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Introduction: What About Spiritual Gifts? (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) Spiritual Gifts are FROM God and FOR Every Believer. (1 Cor 12:4-6) Spiritual Gifts Are to Be Used to BLESS the CHURCH. (1 Cor 12:7) Spiritual Gifts Come in Many FORMS. (1 Cor 12:8-10) 2 Corinthians 12:12 - The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. Hebrews 2:4 - while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Wisdom Knowledge Faith Healing Miracles Luke 9:1 – And he called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases Prophecy Distinguish between spirits Tongues Interpretation of tongues Spiritual Gifts Are Given at the HOLY SPIRIT'S DISCRETION. (1 Cor 12:11) SEEK God. Consider the INTERSECTION. Take an ASSESSMENT. Take the Spiritual Gifts Test! Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Questions and Answers: What About Spiritual Gifts? Jeff Miller Download Audio Transcript 00:38Open up your Bibles with me, please, to the book of 1 Corinthians 12.00:45While you're turning there, let's just pause for a second, and I'm going to ask that you would please pray for me00:53to be faithful to communicate God's Word accurately and clearly as I should.01:01And I will pray for you to be open to receive what it is that God said. All right, let's pray. Father, sometimes we come to your word and I guess some passages seem to hit some of us more than others. And we're about to enter into a section that according to your word literally is for every single one of us. So I pray.01:31That Your Spirit would be the power behind the wisdom of Your Word and that You would continue to conform us into the image of Your Son, not just individually, but as a church body. Father, glorify Your name as we immerse ourselves into Your Word now. We pray in Jesus' name and all of God's people,02:02Amen. Look at 1 Corinthians 12, verse 1. Paul says,02:07Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.02:18This section of 1 Corinthians has been a big Q&A section.02:25They had sent Paul questions and he was responding with answers.02:28And up to this point, we've mainly been dealing with earthly matters. We've been talking about liberty and marriage and gender. And now we're on to more, I guess you could say, spiritual matters. And he says, concerning spiritual gifts, look at that verse 1, I do not want you to be uninformed. I don't want you to be ignorant about spiritual gifts.02:58Spiritual Gifts. Wow, that's a phrase that really describes the church today. Right? Because as always, church, we will go to either side of the extreme. When we talk about spiritual gifts, immediately you're going to have some people on one end of the spectrum that just completely neglect or ignore them. And think, oh, that's just like,03:28Goofy, charismatic stuff, but we're like sober-minded people. You completely dismiss the role that the Holy Spirit has in the work of the church. They're just neglected. And we do church according to human intellect and creativity. And then you have people on the other end of the spectrum that don't neglect the gifts. You could say they misrepresent the gifts of the Holy Spirit.03:58And over on the other extreme, people are doing all kinds of goofy things in church saying that it's a work of the Holy Spirit. We're slain in the Spirit and we're hooping and hollering and barking and howling. It's a gift of the Spirit. Excuse me. Absolutely essential in your work for Christ. Absolutely essential04:28in the health of the church, in the health of this church, you have to understand what spiritual gifts are, and you have to use your spiritual gift in the church. All right, look at verse 2. He says, you know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols. However, you were led. What he's doing here is he's setting up a contrast.04:58by idols.05:00And we're going to see this as we go throughout this section,05:03but the Corinthians in their former pagan lifestyle05:07learned a lot of bad methods of worship.05:11Pagan methods of worship.05:13And they brought those into the church.05:15Like, I guess this is how we worship.05:17And Paul here is making the contrast.05:20Like, look, no, no, no.05:22You used to be led by idols.05:24Now, now you are led by the Holy Spirit of God.05:30The Holy Spirit. Somehow, despite how essential His role is in the church, He just doesn't seem to get the press that the other members of the Trinity get, right? I mean, we talk about Jesus a lot. His sacrifice on the cross for our sins. His resurrection from the dead.05:58We talk about God the Father a lot. But God the Holy Spirit, just is essential. The Bible says that every Christian, every born-again Christian receives the Holy Spirit. That's Romans 8 and 9, among other places. That's God's presence abiding in you. Why? Why does God's Spirit live in you? Well, there's two main reasons. One is for character, right?06:28The Holy Spirit manifests the character of Christ in you. That's the fruit of the Spirit. That's Galatians 5. That's love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. That's what the Holy Spirit does in the life of the believer manifesting those characteristics. So it's character. The other reason the Holy Spirit lives in believers is for service.06:58And that's what we're talking about in this passage today. Every believer is given a spiritual gift to be used in the church. And you're like, wow, you know, how do I know that I even have the Holy Spirit? Well, look at verse 3. Paul says, therefore, I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says,07:28Jesus is accursed. And no one can say, Jesus is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit. So how do you know you have the Holy Spirit? Here's a foundational test. How do you regard Jesus? And I don't just mean what do you say about Jesus here in church on Sunday morning or at small group. I mean in your heart, in your innermost being privately,07:58How do you regard Jesus Christ? In your heart, is Jesus Christ everything to you? Because your true heart disposition towards Jesus is manifest by the Spirit. If you're born again, Paul says, you cannot curse Jesus. And apparently some of that stuff was happening in the Corinthian church. That's a whole other study for another time.08:28Paul says, if you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you absolutely will regard Jesus Christ as your Lord. The Holy Spirit. He's not just for preachers and missionaries, by the way. The Christian life, every Christian's life, is a Holy Spirit-led and empowered life. So the question that Paul's getting into here, and Pastor Taylor's going to be talking about this more next week, here's the question on the table.08:58They asked. He's answering, so what about spiritual gifts? I mean, what are spiritual gifts? And how is it that the Holy Spirit uses spiritual gifts in the church? So on your outline, what about spiritual gifts? What about them? Paul's giving us a great foundational teaching on Holy Spirit gifts.09:28Number one, write this down. Spiritual gifts are from God and for every believer. Look at verses four through six. He says, now there are varieties of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are varieties of service, but the same Lord. And there are varieties of activities,09:58is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. He says there's many kinds of spiritual gifts, but notice he says they all come from God. And he really wants to make that point clear because you notice he mentioned every member of the Trinity as being the source of spiritual gifts. You notice that? He talks about the Holy Spirit in verse 4. He talks about Jesus Christ, the Lord, in verse 5. He talks about God, the Father,10:28in verse 6. Spiritual gifts are gifts that come from God. Now, understand that spiritual gifts are different than talents. Okay? Like a skill that you have to play an instrument or to paint a mural. Spiritual gifts are different, but listen. I can show you biblically, and that's a study for another time.10:58come from God. Absolutely.11:03But here we're talking about ministry gifts.11:06Church ministry must be Spirit-powered, not done in the flesh.11:15Why?11:19Because if we're just doing ministry in our power, in man's power,11:25we're going to get man's results.11:27But when ministry is done in God's power, we get God's results. So which do you want? At the end of the day, I want to see what God can do in this church, not what I can do. But you notice the end of verse 6, beginning of verse 7, to everyone, to each. Listen, because every Christian possesses the Holy Spirit, all Christians, all Christians are given a spiritual gift.11:59It's so fascinating because every gift is a characteristic of Jesus Christ Himself. You realize He had everything perfectly. Think about that. Jesus, God in the flesh, who embodied every characteristic perfectly. You see the Holy Spirit giving us a spiritual gift. What's going on here? Here's what's going on. The church is called the body of Christ.12:29And each member is given a gift so that collectively, we as the body of Christ become a sort of representation of Jesus Christ himself. It's absolutely mind-blowing. But God wants the church to be Christ-like, and this is how it happens. We each use our spiritual gift. We're collectively built up in all of the characteristics that Jesus Christ possessed perfectly in the Incarnation.12:57So, spiritual gifts from God for every believer. All right, number two, spiritual gifts are to be used to bless the church. Look at verse 7. He says, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For the common good.13:28It's kind of funny when you think about it. You're given a spiritual gift, right? But in a real sense, the spiritual gift given to you isn't even for you. Isn't that strange? God's given you a gift, but He goes, oh, that's not for you. That's for everybody else. You see, my spiritual gift is supposed to benefit you.13:57benefit me.14:01And that's why we believe in every member of ministry at Harvest Bible Chapel.14:05If you're attending here, if you consider this your church,14:09we're not shy about asking where do you want to serve.14:15Not because we're like, we need help.14:18We do need help.14:21But that's not the primary reason.14:24It's because if you're part of the church, God has gifted you to bless the church. Right? So I have to ask you, how is God using you in this church? How's God using you? If you've been given a gift that's for the common good, how is that working in your ministry?14:55Now look, I've got to tell you, we are so blessed at this church. We were talking about this not too long ago, but we have a crazy high percentage of people who are actively serving in this church in so many ways. We're not there yet, but that number needs to be 100%. And if you're attending this church and you're not serving, please hear me.15:26I just want to lovingly tell you that God hasn't called anyone to warm a seat. Nobody's spiritual gift is attendance. We need you to be using your spiritual gift for the common good. All right? So spiritual gifts are from God for every believer. Number two, spiritual gifts are to be used to bless the church.15:54And number three, spiritual gifts come in many forms. Here's where we need to spend some time. In this section here, Paul lists nine spiritual gifts. Now, this list is not exhaustive, okay? Actually, we're not going to look there today. We're going to stick in this passage as is our custom. But you can see also Romans chapter 12. You can see Ephesians chapter 4. There are other gifts than the ones that are listed.16:24here. This isn't exhaustive. This is more just representative. Spiritual gifts come in many forms. Let's look at verses 8-10. Paul says, for to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit.16:54To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing by the one Spirit. To another, the working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, the ability to distinguish between spirits. To another, various kinds of tongues. To another, the interpretation.17:24of tongues.17:27Alright, so with spiritual gifts there are two categories.17:31There are speaking gifts and there are serving gifts.17:35But there are also two kinds of gifts.17:38There are permanent gifts.17:40There are gifts that were given that will be active in the church until our Lord returns.17:46And there are gifts that are temporary that were only for a time and purpose.17:51And this is where we get controversial.18:00Because this is where a lot of people have a lot of different opinions. But are you ready to go to Sunday school for a few minutes? Three of you? Okay. Thank you. Tristan always has my back. Always. And some of you are like, I don't know if I want to get out of here.18:23this road. Well, we're going through 1 Corinthians. This is next. And we receive God's Word as presented, right? So let's do it. But I want to talk about temporary gifts. And please hear me out before you storm out. That door's hard to slam, but it can be done. Before you storm out, before you throw anything at me, I would like you to please hear me out for a few minutes, all right?18:53Because this isn't my opinion. This is what the Bible says if you read it straightforwardly. Temporary gifts, sometimes they're called sign gifts. Those are the more miraculous type gifts. Please hear me because this is where I'm going to be misquoted, but not you. Listen, those gifts are not normative today.19:23Do I believe that they still happen? 100% I do. But they are not normative. Okay? So if somebody's like, well, what is Jeff's position on some of these sign gifts? I do not believe that they are normative today. I'm going to show you why. Can God do them? Yes. But, listen close. These sign gifts, are these spiritual gifts19:53that are possessed by people in the day of Paul and the apostles. And the answer is no. They're not possessed by people as they were in Paul's day. God still does them on occasion, not normative, but they're not possessed by people. I want to talk about miracles for a moment. Pastor Taylor and I were talking about this last week.20:23I think when we read the Bible, we get this idea that miracles were just like happening all the time, right? Like Moses woke up and like before his oatmeal, he like fired off five miracles. Boom. Not a man a meal, not oatmeal. But actually miracles in the Bible were actually very rare.20:53And apart from Moses' day, and apart from the day of Jesus in the apostles' ministry, miracles performed through men were actually very rare things. So why did we see so many miracles, especially in Moses' day, and especially in Jesus' and the apostles' day? Because this is why.21:21God performed miracles through people to verify or prove when new revelation was given. That's why it was normative in Moses' day. That's why it was normative for the apostles. Because God was giving new revelation, and that was the way He verified it. Any knucklehead can run around and say,21:51this is the new word of the Lord. And like, how can you prove that? Anybody can say that. God would verify what is actually revelation from him by backing it up with people who were giving not just this message, but performing these miracles. That's why you see that in Jesus. Why did Jesus perform so many miracles? Why did Jesus perform miracles? He's putting on a show, right?22:21He wanted to dazzle people, right? Hey, check this out. Check out what I can do. Anybody got two fishes, five loaves? Let me show you a trick. No! Jesus wasn't an entertainer. Why did Jesus do all the miracles? Actually, He referred to them as signs. Why? Because they were done to prove He is who He said He is. He's like, I'm God in the flesh. And of course, you're going to have people that were like, pfft.22:51I'm not buying that. But when you see this man raising the dead, healing the sick, feeding multitudes, you're like, there's something more to him. Right? Jesus' signs proved he is who he said he is. You're like, awesome, but what about spiritual gifts? Well, same principle here. Listen, to back the apostles'23:21while the New Testament was completed, was being completed, God authenticated the gospel with sign gifts. That's what the Bible says. You're like, where does the Bible say that? Many places. I'll give you a couple. Okay? Like 2 Corinthians 12. Look, the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience with signs and wonders and mighty works. You see?23:51the true apostles were performing miracles. It was to authenticate the gospel message. Same thing in Hebrews 2.4. It says, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will. Same principle as God was giving us the New Testament. You see, in those days, they didn't have the New Testament completed yet.24:21was being worked on by the Holy Spirit. So when somebody got up and said, let me tell you this message from God, how do we know it was from God? He backed it up with miracles. That's why when you go through the book of Acts, you see miracles less and less and less and less as you go through the book of Acts. We spent like three years in Acts, and that's what you see. In 1 Corinthians here, the book that we're studying, it was one of the earliest24:51written. So sign gifts were still very much a thing when Paul wrote this, but they were on their way out and they were ending as normative spiritual gifts when the New Testament was completed. That's why in none of the other epistles you see any talk about the spiritual gifts of miracles or healings or tongues or interpretation of tongues. You don't see that in any other25:21book in the New Testament.25:25Because it was phasing out.25:28We have God's word complete in written form,25:31so we don't need to verify it with a miracle.25:35God wrote it all down for us.25:37All right?25:39So, with that backdrop, I'm going to go through these quickly.25:44Each one of these could be a sermon,25:45and that's not the intention.25:49Interestingly, Paul does not explain them. He just lists them. I want to give you a little definition for each, a little understanding. So look at your spiritual gifts here, starting in verse 8. The first one is wisdom. What is wisdom? That's just skill in applying the Word of God. Do you know who typically possesses this gift are people that are counselors, whether it's formally or informally, people that are able to say, I understand how to incorporate God's truth.26:19into my life.26:21I can help you incorporate God's truth into your life.26:23It's applying the Word of God.26:24That's wisdom.26:26Next is knowledge.26:30That's understanding the Word.26:34It's somebody that can see Bible facts and knows how they fit together.26:39You know what's amazing?26:40Did you ever see these Christian authors?26:43They take like one subject and they write a whole book about it.26:46That's always amazing to me.26:48Like, how do they do that? They wrote a whole book about one subject? Well, I think a lot of them have the gift of knowledge. Right? Next is faith. Gift of faith. Now, obviously, this is faith beyond believing to get saved, because every follower of Christ has that kind of faith. Right? But you ever notice that there are some Christians that you meet that just seem to have a deeper,27:20Confidence in the Sovereignty of God. You know what I'm talking about? There's some Christians you meet, they could be going through just the worst trials a human being can go through, and they're just like, you know what? God's in control. He's got this. And they're just completely unflappable. They have the gift of faith. Those people are typically the best prayers. Right? Next on the list.27:48is healing.27:51Now again, I believe that this is one of the gifts27:55for people that was phasing out at this point.28:01But what is healing?28:02Well, it's just supernaturally healing a physical illness.28:12I wish I had that gift.28:14I wish it was still a thing.28:17And you might say, well, Pastor Jeff, I think it is still a thing. Because I saw this guy on TV. He was slapping people on the head deaf and they were getting up with full hearing. Interesting about those people, they never go to the cancer ward or the children's hospital. I mean, if I had the gift to heal people, that's the first place I'd go. You're like, oh, so you don't believe in healing? Oh, yeah, yeah. Look, listen.28:47Let's be clear. God still heals. I believe that 100%. And I have seen in this church God miraculously heal people. I believe that God heals. I'm not convinced that Benny Hinn ever did. All right? So next is miracles. Miracles. Like, wait a minute. What's the difference between miracles and healing? I'm not going to bore you with the long systematic Thompson Chain reference.29:17But here's the thing. That word for miracles, when you trace it through the New Testament, was most often connected with casting out demons. That's the difference. That's the distinction. See, that's what Jesus was talking about. Look at Luke 9.1. We'll have it on the screen. It says, and he called the twelve together, look, and gave them power and authority, here it is, over all demons and to cure diseases. So miracles.29:47In the New Testament referred to casting out demons. Again, I believe that was an apostolic era. Do I believe God still does that 100%? Absolutely, yes, He does. Normative? That a person has the gift and is running around doing that? No. All right, next is prophecy. Prophecy. Now, when we think prophecy, when we hear that word, what's the first thing we think of? Like future stuff, right?30:17Tell us the future. Well, sometimes, actually rarely, that's part of it. But you realize that's not what prophecy literally means at all. Do you know what the word prophecy is? It literally breaks down to a compound word that means speak before. You're like, speak before what? Speak before an audience. That's what prophecy is. It's somebody that stands in front of a group of people and says things.30:47Before Them. That's prophecy. It's the public speaking of God's truth. That's what happens when I get up here, Taylor or Brian or Justin or whoever stands up here proclaiming the Word of God. That is prophecy. We are speaking before. Right? Next is distinguishing between spirits. If you're interested, we did a whole sermon series on this.31:17A couple years back, this is what we more commonly call discernment. It's the ability to evaluate if something is from God or not. And in that sermon series, I'm not going to preach it all now, but I'd just like to remind you that that is something that we are all called to do. We are all called to discern what is from God and what is not from God. And again, I'll remind you that we live in a day that it is more crucial than ever because we live in a day where we have access to more information.31:47than we've ever had. You open up your phone, you're going to have 10,00031:51preachers giving you contradictory31:54message about31:55thus saith the Lord. How do we know31:57what God actually said? Discernment32:00is the gift to be able to32:01tell, he's not saying what God32:03said, but this guy definitely is, right?32:05Right?32:10Some people have that gift.32:13Alright, next gift is tongues.32:18Next gift is tongues.32:21You're like, are tongues for today?32:26People ask that, are tongues for today?32:31Yeah, tongues are for today.32:32How would you eat your ice cream otherwise, right?32:38Listen, I'm not going to go too far into this.32:42Oh, you're scared? No, not at all.32:43We're actually going to be doing a very deep dive in this. We're spending four weeks on this subject. But what is tongues biblically? Tongues is the ability to speak in a foreign language unknown to the speaker. It's a known language, by the way. It's not gibberish. It's somebody speaking an already existing language that that person doesn't know. They're just speaking it. Like I said, we're going to spend so much more time on this. And then interpretation of tongues is just simply that.33:13a person that was gifted with the ability to translate what the tongues speaker says. Many forms. One spirit. Oh, speaking of the Holy Spirit, number four. Spiritual gifts are given at the Holy Spirit's discretion.33:47Look at verse 11.33:52He says,33:54All these are empowered by one in the same Spirit34:01who apportions to each one individually as He wills.34:09As He wills.34:11The Holy Spirit, in His sovereignty, determines who does what. That's the Holy Spirit's job. Understand, as your pastor, I did not get to choose your gift. Like, oh, you want to be a part of our church? All right. Prophecy. Okay, how about you? You want to join the church? All right. Healing. You're like, you totally didn't listen to that sermon, did you? I don't get to determine that gift.34:41get to determine that gift. You know what? Preaching looks like a lot of fun. I think I'm going to ask the Holy Spirit for the prophecy gift. He is the one who determines the gift. It is a gift. And the gift giver determines the gift that he wants to give you. The gift giver determines the gift35:12that he wants to give you.35:19And I know this is a hard sell in our day.35:23I mean, Murph, you get it. You go back. We get it.35:27The gift giver determines the gift he wants to give. We get it. The younger people don't get that.35:33Like, why not? Because you know what we do in our day?35:38You know what we do in our day? We have a big event.35:42We have a baby shower, a wedding, little Joey's birthday party. He's turning five. Going to have his party at the Chuck E. Cheese. Do you know what we do today? We tell people what gifts we want, don't we? We do that. Little Joey's turning five. He's registered at Target. Right? Right?36:10Or, yeah, I'm getting married. Yeah, I'm getting married. Yeah, I'm registered at Target. We tell people the gifts that we want. I'm getting married. I want this toaster. I want this knife set. I want this vacuum. And then, I mean, we've done it. Aaron and I will go and be like, okay, this is the vacuum they want.36:40and we buy it and we wrap it up. And then they act surprised when they open it. They open it up and they're like, oh, you got me exactly what I was asking for. Oh, you shouldn't have. But you go back a generation, the gift giver determined what gift you got. Don't try that with the Holy Spirit, okay? You're baptized.37:11I'm registered at Target.37:15Well, we don't get a say in it.37:17It's His gift, right?37:19It's His gift.37:19Do you think I would have signed up for this?37:25Oh no.37:26Oh no.37:30He'll make a better choice than we would anyways.37:33Alright.37:35That's all well and good.37:36But that's really not the question37:39that we're asking right now.37:40The question that we're asking right now is how do I know what my spiritual gift is right I mean it's clear he's given all of us each of us a gift to represent the body of Christ and we're to use it in the common good we saw the kinds and you're like awesome what is my spiritual gift how do I find out what my spiritual gift is all right I'm going to give you three things we're going to close with this three things how do I know what gift I've been given letter A seek God38:10You're like, that sounds like a cop-out. No, look. If you make your life about on-your-face praying and in the Word and just get serving in the church, the Spirit's going to do what the Spirit does. He's going to be at work through you. You're going to figure that out real quick. So just don't worry about seeking a gift. Seek the gift giver. He'll do what He does.38:40That's what he does. Seek God. All right? Letter B. Consider the intersection. Like, what's the intersection? I was studying for this this week. I came across something. I thought it was super helpful. It's one of those diagrams where everything intersects. What do they call that? A Venmo diagram?39:10Venn. Not Venmo.39:20What's a Venmo?39:23Oh, that's giving money.39:26Also a spiritual gift. Right!39:30So you could Venmo your...39:31Alright.39:33I just feel like I had like an inception moment here.39:37Alright.39:38Consider the intersection.39:39Yeah.39:40All right. So I came across this Venn diagram. And I thought it was helpful. I'm going to try to recreate it here. But there's three things here. First of all, this circle here, we're going to call that, we're going to call this one ability. We're going to call this one ability. What is it that you seem, not complicated,40:10You seem like you're able to do this. Right? Of all the gifts. You're like, you know what? That's something that I seem like I'm able to do. I mean, I'm not boasting or anything. It just seems like something that I'm able to do. Okay? And then, with this one, we're going to call this one affinity. That's an idea. Okay. That's affinity. Like, well, that's an idea. Like, what do40:40I enjoy doing.40:42If somebody was like, you can do whatever you want in the church, whatever you enjoy most,40:46what would be the line I get to the front of first?40:50What's my affinity?40:53And then the third thing here, my circles are getting less and less circle-y, but I think you get the idea.41:01This one we're going to call affirmation.41:12You know, you have people maybe in your small group or other people in the church that are, they say to you, you know what? You seem like you have a real gift for teaching. You really seem like you have a gift for praying with people. So the point is this. Consider the intersection right here.41:39This is very likely your spiritual gift. I would say extremely likely. What you're able to do, what you love doing, and what people affirm that it seems like God has equipped you to do, that is very likely your spiritual gift. All right? Then letter C, assessment. Seek God, consider the intersection or assessment. We have a QR code.42:10Go ahead, take your phone out and give that a scan. Pastor Rich sent this along. But this is an online assessment. And really, I think between seeking the Lord, considering the intersection, doing the online assessment, I think that's going to get you all on your way to giving you a deeper understanding of what your spiritual gift is. So go ahead. Go ahead, do the...42:41Either scan that or Venmo me some money. Since you have your phone out and I just learned what Venmo is. Do I have a Venmo? Never mind. Aaron says I don't have a Venmo. All right. Our worship team would make their way up. While they're coming, you know, when I was in high school, I played soccer.43:11In my junior high year of playing soccer, the coach didn't like me. Why? Because I was unlikable. So I sat on the bench most of the season. Now, I knew I had the ability.43:39senior year, we had a new coach, and I didn't sit for one minute that entire season. In fact, I was co-captain of the team. But I got to tell you, I think back to that junior year of playing soccer, and I just remember feeling incredibly frustrated because I felt incredibly useless. You know, you put your shin guards on, you put your cleats on, you put your44:09your soccer uniform on.44:12And you just, I just sat there and watched the whole season.44:16Just sat there.44:21So many times I thought, why am I even here?44:25Why am I even here?44:26What am I doing?44:29I want to tell you, you don't have to worry about that with God's team44:34because there are no bench warmers.44:39God doesn't tell any of His children, you know what? You're nice and all, but you go sit over there. We don't really need you. Or you just wait, and if we decide there's a place we can squeeze you in, we'll see if we can do that. No, no, no, no, no. God's Word has made it very clear that He has called and He has gifted every single one of you.45:08this church. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, so often we get a gift and we don't say thank you, but Father, we thank you not just for the gift of your Holy Spirit himself who lives within us, but the gift that he has given each of us to serve you and your church. For some people here, Father, this is probably brand new teaching.45:38Never really considered this. And for some people here, Father, maybe we've known this and have sort of strayed from it. But I'm asking today, Father, that your Spirit would grip every heart in this church and grip the church collectively so that we truly, as the body of Christ, might represent the person of Christ.46:08as these spirits are at work in us. So Father, I pray for the person here who maybe has been coming to this church but just hasn't stepped up. Remind them, Father, it's not just a matter of the elders and pastors and ministry team would value your input. Remind them, Father, that you have equipped them to serve your church.46:38We do so to your glory and honor. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 12:1-11What was your big take-away from this passage / message?What does it mean that spiritual gifts are for the common good (1 Cor 12:7)?Are sign gifts such as healing and miracles still possessed by people today? Why or why not?Why is it important to understand that the Holy Spirit is the One Who chooses what gifts believers receive (1 Cor 12:11)?How do you know if a ministry is done by the power of the Holy Spirit, or done in the flesh (that is, just by “human power”)?BreakoutPray for one another.

Dr. Deb Muth 0:03What are the answers to your child’s chronic allergies, ADHD, or autism?weren’t just in another prescription, but in restoring balance to their body chemistry. Today’s guest has spent nearly two decades uncovering those answers through integrative and biomedical medicine. That’s a mouthful, isn’t it?Helping children heal when nothing else seemed to work.This is the conversation about science, compassion, and changing the future of pediatric care.Welcome back to Let’s Talk Wellness Now. The show where we uncover the root causes of chronic illness, explore regenerative breakthroughs, and empower you with the practical tools to heal. I’m your host, Dr. Deb, your medical detective, and today’s episode is one every patient should hear.My guest is Dr. Anu Usman Singh, Medical Director of True Health Medical Center in Naperville, Illinois, and the owner of Pure Compounding Pharmacy.And for over 17 years, she has been pioneering evidence-based integrative interventions for children with ADD, autism, allergies, and complex gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders. She’s not only a practicing physician, she’s a researcher who’s investigated copper-zinc imbalances.metallonine dysfunction, biofilm-related infections, vitamin D in pregnancy, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy.Dr. Usman serves on the executive board of TACA, and is a faculty member at MAPS, training other practitioners in pediatric integrative care. So get ready for a conversation that will open your mind and heart to the possibilities of when medicine truly becomes holistic.If you guys can insert the ad in here, that’d be great.Well, welcome back. I’m so excited to have Dr. Usman with me today. I have known her for, oh my gosh, 15, 17 years, something like that. We’re aging ourselves. Anju 02:32Oh, yeah, when we were in our 20s, right? Dr. Deb Muth 02:35Yes, exactly. So, welcome back, and I am so excited for you to be here, because you have literally helped thousands of families over the years.But I’d love for you to share a little bit about your journey, kind of who you are, what drew you into exploring integrative and biomedical approaches for helping children and families. Anju 02:58I think my journey is similar to a lot of you out there, the audience. I mean, we’re looking to help our families, and our kids, and ourselves, and I was doing my residency at Cook County Hospital, downtown Chicago, in the 80s.And I thought, oh my goodness, if I could take care of the sickest patients, then I can take care of anybody. So I came from Indiana, and I went to Cook County, and my children, my eldest daughter, started having, severe allergies and asthma, really, really at a young age.And I went to, like, my residence, and I went to my attendings, and I said, this baby is wheezing. And they told me, babies don’t have asthma.And I said, she has all the symptoms of asthma. She has asthma. And I remember with, in her crib, I would just nebulize her, you know, and I was like, what is going on?And I figured out that she had a lot of food allergies, and I was nursing her, eating the foods that she was allergic to, and back then, in the 80s, you know, we didn’t have the internet, we didn’t have Whole Foods, and I just…being a doctor, and I didn’t even know what to do, and I felt so hopeless. And I thought, gosh, you know, I’m a doctor, I have these, like, skills, I have… people I can talk to, and I still feel so… it’s so difficult. And then this… my particular daughter, the oldest one, her name is Priya, and she developed severe, asthma, and I couldn’t figure it out. She was in junior high. Every time she would walk into the lunchroom, she would have a severe asthma attack.And I’ll be like, what’s going on? What’s going on? I kept her home over the weekend, she was better. I sent her back to school, she was bad again.And we figured it out that it was other people eating peanuts. Dr. Deb Muth 04:54Severe peanut allergy. Anju 04:56And I went to the school, and I said, she…can you, like, put her somewhere else? Can… they said, oh, no, that’s not fair to other kids and their food. And this was in the 90s. Dr. Deb Muth 05:10Yeah. Anju 05:10And so, I just…You know, my heart goes out to families who are struggling to find answers for their kids, and my daughter Priya, the one I told you about, she ended up passing away from a peanut allergy.And so, I’ve just… Dr. Deb Muth 05:26Yeah. Anju 05:27My heart goes out to parents and my own kids and their illnesses.And so I just started working with families, with kids, andIt just kind of grew from there. Dr. Deb Muth 05:40Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and I think being a mom who went through that yourself, and…was seen but not heard, and turned away from the traditional medical community, you’re forced to start finding answers on your own. And we always feel like we’re on an island by ourselves in the medical world when we’re doing that. Anju 06:01Yeah, I, it was really hard when I found out, you know, about…Integrative medicine, and just different…ideas and approaches to diet and supplements, I thought, how come I wasn’t trained in any of this?And… Dr. Deb Muth 06:21So angry when I learned some of the things that I learned in the beginning. I was like, same thing, like, how did they not teach us this? And then I think, you know, it’s my fault, was I asleep, was I not paying attention, whatever. And then you just realize, like, there’s this whole part of the human body.That they just didn’t teach us. Anju 06:42Yeah, so then I… I, probably like you, we had to learn it on our own. There weren’t, like, classes or any way to learn this stuffAnd I just reached out. There’s a clinic that,I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Pfeiffer Treatment Center? Dr. Deb Muth 07:00No. Anju 07:01Do you know Carl Pfeiffer from the attendees.He has a clinic called the Pfeiffer Treatment Center in New Jersey. It was called the Princeton Brain Bio Center. Dr. Deb Muth 07:12And in the 70s, they did orthomolecular medicine for patients with ADD. Anju 07:18And schizophrenia. Dr. Deb Muth 07:20Mmm… Anju 07:21and depression.And they used to categorize them in 3 categories, and at the time, they called them histopenics, histidelics, and pyrolurics. Dr. Deb Muth 07:31Okay. Anju 07:32Histapenix were low histamine patients.Delix were high histamine patients, and pyrolurics were their own kind of category. We added another category of copper-zinc imbalances, and then we would categorize that population into high histamine, low histamine, pyrolurics, and copper-zinc.Now we talk about under-methylation, over-methylation. Sure. So, under-methylation is the, you know, the high histamine people, they can’t clear the histamine. And the over-methylators are, you know, what we call about low histamine now.And, and then pyrolurics and copper zinc. So…I lost my train of thought, but in the 80s, when I was going through this, in the 90s, I reached out to the Pfeiffer Treatment Center.He’s like, can I calm and just hang out and, like, see what you guys do? Because I need some answers.And I started working there and, started doing research on copper-zinc imbalances, and I did it in children with autism.And that’s how people started coming to me, and I kinda got, like. not famous, but I, you know, the word spread about, okay, we could talk about it, and Dr.Walsh was the, you know, PhD there that did a lot of the research, so we worked together for 8 years. Dr. Deb Muth 09:05Isn’t it crazy to think that we knew about histamine issues way back in the 70s? You know, I got the pleasure of being trained by, environmental medicine doctors. Dr. Wayne Konetsky and Glenn Toth taught me about environmental medicine, and what we called histamine issues that we call it today, mast cell, right? But when I was learning in the early 2000s, it was labeled as chemical sensitivity. And so it was just people that would react to everything, and we really didn’t know why, and they didn’t necessarily have this very specific allergic reaction, but we knew they were reacting, and we would try to treat them, to lower the histamine way back then. And it’s taken all these years, 25 years, to get to a point where we understand mast cell activation now, and histamine issues.And it’s really sad to me that it’s taking this long for us to identify things.And we’ve all got our journey, and I loved back in those days, too, because as I learned, I would call people up and say, hey, I just got a patient from you, and they told me this great story, and I have other people, can I come see what you were doing? And back then, everybody was very open. They were like, yes, please, come, learn. Now everybody’s like, oh, we can’t teach you, we can’t give you our secrets, but…Or pay me $20,000 to come learn with me. But back then, I mean, everybody was just… we were all in the same boat. We were all just trying to learn from each other. Anju 10:36Oh, yeah, oh yeah, and any bit of knowledge you got, you’re like… Dr. Deb Muth 10:41Yes. Anju 10:41God, you know, I learned this piece, and… Dr. Deb Muth 10:43Hmm? Anju 10:44We just kind of built from that. I keep thinking about back then, you know,the under-methylators, over-methylators, copper, zinc, and then I learned about metals.And then, as a physician, I was like, oh, okay, well, there’s mercury in vaccines, there’s aluminum in vaccines, and now I’m seeing these high levels. Dr. Deb Muth 11:04In my patients, now what happens? Anju 11:07And then we started, kind of, trying to get the word out about those things. Dr. Deb Muth 11:13Yeah. Anju 11:13And in 2000, a lot of the people that I knew put out a paper about, you know, mercury. Dr. Deb Muth 11:22And then… Anju 11:22And we all got on the Mercury bandwagon. Dr. Deb Muth 11:25Yes. Anju 11:26And did that for a while, and then we started learning about other things, like mitochondrial issues in chronically ill people, and these chronic infections, like Lyme disease, and so… and then now, you know, understanding mast cell activation, cell danger response. Dr. Deb Muth 11:44On endocrine, and adrenals, and hormones, and… Anju 11:48Yeah. Dr. Deb Muth 11:49biofilms. Anju 11:50Biofilms, I started talking about that in 2007. Dr. Deb Muth 11:54And so then… Anju 11:56It just… it just kind of keeps adding, and keeps adding, and keeps adding, and it’s like…Sometimes you think, how come I didn’t know about this back then? But I feel like it’s a process. Dr. Deb Muth 12:06It definitely is a process, and it’s amazing to seehow many people are researching different things, and they’re all, like, putting a piece of the puzzle together. And I think this is really important for our listeners to understand, is when you see a practitioner and they don’t have all the answers, this is why. It’s very complicated, it’s not black and white. And I’ve had patients over the years say to me, well, why didn’t you say this to me 6 months ago? And the truth of the matter was, I didn’t knowabout it 6 months ago. Like, all of this stuff is just… it’s evolving constantly, and when you’re a practitioner like Dr. Usman and myself, you are learning every single day. Our training has never stopped from the day we stepped into integrated medicine, and you just… you keep learning new things, and sharing new things, and talking to new people, and that’s what expands our knowledge base. Anju 12:57Yeah, the more I learn, the less I feel like I know. Dr. Deb Muth 13:01Yes, me too. Every time I go to a conference, I’m like, how did I not know this? How am I stupid? And I know we shouldn’t say that word and call ourselves that, but sometimes you feel like that. It’s like, how did I not know? Anju 13:14Or you’ll see a patient, and you’ll look at them, and you’re like, how come I didn’t realize this about this particular patient? Dr. Deb Muth 13:20Yes. Anju 13:21Yeah, they present differently, see things differently. I think that’s why it’s good to find a doctor that you trust and that you can work with, because it’s evolving. Dr. Deb Muth 13:31Yes. And, you know, we have those patients that they come, and I get those. I call myself, like, a tertiary care center. Anju 13:38You know, you get those patients that have been everywhere, and seen every doctor, and then they’re like, you’re my last hope, you’re gonna solve all my problems, and…I say to them. We’re a team, like, we’re gonna solve these together, but it takes time for me to unravel this puzzle. Dr. Deb Muth 13:54Excuse me? Anju 13:54And it… and sometimes, you know, there’s a few hits and misses along the way. Dr. Deb Muth 14:00Yup, but if. Anju 14:00If we keep at it, you know, we also say it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Yes. You know, if we keep at it, we can kind of figure it out together. Dr. Deb Muth 14:09Yeah, and a partnership, for sure, because without the feedback of the person you’re working with.understanding, like, we do this, and this happens to you, it’s very complicated as a practitioner to then be able to figure out, what do we do next? I see more and more clients these days, they come in and they just want to ask me within the first 5 minutes of, what am I changing? And I’m like, I have no clue yet. Like, you have to tell me what’s happened since the last time we did something, and then we have to look at labs, and we have to look at this, and we… it’s a synopsis.that we have to look at. You know, it’s not that black and white for us to be able to put the pieces together for them. Anju 14:47I think my most successful patients are the ones who are able to communicate with me.Their ups and downs. Yeah. And they also use their own intuition. Help me guide them. Dr. Deb Muth 15:06Yeah. Anju 15:07So, there are some people that they just hear, you do it, and you tell me.There are people who try to tell me everything. Dr. Deb Muth 15:15Okay. Anju 15:15Say, I want you to do this, do this, do this. Dr. Deb Muth 15:17Yeah, so I was like, okay. Anju 15:19I can do those things, but, you know, like. Dr. Deb Muth 15:21Yep. Anju 15:22think about blah blah. But, like, this… that collaboration.and, intuition. I kind of feel like even thoughI’ve trained allopathically as a traditional medical doctor. I feel like as I learn, I learn that being open and,Letting go of fear. Dr. Deb Muth 15:46Yeah. Anju 15:47And, not trying to jump on every, like, new thing, and being. Dr. Deb Muth 15:53consistent. Anju 15:54and diligent. really helps. Dr. Deb Muth 15:58It helps a ton. We see that, too, you know, the latest…Instagram influencer that’s talking about the latest topic, and all of a sudden, everybody sees themselves in there, and they must have that, but not realizing putting those connections together. It’s like when MTHFR came out, right? We were all so excited that this was going to be the detox gene.And then we learned so much more about genes, and now MTHFR is very popular again, and everyone’s talking about it, but they don’t understand how some of those other genetics fit together. And if you don’t understand that, we’ve all done it, we’ve all made people worse instead of better, sometimes when we’ve given too many methyl groups together, or this supplement without this support before we knew that there was another gene that we had to support for that.And I think it’s really important for people that are listening to us today talk about this, is don’t just jump on the bandwagon. Like, you really want to work with somebody seasoned who understands how all these pieces fit together. Anju 16:57Yeah, and I think that’s what individualized medicine is about.And there is no magic here, a magic bullet.I think that example of MTHFR is really good. Now, President Trump talked about Leukovorin. Dr. Deb Muth 17:14Yes. Anju 17:15in, and, you know, he’ll get up and say something like, leukovorin cures autism.And then the rest of us are like…Did you just say that? Dr. Deb Muth 17:26Yep, he did. Anju 17:30It’s folinic acid, it’s calcium folinic acid, it’s been around a long time. We’ve been using it for 20 years. Dr. Deb Muth 17:37Yeah. Anju 17:38But it does help a subset of people who potentially have what we call cerebral folate deficiency.And some of those people are misdiagnosed as autism. Dr. Deb Muth 17:50Yeah. Anju 17:51So, are you treating autism, or are you treating cerebral folate deficiency?same thing I could say about… I have a lot of cases of kids who recovered from autism.and severe ADHD using chelation type of. Dr. Deb Muth 18:06up. Anju 18:06Approaches, or detox approaches.again, did we treat their ADD and their autism, or did we treat their lead…Toxicity or lead burden, and their symptoms of those things got better. Dr. Deb Muth 18:20Yeah. Anju 18:20So, like, to put a big, like, a label like, oh, ADD on something, or autism on something, I think it does a disserviceTo the individuals, because it’s such a broad issue. Dr. Deb Muth 18:35It is, and I think the diagnosis has gotten to be much more popular these days.And yes, thank goodness we’re getting better diagnostics, but sometimes we’re getting over-diagnosis, or like you said, it may look like one thing, but it could be something else, but because it looks like autism, they’re going to get labeled with autism.And in some respects, that’s good, they can get more services that way, but sometimes we’re missing the actual picture of it. Can you talk a little bit about how autism is different than the cerebral folate deficiency? Anju 19:11Yeah, so there are some people that make an antibody to their folate receptor. Dr. Deb Muth 19:18Hmm. Anju 19:20So, to get folic acid into your cells, there’s a receptor on your cells. Dr. Deb Muth 19:25And then the folate has to bind to it, and then it lets it enter into the cells. Anju 19:30And there’s these receptors that allow folic acid to get into your brain.Now, you and I know when you put folate in your brain.On one end of the folate cycle, you help make more neurotransmitters. You’ll make something called BH4, and that’ll help make serotonin and dopamine, and then norepinephrine and epinephrine. So folate is really important for making your neurotransmitters, folate and B12.On the other end, it’s like, another cycle on the other end of folate is our methylation cycle.And methylation is so important for our RNA and our DNA, and making choline, phosphatoly choline, and making creatine for speech.And helping us with all the precursors for detoxification.So without folate in our brain, we can’t make our neurotransmitters efficiently, we can’t break them down efficiently, and we can’t detox our brain.Imagine what that will do to your brain. Dr. Deb Muth 20:36Yeah, Anju 20:37And you will see symptoms like speech delays, cognitive delays, processing issues, poor attention.All of those things. Excitation, anxiety.All of those, and so if the folate isn’t getting into the brain efficiently, then we’ll have all these symptoms, and we’ll end up with diagnoses like these. Dr. Deb Muth 20:59Yeah, so is there a way that people who are listening to this can request a test to see if they make this antibody to folate, or is it more of a diagnosis of exclusion? Anju 21:14That’s a great question. When I first started doing this, like, 20 years ago, there was, like, a university that was doing this.studies, and it was Dr. Quadros. He was the guy, and we would take samples and send them to his lab, and he would tell us about these blocking and binding. Dr. Deb Muth 21:30folate antibodies. Anju 21:32And if patients had positive blocking or binding folate antibodies, we would follow his protocol. And he’s done papers on patients with severe autism.Where he found these folate antibodies, and then did spinal taps on the kids, and they were associated with this cerebral folate deficiency. the cerebral… spinal fluid.And in his papers, he gave .5 to 2 milligrams per kilogram of calcium folinic acid, which is leukovorin. It’s a vitamin. And over a 6-month to a 12-month period.The majority of those patients improved drastically.Some of them regained speech, and some of them lost their autism diagnosis. Dr. Deb Muth 22:26Because they never truly had autism. Anju 22:29Well, they have autism symptoms, and that’s what autism is, but we call it autisms. Dr. Deb Muth 22:36Yeah. Anju 22:37And so now, like, we need the research to categorize these people. You know, what percentage of autism is cerebral folate deficiency? Yeah. What percentage of autism is, heavy metal. Dr. Deb Muth 22:51Bourbon. Anju 22:52And what percentage of autism is Clostridia overgrowth, or… Dr. Deb Muth 22:57Hmm. Anju 22:57microbiome… Dysfunction, and then there’s overlap. Dr. Deb Muth 23:01Right, yeah, Lyme and mold and viruses. Anju 23:04and infections, and you can see… Dr. Deb Muth 23:07injury from medications and things like that that happen, or birth traumas. Yeah, I mean, it’s not… it’s not as simple as what people think autism is.Why do you think that we’re seeing so much more autism today than when you and I were kids? We didn’t see this that often. I know environment has a lot to do with it, but do you have a couple of things that you suspect are contributing to the rise of autism these days? Anju 23:38Yeah, I mean, that’s a million dollar question. Dr. Deb Muth 23:40Right. Anju 23:41And, just because I work with children, you know it’s not just autism that’s epidemic, and yeah. Dr. Deb Muth 23:49You know that. I mean, it’s… it’s probably… if you add all the epidemics that are happening to children. Anju 23:54Autism still supersedes it.Now it’s 1 in 33s, 1 in 35 boys, I mean, it’s…children. It’s really sad. When I was in med school, it was 1 in 10,000. Dr. Deb Muth 24:10That’s crazy. Anju 24:11What’s causing it? I mean, obviously it’s multifactorial. Dr. Deb Muth 24:15Yeah, 80,000 chemicals in the environment that we never had before. Anju 24:20I, I, I, look, I’ve… 219 million. Dr. Deb Muth 24:26Oh my gosh. Anju 24:27I looked it up today. Dr. Deb Muth 24:29119 million different chemicals in the environment. Wow. Anju 24:33We don’t know how many of those are super toxic. Dr. Deb Muth 24:36Yeah, and we don’t know what they do together. Anju 24:38A lot of them were, like, before, like, grandfathered in and all of that.Yeah, it’s really crazy about the chemicals. So, chemicals… I kind of… feel like…you know, this burden of all this, it’s not just on our children, it’s on our mothers. Dr. Deb Muth 24:56Yes. Anju 24:56oh my gosh, the moms of these children that… And they don’t even realize it, you know, we’re just so happy to be pregnant and have a kid.So I think it really, really starts with that piece. Care, good prenatal care, yeah. Yeah, and not just what we think is prenatal care, taking your prenatal vitamins. Dr. Deb Muth 25:18Yes. Anju 25:19And going to your gynecologist, but what you and I think is prenatal care, you know, before you get pregnant, let’s detox, let’s clean up our diet, let’s get rid of those chemicals, let’s make sure we’re not in a moldy environment.You know, let’s do our due diligence, clean air, clean water, clean food, sunshine. When I did my residency at county, I don’t think I saw the sun for 3 years. Dr. Deb Muth 25:44How?Yeah. Anju 25:46it’s just that intense, and I was pregnant twice, and my eldest hasthe allergies and asthma. Number 2 is type 1 diabetes and mold sensitivities and allergies and asthma. Number 3 has severe chemical sensitivities, mast cell activation,Hormonal issues. Dr. Deb Muth 26:09Yeah. Anju 26:09And… number 4 is my… Golden, baby. Dr. Deb Muth 26:15And those three, you know, those years that you’re there, and you’re not seeing the sunlight, there’s vitamin D deficiency, and we don’t talk about vitamin D that much during pregnancy.I still am appalled that we’re giving folic acid these days during pregnancy instead of folate, but… Anju 26:36Folenic, or methylfolate? Dr. Deb Muth 26:38Yeah, nothing. So, when, when you,discovered vitamin D in pregnancy, and it’s linked to neurodevelopment outcomes. How did you stumble across that? Anju 26:50Well, in… when I started working on Copper Zinc, Dr. Walsh and I would go to the, like, DAN conferences.Yeah. At the time, and it was interesting, because DAM conferences were a collaboration between parents.And practitioners, and researchers. Dr. Deb Muth 27:10Very unique for. Anju 27:11That’s how that new IACC committee is. It’s a collaboration of parents. Dr. Deb Muth 27:17Hmm. Anju 27:18Practitioners, researchers, And individuals with autism. Dr. Deb Muth 27:25Yeah, so for those of you who are listening to us, it’s… we’re talking about the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee that Bobby Kennedy just put together. It’s called IACC, and they are on a mission to try to do the research to figure out what’s causing autism. Anju 27:43Yeah, and not just causing it, like, these people have been living it, most of the people on that committee have been living it, and their whole lives, for some of them.And being able to bring forwardlike the question about vitamin D, we started seeing a lot of patients in Minnesota. Dr. Deb Muth 28:04Mmm. Anju 28:05who were from Somalia. Dr. Deb Muth 28:08Okay. Anju 28:09Who were… it was, like, 1 in 4 families with kids with autism.And the theory was that the vitamin D levels that they get in Somalia versus the vitamin D levels that the moms get in Minnesota. Dr. Deb Muth 28:27Hmm? Anju 28:28Affected the immune system. Dr. Deb Muth 28:31Yeah. Anju 28:32predispose them. So there’s a few papers on that. Dr. Deb Muth 28:36Yeah, that’s a… I mean, it would be a very significant difference, and when you’re thinking about genetically, like, what their culture, who they are as a species.was used to and adapted to with the sunlight and different things from a different region, geographical region, and then they moved to a new geographical region, that can take decades before the body adapts and readjusts.to that new environment. We don’t think about those things in…traditional medicine, and conventional medicine, as most people know it, but we do in functional medicine. Anju 29:14Yeah, so again, the clinicians were bringing this up, like, why am I seeing so many families? Dr. Deb Muth 29:18Yeah. Anju 29:18Then let me go to the… and then in the think tank, the vitamin D researcher said it’s vitamin D. Dr. Deb Muth 29:24Yeah. Anju 29:25And then they started researching it, and it was almost like a backwards… backwards. Dr. Deb Muth 29:31Thank you. You know, they didn’t first… Anju 29:33Think it. Dr. Deb Muth 29:34Think about it, yeah. Anju 29:35Until you start seeing… and that’s why I think that, like.clinicians like you and me, who are… I consider us on the front lines. We’re the front lines. We are seeing… we’re seeing this epidemic unfold. Dr. Deb Muth 29:46Yes. Anju 29:47front of our eyes, we’re seeing, like, the gut issues and the severe inflammation. We’re seeing the autoimmunity, and now they have to study it. Dr. Deb Muth 29:57Yeah. Anju 29:57They have to study this. They really, really, we really need, we really need protocols, we need tools, we need things that you and I have been figuring out anecdotally with our colleagues over the years, and, oh, how do we treat yeast? How do we treat Lyme? How do we treat metal burden?For this podcast today, I wanted to talk about low-level lead exposure, because for me.1 in 3 children have a lead level, above 5. 1 and 3. Dr. Deb Muth 30:31Yeah, that’s very high. Anju 30:33800 million children. Dr. Deb Muth 30:36And let’s clarify this, because the first thing people are going to think of is, what are they eating? They’re not eating lead paint to get this. That is not what’s happening here. They are getting lead from someplace else, and their bodies are not able to detox this. Anju 30:53And the reason I’m bringing this up is because when I was in residency at County in the 90s, I ran a… I worked at a lead clinic. Dr. Deb Muth 31:01And back then. Anju 31:03When we looked… we just diagnosed lead toxicity, the level was 60. Dr. Deb Muth 31:10Their level had to be 60 to diagnose them. Anju 31:13Correct. Dr. Deb Muth 31:13Oh my gosh. Anju 31:14And that’s when we would treat.And back then, there was a study, it’s called the TLC study, where they used DMSA, which is a drug to lower lead.And our goal was to get it from 60 to 20. Dr. Deb Muth 31:33And was the normal range the same back then as it is today? Anju 31:37The normal range has gone from 60 to 40 to 20 to 10 to 5 to 3.5.But you and I know I’m the normal range. Dr. Deb Muth 31:47Yes. Anju 31:47Zero. Dr. Deb Muth 31:48Zero. Anju 31:50So… so again, in my… in the lead clinic, we were given DMSA, and we got the lead from 60 to 20, and the number one thing was to get rid of the lead in the environment. Dr. Deb Muth 32:02Yeah. Anju 32:03But we haven’t evolved since then.Because in that study, It did not improve cognitive abilities. So if you think about what lead does, it causes attention issues, slow processing, it affects hearing, it can cause hyperactivity, it can cause impulsivity, it can cause aggression, it can cause constipation, it can cause hypotonia.So if you think about all these kids with ADD and autism, how many of them have low-level lead exposure from the lead pipes? In Chicago, it’s a big, a big problem. Dr. Deb Muth 32:37Yeah, Milwaukee. Anju 32:38Everybody thinks Flint, Michigan, but Flint, Michigan is not the only place. Dr. Deb Muth 32:42Right. Our infrastructure is so terrible, it has not been updated, and even though you might look in your house and you might see a white PVC or plastic pipe, what’s coming under the ground to the house in the cities is usually still lead. Anju 32:58Right. Right. Dr. Deb Muth 33:00Yeah. Anju 33:01So, I guess the point is, is that…the… the idea of, like, studying this. So, again, they study this, and they say, well, we’re not going to treat low-level lead exposure because it doesn’t improve their cognition.But did they really treat it? Dr. Deb Muth 33:18Right. We got it from 60… we got it from 60 to 20. Right. But when I know, where is the lead hiding? Anju 33:24So high. Look at the bones, it’s gonna be coming out. It’s gonna be coming out, especially during puberty. What happens to some of our kids during puberty? They just go a little wonky. Comes out again during menopause. Dr. Deb Muth 33:38Yes. Anju 33:39I don’t know, male menopause, too. Like, we’re all losing bone mass then, and our lead is coming out, our blood pressure goes up. So, again, these are some of the areas that I think, like, really need some… hard… looks. Dr. Deb Muth 33:53Right, yeah. So, what are you hopeful about this committee? Like, are you hopeful that this committee is going to be able to research some of these big things, and we’re really going to be able to find answers around some of the functional things and the biochemical things that we see, you and I know happen in the body, that might give some standardization and education to practitioners in the future. Anju 34:23Well, I think this committee understands the scope of the issues.And they’re coming from different perspectives, like I mentioned, research. Dr. Deb Muth 34:33Yeah. Anju 34:35really highly qualified MDs. MDs like you and me, who have been on the front lines. moms. Dr. Deb Muth 34:43Yeah. Anju 34:44dads, patience, And so, the strategy would be to get, again, their input, and then…get the places… people in places to do their research. And even make some guidelines and some, like, you know, thoughts about what we want to put out there. Dr. Deb Muth 35:05Yeah. Anju 35:05You know, how do we want to strategize for… Dr. Deb Muth 35:08Prevention. Anju 35:10Like, the pre-pregnancy thing. Dr. Deb Muth 35:12Yeah, I’m really hopeful that this doesn’t become a… political football,And it doesn’t get taken away if the administration changes or whatever, because people need to understand that this kind of researchthis is going to take decades for people to do. Granted, we have AI, and AI can help a little bit and get some things quicker.But trying to figure out all of these nuances to why the body does what it does is not gonna be, like, next week we’re gonna find out that this was the single cause, and I know a lot of people, they’re afraid of the vaccines, and that’s gonna be the sole answer.And that has a piece of it, but it is just a small piece of it for some people larger, but at the end of the day, that’s not what this is about. This isn’t about just labeling one thing that is the cause of autism, because it is not one thing. It is so multifactorial. Anju 36:09And I think that whole cause, I know,A lot of money has gone into. Dr. Deb Muth 36:16Yeah. Anju 36:16looking at that. They’re looking for the gene, right? The gene that causes it, and… Dr. Deb Muth 36:23answer. Anju 36:24They have not… they’ve spent millions of dollars looking for this.And it’s not gonna pan out. It’s not. Dr. Deb Muth 36:33I’m not. Anju 36:34pan out. It’s more complex, like we’re talking about. Dr. Deb Muth 36:38Yeah. Anju 36:38And, I do think that sometimes, you know.Even though, like, politically, it seems like it’s a political topic, but it has zero to do with politics. Dr. Deb Muth 36:52Yeah, exactly. This is our children. This is the future of our country, the world. I mean, America’s not the only place that has kids with autism. I mean, this is the future of humanity. If we don’t figure out what’s injuring our children, there will not be a humanity that you and I have seen. It will be different. And, and this is important, we owe it to the future of our generations, we owe it to our children to figure this out and clean up our environment, and make it safe for everybody. Anju 37:24Yeah. Clean up our air, clean up our water, clean up our food… Dr. Deb Muth 37:29Yeah. Anju 37:30You know, our lifestyle a little bit, but… Dr. Deb Muth 37:32hoodie? Anju 37:33It’s… it’s… it’s everywhere. I travel all over. Dr. Deb Muth 37:36Bye. Anju 37:37Consult with doctors in different countries, in Italy, in India, Bulgaria, Romania… Dr. Deb Muth 37:46Yeah. And. Anju 37:48we’re going to Australia for med maps to treat doctors in, in April. And it’s a problem everywhere. Dr. Deb Muth 38:00Yeah. Anju 38:01really big problem, and it affects everybody. Even if you don’t have a child with autism or a grandchild with autism, it’s still affecting families, becauseI kind of think of ADD as being on the spectrum, in the sense thatI think the same kind of positive issues that lead to the autism are causing the ADD, just to… you know, your genetics are playing a little bit of a different role, whatever… whatever protection you have is a bit more there, but we’re seeing kind of, like, similar metabolic… issues in our ADD population. Dr. Deb Muth 38:43Yeah. Yeah, there’s so many different levels of this, and it does affect everyone. Like, I think everybody knows… a family or someone in their classroom or their school or their community that’s affected by, definitely, ADHD, Asperger’s, autism, all of those things, whether you’re high functioning or not functioning or whatever.everything is affected. The school system is affected, your social circles are affected, your families are affected.the healthcare is affected. I mean, everything is affected. We owe it to our families and our communities to help people try to figure this out. Anju 39:22Yeah, and I think even if it’s not ADD, or ADHD, or autism we’re talking about, or even OCD, anxiety, depression, I mean, you know… Dr. Deb Muth 39:33Candace? Anju 39:34Any kind of chronic illness that people are dealing with has underpinnings of these kinds of, you know, issues. Dr. Deb Muth 39:43Yeah. Anju 39:44Any autoimmune issue? That’s great. Dr. Deb Muth 39:48inflammatory syndrome that we’re seeing these days, I mean, the pants-pandas piece, the biofilms, the strep, I mean, our environment is just so laden with infections and biofilms, and And, you know, when you and I first were learning about this, we never thought anything could cross the blood-brain barrier, right? It was pristine, there’s nothing getting in there unless you could drive it in there, and now we know that’s different, and now we’re seeing bugs in the brains of people who have had Alzheimer’s disease and dementia because they’ve donated their brains for research, and we can see what’s crossing the blood-brain barrier, and it’s really scary. Anju 40:24Yeah, yeah. There’s a lot of things we don’t know. Remember when we just found out that they… the brain had a lymphatic system? Dr. Deb Muth 40:33And that wasn’t About, what, 5, 6 years ago? 7 years ago, maybe? Yeah, not that long ago. Anju 40:38You’d be like, why wouldn’t the brain have a lymphatic system? Dr. Deb Muth 40:41Yeah! Yep. Anju 40:44Yeah, so things get in and out. Dr. Deb Muth 40:46They, they definitely. Anju 40:47You know, they get in easier than they get out, I think. Dr. Deb Muth 40:50I agree, I think they do, for sure, for sure. You know, when you’re talking to a family who’s undergoing issues like this, what’s the role, do you feel, in personalized nutrition to help them make things better? Anju 41:10I kind of go through, like, a little bit of a start here, start there, and then do this. I always start, number one, I say, okay, you gotta clean up your environment, because… We gotta do that. Dr. Deb Muth 41:24But that’s a… Anju 41:24process. And then number 2 for me is cleaning up the diet. And then, when you say personalized nutrition. To me, figuring out what is a good diet for the individual. Dr. Deb Muth 41:38Makes it a little bit difficult. Yeah. Anju 41:41I mean, there is, like, healthy eating concepts, where, you know, eat upside-down food pyramid kind of concept, I guess, is the new one, but whole foods, whole grains, organic as much as possible, especially for animal products, good fats, avoiding, you know, hydrogenated oils, and those seed oils, and… Just some basics, and then individualizing for my patients, a lot of people with any kind of autoimmune condition, and we kind of put autism in that neuroimmune, autoimmune, inflammatory That, gluten-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free kind of go there, like, as a given. If there’s a lot of gut issues, a lot of our folks have oxalate issues. And then we have to sometimes do low or limited oxalate diets. Many of my patients can’t convert glutamate to GABA efficiently. Dr. Deb Muth 42:44Yeah. So, high glutamates associated with OCD, and kind of looping or repetitive behaviors. Anju 42:51So, low-glutamate diets. And then some of my patients have SIBO, and then we do the low FODMAPs diet, and then some of my patients have messel, and we’ll do the fail-safe kind of concept with the fail-safe diet, so nutrition can get a little bit complex for certain people, but there are some basics, and then there are some, like, more of… Individual, kind of, diet approaches. And then there’s supplementation. There’s some things that I call foundational. For me, certain things most people need that have a chronic illness. Dr. Deb Muth 43:26Yeah. Anju 43:26Vitamin D3 is one of those. Omega-3s are another one for most. And then, because I did a lot of research on copper, zinc, I think 3 mineral… 4 minerals. I feel like people underdo minerals. They’re so important. Every single enzyme has a mineral cofactor, so… zinc is really important for my population with autism and ADD. 99% of them had high copper or low zinc in. Dr. Deb Muth 43:58Wow. Anju 43:59Over 400 patients that we tested. Dr. Deb Muth 44:01Wow. Anju 44:03And, magnesium.So, zinc, magnesium, and then the other two minerals I really like are selenium for glutathione. and molybdenum for sulfation, and glycolysis. So… So those are kind of my foundational pieces, and then I like to work on the gut next. So, from a nutritional perspective, prebiotics are my new favorite. Dr. Deb Muth 44:29Yeah, we go in and out with prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics. Anju 44:34Yeah, exactly, symbiotics. Dr. Deb Muth 44:36Yes, exactly, exactly. Anju 44:38demos, and… Dr. Deb Muth 44:40Yeah. Anju 44:40So yeah, biofilm busting, and all of that, so… And then I go into my other nitty-gritty stuff, like you probably do. Dr. Deb Muth 44:47individualized, right? So, you created, True Healing Nature, a supplement line, a supplement company, correct? Anju 44:56Yeah, True Hing Naturals. Dr. Deb Muth 44:58Truly Naturals, okay. Anju 44:59True, he is hard. Dr. Deb Muth 45:01Oats! Anju 45:01True! Dr. Deb Muth 45:01Healing natural. Got it, sorry about that. Tell us a little bit about what made you decide to create a supplement company. Was it because you couldn’t find formulations that you wanted? Couldn’t find clean products? That’s a big problem for people, for sure. Anju 45:19Yeah, a little bit of both. I told you that my kids were really sensitive, they had a lot. Dr. Deb Muth 45:23I know. Anju 45:24And when I would even try to give them things like ibuprofen. Dr. Deb Muth 45:28or Benadryl. Anju 45:30For allergies, they couldn’t tolerate the products that were over-the-counter. Dr. Deb Muth 45:35Yeah. Anju 45:35So, in 2007, I opened a compounding pharmacy so I could make things clean for them. Dr. Deb Muth 45:42Yeah. Anju 45:43And I thought it was so valuable. And so then I started seeing, like, certain issues with my patient population, for instance, say, mitochondrial issues. So, I would compound a mito cocktail. in my pharmacy. And then I had True Healing Naturals manufacture it, so I didn’t have to have patients get it compounded. Dr. Deb Muth 46:08Got it. Anju 46:09So that particular product’s called Mito Rescue. Okay. But then, I started… I do a lot of oats testing. Organic acid urine tests. Dr. Deb Muth 46:19Yeah. Anju 46:20But there’s, like, a marker on there for, oxalates, and I saw a lot of patients with oxalates, and oxalates inhibit some… an enzyme called, pyruvate decarboxylase. And that basically means you can’t take your carbs and turn them into energy. Dr. Deb Muth 46:38Okay. Anju 46:39So, if I saw this pattern with high oxalates and high pyruvic acid, I knew that that enzyme wasn’t working very well, and that enzyme is B1, molybdenum, and biotin dependent. So, I started compounding doses of that. And then I turned that into a product called Motor Connect, because high doses of biotin help with connectivity in the cerebellum. Dr. Deb Muth 47:08Got it. So, I did come… kind of start with the compounding pharmacy, try it, use it, and then turn it into. Anju 47:17products, and I have one for copper-zinc imbalances called True Minerals. Dr. Deb Muth 47:21Yeah, to fix the problems that were not commercially available. Could you talk a little bit for people who don’t understand what a compounding pharmacy is? Anju 47:32So, when you guys go to a pharmacy, you, you know, you send a prescription, and it’s already, it’s manufactured, and you get it. Well, a compounding pharmacy actually makes that for you. So they get the raw ingredients, and then they make that prescription. So it’s still prescription-based. But, for instance, say, I want Nystatin. And I go to Walgreens or CVS, and the nystatin there is a liquid, and it has yellow dyes and sugar. Dr. Deb Muth 48:02Yep. Or it’s a title, and it’s red. Anju 48:04or it’s bread, and a tablet, and I, like, oh, I want to treat the yeast, but I don’t want to use this. So I sent my nystatin prescription to a compounding pharmacy, and it’s Nystatin. That’s what you got. Yep. Dr. Deb Muth 48:17disappear. Anju 48:18So, pure compounding pharmacy, it’s pure, it’s pure stuff. Especially for our mast cell people. They’re so sensitive, and, you know, my kids are all mast cell, and so I just find that excipients, some people will say, oh, this doesn’t work, and I said, it’s probably the excipient that’s stimulating your mast cell activation. So, yeah. So, compounding pharmacies, You know, with all the big, kind of. conglomerates and big companies, they’ve become… they used to be, like, mom-and-pop kind of places. And my pharmacy is like that. It’s just… it’s… it’s a few of us, and we… we do it, and it’s nothing big or fancy, but we get the job done. So, we compound things like methylcobalamin injections, hydroxycobalamin, low-dose naltrexone. Different things for chelation. So, it’s nice. I love having it. Dr. Deb Muth 49:11Yeah, the compounding pharmacies really have made a huge difference for people who are sensitive. You know, so many ingredients are contaminated with corn and gluten and soy and dairy and all the big things that we want to stay away from, especially if we’re trying to treat the immune system. And even if the manufacturer says that’s not in our product. it’s contaminated, usually, because they’re usually preparing it in a facility that has those things floating around. Right. And for people who are really sensitive, that’s going to create some issues. Anju 49:45Yeah, people who are sensitive are sensitive to parts per trillion. Dr. Deb Muth 49:48Yeah. Anju 49:49I found that with my daughter with chemical sensitivity. You don’t have to see it, or you don’t have to smell it, but they could react to it. Dr. Deb Muth 49:55Yeah. And, a lot of these, like. Anju 49:58These different, substances, for instance, like enzymes, even the natural enzymes. Dr. Deb Muth 50:03They’re cultured in Aspergillus. Anju 50:07And so they’re extracted from mold. Dr. Deb Muth 50:10Yeah. Anju 50:11And so the really mold-sensitive people will maybe take a digestive enzyme, and they’ll have a reaction, and they’ll not understand why. Yeah. But it’s not because of the enzyme, it’s because of where it’s coming from. Dr. Deb Muth 50:22Yeah, where it’s cultured from. And if you have mold toxicity and mold sensitivity, and we’re looking at your mold test, wondering why are you getting a hit while we’re trying to clear it out, sometimes we forget that those products, and a variety of products that we used are cultured from molds. Yeah. Anju 50:40Yeah, yeah. It’s hard for the laypeople to understand all. Dr. Deb Muth 50:45You know. Anju 50:45of these pieces, but I think that… It used to be, like, the insurance companies would cover prescriptions from compounding pharmacies, but over the years, the lobbying and all of that has gotten so intense where, you know, a lot of that ends up out of pocket, but it’s really… it doesn’t really get that much more expensive than a copay would be. Dr. Deb Muth 51:05Right, right. Anju 51:06People just don’t know about it, yeah. Dr. Deb Muth 51:08Yeah, absolutely. So, you’ve been doing this now for more than 17 years, and you’ve made some remarkable progress with your patients. Can you share some success stories that still inspire you to do what you do every day? Anju 51:27I don’t know about you, but, like, when you first start, I think, God puts you… God puts all those really gray cases in front of you, because you’re like, whoa! Dr. Deb Muth 51:37Yes, and maybe… Anju 51:38I gave this patient methylcobalamin, and they started talking. Yeah. So methyl B12 back in the day was huge. you know, Dr. Nebrander’s protocol, and we would use that, and we would get speech, and… I mean, I’ve… it’s just… there’s hundreds of cases. There’s hundreds of cases, and same with Leukovorin now. Not for everybody, but when it really works, it’s really, really decent. Dr. Deb Muth 52:07Yeah, and worth a try, you know, if… if we suspect that’s what’s going on, these things are worth a try, because sometimes you just never know what’s going to be the key that unlocks the answer for them. Anju 52:19Yeah, but I think, you know, like, I can say… chelation, or… you know, I can, like, throw out a bunch of stuff. Dr. Deb Muth 52:26Okay. Anju 52:27In terms of, like, I’ve… I… I have those families, and I have those kids who are just… they’re just amazing, and they’re in college, and having jobs, and having kids, and… Dr. Deb Muth 52:38Yeah. Anju 52:38you know, all of that, but I think, you know, the ones that really strike me are the ones that I have to work really hard to get. Dr. Deb Muth 52:44And then we’. Anju 52:45they go, it’s not like, oh, I just did the diet, I’m cured, or I did this, and I’m better, or… Right. And I have those cases where the parents come to me and they say, I never thought my kid would Be going to college. And I never thought we would be here. So, those are the ones that really, like, when I get the little notes, or the, like, the college or the high school graduation pictures, and they… and some of them, you know, you lose touch with because they don’t need me anymore. Dr. Deb Muth 53:19Yeah. Anju 53:20And then you hear about it later. And then, I think the ones that don’t get better are the ones that, like, sit with me the most They just sit with me, and we’ve had this population of children with severe apraxia. So, apraxia is a motor planning issue, but if you saw these patients, you would think that they were… mentally deficient. Dr. Deb Muth 53:44Hmm. Anju 53:45Because they can’t talk. Dr. Deb Muth 53:46Yeah. Anju 53:47They’re the classic person that you would see that looks autistic. You know, running around, excited, verbal stimming, no speech. Dr. Deb Muth 53:57Hmm. Anju 53:58And that group of patients are incredibly Brilliant. And we are just finding out about how smart they are. There’s a book called Underestimated by J.B. Hanley and his son Jamie. JV has all the resources in the world. He used to put those ads in the New York Times about autism and vaccines. He could take his kid anywhere and do any treatment, and still, we… Blocked. Locked. Couldn’t get through. Couldn’t get through. And they started, spelling. To communicate, and this speller’s method, and it just opened a door. And it opened a door for so many of my patients who are metabolically challenged, so we do help them metabolically. Getting that ability to communicate. Some of them never got high school diplomas, and they went back to get their high school diplomas so they could go to college. Dr. Deb Muth 54:56Oh, wow, that’s amazing stories. Anju 54:59Yeah, and Elizabeth Bonker is one of those spellers, and she… she was a valedictorian in her high school, college. And she did a valedictorian speech that went. Viral, and she’s one of the people on that committee. Dr. Deb Muth 55:13That’s awesome. Anju 55:14He’s non-speaking. She… she can’t not speak. Dr. Deb Muth 55:20Wow. Anju 55:21But they asked her to be on this committee. Dr. Deb Muth 55:24That’s fantastic. Anju 55:26Huge. Dr. Deb Muth 55:27That’s huge. It is huge. There’s a way she can communicate, she just can’t verbalize the way you and I verbalize. Anju 55:34She’s brilliant. I mean, people on that committee, the, the individuals with autism on that committee, I know they’re brilliant people. Wow. But if you… if… If people saw them, they wouldn’t see that. Dr. Deb Muth 55:47Right. Anju 55:47So, I guess, for me, it’s like seeing the brilliance, seeing the competence in individuals, and as a practitioner, just trying to optimize it. But I know, like, the neurodiversity people say, okay, you know. We’re fine, and it’s like, yes, you are fine, you’re fine, and it’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay. But if you’re struggling metabolically, and we can help you feel better. What’s… what’s the harm in that? Dr. Deb Muth 56:13Right, let’s do that. Yeah. So you’re also part of something called MAPS, and you’re educating doctors worldwide. Tell us a little bit about MAPS, and how do you see the integrative pediatrics evolving in the next decade as a result of what we’re learning today? Anju 56:36I think we’re at a crossroads, and Maps is kind of in the middle of that crossroads. It used to be called Dan. Dr. Deb Muth 56:47Okay. Anju 56:47Autism Now. Dr. Deb Muth 56:48Yeah. Anju 56:49And then they kind of dissolved Dan and turned it into MedMaps. And MedMaps is Medical Academy for Pediatrics and Special Needs. So it’s not just special needs, it’s pediatrics. as well.So it’s kind of like the functional medicine for peds. And our goal is to train an army of clinicians to be the frontline. And how medicine should be, and how people should be trained. We should train them to do these types of things from the beginning. Because now it’s backwards. Dr. Deb Muth 57:28Right. Anju 57:30they come see us when nobody else can help them. But, so, we have some good leadership, and then… We are just trying to get people trained so that they understand that this is the future. Dr. Deb Muth 57:50If there’s a practitioner that’s listening to this, how do they get involved in MAPS? Anju 57:55They could come to a conference. Dr. Deb Muth 57:57Okay. Anju 57:58And the website is medmaps.org. And there’s 2 conferences a year. And we have scholarships, and we want people to come, so contact You know, the executive director, and… We just want people to come, share… their experiences, learn about functional medicine, it’s evidence-based, we try to… it’s really scientific, you know, we talk a lot of science. Dr. Deb Muth 58:25Oh yeah, a lot of science. Anju 58:26We talk a lot of science, and and so hopefully we can move all of this forward. Baster. Dr. Deb Muth 58:35I think the greatest thing, when you get into the functional medicine integrative space like this, and MAPS, and some of the other environmental academies and things like that. A lot of people might think it’s not science-based, and I’m always amazed at how much science we have, and it’s right, it’s all the things that you and I learned in biochem class, and chem class, and organic chem, and we were like, oh, let’s just learn this to be done with it. And then you get back, and you start doing integrated medicine, and you realize, like, all of that biochemistry stuff is what we needed to truly understand to fix people these These days, and you go back and you have to learn that in an intense version of it. Anju 59:18I felt like I finally understood the Krebs cycle, when I learned how it made metabolic stents, instead of just memorizing these cycles for… For the… Dr. Deb Muth 59:30Right? Like, they, like. Anju 59:32They just make sense to me. Dr. Deb Muth 59:34Yeah. Anju 59:35And I think that’s so important to understand, that all of this has science behind it, and it’s there, and the research is there. Dr. Deb Muth 59:46It’s just us having to learn how to utilize it, and recognize that not every person is going to be straightforward, and what we do for one might not work for another. There’s… It’s not as easy as prescribing a prescription and letting the person walk out the door in 10 minutes. That’s not what this is about at all. Anju 01:00:05No, and at MedMaps as well, they have a call for abstracts, and so we’re always looking for research, experience, so if any of the clinicians out there have, you know, things they want to share. then send an abstract to Maps. What a great blonde. I think, one of my doctor friends is doing an abstract on research that was done on sensory qigong massage. Dr. Deb Muth 01:00:34Oh. Anju 01:00:34And it helped with speech, and the theory was that, we were all thinking of the sensory system in the brain, the sensory system. In the periphery being affected neurologically, and how to turn that back on. So, it was… it’s… Dr. Deb Muth 01:00:51That’s neat. Anju 01:00:51Again, with the research, and with the science behind it, and with, like, clinical trials, and all of that. Dr. Deb Muth 01:00:58That’s awesome, I love that.For parents that are just starting in this journey, what would you recommend be their first one or two steps? Anju 01:01:10Educate, educate, educate? How do you get educated? I do think that, TakaNow.org is a good place for, like, a biomedical approach, or this functional approach for autism. It’s the Autism Community in Action. MedMaps is doing a parent conference in March. Dr. Deb Muth 01:01:31Oh, awesome. They usually do that around, Memorial Day, right? Anju 01:01:36They’ll do it around Labor Day in September. Dr. Deb Muth01:01:40Labor Day in September, okay. Anju 01:01:42Yeah, and then mid-March. Dr. Deb Muth 01:01:44Okay. Anju 01:01:45Yeah. And they hadn’t done a parent conference before, but we had parents that wanted to come to the conferences, and it was just for clinicians before. Dr. Deb Muth 01:01:54Got it. Is it Autism One that does theirs around Memorial Day? Anju 01:01:59Oh yeah, they don’t exist anymore. Dr. Deb Muth 01:02:01Don’t, really. Anju 01:02:03conferences. There was. Dr. Deb Muth 01:02:06NAA, the National Autism Association. Anju 01:02:09They don’t do a lot of parent conferences in functional medicine either, so there’s a few left. Documenting Hope. That’s another really nice one. Oh, that’s great. Dr. Deb Muth 01:02:21So, what last words do you want to leave with our listeners? Anju 01:02:29You know, that’s… people always ask that at the end of these… I, I do feel that, Listen to your heart, you know, follow your intuition. Dr. Deb Muth 01:02:40I’ll let that guide you. Anju 01:02:42There’s a lot of information, sometimes it gets to be too much information. It’s hard to process everything, try not to make impulsive decisions about things. And… If you have a child with special needs, or if you have a grandchild with, issues. Presume competence. There’s a lot there. Dr. Deb Muth 01:03:04Yeah. Anju 01:03:05Especially some of these kids with behavior issues. I don’t know how many patients of mine are… Put on psychotropic meds. Metabolic issues, and, you know… It’s like, a lot of them have pain, like headache, abdominal pain, and inflammation, and they’re treating them with psych meds. Dr. Deb Muth 01:03:25Yeah. That’s sad, isn’t it? Anju 01:03:28I think, you know, try to look for the underlying cause. Not just band-aid things. Dr. Deb Muth 01:03:34Where can listeners, learn more about your work and what you do? Anju 01:03:40Oh, that’s tough. I don’t have a book. One of these days. Dr. Deb Muth 01:03:48Yes! Anju 01:03:49Yes, one of these days. I think, you know, med maps, we have a… if they’re clinicians. Dr. Deb Muth 01:03:55Hmm? Anju 01:03:56I have lectured a lot. For, for, communities like Taka, so there’s just a lot of… lectures that I’ve given online. Dr. Deb Muth 01:04:09Awesome. Well, thank you for taking your time with us today. It’s been a great conversation with you. Anju 01:04:15Thank you so much for inviting me, Debra. I’m honored to be here, and thank you for doing the work that you do to put Put this out there for people, because it’s really important information. Dr. Deb Muth 01:04:27Thank you. Thank you for joining me today on Let’s Talk Wellness Now. Today’s discussion with Dr. Usman reminds us that there’s always more we can do. We can look deeper into biology, environment, and lifestyle. to heal the next generation. If this episode inspired you, please share it with a parent or a practitioner who believes every child deserves a chance to thrive. And to learn more about Dr. Usman, you can visit TrueHealthMedical.com or TrueHealingnaturals.com. And if you’re ready to explore your own root cause healing, visit us at Serenityhealthcarecenter.com. You can also follow me on Instagram, and don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode of Let’s Talk Wellness now. Until next time. I’m Dr. Deb, reminding you to nurture your body, mind, and spirit. Be well, and I’ll see you soon.The post Episode 262 – The Root Cause of ADHD & Autism: Beyond the Diagnosis with Dr. Anju Usman Singh first appeared on Let's Talk Wellness Now.

Third Sunday of Easter The Collect: O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. First Lesson: Acts 2:14a, 36-41 14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, 36"Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified." 37Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" 38Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him." 40And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. Psalm: Psalm 116:1-3,10-17 1 I love the Lord, because he has heard the voice of my supplication, *        because he has inclined his ear to me whenever I called upon him. 2 The cords of death entangled me;   the grip of the grave took hold of me; *        I came to grief and sorrow. 3 Then I called upon the Name of the Lord: *       "O Lord, I pray you, save my life." 10 How shall I repay the Lord *        for all the good things he has done for me? 11 I will lift up the cup of salvation *        and call upon the Name of the Lord. 12 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord *        in the presence of all his people. 13 Precious in the sight of the Lord *        is the death of his servants. 14 O Lord, I am your servant; *        I am your servant and the child of your handmaid;        you have freed me from my bonds. 15 I will offer you the sacrifice of thanksgiving *        and call upon the Name of the Lord. 16 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord *        in the presence of all his people, 17 In the courts of the Lord'S house, *        in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.        Hallelujah! Second Lesson: 1 Peter 1:17-23 17If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. 18You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. 20He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. 21Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. 22Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. 23You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God. Gospel: Luke 24:13-35 13Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" 19He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." 25Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Introduction: Hebrews 1:1-3 - Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high... The Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:14-22): Will Speak God's Words – But they did not all listen See: John 12:49-50 and John 14:10, 24 Will be Like Moses – But they did not all believe See: John 6:32-35 and John 6:51, 57b-58 Will Die if He Lies – But they killed Jesus for telling the truth See: John 8:26b-28 | Psalm 22:7-8, 16-18 | Psalm 22:22-25 Jesus is the Prophet – Will You: Listen to Him? Believe Him? Speak His words? Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Audio Transcript 00:00-00:01Good morning, Harvest.00:03-00:05It's a joy to be with you this morning.00:06-00:11Open your Bibles, please, if you haven't already, to Deuteronomy chapter 18.00:12-00:16It's where we will be studying God's Word this morning.00:18-00:37And as is our usual, sometimes usual custom, I would ask, please, that you pray for me, that I would clearly, accurately preach God's Word, and I will pray for you that your hearts will be open to receive it.00:37-00:37Let's pray.00:43-01:18Gracious and holy Father, I pray, Father, you would open our hearts and minds to receive your word, that we would be absolutely convinced beyond all doubt that your word is true and that Jesus is your prophet who speaks your truth to us through your word, through your spirit at all times.01:19-01:30And I pray as we believe and trust in Him, you would transform our lives and make us more like Him every day.01:30-01:33We pray in Jesus' great name, Amen.01:35-01:44So in preparation for Resurrection Sunday, we are beginning a three-part series examining the three offices of Christ.01:45-01:47the office of prophet, priest, and king.01:49-01:53And we begin this morning with the first of these, which is prophet.01:55-01:59Now, we may listen to a lot of modern day prophets for advice on how to live.02:00-02:12The experts, the doctors, the internet influencers, the media talking heads, podcasters, entertainment celebrities, even astrologists and politicians.02:14-02:16The sources of information are endless.02:17-02:24And now we have AI at our fingertips to synthesize and summarize the sum and substance of human experience.02:27-02:40Now to be clear, I'm not talking about doctors who say eating this one food three times a day cures sleep apnea or the weird trick that cures tinnitus caused by eating this one food three times a day.02:40-02:47Now I'm talking about the major life information, answers to questions like, "Who am I?02:48-02:49What's my purpose?02:50-03:03What's the best way to live?" And when it comes to that kind of information, few to none of the infotainment talking heads can really help us, because they can only tell us what they know.03:04-03:11I'm not suggesting they aren't intelligent, but what they say may or may not be true.03:12-03:15But you say like, well, no, hold on, hold on Sprung.03:15-03:20I've heard it said that all truth is God's truth, wherever it's found.03:22-03:24Well, let's think about that for a minute.03:25-03:29God's word is perfect, pure and true according to Psalm 19.03:30-03:44So I have a metaphor this morning for us, For God's word, I think that everyone can relate to the delight over opening a brand new container of Play-Doh.03:45-03:46It's all one color.03:47-03:49Nobody's played with it yet.03:49-03:51It's not mixed up with other colors.03:52-03:57It's just fresh and clean, and it's ready for my artistic expression.04:00-04:04But you know, the inevitable happens, doesn't it?04:04-04:19Soon, what was once pure and clean, it's all mashed together with a lot of other colors and that original color becomes unidentifiable.04:22-04:23I think you get the point.04:25-04:29How do you discern God's truth in a mishmash of worldly ideas?04:30-04:37How do you extract the truth once it's all blended into futile human thoughts?04:40-04:45Well, this is the problem with the infotainment experts.04:46-04:53Their learning and experience and perspective is just a conglomeration of worldly thinking.04:54-05:09They can make educated guesses as to how to live and what's going to happen, but ultimately every single one of them is going to reach a point where they have to say, "I don't know." And some of them are speaking directly out of the pit of hell.05:10-05:13And those folks will drag you down to hell with them.05:14-05:20So you see, that's why when it comes to the astrologists and the mediums and perhaps the to celebrities and influencers.05:22-05:33Verse 14 of this morning's passage says that, "As for you, the Lord, your God, has not allowed you to do this." So to whom or what can we turn?05:33-05:37Where can we get truth for an accurate world view?05:38-05:41Because we need a perspective that is outside of ourselves.05:42-05:46Outside of this world, really, and that's what God's Word is.05:47-05:53It is the specific and special revelation of God about himself.05:58-06:01It comes from the throne of God.06:02-06:18The problem with the world is, people in the world, they look at the Bible and like, "Well, yeah, that's just one more system of thought like any other." In fact, it's probably even not as good as what AI can tell us now.06:19-06:21They have a low view of scripture.06:22-06:24We need to have a high view of scripture.06:26-06:33And as we learn from the word that was just read, we can get the truth from the prophet.06:34-06:36It is to him we must listen.06:38-06:40But what is a prophet anyway?06:41-06:42What does a prophet do?06:42-06:52We typically think of prophets as forecasting future events, often in a cryptic or mystical way, like that Nostradamus guy.06:52-06:58But biblically, that is only a partial description of what a prophet does.06:59-07:03Basically a biblical prophet speaks God's words to people.07:05-07:09The Old Testament prophets revealed three basic messages.07:11-07:18The first was that God sent many prophets to his people to rebuke them for breaking the covenant and worshiping idols.07:19-07:31This was perhaps the prophet's most important function, to remind the people of Israel that they, and only they, were in a covenantal relationship with the Lord God Most High.07:33-07:36and they were violating His covenant in a high-handed way.07:37-07:47Time and again He warned them to return to Him, or they would face the ultimate covenant punishment of being expelled from the Promised Land.07:48-08:03Not only did the prophets warn Israel and Judah that they would be punished by pagan nations for their idolatry, God also spoke to them about a future restoration, both near and at the end of the age.08:05-08:09And indeed, after the exile, they would return to the promised land.08:10-08:18And the nations that assaulted and tormented Israel in their exile, they would in turn be punished and overthrown by God.08:19-08:29And then finally, the Old Testament prophets spoke of the coming Messiah, a sometimes suffering, but ultimately victorious anointed servant.08:30-08:33The anointed one would bring salvation to his people.08:33-08:37He would inaugurate a new covenant between God and his people.08:38-08:45And the prophets gave many clues that would help the people identify the anointed one when he arrived.08:46-08:51Now, what did God expect his people to do in response to the prophets' messages?08:52-09:29expected, well no, he commanded them to repent and believe the messages to return to him and live in accordance with the covenant he made with them at Mount Sinai. And yet the Old Testament records a nearly continuous account of Israel's idolatry. They worship the idols of the nations around them. They And they sought out and listened to the words of false prophets, mediums, fortune tellers, and diviners.09:30-09:31They did not listen.09:32-09:34They did not believe.09:34-09:37They became futile in their thinking and their worship.09:37-09:47They mixed God's truth with the religions and lifestyles of the surrounding nations, and they ended up with the equivalent of this, gudo.09:49-09:52It's just a mash, a mishmash of ideas.09:53-10:02And when the prophets exposed their sin and their hypocrisy, they took offense and they put them to death.10:04-10:13So God, after bearing with his people for hundreds of years, he brought the covenantal curses down upon their heads and inflicted the ultimate punishment.10:14-10:16He exiled them from the promised land.10:18-10:22Now God of course kept his promises and he returned them to the land.10:23-10:37And roughly 400 years after that, the anointed one who was known before the foundation of the world, he was made manifest in the last times for the sake of all who would believe in and through him.10:39-10:45We of course know from the New Testament that Jesus is the promised Messiah.10:46-10:52He's the Son of God who fulfilled all that was spoken of Him by the Old Testament prophets.10:55-11:03As the writer of Hebrews says, "Long ago and at many times and in many ways, "God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.11:04-11:12"But in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son, "whom He appointed the heir of all things, "through whom also He created the world.11:13-11:21"He's the radiance of the glory of God God in the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.11:21-11:36After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." And this verse summarizes the three offices of Christ that we're going to be studying this week.11:36-11:37First is prophet.11:38-11:48"In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son." And then priest, he has made purification for sins.11:48-11:53And then finally king, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.11:56-12:01So how do we know Jesus is the prophet foretold by Moses?12:02-12:08What evidence is there to conclusively connect Jesus to the promise of a prophet just like Moses?12:11-12:15Well, first the prophet will speak God's words.12:16-12:19Look at verse 15 of chapter 18 in Deuteronomy.12:21-12:27Verse 15 says, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers.12:28-12:35It is to him you shall listen." Thus the prophet would be raised up by God from among the Israelites.12:36-12:46And the gospels of Matthew and Luke establish that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the Virgin Mary, and he was adopted by Joseph.12:47-12:50And both Mary and Joseph were descendants of David.12:51-12:53Jesus was born in Bethlehem.12:54-12:57His birth was attended by an angelic announcement.12:59-13:08And then when John baptized Jesus, God the Father announced that Jesus was his beloved son with whom he was well-pleased.13:09-13:17All of these events attest that Jesus was indeed raised up by God the Father from among the Israelites.13:18-13:29And these events disprove the idea that Jesus was merely a self-appointed and possibly deluded religious figure, as some people think he was.13:31-13:35And then verse 18 tells us that God's words would be in his mouth.13:36-13:47"I will put my words in his mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him." Now, we've already established that the prophets spoke God's words to the people.13:48-13:59But whereas they prefaced their statements with, "Thus saith the Lord," Jesus spoke as the Lord, out of the oneness that existed between Him and the Father.14:00-14:17For example, in John 12, verses 49 and 50, Jesus said, "For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment, what to say and what to speak.14:17-14:20And I know that his commandment is eternal life.14:21-14:38What I say therefore, I say as the Father has told me." And then in John 14, verses 10 and 24, he said, "The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.14:38-14:59And the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me." As further proof of his prophetic office, Jesus spoke God's words in the way that the Israelites requested.15:00-15:13What I mean is this, In Exodus chapters 19 and 20, God descended in a dark cloud on Mount Sinai with thunders and lightnings and the mountains shook.15:14-15:18And out of that cloud, God spoke the 10 commandments to the people.15:19-15:54And when all the people saw the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the trumpet that they heard and they were seeing the mountain shake and the ground shaking beneath their feet, They were terrified and they stood far off and they told Moses, they said, "You speak to us and we will listen, "but do not let God speak to us lest we die." Certainly Moses continued to speak to the people and gave them God's commands during their journey to the promised land and during their wandering for 40 years in the desert.15:55-15:57And then in his final address to them in the book of Deuteronomy.16:00-16:21But in chapter 18, verses 16 and 17, Moses told the people that God would send a prophet in direct response to their request at Mount Sinai, to let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, or see this great fire anymore, lest I die.16:24-16:31So how did Jesus, in his speaking, demonstrate that he was the prophet sent by the Lord?16:32-16:37Well, there's three events that directly identify Jesus as the prophet.16:38-16:42And all of them occurred, not coincidentally, on a mountainside.16:44-16:48First, he was on the mountain when he was transfigured before Peter, James, and John.16:48-16:59and while talking with Moses and Elijah, and a bright cloud appeared and God said, "This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.17:00-17:08Listen to him." And the three disciples were like the Israelites of old, terrified by the voice of God.17:09-17:11But when they looked up, they saw only Jesus.17:14-17:26Second, the most direct connection A connection between the prophet and God speaking in the 10 commandments out of a stormy cloud is found in Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount.17:29-17:33Jesus, seeing the crowds, went up on the mountain.17:34-17:36And when he sat down, his disciples came to him.17:37-17:39And he opened his mouth and taught them.17:41-17:42And what did he teach them?17:44-17:50Well, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus exegeted the law, including most of the 10 commandments.17:51-17:59The greatest commandment, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and then to love your neighbor as yourself.18:01-18:12In that sermon, he showed the people that righteousness was not about outwardly keeping rules, but inward devotion to God that flowed from a broken and contrite heart.18:14-18:18a heart that revealed itself in confident dependence on God.18:20-18:31Instead of fire and terror, Jesus spoke to the people face to face on the mountain, just as they requested of Moses so long ago.18:32-18:41He revealed God to be merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.18:42-18:50And when Jesus finished, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority.18:52-18:57And yet, as so often happened in Israel's history, they did not all listen.18:59-19:06Yeah, there were those who did, but it seems for the most part, people were going out to Jesus for signs and wonders.19:07-19:08The crowds were fickle.19:08-19:10They were ambivalent about him.19:11-19:15and the religious leaders were so hostile, they wanted to kill him.19:18-19:26In Jesus, Israel got what she asked for hundreds of years earlier, a prophet speaking God's words to them face to face.19:27-19:35And even though his teaching astonished them, they eventually decided that Jesus really wasn't the prophet or Messiah they wanted after all.19:36-19:38They wanted a vending machine God.19:38-19:42They wanted a Messiah-o-matic and give them what they wanted.19:46-19:57You see, the divide between what the people craved and who Jesus is, is revealed in a third event that demonstrated the prophet would be like Moses.20:00-20:06The third thing Jesus did on a mountainside that proved He was the prophet like Moses is this.20:07-20:12He fed well over 5,000 people with bread and fish.20:14-20:36According to John 6, after everyone had eaten their fill and 12 baskets of leftovers were collected, the people said, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." And a day or two later, the people went looking for Jesus in Capernaum because they wanted more bread to eat.20:37-20:49Jesus knew what they wanted and he told them, "Do not work for the food that perishes, "but for the food that endures to eternal life, "which the Son of Man will give you.20:52-21:16"For on Him, God the Father has set His seal." And then the people said to him, "What must we do to be doing the works of God?" And Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." So the people said, "Jesus, what sign do you do that we might believe you?21:18-21:26What are you going to do for us, Jesus, that will persuade us to believe in you?" And then they said, "Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness.21:27-21:40Have you got more bread?" Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly I say to you, "it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, "but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.21:41-22:02"For the bread of God is he who comes down "from heaven and gives life to the world." They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life." The people responded to Jesus' assertion with grumbling.22:03-22:11First, because he said, "He's the bread that comes down from heaven." They're like, "We want food.22:11-22:12We want bread.22:12-22:21We don't want you." But their grumbling increased because of Jesus' next extraordinary statement.22:24-22:28He said, "I am the living bread that came down from heaven.22:28-22:31"If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.22:32-22:36"And the bread that I will give "for the life of the world is my flesh.22:36-22:41"Whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.22:42-22:47"This is the bread that came down from heaven, "not like the bread the fathers ate and died.22:48-22:57"Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." Well, this was just all too much for the Jews.22:57-22:59This was just too bizarre.23:01-23:09Jesus was speaking of himself as eternal nourishment, and all they could think about was their temporary physical hunger.23:10-23:24Like the Jews in the wilderness who grumbled about God providing manna for 40 years, the crowds and even many of Jesus' disciples grumbled about Jesus being the true bread of God.23:25-23:32Like Moses, Jesus led and fed the people in ways that revealed His prophetic office.23:33-23:35But they did not all believe.23:36-23:37They took offense at Him.23:39-23:42Many turned back and no longer walked with Him.23:45-23:50So Jesus asked the 12 if they too wanted to leave Him.23:50-23:52But Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go?23:53-23:55You have the words of eternal life.23:56-24:00And we have believed and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.24:03-24:07You see, Peter recognized Jesus is more than the prophet.24:07-24:14He declares Jesus is the anointed one, the Son of God, because Jesus spoke God's words of eternal life.24:17-24:22And what was the most important thing that Jesus said during his earthly ministry?24:23-24:27What did he explicitly prophesy at least three times?24:29-24:33And what did he emphasize in other ways multiple times to his disciples?24:35-24:41That he would be mocked and flogged and crucified and that he would be raised to life the third day.24:42-24:44It's a pretty extraordinary prophecy.24:47-25:05But you see, this was extremely perplexing to the disciples because they said, "Jesus, you're telling the truth." And along with the words that he spoke and the signs and wonders that he performed, all of this amply demonstrated that Jesus was in fact the Messiah.25:06-25:14There's no way he could be a false prophet because they knew that a false prophet will die if he lies.25:16-25:18Look at Deuteronomy 18.20.25:19-25:38"The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name, that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die." The religious leaders, particularly the Pharisees and their lawyers, they insisted that Jesus was a liar.25:39-25:43They claimed he was merely witnessing about himself and that his testimony wasn't true.25:45-25:57Well, Jesus countered that by saying that God the Father is also born witness about me and that he who sent me is true and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.25:58-26:02They did not understand that he'd been speaking to them about the Father.26:04-26:25So Jesus said to them, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak just as the Father taught me." In this passage from John chapter 8, Jesus hints at what the religious leaders are planning to do to him.26:26-26:34They want to kill him, and he knows that their murderous maneuverings will result in his crucifixion.26:36-26:38You see, this is the supreme irony.26:39-26:42A prophet will die if he lies.26:43-26:49But they killed Jesus for telling the truth, just like they did the prophets of old.26:50-26:56And when Jesus was lifted up on the cross, his opponents thought he got what he deserved.26:57-27:06They were certain he was a false prophet, because if he wasn't, he wouldn't be suffering a vicious and humiliating death at the hand of Gentiles.27:09-27:17He was on the cross, the chief priests and other religious leaders mocked Him, saying, "He saved others. He can't save Himself.27:18-27:40Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may see and believe." And yet in the midst of His agony, Jesus cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" His enemies might have said, You're forsaken because you're a liar.27:41-27:44Everyone who gets hung on a tree is accursed.27:45-27:51The fact that we were able to get you crucified is proof that you, Jesus, are accursed by God.27:52-27:53You're no prophet.27:57-28:02But by crying out the first line of Psalm 22, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?28:03-28:13Jesus continues to speak the word of God in a way that reveals that the cross is the culmination of his earthly mission.28:15-28:17Psalm 22 is a messianic psalm.28:18-28:22It summarizes the Messiah's humiliation and exaltation.28:23-28:24Let's look at a few passages.28:26-28:27Verses seven and eight.28:28-28:30All who see me mock me.28:30-28:32They make mouths at me.28:32-28:33"For they wag their heads.28:34-28:35"He trusts in the Lord.28:36-28:37"Let Him deliver him.28:37-28:44"Let Him rescue him, for He delights in him." Then verses 16 and 18, through 18.28:45-28:46"For dogs encompass me.28:47-28:49"A company of evil doers encircles me.28:50-28:53"They have pierced my hands and feet.28:53-28:55"I can count all my bones.28:55-28:57"They stare and gloat over me.28:57-29:00"They divide my garments among them.29:00-29:27"For My clothing they cast lots." And finally, verses 22-25, "Reflect the Father's care in the midst of Jesus' great suffering and His resurrection." He says, "I will tell of Your name to My brothers, and in the midst of the congregation, I will praise You." Stop there for a minute and think about that.29:28-29:34Christ is on the cross, and he's telling the name of God to his brothers.29:34-29:39In the midst of the congregation, he is praising God.29:40-29:42All you who fear the Lord, praise him.29:42-29:48All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him.29:49-30:03All you offspring of Israel, for he is not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, "And He has not hidden His face from him, but He has heard when he cried to Him.30:04-30:19And from you comes my praise in the great congregation, my vows I will perform before those who fear Him." You see, even in the throes of death, Jesus preached to all who would listen and believe.30:20-30:38If those who heard Jesus cry began themselves to recite this Messianic Psalm, perhaps the realization began to take hold that what they were reciting was happening right before their eyes.30:41-31:00The psalmist's words are being fulfilled here and now, just as Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, "then you will know that I am He." And perhaps the horrible realization set in, we've killed the Messiah.31:01-31:12And perhaps that is why, as Luke records, all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, they returned home beating their breasts.31:13-31:15We have killed the Messiah.31:18-31:24But what looked like an accursed death to the crowd instead a triumph over death.31:25-31:34On the cross, Jesus put death to death, and in his resurrection, he offers eternal life to all who would believe in him.31:36-31:38All that Jesus said came to pass.31:39-31:41He said he would die, and he did.31:42-31:44He said he would return to life, and he did.31:45-31:48He is the reliable and trustworthy prophet.31:48-31:51Every word He spoke was true.31:53-31:55And He is still our prophet today.31:56-31:58We have His word.31:58-32:03We have God's word and His Spirit to lead us into all truth.32:05-32:17You know, everyone who preaches is obligated to faithfully and accurately speak in the name of the Lord Jesus and to preach His words, not our own.32:17-32:20In this way, Jesus is still our prophet.32:21-32:25He indwells his people to speak to his people from his word.32:28-32:35Therefore, now that you know that Jesus is the prophet, will you listen to him?32:38-32:45Will you daily cast off worldly thinking and unbiblical ideas and commit to reading and meditating on God's word?32:47-32:58Are you willing to jettison old patterns of negative thinking and replace them with what the Bible says about your worth and your purpose in Jesus Christ?32:58-33:05Will you conform your thinking to God's truth and Jesus' example and teaching?33:08-33:14Or will you continue to seek advice from the influencers and false prophets clamoring for your attention?33:16-33:17Will you look for guidance?33:18-33:26Will you look for guidance in the gudo that shapes and drives the lives of so many people?33:30-33:35The skeptic will say, "Ah, I don't believe anything in the Bible is true.33:36-33:37It offends my reason.33:38-33:39I'm an independent thinker.33:40-33:52I don't need a God or a religion to tell me what to do." But that same person has no problem with the collective hive mind telling them what to think.33:53-33:57And they'll employ artificial intelligence to do their thinking for them.34:00-34:03So much intelligence, so little wisdom.34:05-34:20The short of it is, if you refuse to listen to what Jesus says, If you take offense at him and his words, you're just like the Israelites and the religious leaders in past time.34:21-34:26You're essentially putting him to death in your heart and in your mind.34:28-34:31Now, there are probably very few people in this room that hate Jesus.34:34-34:44And if we took a survey of the people in this room, probably most of you would agree that, Yeah, we shouldn't be committing the kinds of sins which the world heartily approves.34:46-34:49We shouldn't be following all that chatter out there.34:51-35:05And yet how many of us choose to remain on friendly terms with the world and feel free to indulge in all its whims and entertainments and pleasures so long as we avoid open sin.35:08-35:22The most dangerous sin is the idea that we can listen to worldly prophets advocating for the lusts and pleasures of the world and follow along and yet still be devoted to Christ.35:23-35:30Beloved, you cannot listen to and serve multiple masters and still walk uprightly before Jesus Christ.35:31-35:35You must listen to Christ and serve Him only.35:38-36:14Jesus is the prophet. Will you believe in him? In some ways I have laid this sermon out like a closing argument in a court case. You've heard from the witnesses Moses, God the Father, Peter, and of course Jesus himself. And you have evidence to consider more than 5,000 people fed on a mountainside. Jesus transfigured on a mountain. And of course Jesus crucified on a cross just as he said he would be.36:17-36:36And then this singular fact. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures and according to his own prophetic words. He to pay the penalty for their sins and remove the penalty of death.36:37-36:43And rising again, he offers forgiveness of sin and eternal life for all who would believe in him.36:46-36:48So you've heard the evidence.36:49-36:51You must now render a verdict.36:52-36:59Will you believe that Jesus is everything he says he is, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?37:00-37:03He's the one mediator between God the Father and humanity.37:04-37:07He is the only priest, prophet, and king.37:08-37:13And Jesus is the only name given among people under heaven by which we can be saved.37:15-37:22If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.37:23-37:26With the heart one believes and is justified.37:27-37:30and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.37:32-37:33Jesus is the prophet.37:35-37:37Will you speak His words?37:40-37:44As disciples of Christ, we are all prophets of His gospel.37:45-37:49We are to proclaim His life, death, and resurrection until He returns.37:50-37:52This is no mystery religion.37:53-37:56There is no hidden knowledge in the Scriptures.37:56-37:58There are no secret rites to perform.37:59-38:02The words of Christ are all out in the open.38:03-38:10And we have the awesome privilege of possessing the oracles of God, the word of God.38:10-38:13We have God's words in our hands.38:16-38:20It's not always been true, but it's true for us.38:22-38:28Do we have the ability to read it, to reason through it, to engage with it by the help of the Holy Spirit?38:31-38:38We can personally and intimately know God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe.38:40-38:50Jesus reveals the truth so that we can repent of our sins, trust in His finished work on the cross and receive the gift of eternal life now and forever.38:55-39:16And we have the responsibility of repeating his words clearly to others so that they may hear and believe in him by faith too. God forgive us for shirking our responsibility to share the gospel and for being insensible to the the spiritual condition of the lost and the dying.39:18-39:19We must speak His words.39:19-39:22We must share the good news of what He has done.39:24-39:33We are like beggars dressed in fine linen telling other beggars where to find bread and new garments.39:34-39:37It is the most loving and kindest thing we can do.39:39-39:42as our worship team returns to the stage.39:45-39:46I will conclude with this.39:49-39:52Not everyone will listen to us.39:53-39:55But then they didn't all listen to Jesus either.39:57-39:58Not everyone will believe.40:00-40:02But then they did not all believe in Jesus either.40:04-40:08We are not responsible for the results of sharing the gospel.40:09-40:11The results are for God to work out.40:13-40:18Our responsibility is to faithfully speak the words of God from Scripture.40:19-40:24For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.40:25-40:25Let's pray.40:28-40:31The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.40:32-40:36The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.40:37-40:40The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.40:42-40:45The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.40:47-40:49The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever.40:51-40:54The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.40:56-41:04Let the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight.41:04-41:08O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer.41:09-41:09Amen. Small Group DiscussionRead Deuteronomy 18:14-22What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Can you assess how deeply worldly ideas influence your thinking? What about how deeply they influence your view of Scripture? How about your walk with Christ?What expectations do you have of God? That is, what do you want from Him, and what do you want to hear from Him? How do these questions and your answers relate to Israel's history with the LORD?It was said the sermon was constructed like a closing argument, requiring a verdict. Imagine you are a jury member – was enough evidence and testimony presented to render a judgment that Jesus is the Messiah? If not, what further evidence would you seek? Where would you look for that evidence?What are some reasons we don't take seriously our responsibility share the Gospel of Christ with others? How valid are those reasons?BreakoutPray for one another.

14How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?[a] And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! 16But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us? 17So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. 18But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for Their voice has gone out to all the earth,and their words to the ends of the world. 19But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;with a foolish nation I will make you angry. 20Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, I have been found by those who did not seek me;I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. 21But of Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.

John 2:13-22Jesus Cleanses the Temple13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”18So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Getting up when knocked down. #4 Denial to renewal Never underestimate the power of denial. By Pastor George Lehman   Denial is a weapon we give to the enemy to use against us. We are not lacking information or even revelation.  We are sorely lacking in application.  The ‘doing' part of what we keep hearing. Most of us are experts at ignoring the inconvenient facts of life. If we don't ignore them we must do something about them. Denial can become one of the most effective tools the enemy will use (if you'll let him) to keep you knocked down. The danger of denial is that you prevent yourself from accepting truth about yourself. You begin to believe that your life, your mess up's, poor conduct and wilful sin, even your poor attitude is Okay and acceptable! For many, denial is their way of coping when life knocks them down. If you start your day without caffeine or pep pills.  If you can be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains.  If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles.  If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it.  If you can understand when loved ones are too busy to give you time.  If you can take criticism and blame without resentment.  If you can face the world without lies or denial.  If you can do all these things, Then, you are probably the family dog.   What is denial?  It is refusing to believe something that is true. Matthew 16:24 (Amp) – Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]. (Jesus connects self-denial with finding true life) Many times we are in Denial of the Christ life truth. Psychologists say: it's a process by which painful truths are not admitted into an individual's consciousness. If I accept it into my conscience, I will have to change or do something about it. “The worst lies are the lies we tell ourselves.  We live in denial of what we do, even what we think.  We do this because we are afraid.” -  Richard Bach Galatians 6:5 (NCV) - Each person must be responsible for himself. Our denials can take many forms. Denial of fact. The obvious way to deny the truth is to lie. Telling a story, we leave out certain details. Officer, I didn't know I was driving so fast. I never heard you ask me to clean up my room. I would love to help with your move but I'm busy this weekend. People lie to avoid uncomfortable situations or to make themselves look better. Denial of denial. Maybe the most dangerous form of denial is when we don't even recognize we're denying reality. Here is one of those denial stories King Saul's life… 1 Samuel 15:16-24 (Amp) - 16Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me tonight. Saul said to him, Say on.  17Samuel said, when you were small in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel?  18And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, “Go”, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites; and fight against them until they are consumed.  19Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but swooped down upon the plunder and did evil in the Lord's sight?  20Saul said to Samuel, “Yes, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me and have brought Agag king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.  21But the people took from the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things to be utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”  22Samuel said, “Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”  24And Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.” Covering up what we look like on the inside is denial we refuse to accept or deal with who we really are! Especially after hearing the word being convicted by the Holy Spirit to change certain things, you just ignore it (That's Denial) In the days of royalty in England, Kings and Queens, when an artist painted their portraits, they never were allowed to include their blemishes and flaws.  He made them look better than they did. We  call it Photo shop today Here are some phrases that a person in denial uses often: I can handle this… It's not really a problem. I don't need help. I don't need counselling. I can quit anytime. I can work it out on my own. The problem is we can't handle it The truth is you have a problem! The problem with denial is that the longer it goes on, the more we hurt ourselves and the harder it is to come to terms with the truth. Think about David after his sin with Bathsheba. 2 Samuel 12:1-7 (Amp) – And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came and said to him, There were two men in a city, one rich and the other poor.  2The rich man had very many flocks and herds, 3But the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb which he had bought and brought up, and it grew up with him and his children. It ate of his own morsel, drank from his own cup, lay in his bosom, and was like a daughter to him.  4Now a traveler came to the rich man, and to avoid taking one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the wayfaring man who had come to him, he took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for his guest.  5Then David's anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, As the Lord lives, the man who has done this is a son [worthy] of death.  6He shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing and had no pity.  7Then Nathan said to David, You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I anointed you king of Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. So many times, when a personal crises doesn't work, then God often uses people like a NATHAN. Psychologists call what Nathan did ‘intervention'. Going to a person in love and showing them what they are in denial about. Galatians 6:1-2 (LB) – Dear brothers, if a Christian is overcome by sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help him back onto the right path, remembering that next time it might be one of you who is in the wrong.  Share each other's troubles and problems and so obey our Lord's command. Has a friend or a spouse or a parent said to you lately, “You have a problem”?  We don't listen, rather we defend and make excuses. This is a sure sign that you possibly have a problem. Turning denial around to renewal takes a heavy dose of acceptance and a cup of humility blended with a spoonful of courage. That's why James talks so firmly to the church. James 1:22 (NLT) – But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. David understood that denial only kept his life in bondage and defeat. Listen how he protects himself from a life of denial. Psalm 139: 23-24 (Amp) - Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.   Psalm 51:6 (Amp) - Behold, You desire truth in the inner being make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. When living with an attitude of denial it will cause you much hurt and knock downs. The good news is that… Philippians 1:6 (Amp) - And I am convinced and sure of this very thing, that He Who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] and perfecting and bringing it to full completion in you. God is more interested in what you become than what you achieve. Only with the support of a caring, loving, healing Jesus you can say, “I am capable of terrible things, but I am absolutely, unconditionally committed to You Lord.”  “ I am willing to change.” Ephesians 4:23-24 (Amp) -  And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude] And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness. Denial is a destroyer that should be cut off as quickly as possible. Acceptance and truth ‘always' are your surest path to peace and freedom. “Getting up when life knocks you down.”

Send us a textActs 15:5-21But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,“‘After this I will return,and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;I will rebuild its ruins,and I will restore it,that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord,and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,says the Lord, who makes these things known from of old.'Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”Support the show

Send us a textActs 5:17-21But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.Support the show

13That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles[a]from Jerusalem,14and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.15While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.16But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.17And he said to them,What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?And they stood still, looking sad.18Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?19And he said to them,What things?And they said to him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,20and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.22Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning,23and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.25And he said to them,O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!26Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?27And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. 28So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther,29but they urged him strongly, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent. So he went in to stay with them.30When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them.31And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight.32They said to each other, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?33And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together,34saying, The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

Turn with me to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 15. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 15. And when you found Luke 15, go ahead and stand for this morning's gospel reading.00:00:24All right. Notice these words as found here recorded. And. And, by the way, only found in Luke 15. This is the only place this story occurs.00:00:35And so here we go. And this first part is a preface, by the way. We're going to start with 15, 1, 3, and then drop down to the middle part of 11. All right. All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.00:00:54And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them. So Jesus told this parable. There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me. So he divided his property between them.00:01:20A few days later, the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country. And there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything. A severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs.00:01:50He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father's hired hands have bread enough to spare? But here I am dying of hunger. I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.00:02:21Treat me like one of your hired hands. So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and before you.00:02:48I'm no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, quickly, bring out a robe, the best one, and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.00:03:15And they began to celebrate. Now his elder son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked, what was going on. He replied, your brother has come and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound. Then he became angry and refused to go in.00:03:43His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, listen, for all these years I've been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command. Yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him. Then the father said to him, son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.00:04:21But we had to celebrate and rejoice because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life. He was lost and has been found. Jesus, thank you for this parable that came out of your lips, spoken in a certain context in the first century. Lord, would you speak out of your very lips this morning to us in this room in such a pointed way that it would turn us from a wayward way back home? We pray in your name.00:05:00Amen. And you can be seated.00:05:07Well, what a story. If you've never heard the prodigal son story, which most people, once you Send us a text

Send us a textThe devotion for today, Friday, February 21, 2025 was written by Donna Jacksonand is narrated by Larry Carter. Today's Words of Inspiration come from Matthew 6: 20, 21But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Support the show

February 9, 2025 Today's Reading: Luke 5:1-11Daily Lectionary: Job 6:1-13; John 3:1-21But when Simon Peter saw [the great catch of fish], he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Everyone thinks they are special. Everyone thinks they are different. Except you're not. You think you are, and you think that you would react differently than St. Peter after this great catch of fish.You see, you just know better than poor ol' Peter. You would see through everything and know that Jesus is the Son of God from the jump, and you wouldn't have these moments of doubt like he and the other disciples do. You can just tell.Except you can't. That's just the benefit of knowing how the whole Biblical story played out. We can't look at Holy Scripture in any other way than as people who have seen the final outcome of what was foretold. We only see it from this side of history.One of the hardest things to do as a Christian, as a baptized child of God, is to set aside the knowledge of the truth that you have and realize that outside of God the Father's gracious Gift of faith, you would be as terrified as St. Peter at the outcome of that fishing trip.St. Peter was the expert, and this rabbi just schooled him in his own area of expertise. This teacher just taught him something he never expected to learn: that the incarnate God has come into his world to make the wrong right, to make the broken new, and that he has power over all of creation. All of it.It is a humbling thing to realize that you are not as important (or as smart) as you thought you were. That's also a good thing. It is good to be reminded that you don't have all the answers and that not all of the weight of the world rests upon your shoulders.That is the comfort of the Christian faith, after all: that you rest in the arms of your Lord and God, and you trust that he has your future in mind and cares for you more than anyone else on earth. He has made you his own through the blood of Christ and your Baptism; no matter what comes your way, he will carry you through.Be amazed at his works and his ways. It's OK. It reminds you that he's got you in his hands, and he's never going to let you go.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.O Lord, keep Your family the Church continually in the true faith that, relying on the hope of Your heavenly grace, we may ever be defended by Your mighty power; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. (Collect for The Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany)-Rev. Duane Bamsch, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Grass Valley, CA.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.

2 Samuel 13:11-33 11And when she had brought them unto him to eat, he took hold of her, and said unto her, Come lie with me, my sister. 12And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly. 13And I, whither shall I cause my shame to go? and as for thee, thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel. Now therefore, I pray thee, speak unto the king; for he will not withhold me from thee. 14Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her. 15Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. 16And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her. 17Then he called his servant that ministered unto him, and said, Put now this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her. 18And she had a garment of divers colours upon her: for with such robes were the king's daughters that were virgins apparelled. Then his servant brought her out, and bolted the door after her. 19And Tamar put ashes on her head, and rent her garment of divers colours that was on her, and laid her hand on her head, and went on crying. 20And Absalom her brother said unto her, Hath Amnon thy brother been with thee? but hold now thy peace, my sister: he is thy brother; regard not this thing. So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom's house. 21But when king David heard of all these things, he was very wroth. 22And Absalom spake unto his brother Amnon neither good nor bad: for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had forced his sister Tamar. 23And it came to pass after two full years, that Absalom had sheepshearers in Baalhazor, which is beside Ephraim: and Absalom invited all the king's sons. 24And Absalom came to the king, and said, Behold now, thy servant hath sheepshearers; let the king, I beseech thee, and his servants go with thy servant. 25And the king said to Absalom, Nay, my son, let us not all now go, lest we be chargeable unto thee. And he pressed him: howbeit he would not go, but blessed him. 26Then said Absalom, If not, I pray thee, let my brother Amnon go with us. And the king said unto him, Why should he go with thee? 27But Absalom pressed him, that he let Amnon and all the king's sons go with him. 28Now Absalom had commanded his servants, saying, Mark ye now when Amnon's heart is merry with wine, and when I say unto you, Smite Amnon; then kill him, fear not: have not I commanded you? be courageous, and be valiant. 29And the servants of Absalom did unto Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king's sons arose, and every man gat him up upon his mule, and fled. 30And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom hath slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left. 31Then the king arose, and tare his garments, and lay on the earth; and all his servants stood by with their clothes rent. 32And Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother, answered and said, Let not my lord suppose that they have slain all the young men the king's sons; for Amnon only is dead: for by the appointment of Absalom this hath been determined from the day that he forced his sister Tamar. 33Now therefore let not my lord the king take the thing to his heart, to think that all the king's sons are dead: for Amnon only is dead.

Episode NotesFor Daily Prayers and more become a Member on PatreonVisit our Website for more www.commonprayerdaily.com  Opening Words:I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.Isaiah 49:6b Confession:Let us humbly confess our sins unto Almighty God. Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen. Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive you all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen you in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep you in eternal life. Amen. The InvitatoryLord, open our lips.And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. Alleluia. Psalm 95:1-7The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him.Come, let us sing to the Lord; *let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.For the Lord is a great God, *and a great King above all gods.In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *and the heights of the hills are his also.The sea is his, for he made it, *and his hands have molded the dry land.Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *and kneel before the Lord our Maker.For he is our God,and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!The Lord has shown forth his glory: Come let us adore him. The PsalterPsalm 119:49-72ZayinRemember your word to your servant, *because you have given me hope.This is my comfort in my trouble, *that your promise gives me life.The proud have derided me cruelly, *but I have not turned from your law.When I remember your judgments of old, *O Lord, I take great comfort.I am filled with a burning rage, *because of the wicked who forsake your law.Your statutes have been like songs to me *wherever I have lived as a stranger.I remember your Name in the night, O Lord, *and dwell upon your law.This is how it has been with me, *because I have kept your commandments.HethYou only are my portion, O Lord; *I have promised to keep your words.I entreat you with all my heart, *be merciful to me according to your promise.I have considered my ways *and turned my feet toward your decrees.I hasten and do not tarry *to keep your commandments.Though the cords of the wicked entangle me, *I do not forget your law.At midnight I will rise to give you thanks, *because of your righteous judgments.I am a companion of all who fear you *and of those who keep your commandments.The earth, O Lord, is full of your love; *instruct me in your statutes. TethOLord, you have dealt graciously with your servant, *according to your word.Teach me discernment and knowledge, *for I have believed in your commandments.Before I was afflicted I went astray, *but now I keep your word.You are good and you bring forth good; *instruct me in your statutes.The proud have smeared me with lies, *but I will keep your commandments with my whole heart.Their heart is gross and fat, *but my delight is in your law.It is good for me that I have been afflicted, *that I might learn your statutes.The law of your mouth is dearer to me *than thousands in gold and silver. Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen. LessonsIsa. 49:1-12Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention, you peoples from far away! The Lord called me before I was born, while I was in my mother's womb he named me. He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away. And he said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified." But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely my cause is with the Lord, and my reward with my God." And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength-- he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth." Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the slave of rulers, "Kings shall see and stand up, princes, and they shall prostrate themselves, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you." Thus says the Lord: In a time of favor I have answered you, on a day of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, "Come out," to those who are in darkness, "Show yourselves." They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them. And I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways shall be raised up. Lo, these shall come from far away, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and these from the land of Syene.The Word of the Lord.Thanks Be To God. Te Deum laudamusYou are God: we praise you; You are the Lord: we acclaim you; You are the eternal Father: All creation worships you. To you all angels, all the powers of heaven, Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,heaven and earth are full of your glory. The glorious company of apostles praise you. The noble fellowship of prophets praise you. The white-robed army of martyrs praise you. Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;Father, of majesty unbounded, your true and only Son, worthy of all worship, and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.You, Christ, are the king of glory, the eternal Son of the Father. When you became man to set us free you did not shun the Virgin's womb. You overcame the sting of deathand opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. You are seated at God's right hand in glory. We believe that you will come and be our judge.Come then, Lord, and help your people, bought with the price of your own blood, and bring us with your saintsto glory everlasting. Gal. 2:11-21But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law. But if, in our effort to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have been found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! But if I build up again the very things that I once tore down, then I demonstrate that I am a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.The Word of the Lord.Thanks Be To God. Mark 6:13-29They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him." But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it." And he solemnly swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom." She went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the baptizer." Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.The Word of the Lord.Thanks Be To God. Benedictus Dominus DeusBlessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; * he has come to his people and set them free.He has raised up for us a mighty savior, * born of the house of his servant David.Through his holy prophets he promised of old, that he would save us from our enemies, * from the hands of all who hate us. He promised to show mercy to our fathers * and to remember his holy covenant. This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, * to set us free from the hands of our enemies, Free to worship him without fear, * holy and righteous in his sight all the days of our life.You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, * for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, To give his people knowledge of salvation * by the forgiveness of their sins.In the tender compassion of our God * the dawn from on high shall break upon us, To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen. The Apostles CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. The PrayersThe Lord be with you.And also with you.Let us pray.Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. Suffrages BV. Save your people, Lord, and bless your inheritance;R. Govern and uphold them, now and always.V. Day by day we bless you;R. We praise your name for ever.V. Lord, keep us from all sin today;R. Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.V. Lord, show us your love and mercy;R. For we put our trust in you.V. In you, Lord, is our hope;R. And we shall never hope in vain. The CollectsCollect of the DayGive us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Daily Collects:A Collect for PeaceO God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries, through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.A Collect for GraceO Lord, our heavenly Father, almighty and everlasting God, you have brought us safely to the beginning of this day: Defend us by your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin nor run into any danger; and that, guided by your Spirit, we may do what is righteous in your sight; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Take a moment of silence at this time to reflect and pray for others. Collect of Saint BasilO Christ God, Who art worshipped and glorified at every place and time; Who art long-suffering, most merciful and compassionate; Who lovest the righteous and art merciful to sinners; Who callest all to salvation with the promise of good things to come: receive, Lord, the prayers we now offer, and direct our lives in the way of Thy commandments. Sanctify our souls, cleanse our bodies, correct our thoughts, purify our minds and deliver us from all affliction, evil and illness. Surround us with Thy holy angels, that guarded and instructed by their forces, we may reach unity of faith and the understanding of Thine unapproachable glory: for blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen. A Prayer of St. John ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time, with one accord to make our common supplications to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will grant their requests: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. DismissalLet us bless the LordThanks be to God!The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all evermore. Amen

19I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. Forjust as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your membersas slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.21But what fruit were you getting at that time from the thingsof which you are now ashamed?For the end of those things is death.22But now that youhave been set free from sin andhave become slaves of God,the fruit you get leads to sanctification andits end, eternal life.23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous personthough perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Rom 5:1-11 ESV) As we begin a new year, many of us are filled with hope and expectation. We set resolutions and goals in anticipation of making even more of the year ahead. However, we dont really have control over the actual outcomes. Illness can beset us. We may experience the sudden loss of someone close to us. National or global events beyond our control can intrude upon our lives, affecting our businesses, jobs, or financial situations. On top of the uncertainty of life, we are constantly bombarded with stories of what could potentially go wrong. Will the stock market crash and take your retirement fund along with it? Will the economy enter a recession and cause my company or department to downsize? What if this country goes to war with that country? Now, the question that I want to address today is: how do we, as Christians, think about and address the uncertainty of this world and suffering when it happens to us and those close to us? When contemplating this passage in Romans, I thought of a story and what it means to rejoice in suffering as a believer in the risen Messiah. This story is about a Chicago lawyer and businessman named Horatio Spafford. Now, Horatio had invested much of his wealth in real estate in the city. Unfortunately, most of these properties, and thus much of his investment, were reduced to ash during the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. The fallout from this loss and the work that he and other property owners in Chicago had to undertake to rebuild and restore would take years. The scale of this tragedy cannot be overstated. Over 17,000 buildings were destroyed, and more than 100,000 people (1/3 of Chicagos population) were homeless. If this were not enough, the Spaffords young son died of scarlet fever at the age of four not long after the fire. A couple of years after the fire, Horatio decided to take his family on a trip to Europe to escape the constant work and stress of rebuilding. Who wouldnt want to get away after all that had happened? He and his family were also going to meet up with and help the famous evangelist D.L. Moody, who was working on the continent at the time. However, some urgent business came up that needed his attention as the trip neared, so Horatio sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him. One week after the ship set sail, it was violently struck in an accident by another boat at two in the morning. Because of how the ships collided, the vessel the Spafford family was on sank within 12 minutes. Of the 313 people on board, 226 perished. All four of Horatios daughters perished that night. His wife, Anna, was found unconscious, held up by floating debris. Nine days after the accident, Anna landed in Europe and sent a telegram. It read, Saved alone. What shall I do? Upon receiving the message, Horatio booked the first passage he could find. However, this was during the 1800s, so this was far from a rapid process. One night, the captain called Horatio aside and informed him that they were currently sailing over the location where the ship carrying his family had sunk. As I contemplate this situation, I cant help but ask myself how I would have responded. Would I be overcome by anguish or anger? Would I have broken down and wept or shouted out words of rage at God for allowing such a thing to happen? Instead of either of these things, Horatio returned to his cabin to attempt to try to sleep and felt a sense of comfort and hope overcome him. He wrote down these words, It is well; the will of God be done. These words would soon become his timeless hymn that resounds with so many gospel truths. The name of that hymn is It Is Well with My Soul. It is worth reflecting on that there is a similar story in the Bible. Job, the man God Himself called blameless and upright, lost everything he owned in a single day. Additionally, his sons and daughters all died that very same day. Job responded to these events with the statement, Naked I came from my mothers womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21). Notice the similarities? These are not words of quiet resignation or defeat. The LORD may give, and He may take away. In the words of Horatio, the will of God will be done. However, regardless of what happened to these two men, their response is instructive and encouraging beyond belief. Despite what comes, the believer can say, Blessed be the name of the LORD, and It is well with my soul. Now, these stories may be inspiring, but youd be right in asking, How do I develop that kind of abiding faith and trust in God? It is so easy to marvel at the faith of others. But the reality is that knowing the stories is not enough. These same types of tragedies, and many more besides, can happen in our lives. Thankfully, as in all things, God does not leave us alone. And I know this because the verses we are looking at today have been my anchor through the most challenging times in my life. They acted as my north star, the way that God guided me through trials and kept me traveling on the path that leads to Him. So, lets dive in. 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The chapter opens with the word, therefore. This means that what Paul, the apostle who wrote this letter, is about to say directly follows what he has already said. It is essential to keep this at the forefront of our minds as we read scripture; what is the context? Uncountable numbers of irresponsible teachings have come through taking verses out of context and misapplying them. So, lets take a high-level view of what was said in the letter before our passage today. Paul was writing to the believers in Rome in anticipation of him traveling there, something he had long wanted to do. He wanted to accomplish several things. The letter to the Romans primarily concerns the gospel; Paul wanted to unify the church in Rome around the good news of Christ. Romans is a great place to start if you want a comprehensive understanding of the gospel message. Additionally, Paul wanted to prepare for the missionary journey he was planning to Spain; he wanted the Roman believers to help him on his way after he was able to visit them. Finally, Paul wanted to get in front of a growing division in the church between Jewish and Gentile believers. The focus for our study today aligns with the primary purpose for which Paul was writing: the good news of what Jesus has done. Or, as we more commonly call it, the gospel. Paul starts his letter by pointing to the grandeur of the universe as proof of Gods existence and that we can even learn some things about Him through creation. However, many, instead of worshiping the God who created everything, worshiped the things He made. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but theybecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22Claiming to be wise, they became fools,23andexchanged the glory ofthe immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24ThereforeGod gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, tothe dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,25because they exchanged the truth about God fora lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever! Amen. (Rom 1:20-25) Paul addressed this because pagan worship was the norm in the Roman Empire. It is important to note here that the people Paul is talking about were the ones who exchanged God for created things in nature. God allowed them to choose and gave them up to what they wanted. N.T. Wright perhaps sums up this concept best. You become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship. N.T. Wright This is a critical point that Paul made. It spoke directly to the heart of Roman culture and society. And it speaks directly to ours as well. The Romans, like the Greeks, worshipped a pantheon of gods who were very human in nature. They were spiteful, filled with lust, and sought their own pleasure above the good of others. Paul was saying that if you venerate that type of activity, you will act the same way. Now, consider our culture today; we may not wrap it up in religious language and ritual, but it is the same. Think about the lyrics of many of the most popular songs today. Consider the lives and actions of celebrities and others that our society lifts up and puts on a pedestal. Reflect on how often we are told in advertising by the rich, powerful, and famous how if we only buy this item or consume this service, we will be as happy and fulfilled as they are, or supposedly are. Think about how society as a whole treats marriage as trivial or that it is entirely ok to objectify other human beings, especially with what is deemed acceptable to view on the internet for our own pleasure. Paul then addresses those who did know about the one true God, namely the Jewish nation. However, instead of commending them, Paul has a very different message. What he said was precisely what Jesus did. It doesnt matter that you come from the line of Abraham or how well you know the Old Testament Law. God cares about and judges people based on what we actually do. 12For all who have sinnedwithout the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.13Forit is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. (Rom 2:12-13) And if we stop for a minute and honestly look at our own lives, this is what we see. We know at our core that there is an absolute standard for good and evil. We know that saying one thing and then doing another is both hypocritical and wrong. We have all, myself included, done things that genuinely hurt other people, damaged relationships, and were contrary to what we know in the deepest parts of ouor being are good and right and holy. Paul quoted the Psalms to sum up this point. 10None is righteous, no, not one;11no one understands;no one seeks for God.12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;no one does good,not even one. (Rom 3:10b-12) Now, this is a pretty bleak letter so far. This is not something that you read at the beginning of a year to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Were left with all of these questions that seem pretty important and rather urgent. What if there is a creator of the universe? Spoiler alert: there is. And what if He genuinely cares about right and wrong and how we treat each other? Another spoiler alert: He does. If weve all fallen short, and there are consequences for that, is there something that can be done to restore ourselves to God? And here is the best spoiler alert: There is. Paul tells us how this happens. 21But now apart from the law the righteousness of Godhas been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.22This righteousnessis given through faithinJesus Christto all who believe.There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,23for all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God,24and all are justifiedfreely by his gracethrough the redemptionthat came by Christ Jesus.25God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,through the shedding of his blood (Rom 3:21-25a, NIV) And there it is, the gospel, the good news that Paul based his entire letter around. There is a God who created both us and the universe we live in. He is perfectly good and, therefore, has made a moral law that we all are to live by. However, all of us fall short and sin. This causes a separation between us and God. However, God did not see fit to leave us as we are. He sent Jesus to live the life we never could and die the death we deserved so that we could be reconciled to Him. This is the good news that Paul was proclaiming. So, we return to the opening verses of our passage today. 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We now see what the therefore is there for. We were separated from God, but we can now be justified before him by faith. And because of this good news, that we have been justified by faith, certain things happen in the believer's life. First, we have peace with God. You see, it wasnt that we were just separated from God. We were, in fact, working against Him and were enemies. In another letter, Paul said, 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemiesin your mindsbecause ofyour evil behavior. But now he has reconciledyou by Christs physical bodythrough death to present youholy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Col 1:21-22, NIV). We just wrapped up an extremely deep study of the book of Ephesians here at Meadowbrooke. Remember what we were told in that letter about the state we were in before being saved? And you weredead in the trespasses and sins2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, followingthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work inthe sons of disobedience3among whom we all once lived inthe passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the bodyand the mind, andwere by naturechildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3) When Paul says that we now have peace with God, he doesnt mean that we have a tranquil state of mind or something like that. Instead, when we become followers of Jesus, we go from being against God or an enemy of God to having peace with Him. Remember what Paul said earlier in the letter. Nobody is righteous; nobody does good. But it doesnt stop there. We arent just in some truce or ceasefire with God. What has happened is so much more glorious and incredible than that. We also, through Jesus, have obtained grace. Now, grace can be a mysterious-sounding religious word. All it means is that somebody has received unmerited or unearned favor. It means we dont deserve the favor or good things God freely bestows on us. Remember, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God; we all were, by nature, children of wrath. The Greek word that is translated here as access literally means to approach or to bring into. We are brought into Gods grace and can actually have a personal relationship with Him. How much has changed because of what Jesus has done for us. We who were enemies not only have peace with God but also can draw near to Him and have a personal relationship with our Creator. Finally, we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And given what we have just read, there is so much to rejoice in. But again, there is something even more glorious behind these words. We rejoice not just in our newfound peace with God or our ability to be brought into His grace. We rejoice in the hope of something else. The word hope in our English language is quite weak. Typically, it means something like, I hope this year is better than the last or I hope my team wins the Super Bowl this year. It expresses the desire for something to be true, but with the realization that it may not turn out that way. However, the Greek word employed here means something more like joyful and confident expectation. Our hope is in something that we are confident and sure of. Tim Keller remarked on this passage that, Christian hope is not a hopeful wish it is a hope-filled certainty. But what is it that we are hopeful for? If we were to poll random people about what they most hoped for or were most looking forward to regarding the promises of God, we would likely get a broad range of answers. Many would almost certainly revolve around seeing loved ones again or being eternally happy and without pain or suffering. However, notice what Paul says here. His focus is on the glory of God. More than his own happiness or desires, the reason for Pauls rejoicing is in the hope of being in the presence of Gods glory. John Murray remarked on this passage, [Believers] are interested in the manifestation of the glory of God for its own sake. The glory of God is their chief end and they long for and hasten unto that day when with undimmed vision they will behold the glory of God in its fullest exhibition and vindication. What this means is that the hope of the Christian is not in the hope of our wants, desires, and comfort. Instead, our hope is in being with and living within the glory of God. The focus is on God, not on us. John Piper put this better than anybody else I have heard. He said, The critical question for our generationand for every generation is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there? Pauls answer would be a resounding no. What makes the restored heaven and earth what they will be is that we will finally be with God in all His infinite glory. Everything else pales in comparison to that. And any heaven without that is no real heaven at all. Now, Paul has covered a lot of ground in his letter so far. The people listening to this being read for the first time would have been on a real rollercoaster of a ride. First, they heard about this God who is powerful and mighty enough to create the entire universe in which we live. But then they heard that this God is also perfectly good and, therefore, has a moral law. They, just like all of us, broke that law. And they, just like us, broke it repeatedly. They heard about how this created a separation between humanity and God, a chasm we could not overcome ourselves. However, when everything seemed lost and without hope, they heard about how God, through Jesus, redeemed them, and they were now justified. This justification was not through anything they had done but what Jesus had done for them. They heard that they did not have to try to earn Gods merit, and in fact, they never could. They heard that what God really sought after was their hearts and faith in Him. Finally, because of that faith, the believer has peace with God, access to Gods grace, and the hope-filled certainty of witnessing God in His full glory one day. What an experience it must have been to be the first people to hear this letter being read. Can you imagine hearing this fantastic news? Then, the church in Rome would have heard the words, Not only that Wait! There is more!?! What more could there be after being told this fantastic news? I can only imagine sitting there and anticipating new promises and hopes the apostle was about to relay. Instead, the audience heard, Not only that, but werejoice in our sufferings. Wait what? We rejoice in our suffering? Werent we talking about drawing close to God and witnessing His glory? But this is reality, isnt it? When we decide to follow Jesus, all the hardships and suffering weve experienced dont magically disappear. We still get sick. Our finances dont magically improve; we all dont suddenly receive private jets and mansions. We still lose loved ones, and we all certainly still experience getting older and all the wear and tear that comes from that. As I reflect upon this past year, the single word that comes most to mind is difficult. This was a challenging year for our church family, and we had to go through things, including church discipline and the termination of a staff person in a pastoral role. Individuals and families in our church have also been going through extremely difficult things. There have been cancer diagnoses, losses of family members, struggles with chronic illnesses, sudden visits to the ER, heart issues, urgent and completely unexpected surgeries, and many, many more things besides. Personally, this last year, especially the past six months, has, if Im being completely honest, been extremely difficult. Due to an autoimmune disease, my health spiraled to a place I have not experienced in over a decade. This resulted in a 10-day stay in a hospital after losing 15% of my body weight and a substantial amount of internal bleeding. But, more importantly, it put a lot of strain on my marriage and meant I was less present as a father than I should be. The stark reality is that suffering is still a part of our lives. It has real impacts on us and those around us. But, as well see, faith in Jesus is not about the cessation of pain and suffering but instead giving that suffering over to God in faith that He will use it for good. Paul lays out how this looks for us: 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Notice here that Paul says we rejoice in our sufferings, not because of our sufferings. Paul does not say that suffering suddenly becomes pleasurable for us or trivially easy to endure. He does not say that God is giving us a way to prove ourselves to Him or earn His favor by persevering through hardship. Instead, we rejoice in our sufferings because of something we know. We know that suffering can produce something within us. That something is endurance. For most of my life, and by that, I mean since I was eight, I have participated in endurance sports. This has included distance running, cycling over 100 miles in a day over multiple mountain passes, and summiting 20,000 ft peaks. I bring this up because I have learned a lot about myself and quite a bit about endurance through these activities. The first is that endurance is not something magical you hope to have on the day of your event. It is something that you train for diligently. It may take months or even years in some cases to train your body and mind to accomplish the goal you have set before yourself. It is possible to train and not reach the goals you set. However, if you dont train, the goals will forever remain out of reach. And the thing about training is that a substantial amount of suffering can be involved. Mile repeats hurt. Hill training on a bike can be painful. Interval sessions have left me draped over the handlebars of my indoor trainer like a rag doll. Watching cyclists or other endurance athletes achieve the incredible can be awe-inspiring, often making it look easy. However, it isnt. What we witness when we watch world-class athletes is the outcome of a lifetime of training and preparation. And I can tell you from experience, every day Ive had where Ive looked like this, cycling up mountain passes feeling in great shape and like I could tackle the biggest of obstacles, Ive had many more days where Ive looked a bit more like this. The key here is that, like in athletics, in life, endurance is not something that happens automatically or magically. It is something that is produced. And often, the production of endurance happens through the crucible of suffering. But, unlike endurance training for sports, the type of endurance Paul talks about is not the end goal. It serves a greater purpose. You see, our character is also changing when we develop spiritual endurance. Now, this word in Greek doesnt just mean something like, He is a really good person and has good character. Instead, it is about something proven, or something tested and found to be approved. An example of this can be seen in Pauls letter to the Philippians concerning his protg, Timothy. 22But you know Timothy'sproven worth, howas a sonwith a fatherhe has served with me in the gospel.(Phil 2:22) The phrase proven worth is the same word that is translated as character. And to some extent, weve all experienced this. If we have endured something before, when we have to endure it again, there is a confidence we didnt have before. Or, thought of in a different way, if you had to go into battle with somebody, would you rather go with a special forces soldier who had been on multiple deployments or somebody who has never been through military training but plays their fair share of Tom Clancy video games? The choice is easy, right? What Paul is saying here is that when we go through suffering, endurance is produced. And when we endure our trials and tribulations, we are tested successfully or, as Paul says, our worth is proven. But Paul does not stop there. He says that this testedness produces something else: hope. And here we return to this idea of hope. Remember, this idea Paul is talking about can be best thought of as a hope-filled certainty. As we go through suffering, the endurance and character that result produces an ever-greater certainty that God is exactly who He has said He is and that His promises are sure. Paul then offers a proof of this. He states that hope will never put us to shame because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. In fact, the relationship between the believer and the Holy Spirit is so close that he has been poured into our hearts. I had mentioned earlier that these verses have been my anchor verses through suffering. That is not an understatement in any way. I had grown up in the church. In fact, I heard hymns and the words of the Bible before I was born. As I grew up, I did all the church things, camps, and confirmation; I even started participating in lay-level leadership roles in my church. If any of those things sound a bit foreign, it is because I grew up in the Episcopal tradition. Ultimately, instead of letting God into my heart and being the Lord of my entire life, I was going through the motions. Especially in college, my life looked no different than anybody elses. Remember those verses from Ephesians about living in the passions of our flesh and carrying out the desires of the body and the mind? That was me. Until that is, God got ahold of my heart. A group of us in ROTC decided that we wanted to start getting serious about our faith and started going to church together. We formed our own Bible study and as a small community of college-aged believers, we began trying to figure out what it meant to be Jesus followers. To make a long story very short, one of the members of this group would ultimately become my wife. As we deepened in our faith together as a group, I was drawn to what God was doing in her life. However, two weeks after we started dating, I started noticing an immense amount of pain in my abdomen and, even more concerning, evidence of internal bleeding. I started losing weight at an alarming rate and was ultimately diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called ulcerative colitis. Effectively, my immune system goes into overdrive and starts attacking and causing ulcers and a crazy amount of inflammation in my large intestine. Unfortunately, I have a rather severe form of the disease that affects not just a part of the intestine, but the entire thing. As is common with autoimmune diseases, finding the therapy that worked for me took a long time. Because of the severity of my diagnosis, this ultimately led me to being hospitalized seven times in the first 18 months following the onset of my symptoms. In addition to the pain, frustration, and confusion over what was happening, other things also started falling apart. A military career was now no longer an option for me. Because of the impact the disease was having on my body, I was sleeping 12-16 hours a day and was unable to continue pursuing my master's program. What is more, because of how the insurance I had purchased through the university was structured, it did not cover costs from chronic illnesses beyond $20,000. But through it all, God was working on my heart and my mind. He was showing me things about himself that I would likely never have learned had it not been for this. He was teaching me that my future job was not what defined me. Who I am in Jesus is what defines me. He was teaching me that the highest goal in life is not academic or professional achievement (Im a bit of an A-type personality and struggle with making my life about accomplishments). Instead, He showed me that following Him is the highest purpose in life. Now, perhaps the most incredible thing about this entire story is that Michaela stayed by my side throughout all of it. We had only recently started dating, but she was there for everything. I can still remember her voice as I was coming out of anesthesia after the scoping procedure that resulted in the diagnosis of the disease. I was insanely sick, my planned career was completely shattered, treatments werent working, and I had a sum of medical debt that was growing increasingly large. There were so many times when I felt absolutely lost and without hope. Yet, because of this community of people, especially Michaela, I was constantly reminded of God's goodness and how He works all things for the good of those who love Him, even if we dont see it in the moment. The Bible was my source of refuge, reminding me of the eternal promises of God that transcend our momentary afflictions. Things ultimately improved for me, and through a lot of help from my doctors and a lot of prayer, my condition was able to be controlled. There were still some rough points, and I experienced the occasional flare-up, but things returned to normal. Michaela and I got married, we found a way to pay off the medical debt, and life seemed to be going just fine. But what I didnt know at the time was that as I was going through all my medical issues and seeing Michaelas character displayed, God was showing me what it means to stand beside somebody as they are suffering. About two years after we got married, Michaela started showing symptoms of something, but the doctors couldnt figure out what it was. Finally, they had her stay on a heart monitor for an extended time, and the results were so concerning that the hospital in Laramie told us that we needed to come to the hospital here in Cheyenne because they were not prepared to deal with whatever the issue was. When Michaela arrived here, they took an Xray, and they found out that there was a mass about 12cm in diameter in her chest next to her heart. We were once again told that she needed to go to another hospital because the one here had no idea what was going on. However, this time, she had to travel via ambulance. We had come in the same vehicle, but as she was leaving in an ambulance, I followed in the car we brought over. It was such a good thing that it was the middle of the night because I was an absolute mess. If there had been any traffic whatsoever, I probably would have crashed. On that drive, I was confronted with an absolutely petrifying truth. There was nothing I could do for my wife but pray. I was helpless in the face of whatever it was that she had to face. I could not protect her, and I could not save her. And this was an earth-shattering realization for me. Of course, we all intellectually know that our time here is limited and that when it is time for us to leave this world, there is nothing we can do to stop it for ourselves or those we love. However, facing that reality directly is an entirely different notion. The radical realization that I had was that in this situation, she was entirely in the Lords hands. The even more radical realization I would only have reflecting later on, was that this is true every moment of every day. I just dont live like it. To capture this idea in his book The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis wrote, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. This has been precisely my experience. The eternal truths that God exists, that we desperately need Him, and that He alone is sufficient for all our needs are sometimes most clearly heard when we are in our most desperate times of need. Upon arriving at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, we learned that the mass was a tumor, and it was an advanced stage of lymphoma. The doctors recommended that she start an aggressive form of chemotherapy immediately. We didnt have time to go home and talk about it. We didnt have time to prepare in case the therapy made it difficult or impossible to have kids. It was almost as if everything had been put onto tracks, and we were just along for the ride. Now, soon after all of this happened a good friend of mine who has been a mentor in many ways to me came by and prayed with us. Her prayers included pleas for healing, comfort, and everything else we typically lift up to God during these types of events. However, she prayed something else as well. She prayed that our hearts and minds would be open to what God had to teach us during this time of trial. It literally felt like a physical switch turned in my head. Despite all that I had been through, and all God had done in my own heart during my battles with illness, I had not stopped to consider that God may have something to teach us here as well. And teach He did. I learned how incredibly strong of a woman He made when He created my wife. I learned that I am not sufficient for her; only Jesus is. I learned that life can be extraordinarily fleeting and what we consider normal and act like will go on forever can end in an instant. Michaela spent the following months going to Denver for a week of treatment every three weeks. I tagged along and slept on the pullout bed on the couch in her room. That was our lives for almost four months: two weeks at home and one in the hospital. When I had to travel for work, her mom took my place. Now, you may be wondering who the better caretaker in our relationship is when the other is undergoing adversity. The answer is Michaela. You may also be wondering who deals with suffering better. The answer is also Michaela. Ultimately, Michaela completed the chemo regimen and has been in full remission for almost 10 years. Despite not being able to make alternative preparations, we have two incredible boys who are miracles in the fullest sense of the word. It can be easy to praise God and extol His greatness when things work out the way we hope and pray they will. However, there will come a day when I and everybody else whom I love will draw in their last breath. And in those moments, God still deserves all the glory and all the praise. I want to relay one more story before I wrap up about one of those times. My stepmoms father, my grandfather, or as we called him, Papou (that part of my family is Greek), had been extremely sick for a long time. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt. His wife, my Yaiyia, was a missionary in Kenya when he proposed to her in a letter. After starting their young family, they moved to Athens so he could pastor a church while they served as missionaries. When they moved back to the States, their home was always a place of love where all were welcome. Toward the end of his life, he was unable to care for or even feed himself and had to be placed in a home to receive the care he needed. As the end of his life was drawing ever closer, he came down with a severe infection that left him almost entirely incapacitated. One day, some of our dearest family friends were visiting him. As they prepared to leave, everybody gathered to pray, potentially for the last time, over this man who had lived his life faithfully for God. However, before anybody else had a chance to speak, this saint (by the way, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are a saint as well) who could not feed himself or even sit up started to pray. I was not there to hear these words, but they still reverberate in the deepest part of my being more than a decade later. Our precious heavenly father, he said, we just cant thank you enough. You have been so good to us. That is the strength that a life lived in the service and love of God bestows upon a person. The Christian lives not in quiet resignation in the face of a world that can be so cruel and cause so much suffering. Instead, the Christian can raise a triumphant cry that in our weakness, the strength of the Lord will be made perfect, and that is enough. We can, as Job did, bless the name of the Lord, come whatever may. We see this in the letter to the Corinthians: 9But he [God] said to me [Paul],My grace is sufficient for you, formy power is made perfect in weakness.Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so thatthe power of Christ may rest upon me.10For the sake of Christ, then,I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. Forwhen I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9-11) This is why Paul ends this passage with a reiteration of the gospel message. Even though each of us who follow Jesus has the real experience of having the Holy Spirit residing within us, there also is an objective truth for all to see. Christ came and died for us while we were still sinners. And this point is even more important than the point that we are physically broken and endure sufferings in this world. That point is that we are spiritually broken and separated from God, desperately in need of a Savior. Reflect with me on these closing verses. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous personthough perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Jesus did not wait until we were perfect and had everything figured out before he came to die in our place. Instead, he came when we were still in sin, weak, and enemies of God. Unlike us, who so often act out of self-regard or do something because we view somebody as good and deserving, Jesus came to save us while we were still standing in complete opposition to God. This is the incredible news of the gospel. As much pain and suffering, as much physical brokenness that we may experience in this world, it is nothing compared to the spiritual sickness we suffer because of our separation from God. We all were far from God before coming to Christ, but he died in our place regardless and rose again, conquering death. We are justified, reconciled, and saved by what he did. And if you dont know Jesus yet, all you must do is accept him as your Lord and Savior and begin walking with him. Before we leave, I wanted to review some of the things I have learned from other believers and scripture about how to endure times of suffering. None of this is groundbreaking, but it works. Dont wait until you are in suffering to prepare If you wait until the morning of a marathon to train, it wont go well for you. The same is true here. If you wait until the moment of your trial to prepare, you are too late. Be in your Bible daily The stories of those who suffer in scripture are incredibly instructive and helpful. The principles you will learn from this book will help you in your time of need. But I never would have had these verses constantly in my mind and nourishing my soul if I had not read them. God uses scripture to help His followers in their time of need. Build relationships with fellow believersWhen Michaela and I have experienced times of suffering, it is the people of God, the Church, who have helped us more than anybody else. I have experienced the benefit of having somebody just come sit with you. Recently, while I was in the hospital, several friends visited throughout my stay. Mostly, we talked about the goodness of God. It helped me raise my eyes above my situation and stay focused on my Lord and Savior. Pray without ceasing Pray for those who are going through trials. Ask others to pray for you as you endure suffering. The Church was designed so that each member could help one another. And as you pray, follow Gods Spirit in how you can help. If you feel drawn to visit somebody who is ailing, go. If you feel called to cook them a meal, do it. Look for what God is trying to teach you Until our dying breath, we are running our race. As believers, we are walking down that narrow path that leads to Jesus. That path can be difficult and filled with obstacles sometimes. But even in our worst suffering, God is faithful, and He works all things for the good of those who love Him. If you let Him, He will develop in you: endurance, character, and a hope which will never be put to shame. Even in our greatest trials, He is still so incredibly good.

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous personthough perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. (Rom 5:1-11 ESV) As we begin a new year, many of us are filled with hope and expectation. We set resolutions and goals in anticipation of making even more of the year ahead. However, we dont really have control over the actual outcomes. Illness can beset us. We may experience the sudden loss of someone close to us. National or global events beyond our control can intrude upon our lives, affecting our businesses, jobs, or financial situations. On top of the uncertainty of life, we are constantly bombarded with stories of what could potentially go wrong. Will the stock market crash and take your retirement fund along with it? Will the economy enter a recession and cause my company or department to downsize? What if this country goes to war with that country? Now, the question that I want to address today is: how do we, as Christians, think about and address the uncertainty of this world and suffering when it happens to us and those close to us? When contemplating this passage in Romans, I thought of a story and what it means to rejoice in suffering as a believer in the risen Messiah. This story is about a Chicago lawyer and businessman named Horatio Spafford. Now, Horatio had invested much of his wealth in real estate in the city. Unfortunately, most of these properties, and thus much of his investment, were reduced to ash during the Great Fire of Chicago in 1871. The fallout from this loss and the work that he and other property owners in Chicago had to undertake to rebuild and restore would take years. The scale of this tragedy cannot be overstated. Over 17,000 buildings were destroyed, and more than 100,000 people (1/3 of Chicagos population) were homeless. If this were not enough, the Spaffords young son died of scarlet fever at the age of four not long after the fire. A couple of years after the fire, Horatio decided to take his family on a trip to Europe to escape the constant work and stress of rebuilding. Who wouldnt want to get away after all that had happened? He and his family were also going to meet up with and help the famous evangelist D.L. Moody, who was working on the continent at the time. However, some urgent business came up that needed his attention as the trip neared, so Horatio sent his wife and four daughters ahead of him. One week after the ship set sail, it was violently struck in an accident by another boat at two in the morning. Because of how the ships collided, the vessel the Spafford family was on sank within 12 minutes. Of the 313 people on board, 226 perished. All four of Horatios daughters perished that night. His wife, Anna, was found unconscious, held up by floating debris. Nine days after the accident, Anna landed in Europe and sent a telegram. It read, Saved alone. What shall I do? Upon receiving the message, Horatio booked the first passage he could find. However, this was during the 1800s, so this was far from a rapid process. One night, the captain called Horatio aside and informed him that they were currently sailing over the location where the ship carrying his family had sunk. As I contemplate this situation, I cant help but ask myself how I would have responded. Would I be overcome by anguish or anger? Would I have broken down and wept or shouted out words of rage at God for allowing such a thing to happen? Instead of either of these things, Horatio returned to his cabin to attempt to try to sleep and felt a sense of comfort and hope overcome him. He wrote down these words, It is well; the will of God be done. These words would soon become his timeless hymn that resounds with so many gospel truths. The name of that hymn is It Is Well with My Soul. It is worth reflecting on that there is a similar story in the Bible. Job, the man God Himself called blameless and upright, lost everything he owned in a single day. Additionally, his sons and daughters all died that very same day. Job responded to these events with the statement, Naked I came from my mothers womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD (Job 1:21). Notice the similarities? These are not words of quiet resignation or defeat. The LORD may give, and He may take away. In the words of Horatio, the will of God will be done. However, regardless of what happened to these two men, their response is instructive and encouraging beyond belief. Despite what comes, the believer can say, Blessed be the name of the LORD, and It is well with my soul. Now, these stories may be inspiring, but youd be right in asking, How do I develop that kind of abiding faith and trust in God? It is so easy to marvel at the faith of others. But the reality is that knowing the stories is not enough. These same types of tragedies, and many more besides, can happen in our lives. Thankfully, as in all things, God does not leave us alone. And I know this because the verses we are looking at today have been my anchor through the most challenging times in my life. They acted as my north star, the way that God guided me through trials and kept me traveling on the path that leads to Him. So, lets dive in. 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. The chapter opens with the word, therefore. This means that what Paul, the apostle who wrote this letter, is about to say directly follows what he has already said. It is essential to keep this at the forefront of our minds as we read scripture; what is the context? Uncountable numbers of irresponsible teachings have come through taking verses out of context and misapplying them. So, lets take a high-level view of what was said in the letter before our passage today. Paul was writing to the believers in Rome in anticipation of him traveling there, something he had long wanted to do. He wanted to accomplish several things. The letter to the Romans primarily concerns the gospel; Paul wanted to unify the church in Rome around the good news of Christ. Romans is a great place to start if you want a comprehensive understanding of the gospel message. Additionally, Paul wanted to prepare for the missionary journey he was planning to Spain; he wanted the Roman believers to help him on his way after he was able to visit them. Finally, Paul wanted to get in front of a growing division in the church between Jewish and Gentile believers. The focus for our study today aligns with the primary purpose for which Paul was writing: the good news of what Jesus has done. Or, as we more commonly call it, the gospel. Paul starts his letter by pointing to the grandeur of the universe as proof of Gods existence and that we can even learn some things about Him through creation. However, many, instead of worshiping the God who created everything, worshiped the things He made. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature,have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but theybecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22Claiming to be wise, they became fools,23andexchanged the glory ofthe immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 24ThereforeGod gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, tothe dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,25because they exchanged the truth about God fora lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever! Amen. (Rom 1:20-25) Paul addressed this because pagan worship was the norm in the Roman Empire. It is important to note here that the people Paul is talking about were the ones who exchanged God for created things in nature. God allowed them to choose and gave them up to what they wanted. N.T. Wright perhaps sums up this concept best. You become like what you worship. When you gaze in awe, admiration, and wonder at something or someone, you begin to take on something of the character of the object of your worship. N.T. Wright This is a critical point that Paul made. It spoke directly to the heart of Roman culture and society. And it speaks directly to ours as well. The Romans, like the Greeks, worshipped a pantheon of gods who were very human in nature. They were spiteful, filled with lust, and sought their own pleasure above the good of others. Paul was saying that if you venerate that type of activity, you will act the same way. Now, consider our culture today; we may not wrap it up in religious language and ritual, but it is the same. Think about the lyrics of many of the most popular songs today. Consider the lives and actions of celebrities and others that our society lifts up and puts on a pedestal. Reflect on how often we are told in advertising by the rich, powerful, and famous how if we only buy this item or consume this service, we will be as happy and fulfilled as they are, or supposedly are. Think about how society as a whole treats marriage as trivial or that it is entirely ok to objectify other human beings, especially with what is deemed acceptable to view on the internet for our own pleasure. Paul then addresses those who did know about the one true God, namely the Jewish nation. However, instead of commending them, Paul has a very different message. What he said was precisely what Jesus did. It doesnt matter that you come from the line of Abraham or how well you know the Old Testament Law. God cares about and judges people based on what we actually do. 12For all who have sinnedwithout the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.13Forit is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. (Rom 2:12-13) And if we stop for a minute and honestly look at our own lives, this is what we see. We know at our core that there is an absolute standard for good and evil. We know that saying one thing and then doing another is both hypocritical and wrong. We have all, myself included, done things that genuinely hurt other people, damaged relationships, and were contrary to what we know in the deepest parts of ouor being are good and right and holy. Paul quoted the Psalms to sum up this point. 10None is righteous, no, not one;11no one understands;no one seeks for God.12All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;no one does good,not even one. (Rom 3:10b-12) Now, this is a pretty bleak letter so far. This is not something that you read at the beginning of a year to feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Were left with all of these questions that seem pretty important and rather urgent. What if there is a creator of the universe? Spoiler alert: there is. And what if He genuinely cares about right and wrong and how we treat each other? Another spoiler alert: He does. If weve all fallen short, and there are consequences for that, is there something that can be done to restore ourselves to God? And here is the best spoiler alert: There is. Paul tells us how this happens. 21But now apart from the law the righteousness of Godhas been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.22This righteousnessis given through faithinJesus Christto all who believe.There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,23for all have sinnedand fall short of the glory of God,24and all are justifiedfreely by his gracethrough the redemptionthat came by Christ Jesus.25God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,through the shedding of his blood (Rom 3:21-25a, NIV) And there it is, the gospel, the good news that Paul based his entire letter around. There is a God who created both us and the universe we live in. He is perfectly good and, therefore, has made a moral law that we all are to live by. However, all of us fall short and sin. This causes a separation between us and God. However, God did not see fit to leave us as we are. He sent Jesus to live the life we never could and die the death we deserved so that we could be reconciled to Him. This is the good news that Paul was proclaiming. So, we return to the opening verses of our passage today. 1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. We now see what the therefore is there for. We were separated from God, but we can now be justified before him by faith. And because of this good news, that we have been justified by faith, certain things happen in the believer's life. First, we have peace with God. You see, it wasnt that we were just separated from God. We were, in fact, working against Him and were enemies. In another letter, Paul said, 21Once you were alienated from God and were enemiesin your mindsbecause ofyour evil behavior. But now he has reconciledyou by Christs physical bodythrough death to present youholy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Col 1:21-22, NIV). We just wrapped up an extremely deep study of the book of Ephesians here at Meadowbrooke. Remember what we were told in that letter about the state we were in before being saved? And you weredead in the trespasses and sins2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, followingthe prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work inthe sons of disobedience3among whom we all once lived inthe passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the bodyand the mind, andwere by naturechildren of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (Eph 2:1-3) When Paul says that we now have peace with God, he doesnt mean that we have a tranquil state of mind or something like that. Instead, when we become followers of Jesus, we go from being against God or an enemy of God to having peace with Him. Remember what Paul said earlier in the letter. Nobody is righteous; nobody does good. But it doesnt stop there. We arent just in some truce or ceasefire with God. What has happened is so much more glorious and incredible than that. We also, through Jesus, have obtained grace. Now, grace can be a mysterious-sounding religious word. All it means is that somebody has received unmerited or unearned favor. It means we dont deserve the favor or good things God freely bestows on us. Remember, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God; we all were, by nature, children of wrath. The Greek word that is translated here as access literally means to approach or to bring into. We are brought into Gods grace and can actually have a personal relationship with Him. How much has changed because of what Jesus has done for us. We who were enemies not only have peace with God but also can draw near to Him and have a personal relationship with our Creator. Finally, we can rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And given what we have just read, there is so much to rejoice in. But again, there is something even more glorious behind these words. We rejoice not just in our newfound peace with God or our ability to be brought into His grace. We rejoice in the hope of something else. The word hope in our English language is quite weak. Typically, it means something like, I hope this year is better than the last or I hope my team wins the Super Bowl this year. It expresses the desire for something to be true, but with the realization that it may not turn out that way. However, the Greek word employed here means something more like joyful and confident expectation. Our hope is in something that we are confident and sure of. Tim Keller remarked on this passage that, Christian hope is not a hopeful wish it is a hope-filled certainty. But what is it that we are hopeful for? If we were to poll random people about what they most hoped for or were most looking forward to regarding the promises of God, we would likely get a broad range of answers. Many would almost certainly revolve around seeing loved ones again or being eternally happy and without pain or suffering. However, notice what Paul says here. His focus is on the glory of God. More than his own happiness or desires, the reason for Pauls rejoicing is in the hope of being in the presence of Gods glory. John Murray remarked on this passage, [Believers] are interested in the manifestation of the glory of God for its own sake. The glory of God is their chief end and they long for and hasten unto that day when with undimmed vision they will behold the glory of God in its fullest exhibition and vindication. What this means is that the hope of the Christian is not in the hope of our wants, desires, and comfort. Instead, our hope is in being with and living within the glory of God. The focus is on God, not on us. John Piper put this better than anybody else I have heard. He said, The critical question for our generationand for every generation is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ were not there? Pauls answer would be a resounding no. What makes the restored heaven and earth what they will be is that we will finally be with God in all His infinite glory. Everything else pales in comparison to that. And any heaven without that is no real heaven at all. Now, Paul has covered a lot of ground in his letter so far. The people listening to this being read for the first time would have been on a real rollercoaster of a ride. First, they heard about this God who is powerful and mighty enough to create the entire universe in which we live. But then they heard that this God is also perfectly good and, therefore, has a moral law. They, just like all of us, broke that law. And they, just like us, broke it repeatedly. They heard about how this created a separation between humanity and God, a chasm we could not overcome ourselves. However, when everything seemed lost and without hope, they heard about how God, through Jesus, redeemed them, and they were now justified. This justification was not through anything they had done but what Jesus had done for them. They heard that they did not have to try to earn Gods merit, and in fact, they never could. They heard that what God really sought after was their hearts and faith in Him. Finally, because of that faith, the believer has peace with God, access to Gods grace, and the hope-filled certainty of witnessing God in His full glory one day. What an experience it must have been to be the first people to hear this letter being read. Can you imagine hearing this fantastic news? Then, the church in Rome would have heard the words, Not only that Wait! There is more!?! What more could there be after being told this fantastic news? I can only imagine sitting there and anticipating new promises and hopes the apostle was about to relay. Instead, the audience heard, Not only that, but werejoice in our sufferings. Wait what? We rejoice in our suffering? Werent we talking about drawing close to God and witnessing His glory? But this is reality, isnt it? When we decide to follow Jesus, all the hardships and suffering weve experienced dont magically disappear. We still get sick. Our finances dont magically improve; we all dont suddenly receive private jets and mansions. We still lose loved ones, and we all certainly still experience getting older and all the wear and tear that comes from that. As I reflect upon this past year, the single word that comes most to mind is difficult. This was a challenging year for our church family, and we had to go through things, including church discipline and the termination of a staff person in a pastoral role. Individuals and families in our church have also been going through extremely difficult things. There have been cancer diagnoses, losses of family members, struggles with chronic illnesses, sudden visits to the ER, heart issues, urgent and completely unexpected surgeries, and many, many more things besides. Personally, this last year, especially the past six months, has, if Im being completely honest, been extremely difficult. Due to an autoimmune disease, my health spiraled to a place I have not experienced in over a decade. This resulted in a 10-day stay in a hospital after losing 15% of my body weight and a substantial amount of internal bleeding. But, more importantly, it put a lot of strain on my marriage and meant I was less present as a father than I should be. The stark reality is that suffering is still a part of our lives. It has real impacts on us and those around us. But, as well see, faith in Jesus is not about the cessation of pain and suffering but instead giving that suffering over to God in faith that He will use it for good. Paul lays out how this looks for us: 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because Gods love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Notice here that Paul says we rejoice in our sufferings, not because of our sufferings. Paul does not say that suffering suddenly becomes pleasurable for us or trivially easy to endure. He does not say that God is giving us a way to prove ourselves to Him or earn His favor by persevering through hardship. Instead, we rejoice in our sufferings because of something we know. We know that suffering can produce something within us. That something is endurance. For most of my life, and by that, I mean since I was eight, I have participated in endurance sports. This has included distance running, cycling over 100 miles in a day over multiple mountain passes, and summiting 20,000 ft peaks. I bring this up because I have learned a lot about myself and quite a bit about endurance through these activities. The first is that endurance is not something magical you hope to have on the day of your event. It is something that you train for diligently. It may take months or even years in some cases to train your body and mind to accomplish the goal you have set before yourself. It is possible to train and not reach the goals you set. However, if you dont train, the goals will forever remain out of reach. And the thing about training is that a substantial amount of suffering can be involved. Mile repeats hurt. Hill training on a bike can be painful. Interval sessions have left me draped over the handlebars of my indoor trainer like a rag doll. Watching cyclists or other endurance athletes achieve the incredible can be awe-inspiring, often making it look easy. However, it isnt. What we witness when we watch world-class athletes is the outcome of a lifetime of training and preparation. And I can tell you from experience, every day Ive had where Ive looked like this, cycling up mountain passes feeling in great shape and like I could tackle the biggest of obstacles, Ive had many more days where Ive looked a bit more like this. The key here is that, like in athletics, in life, endurance is not something that happens automatically or magically. It is something that is produced. And often, the production of endurance happens through the crucible of suffering. But, unlike endurance training for sports, the type of endurance Paul talks about is not the end goal. It serves a greater purpose. You see, our character is also changing when we develop spiritual endurance. Now, this word in Greek doesnt just mean something like, He is a really good person and has good character. Instead, it is about something proven, or something tested and found to be approved. An example of this can be seen in Pauls letter to the Philippians concerning his protg, Timothy. 22But you know Timothy'sproven worth, howas a sonwith a fatherhe has served with me in the gospel.(Phil 2:22) The phrase proven worth is the same word that is translated as character. And to some extent, weve all experienced this. If we have endured something before, when we have to endure it again, there is a confidence we didnt have before. Or, thought of in a different way, if you had to go into battle with somebody, would you rather go with a special forces soldier who had been on multiple deployments or somebody who has never been through military training but plays their fair share of Tom Clancy video games? The choice is easy, right? What Paul is saying here is that when we go through suffering, endurance is produced. And when we endure our trials and tribulations, we are tested successfully or, as Paul says, our worth is proven. But Paul does not stop there. He says that this testedness produces something else: hope. And here we return to this idea of hope. Remember, this idea Paul is talking about can be best thought of as a hope-filled certainty. As we go through suffering, the endurance and character that result produces an ever-greater certainty that God is exactly who He has said He is and that His promises are sure. Paul then offers a proof of this. He states that hope will never put us to shame because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us. In fact, the relationship between the believer and the Holy Spirit is so close that he has been poured into our hearts. I had mentioned earlier that these verses have been my anchor verses through suffering. That is not an understatement in any way. I had grown up in the church. In fact, I heard hymns and the words of the Bible before I was born. As I grew up, I did all the church things, camps, and confirmation; I even started participating in lay-level leadership roles in my church. If any of those things sound a bit foreign, it is because I grew up in the Episcopal tradition. Ultimately, instead of letting God into my heart and being the Lord of my entire life, I was going through the motions. Especially in college, my life looked no different than anybody elses. Remember those verses from Ephesians about living in the passions of our flesh and carrying out the desires of the body and the mind? That was me. Until that is, God got ahold of my heart. A group of us in ROTC decided that we wanted to start getting serious about our faith and started going to church together. We formed our own Bible study and as a small community of college-aged believers, we began trying to figure out what it meant to be Jesus followers. To make a long story very short, one of the members of this group would ultimately become my wife. As we deepened in our faith together as a group, I was drawn to what God was doing in her life. However, two weeks after we started dating, I started noticing an immense amount of pain in my abdomen and, even more concerning, evidence of internal bleeding. I started losing weight at an alarming rate and was ultimately diagnosed with an autoimmune condition called ulcerative colitis. Effectively, my immune system goes into overdrive and starts attacking and causing ulcers and a crazy amount of inflammation in my large intestine. Unfortunately, I have a rather severe form of the disease that affects not just a part of the intestine, but the entire thing. As is common with autoimmune diseases, finding the therapy that worked for me took a long time. Because of the severity of my diagnosis, this ultimately led me to being hospitalized seven times in the first 18 months following the onset of my symptoms. In addition to the pain, frustration, and confusion over what was happening, other things also started falling apart. A military career was now no longer an option for me. Because of the impact the disease was having on my body, I was sleeping 12-16 hours a day and was unable to continue pursuing my master's program. What is more, because of how the insurance I had purchased through the university was structured, it did not cover costs from chronic illnesses beyond $20,000. But through it all, God was working on my heart and my mind. He was showing me things about himself that I would likely never have learned had it not been for this. He was teaching me that my future job was not what defined me. Who I am in Jesus is what defines me. He was teaching me that the highest goal in life is not academic or professional achievement (Im a bit of an A-type personality and struggle with making my life about accomplishments). Instead, He showed me that following Him is the highest purpose in life. Now, perhaps the most incredible thing about this entire story is that Michaela stayed by my side throughout all of it. We had only recently started dating, but she was there for everything. I can still remember her voice as I was coming out of anesthesia after the scoping procedure that resulted in the diagnosis of the disease. I was insanely sick, my planned career was completely shattered, treatments werent working, and I had a sum of medical debt that was growing increasingly large. There were so many times when I felt absolutely lost and without hope. Yet, because of this community of people, especially Michaela, I was constantly reminded of God's goodness and how He works all things for the good of those who love Him, even if we dont see it in the moment. The Bible was my source of refuge, reminding me of the eternal promises of God that transcend our momentary afflictions. Things ultimately improved for me, and through a lot of help from my doctors and a lot of prayer, my condition was able to be controlled. There were still some rough points, and I experienced the occasional flare-up, but things returned to normal. Michaela and I got married, we found a way to pay off the medical debt, and life seemed to be going just fine. But what I didnt know at the time was that as I was going through all my medical issues and seeing Michaelas character displayed, God was showing me what it means to stand beside somebody as they are suffering. About two years after we got married, Michaela started showing symptoms of something, but the doctors couldnt figure out what it was. Finally, they had her stay on a heart monitor for an extended time, and the results were so concerning that the hospital in Laramie told us that we needed to come to the hospital here in Cheyenne because they were not prepared to deal with whatever the issue was. When Michaela arrived here, they took an Xray, and they found out that there was a mass about 12cm in diameter in her chest next to her heart. We were once again told that she needed to go to another hospital because the one here had no idea what was going on. However, this time, she had to travel via ambulance. We had come in the same vehicle, but as she was leaving in an ambulance, I followed in the car we brought over. It was such a good thing that it was the middle of the night because I was an absolute mess. If there had been any traffic whatsoever, I probably would have crashed. On that drive, I was confronted with an absolutely petrifying truth. There was nothing I could do for my wife but pray. I was helpless in the face of whatever it was that she had to face. I could not protect her, and I could not save her. And this was an earth-shattering realization for me. Of course, we all intellectually know that our time here is limited and that when it is time for us to leave this world, there is nothing we can do to stop it for ourselves or those we love. However, facing that reality directly is an entirely different notion. The radical realization that I had was that in this situation, she was entirely in the Lords hands. The even more radical realization I would only have reflecting later on, was that this is true every moment of every day. I just dont live like it. To capture this idea in his book The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis wrote, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world. This has been precisely my experience. The eternal truths that God exists, that we desperately need Him, and that He alone is sufficient for all our needs are sometimes most clearly heard when we are in our most desperate times of need. Upon arriving at the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, we learned that the mass was a tumor, and it was an advanced stage of lymphoma. The doctors recommended that she start an aggressive form of chemotherapy immediately. We didnt have time to go home and talk about it. We didnt have time to prepare in case the therapy made it difficult or impossible to have kids. It was almost as if everything had been put onto tracks, and we were just along for the ride. Now, soon after all of this happened a good friend of mine who has been a mentor in many ways to me came by and prayed with us. Her prayers included pleas for healing, comfort, and everything else we typically lift up to God during these types of events. However, she prayed something else as well. She prayed that our hearts and minds would be open to what God had to teach us during this time of trial. It literally felt like a physical switch turned in my head. Despite all that I had been through, and all God had done in my own heart during my battles with illness, I had not stopped to consider that God may have something to teach us here as well. And teach He did. I learned how incredibly strong of a woman He made when He created my wife. I learned that I am not sufficient for her; only Jesus is. I learned that life can be extraordinarily fleeting and what we consider normal and act like will go on forever can end in an instant. Michaela spent the following months going to Denver for a week of treatment every three weeks. I tagged along and slept on the pullout bed on the couch in her room. That was our lives for almost four months: two weeks at home and one in the hospital. When I had to travel for work, her mom took my place. Now, you may be wondering who the better caretaker in our relationship is when the other is undergoing adversity. The answer is Michaela. You may also be wondering who deals with suffering better. The answer is also Michaela. Ultimately, Michaela completed the chemo regimen and has been in full remission for almost 10 years. Despite not being able to make alternative preparations, we have two incredible boys who are miracles in the fullest sense of the word. It can be easy to praise God and extol His greatness when things work out the way we hope and pray they will. However, there will come a day when I and everybody else whom I love will draw in their last breath. And in those moments, God still deserves all the glory and all the praise. I want to relay one more story before I wrap up about one of those times. My stepmoms father, my grandfather, or as we called him, Papou (that part of my family is Greek), had been extremely sick for a long time. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt. His wife, my Yaiyia, was a missionary in Kenya when he proposed to her in a letter. After starting their young family, they moved to Athens so he could pastor a church while they served as missionaries. When they moved back to the States, their home was always a place of love where all were welcome. Toward the end of his life, he was unable to care for or even feed himself and had to be placed in a home to receive the care he needed. As the end of his life was drawing ever closer, he came down with a severe infection that left him almost entirely incapacitated. One day, some of our dearest family friends were visiting him. As they prepared to leave, everybody gathered to pray, potentially for the last time, over this man who had lived his life faithfully for God. However, before anybody else had a chance to speak, this saint (by the way, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are a saint as well) who could not feed himself or even sit up started to pray. I was not there to hear these words, but they still reverberate in the deepest part of my being more than a decade later. Our precious heavenly father, he said, we just cant thank you enough. You have been so good to us. That is the strength that a life lived in the service and love of God bestows upon a person. The Christian lives not in quiet resignation in the face of a world that can be so cruel and cause so much suffering. Instead, the Christian can raise a triumphant cry that in our weakness, the strength of the Lord will be made perfect, and that is enough. We can, as Job did, bless the name of the Lord, come whatever may. We see this in the letter to the Corinthians: 9But he [God] said to me [Paul],My grace is sufficient for you, formy power is made perfect in weakness.Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so thatthe power of Christ may rest upon me.10For the sake of Christ, then,I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. Forwhen I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor 12:9-11) This is why Paul ends this passage with a reiteration of the gospel message. Even though each of us who follow Jesus has the real experience of having the Holy Spirit residing within us, there also is an objective truth for all to see. Christ came and died for us while we were still sinners. And this point is even more important than the point that we are physically broken and endure sufferings in this world. That point is that we are spiritually broken and separated from God, desperately in need of a Savior. Reflect with me on these closing verses. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous personthough perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Jesus did not wait until we were perfect and had everything figured out before he came to die in our place. Instead, he came when we were still in sin, weak, and enemies of God. Unlike us, who so often act out of self-regard or do something because we view somebody as good and deserving, Jesus came to save us while we were still standing in complete opposition to God. This is the incredible news of the gospel. As much pain and suffering, as much physical brokenness that we may experience in this world, it is nothing compared to the spiritual sickness we suffer because of our separation from God. We all were far from God before coming to Christ, but he died in our place regardless and rose again, conquering death. We are justified, reconciled, and saved by what he did. And if you dont know Jesus yet, all you must do is accept him as your Lord and Savior and begin walking with him. Before we leave, I wanted to review some of the things I have learned from other believers and scripture about how to endure times of suffering. None of this is groundbreaking, but it works. Dont wait until you are in suffering to prepare If you wait until the morning of a marathon to train, it wont go well for you. The same is true here. If you wait until the moment of your trial to prepare, you are too late. Be in your Bible daily The stories of those who suffer in scripture are incredibly instructive and helpful. The principles you will learn from this book will help you in your time of need. But I never would have had these verses constantly in my mind and nourishing my soul if I had not read them. God uses scripture to help His followers in their time of need. Build relationships with fellow believersWhen Michaela and I have experienced times of suffering, it is the people of God, the Church, who have helped us more than anybody else. I have experienced the benefit of having somebody just come sit with you. Recently, while I was in the hospital, several friends visited throughout my stay. Mostly, we talked about the goodness of God. It helped me raise my eyes above my situation and stay focused on my Lord and Savior. Pray without ceasing Pray for those who are going through trials. Ask others to pray for you as you endure suffering. The Church was designed so that each member could help one another. And as you pray, follow Gods Spirit in how you can help. If you feel drawn to visit somebody who is ailing, go. If you feel called to cook them a meal, do it. Look for what God is trying to teach you Until our dying breath, we are running our race. As believers, we are walking down that narrow path that leads to Jesus. That path can be difficult and filled with obstacles sometimes. But even in our worst suffering, God is faithful, and He works all things for the good of those who love Him. If you let Him, He will develop in you: endurance, character, and a hope which will never be put to shame. Even in our greatest trials, He is still so incredibly good.

Enjoy this podcast? Your support on Patreon helps us in so many ways... Patreon: patreon.com/commonprayerdaily_________________________________________________________________OpeningBlessed be God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.And blessed be his kingdom, now and for ever. Amen.Come, let us worship God our King.Come, let us worship Christ, our King and our God.Come, let us worship Christ among us, our King and our God.Holy God,holy and mighty,holy immortal one,have mercy upon us. (3x)Glory be to the + Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,now and always and forever and ever. Amen. From Psalm 51Open my lips, O Lord, *and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.Create in me a clean heart, O God, *and renew a right spirit within me.Cast me not away from your presence *and take not your holy Spirit from me.Give me the joy of your saving help again *and sustain me with your bountiful Spirit.Glory be to the + Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,now and always and forever and ever. Amen. A PsalmPsalm 74Ut quid, Deus?O God, why have you utterly cast us off? why is your wrath so hot against the sheep of your pasture?Remember your congregation that you purchased long ago, the tribe you redeemed to be your inheritance, and Mount Zion where you dwell.Turn your steps toward the endless ruins; the enemy has laid waste everything in your sanctuary.Your adversaries roared in your holy place; they set up their banners as tokens of victory.They were like men coming up with axes to a grove of trees; they broke down all your carved work with hatchets and hammers.They set fire to your holy place; they defiled the dwelling-place of your Name and razed it to the ground.They said to themselves, "Let us destroy them altogether.” They burned down all the meeting-places of God in the land.There are no signs for us to see; there is no prophet left; there is not one among us who knows how long.How long, O God, will the adversary scoff? will the enemy blaspheme your Name for ever?Why do you draw back your hand? why is your right hand hidden in your bosom?Yet God is my King from ancient times, victorious in the midst of the earth.You divided the sea by your might and shattered the heads of the dragons upon the waters;You crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him to the people of the desert for food.You split open spring and torrent; you dried up ever-flowing rivers.Yours is the day, yours also the night; you established the moon and the sun.You fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.Remember, O Lord, how the enemy scoffed, how a foolish people despised your Name.Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; never forget the lives of your poor.Look upon your covenant; the dark places of the earth are haunts of violence.Let not the oppressed turn away ashamed; let the poor and needy praise your Name.Arise, O God, maintain your cause; remember how fools revile you all day long.Forget not the clamor of your adversaries, the unending tumult of those who rise up against you. Glory be to the + Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,now and always and forever and ever. Amen. The ReadingsGalatians 5:11–21But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.The Word of the LordThanks Be to God Mark 7:5–15And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,“‘This people honors me with their lips,but their heart is far from me;in vain do they worship me,teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother'; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.' But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”' (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”The Word of the LordThanks Be to GodThe Apostles' CreedI believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth;I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. ExamenIn God's presence, think through the day ahead:the work you will do, the people you will encounter, the dangers or uncertainties you face, the possibilities for joy and acts of kindness, any particular resolutions you need to renew, consider what might draw you from the love of God and neighbor, the opportunities you will have to know and serve God and to grow in virtue, remember those closest to you and all for whom you have agreed to pray, ask God's blessings, guidance, and strength in all that lies before you. Gather up these thoughts and reflections in the wordsOur Savior taught us to say: The Lord's PrayerOur Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. The Collects of the DayLord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen. Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Closing PrayersA Prayer of St. ChrysostomAlmighty God, you have given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication to you; and you have promised through your well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name you will be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, our desires and petitions as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of your truth, and in the age to come life everlasting. Amen. Glory be to the + Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit,now and always and forever and ever. Amen.Lord, have mercy! (3x)God, be gracious to us and bless us and shine Your countenance upon us and have mercy on us.This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!The Father+ is my hope; the Son, my refuge; the Holy Spirit, my protection: All-Holy Trinity, glory to You!Amen!

GospelMARK 6:17-2917For Herod had sent and seized John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Hero'di-as, his brother Philip's wife; because he had married her. 18For John said to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19And Hero'di-as had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he was much perplexed; and yet he heard him gladly. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and the leading men of Galilee. 22For when Hero'di-as' daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will grant it." 23And he vowed to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom." 24And she went out, and said to her mother, "What shall I ask?" And she said, "The head of John the baptizer." 25And she came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, saying, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."26And the king was exceedingly sorry; but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27And immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard and gave orders to bring his head. He went and beheaded him in the prison,28and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Jude 20-21But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. English Standard Version (ESV)The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament: Amos 7:7-15 7This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; 9the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” 10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. 11For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.'” 12And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; 13but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” 14Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees,15and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' Psalm: Psalm 85:8-13 8 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, *        for he is speaking peace to his faithful people        and to those who turn their hearts to him. 9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *        that his glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth have met together; *        righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *        and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *        and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before him, *        and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. Epistle: Ephesians 1:3-14 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. Gospel: Mark 6:14-29 14King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 15But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” 17For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. 18For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” 23And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” 24She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” 25Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Philippians 1:20-21It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Read MoreThe crucial thing for Paul is not life or death. It is maintaining his faithful witness to Christ. “Or by death” indicates that Paul hopes to honor Christ even in the way he eventually dies. Paul's life is not a matter of seeking his own comfort or advancement. It is all about seeking the advancement of Christ's kingdom: to live is tantamount to serving Christ. In fact, to die should be seen as gain, because it would mean that Paul would be freed from his trouble-filled life on earth to rejoice in Christ's presence. Philippians 3:20–21But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Read More“Transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body” echoes Philippians 2:5–11. Those who follow Christ's example of service will share in his vindication and glory as well. Perfection will come only at the resurrection (cf. Phil. 3:11–12; 1 Cor. 15:12–28). “To subject all things to himself” is messianic language drawn from the Old Testament (e.g., Ps. 8:6; Ps. 110:1).For more information about this group, please visit their website at reformationboise.com. Every weekday at 8:00am you can listen to The Gospel for Life on 94.1 The Voice in the Treasure Valley, Idaho, USA. If you have a question, comment, or even a topic suggestion for the Pastors, you can email them. There is only one rule: Be Kind! Phone: (208) 991-3526E-mail: thegospelforlifeidaho@gmail.comPodcast website: https://941thevoice.com/podcasts/gospel-for-life/

TheLordRejects Saul 15And Samuel said to Saul,TheLordsent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of theLord.2Thus says theLordof hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to Israelin opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt.3Now go and strike Amalek anddevote to destruction[a]all that they have. Do not spare them,but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey. 4So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah.5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.6Then Saul said tothe Kenites, Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them.For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.7And Saul defeated the Amalekites fromHavilah as far asShur, which is east of Egypt.8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites aliveand devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword.9But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves[b]and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. 10The word of theLordcame to Samuel:11I regret[c]that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me andhas not performed my commandments. And Samuel was angry, and he cried to theLordall night.12And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, Saul came toCarmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.13And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him,Blessed be you to theLord. I have performed the commandment of theLord.14And Samuel said, What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?15Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites,for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to theLordyour God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.16Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what theLordsaid to me this night. And he said to him, Speak. 17And Samuel said,Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? TheLordanointed you king over Israel.18And theLordsent you on a mission and said, Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.19Why then did you not obey the voice of theLord?Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of theLord?20And Saul said to Samuel,I have obeyed the voice of theLord. I have gone on the mission on which theLordsent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to theLordyour God in Gilgal.22And Samuel said, Has theLordas great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,as in obeying the voice of theLord?Behold,to obey is better than sacrifice,and to listen than the fat of rams.23For rebellion is as the sin of divination,and presumption is as iniquity andidolatry.Becauseyou have rejected the word of theLord,he has also rejected you from being king. 24Saul said to Samuel,I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of theLordand your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.25Now therefore, please pardon my sin andreturn with me that I may bow before theLord.26And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you.For you have rejected the word of theLord,and theLordhas rejected you from being king over Israel.27As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore.28And Samuel said to him,TheLordhas torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.29And also the Glory of Israelwill not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.30Then he said, I have sinned; yethonor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel,and return with me, that I may bow before theLordyour God.31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before theLord. 32Then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully.[d]Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.33And Samuel said,As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before theLordin Gilgal. 34Then Samuel wentto Ramah, and Saul went up to his house inGibeah of Saul.35And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death,but Samuel grieved over Saul.And theLordregretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Third Sunday in Lent The Collect: Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. Old Testament: Exodus 20:1-17 1Then God spoke all these words: 2I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;3you shall have no other gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns.11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it. 12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13You shall not murder.14You shall not commit adultery. 15You shall not steal. 16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Psalm: Psalm 19 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, *        and the firmament shows his handiwork. 2 One day tells its tale to another, *        and one night imparts knowledge to another. 3 Although they have no words or language, *        and their voices are not heard, 4 Their sound has gone out into all lands, *        and their message to the ends of the world. 5 In the deep has he set a pavilion for the sun; *        it comes forth like a bridegroom out of his chamber;        it rejoices like a champion to run its course. 6 It goes forth from the uttermost edge of the heavens    and runs about to the end of it again; *        nothing is hidden from its burning heat. 7 The law of the Lord is perfect                               and revives the soul; *        the testimony of the Lord is sure                               and gives wisdom to the innocent. 8 The statutes of the Lord are just                               and rejoice the heart; *        the commandment of the Lord is clear                               and gives light to the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean                               and endures for ever; *        the judgments of the Lord are true                               and righteous altogether. 10 More to be desired are they than gold,                               more than much fine gold, *        sweeter far than honey,                               than honey in the comb. 11 By them also is your servant enlightened, *        and in keeping them there is great reward. 12 Who can tell how often he offends? *        cleanse me from my secret faults. 13 Above all, keep your servant from presumptuous sins;     let them not get dominion over me; *        then shall I be whole and sound,        and innocent of a great offense. 14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my                               heart be acceptable in your sight, *        O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Epistle: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 18For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” 20Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. 22For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, 23but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength. Gospel: John 2:13-22 13The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.14In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”18The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”21But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

John 9 1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud 7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing. 8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.” 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” 18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out. 35Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

Mark 6:1-29   1He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. 14King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him." 15But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." 17For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. 18For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it." 23And he solemnly swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom." 24She went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the baptizer." 25Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

21But this I call to mind,andtherefore I have hope: 22The steadfast love of theLordnever ceases;[a]his mercies never come to an end;23they are newevery morning;great is your faithfulness.24TheLordis my portion, says my soul,therefore I will hope in him.

The devotion for today, Monday, October 16, 2023 was written by Thomas Riggs and is narrated by Adam Carter. Today's Words of Inspiration come from Jude, verses 20-21But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Support the show

October 12, 2023Today's Reading: Daily Lectionary: Nehemiah 9:22-38, 1 Timothy 6:3-21But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. (1 Timothy 6:6-8)In the Name of Jesus, Amen. Your life should reflect who you are in Christ, all of your life. You are baptized and empowered to live life accordingly. This is what Paul means by godliness. Living a Christian life is far more than simply being a faithful Sunday morning worshiper. The strength and source of living a godly life is Jesus. The Divine Service is where we are plugged-in, so to speak, to Him. Without Jesus there is no godly life. What does your life look like outside of the Divine Service? Is it God pleasing? Godliness is keeping God at the center. It is keeping His Word before our eyes, in our ears and upon our hearts daily. It is reflecting that Word in our words and works of love towards God and neighbor. Why does Paul instruct Timothy to preach and teach about godliness with contentment? And to charge Christians to live a holy life fleeing from sinful desires and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness? For these reasons: for the sake of true joy, peace and contentment and that we may not lose what we already have been given freely in Christ nor cause others to stumble and fall away. We don't worship or live a godly life for compliments. Your godliness in no way atones for sins and gains salvation. However, Jesus' perfect life of godliness and death does… atone for your sins and saves. God wants us to have good things, he “richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” However, He doesn't want us to fall into faith destroying snares. The temptations of riches, power and worldly desires are always ready to entrap us. Satan uses such things to drive us away from Jesus. O Christian flee from those things! Godliness that finds its joyful source in the righteousness of Jesus, freely given, provides a life of contentment. We give thanks for all that God has provided in this life, whether little or an abundance. And how much He has given! What the world considers good and needful is most often just the opposite, hurtful and detrimental to faith. There is only one thing needful for you and that is Jesus, your crucified and risen Savior.  In the Name of Jesus, Amen.Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,   for those who fear him have no lack!   but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing, Better is the little that the righteous has   than the abundance of many wicked. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness  for his name's sake. (Psalm 34:9, 10b; 23:1,3)-Pastor Preston Paul is pastor at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Almena, WI.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.Study Christ's words on the cross to see how you can show more Christlike grace in your life. Perfect for group or individual study, each chapter has a Q&A at the end, and the back of the book includes a leader guide. Available now from Concordia Publishing House.

HOLY GOSPEL: Luke 24:13-35            13Now on that same day [when Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene,] two [disciples] were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.  28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. 

Confronting Culture #6 No Stopping God By Louie Marsh, 4-9-2023   Slides – last one the racist one.   1) I must DIE before I can be born again.   “8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:8, ESV)   “24For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Luke 9:24, ESV)   ·       To Confront Culture like Christ I must die to what I want the most – LOVE, ACCEPTANCE, APPROVAL   2) The Resurrection of Jesus is a FACT.   “3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.” (1 Corinthians 15:3–8, ESV)   3) The TRINITY raised Christ from the dead.   “11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” (Romans 8:11, ESV)   “3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…according to the working of his great might 20that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:1a, 19b–20, ESV)   “19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” (John 2:19–22, ESV)   4) Christ's Resurrection EMPOWERS my witness to the culture.   9Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9–11, ESV)   “14And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:14, ESV)   5) Death's Defeat in Jesus is the ultimate message of HOPE.   “18For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.” (Romans 8:18, ASV)   “33Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?” (Romans 8:33–35, ESV)   “37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37–39, ESV)

LUKE 23 1Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate. 2And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.” 3So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,”Jesus replied. 4Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.” 5But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.” 6On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean. 7When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. 8When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. 9He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer. 10The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. 11Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate. 12That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies. 13Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, 14and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him. 15Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. 16Therefore, I will punish him and then release him.” [17]23:17 Some manuscripts include here words similar to Matt. 27:15 and Mark 15:6. 18But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!” 19(Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.) 20Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. 21But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 22For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.” 23But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. 24So Pilate decided to grant their demand. 25He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

Luke 22:19-38 NIV 19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” 23They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this. 24A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. 32But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” 33But he replied, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” 34Jesus answered, “I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.” 35Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered. 36He said to them, “But now if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one. 37It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors'; and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.” 38The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.” “That's enough!” he replied.

My podcast with the brilliant Marc Andreessen is out!We discuss:* how AI will revolutionize software* whether NFTs are useless, & whether he should be funding flying cars instead* a16z's biggest vulnerabilities* the future of fusion, education, Twitter, venture, managerialism, & big techDwarkesh Patel has a great interview with Marc Andreessen. This one is full of great riffs: the idea that VC exists to restore pockets of bourgeois capitalism in a mostly managerial capitalist system, what makes the difference between good startup founders and good mature company executives, how valuation works at the earliest stages, and more. Dwarkesh tends to ask the questions other interviewers don't.Byrne Hobart, The DiffWatch on YouTube. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript here. Follow me on Twitter for updates on future episodes.Similar episodesYou may also enjoy my interview of Tyler Cowen about the pessimism of sex and identifying talent, Byrne Hobart about FTX and how drugs have shaped financial markets, and Bethany McLean about the astonishing similarities between FTX and the Enron story (which she broke).Side note: Paying the billsTo help pay the bills for my podcast, I'm turning on paid subscriptions on Substack.No major content will be paywalled - please don't donate if you have to think twice before buying a cup of coffee.But if you have the means & have enjoyed my podcast, I would appreciate your support

“Putting Feet to Our Confession” Nehemiah 9:38 – 10:39 Big Idea: Repentance is our commitment to the gospel that reflects both transformed thinking and transformed living. The people's repentance was… 1)     Accountable (9:38) 2)     Corporate (9:38 - 10:29) 3)     Obedient (10:28,29,34,36) 4)     Serious (10:29) 5)     Practical (10:30-39) Abstaining from mixed marriages (10:30) Keeping the Sabbath holy (10:31) Funding the temple sacrifices (10:32-34) Bringing firstfruits to the temple (10:35-37) Tithing to support temple personnel (10:37-39) 6)     Prophetic The gospel of Jesus is… The highest purpose of marriage Ephesians 5:31–32 — 31“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. The ultimate Sabbath rest Hebrews 4:9–11 — 9So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,10for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. The reason for generous giving 2 Corinthians 8:9 — 9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. The meaning of the true temple John 2:18–21 — 18So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. Revelation 21:22 — 22And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. The fulfillment of Old Testament sacrifices Matthew 5:18 — 18For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Romans 10:4 — 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. The New Covenant of God's forgiveness Matthew 26:28 — 28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins

We're excited to announce the second episode release of our new podcast, Beyond Two Percent!Beyond Two Percent analyzes the critical questions, issues, and dynamics that affect people differently by gender - and the intersection of those dynamics with finance. This week's roundtable focuses on investing, and we're lucky to be joined by Katie Perry, General Manager at Public, and Margot de Broglie, Co-Founder of Your JunoAs always, our guests join our two fabulous hosts, Julie VerHage-Greenberg and Helen Femi Williams. We'll publish Beyond Two Percent monthly - if you'd be interested in joining an upcoming episode, let us know! Reach out to sponsor@thisweekinfintech.com.SPEAKERS* Margot de Broglie, Co-Founder of Your Juno* Katie Perry, General Manager at Public * Julie VerHage-Greenberg, Head of Content and Community at Orum* Helen Femi Williams, Fintech JournalistHelen  00:14This is the Beyond Two Percent podcast and I'm your host Helen Femi Williams.Julie  00:18And I'm your second host, Julie VerHage-Greenberg, this podcast is brought to you by this week in FinTech, which is the front page of global FinTech news, fostering the largest FinTech community through newsletters, thought leadership and events, andHelen  00:31of course, podcasting. And you might have listened to our other podcast. Hey, Fin tech friends. Well, this podcast series is all about women exploring everything from investing to motherhood, to intersectionality, and so much more.Julie  00:45And we encourage you to give us feedback on the topics you think we should be discussing and asking and future panels.Helen  00:51I think Julie and I and the way that this week in FinTech team recognized that ensuring women are well represented in any industry is always going to be beneficial. Gender Diversity has shown to spot better problem-solving, superior performance, innovation, so much more I could go on.Julie  01:06You're right, Helen. And if we were specifically talking about FinTech, the industry could benefit for more women at any level because women in general, have not typically been in the spotlight as a target audience for financial products and services. They're an underserved customer segment with a massive unmet need.Helen  01:24And beyond that female founders and executives have personal experience understanding how to generate an ally new ideas and solutions in this field.Julie  01:32And that's why this podcast is called Beyond 2%.Helen  01:35There is a world of tech-driven financial products and services that is yet to be discovered because of the lack of women leaders in this spaceJulie  01:42and through group discussions with leaders in these spaces. This is what we want to exploreHelen  01:47this week. It's all about investing.Julie  01:53And thank you to our sponsors in New York City FinTech women, FinTech women's mission is to connect, promote, and empower women to advance their careers. They need help from everyone if we're going to make a real change, encouraging male allies to become members and come to our events. Membership is free. And you can sign up at NYC FinTech women.com and follow them on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Laura speaker men are recognized by Crain's New York and 2021 as a notable woman on Wall Street is a co founder and chief revenue officer at alloy. Prior to alloy Laura led business development and partnerships at an ACH payments startup and was on the research and investment team at imprint Capital Advisors, which was acquired by Goldman Sachs. Laura is a proud Barnard College alumna and lives in Berkeley, California.Julie 02:22Katy Perry is a general manager@publix.com an investing platform that helps people be better investors. As Publix dot coms general manager of investor relation innovation, Katie oversees b2b partnerships and editorial providing new pathways for asset providers to ensure that investor information reaches retail shareholders. Katie is a frequent thought leader and mentor on the topics of retail investing trends, financial equity, and marketing. She has spoken at events with NASDAQ ladies get paid General Assembly and Adweek and was selected to the World Economic Forum Working Committee on the Future of capital markets. She has provided mentorship to emerging talent via organizations.Helen 03:08Margot is the co-founder of Your Juno, a financial education app for young women and nonbinary people. Dubbed the Duolingo of money. Users can learn about any financial topic via its app, including negotiating a pay rise, buying a property, and becoming an investor started one year ago by Margot and her sister Alexia, your junior has raised a total of $2.5 million and reached over 25,000 users with a mission to close the gender wealth gap. I hope you enjoyed this episode.Helen 03:49Thank you so much for coming on our podcast. I'm Helen, and that's the lovely Julie over there.And we should address the elephant in the room.When I first read that, I was interviewing Katy Perry was like, wow, I didn't know she did so much in the investment space. KatieI was on an email the other day with an Alex Rodriguez, and we laughed. So lots of celebs and fintech, believe it or not multi high finance. Yeah, I mean, we've all got a pivot, you know, if the music's not working out, got to change careers.Helen 04:21But yeah, I think, a really good place to start, like, obviously, we're focused kind of on gender and the gap between men and women. And I think that's something that you both are quite knowledgeable about. So I guess, on a very basic level, like why is this important? So is there a gender gap when it comes to like investing between men and women? And why is this something that, you know, we should be focusing on? Margot 05:00I'm happy to start. There's definitely a gender investment gap all around the world. We're seeing it in almost every country in the world, and why does it matter? Well, everyone speaks about the gender pay gap, which is obviously a big problem that we should be addressing. But if we don't look at the gender wealth gaps holistically, then we're not actually looking at the full picture. Because yes, women tend to earn less than men. But then what they do with that money is also very different. And if you're not investing your money, if you're not making that money work for you, then you're missing out on huge potential returns that really compound over a lifetime. So actually, we're looking at wealth here, more specifically, and especially for women, wealth is so important wealth is the ability to leave a situation that doesn't support you. Well, we often call it the eff off find. So it's the ability to say no to things that you know that doesn't work for you, be in a toxic relationship, or a toxic workplace, invest in your business, or just take steps towards having more options. And I think that's why it's so important to speak about the gender investment gap because it really has such a big difference in women's lives worldwide. I totally agree with that. And I wanted Margo to go first because she's building an entire business from expertise here. And this is only part of what I do. So yeah, I think, you know, there's a couple of facets of why people aren't investing, why there's a gap. And obviously, it's not just gender, it's race, and socioeconomic class. And there's, there's like structure, there are real structural and systemic things that are causing this. And those pieces, those are huge problems that involve so many pieces across our day-to-day lives. In addition to that, there is this gap of just access to information and knowledge and overall accessibility of these concepts. I remember growing up and like seeing all the ads for financial platforms like the people in the ads always look the same. And I think if you're not, you know that you look at those, you don't see yourself over time, you just don't feel included. And so one of the reasons kind of public was started was to change that culture around these topics and investing and make them more inclusive, because they are for everybody. And that kind of gap in access to knowledge. Or even just confidence and feel like you can see yourself as an investor, that's like a real blocker for people. So that's the specific thing we're trying to address, acknowledging that there are many other reasons why this is something that needs to be fixed at multiple levels. One interesting thing, just on the confidence front, is I think sometimes, you know, there's a lot of studies, women have more humility, when it comes to their skills and aptitude, oftentimes too much humility, I would say. But on the other hand, there's a lot of times where that humility is, is a benefit, but in the concept text of investing, it can hold you back, if you're, if you're looking at something and thinking, Well, I'm not an expert, so I'm not even going to start that can hold you back in the same way that, you know, there's data that shows women won't even apply for a job unless they feel like they can do every single bullet point. Whereas a man in that situation or, you know, see himself doing 40% of those and throwing his hat in the ring. So I think that's also a little bit of a part of it. So it is about making, making people see themselves as able to do this and giving them access to that information to better themselves as investors.Julie 08:14One thing I want to bring up here, too, is just both the points that you guys make really stem back to female-identifying members of our community, like a very early age, this isn't something that like starts when you're 18 or 21, or whatever. Like, this is something that's bred into you when you're like five years old. Right? So I guess, Margot, going back to you, how do you guys think about ways to start instilling this in people and women from a much earlier age, so then it feels like for maybe millennials and Gen Z, it's going to be a little bit harder to do. But if we start thinking about earlier, maybe we can close this gap versus where we stand today completely. I think something we're very interested in is the narrative more holistically around women and money. And most of us grew up watching sex and sex in the city. And what we saw in there was women as excessive spenders who had no control over their budget, we were just spending on shoes. And we really build sudden conditioning around money based on stereotypes. There's a really interesting study by Starling bank called make my money equal, which looks at the language that is used to speak about money in the media, specifically in articles targeted at men versus women. And what that study found was that 93% of finance articles targeted at women focus on clever ways to spend less money, so be your coupons or tips and tricks to rein in your budget this month, whereas 75% Of Finance articles focus on men's focus on growing their wealth. It's this idea of abundance. It's this idea of you have the opportunity to bring more moneyMargot 10:00And you can invest, you can ask for that raise. It's this idea that there's no scarcity of money. And I think that really plays into our financial confidence, like Katie was mentioning, because if we haven't been spoken to in this way where we feel like we're good with money, then that impacts how we think about the stock market, how we think about all these different aspects of the financial world that we simply don't see ourselves reflected in. And in terms of changing that, I think it really starts with how we're taught about money. You're absolutely right in saying that most of our money beliefs are shaped from a very young age. So we look at our mothers and will look at our grandmothers. And that's often the role model that we have when thinking about money. So we think the media has a huge role to play. We're also advocating that financial education should be mandatory in schools at every level, starting with budgeting, it shouldn't be something that you discover once you're 18. And it's almost too late.But yeah, the earlier you start, the better definitely, and it should be made part of the curriculum.Julie 11:01Katie, what are your thoughts on I know Public? Obviously, people are not allowed to invest in stocks until x age which is much farther along than when they're five years old. But I think from a stock trading perspective, for instance, my husband is talking to his dad about stocks, and like trade and everything, like all the time when I call my mom, that's not what I talked to her about, I asked her about like, I don't know, shoes, or like I'm pregnant. So I'll ask her about different like Baby things like, Do I have enough things on my registry? The last thing on my mind is asking my mom or dad for stock trading advice. Right? So how do we think about making sure that women can feel comfortable investing? And, you know, have more of those conversations?Katie 11:46I think one aspect is, well, it's been interesting. I've been at Public for three years. And, like, before I started Public, none of my friends at all were talking about this, really, maybe a few. And now it's like, this is like a commonplace conversation. But what's sometimes different in my experience is, you know, a male friend might send a screenshot of some company, I don't know, maybe a small cap, and he's like, Oh, I'm gonna, you know, YOLO, this, like a screenshot? I have a group thread with two women who are in the industry. And we're talking about, like, the business. And I think when women realize that, it's not just depending on the type of investor you are, there's obviously people who do the short term, and they're more technical or the long term. But if you're interested in just businesses, you can start as like yourself as a consumer, one company I had no idea was public until I started working at Publix.com was crocs. I mean, it's fascinating if you're following their collaborations with celebrities, and maybe that's a hook, and you're like, that's interesting, do people really buy a lot of crocs. You're looking at their growth, then you're looking at, you know, their fundamentals. And so the tenor of the conversations I tend to have with my women friends are like, we're into businesses, and we're curious about them. And it's fun to dig in and discover and get that information. And it doesn't have to be the stereotypical two monitors, Ken or Red Bull. And I think that it's that image that you see that's always there when there are other types of investing. And if you think about it more broadly and more inclusively, it's actually more appealing to way more people than you would think. So sometimes, it's just a mindset thing of, of kind of aligning kind of, you're interested in investing with things you care about, things you're curious about, and kind of stepping back from some of the stereotypes again, depending on what your approach is,Helen 13:37I think, Katie, I agree with you. But also, I think there's a piece there around like, it's just kind of intimidating. And I think as well, like, it's really interesting what you're saying about your friends. So, for instance, I was with my uni friends yesterday, and we were talking about investing, but it was just very random, actually, it wasn't like, it's not really the type of thing that we sit down and talk about, but equally, it's equally there's this, like, kind of, I don't know what you want to call it, this element where it's like if you know, you know, and if you don't, you don't. And I think there are two pieces there, it can't I do think there's a gender element to it, where I do you think investing and just even this whole topic has a very, like mansplaining sort of vibe to it, just kind of covering it. But equally, I don't think it's out of like all my friends, for instance, yesterday, I don't think even they talk to their parents about investing or stocks or anything like that, because their parents didn't do it. So I think there is a piece there around like, you know, family, and if your family would be doing it, then you will know what to do. And it's not necessarily a thing you need to learn because it was something that people were already talking about in your household. But then I also think if you don't know and you want to learn, it feels like a closed-off industry.Margot 15:12I think there was a huge pain point. And I think the industry up until now has been actually doing a really bad job at educating consumers about the different products that are out there. Because I think one of the big issues is that if you google how to invest in the stock market, you'll find pages or pages of stuff. Still, financial providers are always writing blogs for SEO purposes, but they're ultimately trying to sell you their specific product. And so you as a consumer, you I think, especially as women, we're much more aware of this type of stuff. And we're much more, Yeah, much more scared about taking in information when we know that the person has the interest of selling us that product. And there isn't this possibility of engaging with this topic. And in a fun way, in the same way, that you'd learn about meditating on headspace. And you'd have these, like, 10-minute videos every day. And it's, it's made to, you know, to feel tangible and understandable. And so, hopefully, I think we're now seeing a real desire to lift that money taboo within the younger generation. A recent stat found that more than 65% of Gen Z turned to tik tok for financial information. So there's really this appetite for, speaking about this and engaging with this topic. Now, obviously, tik tok, I don't know if it's the most trusted source of financial education because there are many pump-and-dump kinds of cryptocurrencies, etc. But at least there's this real yearning to feel like they're part of the conversation. And so that's something that we're trying to crack in June. And we often say we're building the Duolingo of money. So seeing how we can take these topics and make them accessible to as many people who might not have had that education from their parents.Julie 17:12And I mean, there are stats showing that we've also had progress in this area, right? Like I'm, I'm looking at one from Fidelity right now. We're 67%. So roughly two-thirds of women are now investing outside of just their retirement account, compared to 44%. In 2018, which, you know, I don't know if we can attribute it to one certain thing, I definitely think the pandemic played a big role in that I think apps like public, making it so much easier to invest is something that played a big role in that. And I've also heard from women, like, being able to use something like an app is so much less intimidating than having to go talk to a broker or someone who's going to be like, What, you're just some girl like, I don't, you're not going to trade that much money like you don't know what you're doing. I don't want to talk to you, etc. So I think, you know, there's a number of factors there. But the point is, like, it's not all doom and gloom, I think there is progress being made. Thanks to your Juno, Public and others out there. I just think like, obviously, we're all here, because there, there's so much more that we can do toKatie 18:13right. Yeah, I just want to piggyback one thing Margot said because I think it was important in that the context and just explanations is, is kind of what we see people want because women are rightfully skeptical of, you know, the SEO driven Article Five Reasons Why XYZ stock is a buy right now, like, obviously, you know, in those articles to just scare me, because it's like, you don't know the person's financial situation, and you don't know their risk appetite. Like how do you have one article? Clearly, there are goals. But I don't know if it's so much that people want to know exactly what to do, but they just want the concepts broken down. And when you get past all the jargon, and like the insider speak, the concepts are fully graspable for people, they get them. And so sometimes, it's just the breaking things down. And that's what my team does at Public is just trying to break down these things as they happen. So we do like live audio shows, we have different content in the app. And it's never like, hey, go do this. But for example, two weeks ago, when Bed Bath and Beyond was, like, ripping in terms of interest, we had a lot of content, whether it was an audio show or an article of like, what's going on with this stock. Here's what's happening. You know, it's obviously getting beamed. But let's go back to their last quarterly earnings report. This is what they reported this is their actual financials, do with that what you will. And once you break that down, then people feel empowered to make their own decisions. And that's kind of the difference between like, Julie, your example of going to a broker? Are you really learning in that instance, you're kind of just trusting the other person, which that works for a lot of people, but you're not actively understanding for yourself.So bridging that gap, I think, is really important. And I think people find that when they have that context, whether If the Fed news or inflation numbers or something about stock over time, that's what's giving them more confidence, they feel like this stuff isn't out of reach. And then that also hooks them in more to be more of a student of the space and get better over time. And I think that's kind of what it's about.Julie 20:18I think there's something really important in certain what you've shared with Katie, which is about also breaking down the view of investing as this kind of Wolf of Wall Street thing where you have three computers, two spreadsheets. You need to go through financial statements for two hours before making a decision, but actually realising that, for most people investing in ETFs, or in passive index funds, is often the better approach. And we don't need to spend hours understanding the ins and outs of every company that's part of that ETF, but just getting started and letting time do its magic is so important. And I think so far, the financial industry has done also a pretty poor job at showing that there are so many different levels to investing, there's, yes, there's a trading of individual stocks. But if that's not for you, you can literally spend two minutes a month managing your investments, and you're still going to be in the market and benefiting from whatever the market is doing.Helen 21:18I think you both make a really good point. And just back to that kind of like learning element. And actually, I think Julie's steps, step. She kind of talked about this as well. I think the NOC having a broker and actually being able to sit home and like educate yourself and kind of take it upon yourself does actually allow more people to get involved. And I think FinTech has basically like allowed people to do that. Because you can sit at home, you can take your time, get something wrong, and someone's not judging you. And so it's created this whole lane of people, or a whole group of people, including myself, where if you are going to invest, you don't necessarily, you don't necessarily need the kind of I to guess you can say that public judgment of what you're doing. Because you might not necessarily know what you're doing. So you just kind of want to be able to kind of take your time and get things wrong, get things right. But to that then if I was, if I'm, you know, a graduate, maybe it's the first time I've kind of got a bit of money, I've got a bit of savings. Maybe I got my bonus. And I'm starting to think, what can I you know, I'm on my first steps to investing. Katie, what would be the first step for someone who's a woman who's just thinking like, I'm young, I don't know what to do. I've got this pot of money. Like where would What should I do with it? What would be the first step?Katie 22:39One thing, the interesting thing we see with beginners a lot in our, our platform, as beginners novices, and also people are really like hardcore, sophisticated, but the beginners always kind of jumped to, okay, I'm here. I know, I need to invest, what do I buy? And I'm not a financial advisor. But what I've heard the dozens, and if not more, experts say is there are steps that happened before that. So you know, auditing your financial situation, understanding how you feel about risk, and then knowing your goals. I think sometimes we forget about the goals piece of investing, and we don't like okay, the goal is to make money. Okay, when for what is it five years isn't retirement, there are different strategies based on different goals. So to jump in, without thinking about what you're trying to do, you know, you need those steps first. And then I think it's a matter of I mean, one, one interesting thing about fractional shares, which is the ability to buy, you know, any piece of stock with any amount of money. You own a fraction of a share, I think something that's not talked about is the fact that that also gives you more time to learn with less skin in the game. So we've seen you know, college kids be on our app, and they'll put 20 bucks in, and they can spread that across 1015 things and have that experience of investing but learn along the way. And I think there are learnings that happen, we're seeing a big kind of reckoning in the market, the last few months of all this volatility. And a lot of people myself included, I likened to myself to a genius, and 2021 when really the entire market was just going up. And we actually just finished a study to see like, what are people thinking now who came in when things were kind of on the up and they're hitting their first down cycle, which is a natural part of the market. And what was really interesting is that it was promoting positive behaviours. So people were more interested in diversifying, they were more likely to say they're more focused on looking at fundamental metrics before making a decision. So if you're new have the ability to start small and realise you don't need to kind of throw everything into you know, an app and start get started. You can kind of with the fractional investing, you can start smaller and get that experience which gives you returns over time. In terms of knowledge, so that would be that would be my long winded answer to that one. As a non investment advisor.Margot 25:07Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think what we've seen with our audience, we run these 21 days to first investment challenge. So everyday people get a lesson and an action point that they need to do. And what we've seen often is the biggest barrier is making that first investment. So signing up, opening that investment account, and putting the first amount of money in the market. And I couldn't agree more with Katie, I think the most important part is put $10 into the market and then see what happens. Because you're going to overcome that. There's a real identity shift that happens where you go from, I'm bad with money to I'm an investor, no matter what the amount is, it can be an insignificant amount for you. And then once you are in the market, your your your emotions are feel very different. Suddenly, you open the app, and it's like, it's gone down. I've lost 12 P, I wonder why that is, oh, look at this one, I've made 25 P, I wonder what happened. So it doesn't actually matter how much money is in it. But it starts a booking your curiosity and your sense that actually this is fully within your reach. And it's really something that you can understand. And then I think for us, the three checklists that we give people before starting to invest is to get out of high interest, save up for an emergency fund, and take advantage of your employer's pension that matches and max out. So once you have those three things set up, start thinking about your goals and what you will do with that money. But definitely don't start investing before you've done those three thingsJulie 26:34that kind of leads me into one of my other questions, too, is like, what's the biggest mistakeyou see people make when thinking and starting about investing? Margot, you can just continue?Margot 26:44I think the biggest one at the moment is I heard from a friend that this specific stock is going to go through the roof or this specific crypto will go and explode. Trusting unreliable sources puts a lot of their savings and money into it. And then realizing one, they're not diversified at all. They haven't thought about their goals or how they will sell it out. And obviously, those kinds of rumors are often very wrong, and people end up losing a lot of money and getting burned. So yeah, that's definitely a huge mistake we're seeing justHelen 27:17Where are the places you should be getting this kind of advice from? Or where should you be looking? Margot 27:34Yeah, for sure. I mean, Your Juno is one place to start. But what we often tell people who start looking, you know, beginner level one is diversified funds, so not yet looking at picking individual stocks. But seeing how with a fund, you can have a basket of all sorts of stocks. And some of these have been performing historically very well, on average, like the s&p 500. This isn't financial advice to buy the s&p 500. But you can see that historically, it's grown at an average of about 10%. And that's basically in one transaction invested in the 500 largest companies traded on the US stock exchange. So if the US economy grows, you're basically automatically benefiting from that quote. So often, we say, you know, funds are a great place to start, there tend to be quite low fees. One of the famous strategies is the three-fund portfolio strategy, where you invest in three different funds and basically cover all your bases. And so people can look into that it's quite a famous strategy by passive investors.Julie 28:40Katie, what mistakes do you guys in Public? Katie 28:43I would come at it from a general sense. So I've always been just interested in the media. And I think media literacy right now is just an issue that I don't think gets enough attention. And when we do talk about it, it's usually about, at least in this country, political discourse, understanding what accurate sources look like bias. But when you think about financial media, I mean, that's your money. So I really think one thing is not understanding the nature of certain sources. Is it someone on Twitter with an NF T avatar trying to get you in on that NF T? They probably have a reason to do that. Not all the time? Is it an article that is clearly optimized for SEO? And so we've provided resources to our members in the app of not just these concepts around investing, but understanding how financial news media works, what direct sources look like, what's SEC filings, what are the regulations around those, you know, but also on the same but on the same hand, you know, if you're listening to the earnings call, that's obviously the company trying to send a message. So understanding how information flows in this space is really, really important. If you're going to be an investor that's kind of plugged in and wanting to empower yourself with information. And that's across. That's not just women, obviously, it's across everything. So that's one thing I would just add with the, with all this going mainstream, it's amazing. But I think there's more and more of a responsibility, frankly, on people like us at Publix and other platforms and other people to make sure that as things become easier for people to do, you're having that context, they're in the environment, to provide a little not friction. Still, a little more context and not just, you know, one button that's going to something, let people know the why behind what's going on, or the details of that, so that they can make the best decisions for themselves. And that'll be different for everyoneJulie 30:57Looking at both the Public app and the Your Juno app, the things that I love is that you're so keyed in on various ways that people can learn, if they want to look at a clip of something, they can look at it that way, if they want to read something, they can look at it that way. If they want to engage with other members, they can do stuff that way. And so I think, you know, something that we've touched on a little bit, but maybe not enough, it's just like that optionality of like how you want to digest information, because everybody's different learners, right? Some people are visual, some people are audio, whatever it might be, I think is super important as well. And you know, that's also something that I think we need to keep improving on, especially not just for us at this age in our 20s, 30s 40s, whatever. But I think for the younger generation as well,Margot 31:42I mean, what we're seeing at the moment is that financial education has been completely left out of the conversation for so long, like, Tech has been working tirelessly, tirelessly at helping us learn how to code, learn new languages, and all these different ways. But yet, when it comes to like, the most important language of all the language of money, it affects all of us. There are no resources and education out there. And I think there's a lot to be done to make this financial education more accessible. And I'm really looking forward to the time when there'll be, you know, many more resources, like the language, you can, you know, have a private tutor, you can do all these different things to learn a language. And hopefully, we'll see the same with, with money very soon. But you know, financial advisors benefit a lot from us having no idea what we're doing because you go, you pay a large amount of money for them to manage your portfolio and do things that are actually really, really easy to do. But we're just having a huge information asymmetry. And so they benefit from us not knowing what we're doing and being able to charge really high fees for managing our portfolios. So, yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot that needs to happen there.Katie 32:52Yeah, I agree. And in addition, if you just think about all the bureaucracy and hurdles it would it takes to change curriculums in the US at least. I mean, I'm old, but not that old. I had to take a home economics class and learn how to like bake. That's crazy. I mean, baking, if you love it, that's great. I also learned how to operate a jigsaw and like, almost took a finger off. It's like, we can't even agree in this country about what books are okay. And like, it just seems insane. But the change is so slow. And it's such an obvious thing that, yeah, I could say microeconomics or whatever version of it should not be an elective that 25% of people take. But the the effort that goes into changing that system, and the alignment and like a polarised sort of environment is really hard. But I totally agree with Marcos original point that we need it because it is it isn't fair that like I think about all the time, my dad's very savvy with investing was 18, he opened a Vanguard account for me, and I started early. And I learned it early. And there was someone who I respected and trusted in my life telling me, you can do this. And that's just so that not everyone has that. And very few people do. And it's not fair that just because you, you know, didn't look into a moment like that, that now you're going to be behind forever. And now you know, you're going to you're going to just think that you can't do it. And that's not someone's choice that they're in that situation. So it has to be baked in in more places where more people can access it. And that's the only way we'll solve the bigger problems that no one app or platform could fix.Helen 34:32I mean, there has to be this level of like, learning not just from school, not just from your friends, not just from your family. It has to be like a whole cultural shift that I guess we're kind of getting on our way there but we're not. But I think there is a sense where women are talking about investing way more than ever before. I haven't I don't really have the stats on it, but it just feels iike a conversation that happens around the dinner table.Margot 35:10For sure. I think I think we're definitely seeing I mean, what I was saying about tick tock just like Gen Z, turning to tik tok to speak about money. I think what we're seeing is like a smoked, slow dismantling of taboos. If you think about still 10 years ago, mental health was such a big taboo therapy, no one was speaking about it, and then slowly became into the mainstream, and everyone was like, well, we need to speak about this mental health is important. And then we saw the same with like period care and sexual pleasure. And I think money is like the last piece that is still standing that is still a big taboo, where you ask someone how much do you and they completely freeze. But it's definitely changing. And especially, I think, women and minorities realising the taboo, were the ones losing out from the taboo, we don't know how much our coworkers are earning. And if we're being underpaid, we don't know what people do with their money. And so I think there's a really big wake up call where it's like, we're done having this as a taboo, let's speak about it in the open and actually drive change.Katie 36:10I agree with that. And I think it's, it's, it definitely feels like it's getting better. But it's interesting to how perception isn't always necessarily reality. So like in the survey we just ran, we asked people if they're interested in exploring or investing in certain asset types, looking ahead, and we asked about a bunch of things, but that included like NFT's digital assets and alternative investing, whether that's fine wine are things that like usual, if you kind of follow these conversations, very male-dominated, and the women respondents and the men respondents, both responded at the same levels of interests. So just because the loudest or dominant voices are all one thing does not mean it's for that group. And I think you kind of see that a little in crypto where, and it's just interesting, a little long tail of that is a little lagging. But that shocked me, because when I opened my Twitter, if someone's writing about an NF T, I could pretty much guess, you know, what their deal is going to be. But I thought that was encouraging, despite that, and just not looking out to who's talking and thinking that that's the that's who that is for? Because that's really not the case.Julie 37:27No, I think that this, this is such a good point to kind of wrap everything up on to because I think like, the issues here are just so wide-ranging, like from starting at an early age to making women of our age feel more comfortable to talking about it more as friends to the media and how they portray investing. I think, you know, it all comes together to show that this is this is not just one thing that's causing this problem. There's so many things and factors involved in it.Helen 37:55What would be your sort of long-term vision and dream? Like, if you could wave your magic wand? Katie?Katie 38:16Wow, big question. Um, I think it would be continuing to find innovative ways to get people information that helps them empower themselves. The goal is to move them up and along, and so evolve with our customers as they become savvy or what's the new thing that we can give them to keep them progressing? And yeah, in general, the obvious point is like dissolving some of these sorts of barriers or stereotypes around these spaces so that more people feel like they can participate. And we can have more wealth equality across different groups of people.Julie 39:11Yeah, I couldn't agree more. And I think to your point of FinTech, I think something we haven't spoken about much in this podcast episode is also just how male-dominated the FinTech industry is. And so something that I would love to see is just more female-founded companies. Because if there are more women at the top of the company, you're building products for yourself because that's the experience that you have. And so, yeah, my wish is really that there's more diversity within the FinTech companies themselves so that it can trickle down into the products and the offerings that we're giving out into the worldJulie 39:44as someone that works for a female-founded company, I fully support that idea and think there should be many more female-founded companies. Well, I do think it's getting better, but there's just better and like, where we need to be is there's a big gap still, so definitely Something that we can work on.Helen 40:02Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Katie and Margo, for joining us today. It has been great to just kind of talk about all these things. And I think it's gonna be really useful for people to kind of just know where to start because it can be very confusing and intimidating. I can definitely attest to that myself like I felt that way. So I think it was really nice to be able to just kind of break that down. And yeah, have this conversation. So thank you so much for coming on.Katie 40:27 Thank you. So fun.40:29Thank you so much for making it happen. Such an important topic. BeyondJulie 40:352% Thanks so much for tuning in this month, you guys. In our next episode, we will dive into the life of female venture capitalists. It's a traditionally male-dominated industry, but we've started to see a number of women rise in the ranks. And not only does that open up the door for more women to thrive in this career path, but it has an impact on funding for female-founded startups as well. As seen in our title, beyond 2%. data shows that only about 2% of funding goes to female-founded companies. People like our two guests, Gillian Williams of Cowboy ventures and Ana Cristina Gadala-Maria QED, are working to change that. I can't wait to dive into this topic in a few short weeks. But until then, thank you so much for listening, and I will see you next time. Get full access to This Week in Fintech at thisweekinfintech.substack.com/subscribe

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. - John 3:16-18Welcome to the Legion of Michael and thank you for all that you do to support the show. Remember to go to www.legionofmichael.com / https://redcircle.com/shows/legionofmichaelAnd this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. 21But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed [f]as having been performed in God.”  - John 3:19-21Warrior's Prayer Lord, I come before you seeking the strength and skill to overcome my enemies. Grant me I pray, the wisdom to recognize evil, the courage to confront it, and the strength to destroy it. In Jesus' name, I pray, amen.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/legionofmichael/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

John 3v20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 21But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.SendMe Radio is now an internet radio station https://streams.radio.co/s600f0a0d1/listen. Or just ask Alexa https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0BBMMZPNXVisit on the web at http://sendmeradio.com I must be remembered by the mercies of God.Listen to this awesome message from Pastor Chidi Okorie. When the church comes togather and pray in one accord then great things happen. Join SendMe Radio every morning at 5am Central or 6:30 am Easter on SendMe Radio LIVE. Or call in on 516:387:8860 for Mountain Top Prayer 150 Day of Psalms. Listen to us search for SendMe Radio Podcast on Spotify, Google and Apple Podcast, YouTube and Amazon Music.

GospelLUKE 9:18-2218Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, "Who do the people say that I am?" 19And they answered, "John the Baptist; but others say, Eli'jah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen." 20And he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" And Peter answered, "The Christ of God." 21But he charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22saying, "The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised."

GOSPEL POWER l AUGUST 29, 2022 - Monday of 22nd Week in Ordinary Time Passion of Saint John the Baptist, martyr Gospel: Mk 6:17-29 17Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. 18For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When his daughter Herodias* came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” 23And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” 24She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” 25Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb. The truth holds the key to freedom (cf. Jn 8:32), that is why something within the human heart is always fascinated with the truth, even if in the end, the person chooses to suppress it and silence its voice. Even the wicked king Herod Antipas experienced this mixture of disturbance and fascination as he listened to John the Baptist, the uncompromising prophet-of-truth. Just as a spark of light draws the eyes and holds a person's attention, so does truth beckon its hearer. But because the naked truth inflicts pain, many are unable to withstand it and keep their gaze fixed on it. They end up getting rid of the announcer of the truth, in an attempt to eliminate the truth. But the truth is indestructible because it is of the essence of God. Lord Jesus, strengthen us in our commitment to the truth, especially in the face of opposition. Amen.

1And Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. 2Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destructiona all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'” 4So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. 5And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. 6Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calvesb and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction. 10The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11“I regretc that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night.12And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 13And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” 14And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.” 17And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORDanointed you king over Israel. 18And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 22And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the LORD.” 26And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.” 27As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. 28And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” 30Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the LORD your God.” 31So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the LORD. 32Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully.d Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” 33And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the LORD in Gilgal. 34Then Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul. 35And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Disciple Up #265 Towards a Biblical Reaction to America Today By Louie Marsh, 6-29-2022   What Actually Happened:   What Should Our Response Be:   How much of a difference will this make?   What Should our attitude & response be?   We should Lament all this.   “1How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. 2She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies. 3Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress. 4The roads to Zion mourn, for none come to the festival; all her gates are desolate; her priests groan; her virgins have been afflicted, and she herself suffers bitterly. 5Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children have gone away, captives before the foe. 6From the daughter of Zion all her majesty has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture; they fled without strength before the pursuer. 7Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all the precious things that were hers from days of old. When her people fell into the hand of the foe, and there was none to help her, her foes gloated over her; they mocked at her downfall.” (Lamentations 1:1–7, ESV)   “16He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; 17my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; 18so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” 19Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 20My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 21But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” 25The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:16–26, ESV)  

The Gospel of John 8-14 Part Six: The Road, the Truth & the Life  Louie Marsh, 5-29-2022   “5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:5–6, ESV)   “5Thomas said, “Master, we have no idea where you're going. How do you expect us to know the road?” 6Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me.” (John 14:5–6, The Message)   1) Everyone is trying to find their OWN WAY through life.   “6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6, ESV)   A way to SUCCEED   “16And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you.” (Deuteronomy 9:16, ESV) A way out of TROUBLE.   “8The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths; they have made their roads crooked; no one who treads on them knows peace.” (Isaiah 59:8, ESV)   2) We miss it because we're looking for the WRONG THING.   “13“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matthew 7:13–14, ESV)   The Way is not….   DOCTRINE PHILOSOPHY KNOWLEDGE WISDOM POWER   The Way is JESUS   “17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17, ESV)   He is the ONLY WAY to God.   “8“And to this people you shall say: ‘Thus says the Lord: Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death.” (Jeremiah 21:8, ESV)   3) Jesus answers life's most IMPORTANT question:   “37…Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” … (John 18:37–38, ESV)   Jesus is    “Truth”  = “undistorted reality.”   LIVE OUT the truth   “24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” (John 12:24–25, ESV)   “15Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,” (Ephesians 4:15, ESV)   Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi that I recited daily for sustenance and guidance: Keep a clear eye toward life's end. Do not forget your purpose and destiny as God's creature. What you are in His sight is what you are and nothing more. Do not let worldly cares and anxieties or the pressures of office blot out the divine life within you or the voice of God's spirit guiding you in your great task of leading humanity to wholeness. Open yourself to God and his plan printed deeply in your heart, God will open Himself to you.   WORSHIP in truth.   “23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”” (John 4:23–24, ESV)   Jesus IS the truth – Paul Tillich: “In Him the true, the genuine, the ultimate reality is present, or in other words, God Himself is present, unveiled, undistorted in his infinite depth in his magnificent mystery.”   4) God gives us two primary sources of truth:   His WORD – THE BIBLE   “17Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:17, ESV)   His SPIRIT – WHO HELPS US UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE.   “13When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth...” (John 16:13, ESV)   5) REALIZE there are two kinds of life   βίος, bios = BIOLOGICAL LIFE   ζωή, zōē = THE LIFE OF GOD, SPIRITUAL LIFE   Zoe ends in JOY.   “21But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21–23, ESV)   Bios ends in BOREDOM   4 Facts About Boredom:   It's symptomatic It's self-inflicted It's blaming others instead of blessing them It's feeling trapped with nowhere to go   6) CHOOSE LIFE!   Focus on faith not FEELINGS!   for through faith we are ordering our manner of life, not by something seen.  2 Cor. 5:7 (WuestNT)   Embrace discipline as my FRIEND.    “3Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 4No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.” (2 Timothy 2:3–5, ESV)   Invest myself OUTSIDE MYSELF!   “3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.” (2 Corinthians 1:3–5, ESV)  

GOSPEL POWER l MAY 21, 2022 - SATURDAY of 5th Week of Easter Saint Christopher Magallanes, priest and Companions, martyrs Gospel: Jn 15:18-21 Jesus said to his disciples, 18“If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. 19If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world — therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. 21But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.” The life of the incarnate Son of God is the prototype — the “first pattern” — of the transformation that God brings about through the divine power that operates in weakness and vulnerability. Therefore, the persecution that Jesus talks about in today's Gospel is not something that should surprise us, believers. It simply points to the pattern to which we are being conformed as part of our participation in God's ongoing work of transforming the world. There is no glory without the cross, no resurrection that is not preceded by death. As Church we must discern how, amidst persecution, we ought to continue to be the embodiment (for we are the Body of Christ) of God's saving love in a hostile world. Lord Jesus, in times of persecution, help us to remember your exhortation to love our enemies and offer prayers for them. Amen. ma

The Gospel of John 8-14 Part Two: Believing Is Seeing By Louie Marsh, 5-1-2022   Slides -last one Believing is seeing book cover.   THE 1ST ENCOUNTER:   “1As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.” (John 9:1, ESV)   What They Saw:   The Disciples saw a theological CONUNDRUM.   Theodicy is the technical term for trying to understand God and evil.   Jesus saw a HURTING soul.   What They Said:   Disciples: Who's FAULT is this?   “2And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”” (John 9:2, ESV)   Jesus – God is MOVING here!   “3Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.” (John 9:3–4, ESV)   What It Means:   1) God is not PUNISHING ME for my sins.   “1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”” (Luke 13:1–5, ESV)   “20The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.” (Ezekiel 18:20, ESV)   Why Bad Things Happen: Fallen World- Satan- My bad decisions No bodies' fault!   THE REACTION:   1) God's work always stirs up TROUBLE!   “16Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”    18The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”   22(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”” (John 9:16–24, ESV)   2) My TESTIMONY is my best witness.   “25He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”    28And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”    34They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.” (John 9:25–34, ESV)   THE 2ND ENCOUNTER:   1) I need to be TEACHABLE.   “35Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.”” (John 9:35–37, ESV)   2) True spiritual knowledge results in WORSHIPPING Jesus.   “38He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.” (John 9:38, ESV)   3) Knowledge results in either FAITH or JUDGMENT.  “39Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,' your guilt remains.” (John 9:39–41, ESV)  

GOSPEL POWER l APRIL 27, 2022 2nd Week of Easter Gospel: Jn 3:16-21 Jesus said to Nicodemus, 16“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.” God's love leads us to maturity and forms us into responsible agents by allowing us to choose. Salvation is never forced upon us, rather, it is offered. God has already taken the initiative to make his eternal life accessible to us. But human beings must respond to this divine initiative. No one can remain indifferent and passive, for the failure to respond is equivalent to refusing the offer. Condemnation is not God's act, rather, it is the consequence of rejecting God's offer or deliberately failing to choose. The act of redemption is accomplished once and for all on the cross, but the act of offering its fruit happens again and again throughout our lifetime. The saving will of God never ceases to dialogue with the human will. How long can we resist such tireless offer of love? Lord Jesus, conquer our resistances to divine love. Amen.

Disciple Up # 255 Persecution: A New Testament Perspective By Louie Marsh   News Story Quoted:   https://www.christianpost.com/news/street-preacher-cleared-of-hate-speech-for-preaching-from-bible.html   What Does the New Testament Say About This?   “18“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.' 26“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. 27And you also will bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning. 1“I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away. 2They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. 3And they will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me. 4But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you. “I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.” (John 15:18–16:4, ESV)   “16“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. 21Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 10:16–22, ESV)   “29Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, 30who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29–30, ESV)   “10You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, 11my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. 12Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, 13while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:10–13, ESV)   “9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9–10, ESV)   “3that no one be moved by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are destined for this. 4For when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we were to suffer affliction, just as it has come to pass, and just as you know.” (1 Thessalonians 3:3–4, ESV)   “12Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:12–17, ESV)   “16“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. (Matthew 10:16, ESV)    

GOSPEL POWER l APRIL 20, 2022 Wednesday within the Octave of Easter Gospel: Lk 24:13-35 13On that same day two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. 18Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” 19He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” 25Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” 27Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” 33That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” 35Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. T he small dreams and shallow hopes of the disciples of T he small dreams and shallow hopes of the disciples of Emmaus regarding a national redemption have to be thrown into crisis, so that they can be integrated into God's immense vision and plans for humanity and the entire creation. The disciples have pinned their hopes on Jesus, forgetting that it is the vocation of the entire nation Israel to be the instrument of God's integral salvation. Now, the risen Christ, who continues to be the Shepherd who goes after the straying sheep, enlightens them. By evoking Israel's Scriptures, the incognito Christ opens their minds to how Jesus assumed Israel's vocation to be the Suffering Servant of Yahweh.

Disciple Up # 253 How Do Disciples Deal with Culture? By Louie Marsh, 4-6-2022   Articles Referenced:   https://www.focusonthefamily.ca/content/christ-and-culture-five-views   https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/christ-and-culture-an-overview-of-a-christian-classic/   Some truths about ALL cultures:   They are created by the tradition of fallen human beings and therefore at many points will disagree if not outright contradict the Bible. While culture itself doesn't need to be fought – its influence does! If we put culture above Christ and His Word eventually, we will end up compromising our very faith away. If the church is no different from the culture at large, what good is it and why would anyone need or want it? What we call culture the New Testament calls the “world.” The Greek word is kosmos and refers to an organized system of thought and action i.e. culture.   Relevant Bible Verses:   “1I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:1–2, ESV)   “15Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15–17, ESV)   “18“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.'” (John 15:18–25, ESV)   “1Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 2Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.” (1 Corinthians 11:1–2, ESV)   “11Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11, ESV) “16Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. 20If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— 21“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” 22(referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? 23These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.” (Colossians 2:16–23, ESV)   “14For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,” (Ephesians 2:14–19, ESV)    

Do you have an armorbearer? In the Bible, you only see an armor bearer mentioned in the Old Testament, but the same duties and responsibilities continue on even today.An armor bearer was a young man that would carry the weapons and shield of the man he was under, much like a knight's squire that would carry the weapons into combat, but also use the shield to protect his master. Over time he would train and even be able to fight alongside the warrior or knight. Sometimes the armor bearer would use the shield or weapon to protect or defend the flank of his master. In 1 Samuel 14: 1-14 we read of Jonathan and his armor bearer defeating the Philistines. We see that David became Saul's armor bearer in 1 Samuel 16:21But it isn't just about having one person, there are times you need a full garrison of brothers. The foundation of the 318 Project comes from Genesis 14:14. Here we see that Lot was taken captive and Abraham raised up with his 318 men and servants that were trained in his household to go and rescue Lot. Proverbs 17:17  says " A friend loves at all times, but a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friends."To sharpen a sword or weapon means that it has been used in a battle and has been dented, chipped and gotten dull from hitting against the enemies armor and shield. As an armor bearer and brother in arms that is what we are required to do for our fellow brothers. We may see their flaws, just as they see ours and through guidance and prayer allow the Holy Spirit to mend us. The thing is that Satan doesn't just attack us from the same direction. He may first  come at us with a frontal assault then the next time a sneak attack from behind or end tries to side swipe you or me, that is why we need brothers praying for us on all sides, almost like we are covered in a box on all six sides.Going back to David, Over time he rose from being just a young shepherd that became King Saul's armor bearer,  to became King David that had his mighty warriors that stood out as his elite force of mighty men that is stated in 2 Samuel 23:8-36. Many of these warriors risked their lives because they believed in King David.He even had his army of 600 men that followed him when he was running from King Saul. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 talks about the value of a friend.. When you and I read it, we tend to associate it with marriage , but this also applies to any friendship. This is that unity and bond that when the enemy comes and attacks you, there is strength in numbers to overcome and defeat Satan.So as I am coming to a close, my challenge to you is to start praying about and looking for those brothers that you can unite with that will be your band of brothers, but also that you can be theirs also. It isn't just to say that you have a brother by your side, but to also know that they won't abandon you in times of trouble. I want to encourage you to really search for that man that will be a mentor and brother in your life, but to also look for those men that you can be a mentor and brother to help encourage them.Music from Epidemic Sound:song during Intro: Choirs of War by Dream Cave- https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/FR6Ed05Tc0/Isong - The Gallant Squire by Jon Bjork https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/8nGHn5OQSj/Anvil sound effect -https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/ysH73yQcGi/

The devotion for today, Monday, February 14, 2022 was written by Dan Peeler and is narrated by Thomas Riggs.  Today's Words of Inspiration come from 1 Corinthians 16. 20-21But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. So, you see, just as death came into the world through a man, now the resurrection from the dead has begun through another man. Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life.Support the show (https://onrealm.org/cathedralofhope/give/wordsofhope)

8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, Is this not the man who used to sit and beg? 9Some said, It is he. Others said, No, but he is like him. He kept saying, I am the man. 10So they said to him, Then how were your eyes opened? 11He answered, The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, Go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed and received my sight. 12They said to him, Where is he? He said, I do not know. 13They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see. 16Some of the Pharisees said, This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath. But others said, How can a man who is a sinner do such signs? And there was a division among them. 17So they said again to the blind man, What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes? He said, He is a prophet. 18The Jews[a] did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19and asked them, Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see? 20His parents answered, We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself. 22(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus[b] to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23Therefore his parents said, He is of age; ask him. 24So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner. 25He answered, Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see. 26They said to him, What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes? 27He answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples? 28And they reviled him, saying, You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from. 30The man answered, Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing. 34They answered him, You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us? And they cast him out.

After another eye-opening Leech Anatomy 101 segment (2:39), Aaron, Banks and Evan dive into Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind's leechiest themes (11:29), scenes (16:37), and characters (23:04). To get some relief, the guys head into their second Leech on a Beach segment (33:32). They conclude by considering the film's medicinal qualities (36:15) and giving an overall rating -- from 1 to 4 -- of the film's leechiness (43:26).We're always looking to expand our pond -- please reach out!Series URL: www.theleechpodcast.comPublic email contact: theleechpodcast@gmail.comSocial Media:@leechpodcast on Twittertheleechpodcast on InstagramExternal Links:“Leeches,” Australian Museum [link]Transcript:Evan  00:11Hey everyone. Welcome back to the leech podcast, the most visceral podcast. As always, the leech podcast is a show about movies that suck the life out of you, but also stick with you, and may even be good for you. I'm joined as always by my two favorite leechy gentlemen, Aaron Jones, and Banks Clark. Hey guys.Banks  00:32Hey HeyAaron  00:34Hey Hey HeyEvan  00:34It is great to be with you again. Listeners might remember the three of us used to teach together that we discovered our shared love of difficult movies that make your heart bleed. And of course, we used to teach together now we leech together. So it is great. Great to be together as always. We have a packed show for you all again today. This is I think we're halfway through our first season of the leech podcast, which is very exciting. Today we'll be talking about Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a 2004 film starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. We will dive into that as we go. We always also are looking to expand our pond. So to that end, if you like, communicate with us @leechpodcast on Twitter, and theleechpodcast on Instagram. Please send us your ideas, your thoughts, your feelings. We like all those things. And this week in particular, if there is a leechy novel, a book, a story…Aaron  01:43[Gasps]Evan  01:43… that is leechy for you, we would love to know what that novel is, because if there's enough “suction” on this idea, oh, we might need to have any tea book club. So @leechpodcast on Twitter, theleechpodcast on Instagram. Please send us your leechy novels, Jen. So other other other things that the listeners should chime in on,Aaron  02:06But don't send us leechy navels! Like if there's a leech on your belly, but...Evan  02:11… A leech in your navel actually should probably you should probably go talk to your doctor.Aaron  02:15…. Talk to your primary care physician.Banks  02:18That just makes me think of that one scene in The Matrix. The part where that thing goes right in...Aaron  02:23Oh, oh, that is the truly leechy naval scene of all, yes.Evan  02:28That scene has stuck with us. Okay, before we dive into this episode, Aaron, please teach us about leeches.Aaron  02:36“Teach us about leeches”. Yes. Well, this week's movie where we watched was a little more romantic. So I was wondering about that, you know, with your romantic partner, I was kind of looking each other in the eye. And I was wondering, could I look a leech in the eye. And I became curious about the eyes of leeches. I found this bit of information from the Australian museums kind of natural history museum in Sydney. And it is sort of deliciously vague in a way that I want to share with you. And these are about the sensory organs of leeches and I quote, sensory organs on the head and body surface enable it to detect changes in light intensity, temperature, and vibration. chemical receptors on the head provide a sense of smell and there may be, this is what gets me, there may be one or more pairs of eyes.Evan  03:36One or more?Aaron  03:39One or more pairs of eyes. The number of eyes and their arrangement can be of some use in identification. However to properly identify a leech, dissection is required. I was struck by that this time whether that some different kinds of leeches have one set of eyes. Some have none, apparently, and some have many. And I'd like to know more. Anyway, looking a leech in the eye may be difficult because probably all they can see of you is a shadow in the way of the sun.Evan  04:09Wow, that that feels apt for this...SunshineAaron  04:13Sunshine!Evan  04:14Wow, look, well, points. Anyone who makes a metaphor out of that bit of leech anatomy. Thank you, Aaron. So let's dive into this episode. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  Banks, will you tell us what happened in this film?Banks  04:30Well, I will try. As always, quick spoiler warning. If you have not seen this movie, pause this episode and go watch it. There are some movies that you can hear about and then watch. And guess what you could do it here and you would be doing yourself a terrible disservice. The first time watching this film you will be transported in 1000 different directions and it is a delightful transportatio--and it's just worth have been carried along in that journey. So watch the movie if you haven't, then unpause this leech podcast and purse and then we can leech with you. So quick spoiler warning. And this is a movie that has multiple timelines, you know, these timelines converge, they diverge, and it's definitely it's …. you know, we just recently watched it, I'm still, like, late, which timeline was happening when, but it's, it's really remarkable how it all comes together. The movie starts we meet Joel Joel Barish. He's played by Jim Carrey, you know, sort of quiet character. And there's this really interesting use of voiceover, where we learned that this very sort of quiet, normal, somewhat boring gentleman all of a sudden is doing a very impulsive action, on been sort of surprised, and even to himself, and he ends up on a beach in Montauk, where he meets a woman and they all of a sudden have this unexpected chemistry and the woman is, in a clementine paid brilliantly by Kate Winslet. And through the sort of the course of their conversations, and everything, you realize there's some sort of interesting history, there's some things that make sense. And then all of a sudden viewers are transported to a different moment. Right, to a different time at which, actually, this relationship has been ongoing for some reason. And also that there's been a fight, and that the relationship ended. And so all of a sudden, the viewers made very terribly aware that there are multiple things going on at once. The histories don't align properly. And what we learn is that after this fight, Clementine, who is this, you know, opposed to you know, Joel, who's this, you know, very sort of boring, keeps himself more of a quiet gentleman, Clementine is, you know, she changes her hair color all the time, she's impulsive, she's vivacious, she's all over the place. And what she has done after the fight is actually go to this, it looks like a dentist's office, it's like the world's most mundane-looking thing for a sci-fi film. But it's like this futuristic technology that wipes up like a very specific traumatic memory from your brain, in a very specific way, and that she has had this done. And Joel learns this through some friends who shouldn't have been able to like to pass it along, but Joel learns. And then he is then realizing that he's in this different, like an area that he himself needs to have this done. And so then he goes and demands that this same office, you know, do this procedure on him because it is too painful for him to know that she has wiped him from her memory. And so, all of a sudden, we're caught in these timelines, that's also you know, where we started. There's the timeline of the history of him learning about it, but also we learn we're actually in the timeline of him actually undergoing the procedure as he sleeps.Aaron  08:23Mm-hmm.Banks  08:24And what we then learned is that through the course of him actually going to the procedure, he decides he does not want it. He decides that, actually, their relationship was so powerful was so meaningful, that in spite of all the bad things, he wants them to stop....but he's already asleep. They're already wiping his brain and it's hilarious. The technicians doing it are played by Mark Ruffalo and Kirsten Dunst. Mark Ruffalo plays Stan and Kirsten Dunst plays Mary, who are themselves are in a relationship, and themselves are like throwing like a party while they're doing it. We also recently then we also learned that Elijah Wood is playing this character named Patrick, who is stealing Jim Carrey's identity in order to be able to date Clementine. So Jim carries obviously, Joel's identity to steel to be able to date Clementine. Right. So we have all these crazy timelines happening at once you learned that the doctor in charge of this entire facility actually had a relationship with one of the technicians. So you have these love triangles. All of this is happening while Jim Carrey is asleep, trying to evade the very process. And the thing that is giving, you know, Joel and Clementine the ability to evade, right, this process of wiping the memory of the relationship, the very life of the relationship, what's keeping them and sort of the very vital breath of that alive is the fact that there is something about the relationship that allows them to want to do something different, do something impulsive, and that breaks the cycle and they're able to evade through memories and all these, you know, interesting psychological pathways, they're able to sort of thwart parts of the procedure. And in the end, interestingly, they fail...and the procedure succeeds. So it would seem. Because Jim Carrey wakes up the procedure, seemingly a success, and we are brought back to the very opening scene of the movie, where he is then, for some reason, this boring man impulsively does something almost like Clementine would, and they end up in Montauk. And these, you know, two individuals who had erased one another from one another's memory, insist upon meeting one another, again, in spite of themselves. And it ends on this hopeful but restrained hope or they found each other again. But will this repeat again? That's the movie.Evan  11:12Yes. Yes. Really? Well, put Thank you Banks. So we're going to move into the leechy. See, or sorry, leechy themes from this movie? And I think I'll just build off something you left us with there, Banks, which is this interplay… so my theme would be the interplay between their individual choices, and I don't know, fate, I guess. The theme is, can maybe another way to put is, can people change? Or are they always going to repeat patterns of behavior, patterns of relationship? If they can change? What is going to be the engine of that change? What actually drives it? And I do think this film has something to say about that. I'm going to put a pin on it, because I think we'll come back to it. But my theme is this interplay between fate and choice, especially through the prism of a relationship. Hmm.Banks  12:09Wow. And that's a really powerful theme to the film plays, right, you know, one of the plays right into what I'm thinking of, for a lot of the film. For me, one of the most powerful themes, is just an explanation of coping. How do people cope with difficulty, and this film is just just takes your right into people's coping mechanisms, at least for me in a way that like, is a little too relatable to be comfortable. Oh, gosh, I've done these. Evan  12:42Ooh, Ooh… That's real.Banks  12:43That's really, like, you know, for Jim Carrey, I relate to his character, so much I relate to Joel, because he's just this, you know, resorts to, to the same patterns to cope with the things that are just difficult in life. And he himself is at odds with his own state of being boring and doesn't know what to do with it. And is oddly attracted to this woman who is the opposite of that. And so it's about you know, well, some people cope by creating patterns, some people cope by being wildly different. And, you know, trying to do things in different ways. And, you know, there's this theory out there that, you know, Clementine, Caitlin's his character is like, has like Borderline Personality Disorder, I don't really think that's a really you don't need to psychologize it like that. She's just a really awesome, I think strong character, but definitely is coping with life in a different way. And then you also meet through all these other characters in the side, just different ways of dealing with difficulty. I think coping is just a huge part of this movie.Aaron  13:47Mm hmm. I mean, hmm, I have a lot of things in my mind. Some themes that stick out to me is one that I'll talk about for now has to do with memory. I'm thinking about the power of memory, and even even the sort of mirrors residue of memory. Now, after these two people have found the procedure done, there's a way in which memory sort of like persists beyond all active attempts to erase it. There's something like core and deep, and that in sort of goes beyond the mechanical, neurological parts of memory, down into the level of identity. And I'm just I'm thinking about all the ways it's like we are the finger. We like the fingerprints of our experiences and memories are so deep in us. The idea of erasing them becomes ridiculous, even at the level of the science fiction we're given at the lacuna, doctor's office.Evan  14:53Right. And I think what's I think what's so interesting there is that they do succeed in erasing her From his mind, but it's but they don't. They can't tracer from his body. His body remembers. And there's something like deeper than his mind that remembers her.Aaron  15:09Yeah,Banks  15:10Truly. If I'm not mistaken “The Residue of Memory,” to quote you know, maestro Aaron Jones over here. Isn't “The Residue of Memory,” the title of your very first jazz fusion album?Evan  15:28I know it was his second one. Oh, that's right. I believe compromised second draft.Banks  15:38Oh, that's right. You might remember from an earlier episode, he quoted it. It was the subterranean network that fuses the different buns of the sandwich. Oh, that was the parasite episode. That was his first episode.Evan  15:54Yes, yes.Aaron  15:55Spicey call back, sir. Spicy indeed.Evan  15:59Banks is there a scene that leeches on to you?Banks  16:05 It speaks to the to0 close for comfort. For me, it's it had there's this scene it's fairly early in the film and epitomizes almost the thorn in the side of Joel and clementines relationship. And it's it they're sitting down. And they're eating Chinese food.Aaron  16:32Oh, no  Banks  16:34It is the most painful scene. It's and this is leechy to me in the sense that like, I kind of want to forget it. Because I really can't forget it.Evan  16:45And because I've lived it, right.Banks  16:48Yeah. Like, I've been like “Daaang, I've been there, man.” But like, but like, I think we've all been in relationships where we felt this sense of being suffocated by monotony, the sense of something that was at one time supposed to be celebratory, has instead become like a performance of, you know, all the reasons why the relationship is not working and it's just boring. And they're just sitting there eating Chinese food, commenting on how the food that they've been ordering every week, the same day, is the exact same, and having nothing to talk about. And the silence is just so palpable that it will it just makes you kind of want to, I don't know, attach some leeches to you to suck it out of you. Because …. somebody say something interesting. Aaron  17:43Kind of want to run away screaming.  Banks  17:44For me it's the Chinese food eating scene. It's just, it's for me that's like, almost unwatchable. But like, in a powerful way, not like, bad but like, I have lived thatEvan  17:55We cannot speak into something very real, right?Aaron  17:58Yeah. I'm really gonna jump in here. I'm, I'm thinking of like, what are the different kinds of things that relationships can survive, and one is the site horrific level of monotony that we're describing. But the other thing that for me, the can relationships survive the full voicing of the truth, the full voicing of the truth and the leakiest scene for me, that just, I just brings me into agony, I feel awful, as I'm watching it, and listening to it, is the scene at the end where they have both received the recorded tapes of them sort of naming the things they despise most about the other person. And then, Clementine walks into Jim Carrey's apartment as he's listening to the tape where he told the doctor everything he despises about her now. All these like nasty, ugly things he thinks about her. And she makes him keep the tape running while she is there. And the discomfort is just like rising and rising and rising until I feel it in my body as I'm sitting there watching the film. He's talking about how she just uses sex to like, make people like her. And she's this like, shallow, foolish person. And she's listening to it. And he's listening to himself say it and horrified. And for me, there's the kind of weird hopefulness at the end of the movie is where they decide they're going to try and be close again, not only with this kind of remembered level of monotony, but with the full, like, difficult truth spoken. Oh, that's leechy for me. Oh, took something out of me!Evan  19:37That is an amazing, amazing sequence. I think I'm torn--I have two scenes. I think they… I think they actually sandwich the one you're talking about. The first one and I want to highlight just the visual storytelling that's going on in both of these scenes. This film was written by Charlie Kaufman Who is an amazing screenwriter, but this is the place where I think the director and the director of photography directors, Michel Gondry, I think they really shine. Because the first thing I'm thinking about is the final memory he has with Clem before, his mind is completely wiped of her. And it's actually the first night that they ever spent together, or that they met. And they were on Montauk. It's they met on the beach at a party, and they connect. And basically, she convinces him to go into this house that's owned by someone else, but no one's currently living there. It's dark. He feels really uncomfortable because you could tell he's a rule follower. He's, he doesn't like to, you know, transgress rules. She's going upstairs with alcohol, saying, hey, come upstairs, spend the night with me. And he remembers that he did not actually spend the night with her that night. He actually left he got scared, and he left. But the way the film tells this is that you actually see them talking to each other. And he says to her or his memory of her, I wish I had stayed. I wish that night that I had stayed. And it's so powerful to look back on the very first interaction with this person. And you see the regret. But you also see this, sort of, change in perspective that's happened to him. But then, and this is the part that is leechy for me. He leaves in the memory. And as he's leaving, Gondry has the house literally collapsed, just as his memory of her is collapsing. And so it's this good. It's multi-layered, right that their relationship seemed to be almost doomed from the start. The house is crumbling in their first interaction. And, and yet, he's also where he is now in the storyline. He knows, oh, actually, I still love her. And she whispers in his ear and meet me in Montauk. And that's what sets the chain in motion to get to come back to the beginning of the film. So it's just such a multi Vaillant image. I think that's my leechy scene.Aaron  22:05Almost leechy for the artistry, as much as anything in the story.Evan  22:09It's unforgettable, for me.Banks  22:13The artist is not lacking--that's for sure.Evan  22:16It's stunning.Aaron  22:17Oh, yeah, consistent throughout the film. I mean, the film is a complete package where every knot has been tied. It feels like you modify it. Can I jump into leechy characters? Leechiest character, I have to talk about another kind of leechy scene that kind of fits into this. The groove I'm describing about the film containing all these kind of like perfect moments of symmetry. And I … so leechy character for me, who I hate, just deeply despise and hate is Patrick, Elijah Woods character. I freaking hate that guy. For like, part of me, like I'm addicted, addicted to these ideas of like, of authenticity and originality, and to see someone sort of like, he takes Jim Carrey's journal, Joel Barish. His journal and is sort of like trying to recreate with Clementine, all these moments that Joel Barish already had with her and I'm just feeling sick watching this happen. But then the ultimate moment is when they go to the the frozen lake, the frozen lake, where Joe Parrish and says and recalls and writes down in his journal, he says they're lying down next to each other on the ice. I could die right now. I'm just happy. I've never felt that before. I'm just exactly where I want to be. And then to watch the scene where freaking Patrick, just like stumbles and fumbles his way through that line, and it means nothing and Clementine doesn't care at all. Like, oh, I Oh, this is so gross. And I hate Patrick. Like he's he like he sucks so much life out of me. He's least number one for me in this movie, that's me.Evan  24:05He is definitely high up there. I also would on that kind of leechiness, Dr. Mierzwiak. Oh, Tom Wilkinson's, character also is leechy for me, but I'm actually not going to talk about them for a while much like, in Pan's Labyrinth when Vidal was so obviously, the villain so, so terrible. Yeah, I think I mean, Mierzwiak, and Patrick are obviously leechy. And they suck life out. Yes. But for me, the painful one who is instructive and who sticks with me is kind of like what banks was saying earlier. It's Joel. I think Jim Carrey's character is really on this viewing? He sticks with me and I think so many of his insecurities and his questions and his doubts of himself and his doubts of the relationship. Man those structures towards, you know, early on. It becomes ironic later, but early on when he's looking at Kate Winslet on the train and he says, “Why do I fall in love with every woman who gives me the time of day?” I mean, that's an extreme statement. And also like, I have been in places where that is a real thought. And that movie named it. And so, I think there's that and then just his, you could tell he's smart. He's really sharp. He has some creative elements like he, I think he draws and he writes, and yet he's so unable to vocalize what he feels. He's so inside. And, yeah, there's just resonances for me that his character sticks with me and embodies those hard parts of myself but also embodies, it's just kind of he goes through a hero's journey through his mind, through his memory, I think. And we'll talk, I think we'll talk more about this. But where he ends up makes me oddly hopeful, while also recognizing the pain and struggle it took to get there is leechy for me,Aaron  26:11Can we say Have we talked about this idea that? I mean, there's something leechy about Joe, but there's also something leechy about the process of like, delving into the underworld like this is Pan's Labyrinth? We've talked about this before. But yeah, like going into the depths like this, the descent into his memory is also a descent into opening up all these different kind of Pandora's boxes of repression inside him. Yes, like the moment of shame where he longs he like longs to be hugged by his mother, but she like, won't pay attention to him or he's caught masturbating. And he's like, so uncomfortable in his own skin. Like having those boxes opened. Oh, oh, this is leechy. Indeed,Banks  26:54You cannot watch this movie, and not imagine your own embarrassing moments being so exposed. Everyone watches this movie, and everyone just like, peeks into their own little box isn't the same or like, ooh, that's like, oh, “That's what it would be for me!” There's something about that movie that,  does it like it is a journey into one's own embarrassments at times. Aaron  27:22Makes me want to tell all my dirty secrets. But I'm not going to….Banks  27:33Haha, please don't… please….I mean, you know, if, if I'm honest, I will say, I think that Joel's character is also for me right there. But if, if no one's else gonna is going to talk about you know, Dr. Howard, is it “mirrors-wack?” Miers-wack?”Evan  27:48MierzwiakBanks  27:48“Mierzwiak!” He, you know, there is one thing I would like to highlight about his leechiness, and yes, there's a huge li uncomfortable, hugely inappropriate, hugely leechy component with regard to him. You know, having an affair with a young woman and then allowing his own lab to then wipe her memory of that affair only to then rekindle it. That's just that's just absurdly, it's so bad. But like, also very believable. But like in a terrible way. For me, one of the other things, it's very easy to miss, I think, but really, just for some reason sticks with me is this is his lab. This is his company, this is his lab, this is his company, and his company, has these policies that you actually get to hear about and the background of some of the scenes. Like you get to wait in the room with Joel Well, we learned that, Oh, no, you know, “I'm sorry, Miss so and so but we can't wipe your memory three times this month. That's just against policy.” Like they're going like, it's they make they have turned this method of memory wiping, into a deeply unhealthy pattern of coping, that is, and just are profiting off of it. There's something that like you are seeing these people in waiting rooms dealing with the death of a cat, dealing with all these things, just wiping them from memory, as well. That's just what you do. So you can move on. And now obviously, like “Welcome to the modern world,” we all have our own ways of doing it. But I think that's a part of the modern world but saps us as we are just only using avoidance as our coping. Like what happens if that's what it is, what if memory wiping becomes the only way that we cope with difficulty? Like that's one of the major questions that this film asks and the answer is not a pleasant one or one that is hopeful. In fact, it's is the reconnecting of memory with difficulties, and the radical acceptance of it that I think does it there. And I'm going to stop there because I'm getting into the positives and the “hirudo therapy” aspects. For me, I'm just gonna say the doctor there has some high leech levels that need to be, uh, need to be expressed.Evan  30:18I think that's really well put and I think just to build off it real quickly, I do think that it is the contrast between characters who basically just have their mind-wiped, and where they end up by the end of the film, they're all pretty much alone. Whereas the character that did go down the road of having his mind wiped, but then chose actually to  embrace memory, Joel and then also Clem, they end up in some kind of connection. And I do think the film is we should play around with this some more but I do think that something about facing memory going into it is actually the way to connection and the avoidance leaves you alone, perhaps.Aaron  31:03Yeah, anyway, can I, I would love to jump in here because I think there was something that this movie taught me something new about leakiness Oh, oh yeah. Next to the the act of remembering and Dr. Mierzwiak and all this, that the moment so what I'm what I learned about leechiness has to do with my physical experience in my body as I'm watching a film. And there was a moment where like, from the center of my body, kind of radiating toward my hands, I started to feel physically numb, like something weird was happening to me. And the moment that that happened was when Mary, Kirsten Dunst's character, learns that her laundry was wiped at the moment where Dr. Mierzwiak's wife arrives on the scene and sees them kissing inside and, and says, “You can have him, you've had him before.” And at that moment, like my whole body just goes, [Makes out-of-body-expierence sound]....This is really like taking something it's doing something to me.Banks  32:13Isn't it true that when a leech bites you, there is a numbing agent.Evan  32:19There is a numbing protein? Yes, that's right.Aaron  32:22Oh, guys, I tell you what, I think I like me to take a quick vacation though. This is getting like, a little intense. For me.Evan  32:29It's getting a little intense. Aaron, do you want to take this top beach? Do you want to beach? Are there any leeches on that beach?Aaron  32:35I wanna do the leech on the beach segment? Come on, let's do leave on the beach. On the beach. When I try and want to go on vacation on this film, where do I go? Actually go to one of the moments of like greatest dysfunction, which is this ridiculous relationship? In the movie between Joel's two friends, Carrie and Rob. Remember what I'm talking about? Yeah, like Carrie and Rob, who are like, there's something about the way that their relationship is just so obviously bad. Like they're throwing laundry at each other and like always sniping at each other. She tries to pick up a cooler and it just like falls over on her comedy montage. Evan  33:20At the beach, at MontaukBanks  33:21At the beach!Aaron  33:21But a moment that gets me the most I just can't help but laugh is where Joe's over at their house and you just hear this relentless hammering. And Rob is just sitting at the table like making a birdhouse. Like, why? Why is this even here? Why is this happening? But uh, that's it this moment of the just deep absurdity. And we're where we're seeing actually like, what love looks at, like, in a way that's not all that inspiring or interesting. But for some reason that like it's uplifting and light-hearted to me, and I go on vacation in those moments.Evan  33:59I love that. My vacation is also related to Bob, who of course is played by David Cross, the immortal Tobias Fuque from Arrested Development, and perhaps a satire, perhaps unrelated, but in that show Arrested Development. There's a pill called a “Forgive me now.” Which I think perhaps is based on this movie. And that is a funny version of something very serious. That has happened in this movie. And I laugh at that…;Aaron  34:27that's beachy, that's beachyBanks  34:31Arrested Developemnt is talways a good beach to go to. It'll ride on Montauk anytime. Just not the Netflix seasons, don't do those.Evan  34:40Yeah, yeah. Wasted time. Well, that is our leech on a beach segment for this week. Here. Thank you for taking us to the beach.Aaron  34:50And to be clear leeches also their bodies are like segmented they are segmented worms. So the idea of segments is really nice for the pod. Thank you.Banks  35:00And we are now transported from the beach. So thank you for that.Evan  35:05We have built leach anatomy into the structure of our podcast. Speaking of which, I think it's time for some “hirudo therapy,” the medicinal purposes of leeches. Who would like to begin?Banks  35:24I'll begin with one here. So for me, I think that there is a hirudo therapy in this, you know, this, this one goes out to all the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy fans out there. But in DBT, there's this important idea called “radical acceptance.” Okay, which is the, you know, it's simply looking at difficult situations, and, and simply trying to see them as they are and accept reality for what it is. And so we can move forward. And there's this great moment, I think of radical acceptance throughout this movie, but one in particular. And that's when, after the fights after everything at the very end of the movie, you know, you know, Joel has just heard Clem's, worst comments to him, and Clem has just heard Joel lay into her and these recorded videos, and then they stand in a hallway about, they could, you know, both ready just to end it with one another. And they just say, you know, we could try again. And guess what, this is probably gonna happen again. And that's when Joel, that's when Jim Carrey's character, says, “Okay,” It's this moment of incredible radical acceptance that I've never seen a better portrait of it. It's an acceptance of who they are, and acceptance of what their relationship could be the good and the bad together. And the acceptance of, “We could see where this goes”Aaron  36:58In most moments of acceptance, with that level of like, crystalline, very fresh sense of everything that's wrong, and tragic, and toxic and weird. Yeah, that's very radical.Evan  37:11I think that connects in a lot of ways to the therapy that I was thinking about. And it connects back to my theme of fate and choice. And there's so many patterns that repeat in this movie, and you see the dynamics of their relationship, keep repeating in the memories, and they keep repeating, because in some ways, Joel is fundamentally who he is. And Clem is fundamentally who she is. And you can't change those things. And yet, Joel has been on a journey in this film, he has gone into his memory, he's gone into happy memories, but really, it's the traumatic ones that he has to go to, to come out the other side as a different person. And the time works so funny in this movie, I think Banks you put it well, it's only one night, and yet he is a different person. That morning when he wakes up, although he doesn't know it totally, than he was when he went to sleep. And I think for me, what's therapeutic about that is this acknowledgment that the way forward, perhaps in a relationship, but perhaps just for self-acceptance, is actually through memory. It's through facing past things, especially past trauma. If the way forward for Ophelia was through fantasy in Pan's Labyrinth, I think this film offers us a painful, but ultimately, a restorative way forward through memory.Aaron  38:45Yeah, this is what yeah, this is this movie is hard for me. Yeah, I think that anyone who anyone who's had a lot of heartbreak, and I've been divorced, you know, watch you watch this film and watch the kinds of dysfunction and kinds of pain that people experience here like I can, I can dredge up a lot of hard material. But I think that one of the things that I find medicinal about the film is that it's I think that after you've, after you've been really hurt by love. There's this question of like, am I gonna open myself up to that again? Is it worth opening myself up to love again? And the message of this film is it like it's a high risk proposition to love. Because the things that you will learn the things that you will come to know involve pain. And I and I find myself both really chastened by this film like, “Hello, sir. Be cautious about love but But sir, you should, you should open your heart because there's something deep and real really meaningful about coming to know that the difficult risky thing called love.”Evan  40:07I think that raises a question for me. I want to know what you think. The film seems to say. “Yes, it's hard. Yes. All this pain has happened. Yes, there's risk. But yes, but okay. But try again” or “Say yes to love again.” And just speaking for myself it. It rang true. I felt like the film earned that optimism. But I don't know what do you guys think? Did it? Did it earn it? Is it too? I mean, because there's also a way you could argue like, this relationship was toxic, and probably bad for both of them. And is it good for them to keep trying on something that?Aaron  40:57The film seems like make a virtue out of continuing to try things that are destructive?Evan  41:05Yeah, I think you could read it that way.Aaron  41:07Yeah. Make a virtue out of dysfunction. Oooh, yeah. I don't know about that.Banks  41:12You could read it just as a cycle of codependency.Evan  41:16Oh!Aaron  41:18I don't know what I think about that. That's not what I want to believe about the movie. But I think that the movie entirely leaves that door open, actually.Evan  41:26Yeah. Same.Banks  41:29I agree. Both with the sentiment of not wanting it to be that way. And also having a very hard time arguing against it. But I'm gonna fall and say it's not that's not. I'm just gonna go with my gut and say, I don't think that's what the movie is about. I think the movie is asking, in the end, it does earn, you know, as you're saying, a bit more optimism a bit more of the sense that the worst of us doesn't define the all of our future.Aaron  42:03What does that mean? I think that that immediately leads me to the burning question of if this movie is a movie that is that has this like this optimistic note to it. Like how many leeches am I supposed to give this movie? Oh?Banks  42:21Oh,Aaron  42:24OOh Ah! I see how many leeches now? Does anybody have a sense at this point?Banks  42:29I did remind our viewers we do this on a scale of four. Right? One out of four leeches: four leeches being the, you know, the the “gold standard” of a leech movie. And “one” being not so leechy, but maybe a wee-bit? “Zero” being not leechy at all. What are you doing on the show? So.Evan  42:49So I'm at I'm at three leaning for but I'm going to go three? Oh, I want to save four for a couple that, well, we will get to that. I think I just want to hold it like I think parasites are solid for oh, there's a couple of others. In my book. Here's why I'm at three. Okay. I couldn't get this film out of my mind. We watched it a while back. I've been thinking about it. I've been wanting to write about it. I've been busy and haven't been able to write about and I've been frustrated that I haven't been able to write and think about it. And so it's just like, wormed its way into my brain. And so it is stuck with me. And I think it's stuck with me on this viewing. And I'll maybe I'll highlight the other leechy scene that I didn't talk about, which is after they agree at the very end, to try again, the film actually closes with this image of the two of them on the beach in Montauk with snow on the beach. And they're running and they're like playfully, hitting each other with snow. I believe it's from maybe the first time they hung out or some other memory. But it's this playful image in this very cold beach. And it's it's a haunting image on its own. But then Gondry repeats it two more times. This repetition, this repetition, almost like the cycle of this relationship will continue and continue? Oh, and I think in a way, the coldness of the image, the repetition of it. I think it tempers a little bit of the optimism that I feel in my bones. When they reconnect. I'm like, Oh, this is the best. This is it. I think that they end the director ends with that note of No, this is a cycle of cold playfulness, not a cycle of Cold Play, but in a cycle of cola. Playfulness, that maybe that's just what love is. Or maybe it's a more ambiguous thing that he wanted leave us with I don't know, but I can't stop thinking about it. I found this film so instructive about so many things. It's such a “three-leecher” for me. I yeah, I just love this film.Aaron  45:11Mm-hmm.Banks  45:12Three leeches.Aaron  45:14Yeah, honestly, Banks. I think I need to hear from you. I'm not even like, I'm not even sure. You got to help me out, convinced me.Banks  45:21It's I think it's three. For me, I'm going to agree with Evan. And I think that its three for me, like, if I were to say, like, find to give it like, in terms of just how much I like it. I probably give this a “four out of four” stars. But we're talking leeches here.Evan  45:39Leeches not stars.Banks  45:41Just the, you know, for me, the film has so many incredible qualities, like three leeches is a high bar and it does, it sticks. It's difficult. It's it takes something out of you. I do not want to watch this movie sometime again in the near future. But I desperately.... there's a part of me that never wants it to let go either. Like, yes, it's for me like that need like, okay, that we're in leech territory here. But in the end, you know, for me, when I think of a truly [leech movie], there's almost a fear that needs to be there. There needs to be that. Like, there's a space that enters. That is deeper, that's darker, that is more powerful, maybe even brighter, I don't know, but it's just more visceral.Evan  46:35I mean, this is the most visceral podcast, it is. You tremble, you tremble before and I feel like….Banks  46:44...and I might be shaking a little bit, but ain't trembling yet. So, three leeches for me.Aaron  46:49Hmm. This movie came out in 2004. I was in high school. I think definitely at the time, I would have seen it as a one or two. I thought it was like, artsy and cool. Kind of great. But it wasn't something that likes stuck close to me. You know, at that time, I think this movie is like a heat-seeking missile, except that it is like the heat that it seeks is heartbreak. And like it sniffs out the heartbreak and attaches there. Wow. And I think that would pull me up to a three now. Definitely not for me. But that sense of it, like just finding my heartbreak and leeching on right there. Ooh, for me three. Yeah, I'll give it three for that.Banks  47:43Is this the first time we've all agreed?Evan  47:45I think so. Which is great. I think. I think aside from ratings, I think something I just feel like we have to talk about this movie or I want to name is this would be a somehow a romantic comedy, drama, a sci-fi, a horror movie, like there are horror elements in the some of those memories. It's almost like a Freudian meditation on childhood, like, and it's visually stunning. I mean, I think this is where thanks to your point, like it is a four-star in terms of the quality of filmmaking and writing and performances. I mean, we have really talked about the performances, we talked about Kate Winslet who is like,Banks  48:23She's the star. And this is yeah, she puts everyone else to shame in this movie, and everyone else is brilliant.Evan  48:33She's like, literally the figment of Jim Carey's imagination in the movie, and yet unforgettable she's unforgettable.Aaron  48:40The moment immediately comes to mind is where we're, uh, Jim Carrey is like being a baby toddler version of himself like under a table. And she is being his like mom's friend who, who's like also herself and is like, what is this dress I'm wearing? And then in order to like bring him back from his babyish waist tries to like show him her underwear. This is so strange.Banks  49:10It's so funny because like in the scene before it's like this very like sensual like thing and like, they're they like, that's where like, you like see like the underwear in there. It's like, very sexualized and very, like, you know, intimate and then it's here. It's like the least sexual scene ever, and it's such hilarious change. It's like, Oh, we're gonna flash a three-year-old. Let's just do that. It's brilliant. So weird.Evan  49:37So weird. Well, on that note, it's been another episode of the leech podcast. Thanks, everyone for tuning in. This was about the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. There are many more episodes to come in this season. And we hope you will join us for all of them. Again, if you would like to contact us You can find us on At leech podcast on Twitter and the leech podcast on Instagram. We would love to hear from you, including leechy novels that you have in mind for a book club.Credits:Hosted by Evan Cate, Banks Clark, and Aaron JonesEditing by Evan CateGraphic design by Banks ClarkOriginal music by Justin Klump of Podcast Sound and MusicProduction help by Lisa Gray of Sound Mind ProductionsEquipment help from Topher Thomas

Enjoy this sermon from Revive Chicago! Listen and be changed.Recorded Nov. 14th, 2021Luke 22 - The Last Supper - NIV7Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. 8Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”9“Where do you want us to prepare for it?” they asked.10He replied, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters, 11and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' 12He will show you a large room upstairs, all furnished. Make preparations there.”13They left and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.14When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.”17After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18For I tell you I will not drink again from the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”19And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”20In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. a 21But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” 23They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.24A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27--Join us for service live every Sunday at 10am at 2244 95th St, Naperville, IL 60564Connect with us at our website www.revivechicago.church

Disciple Up # 234 Truth In Tension By Louie Marsh, 10-27-2021   reThink #8 – Loving My Neighbor: http://riverchurchparker.com/sermons/08-rethink-loving-my-neighbor/   Quotes from The Weight of Glory, By C.S. Lewis:   https://www.amazon.com/Weight-Glory-C-S-Lewis-ebook/dp/B002BY77D6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2QW9L6WYRN33R&dchild=1&keywords=the+weight+of+glory+by+c.s.+lewis&qid=1635192816&sprefix=the+weight+of+glory%2Caps%2C224&sr=8-1   “It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor.   The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor's glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken……   There are no ordinary people.   You have never talked to a mere mortal.   Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.   But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.   This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play.   But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously—no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.   And our charity must be real and costly love, with deep feeling for the sins in spite of which we love the sinner—no mere tolerance or indulgence which parodies love as flippancy parodies merriment. Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.”   Sinful Nature of Mankind   “9The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”” (Jeremiah 17:9–10, ESV)   “21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:21–24, ESV)   “5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. 8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5–8, ESV)   It's not either, or – it's both.

DVD with Niyi Adekunle Saturday 21st, August The Reality of the Life of Christ 6 We were introduced to this man called Saul in Acts 7. Saul was the supervisor over those who stoned Stephen to death but he did not stop there, he kept looking for Christians all through Jerusalem breaking into their homes and locking them in jail. Saul was a terror amongst the Christians and a very zealous Pharisee defending the cause of Judaism. But when Saul met God, his life witnessed a complete turnaround. Acts 9:21-22 (NKJV), 21But all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed them which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hither for that intent, that he might bring them bound unto the chief priests? 22But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ. Saul (who later became Paul) was going to Damascus to arrest the Christians there and bring them to Jerusalem to be jailed. On the way, he met Jesus in a spectacular way and he ended up blind after that encounter. God then sent Ananias to him, Saul got saved and his sight was restored. The experience transformed Saul's life to a new being, his change was so radical that people who knew him almost didn't believe he was the same person. They were amazed at his life and the way he went about conducting himself. Your life in Christ should be amazement. Some things in your life should defy human understanding. If everything in your life can be explained by human logic, you have not truly experienced this life of God. The life of God in Saul's life was so real that when he was bitten by a poisonous snake he simply shook it off. People around thought he was an evil man and would soon die. But the life of God inside of him was real. He shook off the snake and he did not die. He was simply fulfilling the scripture that said, you shall tread upon poisonous snakes, and nothing shall harm you. Paul lived in the reality of the life of God so much that it was evident to those who saw him. I pray in the Name of Jesus that you will receive this life and as you grow in it. God bless you. Enjoy the rest of your day.

The result of Transformation #2 (God can use you mightily. But you must be willing to follow His leading. It's called OBEDIENCE) By Pastor George Lehman 1 Samuel 15:22-23 (Amp) - Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images).  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.   1 Samuel 15:20-21 (Amp) – 20Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have completely destroyed the Amalekites. 21But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things [that were] to be totally destroyed to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” Obedience is not Optional.  Obedience was the 1st key step you took when you became a born-again child of God. It's not an either/or situation. Philippians 2:12 (LB) - Dearest friends, when I was there with you, you were always so careful to follow my instructions.  And now that I am away you must be even more careful to do the good things that result from being saved, obeying God with deep reverence, shrinking back from all that might displease him. (Disobedience displeases God) Because we grow up in a world full of options, everything is optional, It's all about my likes and dislikes, my comfort and conveniences. The dictionary says OPTION is: The act of choosing; the freedom to choose; open to choice. If you've studied and qualified, your career options may be more numerous than they would otherwise be; when you go and buy a bike, you have a wide range of options to choose from; you have various options to buy the clothes you want to buy and wear; options what house to live in; options what you will eat.  Life is full of choices (options) everyday. We tend to treat God this way too!! If we are obedient or if not, it doesn't really matter, I mean it's my (OPTION) choice. Our obedience to God can never be optional (open to free choice); an either/or situation. All or Nothing! Partial obedience is disobedience. Someone asked Dr. Cho (pastors the largest church in the world – over 1 million), “what is the key to your great success?”  His reply was very simple, “I pray and obey”. Story of Alexander the Great: A few centuries before Christ, a man named Alexander conquered almost all of the known world using military strength, cleverness and a bit of diplomacy. The story is told that Alexander and a small company of soldiers approached a strongly fortified walled city.  Alexander, standing outside the walls, raised his voice and demanded to see the king.  When the king arrived, Alexander insisted that the king surrender the city and its inhabitants to Alexander and his little band of fighting men. The king laughed, “Why should I surrender to you?  You can't do us any harm!”  But Alexander offered to give the king a demonstration.  He ordered his men to line up single file and start marching.   He marched them straight toward a sheer cliff.  The townspeople gathered on the wall and watched in shocked silence as, one by one, Alexander's soldiers marched without hesitation right off the cliff to their deaths!  After ten soldiers died, Alexander ordered the rest of the men to return to his side.  The townspeople and the king immediately surrendered to Alexander the Great. They realized that if a few men were actually willing to commit suicide at the command of this dynamic leader, then nothing could stop his eventual victory. The real question here is: Are you really willing to be as obedient to the ruler of the universe, Jesus Christ, as those soldiers were to Alexander? Are you as dedicated, obedient, and committed? These are the birth cannels through which Transformation flows Think how much power Christ could have in our area of influence with just a portion of such commitment and obedience. There are certain things in us that must come out. The result of transformation is continuous “obedience”.  Obedience is putting into action that which God requires.  AND IT'S NOT OPTIONAL So many Christians think, “If I'm obedient and do good in one area, then God will overlook my disobedience and sin in another area”. When God's word says something, that's exactly what He means. Psalm 40:6 (Amp) - Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear* and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin offerings [which] You do not require. * Ignorance will be no excuse one day. What is the kinds of Sacrifice we offer:  You can come to church, sing songs, wear CMA colours, go to rallies and jols, even have a leadership position; you can give tithes and offerings; you can do all the works that Christians should do. All this is possible without obedience because obedience is allowing genuine Transformation in the heart.  Sacrifice without obedience is a painful waste of time. James 1:22 (NIV) - Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what is says. (Many think because I heard it, I'm ok) Job 36:11-12 (Amp) - If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness and joy.  But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword [of God's destructive judgments], and they shall die in ignorance of true knowledge. (Obedience brings true knowledge) Clearly God wants to change you and mould you into the image of His Son, Jesus.  The only way to do this is if you are willing to allow Him.   Here are some truths about obedience: #1 Obedience brings forth a desire for self-examination, which produces transformation You know when you are walking in obedience because you will have a passionate desire to do painful self-inspection all the time and be willing to change or be transformed. Psalm 139:23 (Amp) - Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart!  Try me and know my thoughts! This wasn't just good talk to impress God.  David's desire is that disobedience wasn't hindering God's work in His life. Most of us don't like self-examination, do we?  Self-examination creates Transformation (change)   Isaac Newton - First law of motion - “Everything continues in a state of rest unless it is compelled to change by forces impressed upon it.” Some people will change when they see the light.  Others change only when they feel the heat. #2  Obedience brings forth blessings. Every promise in God's word comes with a condition = obedience. 1 John 3:22 (Amp) - And we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] OBEY His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions*, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him.  *Injunction = authoritive order   Deuteronomy 12:28 (Amp) - Be watchful and OBEY all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.   Blessings come when we commit to do it God's way, not our way.   Leviticus 26:3-13 (LB) - If you obey all of my commandments, I will give you regular rains, and the land will yield bumper crops, and the trees will be loaded with fruit long after the normal time! And grapes will still be ripening when sowing time comes again.  You shall eat your fill, and live safely in the land, For I will give you peace, and you will go to sleep without fear.  I will chase away the dangerous animals.  You will chase your enemies; they will die beneath your swords.  Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you, then thousand!  You will defeat all of your enemies.  I will look after you, and multiply you, and fulfill my covenant with you.  You will have such a surplus of crops that you won't know what to do with them when the new harvest is ready!  And I will live among you, and not despise you.  I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people.  For I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, with the intention that you be slaves no longer; I have broken your chains and will make you walk with dignity. Are you positioned for blessing?  If not, you're settling for second best. #3  Disobedience brings forth consequences. Do yourself a favour, go read Leviticus 26:14-28 & Deuteronomy 28:15-68.  See the price of disobedience grow. 53 verses are curses. Revelations 3:3 (Amp) - So call to mind the lessons you received and heard; continually lay them to heart and OBEY them, and repent(change/transform).  In case you will not rouse yourselves and keep awake and watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know or suspect at what hour I will come. What price are you willing to pay for disobedience? The result of transformation comes from obedience, and obedience is NOT OPTIONAL.

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament: 2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19 1David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. 3They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart 4with the ark of God; and Ahio went in front of the ark. 5David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. 12 So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; 13and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. 14David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. 15So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. 17 They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt-offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. 18When David had finished offering the burnt-offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, 19and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes. Psalm: Psalm 24 1 The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, *        the world and all who dwell therein. 2 For it is he who founded it upon the seas *        and made it firm upon the rivers of the deep. 3 “Who can ascend the hill of the Lord? ” *        and who can stand in his holy place?” 4 “Those who have clean hands and a pure heart, *        who have not pledged themselves to falsehood,        nor sworn by what is a fraud. 5 They shall receive a blessing from the Lord *        and a just reward from the God of their salvation.” 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, *        of those who seek your face, O God of Jacob. 7 Lift up your heads, O gates;    lift them high, O everlasting doors; *        and the King of glory shall come in. 8 “Who is this King of glory?” *       “The Lord, strong and mighty,        the Lord, mighty in battle.” 9 Lift up your heads, O gates;    lift them high, O everlasting doors; *        and the King of glory shall come in. 10 “Who is he, this King of glory?”       “The Lord of hosts,        he is the King of glory.” Epistle: Ephesians 1:3-14 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. Gospel: Mark 6:14-29 14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.' 15But others said, ‘It is Elijah.' And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.' 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.' 17 For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. 18For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.' 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.' 23And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.' 24She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?' She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.' 25Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.' 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Listen to this week's sermon on this gospel reading: Mark 6.14–29 [NRSV]14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.' 15But others said, ‘It is Elijah.' And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.' 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.' 17 For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. 18For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.' 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.' 23And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.' 24She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?' She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.' 25Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.' 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Disciple Up # 217 Should We All Be Iconoclasts? By Louie Marsh, 6-30-2021     icon·​o·​clast | ī-ˈkä-nə-ˌklast  Definition of iconoclast 1: a person who attacks settled beliefs or institutions 2: a person who destroys religious images or opposes their veneration   Synonyms: bohemian, boho, counterculturist, deviant, enfant terrible, free spirit, heretic, individualist, lone ranger, lone wolf, loner, maverick, nonconformer, nonconformist   Antonyms: conformer, conformist   For the Meaning of Iconoclast, Break It Down   Iconoclast is a word that often shows up on vocabulary lists and College Board tests. How will you remember the meaning of this vocabulary-boosting term? If you already know the word icon, you're halfway there. An icon is a picture that represents something. The most common icons today are those little images on our computers and smartphones that represent a program or function, but in the still-recent past, the most common icons were religious images. Icon comes from the Greek eikōn, which is from eikenai, meaning "to resemble." Iconoclast comes to us by way of Medieval Latin from Middle Greek eikonoklastēs, which joins eikōn with a form of the word klan, meaning "to break." Iconoclast literally means "image destroyer."   First Known Use of iconoclast in English 1641, as an icon destroyer.   Article on this: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/neil-seeman/iconoclast-genius_b_4116396.html   https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-88/great-iconoclast.html   Joy asked Lewis to autograph her copy of his book, The Great Divorce. He wrote, "There are three images in my mind which I must continually forsake and replace by better ones: the false image of God, the false image of my neighbours, and the false image of myself. C. S. Lewis 30 December 1952 (from an unwritten chapter on Iconoclasm)."   Lewis was saying that spiritual growth is iconoclastic because it constantly breaks our idols and replaces them with something better.   Iconoclast in Church History:   https://www.catholic.com/encyclopedia/iconoclasm   Iconoclasm (Eikonoklasmos, “Image-breaking”) is the name of the heresy that in the eighth and ninth centuries disturbed the peace of the Eastern Church, caused the last of the many breaches with Rome that prepared the way for the schism of Photius, and was echoed on a smaller scale in the Frankish kingdom in the West. The story in the East is divided into two separate persecutions of the Catholics, at the end of each of which stands the figure of an image-worshipping Empress (Irene and Theodora).   Luther & the Iconoclasts: https://lutheranreformation.org/history/luther-and-the-iconoclasts/   Was Jesus an Iconoclast?   “13The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father's house a house of trade.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” (John 2:13–22, ESV)   “1On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” 3And Jesus answered them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” 5And he said to them, “The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”” (Luke 6:1–5, ESV)   What About the apostles?   “9For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,” (1 Thessalonians 1:9, ESV)   “16Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. 19And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new. 22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.' What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” (Acts 17:16–25, ESV)   “15We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.” (Galatians 2:15–21, ESV)   What happens when you tear something down without a plan to replace with something better?   What needs to be smashed today?   What are the idols (icons) in the church today that to be challenged and removed? Remember I'm speaking largely metaphorically, not about physical idols.   Some say the denominations, like the Southern Baptists for example, need to deal with issues of racism in their history more and are even introducing parts of Critical Race Theory to do so?   Is it even possible to follow Jesus and not be an iconoclast to one degree or another?   What idols in our culture need confronting?   CRT? PC speech and action codes? Gender issues? Sexual morality in general?  

Phil continued our series looking at Colossians.Introduction What are we building our life on?What is the source of your life?What is feeding you? While this past year may have been tough, we have had time to do things we didn't have beforeWhat have we used that time for ?Have we used it to build our relationship, drawing  nearer and going deeper?We have said this before is our life built on church attendance or on a relationshipLet's see what Paul says here to the Colossian church“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”‭‭Colossians‬ ‭2:6-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬Let's just look a this verse 3 things to emphasize here, and Pauls tone is strong 1 You must continue to follow himSo many  start well but fall away when trouble comes or perhaps they have not fully understood what it is to follow Jesus. Jesus told them. Parable of the sower - Matthew 13:3‭-‬9 NLTIn this passage there are 4 types of ground a. Hard footpathb. shallow soil with underlying Rockc. thorny ground d. fertile soilIt seems the odds are 1 in 4 for the seed to grow and become strong and last 2. Let your roots go down into himPaul prays his readers will be secure in their reliance on love. The imagery is that of a tree held strongly by deep roots (Matthew 13:6, 21; 15:13; Mark 4:17). Love, especially shown between fellow Christians, is meant to be the hallmark of our faith (John 13:34–35). Love is likewise meant to keep the Christian grounded, staying in place with Christ and growing us to maturity. Colossians 2:7 speaks similarly of being "rooted and built up in him and established in the faith."Matthew 13:21But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word.Psalm 92:12But the godly will flourish like palm treesand grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.The Cedar Trees of Lebanon Today, the Bulk of the Cedar trees are located on the Arz Mountains in Lebanon. The site is well protected and cherished as UNESCO named the forest one of the World Heritage sites.Solomon used this cedar wood in Building the temple.Jeremiah 17:7‭-‬8 NLTPsalms 1:1‭-‬3 NLT3. Let your lives be built on himPaul famously speaks eloquently of faith, hope, and love at the conclusion of 1 Corinthians 13. Here, he mentions two of these attributes. First, his desire in this passage is for growth in faith, rather than knowledge, though both are important. Ephesians 2:22 also used the idea of a "dwelling place for God by the Spirit." Paul similarly taught the Colossians, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Colossians 3:16).Parable of 2 men building a house - Matthew 7:24‭-‬27 NLTConclusion The fruit of being rooted Overflowing with Thankfulness As a nation we have a culture of complaining, blame & claimTo walk in the opposite spirit is to be thankful and in every circumstance be content. Paul knew this but did it come from within himself, his own choice or decision or from him being rooted in Christ?When we are rooted into him the fruit will be evident. Questions In what ways do you need to grow up in Christ?How are you putting your roots down into him? Are there any hindrances to this? What do we need to do to build our lives on him?What evidence should we be expecting when we do these 3 things Paul encourages us to do?  

John 2:13-25 13The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” 17His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”18So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” 19Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.23Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

文稿下载 加 公众号 “高效英语磨耳朵”提示一、每个句子都会播放两遍常速发音 + 一遍慢速发音 + 一遍常速发音。二、自己觉得比较陌生的句子，要反复听。三、一定要坚持！加油！1I really want them to be successful.我真的希望他们成功。2I can do what I love to do and help others at the same time.我可以做我喜欢做的事，同时帮助别人。3Volunteering here is adream come true for me.在这里做志愿者对我来说是梦想成真。4she could read by herself at the age of four.她四岁就能自己看书了。5I don't think that's fair.我觉得这不公平。6The man was saved by the doctors in time.医生及时救了那个人。7Mary is a book lover.玛丽是个爱书的人。8But to his surprise, they all agreed to go with him.但令他吃惊的是，他们都同意和他一起去。9Mario loves animals and wants to be an animal doctor.马里奥热爱动物，想成为一名兽医。10How do you know?你怎么知道的？11She still works there once a week to help kids learn to read.她仍然每周在那里工作一次，帮助孩子们学习阅读。12He told the passengers that he must take the man to the hospital.他告诉乘客他必须把这个人送到医院。13A woman next to him was shouting for help.他旁边的一个女人在喊救命。14Too much pressure is not good for a child's development.压力太大不利于孩子的成长。15It's crazy!太疯狂了！16Do you think it comes from a newspaper?你认为是来自报纸上的报道吗。17She said that the man had a heart problem and should go to the hospital.她说那个男人有心脏病，应该去医院。18He got off and asked the woman what happened.他下车问那个女人发生了什么事。19Mario believes he can help him to get his future dream job.马里奥相信他能帮助他得到他未来梦想中的工作。20And they're always comparing them with other children.他们总是把他们和其他孩子比较。21But the driver didn't think about himself.但司机没有考虑他自己。22Maybe you should learn to relax.也许你应该学会放松。23But I want to learn more about how to care for animals.但我想学习更多关于如何照顾动物的知识。24He only thought about saving a life.他只想着救人一命。25Many of them are learning exam skills, so that they can get into a good high school.他们中的许多人正在学习考试技巧，以便能进入一所好的高中。26However, the tired children don't get home until after 7 PM.然而，疲倦的孩子们直到晚上七点才回家。27He volunteers at an animal hospital every Saturday morning.他每周六早上在动物医院做义工。28People shouldn't push their kids so hard.人们不应该把孩子逼得这么凶。

文稿下载 加 公众号 “高效英语磨耳朵”提示一、每个句子都会播放两遍常速发音 + 一遍慢速发音 + 一遍常速发音。二、自己觉得比较陌生的句子，要反复听。三、一定要坚持！加油！1I really want them to be successful.我真的希望他们成功。2I can do what I love to do and help others at the same time.我可以做我喜欢做的事，同时帮助别人。3Volunteering here is adream come true for me.在这里做志愿者对我来说是梦想成真。4she could read by herself at the age of four.她四岁就能自己看书了。5I don't think that's fair.我觉得这不公平。6The man was saved by the doctors in time.医生及时救了那个人。7Mary is a book lover.玛丽是个爱书的人。8But to his surprise, they all agreed to go with him.但令他吃惊的是，他们都同意和他一起去。9Mario loves animals and wants to be an animal doctor.马里奥热爱动物，想成为一名兽医。10How do you know?你怎么知道的？11She still works there once a week to help kids learn to read.她仍然每周在那里工作一次，帮助孩子们学习阅读。12He told the passengers that he must take the man to the hospital.他告诉乘客他必须把这个人送到医院。13A woman next to him was shouting for help.他旁边的一个女人在喊救命。14Too much pressure is not good for a child's development.压力太大不利于孩子的成长。15It's crazy!太疯狂了！16Do you think it comes from a newspaper?你认为是来自报纸上的报道吗。17She said that the man had a heart problem and should go to the hospital.她说那个男人有心脏病，应该去医院。18He got off and asked the woman what happened.他下车问那个女人发生了什么事。19Mario believes he can help him to get his future dream job.马里奥相信他能帮助他得到他未来梦想中的工作。20And they're always comparing them with other children.他们总是把他们和其他孩子比较。21But the driver didn't think about himself.但司机没有考虑他自己。22Maybe you should learn to relax.也许你应该学会放松。23But I want to learn more about how to care for animals.但我想学习更多关于如何照顾动物的知识。24He only thought about saving a life.他只想着救人一命。25Many of them are learning exam skills, so that they can get into a good high school.他们中的许多人正在学习考试技巧，以便能进入一所好的高中。26However, the tired children don't get home until after 7 PM.然而，疲倦的孩子们直到晚上七点才回家。27He volunteers at an animal hospital every Saturday morning.他每周六早上在动物医院做义工。28People shouldn't push their kids so hard.人们不应该把孩子逼得这么凶。

文稿下载 加 公众号 “高效英语磨耳朵”提示一、每个句子都会播放两遍常速发音 + 一遍慢速发音 + 一遍常速发音。二、自己觉得比较陌生的句子，要反复听。三、一定要坚持！加油！1I really want them to be successful.我真的希望他们成功。2I can do what I love to do and help others at the same time.我可以做我喜欢做的事，同时帮助别人。3Volunteering here is adream come true for me.在这里做志愿者对我来说是梦想成真。4she could read by herself at the age of four.她四岁就能自己看书了。5I don't think that's fair.我觉得这不公平。6The man was saved by the doctors in time.医生及时救了那个人。7Mary is a book lover.玛丽是个爱书的人。8But to his surprise, they all agreed to go with him.但令他吃惊的是，他们都同意和他一起去。9Mario loves animals and wants to be an animal doctor.马里奥热爱动物，想成为一名兽医。10How do you know?你怎么知道的？11She still works there once a week to help kids learn to read.她仍然每周在那里工作一次，帮助孩子们学习阅读。12He told the passengers that he must take the man to the hospital.他告诉乘客他必须把这个人送到医院。13A woman next to him was shouting for help.他旁边的一个女人在喊救命。14Too much pressure is not good for a child's development.压力太大不利于孩子的成长。15It's crazy!太疯狂了！16Do you think it comes from a newspaper?你认为是来自报纸上的报道吗。17She said that the man had a heart problem and should go to the hospital.她说那个男人有心脏病，应该去医院。18He got off and asked the woman what happened.他下车问那个女人发生了什么事。19Mario believes he can help him to get his future dream job.马里奥相信他能帮助他得到他未来梦想中的工作。20And they're always comparing them with other children.他们总是把他们和其他孩子比较。21But the driver didn't think about himself.但司机没有考虑他自己。22Maybe you should learn to relax.也许你应该学会放松。23But I want to learn more about how to care for animals.但我想学习更多关于如何照顾动物的知识。24He only thought about saving a life.他只想着救人一命。25Many of them are learning exam skills, so that they can get into a good high school.他们中的许多人正在学习考试技巧，以便能进入一所好的高中。26However, the tired children don't get home until after 7 PM.然而，疲倦的孩子们直到晚上七点才回家。27He volunteers at an animal hospital every Saturday morning.他每周六早上在动物医院做义工。28People shouldn't push their kids so hard.人们不应该把孩子逼得这么凶。

John 3:121 (ESV) You Must Be Born Again 3Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. 3Jesus answered him, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mothers womb and be born? 5Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, You must be born again. 8The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit. 9Nicodemus said to him, How can these things be? 10Jesus answered him, Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God So Loved the World 16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.

John 2:1225 (ESV) 12After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. Jesus Cleanses the Temple 13The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. 16And he told those who sold the pigeons, Take these things away; do not make my Fathers house a house of trade. 17His disciples remembered that it was written, Zeal for your house will consume me. 18So the Jews said to him, What sign do you show us for doing these things? 19Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20The Jews then said, It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? 21But he was speaking about the temple of his body. 22When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken. Jesus Knows What Is in Man 23Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

Tales From the Scrypt # 196 50 Most Dangerous Countries to Follow Jesus In 2021 By Louie Marsh, 1-27-2021   Links to articles read from in show:   https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/january/christian-persecution-2021-countries-open-doors-watch-list.html   https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/13/christian-persecution-rises-as-people-refused-aid-in-covid-crisis-report   Next Week – Stay Hungry, Disciple's Identity   “18“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.'” (John 15:18–25, ESV)    

Time to realize that Satan is at work in our nation, using our elected leaders: Have our leaders gone crazy FBI vetting all 25,000 National Guard troops in Washington DC?   Spiritual not Political:  1 John 4:8 New International Version 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.   I heard media mob, deprogram Trump supporters, search our troops yet we have a caravan coming across the border, people mis- quoting Dr. King, Biden thugs, Biden decries Trump mob: 'Don't call them protesters. They were domestic terrorists' Trump cult, big tech the silencers of free speech, the internet has made it both easier and more difficult to find facts, but we can still know what is true, God is in control and so much more. So please pray for the outgoing leader in the incoming leaders The Hatred of the World …20Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well. 21But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me. 22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.… Question: "What does the Bible say about discernment?"   Answer: The word discern and its derivatives are translations of the Greek word anakrino in the New Testament. It means “to distinguish, to separate out by diligent search, to examine.” Discernment is the ability to properly discriminate or make determinations. It is related to wisdom. The Word of God itself is said to discern the thoughts and intentions of one's heart (Hebrews 4:12).   A discerning mind demonstrates wisdom and insight that go beyond what is seen and heard. For example, God's Word is “spiritually discerned.” To the human mind without the Spirit, the things of God are “foolishness” (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Spirit, then, gives us spiritual discernment.   King Solomon was known for his power of discernment, making many wise decisions and moral judgments (1 Kings 3:9, 11). Christians today are to be discerning as well. Paul prayed for believers “to discern what is best . . . until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10).   A discerning person will acknowledge the worth of God's Word: “All the words of my mouth are just; none of them is crooked or perverse. To the discerning all of them are right; they are faultless to those who have knowledge” (Proverbs 8:8-9). Seeking discernment is a goal for all who desire to walk righteously: “Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them” (Hosea 14:9).   We are commanded to “hate what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). But, unless we have true discernment, how can we determine what is “evil” and what is “good”? In order to maintain the purity of the gospel, the church must distinguish truth from heresy. Wisdom also demands that we properly discriminate between what is “best” and what is merely “good.”   Discernment has many collateral benefits. “My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet” (Proverbs 3:21-24).   Just as Solomon sought discernment and wisdom (Proverbs 1:2; 1 Kings 3:9-12) to explore the handiwork of God (Ecclesiastes 1:13) and seek the meaning of life (Ecclesiastes 12:13), so should believers seek “the wisdom that comes from heaven” (James 3:17). We must study the Scriptures which are “able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:15).   May our prayer be “I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes” (Psalm 119:125).

A Plot to Kill Paul 12When it was day,the Jews made a plot andbound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.13There were more than forty who made this conspiracy.14They went to the chief priests and elders and said, We have strictly bound ourselves by an oath to taste no food till we have killed Paul.15Now therefore you, along with the council, give notice to the tribune to bring him down to you, as though you were going to determine his case more exactly. And we are ready to kill him before he comes near. 16Now the son of Paul's sister heard of their ambush, so he went and enteredthe barracks and told Paul.17Paul called one of the centurions and said, Take this young man to the tribune, for he has something to tell him.18So he took him and brought him to the tribune and said, Paulthe prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, as he has something to say to you.19The tribune took him by the hand, and going aside asked him privately, What is it that you have to tell me?20And he said,The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire somewhat more closely about him.21But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him, whohave bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor drink till they have killed him. And now they are ready, waiting for your consent.22So the tribune dismissed the young man, charging him, Tell no one that you have informed me of these things. Paul Sent to Felix the Governor 23Then he called two of the centurions and said, Get ready two hundred soldiers, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.[a]24Also provide mounts for Paul to ride and bring him safely toFelixthe governor.25And he wrote a letter to this effect: 26Claudius Lysias, tohis Excellency the governor Felix,greetings.27This man was seized by the Jews andwas about to be killed by themwhen I came upon them with the soldiers and rescued him,having learned that he was a Roman citizen.28Anddesiring to know the charge for which they were accusing him, I brought him down to their council.29I found that he was being accusedabout questions of their law, butcharged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.30And when it was disclosed to methat there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once,ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him. 31So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.32And on the next day they returned tothe barracks, letting the horsemen go on with him.33When they had come to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him.34On reading the letter, he asked whatprovince he was from. And when he learnedthat he was from Cilicia,35he said, I will give you a hearingwhen your accusers arrive. And he commanded him to be guarded in Herod'spraetorium. Paul Before Felix at Caesarea 24Andafter five days the high priestAnanias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid beforethe governor their case against Paul.2And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying: Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight,most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation,3in every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude.4But, to detain[b]you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly.5For we have found this man a plague,one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader ofthe sect of the Nazarenes.6He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him.[c]8By examining him yourself you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him. 9The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so. 10And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied: Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense.11You can verify thatit is not more than twelve days since Iwent upto worship in Jerusalem,12andthey did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city.13Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me.14But this I confess to you, that according tothe Way, which they calla sect,I worshipthe God of our fathers, believing everythinglaid down by the Law and written in the Prophets,15havinga hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will bea resurrectionof both the just and the unjust.16So I alwaystake pains to have aclear conscience toward both God and man.17Nowafter several yearsI came to bring alms tomy nation and to presentofferings.18While I was doing this, they found mepurified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult. Butsome Jews from Asia19they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation, should they have anything against me.20Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council,21other than this one thingthat I cried out while standing among them: It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day. Paul Kept in Custody 22But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge ofthe Way, put them off, saying, When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.23Then he gave orders to the centurion that heshould be kept in custody but have some liberty, and thatnone of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs. 24After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak aboutfaithin Christ Jesus.25And as he reasonedabout righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, Go away for the present.When I get an opportunity I will summon you.26At the same time he hopedthat money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him.27When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by PorciusFestus. Anddesiring to do the Jews a favor,Felix left Paul in prison.

Acts 18:123 (ESV) Paul in Corinth 18After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. 6And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles. 7And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9And the Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are my people.11And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. 12But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal, 13saying, This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to the law. 14But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15But since it is a matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things. 16And he drove them from the tribunal. 17And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this. Paul Returns to Antioch 18After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21But on taking leave of them he said, I will return to you if God wills, and he set sail from Ephesus. 22When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 23After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

I absolutely love the picture that Acts 10:38 NLT gives us of Jesus. “And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”   Does that verse excite you?  Does it inspire you…does it make you want to see the sick healed? Does it make you hungry for miracles? How it affects you will depend on how you read it.   In preparation to talk to you about Pentecost I looked at Robert P. Menzies’ book Pentecost This Story is Our Story. At the very get go a quote absolutely seized my heart “The hermeneutic of the typical Pentecostal believer is straight-forward and simple: the stories in Acts are my stories—stories that were written to serve as models for shaping my life and experience.” Did you see that? “stories that were written to serve as models for shaping my life and experience.” How do I read the gospels and Acts? Do I believe His story should be my story? Of course, I do. I should love people, do good things, but do I limit that to only the ones that I can do in my strength and ability? Am I content to leave His miracles locked inside the pages of a book on my shelf?   I want to ask you the same question, how do YOU read the Gospels and Acts? More specifically how do you read Acts 10:38? “And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”   Do you read it only as an accurate recording of a historical event?   If you do then you walk away informed, but powerless.   My granddaughter Ashlyn and I decided to take a walk. She encouraged me to take my camera. I explained that we were going to stay in the neighborhood and there was nothing to take a picture of in the neighborhood. When she insisted I agreed, but only if she agreed to show me what was beautiful enough to capture as a picture.    I was amazed by what I saw. How had I missed the beauty? A mailbox with ornate iron work. The fountain in the pond at the entrance of the subdivision. The stately oaks adorned with moss. The radiant red roses. I saw things in my neighborhood that I had stopped seeing years ago. Some of the things she showed me I had NEVER noticed.     Sometimes we read Scripture the same way I rode through my neighborhood. When we do that we miss some really important stuff. If we read the gospels only as historical events, then we can miss truths that will build our faith and equip us to do what God has called us to do.   Dear friend, I want to caution you. If you read the gospels and Acts only as historical events it will impress you, but never impregnate you.  It will excite you, but it has no strength to empower you.  It can inform you, but it has no compass to steer you. It’s only when you read HIS story as your story, as the model for what God wants every believer to do, does it activate your faith.   Like my friend Cindy. She was on a mission’s trip. The team were going to the city dump, where lots of children lived, to hand out sandwiches. She helped make the sandwiches and even used the ends of the loaf so there would be enough sandwiches for every child. She counted the sandwiches, but more children showed up than they expected. She knew there wasn’t enough sandwiches for everyone. They prayed over the sandwiches and when they passed them out, every child got a sandwich. No one will ever convince Cindy that God didn’t multiply those sandwiches. Cindy and that team understood the reality of partnering with Jesus to do beyond what they could do. Without fanfare they simply saw the story of Jesus with a few fish and bread as their story. I believe my friend Cindy was doing Acts 10:38   When we believe His story is our story, we will do the works of Jesus.   Do His stories serve as models for shaping your life and experience?   I think they should for many reasons, John 14:12 is one of those reasons. John 14:12 NLT “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father. 13You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. 14Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!     But Jesus didn’t stop there, He continued the conversation by reminding them that He was going to send Precious Holy Spirit.   John 14:15 NLT“If you love me, obey commandments. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you.   And He came. Just like Jesus promised. All the excitement caused quite an uproar! A crowd gathered and just like some people today, there were people there that tried to explain it away. Acts 2:14 says 14Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, fellow Jews and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this. 15These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel: 17‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams. 18In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike— and they will prophesy.   21But everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved.’ 22“People of Israel, listen! God publicly endorsed Jesus the Nazarene by doing powerful miracles, wonders, and signs through him, as you well know. 23But  God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. 24But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip    33Now he is exalted to the place of highest honor in heaven, at God’s right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today 36“So let everyone in Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, to be both Lord and Messiah!”37Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”38Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39This promise is to you, to your children, and to those far away—all who have been called by the Lord our God” 41Those who believed what Peter said were baptized and added to the church that day—about 3,000 in all. St. Augustine explains this event: “He was now to come no longer as a transient Visitor, but as an eternal inhabitant.” Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke “the gifts of the Spirit are not badges of honor; they are tools for the job.” What job? To do what Jesus did… Matthew 28:19,20 explains that job is for us to “make disciples”   Acts 10:38 “And you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”                    Jack Hayford Jesus is the prototype of the Spirit-filled, Spirit-empowered life. The Book of Acts is the story of the disciples receiving what Jesus received in order to do what Jesus did.   We simply need what Jesus had to do what Jesus did and that my dear friend was and is Precious Holy Spirit. Jesus came to redeem us from our sins. Precious Holy Spirit came to empower us to make disciples. Like he did a dear African American sister that I watched in the mall. An elderly woman had passed out and slumped from her daughter’s arm and onto the floor. This stranger, I call her my sister because I saw Jesus in her actions, that means we are sisters. (We are all made in God's image, but we must be born into His family.)This lady knelt beside the two women and  gently and graciously  soothed the daughter then began to pray for the mother. I don’t know this sister, but I could tell by her actions that she believed His story was her story. That’s just what we do when His story is our story. We care for people. We pray for the sick. We expect signs and wonders. We expect God to answer prayers. We believe for miracles! My dear sister was walking out Acts 10:38.  Is His story your story?  It can be…receive Precious Holy Spirit…His power and release it through acts of obedience.

Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20Surely my soul remembers and is humbled within me. 21But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed; His compassions do not fail. 23They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in Him.” 25The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. 26 It is good that a man should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. 27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. 28Let him sit alone in silence when it is laid on him; 29 let him put his mouth in the dust— there may yet be hope. Lamentations 3