for acceptance and it really can become an addiction. Our problem relates to the fact that we often seek approval from the wrong source. Those sources are often those around us, they can often ignore or reject us. So rather than turn to them, we should really be turning to someone who can love us unconditionally and that someone, as we all know, is our God.  Right now because of the condition of sin, a state in which we are born, we find ourselves alienated from God, the only one who really counts in our lives.  And that is why we have such an oppressive fear of not belonging. That problem is sin, we begin to overcome these fears when we realize that we need God more than we need other people. When we call upon him he will never reject us and he will never forsake us.  In theological terms we call this process reconciliation.  And that will be Pastor Harris's remedy to Approval Addition that he will be teaching today.Support the show

Send us a textTo say 2025 hasn't kick off how I had hoped would be an understatement. No, I am not talking about politics or anything like that, who knows, maybe it is the tribulation Pastor Harris mentions in this teaching that is needed, time will tell. But spoiler alert… here shortly you will here Pastor Harris mention how tribulation produces perseverance, and perseverance produces character, and amazingly enough, character produces hope. All the sudden, I am starting to think that maybe a little tribulation is just what I needed to kick off 2025.  Who is going to turn down a little hope?  Better yet, a lot of hope!  Not this guy. I feel like I say it all the time in these intros, I continue to be fascinated how these teachings remain so relevant. Once again, Pastor Harris's teaching in this episode really hit me right where and when it needed to.  As dad used to say, “He read my mail.”  Well my mail really got read here.  I sure hope this teaching hits those of you listening right when it needs to just like it did me, and it is my family's prayer that it continues to do so for years to come!I am excited about this brief little series.  Although little and brief, I know it's going to pack quite a punch.  I believe it can be life changing for those that need it. In this episode we kick off a four part series where in each teaching Pastor Harris will share one of four lies that Satan sews in our lives. I can relate to all of these and I am sure many of you will as well.Support the show

Send us a textIn II Corinth 2:14 there is a verse that speaks directly to our Pastor's present series of sermons. It reads as follows:“Thanks be to God who in Christ always leads us in triumph and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere.”These words sum up what the Christian life is all about. The apostle Paul wrote these words, after a terrible experience in which he had been abused so badly that he feared for his life. Yet, out of that, he writes that victory is the normal condition in the lives of believers.In this series of sermons, our Pastor has attempted to show us that true Christians will experience trouble from time to time but God's will for us is this: that we walk in victory. And that is the great truth the book of Esther shares with us.It is the marvelous story of how God delivers His people. We have seen how Haman plotted the destruction of the people of God by convincing Ahasuerus, the Emperor of Persia, to issue an edict to annihilate all Jews in the Empire. We have seen how Mordecai moved to prevent this by convincing Esther to inform Ahasuerus of what was happening. When this plot was exposed, the Emperor hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then, last episode we saw a new edict being issued, one that permitted the Jews to defend themselves when the enemy came against them. As our Pastor demonstrated, this provides a beautiful picture of Romans 7 in the New Testament, known as the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which sets us free from the law of sin and death.Support the show

Send us a textAs we saw last Sunday, the cry of Esther as she appeared before the Emperor for the second time was similar to the cry of the apostle Paul in Romans 7. "Oh, wretched man that I am…” She cried, “Oh wretched woman that I am.” Then she added something like this: “Who will deliver me and my people from this law of sin and death that has been uttered in the Emperor's name and cannot be revoked?"But the king was helpless! He could only reply to her request by saying, "I can do nothing. The matter is in your hands and Mordecai's. What has been written by the king's hand and sealed by the king's seal cannot be revoked." We saw something similar last week in Galatians 6:8. It reads as follows:"He that sows to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption…"  This is an inevitable and irrevocable law. We saw that there is no way to escape the results of decisions made under the rule of self. They bear unavoidable consequences. Paul writes this in Galatians 6:7:"Be not deceived, God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth he shall also reap. If you sow to the flesh, you shall of the flesh reap corruption.” We all know the tragic harvest of it in terms of habits that cannot be broken and circumstances that cannot be avoided. So, what can be done? Our Pastor will provide the answer in today's sermon. It requires a new law one that supersedes the old law.Support the show

Send us a textWe have traced the events which have led up to a climactic point for Emperor Ahasuerus, Queen Esther, Mordecai, and Haman to the point where the Emperor's eyes had at last been opened. He could now clearly see the true nature of Haman, and the deception which he sought to perpetrate. The king knew that his enemy was the person he once thought to be his closest friend. Of course, Ahasuerus struggled mightily with what he should do, but he eventually decided to treat Haman exactly as he deserved to be treated. He decided to hang Haman upon the very stake that Haman had erected for Mordecai earlier.Recognizing the true nature of Haman was the first step of the Emperor in freeing his Empire from the very thing that threatened its ultimate destruction. As Pastor will point out this morning, this has always been the first step in achieving victory our Haman; our fleshly natures. It begins at the moment we stop justifying and excusing our faults and failures; the moment we stop shutting my eyes to these faults and failures; the moment we stop passing our faults and failures off as being something else, and resolve to hang them on the tree where God put all of our sins, past, present, and future when Jesus Christ died. That is the beginning of living in victory in all our lives. This will be our Pastor's theme for today. We will examine Esther 8, where we will trace the steps that follow any decision we make to crucify our flesh. The sermon will open by reviewing the transfer of power when Haman was crucified, and the new authority structure that would be put in place.Support the show

Send us a textWe humans frequently manifest a strange urge for timelessness; we possess an instinctive need to be remembered after we are gone. The idea that we will be forgotten is a pain we can hardly sustain. Yet, in all of human history there has been only one truly timeless, eternal event; it was the cross of Jesus Christ. The cross of Jesus Christ marks the hinge moment in human history and it passes judgment on every human life.This event not only occurred in time and space some nineteen hundred years ago, but it is something which also takes place every day in each and every Christian's life. In fact, it must take place on a daily basis in every Christian's life, perhaps many times a day. This timeless event becomes part of our experience when we reenact it in our own lives. This is why the cross of Jesus Christ, with all its possibilities of salvation and deliverance, can be an utterly useless thing if it finds no translation into our own personal experiences. When we believe and act (that is what belief is, acting on the principles set forth in that cross), then it comes to be true in our life experiences. This is what we have in Esther 7. This material provides a picture of the only way Christians can find real victory over the subtle, crafty, self-loving, self-pleasing, self-pitying, self-defending, self-asserting urges that arise within us.This daily manifestation is what is portrayed for us in this seventh chapter of Esther, as our Pastor continues his present series. The sermon is entitled Haman's Last Supper.Support the show

Send us a textThe book of Esther is known as one of two books in the Bible that does not contain the name of God. It seems strange that a biblical book should never mention God; so what is the book about? Well as we have seen, it is really a story of palace intrigue in the ancient empire of Persia, an historical incident taken out of the very distant past.  But we should not look for direct teaching from this book, but indirect teaching. The fact is this: the material in this book is true, yet allegorical in nature. God is everywhere in this book, but not directly. In other words, the book is parabolic, an allegory about your life and mine. In each of our lives the story of Esther is being acted out. This is what makes it so fascinating, so interesting.As our Pastor has attempted to demonstrate, this story is the revelation of the terrible possibility of our being Christians and yet wasting our lives. It is the story of an empire which was almost wrecked by pride without realizing the true cause. It is the story of the danger implicit in intending to do right, and of desiring to do right, and of believing we are doing right, but ending up realizing that we have been terribly and tragically wrong. As Pastor continues this series of sermons, he will help us recognize the various characters depicted in Esther in our own lives.Support the show

Send us a textThe story of Esther is a story of the Emperor of ancient Persia, who married a beautiful Jewish girl named Esther who had been raised by her cousin, Mordecai. The latter two persons were captives, taken from the city of Jerusalem and brought over into the kingdom of Persia.In the court of this Emperor was a very slimy character named Haman who became the Prime Minister of the kingdom. As time passed, antagonism had developed between Haman and Mordecai. Haman, wanting to rid the empire of Mordecai, created a fiendish plan to destroy all the Jews in the kingdom. What he did not know was this: Esther, the queen, was a Jewess. Mordecai became aware of the plot and prevailed upon Queen Esther to brave the disfavor of the king by going to him without invitation, to plead the cause of her people.The whole story becomes of fascinating interest and meaning to us when we discover that this is not merely a story of the ancient past, but is also a divinely inspired, magnificently accurate portrayal of what is going on in each of our lives at this very moment. Each of us is a king over a kingdom; the kingdom is each of our lives. The spirit persons of each of us who have been born again have been made alive in Jesus Christ. This is the queen that has come into your life. Mordecai, in this story, is a figure of the Holy Spirit moving to preserve the fruit of the Spirit in our kingdom. And slyly at work in us is Haman -- that which the Bible calls the flesh, the SARX, tricking us into believing that the only way we will ever get what we want is by choosing our own way and ignoring the life of Jesus Christ within us. This will be our Pastor's sermon for today.Support the show

Send us a textAt his current place in the=is series of sermons from the story of Esther, our pastor has now introduced to us an Emperor called Ahasuerus. He was the grandfather of Cyrus the Great. This Emperor had married a young Jewish girl named Esther, a captive taken from the city of Jerusalem, years earlier. Her cousin Mordechai later became a judge in the city of Susa the capital city of the Persian Empire.In the court of the king was an oily character whose name was Haman who managed to pull the wool over the King's eyes and deceived him into signing a decree to destroy all the Jews in his kingdom. The Jewish people are called “the people of Mordechai.”We should be aware that the book of Esther is true history. It can be confirmed by the Jewish celebration called “the Feast of Purim, named for the casting of the PUR, which our Pastor described last week. It was cast before Haman to fix the day upon which the Jews would be exterminated. This feast is still celebrated today some twenty-five hundred years after these events.However, the startling thing we learn is this: the events in Esther also a glimpse into our own hearts. Each of us has a king dwelling in the capital city, the capital city being our bodies, and reigning over an Empire which touches everyone we know. If we are a believing Christians, at the moment we were born again we gained a queen---a spirit made alive in Jesus Christ to serve as a place of communion between the Holy Spirit who dwells in your hearts, and ourselves.As pastor will demonstrate this morning, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is symbolized in the story in the person of Mordechai.Support the show

Send us a textIn this series of sermons, our Pastor has introduced us to four characters that play a role in the book of Esther. The first was Emperor Ahasuerus of Persia. He was a young man of about eighteen years of age when the events recorded in the book of Esther begin.The second was the Queen of Persia, a woman named Vashti. The Emperor deposed her and for the next three years he lived without a queen. But, when the Emperor was twenty-one, he married our third character, a young Jewess by the name of Esther. The fourth character, the one we introduce today, her cousin, Mordecai, was a judge in the city of Susa, the capital of Persia. In the course of his duties, Mordecai uncovered a plot against the king's life. The culprit is the fifth character in our drama, a villain named Haman. He represents our spiritual enemy Satan, as we shall see. This is more than a story from the long forgotten past! It is the story of each of our lives. The Emperor represents each one of us. Like him, each of us have great influence in the empires we rule, our lives. We are the emperors of our kingdoms, which means we, too, have found a new queen. This happened when our spirit person was made alive in Jesus Christ.We now have the influence of the Holy Spirit, the heavenly Mordecai, working in us. But today, Pastor will point to the fact that like Haman, our spiritual enemy, Satan, has launched a plot against each of our lives. You will see today how the story of Esther retraces our spiritual journeys.Support the Show.

Send us a Text Message.Last week, our Pastor began a new series of sermons taken from the book of Esther. In his introductory sermon, he introduced us to three persons, the first being the emperor of Persia, AHASUERUS. Our Pastor suggested that this man represents each one of us. He also introduced two women, a pair of queens, named VASHTI and Esther. Pastor suggested that VASHTI represents our spirit person when it is dormant; dead in trespass and in sin. AHASUERUS and VASHTI had no relationship; they were dead to one another.This lack of relationship left the Emperor empty and alone. But the day would come when he would meet a Jewish girl named Esther. Last week, Pastor also suggested that Esther represented our regenerated spirit persons. The meaning of this will be seen in the sermon for this morning as he introduces us to this young Jewish girl.Pastor will also introduce us to a fourth person. He, too, will have a crucial role to play. His name is Mordechai and he is the cousin of Esther. He is described as being the son of Jair, of the Hebrew tribe of Benjamin. Finis Dake, in his famous Dake's Study Bible, interprets Esther 2:5–6 as follows:"Mordecai son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, who had been carried into exile from Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, among those taken captive with Jeconiah king of Judah.” This means that Mordecai himself was exiled by Nebuchadnezzar meaning that he was quite aged. We do know this; according to Esther 2:7, he adopted the young girl Esther when she was orphaned at a young age, and brought up as if she were his own daughter. It is on this young girl, Esther, and this elderly man, Mordechai, that Pastor will focus on in this message.Support the Show.

Send us a Text Message.We are beginning the book of Esther, which may be the most neglected book in the entire Bible. You see, very few people have ever attempted a sermon series on it or even a few single sermons from this book because the truth is very few people even read this book as  devotional material.Perhaps this is because this book is different than anything found in the New Testament. In fact, it's much different from what is found in the remainder of the Old Testament. That's why people tend to be a bit mystified by it. Then there's the fact that it's about a woman, which is very rare in biblical record. The truth is that there are only three books in the entire Bible about women and all of them are similar to Esther. The other two books are of course Ruth and the Song of Solomon. All three books are indeed delightful, but each of them are a little difficult to understand, which is why our pastor will delve beneath the surface of Esther and discover what is hidden there for us. In the way of introduction this much can be said for the book of Esther. It is a story of two angles: one of human love and the other of palace intrigue. As this series begins our pastor hopes we will all be fascinated until we finally arrive at the conclusion of this awesome story, but nevertheless, in the end, we will probably wonder why this book is even included in the Bible.It does not mention the name of God, not once. There is no reference to worship or faith. There is no prophecy concerning Christ. There is no mention of heaven or hell. But, beneath the surface is in fact, some life changing input. And yet, it is an amazing revelation of how God works through natural means to achieve his purposes. Our pastor will begin this new series with a rather secular title.Support the Show.

In the last episode we were in 2 Samuel 20, now we are in 2 Samuel 21 and something interesting happens.  We get a rather large time flashback. In fact the events we discuss in this episode may have occurred more than 30 years before chapter 20.  There are many reasons why this may have happened and why the ancient historians wrote it this way. One might be that we have had quite enough of David and all of his weaknesses. Another reason may be that given all of Davids' different flaws, it now could be time to see a few things that he got right, and why he is referred to as a man after God's own heart.David was a compassionate man, he was a loving man, and in this teaching we will see that in his handling of a certain ethnic group associated with the Nation of israel. We must be aware that although certain old testament events do not specifically apply to all aspects of Chirstian life, not matter what community we are in or wherever we are we must always be kind and compassionate to all those who are in need. We see that in David's handling of this situation discussed in this teaching of this specific ethnic group that he comes in contact with. As a king, even against his own personal prejudices, David had to ensure full justice to all of his subjects.  Above all, promises made to minorities had to be kept, especially when those promises concerned the rights of some of those that we might call second class citizens, even if some first class citizens had to suffer for it.Support the Show.

At the end of the last episode we saw that the war was over and Absolom was dead. Remember that before the battle, David was willing and wanting to risk his life and lead his troops into battle. He wanted to do this for two reasons, first off, it was what kings did, lead their troops into battle.  And secondly, he hoped that if he could enter the battle it would help save his son Absolom's life.  David's warriors though, especially his commander in chief Joab thought differently. Joab was convinced that David must stay alive for his kingdom to continue.  If he entered the battle and a stray arrow accidentally pierced him he would be dead and Absolom's forces would most assuradly take over and they would crown Absolom as king.  Joab knew that David's life was essential to the cause to keeping his kingdom alive so he knew he could not enter the battle he had to say out but Joab also believed that it was crucial that Absolom be killed. There could not be two kings of Isreal, the rebellion had gone too deep.  Absolum must die and David must be kept safe. Politically it was too late for reconciliation between father and son, Absolom had to die. The truth is this. During this entire affair wtih David he had not acted as a King, he acted as a doating father. This is kind of ridiculous when you look at his reactions.  He did not treat Absolom's rebellion as a rebellion at all.  He treated it like a small minor domestic affair that could be settled with a nice group hug between the patries involved.  He failed to see Absolom's as a traitor, a rebel who has caused tons of a pain, hurt and suffering to David, his family and the entire nation at large. And that is to say nothing for the 20 thousand men who had just died in a fierce battle in the Woods of Effram. The death of Absolom was good news to the Nation of Isreal, it was good news for David the King, but it was the worst kind of news for David the Father.  We remember David's statement from last episode where he said, “Would I had died instead of you Absolom my son, my son.” These were the words of a bereaved and tormented father. The loss of another son, his third son, deeply hurt David and gave him intense sorrow.  Yet he was the king, he could not forget his duty, his responsibility to his people, there had been a huge loss, a huge battle, a rebellion, an insurrection in his own kingdom. It was time for reconciliation, it was time to bring the kingdom back together, it was time to be king, to step up and be the king that all his valiant warriors who had just died had fought for, to be that king.  Much had to be done and a lot of bitterness had to be taken care of.Joab, who had personally killed Absolom, was frustrated with the way David was acting, he did not like it, and in fact he calls out David to his face.  This will be the topic of Pastor Harris's message. Support the Show.

David as we find him this episode is nearing the Jordan River, nearing the east of Jerricho. Absalom, his son, has taken Jerusalem and has begun to occupy the famed cedar palace.  Phase one of Absalom's grand scheme is complete and he is about to enact phase two.  He turns to his advisors, one is David's former chief advisor Ahitophel.  He tells Absalom the plan, David is not going to cross the Jordan at night, he is going to be too weary and wont want to do it at dark.  Let me take 12,000 men and go all night.  We'll reach them tomorrow morning and he will be weakened and he will take them all down.  You cut the head off the snake and the whole snake dies.  We will take down David and the whole movement and rebellion against Absalom's rule will be over. Ahitophel knew this was the way to go, he knew how resilient David could be, he knew that if you let David live on there could be serious problems for Absalom's newest regime.  However, Absalom admired another leader, so he turned to him to seek his advice as well. He advised Absalom to stay back, be patient and wait.  He was doing this because he was a mole, a spy. He knew the best thing on David's side was time, so he encouraged Ahitophel as such. He succeeded and Absalom decided to side with the other advisor.  Ahitophel, seeing the Absalom siding with this new advice, he knew that he had made a terrible mistake. He knew the time to act was now, he thought Absalom was a man of action. He thought that Absoalom was a man of plan and he knew what he was about and knew what he was doing and was ready to take the kingdom. Clearly Ahitophel, the political superior, saw that Absalom had misstepped in not going and taking David and killing him.  He knew that his cause was doomed and that he had sided with the wrong side.  So he returned to Hebron and hanged himself.With the extra time that David now had, he used it very well.  He began to rally and train his army while Absalom was staying back.  He would rally the troops, and get them ready to go and ready to fight until he would fight Absalom's army in open combat.Support the Show.

Last episode Pastor Harris taught about Absalom, the son of David and his planned assault on the city of Jerusalem. He planned to surround the city, take it, and kill his father David and ascend to the throne of Jerusalem. David had two options therefore, he could stay and let Absalom's army lay siege and try and fight them off and this would most likely meet the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, David's beloved city, or he could flee and go to a place that Absalom might have difficulty trying to reach him. It broke David's heart, but with limited choices, David chose the second option, which we learned in the last episode. Fleeing his beloved city, and betrayed by members of his family, including one of his best friends his best counselor, and it broke David's heart and was a very humbling moment in his life. But at this moment, God chose to act and he sent a gentile, who was a friend and swore fealty.  He swore to go with David till death, he told David that he believed in him and he was his friend. That kind of love and friendship at David's worst time strengthen him on his journey ahead and he began to have hope. With that David left the city and climbed the Mount of Olives to his ultimate destination. Somewhere along his ascent David looked back at the city and he wept. About this time he was approached by Ziba servant of Saul, who brought him donkey's laden with supplies for his journey. With this David made his way across the Jordan River valley. We saw here that all the things that David had been through had began to soften his heart and gave him a new level of tenderness and gentleness and love for the Lord and from these we see some of David's most Amazing Psalms, and one of these was glorious 63rd Psalm. That is where we finished in the last episode and this week a test is coming. Somewhere on the far side of the Mount of Olives a man came running toward David. His name was Shimie and he would test David to the core, and that is what Pastor Harris will talk about in this episode.Support the Show.

Welcome to the Relational Grace Podcast where we share the teachings of Pastor Nick Harris who taught us that Christianity is not a religion; it's a relationship. I'm your host Jamie Russell, Pastor Harris's son.Last episode Pastor Harris talked about Absalom, Son of David, as he made his plans for a coup d'etat against his very own father.  He left Jerusalem making his home in Hebron, which was the first capital city of David. Apparently David found nothing curious about this, he had no suspicion as to Absalom's move.  He was totally unaware when the coup erupted. This seems really odd, as it takes a great deal of time organizing a revolt, in fact, Absolom may have spent as much as four years time planning it and yet David had not the smallest inkling of an idea that he was planning it. Absalom was extremely shrewd in his dealing with the revolt. Somehow Absalom had begun to win all the hearts of the people of Israel. He had somehow made them think that a man who had just taken revenge on his brother and had killed him was a man devoted to justice. He seemed to convince people that words were more profitable than actions.  He was even able to lure 200 of Jerusalem's best citizens to Hebron to join him. Therefore cunning and deceit seemed to be some of his best qualities. He used them many times in his dealings leading up to the revolt and during the revolt.  He used them to induce the majority of the men of Israel to turn against his very own father, their great King David.  Even David's own tribe of Judah was ready to abandon David and follow Absalom.  This man was capable of much.  For this reason and many others, he proves though that he was not fit to be king of God's chosen Nation.  But his father does not come out of the story looking that great either.  In fact, he gets had by his own son who was able to pull the rug right out from under him without even seeing it.  He didn't smell the revolt for the four long years that his son was in Hebron. So David does not look that great either, in fact he looks quite complacent. For this reason it looks like he was out of touch; it left room for Absolom to come in and steal their hearts. A big lesson learned here is this: It  is essential for good leaders to remain in touch with the people of their nation. All this said, neither David nor his son were the most ideal leaders.  But at least David was a man after God's own heart and he showed this when Jerusalem was about to be laid under siege he fled and protected it.  And Absalom, as Pastor Harris will demonstrate, cared nothing for people, he did not care how many people died as long as he remained in power.So let's jump into the seventeenth episode of The Saga of David series, titled, “David's Sons Revolt”.Support the show

Remember back to the last episode, David was confronted by Nathan about his sin with Bathsheba and Nathan had some stunning words to say on God‘s behalf to David. We can only think that these works played on David's mind again and again. David and Bathseba had eaten bread in secret, but Nathan on behalf of God knew the truth and he had these things to say to David, he said, “I anointed you King over Israel and delivered you from the hand of Saul. I gave you your master's house and your master's wives into your keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah and if that had been too little, I would've given you much more, why have you despised the commandments of the Lord to do evil in his sight.  You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you have taken his wife to be your wife and you have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and taken the wife of the Hittite to be your wife. Behold, I will raise adversity against you from your own house, and I will take your wives before you eyes and give them to your neighbor and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of his son.  For you did it secretly but I will do this thing before all of Israel and before the son.However, there were many years and this prophecy did not come to pass, in fact David ruled righteously and successfully and his kingdom grew and became quite strong.  However, this did not shield David from what was coming. He would face the greatest challenge of his entire life in the fulfillment of this coming prophecy because it would come from someone inside his own family.  It would feature lust, it would feature incestuous relationships, it would feature a vengeance killing and I coupe de ta. In addition to all this David would lose his closest friend and advisor.The lesson to be learned is this. Bread eaten in secret can be sweet, sin may bring pleasure in the short term. But it also can be very costly.  David would learn this first hand in the fulfillment of this prophecy.  Like many people, the great King found that it was fun to dance but not often fun to pay the band.  Pastor Harris will discuss these issues in this episode.Support the show

Last episode we discussed King David committing adultery with the wife of one of his main commanders in his army Uriah the Hittite. To make matters worse she became pregnant and David attempted to cover this up. However David's plans of a cover up failed.  David then attempted another scheme, and this one was of murder. In an ironic turn of events, Uriah would end up carrying his own death warrant to Joab, a type and shadow of Christ carrying our sin as Uriah carried David's sin with him, Christ carried a death warrant in his hand in complete faithfulness and righteousness to his king he carried our sins.  Except of course, Christ was not ignorant to what he carried and to what he was about to suffer. In the end, the scheme was successful, Uriah did as he was told and he was killed. This story is humbling, David was a man after God's own heart, yet he was able to sin greatly. As David had success in his scheme, he appeared to be grief stricken.  He really did not care and in secret was patting himself on the back thinking that he had missed a close call. Bathsheba as well, took her period of grieving, once that was completed to make everything look right, David took her as his wife, they were married, and all seemed well.  The scheme went perfect but that was not so, vengeance is the Lords.Support the show

In this teaching Pastor Harris will deal with the topic of midlife crisis.  He covers this through discussing three weaknesses of David Ben Jesse.  In the first place, David could never control his desire for women.  Secondly, David's allowed himself to have too much idle time on his hands.  And thirdly, David began to delegate his divinely oriented responsibilities to others that he should have been doing himself. Let's listen along to Pastor Harrs as he walks us through these things that would sadly lead to King David's own demise.Support the show

Once the issues surrounding building the temple in Jerusalem and who would build it were resolved, David decided to deal decisively with the Philistines. Bringing the war into the Philistine homeland for the first time and after several battles were fought the Philistines would never be a factor again. Israel would now control the major trade route of the ancient world, the Via Maris. The only real enemies David now had were three fold. The Aramian Kingdom, the Mobia Kingdom and the Edimi Kingdom (due to transcription challenges, these may not be spelled correctly).  David knew that he had to subdue these Kingdoms in order to control another trade route known as the King's Highway which connected the Red Sea with Damascus. His kingdom badly needed the income that was paid by the owners of caravans that traveled the trade route. Once this route had been secured it would be of great wealth to David.  At this time in Israel's history another important person appears that would be destined to play a vital role in Israel's future, and that would be true for many generations to come. The name of this man was Zadduc. He became the high priest of Israel at this point in time and from his loins would be the High Priest of Israel for the next thousand years to come. When the trade routes had been secured the peace came to Israel and David had time to sit down and look back over the past and he had found that he had some unfinished business, some important business. One of his obligations was to his blood brother Jonathan. A part of his obligation was this, any of the children born of Jonathan were now his children and the way in which David chose to take care of this child will be the subject of this message.Support the show

In this episode Pastor Harris reminds us about the prophesies of Nathan and provides a lot of back knowledge leading into this topic.  More specifically Pastor Harris reminds us that God sent the prophet Nathan to David with certain instructions and a grave warning. That warning was this, just because a temple to God stood in their midst, it did not mean that his presence would always dwell in that temple. Pastor Harris will explain more about this warning in this teaching.NOTE: To save any confusion, please note that Pastor Harris does indeed tell the story of the tapestries he saw in the vatican.  He told this same story in episode #114 which is also the first episode of the Saga of David series.Support the show

In this teaching we will learn more about Saul and David.  Saul had two daughters, Miram and Michael (we call her Michael instead of MiChal). At the time, Israel had a problem with the philistines. They did not like Isreal or the Jewish people.  One day the army of the Philistines were camped on one hill and the Isrealites were camped on the other.  It was a standoff. The Philistines had a clever little plan, they ha a giant of a man, eight or nine feet tall. He was more than likely twice the size of any man at the time. The Philistines had a big idea to go down to the middle of the valley and they told the Isrealites to send their best guy to fight their best guy.  This fight will determine who should win.  We know that the young David shows up to deliver food to his brothers who were in the army. David is appoled at this vile person who is down in the valley making fun of his people.  The Israelites said it was the philistine giant.  Saul, the King of Isreal, had promised the hand of his daughter in mariage to anyone that would go down and beat the giant Philistine.Saul was sure that someone was going to go down there and fight the giant philistine because his daughters were beautiful. No one showed up to take on this challenge until David showed up. But David wasnt fighting for the girls hand in marriage, he was fighting for his God.  Well we know what has happened.  David was indeed victorious, and now he had earned the right to marry Miram the oldest of the two daughters.  One day Saul hears the common people singing the praises of this young man that had defeated the giant. He was extremely jealous, he thought, “am I going to have a son-in-law that people are going to sing praises about?” So Saul promises his older daughter to another. This would leave Michael available for David.  This was OK with David because he preferred Michael.  Saul thought he knew his daughter better than David.  This will be where Pastor Harris's teaching picks up today.Support the show

Last episode we discussed David's plan for spiritual renewal for the nation of Israel.  It was a fairly simple plan. He was going to introduce a worship revolution. It was going to be something the Hebrew religion and the world at large had never seen. The plan really focused on the Ark of the Covenant that he considered to be Israel's greatest treasure. It needed to be transported to Mount Zion, which was formally Mount Moriah, and placed in a tent that would come to be known as the Tabernacle of David.Here the Ark of the Covenant could be seen by anyone who would like to.  The flaps of the tabernacle would be open and people could see the Ark there.  On top of bringing the Ark to the top of Mount Zion, David had gone about a massive allocation of resources, people and time to create a 24 hour praise and worship experience. He had done this by appointing three men, Asath, Heman, and Ethan to lead a group of 24 thousand men in three different groups of eight thousand each for 24 hour worship.  This continued for 40 years, 40 years of 24 hour perpetual worship with 24 thousand men.But first, the big problem with this plan was that the worshippers were ready, the tent was ready, the mount was ready… but they didn't have the Ark. The Ark was eight miles west of Jerusalem where it had been for the past 60 years in the house of Abenidad, in the village of Penrith Jerun, and to actually get the Ark from point A to point B was far more complicated than you may have first thought, and that is the topic of Pastor Harris's message in this episode.Support the show

Following the exodus when Israel had come into the land of Canan the priests brought the Tabernacle to the town of Shiloh.  The Tabernacle would remain here for 200 years.  In time, there was a battle with the Philistines over a Hebrew highway. The high priests were in charge of the tabernacle and these high priests were the sons of Eli. When the Israelites were in this battle they wanted the Ark of the Covenant to give them the power to win.  So they sent messengers to go ask the high priests to see if they could have the ark of the covenant with them to have God's power to win the battle.  As they brought the ark of the covenant out to the battle God did not go with it.  His presence was in the Holy of Holies when the Ark of the Covenant was there and when it was brought out to the battle, it was said that the presence of the Lord had departed from the Holy of Holies.In this episode, Pastor Harris will teach on how the Ark of the Covenant departed.Support the show

Last teaching Pastor Harris discussed David returning after he had defeated the Amalekites. At the same time David was returning to Ziklag, Saul had met his end and been defeated by the Philistines.  Around that same time a different Amilkite arrives with a message that Saul had been slain along with a conflicting story.  Last episode we heard that Saul had fallen on his own sword and committed suicide. This Amilkite claimed that he had actually helped Saul commit suicide.  He believed that since Saul had tried to kill David so many times that he would be rewarded for helping Saul committ suicide and reporting the great news that Saul was dead.  Another odd thing was that he also had the crown of Saul and brought it to David.  The response of David was quite opposite to what he was expecting.  He was expecting honor and approval and maybe a position as David's right hand man.  Instead David turned and killed the man on the spot!The way David saw it was this.  God was going to bring God's anointed David to be King in his own time.  No person could force that to happen outside of God's timing. It appeared this Amilkite had taken matters into his own hands and had slain God's anointed and it deserved death.What was surprising is that upon David killing this Amilkite was David's response.  He wrote a quite fantastic poem, and I'll go ahead and read this to you.Thy glory oh Israel is slain upon by high places.  How the mighty have fallen. Tell it not in Gath. Publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exalt.  Saul and Jonathan, beloved and lovely, in life and in death they were not divided, they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel weep over Saul who clothed you daintily in scarlet, who put ornaments off gold on your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of battle. Jonathan lies slain upon the high places.  I am distressed for you my brother Jonathan. Very pleasant have you been to me, your love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.  How are the mighty fallen and the weapons of war perished.It's very odd to hear such beautiful words from someone who was supposed to be Saul's sworn enemy. But obviously David was a man after God's own heart and he could see things in Saul others could not see.  He loved Saul.  However, now the crown of Saul is in David's hands, Saul is slain, David is God's appointed and is to be the new King of Israel.  This is the topic of this episode's message.Support the show

Last episode we talked about David and his big battle with the Amalekites in the Negev.  While that was going on with him, the exact opposite was going on with Saul. Saul was encountering Israel's old enemy the Philistines.  They had amassed a massive army and to this point the Isrealites had been successful in defeating them by fighting them off as they had always engaged them in mountainous terrain. But the Philistines had pushed and manipulated the battle so they could fight at the Valley of Jezreel which was flat land.  This was beneficial to the Philistines because they had iron chariots. Any military strategist would say that it looks as if the Isrealites would be slaughtered.  The reason this battle was so crucial and that Saul had to fight it, was because they were at a place called Beth Shan and if the Philistines were to take this location they would cut Israel in half. This location was too crucial, and Saul was forced to take the Philistines on in open combat, in flat terrain, taking on their iron chariots. It seemed suicidal, God had abandoned Saul for David.  So Saul turned to a medium.  Saul himself had outlawed the use of mediums. It was outlawed in the law of God, but Saul was driven to the very brink of his insanity by havinfg to hold things together by the giant adversity that faced him having to fight the Philistines.  When he saw this medium, he disguised himself because he knew if the medium recognized him as King Saul that the medium would not consult upon evil spirits.  We know today that spirits guided through mediums are not through the Holy Spirit but are evil spirits. To Saul's dismay the medium conjures up the spirit of Samual the great profit.  Although Samual had been dead for many years he spoke truthfully  to the situation at hand.  He said that Saul would in fact fight this battle, and Saul, his sons and many of his army would suffer a very tragic defeat.  Saul's dilemma was over, he looked into the future, the future was clear there was only disaster and death for him and his kingdom. Meanwhile David waited back at Ziklag unaware of what was going on.  This is the topic of Pastor Harris's teaching in this episode.  The death of Saul and the ramifications of that day.Support the show

The events of first samuel chapter 26 and first samuel chapter 24 look very similar if not identical, but in fact they are remarkably different.  Where they are similar in both instances Saul, the King of Israel is pursuing David.  Saul fails, and God delivers him into the hands of David, who chooses to do nothing about it and to release him because he is his king, and he is God anointed. In fact, in the second instance, David's men come alongside him and say, they have got to do something, they've been running from him, they felt they needed to kill him! David still stays committed to what he knows to be true.The thing that is interesting and is pretty bad for Saul. Given these two instances, God had revealed that he had withdrawn his protection from Saul. He had been given over into the hands of David now twice, this could not make it more clear to Saul.  David realized that this cat and mouse game couldn't last forever. It was wearing out his men and they wanted to kill Saul, and that was wearing David out. David previously had fled from Saul by going into the land of the philistines and now he had to face the terrible idea of doing that again, leaving the promise land. So he decides to go to the land of Gath and place his warriors at the disposal of the King of Achish. This King however did not like the idea of having someone so powerful in his midst so he placed David in a town called Ziklag.  And this will be our setting for Pastor Harris's message today.Support the show

In our last teaching we saw David confront Saul at the Oasis of Ein Gedi, and there we saw a great part of David's character revealed.  One thing we saw revealed was his boldness, his courage and that he really trusted in God.  He was able to stand up and confront Saul because he believed that God would defend him and that God would be in control. We also saw some of David's crafiness, and his wisdom and the words that he used. He chose not to kill Saul, and instead he chose to cut a part of his robe off. It showed that he never had any intentions of killing Saul, he always saw him as king.  It showed his humility.  We saw his character revealed through his humility.  He said, “After whom do you pursue Saul?  After a dead dog after a flea”. David is stressing his insignificant and his unimportance in the face of a great king.  We saw Saul respond in a very interesting way.  He said, no not at all, you are not insignificant, you are going to be king someday. It is shocking but it reveals Saul's insanity and that in times he had moments where he had it all together.  But David knew that Saul would continue to come after him. Meanwhile, both David and Saul received a shock because their spiritual mentor, Samuel the profit, had died. David received this news while in the wilderness of Maon, and there had a very interesting encounter with a very beautiful and wise and crafty woman herself named Abigail, and there we will find ourselves in the setting of this episode's topic. Support the show

We continue to follow the life of David in our current series. In this episode we will touch on the topic of vengeance. The need for vengeance is as old as human nature. Vengeance can be overwhelming. Let's listen to Pastor Harris as he walks us through how David handles vengeance against King Saul.  Finally Pastor Harris will provide us three things regarding  vengeance that will help us understand it and in turn deal with it. Support the show

Have you ever experienced exceptional success in life like that of David? After what David accomplished by saving his entire nation from slavery and bondage by conquering the undefeatable foe. Who knows what it would be like to experience such success and fame like David did.  In the last episode Pastor Harris talks about five crutches that got knocked out from under him.  One was his job, the commander of Saul's army.  The position of King and High Priest may be the only better jobs at that time.  Secondly, his wife was stripped away.  His pastor was taken away as well, Samuel was one of the top profits ever known and was taken away from David.  Then Jonathan was taken away, David's best friend.  These are serious crutches that were taken away from David. It was like winning the lottery and finding out the next day you in fact did not win the lottery.  All he had left was his self respect and his self worth, we won't get to it in this episode but eventually he will lose that as well.It's hard to understand what all David was going through mentally, emotionally, psychologically and spiritually. At this point his back is against the wall and Saul is coming after him.  At this time David runs to Nob where he takes the sword of Goliath.  He does not realize the trouble that will cause others, and it is at this point that we find David in the cave of Adullem.Support the show

As we continue on with our second episode of this new Saga of David series I continue to think about episode one and how Pastor Harris focused on Samuel and the strange circumstance he found himself in when it came to anointing the next king of Israel. It was an interesting approach to kicking off a teaching about the life of David.  Similarly, one of the obvious stories from the life of David would be that of his victory over the giant Goliath. However, Pastor Harris chooses to diverge from the standard teaching route and come at it from another unique aspect. Definitely not what I expected, but I was by no means surprised.Support the show

This new series is a large and in-depth study of Pastor Harris's which covers the man after God's own heart, King David.  As always, Pastor Harris's approach to the life of David is very unique and we hope will touch the lives of our listeners, teaching after teaching.  This series is over 20 episodes in length and rightfully so, there is so much to learn from the story of David's life, much more than his run-ins with the likes of Goliath and Bathsheba.  Matter of fact, it can more accurately be defined as a “saga” than simply be referred to as a life story. I'm sure dad knew that far too well, so well that he titled this series very simply, The Saga of David.Support the show

This episode wraps up our current series titled “Courage and Confrontation” which follows the life and times of Elijah.  This has been a truly amazing series and has come with God's perfect timing.  I hope these teachings have encouraged everyone who listens. I have to tell you all, I love this specific episode, I think it really places things into context not only from a ministry standpoint, but as a way to approach various aspects of life. Dad talks about his early days in ministry well before I was born or dad had even made it to Ponca City where he met my mother Crystal.  As always, we would love to hear from you all any way you like, email, facebook, instagram, etc. We love hearing how these messages resonate with you, it encourages us and keeps and energizes us to keep pushing out new episodes and content.So let's get into the introduction of our final episode.  Prior to the Prophet Elijah's encounter with King Ahab over Naboth's vineyard, he had been walking through an agricultural area in Israel and he spotted a young man plowing his field. There were eleven teams of oxen plowing in front of this man and he was plowing with a twelfth team of oxen. The sensitive spirit of the prophet Elijah instantly saw something in this man so he walked over to the young man and threw his mantle around his shoulders. Elijah would later discover that the name of this man was Elisha, the son of Shaphat. This farmer turned from his team of oxen, and said to Elijah, "Please let me kiss my father and mother and then I will follow you." Elijah agreed.What Elisha did at this point was fascinating. He kissed his father and mother, then demonstrated his commitment to following Elijah in that he slaughtered his team of oxen, his sole means of support. Then set fire to his plow and yoke, his secondary means of support. He proceeded to cook the meat of the oxen and shared it with the people of his village and his family so that they could all enjoy one final meal together. Then, he followed Elijah from that point onward, serving him in any way that he possibly could.That is the last we hear of Elisha for several years. Then, he reappears with Elijah at a place called Gilgal, the place where Israel camped upon first entering the Promised Land. He had seen many things since he had begun to follow Elijah. For one thing, he had been with Elijah when King Ahaziah of Israel had sent a captain with fifty men to place Elijah under arrest. He watched as the prophet called down fire from heaven and those men were utterly consumed. He was also present when the king sent another group of fifty to arrest the prophet. Once again, he heard the prophet call down fire from heaven and saw those men consumed. Then, when another group of 50 came, Elisha heard the captain of the group appeal to the prophet to save his life. No doubt, the young prophet heard the voice of the angel of Yahweh, the pre existent Christ, tell to Elijah to save this captain and his men and to go back to Samaria with this captain and confront the King. This was a dangerous proposition, but Elijah did as he was told.At this point, Elijah was aged. It is time for him to leave this earth, but he has a few things to do before that could occur. For one thing, he would take a quick ministry tour of the area, then, God would take him. This is the background for Pastor Harris's teaching in this episode.Support the show

In this episode Pastor Harris picks back up with Elijah returning to the kingdom of Israel after his sojourn at Mount Sinai, at least two and maybe three years had passed before Elijah made a reappearance. We can determine this from several situations that are recorded in I Kings.In the first place, in I Kings 21, we find a vineyard thriving in Jezreel which means the effects of the three and a half years of drought had now been overcome. This would take at least a year or two to occur. In the second place, after Elijah's return to Israel, the nation fought several brutal wars with Syria, all of which occurred before the events recorded in I Kings 21. These wars lasted over four at least two years.That which brought Elijah on the scene again was criminal conduct on the part of King Ahab, the most wicked ruler Israel had ever experienced up to that time, and his even more wicked wife, Jezebel. These two persons would commit a dastardly crime against a godly citizen of Israel. This act provides all the proof we need that, evil was still flowing from the throne of Israel. So, Elijah was sent by God to confront Ahab.We should note, however, that a bit of tranquility had come to the land of Israel in Elijah's absence. There had been a lull in the conflicts with Syria, and, as we said, the land seems to have recovered from the three and a half year drought. King Ahab now had some time to sit around in his palace in Jezreel and think about things he could do to improve the place.This palace was not the main residence of the king and queen. The capital and main palace was found in the city of Samaria. The palace in Jezreel was a kind of Camp David for the royal family. Such residences were located in places of great natural beauty in biblical times. Ahab, a well-known builder, was interested in improving the grounds and the landscape. Next to the palace was a vineyard that belonged to a man whose name was Naboth. He had taken very good care of the vineyard, something that had caught the eye of the king.So, one day, Ahab went to Naboth and made an offer to buy the vineyard and that offer is the subject of Pastor Harris's teaching for this episode.Support the show

Before I jump into this intro.  I think it is important that we all remember that these teachings we are listening to, even the introduction I am about to read were delivered back in 2011.  It continues to be so interesting how many of these thoughts we are about to hear remain true still today.We all know that we live in strange and troubling times. Someone once called this “the age of anxiety,” and it is. Hurricanes are striking odd places. Catastrophic floods and catastrophic droughts are found worldwide. There are devastating earthquakes leaving tens of thousands of people dead in dozens of countries. There are senseless terror bombings happening across the globe. As of 2011 when this was written, there was a horrible war in Afghanistan and continuing violence in Iraq. Of course in the current day we have a war happening in the Ukraine and many geopolitical situations of courcern around the globe.Taken together, this creates a spirit of fear, and this spirit of fear makes us angry, uptight, tense, hostile, sullen, and very impatient with each other. We see this in the increasing incidences of road rage, domestic abuse, and criminal acts. The sad truth is this: we Americans appear to hate each other equally.Anger seems to lie just beneath the surface of every human being, but this anger is just another symptom of society's ills.  In fact, the Bible predicts that in “the last days” God will shake the nations so that “those things that cannot be shaken will be shaken” (Hebrews 12:26-27). When Eugene Peterson paraphrased the last part of verse 27 in The Message, he said that God will shake the earth, “getting rid of all the historical and religious junk so that the unshakable essentials stand clear and uncluttered.” Unshakable essentials---that says it all. God is shaking the earth so that we will figure out what matters most.But this situation is not totally unique to our times. The prophet Elijah felt many of these same strains and stresses, so much so, that he virtually had a nervous collapse. Pastor Harris will discuss his circumstances in this episode.Support the show

As we dive into another episode of the “Courage and Confrontation” I wanted to remind everyone that you can visit Courage.ArielMinistries.com for more details and aggregate content around these teachings on the life and times of Elijah.In this episode we follow along as Elijah's fear sets in and he takes flight from the evil queen Jezebel. Pastor Harris will walk us through Elijah's thinking and actions here.  Although Pastor Harris admits along the way that this action bothered him personally, he also explains why we shouldn't be too hard on Elijah here.Support the show

In our last episode we saw that the fire had fallen on the sacrifice that Elijah had presented at Mount Carmel with such veracity that the wood, the sacrifice, and even the stones of the altar were reduced to ashes in a moment.  In addition the people of Israel who had gathered on Mount Carmel saw all of this and instantly they reached the conclusion that Yaweh of Sinai was and is the only one true God and they all fell on their faces and shouted, “Yahweh he is God, Yahweh he is God.”Elijah was aware of the importance of that moment. There could be no more middle ground, so the prophet challenged the people to recommit themselves to Yahweh and Yahweh alone.  They could prove themselves by taking the 450 prophets of Ba'al to river of Keyshawn and execute them, which they immediately did.Only two men remained on atop Mount Carmel with Elijah.  One was the man who made the commitment to be a servant of the prophet and the other was King Ahab.  The king had not left the mountain top and had observed the execution of the prophets of Ba'al in the valley below. Elijah turned to Ahab at this point and gave him instruction.Go up and eat and drink, for there is an abundance of rain. So Ahab began to eat while Elijah made his way to a mountain top that overlooked the Mediterranean Sea. And there he fell on his knees and began to pray.Now the bible does not specifically say he prayed here, but only that he bowed down with his head between his knees.  But we know he was praying  because the words were found in James 5: 17-18, it says that Elijah prayed earnestly that it would not rain and it did not rain on earth in three years and 6 months. And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth produced its fruit.The question for today is, is that God promised that it would rain, which it did, why did the Elijah have to pray for the rains to come? Pastor Harris will address this question in this episode. Support the show

By now we have all seen that the prophet Elijah was an amazing human being. Even his name is amazing. In the Hebrew language the name Elijah means, "Yahweh is my God." Obviously, his name defined his mission. He sought to demonstrate to his people that Yahweh is not only God but He is the only true and living God.We have seen that at the time Elijah first appeared in Israel, the nation of Israel, as a whole, no longer worshiped Yahweh. They had slowly but surely integrated the worship of the Phoenician God, BA'AL and his female counterpart, Asherah, into their religion through the actions of their king and queen, Ahab and Jezebel. In fact they were were well on their way to making BA'AL the primary God of Israel. As a result of this apostasy, God had brought a severe drought upon the land and He had commissioned Elijah to announce this divine punishment.The moment Elijah pronounced this divine judgment to King Ahab, he was told by God to flee to a remote location where he would be fed by ravens and drink from a brook. So, Elijah followed the Lord's instructions and after a while, when the brook dried up, the prophet was told to go and find a certain window who lived in the Phoenician village of Zarephath, and he was to stay with her.  While Elijah was living with this Phoenician woman and her son, God miraculously supplied them with flour and oil.During the entire length of the drought Elijah was forced to remain in hiding, because he had become the most wanted man in all of Israel. The King and the Queen wanted him dead, and Elijah knew it. After all, in the course of the drought Jezebel had put to death many of the prophets of the Lord. Yet, the man she wanted most seemed to have disappeared into thin air.So, for three long years, not a single drop of rain fell on the land and for three long years King Ahab and queen Jezebel searched for Elijah to kill him. But things were about to change. God was preparing to order the prophet to make himself known once again, and that will be the subject of Pastor's sermon for this morning.Support the show

In this series of sermons on the life and times of Elijah we saw how a man known as Elijah the Tishbite appeared before the King of Israel, Ahab ben Omri, bringing a very simple message. He said, "It ain't gonna rain no more! Not until I say so!" And then the prophet disappeared for the next three and a half years.For that entire period of time, God, himself, protected this man from the wrath of the powers that be. First, God took Elijah to a cave in the region known as Transjordan where God took care of his needs. Then, after a year of hiding, God sent him to live in the house of a widow in the region of Phoenicia.God not only protected Elijah in these out-of-the-way places, he also miraculously fed him. While Elijah was hidden away in that cave in Transjordan, God sent him bread and meat in the beaks of wild ravens. And while he was hiding in Phoenicia, God provided him with cornbread baked from meal that came from a barrel that refused to remain empty, and oil from a cruse that refused to run dry.So, in comparison to everybody else living in the Middle East at that time, Elijah enjoyed a relatively comfortable existence for forty-two long months. Then one day God spoke to Elijah again. He told the prophet to come out of hiding, to leave Phoenicia and to "go show himself” to Ahab.Now, please understand this! Leaving his hiding place was a dangerous thing for Elijah to do and he knew it. But the ever obedient Elijah did as he was told, and what happens from here on in the story is utterly fascinating. Three types of characters emerge from the text for today and all of the people involved had different agendas and opposing goals. This morning, Pastor will introduce us to these people.Support the show

In the last episode, we left the prophet Elijah deep in what can only be called Gentile country. If you remember, God had sent him to the Phoenician village of Zarephath which was located less than 10 miles from what the people of Israel believed to be Satan's headquarters on earth, the city of Tyre. In fact, on several occasions Satan is called, "the King of Tyre." This is especially true in the book of Ezekiel.The prophets of God believed that the people who lived in this area actually worshiped Satan. However, they believed had disguised himself as the god BA'AL, the God of the storm. He was depicted as a powerful bull, usually made of gold, but beneath the powerful image, and the extensive gold, was Satan. The great prophets of Israel stood behind all false religion; all I worship.As we saw last week, when God had appeared to Elijah at the Wadi Hareet and told Elijah that he was to take up residence in the village of Zarephath, the prophet must've said, "Oh no!" Without question, this is one of the last places on this planet that the prophet of God wanted to go. It was not only because this village was located in Gentile country, and it was not only because Satan was worshiped there, disguised as BA'AL, it was because he lied to knew the meaning of the name of this place. The word ZAREPHATH in Hebrew means this: "the place of the refiner's fire," or "the place of purification."The man of God could certainly read between the lines. He could see that God was sending him to this place to eliminate all his inner impurities, and that can be a painful process. And that is why the prophet probably shuddered at the thought of living in this village. But he went to Zaraphath, anyhow!Once he had settled himself into his new environment, he was surprised; things were not nearly as bad as he had imagined. Think about this! God had provided him with a place to stay in the house of a local widow and her son, and they are God was miraculously feeding him. Everyday his hostess would they cornbread from meal that she had taken from the bottom of her flour barrel and with the last few drops of cooking oil from her jar. But the next day the same amount of meal and oil would miraculously appear again. So, while other people were starving to death, these three people, the prophet, the widow, and her son had enough to sustain themselves. And the good news is this: the provision continued for many months.But, trouble was on the horizon. Satan would not allow the activities of God to go unchallenged as we shall see in Pastor Harris's message in this episode.Support the show

Last week we watched as the story that supplied water for the prophet Elijah dried up, and the ravens which brought him bread and meat ceased to appear. It did not take Elijah long to realize that this phase of his life, the training phase, was now over. And as he stood there gazing along the great Wadi Hareet, the voice of God spoke to him again, and this is what God said:"Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. I have commanded a widow there to provide for you."Without question, this was not the message that Elijah had expected. In fact, it appears that these instructions from the Lord left the prophet shocked and speechless.Now, Elijah would not have been shocked if God had said to him, "Go to the desert wastes of Paran," or "Go to Mount Sinai, the mountain of my glory." The truth is this: both of these locations were places where God was known to dwell. His holy presence, His KAVOD, His SHEKINAH, was found in those places.However God did not tell Elijah to go to either the Desert of Paran or to Mount Sinai. Instead God said, “Go to the village of Zarephath.” Why would Elijah be so shocked by that divine directive? There was a reason! Zaraphath was a village in the region known as Phoenicia, which was Gentile territory. In fact, it was as Gentile as it gets.This village was located in the very heart of the land from which the evil queen Jezebel of Tyre came. It was a demonized land, a land where the god Ba'al was worshiped; a place where Israel's God was scorned, so this message made no sense to Elijah. He was at war with this Phoenician god and the very last place he thought a man of God should be seen was in the heart of the enemy's stronghold.But this much can be said for Elijah; he may not have understood what God had said and what God did at times, but he was usually willing to obey what God told him to do, no matter how difficult it seemed. Pastor Harris will focus on this tendency this morning.Support the show

As we continue the Courage and Confrontation series we remember that God had always prepared men to do the work that He calls them to do. In the days of King Ahab of Israel, the situation called for a man like Elijah the Tishbite; an Elijah was ready to do the job; at least in part. The easy part was to march into the throne room of Ahab and to announce to the king, “It ain't gonna rain no more.” And he did just that!From there, the task facing the prophet would become far more arduous. He needed more training, and the Spirit of the Lord knew exactly how to prepare Elijah for what was to come. The situation was this: God was displeased with the idolatrous practices of the children of Israel, so He chose to chastise them by sending a great drought upon the land. Baal, the god to whom they had turned was worshiped as the “god of the storm,” so, in sending this drought, God was saying to Israel, “Let's see if the god of the storm has the power to end a drought that Yahweh had ordained. The dye was about to be cast. As Pastor Harris will share, once the announcement of the impending drought was declared, Elijah was told to go hide himself in a deep wadi or canyon in Transjordan. To prepare His man for the coming war, God had called Elijah to go to a place of solitude and isolation, and it was in the best interest of the prophet to obey his God. There in the wadi, God met the physical needs of the prophet. God provided abundant water from a spring, and He sent ravens to bring Elijah meat to sustain him. In this God was teaching Elijah to live from His divine hand. Of course, the Lord could have sent angels instead of ravens to minister to Elijah, but God demonstrated to His prophet that He can use even the lowest creatures to do His bidding.However, eventually the brook in the wadi ran dry and the ravens ceased to come. The prophet lost his supply just when it appeared that he needed them most. But the prophet would find that there is a river which makes glad the city of God; a river that never runs dry, “a well of water that springs up to eternal life.”Support the show

This series will be titled Courage and Confrontation. Pastor Harris will follow Elijah the Tishbite.  We will follow him from insignificance and we will watch God take him and turn him into one of the giants of the Biblical era. The Bible will remind us that Elijah was more like us than we could even imagine.  It is important that we all recognise and accept that God can use us all mightily, even despite ourselves.This series is dedicated to not only the current membership of First United Methodist Church in downtown Oklahoma City.  But to all those who have and continue to love the ministry of First Church over the years, whose lives were changed for the better due to this over century long ministry. I pray that we would be encouraged, and empowered with what Pastor Harris refers to as “a Holy Boldness” to be the new group of Elijah's that he hoped would appear on the scene and say “Here I stand” and that will refuse to back down. Support the show

This episode marks the final teaching of the Spiritual Gifts teaching series. What a fascinating teaching Pastor Harris has saved for the last. I have to admit I have probably listened to this teaching over five times to fully understand everything Pastor Harris was trying to get across to us.  In this Pastor Harris will cover the nine manifestations of the Fruit of the Spirit. I can't wait for everyone listening to learn now the Fruit of the Spirit work within us as believers.Support the show