Podcasts about 21jesus

Jesus tells us how to be perfect = aka how to obtain eternal life: Five (5) powerful action words (verbs): go, sell, give, come and follow! Luke 18 a. Repentance/Godly sorrow for our sins Human sorrow Matt. 19:21a; 22 21Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and […]

October 29, 2024Homily: Your Father and IFr. BennyGospelLK 13:18-21Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?To what can I compare it?It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.When it was fully grown, it became a large bushand the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?It is like yeast that a woman tookand mixed in with three measures of wheat flouruntil the whole batch of dough was leavened.”ST JOSEPH'S ONLINE:Web: https://www.stjmod.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stjmod/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stjmod/Giving: https://ppay.co/yohL5SoVCT8

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary TimeLk 13:18-21Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?To what can I compare it?It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.When it was fully grown, it became a large bushand the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”

Matt. 14:13-21Jesus feeds the masses.

The Apostle Peter wrote the letter we call 1 Peter while persecution against Christians was simmering in and around ancient Rome. He wanted his readers to be prepared for hard things to come, and he sought to prepare them by reminding them of their identity as the chosen people of God, living as exiles in a world of suffering.We continue our series in 1 Peter looking at 1 Peter 2:4-8.Jesus is a living stone.Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation…” Isaiah 28:16Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”...He was speaking about the temple of his body. John 2:19, 21Jesus is the cornerstone.Three Exhortations:May Jesus Christ be precious to us, just as he is precious to God.May we grow together into the holy temple Christ has made us to be.May we be faithful knowing that nothing can thwart God's plan."We all serve God inevitably, but it makes a great difference whether you serve like Judas or serve like John.” - C.S. LewisLife Church exists to glorify God by making disciples who treasure Christ, grow together, and live on mission. Salisbury, NCFollow us online:lifechurchnc.comFacebookInstagramYouTubeTwitter

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/ultraviolet-light-reveals-scientists-hidden-bible-passage-1500-years-later (for Luke) Unique passages: https://www.julianspriggs.co.uk/pages/UniquePassages  Bibleref.com commentary on Mark 6:5: https://www.bibleref.com/Mark/6/Mark-6-5.html  Thanks Biblehub.com's parallel chapters tool.   Words of Jesus ("All the Red Letter Scriptures") https://www.jesusbelieverjd.com/all-the-red-letter-scriptures-of-jesus-in-the-bible-kjv/    Parallel Passages in the Gospels https://www.bible-researcher.com/parallels.html#sect1     The Eye of the Needle (crossword/sudoku feedback): https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-25583,00.html#:~:text=The%20%22Eye%20of%20the%20Needle,in%20order%20to%20enter%20heaven   Camel needle w/Aquinas citation (of Anselm of Canterbury)-- Anselm of Canterbury as cited in Catena Aurea, Thomas Aquinas, CCEL Edition. https://classictheology.org/2021/10/12/through-the-eye-of-an-actual-needle-the-fake-gate-theory/    The Widow's Mite: https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/the-poor-widows-mite/    Miracles of Jesus reference list: https://sunnyhillschurch.com/3301/the-37-miracles-of-jesus-in-chronological-order/ LINK BIBLEREF.COM MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 8 SECTION (“Can't” do miracles in hometown- keyword absolute for lookup)   Welcome to the Popeular History Podcast: History through Pope Colored Glasses. My name is Gregg and this is episode 0.21f: Sayings of the Savior Part VI: Messages from Mark.   All of these aught episodes are made to let us build our Pope-colored glasses so we can use the same lenses when we look at history together. If you're lost, start at the beginning!   In previous worldbuilding episodes, we looked at quite a few of Jesus' words: the sermon on the mount and the sermon on the plain, plus all the Parables and miracles on our list, and his sayings closely tied to all those.   All that made for a good start, but if we're going to look at the sayings of the Savior, we should be comprehensive to avoid cherry-picking. So we spent the last of these worldbuilding episodes going chapter by chapter through the first gospel in order of appearance, the Gospel of Matthew, up until things caught up with where our rosary themed tour of the New Testament will carry on when we get to the next mystery. I am aware that what was once upon a time supposed to be a couple quick background episodes introducing my listeners to, well, all of Catholicism has ballooned wildly into wheels within wheels, but hey, I wouldn't have it any other way.   Anyways, next up in the traditional ordering is the Gospel of Mark, so that's our mission today. We'll go chapter by chapter, glossing over what we've already discussed and focusing on the Sayings of the Savior, since, you know, that's the deal here.   MARK 1 opens with a description of Jesus' cousin John the Baptist, and you'll never guess what John does to Jesus when He shows up. Actually you probably will because I was trying to set you up with a fake out where John refuses to baptize Jesus but it turns out that initial refusal is in Matthew but is absent from Mark's generally sparse account. Anyways, we get Jesus' first words in Mark only after he's baptized and had an express version of the temptation in the desert. Sometime after John was arrested, we're told Jesus preached a message that sounded a lot like what John had been saying,   MARK 1:15 “The time has come,” … “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”   GREGG Of course we just got a bit meta, since “Good news” is where the word Gospel comes from. A very “Begun, the Clone Wars have” moment. This urgent call to repentance has been a consistent refrain throughout Christian history, with the good news bring that repentance really can lead to reconciliation with God. Shoutout 0.1 if you need a refresher on why such a reconciliation is needed in the Catholic perspective.   Having begun to declare the Good News, Jesus the Christ soon picks out folks to help him, starting, like all good missions, with a pun. Talking to two fishermen, the brothers Simon and Andrew, Jesus says   MARK 1:   Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men   GREGG When I covered this section in Matthew- we're deep in parallels here- I stuck with my usual NIV translation. Not because I'm an NIV snob, but because the New International Version is the one that shows up first on biblegateway.com and it's good enough, especially when I'm doing a LOT of scripture quoting like I have been with this series.   But because the NIV went for inclusivity, they translated the line as “make you fish for people”, which simply isn't as smooth a pun. I did check with my toddler-level skills and it looks to me like the pun is present in the Greek, so it's worth calling out. Jesus' humor is often downplayed, which is a shame.   If you're wondering why I'm going on about this, well, honestly, Mark is short and we've already covered most of what's there in Matthew. So we might as well take our time. There's plenty there, to be clear, I don't want angry letters from scholars whose primary focus is Mark saying I'm dismissing it offhand.   Alright, enough dilly dallying, what's next? Jesus calls more fishermen–the sons of Zebedee, James and John–but His actual words and possible new pun are not recorded. The next time he speaks he's talking to a demon in one of the healing miracles we discussed in 0.20, followed by another miracle–the healing of Simon's mother in law–later in the same chapter. Then, after assorted other miracles, Jesus goes out to pray by Himself in what's described as a quote unquote “desolate place”. When His disciples track Him down and tell Him everyone is looking for Him, He says   MARK 1:38 Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.   GREGG Though Jesus' disciples did in fact say no to Him on a downright alarming number of occasions, they went along with His plan this time, and another montage of undescribed healings and exorcisms finishes off with the healing of a grateful leper who ignores Jesus' command to tell no one. Mark 1 concludes with Jesus getting mobbed with requests for miracles as a result.   Chapter 2 opens with the healing of the paralytic who had been let in via the roof–a great bit of drama, but something we already covered under our review of miracles. After that, He called His tax collector disciple, who we got to know as Matthew in the Gospel of, well, Matthew, but who's listed as Levi here and in Luke. Using different names in different contexts was absolutely a thing,  but both Matthew and Levi are Hebrew names so the usual Greek vs Hebrew divide doesn't seem to be the culprit here, and what's more neither Mark nor Luke explicitly identify Levi with the apostle Matthew, though the inference isn't a terrible reach over all.   In the end, our main hook in this particular series is the actual sayings of the Savior, and this calling is carried out with a simple “follow me”, so perhaps we shouldn't dive into it too much.   After taking out a section of parables we covered in 0.21c as part of a SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP, we arrive at Mark 2:23, notably without leaving the SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP room because you can also follow along in Matthew 12 and Luke 6. As a reminder if you're rusty on Jewish customs, the Sabbath rest begins Friday at sundown and continues through the day on Saturday. Picking grain as we're going to see here would be considered working on the day of rest and therefore a violation.   MARK (2:23-2:28, NIV)) 23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.   24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”   25 He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?   26 in the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."   27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.   28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”   GREGG this section is one of the earlier signals of what would become a core piece of Christianity: its distancing from the Law of Moses. There are still aspects of continuity, for example most Christians including Catholics actually do still maintain *a* day of rest, just Sunday rather than Saturday and they'll generally skip the night before business though some of that has carried over in the form of vigil practices, as we'll see when we get there.   Anyways, I've always thought those last couple lines were pretty baller, and it turns out they're one of the few bits unique to Mark, so let's go ahead and hear them again:   QUOTE The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. END QUOTE   This bold claim lies at the heart of what will in time lead to the followers of Christ being seen as a religion separate from Judaism, which is fair enough but also don't sleep on just how much that takes, given there's such a thing as secular Jews and Jewish atheists. There have been other messiah movements in Jewish history; though they fizzled out it's not much of a stretch to imagine a world where Christianity is still seen as part of a wide tent Judaism, indeed there is still a common heritage. But there are absolutely differences as well, principally, of course, centered around Jesus, the Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath.   That other part   “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”   is the context for the start of the next chapter, serving as a good reminder that, while convenient for finding your place, chapter and verse divisions are not part of the original texts of the Bible, so it's important to not treat them as fences where you have to stop. You see, in Mark 3 we have the healing of the man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath:   MARK 3 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone.” 4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.   GREGG I mean, it's a bit of a false dichotomy perhaps, are those really the only two options? But obviously I'm siding with Jesus here, mark me down as pro-healing when one can heal. And yeah, we actually already covered that exchange when we talked about the miracle in our miracles roundup, but the words are important there and Mark is short so forgive me for fitting it in here too.   Mark 3 continues with Jesus dealing with crowds now that word is getting around due to His miracles, and simultaneously He's ordering demons not to share the apparent secret that He is quote “the holy one of God”. We don't have his exact words in commanding the demons here so there's more room for interpretation than usual but the general take on these sort of passages is that it's tied to His time not having yet come to be revealed as the Messiah. Of course, unless I missed something, the specific instances where Jesus talks about His time having not yet come are in the Gospel of John, so reading that into Mark is something most modern scholars wouldn't go for- especially since the general consensus is Mark came first by a fair stretch- but that sort of quibble wasn't much of a barrier for most of the history of Christians reflecting on Scripture, so the traditional interpretation is what it is and I don't think it's too much of a reach.   After telling assorted demons to hush up, Jesus appoints the Twelve Apostles starting in verse 13, no direct quotes there so no need to tarry though interested folks are always welcome to check out the naming differences between the Gospels.   Starting in verse 20 we have the house divided parable, covered in our parables series a few episodes back, then in verse 28 we hit “the unpardonable sin” section, and believe it or not it's not being a weeb, it turns out it's, well, let's let Jesus explain:   MARK 3 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin."   GREGG When we covered the parallel text of this in Matthew 12–seriously, over 90% of Mark is parallelled in Matthew–I focused on the idea of the sin against the Spirit as being despair. But Mark's telling has a bit of context that has lead to another popular interpretation, especially among–Catholics cover your ears– *whispers* Protestants.   MARK 3 30He said this because they were saying, "He has an impure spirit.”   GREGG Using that verse, which at a glance is simply explaining why Jesus said what He said, the passage is taken to mean that rejecting Jesus as the Son of God slash Savior slash Messiah is the sin against the Spirit being referred to here. And though I called out Protestants specifically a minute ago, it's not like that interpretation is unheard of within Catholicism, typically it's a both/and sort of thing, accepting the despair angle and the “ya'll need Jesus” angle. Nor are the two interpretations unrelated, as someone wholly given to despair will have a hard time accepting Jesus' offer of salvation.   Of course, when I speak of accepting Jesus' offer of salvation, now I really AM getting into the fundamental faith vs works discussion. That's faith and works in the context of salvation from sin. We'll be getting into it in more detail in future episodes, but as an overview all major forms of Christianity agree that faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ is fundamentally necessary for salvation. The disagreement comes in whether anything else plays any role- “anything else” being summed up under the umbrella term of “works”, or it might help to rephrase the question as whether our actions have any meaning when it comes to our salvation.   For Catholics, the answer is yes, while for most Protestants, the answer is no. Generally speaking when there are fights about it, Protestants will take the position that your works having meaning, as Catholics argue is the case, means that you can save yourself through your works. Some people do think that, of course, but not Catholics, at least not Catholics who know their onions, as the Catholic Church condemned that position as a heresy over thousand years before Protestantism became a thing. However, the Church is far from perfect, and in the time of Martin Luther, whose teachings are typically seen as the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation, it's clear that some within the Church were comfortable blurring the lines for financial gain.   I've got more on faith vs works and Catholicism vs Protestantism planned for future episodes, and I don't want to bury that conversation where no one will look for it, so let's leave that there for now and get back to Mark, with chapter 3 verse 31 to 35   MARK   31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”   GREGG Thanks to the Marian doctrine of Our Lady's perpetual virginity we discussed back in episode 0.14, the surprising fact that Jesus doesn't immediately attend to his family members isn't the most discussed aspect of this passage when it comes to Catholicism. No, that would be the fact that Jesus' brothers, the Greek term is Adelphoi, show up. Generally these are understood as Jesus' half brothers, via his earthly father Saint Joseph from a previous marriage.   As for the question of whether Jesus just kind of blew off his family here, half brothers or cousins or full brothers or whoever was there with Mary, while I can see how you might get that impression, it's not like His every action is recorded. It's entirely possible that He checked in with them after making a quick positive observation- one that I don't want to lose in the rest of this analysis so I'll repeat it:   MARK 3 “35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”   GREGG   Anyways, as is the custom with Mark, we're on to the next scene in a hurry, launching into Mark 4 with the next verse as a classic transition:   MARK 4 1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.   GREGG I'm not going to go into detail about what He taught by the lake here, because Chapter 4 is made up entirely of miracles and parables we've already covered in 0.20 and earlier in 0.21, respectively. We've got the Parable of the Sower, then the Lamp on a Stand, then the Growing Seed and the Mustard Seed, capped off by Mark's account of Jesus calming the storm at sea.   Similarly, Mark 5 is a string of by-now familiar miracles- and if any don't seem familiar you know by now Miracles are in one of the 0.20 episodes, right? The Gerasene Demoniac, the Bleeding Woman, Jairus' Daughter, they're all there, and in Mark 5 too.   Mark 6 give us a bit more food for thought on Jesus' local life and family dynamic. A sign of how things hit differently at home, it's worth a long quote:   MARK 6:1-6 6 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.   “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.   4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.   GREGG Many of Jesus' sayings have become proverbial, and while it's not in the level of turning the other cheek, “a prophet is not without honor except in his own town” has some popularity. It does seem to speak to a common truth of celebrities.   I do like the touch that He was unable to do any miracles there except for the miracles which He did do, which evidently still failed to impress. Of course, the idea of Jesus being *unable* to do miracles is theologically interesting, since He's, you know, God. Of course, God does seem to have had some trouble dealing with iron chariots back in Judges 1:19, so maybe there is some precedent.   But we've got our Pope-colored glasses on, so not only is Jesus God but God is omnipotent, so it's fair to ask: what gives? It could be that old favorite, the translation issue, but I admit my personal Greek skills are basically at the naming barnyard animals level, so I decided to bring in an expert to verify. An expert by the name of bibleref.com, linked in the show notes. Their commentary on the passage notes that in the parallel passage in Matthew, it simply says Jesus “did not” perform many miracles in his hometown, which isn't as controversial though of course it's always fair to ask why God doesn't just fix everything for everyone since he's all good and all knowing and all powerful. But that popular question isn't where we're at today because apparently it's not a translation issue, Mark 6:5 does specifically say Jesus *could not* perform the miracles in the Greek according to the commentary. But it goes on to note that there can be multiple senses of inability, like how you can't touch the ball when playing soccer, or football for my non-US listeners, and yeah, I'm not counting goalies. Anyways, obviously you can physically touch the ball, but you cannot in the sense that it's against the established rules of the game. If that's the sense, it makes some sense that Jesus quote unquote “can't” perform miracles in His hometown because His miracles are supposed to draw people to Him and they aren't having that effect at home. At least not much, keep in mind he did do some miracles there according to Mark, so in any event the whole “can't” thing definitely isn't absolute.   Of course, I personally find it awful to think that God would play games with our salvation- hence my quasi-universalism. I get respecting our free will, but I also know He's omnipotent and isn't going to give up on us, no matter how much we try to give up on ourselves if there's another chance we can get He's going to give that to us. But we have to accept at some point, so don't think I'm downplaying the urgency there.   Anyways, let's get back to Mark 6, now in Verse 8 where He's sending the disciples out in pairs with the following instructions:   MARK 6:8-11   8 Take nothing for the journey except a staff--no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.   9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.   10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.   11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”   GREGG As you should by now have come to expect, these instructions do have a parallel in Matthew that we covered in the last worldbuilding episode. But it's not as close a parallel as you might think. Often, as we've talked about before, parallels in the synoptic gospels are so close that you'd get dinged for plagiarism, with maybe a word being changed here or there. But here, it basically reads like two different people were told to write down a speech shortly after they finished hearing it. Which, I mean, matches tradition, for what it's worth. The most obvious difference is that Mark's telling skips Matthew's bit about only going to Jewish households, forbidding visits to Gentiles or Samaritans. Though as we've seen Mark's Jesus was already laying the groundwork for some serious reframing of Mosaic Law by taking on the title of Lord of the Sabbath, I think on the whole it's more likely that in Mark's account that's simply taken as a given and perhaps left off for brevity rather than this being a separate incident or its absence being a sign that the disciples were to ignore those cultural barriers at this stage.   The rest of Mark 6 is taken up by his narrative of the death of John the Baptist, where, unusually for the Gospels, Jesus is offstage, and then there's two banner miracles, the Feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water.   Which brings us to Mark 7, which has Jesus… let's see… excoriating the Jewish authorities… then calling a woman a dog… and let's not forget giving someone a wet willy.   Don't believe me? Let's go.   MARK 7   1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9And he continued, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' 11But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)-- 12then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”   GREGG Note that while there's a close parallel between these passages and Matthew 15, Mark is apparently much more concerned with explaining Jewish custom to his audience, suggesting the intended audience is not Jews themselves.   The rest of the chapter we've covered before, from the Parable of the Heart of Man to the two miracles that give the tibits I teased earlier. Jesus calls the syrophoenician woman a dog in the runup to healing her servant, and he totally heals a deaf guy via wet willy at the end of the chapter. But I already covered both of those in 0.20c, so check them out there for more.   So that means we're on to Chapter 8, which opens with… another miracle! Turns out Jesus did a lot of those! Who knew?   That's the feeding of the four thousand, but you know the drill, we're skipping that and on ahead to verse 12, where Jesus is responding to a group of Pharisees asking for a sign.   MARK 8:12 He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it."   GREGG Ok. Remembering that by a sign here they mean a miracle, we've got the guy known for working miracles getting annoyed at requests for miracles. Why? You'd think He'd be all about that. Is it another sort of hometown situation, where folk's lack of faith is an impediment?   Well, kind of sort of. But not quite.   In the parallel passage from Matthew 16, which I admit I kind of glossed over last time because I was excited to get to the Papally significant Matthew 16:18, Jesus calls those asking for a sign “a wicked and adulterous generation”, which can help explain why Jesus is refusing the request–after all even in Mark's shorter version their motives are implicitly questioned, with Jesus asking why they're asking for a sign.   The typical interpretation goes that Jesus is refusing the request for a sign because the Pharisees have the wrong *motives* in asking. Unlike those in His hometown, they seem to believe Jesus can work miracles, but they just want to see a show, they aren't interested in Jesus' message beyond that. And Jesus for His part, is interested in signs *for the sake of* His message, He isn't there to entertain.   These various passages that show Jesus specifically not working miracles could be taken to suggest some embarrassment by the authors about Jesus' miracles not being as renowned as they would like, forcing them to give explanations for why that's the case. I can definitely picture some neckbeard arguing if God wanted to make everyone believe he'd make miracles known to all and be undeniable. Which is a reasonable enough thought except unless God removes free will, there's never going to be such a thing as undeniable anyways.   In the next few verses, Jesus warns against the teachings of the Pharisees and Herod. Though technically the “teachings” part isn't spelled out in Mark, so it could be He's actually meaning to go in another direction with things than He does in Matthew's version, though I think their teaching or at least their general influence is His most likely target. Let's hear it and regroup after.   MARK 8 14-15 14The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.   15"Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”   GREGG Certainly He isn't talking about literal bread, as is evidenced from His reaction. Also, it's interesting that Mark warns against Herod's yeast specifically, while Matthew leaves Herod off in favor of tossing in the Sadducees to accompany the Pharisees. If Mark is the rougher, earlier version as most scholars currently argue–and as I'm inclined to believe looking at the two side by side these last few months–then it seems like one can argue Matthew's account has been modified to perhaps be a little more authority-friendly in this case, keeping in mind the Herodians were the client-kings in charge of the area in Jesus' day. Check out 0.13 on the Hasmoneans for more on that.   After a miracle interlude–healing the blind man in a two-step process where the miracle is evidently incomplete at first–a fairly intriguing Mark-only one that is arguably sanitized out of other accounts, but one we already covered so I'm not getting back into it today– anyways after that we hit Mark's account of Peter's testament, you know, with the binding and loosing and the keys and all that. Except actually *without* all that in Mark's version.   Here's the whole exchange as Mark tells it:   MARK 8:27-30 27Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?” 28They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah.” 30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.   GREGG Like I said, not a key in sight. Peter does give the critical answer, but none of what would become the principal text for the Papacy is presented here. And again, if you consider Mark as the older account, as most scholars do, it's fair to raise an eyebrow at that. Yet in the end, one way or another, we have a Pope, and I do think there's something to be said for the unifying force of the role. After all, if no one is Pope, then everyone is Pope. But I digress.   Of course, poor Peter can only wish he were simply downplayed in Mark 8. The reality is he does pop up again later in the chapter, in a familiar but unflattering way:   MARK 8:31- 31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”   GREGG So there you go. If you want to make a case for the Pope not always being right, there's an easy one. Not everyone gets called Satan by, well, God. Of course, there's a surprising amount of room where you can accept Papal Infallibility *and* the idea that the Pope isn't always right, but we'll get to that in time.   The chapter finishes with Jesus reflecting on what his stated fate means for his followers, and it's, uh, not the cheeriest image. It bleeds into chapter 9 so don't put your Bible down too quickly If you're following along.   MARK 8:34-9:1   34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. CHAPTER 9 1And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.   GREGG Goodness, Jesus, it's hard for me to keep my running joke of treating the Crucifixion as a spoiler when you're literally telling your disciples to take up their crosses before it actually happens. Oh well.   Mark 9 continues with The Transfiguration, but like I mentioned in our Matthew discussion, that's it's own mystery of the rosary that we haven't gotten to yet, so pardon me and I'll skip that here too.   After that, we have a miracle- the boy with an unclean spirit that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. So on to verse 30, where we have more talk of the upcoming Passion:   MARK 9:30-32 “30They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.   GREGG Jesus was speaking pretty plainly here, so it's not immediately clear why the disciples didn't understand what Jesus meant, but it's probably related to the way Jesus keeps telling folks either to talk or not to talk about things. There's definitely a focus on pacing the spread of the Good News throughout the Gospels, especially in Mark, and it seems like a supernatural barrier to the Apostles' understanding here would fit in with that.   The fear of asking is more easily explained: if someone you know is really good at making predictions and you're pretty sure they just predicted something awful, you may well be hesitant to confirm that with them.   Being hesitant to talk about stuff with Jesus carries us into the next few verses, where Jesus apparently puts His omniscience to good use in a wonderfully passive-aggressive way:   MARK 9: 33-35 33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”   GREGG The first will be last is one of Jesus' recurring themes, and the whole “I'm-pretty-sure-I-heard-you-but-since-you-won't-confirm-I'm-just-going-to-respond-indirectly approach reminds me of dealing with the drama of children, though I suppose a lot of things remind me of interacting with children these days given my current life situation, and that approach is not necessarily one that exclusively applies to children. Either way, Jesus does bring children into the conversation as His next move.   MARK 9:36-37 36He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”   GREGG That passage is one of the more often-remembered portions of the Gospels, in part because it's in all three synoptics [air horn], but also in part because it's a handy pastoral lesson to push back on folks who might complain about the presence of children in worship services. As they say, if no one in your church is cryin', it's dyin'.   Next up we have some verses you might wish had been left off if you've ever gotten tired of hearing “in Jesus' name” a lot:   MARK 9:38-41 38"Teacher," said John, "we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” 39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.   GREGG Personally I'm thankful for that passage, because I'm a big supporter of ecumenism and cooperation, and “whoever is not against us is for us” is an immensely helpful sentiment in that context.   For the next section, where Jesus gets pretty intense, there are several verses that simply aren't present in my go-to NIV version, presumably for bible nerd manuscript reasons. Now, the point of the Sayings of the Savior series is to make sure we cover *everything* Jesus said in the canonical scriptures, and those verses are speaking lines for Jesus, so that won't do. Thankfully the King James version has us covered, so I'm going to switch to that for those verses.   So you can tell the difference easily, I'll be switching to a guest narrator as well. Lebron James hasn't responded to my calls, so the King James Version of the King James Version will have to wait, but my brother has come in clutch for podcast purposes. PJHERE MARK 9:42-48 42"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. [NIV leaves off verse 44 “44Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV] 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [NIV leaves off verse 46 “46Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV] 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, NIV leaves off verse 48 “48Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV]   GREGG So yeah, by “verses” I kind of meant “one verse used as a refrain”, but it's officially verses 44, 46, and 48, so I am technically correct, which I'm told is the best kind of correct.   Thanks to the reference to “leading little ones astray”, the great millstone imagery has had some use in response to the sexual abuse crisis, though the most commonly cited of these evocative instructions is plucking out the eye, thanks in no small part to the frequency of admonitions against pornography in the online era. Cutting off the hand is also referenced, while I think most folks if they're being honest won't even necessarily recall cutting off the foot is among the scenarios mentioned.   Anyways, Jesus finishes this section with a few salty verses that initially bear a strong resemblance to Matthew 5:13- the salt of the earth bit from the Sermon on the Mount. I'm thinking I might have actually pointed these verses out when I was going over that due to the similarity, but just in case, here they are:   MARK 9:49-50 49Everyone will be salted with fire 50"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”   GREGG “Have salt among yourselves” is an unusual turn of phrase, the typical interpretation of this Mark-only phrase is that Christians are supposed to bring out the best in one another, the way salt brings out the best in food.   We're now entering Mark 10, which- surprise surprise, has close parallels to Matthew 19 and 20. I'm not going to give the Matthew sections as a side by side, partly because we've already covered them independently, partly because this episode is already going to be one of my longest despite Mark being the shortest Gospel. But it's worth giving it a thorough treatment since scholars tend to think it's the oldest and also because if I'm going to go all-out it might as well be with the shortest of the bunch. You know, for efficiency.   Anyways…   MARK 10:1-12 1Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3"What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” 5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”   GREGG This version of Jesus' teaching on marriage and divorce notably does not include the exception for adultery we saw in Matthew's account. Additionally where Matthew focused on Eunuchs for the kingdom–and other kinds of Eunuchs–Mark concluded with that extra condemnation of divorce, with remarriage as adultery.   In the next passage, the conversation changes direction:   MARK 10:13-16 13People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.   GREGG We'll meet the Church Father who was allegedly one of the children in this scene as we go about our big timeline, once we get through this worldbuilding and go into that. But for now, it's time for one of the most inconvenient passages in the Gospels, at least if you're rich.    MARK 10:17-31 17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.'” 20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” 24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” 28Then Peter spoke up, "We have left everything to follow you!” 29"Truly I tell you," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--along with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”   GREGG There is a surprisingly thorough and ranging discussion of the whole “eye of the needle” bit in the digital edition of the British newspaper The Guardian, in the Nooks and Crannies section of their Notes and Queries page. Which I think makes it the most random thing I've cited here, but hey, it's got it all so let's get a sampling going:   First, the original query: The Guardian.com “I recently read that one of the gates into Jerusalem was named "The Eye of the Needle," and was quite tricky to negotiate, since it was quite small. Does this mean that when Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven," He meant that, far from being impossible, it was merely tricky?” Dara O'Reilly, London, UK   GREGG The first reply is a fairly representative take on the gate theory:   GUARDIAN The interpretation that seems to make sense is this. The "Eye of the Needle" was indeed a narrow gateway into Jerusalem. Since camels were heavily loaded with goods and riders, they would need to be un-loaded in order to pass through. Therefore, the analogy is that a rich man would have to similarly unload his material possessions in order to enter heaven. Rick, Brighton Uk   GREGG But then the plot thickens, as William Elsom of the UK is having none of it:   GUARDIAN No. The failure is in the translation. The original word that should have been translated was "camella" which means rope. (presumably Greek, but I am open to this being corrected.) "It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" makes more sense as a comparison. William Elsom, UK   GREGG There's something of a scholarly telephone game going on in the background, as basically every “mistranslation” take offers a variation on the root word and apparent correct meaning. Which is fairly normal for translations especially when there are different alphabets involved, but still, I chuckled.   GUARDIAN I am currently studying the Aramaic language and indeed the word "gamla" (transliterated) does mean both "camel" and "thick rope." Assuming the original manuscript with that teaching of Jesus was recorded in Aramaic and later translated to Greek, the translator may have been familiar with only the "camel" definition of the word. I have not been able to find any reliable information on a city gate called "The Eye of the Needle." -Xakk, FL USA   GREGG As much as I hate agreeing with someone who spells Zach Xakk–though presumably that's a choice his parents made– anyways as much as I hate to admit it, this overall take seems the most likely to this non-Aramaic specialist. The general meaning is still the same, it's not something you're going to get done.   It's also worth noting that at least as of the return from the Exile, if the Book of Nehemiah is to be believed, there was no “Eye of the Needle” gate in Jerusalem. And I can state that with confidence because as longtime listeners will recall, I had a whole special episode devoted to the topic from July 2020 entitled “Literally A Detailed Description of the Gates of Jerusalem and Who Fixed Them in the Time of Nehemiah”, which, despite being exactly what it says it is, has been a pretty popular episode. In any event, it *could* be that an Eye of the Needle gate was established at a later point, though really the whole gate thing feels like wishful thinking on the part of the rich or the would-be rich to me.   Of course, as you might expect, there are also literalists who agree it's wishful thinking and would rather cut to the chase. Plus people like my man David:   GUARDIAN The translation is irrelevant. We all know in our hearts we cannot love money above God.   David Porter, Orangevale, US   GREGG Let's conclude with my favorite take:   GUARDIAN “Blessed are the cheesemakers?” Mike Conn, San Francisco,    GREGG After the second Gate-Gate scandal we've come across in this show (shoutout Samson if you've forgotten), we arrive at Jesus' third prediction of His own death in Mark   MARK 10:32-34 32They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33"We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”   GREGG Mark gives no record of the Apostles' reaction to this third prediction, unless the next verse is the actual reaction, which is a hilarious thought because it would be shockingly tone deaf. But yeah, it's the very next verse without any transition except the word “then”, so you can certainly read it that way:   MARK 10:35-45 35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.   GREGG It turns out James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, have massive… cojones. But in the end their reward is understood to be martyrdom–perhaps not what they had in mind, they certainly seem to have had more of an earthly kingdom in mind.   In any event, here we have more of the “first will be last” motif popping up, and Scriptural background for why the Pope is considered, at least in theory, the “Servant of the Servants of God”.   Mark 10 finishes up with the healing of the blind Bartimaeus, so it's on to Mark 11, with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem:   MARK 11:1-11 1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'” 4They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 11Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.   GREGG We'll talk more about Palm Sunday in the future, for now just know that this scene is the basis for that. It's also a sign that Jesus is approaching the end of His earthly ministry, though we've still got another couple chapters for today after we finish this one.   We'll skip verses 12-14 as that's the cursing of the fig tree we covered under miracles--and that's right, it's a non-healing miracle. At least His target is a tree and not a human as happens in some of the apocrypha.   Which brings us to Mark's version of the scene with the moneychangers in the Temple:   MARK 11:15-18 15On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'” 18The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.   GREGG Mark's somewhat abbreviated account leaves off Him making a whip, which is a loss, but hey, the core is there. As a reminder, and yes, I'll say this every time, just remember when someone asks “what would Jesus do” that flipping tables is absolutely a valid option.   Then, we're back to the fig tree, seeing the result of the curse on the way out, and this is extra special because this is actually an extended Mark only reflection. Including another King James specific verse that the NIV leaves off. Let's hear it!   MARK 11:20-26 20In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” 22"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." [NIV omits but KJV has] 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]   GREGG Of course, when I said “Mark exclusive”, that may have been a bit of an oversell, because while the now-proverbial “faith to move mountains” doesn't appear in Matthew's fig tree discourse, it does line up closely to another section, Matthew 17:20, several chapters before Matthew's fig tree. As for the rest, the sentiment is overall familiar, but worth repeating so I'll say it again:   MARK 11:25-26 if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." [NIV omits but KJV has] 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]   GREGG Next up we've got an attempted trap that Jesus turns around, Bugs Bunny style.   MARK 11:27-33 27They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28"By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you authority to do this?” 29Jesus replied, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30John's baptism--was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” 31They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 32But if we say, 'Of human origin' . . . " (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 33So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."   GREGG Mark 12 opens with the Parable of the Tenant Farmers, which I personally prefer to call the Parable of the Bad Tenants since I think just calling them farmers ignores the amount of murdering they do in the parable. But anyways, we're not covering it here, ‘cause parable. So on to Verse 13:   MARK 12:13-17 13Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.   GREGG This tax exchange, which we saw in Matthew and we'll see again in Luke (SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP AIRHORN?) is intended to be a sort of sting operation, with the expected result being Jesus objecting to the tax and therefore being guilty of rebellion against the Roman government. But I don't think Jesus even needed to tap into His omniscience here, they were acting pretty suspicious with the leading flattery and line of questioning. Plus, what does God ultimately need money for?   In the end, of course, everything we have ultimately comes from God, so while I mentioned it with Matthew it's worth mentioning again now- when we give Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's, God gets everything.   Next up we've got Jesus fielding yet another insincere question from religious authorities, this time from the Sadducees:   MARK 12:18-27 18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” 24Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising--have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”   GREGG That last bit– “You are badly mistaken!” is a Marcan flourish that helps emphasize Mark's generally less Pharisee-slash-Sadducee–friendly stance, underlining the intensity of Jesus' disagreement with them.   The next section is the part about The Greatest Commandment which we used to open the Sayings of the Savior, so check out 0.21a for that. Then we have a theological question apparently designed to further undermine the Credibility of the Teachers of the Law. This time around, it's Jesus who picks the fight,   MARK 12:35-40 35While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."' 37David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight. 38As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”   GREGG “The large crowd listened to him with delight”, we're told, as Jesus excoriated the religious establishment of His day. Sounds like a political rally almost. No wonder He was condemned as a revolutionary.   The last scene in Mark 12 is one we haven't seen before- it's one of the few passages in Mark not paralleled in Matthew- and it's one of my favorites:   MARK12:41-44 41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on.”   GREGG This scene is generally called the Widow's Mite, not because “mite” was the term for small copper coins in ancient Judea–though they would retroactively be called mites–and not because the mite was the term for small copper coins in 17th century England where the King James Bible was produced, though they would pick up that name, but rather because the King James translation used a Dutch term for some small denomination coins that had originally been picked up for Biblical use by William Tyndale.   For once, I'll spare you a deeper rabbit hole, and move on from the names of coins to the lesson of the coins.   I mentioned before this passage is one of my favorites. While I appreciate the challenge behind Jesus' admonition to be perfect that we saw in Matthew, here we see that if all you have isn't much, God still sees the effort and meaningful sacrifice. There's something comforting in that for extremely inadequate folks like myself.   On the other hand, there's the lesson that giving out of your abundance may be mathematically and physically helpful but it's not spiritually significant. It's the right thing to do, of course, but an even better thing than giving your excess is to give beyond just your excess.   “But I need the rest”, you might argue. And it's certainly true, you may well have just reasons for keeping some aside. It would be irresponsible of me to sell all my worldly possessions and go live in a cave, as even if my wife signed onto it we've got kids too young to voluntarily renounce the world, it's our responsibility to care for them.   So, where's the line? When do we go from taking care of our responsibilities at home to hoarding?   Well, if you have any money, you should be giving. It doesn't have to be all you have, especially if you've got responsibilities to those in your household, but it should absolutely be more than nothing, and everything is best.   Ultimately Christians are not to see money as theirs to use how they see fit, as something they've earned. That simply isn't a Christian mentality. Money is a means by which you can help others–those you have primary responsibility for first, like your children, and those in need should be prioritized urgently as well. The Church speaks of the “preferential option for the poor”.   I'm not saying you need to become a shell of a human, doing nothing for yourself and allowing your own mental and physical health to collapse- though certainly some saints lives point in that direction. But putting yourself first is something that needs to be balanced against your ability to be a blessing to those around you.   This isn't the last time I'll bring up this sort of thing by any means, and it looks like I avoided one tangent only to go into another, so let's get back to Mark, now in Chapter 13, which opens with a prophesy of the destruction of the Temple, then flows into a description of the End Times– keep in mind from the Christian perspective time has not only a beginning but an end–that parallels Matthew.   It's understandable to want to read this as being written after the actual historical destruction of the Temple in 70AD, but as I argued in my chat with Garry Stevens last June, it's not like it was hard to see such a calamity coming during Jesus' life, Rome was already in control of a rebellious Judea with the Temple as a potential center of nationalist resistance. And that's of course if you discount the possibility of actual prophecy, which, remember, we're making our Pope-colored glasses, so Jesus actually prophesying Is the most straightforward explanation. Either way, a post 70AD dating for Mark is really pushing the outward edge of scholarly dating for the work, keeping in mind scholars tend to argue it's the oldest of the Gospels.   Without further ado, here's a long quote, going from Mark 13:1 to 27.   MARK 13 1As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2"Do you see a

Luke 13:10-21Jesus confronts religious leaders who, at first glance, seem to be ridiculous. But looking a little more closely, what can we learn from their point of view that can challenge and help our relationship with God, today?

Leitura do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo segundo Marcos 10,17-27 Naquele tempo, 17quando Jesus saiu a caminhar, veio alguém correndo, ajoelhou-se diante dele, e perguntou: "Bom Mestre, que devo fazer para ganhar a vida eterna?" 18Jesus disse: "Por que me chamas de bom? Só Deus é bom, e mais ninguém. 19Tu conheces os mandamentos: não matarás; não cometerás adultério; não roubarás; não levantarás falso testemunho; não prejudicarás ninguém; honra teu pai e tua mãe!" 20Ele respondeu: "Mestre, tudo isso tenho observado desde a minha juventude". 21Jesus olhou para ele com amor, e disse: "Só uma coisa te falta: vai, vende tudo o que tens e dá aos pobres, e terás um tesouro no céu. Depois vem e segue-me!" 22Mas quando ele ouviu isso, ficou abatido foi embora cheio de tristeza, porque era muito rico. 23Jesus então olhou ao redor e disse aos discípulos: "Como é difícil para os ricos entrar no Reino de Deus!" 24Os discípulos se admiravam com estas palavras, mas ele disse de novo: "Meus filhos, como é difícil entrar no Reino de Deus! 25É mais fácil um camelo passar pelo buraco de uma agulha do que um rico entrar no Reino de Deus!" 26Eles ficaram muito espantados ao ouvirem isso, e perguntavam uns aos outros: "Então, quem pode ser salvo?" 27Jesus olhou para eles e disse: "Para os homens isso é impossível, mas não para Deus. Para Deus tudo é possível". --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amigocatolico/message

John 14:15-21Jesus said to his disciples:“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”Heart to Heart Catholic Media MinistryInspire Believers. Evangelize Seekers. Foster Disciples.--https://htoh.us/subscribehttps://htoh.us/donate

Leitura do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo segundo João 13,21-33.36-38 Naquele tempo, estando à mesa com seus discípulos, 21Jesus ficou profundamente comovido e testemunhou: “Em verdade, em verdade vos digo, um de vós me entregará”. 22Desconcertados, os discípulos olhavam uns para os outros, pois não sabiam de quem Jesus estava falando. 23Um deles, a quem Jesus amava, estava recostado ao lado de Jesus. 24Simão Pedro fez-lhe um sinal para que ele procurasse saber de quem Jesus estava falando. 25Então, o discípulo, reclinando-se sobre o peito de Jesus, perguntou-lhe: “Senhor, quem é?” 26Jesus respondeu: “É aquele a quem eu der o pedaço de pão passado no molho”. Então Jesus molhou um pedaço de pão e deu-o a Judas, filho de Simão Iscariotes. 27Depois do pedaço de pão, Satanás entrou em Judas. Então Jesus lhe disse: “O que tens a fazer, executa-o depressa”. 28Nenhum dos presentes compreendeu por que Jesus lhe disse isso. 29Como Judas guardava a bolsa, alguns pensavam que Jesus lhe queria dizer: “Compra o que precisamos para a festa”, ou que desse alguma coisa aos pobres. 30Depois de receber o pedaço de pão, Judas saiu imediatamente. Era noite. 31Depois que Judas saiu, disse Jesus: “Agora foi glorificado o Filho do Homem, e Deus foi glorificado nele. 32Se Deus foi glorificado nele, também Deus o glorificará em si mesmo, e o glorificará logo. 33Filhinhos, por pouco tempo estou ainda convosco. Vós me procurareis, e agora vos digo, como eu disse também aos judeus: “Para onde eu vou, vós não podeis ir”. 36Simão Pedro perguntou: “Senhor, para onde vais?” Jesus respondeu-lhe: “Para onde eu vou, tu não me podes seguir agora, mas seguirás mais tarde”. 37Pedro disse: “Senhor, por que não posso seguir-te agora? Eu darei a minha vida por ti!” 38Respondeu Jesus: “Darás a tua vida por mim? Em verdade, em verdade te digo: o galo não cantará antes que me tenhas negado três vezes”. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amigocatolico/message

JOHN 3: 14-21Jesus sees the venom of this world and of our lives, and he takes it upon himself to rescue us.

Numbers 21:4-9Ephesians 2:1-10John 3:14-21Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22The CollectGracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.Old TestamentNumbers 21:4-9From Mount Hor the Israelites set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.” So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.The PsalmPsalm 107:1-3, 17-22Confitemini Domino1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, *and his mercy endures for ever.2 Let all those whom the Lord has redeemed proclaim *that he redeemed them from the hand of the foe.3 He gathered them out of the lands; *from the east and from the west,from the north and from the south.17 Some were fools and took to rebellious ways; *they were afflicted because of their sins.18 They abhorred all manner of food *and drew near to death's door.19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, *and he delivered them from their distress.20 He sent forth his word and healed them *and saved them from the grave.21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his mercy *and the wonders he does for his children.22 Let them offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving *and tell of his acts with shouts of joy.The EpistleEphesians 2:1-10You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ-- by grace you have been saved-- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.The GospelJohn 3:14-21Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.“For God so loved the...

Leitura do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo segundo Mateus 20,17-28 Naquele tempo, 17enquanto Jesus subia para Jerusalém, ele tomou os doze discípulos à parte e, durante a caminhada, disse-lhes: 18“Eis que estamos subindo para Jerusalém, e o Filho do Homem será entregue aos sumos sacerdotes e aos mestres da Lei. Eles o condenarão à morte, 19e o entregarão aos pagãos para zombarem dele, para flagelá-lo e crucificá-lo. Mas no terceiro dia ressuscitará”. 20A mãe dos filhos de Zebedeu aproximou-se de Jesus com seus filhos e ajoelhou-se com a intenção de fazer um pedido. 21Jesus perguntou: “Que queres?” Ela respondeu: “Manda que estes meus dois filhos se sentem, no teu Reino, um à tua direita e outro à tua esquerda”. 22Jesus, então, respondeu-lhe: “Não sabeis o que estais pedindo. Por acaso podeis beber o cálice que eu vou beber?” Eles responderam: “Podemos”. 23Então Jesus lhes disse: “De fato, vós bebereis do meu cálice, mas não depende de mim conceder o lugar à minha direita ou à minha esquerda. Meu Pai é quem dará esses lugares àqueles para os quais ele os preparou”. 24Quando os outros dez discípulos ouviram isso, ficaram irritados contra os dois irmãos. 25Jesus, porém, chamou-os, e disse: “Vós sabeis que os chefes das nações têm poder sobre elas e os grandes as oprimem. 26Entre vós não deverá ser assim. Quem quiser tornar-se grande, torne-se vosso servidor; 27quem quiser ser o primeiro, seja vosso servo. 28Pois, o Filho do Homem não veio para ser servido, mas para servir e dar a sua vida como resgate em favor de muitos”. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amigocatolico/message

Bible Study and Commentary on John 14:15-21Jesus continues His Upper Room Discourse introducing the Holy Spirit.

Leitura do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo segundo Marcos 8,14-21 Naquele tempo, 14os discípulos tinham se esquecido de levar pães. Tinham consigo na barca apenas um pão. 15Então Jesus os advertiu: “Prestai atenção e tomai cuidado com o fermento dos fariseus e com o fermento de Herodes”. 16Os discípulos diziam entre si: “É porque não temos pão”. 17Mas Jesus percebeu e perguntou-lhes: “Por que discutis sobre a falta de pão? Ainda não entendeis e nem compreendeis? Vós tendes o coração endurecido? 18Tendo olhos, não vedes, e tendo ouvidos, não ouvis? Não vos lembrais 19de quando reparti cinco pães para cinco mil pessoas? Quantos cestos vós recolhestes cheios de pedaços?” Eles responderam: “Doze”. 20Jesus perguntou: E quando reparti sete pães com quatro mil pessoas, quantos cestos vós recolhestes cheios de pedaços? Eles responderam: “Sete.” 21Jesus disse: “E ainda não compreendeis?” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amigocatolico/message

February 9, 2024 Today's Reading: Daily Lectionary: Job 6:1-13; John 3:1-21Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.” John 3:5In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Nicodemus knew much. He was a Pharisee. He was a ruler of the Jews. He was a teacher of Israel. He knew the Bible by heart. In today's language, Nicodemus was “a Bible preacher.” If you would have heard Nicodemus's sermons, he would've been quoting the Bible left and right. He taught the Law. He kept the Torah. The Ten Commandments came off his lips as easily as talking about the weather. He knew many other commandments, too, commandments the Pharisees designed to keep good order, to show people how to live, to make sure everyone does everything the right way. Nicodemus knew much, he could teach you much. But he did not know how to receive gifts.Not knowing how to receive gifts, expecting everything to come by way of works—that describes not only Nicodemus, but each of us according to our life of sinful flesh.  Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. Privately. Almost as if he knew that he would hear things from Jesus that a good Pharisee should not hear, but he wanted to hear it anyway. The first thing Nicodemus hears turns his world upside down. "Jesus answered [Nicodemus], Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3This is different. Not the part about the kingdom of God. Nicodemus knew how to talk like that. He himself had taught it to many. To see the kingdom of God, you obey the Law, you keep the Torah, you live a clean life. But what is this “born again” Jesus speaks of?Birth—that's not something you accomplish. No baby is born by being obedient.To make the kingdom of God a matter of birth removes it from the realm of obedience or something you do. What baby was ever born because he made a decision to be conceived, or was brought into the open air of the hospital room because he called God into his heart? Jesus gives Nicodemus, and us, to see the Gospel. Being born is receptive, it's passive. This is all the work of Jesus toward you. It is delivered to you as a gift by the Holy Spirit, who gives you the new birth (John 3:8).  In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Baptized into Your name most holy,  O Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, I claim a place, though weak and lowly,  Among Your saints, Your chosen host.Buried with Christ and dead to sin, Your Spirit now shall live within. Amen. (LSB 590:1)-Pastor Warren Graff is retired from Grace Lutheran Church, Albuquerque.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.The Lutheran Reader's Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God's Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.

Leitura do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo segundo Marcos 5,21-43 Naquele tempo, 21Jesus atravessou de novo, numa barca, para outra margem. Uma numerosa multidão se reuniu junto dele, e Jesus ficou na praia. 22Aproximou-se, então, um dos chefes da sinagoga, chamado Jairo. Quando viu Jesus, caiu a seus pés, 23e pediu com insistência: “Minha filhinha está nas últimas. Vem e põe as mãos sobre ela, para que ela sare e viva!” 24Jesus então o acompanhou. Numerosa multidão o seguia e comprimia. 25Ora, achava-se ali uma mulher que, há doze anos, estava com hemorragia; 26tinha sofrido nas mãos de muitos médicos, gastou tudo o que possuía, e, em vez de melhorar, piorava cada vez mais. 27Tendo ouvido falar de Jesus, aproximou-se dele por detrás, no meio da multidão, e tocou na sua roupa. 28Ela pensava: “Se eu ao menos tocar na roupa dele, ficarei curada”. 29A hemorragia parou imediatamente, e a mulher sentiu dentro de si que estava curada da doença. 30Jesus logo percebeu que uma força tinha saído dele. E, voltando-se no meio da multidão, perguntou: “Quem tocou na minha roupa?” 31Os discípulos disseram: “Estás vendo a multidão que te comprime e ainda perguntas: “Quem me tocou”?” 32Ele, porém, olhava ao redor para ver quem havia feito aquilo. 33A mulher, cheia de medo e tremendo, percebendo o que lhe havia acontecido, veio e caiu aos pés de Jesus, e contou-lhe toda a verdade. 34Ele lhe disse: “Filha, a tua fé te curou. Vai em paz e fica curada dessa doença”. 35Ele estava ainda falando, quando chegaram alguns da casa do chefe da sinagoga, e disseram: “Tua filha morreu. Por que ainda incomodar o mestre?” 36Jesus ouviu a notícia e disse ao chefe da sinagoga: “Não tenhas medo. Basta ter fé!” 37E não deixou que ninguém o acompanhasse, a não ser Pedro, Tiago e seu irmão João. 38Quando chegaram à casa do chefe da sinagoga, Jesus viu a confusão e como estavam chorando e gritando. 39Então, ele entrou e disse: “Por que essa confusão e esse choro? A criança não morreu, mas está dormindo”. 40Começaram então a caçoar dele. Mas, ele mandou que todos saíssem, menos o pai e a mãe da menina, e os três discípulos que o acompanhavam. Depois entraram no quarto onde estava a criança. 41Jesus pegou na mão da menina e disse: “Talitá cum” - que quer dizer: “Menina, levanta-te!” 42Ela levantou-se imediatamente e começou a andar, pois tinha doze anos. E todos ficaram admirados. 43Ele recomendou com insistência que ninguém ficasse sabendo daquilo. E mandou dar de comer à menina. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amigocatolico/message

Das Losungswort und der Lehrtext der Herrnhuter Brüdergemeine:Elia sprach: Wie lange hinkt ihr auf beiden Seiten? Ist der HERR Gott, so wandelt ihm nach, ist's aber Baal, so wandelt ihm nach.1. Könige 18,21Jesus spricht: Ihr könnt nicht Gott dienen und dem Mammon.Matthäus 6,24Titel der Andacht: "Die entscheidende Frage"Nachzulesen in nah-am-leben.de

January 14, 2024 Today's Reading: John 1:43-51Daily Lectionary: Ezekiel 36:33-37:14; Romans 5:1-21Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:50–51)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Nathaniel is easily amused by this “magic man Jesus” from backwater Nazareth. Jesus pulls a cool party trick by revealing where Nathaniel was when Philip told him the news of the Messiah and Nathaniel believes Jesus is the Son of God because of this. His belief is based on a moment of amazement, a neat trick, but hardly anything substantial. Nathaniel falls into the same trap we do. Magic Man Jesus is cool and exciting and captivating. He heals people, raises the dead, turns water into delicious wine. He satisfies the immediate desires of those around Him. He puts on a great show. This is the kind of Messiah our sinful nature wants. A God who works wonders for our will and benefit. A God that dazzles and amazes, showing how powerful He is in ways sinful creatures understand and adore. This kind of God is here for our amusement and pleasure. This is not the God we have, nor is it the God of Nathaniel. Jesus calls out Nathaniel's shallow belief and tells him he will witness something far greater than showy displays of power. Christ is pointing towards His greatest miracle: His death and resurrection. This is not a simple party trick, or a neat gimmick to gain followers. This would be the great work of the Messiah. Christ's work on the cross gives us the gifts that cannot decay and do not lose their ability to satisfy. They are not flashes in the pan. They are the eternal rewards of this great work of God. Christ's body and blood, offered up on the cross as the perfect sacrifice, now sustain us at the Lord's Table. The water that flowed from our Savior's riven side washes us clean and makes us new in Holy Baptism. Jesus offers Nathaniel a front seat to this great miracle and He offers that same invitation to us. What we witness as we receive God's gifts may not seem as grand as walking on water but they are the greater thing. In these means of grace we find forgiveness of sins, freely given and life eternal with our Lord. So come, dear Christian, and see what God has done for you. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Almighty and everlasting God, who governs all things in heaven and on earth, mercifully hear the prayers of Your people and grant us peace through all our days; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever. -Deaconess Emma Heinz is the Registrar for Higher Things.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.The Lutheran Reader's Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God's Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.

Mark 4:19“And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”Traditions, protocol and bad theology lulls the modern Christian into a sense of false security. Examine the Words of Jesus and compare His ways to the ways we have sought out for comfort or convenience. This work is difficult. Examine your thoughts. Where did the concern come from? Make changes as you go. Hirelings prevent sheep from getting to the Lord Jesus. Beware of finding or being "Another Christ", the preacher has one job. Bring the sheep to the Shepherd.***61: Jesus Tells The Parable Of The Good ShepherdJohn 10:1-21Jesus continued speaking and said: “Verily, verily I say unto you, ‘He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him, the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.” The listeners did not understand the meaning of what Jesus said. He continued: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, ‘I am the door of the sheep.' All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. But he that is a hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth; and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep. The hireling fleeth, because he is a hireling, and careth not for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold. Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” The words of Jesus again caused a difference of opinion among the people. Many of them said: “He hath a devil, and is mad. Why hear ye him?” Others said: “There are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?”

Luke 17:1-21Jesus said to his disciples, “Stumbling blocks are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him to have a millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3 Watch yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,' you must forgive him.”5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 So the Lord replied, “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this black mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled out by the roots and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.7 “Would any one of you say to your slave who comes in from the field after plowing or shepherding sheep, ‘Come at once and sit down for a meal'? 8 Won't the master instead say to him, ‘Get my dinner ready, and make yourself ready to serve me while I eat and drink. Then you may eat and drink'? 9 He won't thank the slave because he did what he was told, will he? 10 So you too, when you have done everything you were commanded to do, should say, ‘We are slaves undeserving of special praise; we have only done what was our duty.'”11 Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was entering a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance, 13 raised their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” 14 When he saw them he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went along, they were cleansed. 15 Then one of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. 16 He fell with his face to the ground at Jesus' feet and thanked him. (Now he was a Samaritan.) 17 Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Was no one found to turn back and give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to the man, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has made you well.”20 Now at one point the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming, so he answered, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!' or ‘There!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary TimeLk 13:18-21Jesus said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches."

Naquele tempo, 19a mãe e os irmãos de Jesus aproximaram-se, mas não podiam chegar perto dele, por causa da multidão. 20Então anunciaram a Jesus: “Tua mãe e teus irmãos estão aí fora e querem te ver”. 21Jesus respondeu: “Minha mãe e meus irmãos são aqueles que ouvem a Palavra de Deus, e a põem em prática”.

Leitura do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo segundo Lucas 8,19-21 Naquele tempo, 19a mãe e os irmãos de Jesus aproximaram-se, mas não podiam chegar perto dele, por causa da multidão. 20Então anunciaram a Jesus: “Tua mãe e teus irmãos estão aí fora e querem te ver”. 21Jesus respondeu: “Minha mãe e meus irmãos são aqueles que ouvem a Palavra de Deus, e a põem em prática --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amigocatolico/message

A Prayer about Temptation: When The Devil Is trying To Stop Me From Reaching My Goals.Read the story of Job to regain your faith:https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/bible-story-of-job.htmlSupport the channel by purchasing on of our readings:Speak It Into Existence: Affirmative Prayer for Everyday LivingUnlock the Transformative Power Within You!In a world where intention and belief shape our reality, "Speak It Into Existence: Affirmative Prayer for Everyday Living" invites you on a journey of profound self-discovery and manifestation.Explore the realms of intention, the science of affirmation, and the fusion of spirituality with modern psychology. Uncover the potential of your thoughts, words, and emotions to sculpt the life you desire. Whether you seek personal healing, stronger relationships, career success, or a better world, this book offers a blueprint to harness the energy of Affirmative Prayer.Key Highlights:Discover Your Creative Potential: Learn how Affirmative Prayer transforms your intentions into reality, bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary understanding.Master the Language of Manifestation: Dive into the power of words, discovering how positive affirmations resonate with the universe to manifest your desires.Heal and Transform: Witness the synergy of intention and emotion, unlocking the pathways to physical and emotional healing.Navigating Challenges: Empower yourself with the tools to overcome obstacles, shift limiting beliefs, and align with a future filled with possibility.Unleash the Collective Force: Embark on a journey beyond personal transformation, using Affirmative Prayer to influence global harmony, environmental healing, and world peace.Real-world Insights: Immerse yourself in stories of individuals who have harnessed Affirmative Prayer to navigate life's challenges, transform their relationships, and shape their careers."Speak It Into Existence: Affirmative Prayer for Everyday Living" is more than a book; it's a guide to becoming the conscious creator of your reality. With practical techniques, personal anecdotes, and a blend of ancient wisdom and modern science, this book empowers you to manifest your dreams and embark on a journey of limitless possibilities.Embrace the power of intention. Harness the energy of belief. Speak your desires into existence!Never Ending Faith*A Faith Prayer Journal: A Prayer Journal That Will Help Me When Doubt Causes Me To Lose Faith https://amzn.to/3EDHHKJFaith is often thrown around a lot. It is, however, the lifeblood and soul of the Christian Church. Perhaps more importantly, it is our glue. It will often help us when we feel lost or shaken. Doubt is a normal part of life and will always creep into our lives at some point.Doubt can take many forms. It may manifest as a clearly articulated rebellious denial or quiet distrust of God. Or it could be anger that causes distance and creates anger. Doubt can be good for your faith, but it can also cause you to miss opportunities to grow closer to God.Matthew 21; 21Jesus replied and said to them: Verily, I say to you that if you believe and don't doubt, you'll not only do the work of the fig tree but also the work of this mountain.This classic passage outlines Jesus' emphasis upon faith.Yet, it is difficult to describe this in modern times. Faith does not mean abandoning the task at hand or letting things go to the winds. Faith should be followed and supported by action. Faith is doing something that is motivated by the belief God is with us and knows our destiny.This (52) Week Prayer Journal will give you the everyday tools to monitor, build, and confess our Faith to victory in Jesus name.

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament: Genesis 45:1-15 1Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.2And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence. 4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.6For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.'12And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.” 14Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him. Psalm: Psalm 133 1 Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *        when brethren live together in unity! 2 It is like fine oil upon the head *        that runs down upon the beard, 3 Upon the beard of Aaron, *        and runs down upon the collar of his robe. 4 It is like the dew of Hermon *        that falls upon the hills of Zion. 5 For there the Lord has ordained the blessing: *        life for evermore. Old Testament: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8 1Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come, and my deliverance be revealed. 6And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— 7these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. 8Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered. Psalm: Psalm 67 1 May God be merciful to us and bless us, *        show us the light of his countenance and come to us. 2 Let your ways be known upon earth, *        your saving health among all nations. 3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *        let all the peoples praise you. 4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *        for you judge the peoples with equity        and guide all the nations upon earth. 5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; *        let all the peoples praise you. 6 The earth has brought forth her increase; *        may God, our own God, give us his blessing. 7 May God give us his blessing, *        and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him. Epistle: Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32 1I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. 29for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.30Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.32For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all. Gospel: Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 [10Then he called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand: 11it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.” 12Then the disciples approached and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?” 13He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if one blind person guides another, both will fall into a pit.” 15But Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16Then he said, “Are you also still without understanding?17Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach, and goes out into the sewer? 18But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. 19For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. 20These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”] 21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

A Prayer of Trust When My Faith in God is Failing.Read the story of Job to regain your faith:https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/bible-story-of-job.htmlSupport the channel by purchasing on of our readings:Speak It Into Existence: Affirmative Prayer for Everyday LivingUnlock the Transformative Power Within You!In a world where intention and belief shape our reality, "Speak It Into Existence: Affirmative Prayer for Everyday Living" invites you on a journey of profound self-discovery and manifestation.Explore the realms of intention, the science of affirmation, and the fusion of spirituality with modern psychology. Uncover the potential of your thoughts, words, and emotions to sculpt the life you desire. Whether you seek personal healing, stronger relationships, career success, or a better world, this book offers a blueprint to harness the energy of Affirmative Prayer.Key Highlights:Discover Your Creative Potential: Learn how Affirmative Prayer transforms your intentions into reality, bridging ancient wisdom with contemporary understanding.Master the Language of Manifestation: Dive into the power of words, discovering how positive affirmations resonate with the universe to manifest your desires.Heal and Transform: Witness the synergy of intention and emotion, unlocking the pathways to physical and emotional healing.Navigating Challenges: Empower yourself with the tools to overcome obstacles, shift limiting beliefs, and align with a future filled with possibility.Unleash the Collective Force: Embark on a journey beyond personal transformation, using Affirmative Prayer to influence global harmony, environmental healing, and world peace.Real-world Insights: Immerse yourself in stories of individuals who have harnessed Affirmative Prayer to navigate life's challenges, transform their relationships, and shape their careers."Speak It Into Existence: Affirmative Prayer for Everyday Living" is more than a book; it's a guide to becoming the conscious creator of your reality. With practical techniques, personal anecdotes, and a blend of ancient wisdom and modern science, this book empowers you to manifest your dreams and embark on a journey of limitless possibilities.Embrace the power of intention. Harness the energy of belief. Speak your desires into existence!Never Ending Faith*A Faith Prayer Journal: A Prayer Journal That Will Help Me When Doubt Causes Me To Lose Faith https://amzn.to/3EDHHKJFaith is often thrown around a lot. It is, however, the lifeblood and soul of the Christian Church. Perhaps more importantly, it is our glue. It will often help us when we feel lost or shaken. Doubt is a normal part of life and will always creep into our lives at some point.Doubt can take many forms. It may manifest as a clearly articulated rebellious denial or quiet distrust of God. Or it could be anger that causes distance and creates anger. Doubt can be good for your faith, but it can also cause you to miss opportunities to grow closer to God.Matthew 21; 21Jesus replied and said to them: Verily, I say to you that if you believe and don't doubt, you'll not only do the work of the fig tree but also the work of this mountain.This classic passage outlines Jesus' emphasis upon faith.Yet, it is difficult to describe this in modern times. Faith does not mean abandoning the task at hand or letting things go to the winds. Faith should be followed and supported by action. Faith is doing something that is motivated by the belief God is with us and knows our destiny.This (52) Week Prayer Journal will give you the everyday tools to monitor, build, and confess our Faith to victory in Jesus name.

John 10:1-21Jesus reveals that He is the Door of the sheep and the Good Shepherd.Website: https://heritageva.church/ Give: https://heritageva.churchcenter.com/giving#heritagechurch #hereforyou #churchonline #welcome #sogladyouarehere

Day of Pentecost The Collect: Almighty God, on this day you opened the way of eternal life to every race and nation by the promised gift of your Holy Spirit: Shed abroad this gift throughout the world by the preaching of the Gospel, that it may reach to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. or this O God, who on this day taught the hearts of your faithful people by sending to them the light of your Holy Spirit: Grant us by the same Spirit to have a right judgment in all things, and evermore to rejoice in his holy comfort; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. First Lesson: Acts 2:1-21 or Numbers 11:24-30 1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.7Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.” 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” 14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.19And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. 21Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' or 24So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy elders of the people, and placed them all around the tent. 25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again. 26Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. 27And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” 29But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” 30And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. Psalm: Psalm 104:25-35,37 25 O Lord, how manifold are your works! *        in wisdom you have made them all;        the earth is full of your creatures. 26 Yonder is the great and wide sea    with its living things too many to number, *        creatures both small and great. 27 There move the ships,    and there is that Leviathan, *        which you have made for the sport of it. 28 All of them look to you *        to give them their food in due season. 29 You give it to them; they gather it; *        you open your hand, and they are filled with good things. 30 You hide your face, and they are terrified; *        you take away their breath,        and they die and return to their dust. 31 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created; *        and so you renew the face of the earth. 32 May the glory of the Lord endure for ever; *        may the Lord rejoice in all his works. 33 He looks at the earth and it trembles; *        he touches the mountains and they smoke. 34 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; *        I will praise my God while I have my being. 35 May these words of mine please him; *        I will rejoice in the Lord. 37 Bless the Lord, O my soul. *        Hallelujah! Second Lesson: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 or Acts 2:1-21 3No one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit. 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. 12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. or 1When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.3Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. 5Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.7Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power.” 12All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.” 14But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, “Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say. 15Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning. 16No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel: 17‘In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. 18Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.19And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist. 20The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day. 21Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.' Gospel: John 20:19-23 or John 7:37-39 19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” or 37On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, 38and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'” 39Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

HOLY GOSPEL: John 20:19-23   19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” 22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”    

    1Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John   2(although Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were),   3He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.   4And He had to pass through Samaria.   5So He came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;   6and Jacob's well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.   7There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”   8For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.   9Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)   10Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”   11She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water?   12“You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”   13Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;   14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”   15The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”   16He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”   17The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband';   18for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”   19The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.   20“Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”   21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.   22“You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.   23“But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.   24“God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”   25The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”   26Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”   27At this point His disciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?”   28 So the woman left her waterpot, and went into the city and said to the men,   29“Come, see a man who told me all the things that I have done; this is not the Christ, is it?”   30They went out of the city, and were coming to Him.   31Meanwhile the disciples were urging Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”   32But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”   33So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?”   34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.   35“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.   36“Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.   37“For in this case the saying is true, ‘One sows and another reaps.'   38“I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored and you have entered into their labor.”   39From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”   40So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days.   41Many more believed because of His word;   42and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”  New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update, (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Jn 4:1–42.

HOLY GOSPEL: John 20:19-31 19When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”20After he said this, he showedthem his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.21Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.”22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”24But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.25So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”26A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”27Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe.”28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”29Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”30Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.31But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

1Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw thatthe stone had been taken away from the tomb.2So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple,the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, andwe do not know where they have laid him.3So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.4Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.5And stooping to look in, he sawthe linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.6Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,7andthe face cloth, which had been on Jesus'[a]head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.8Then the other disciple,who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed;9for as yetthey did not understand the Scripture,that he must rise from the dead.10Then the disciples went back to their homes. Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene 11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb.12Andshe sawtwo angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.13They said to her,Woman, why are you weeping? She said to them,They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.14Having said this, she turned around andsaw Jesus standing,but she did not know that it was Jesus.15Jesus said to her,Woman, why are you weeping?Whom are you seeking?Supposing him to bethe gardener, she said to him, Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.16Jesus said to her,Mary.She turned and said to him in Aramaic,[b]Rabboni! (which means Teacher).17Jesus said to her,Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go tomy brothers and say to them,I am ascending to my Father and your Father, tomy God and your God.18Mary Magdalenewent and announced to the disciples, I have seen the Lordand that he had said these things to her. Jesus Appears to the Disciples 19On the eveningof that day, the first day of the week,the doors being locked where the disciples werefor fear of the Jews,[c]Jesus came and stood among them and said to them,Peace be with you.20When he had said this,he showed them his hands and his side. Thenthe disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.21Jesus said to them again,Peace be with you. Asthe Father has sent me,even so I am sending you.22And when he had said this, hebreathed on them and said to them,Receive the Holy Spirit.23If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld. Jesus and Thomas 24NowThomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin,[d]was not with them when Jesus came.25So the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord. But he said to them,Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe. 26Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them.Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said,Peace be with you.27Then he said to Thomas,Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.28Thomas answered him,My Lord and my God!29Jesus said to him,Have you believed because you have seen me?Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.

HOLY GOSPEL: John 4:5-42 Jesus defies convention to engage a Samaritan woman in conversation. Her testimony, in turn, leads many others to faith. 5 [Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. 7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” 19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” 26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” 27Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him. 31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.' 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.” The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ

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 17:1-7 1From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” 4So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Psalm: Psalm 95 1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *        let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *        and raise a loud shout to him with psalms. 3 For the Lord is a great God, *        and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *        and the heights of the hills are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, *        and his hands have molded the dry land. 6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *        and kneel before the Lord our Maker. 7 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! 8 Harden not your hearts,   as your forebears did in the wilderness, *        at Meribah, and on that day at Massah,        when they tempted me. 9 They put me to the test, *        though they had seen my works. 10 Forty years long I detested that generation and said, *       “This people are wayward in their hearts;        they do not know my ways.” 11 So I swore in my wrath, *       “They shall not enter into my rest.” Epistle: Romans 5:1-11 1Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Gospel: John 4:5-42 5So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.7A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) 9The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” 13Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 15The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” 17The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!”19The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. 20Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. 24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.”26Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” 27Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” 28Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, 29“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” 30They left the city and were on their way to him. 31Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” 34Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.' 38I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” 39Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of his word. 42They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Losing a loved one through medical malpractice has to be one of the most difficult experiences in life. This is Ami Shroyer's story, and she would say she was loved for 100 years in 20 by her beloved Mike. Not everyone gets to experience a love like this. As a traveling teen musician, she met the love of her life. They start their marriage in love and soon after, they started their family. While serving the Lord as a family, preparing land for a new ministry, her husband Mike inhales some debris. Through a series of misdiagnosis and careless medical practice, Mike passes away. Ami brings us into that season of her life, the love, the pain and the beyond. Her name means, 'beloved little follower of the Lord,' and as her story unfolds, you will see her uncommon faith, from just a little girl, to this present day. She is resilient, and has an affinity for daisies, which reminds her of the love of her husband, Mike Shroyer.Hebrews 12:1 - "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."Show Notes: https://bit.ly/3vcl0J7Topics Shared:Beloved little follower of the LordUncommon faithCreative child whose wings were clippedLived in 21 different houses before 21Jesus clubs and writing musicFriend-zoned Bill Gaither's nephewSkipped graduation to travel around the country singingSevered parental relationship made rightMeeting the love of her life"Miracle of Mercy" Mike's life songQuick & happy marriageWorking at Andy Stanley's church, their Atlanta yearsStarting a family wholeness centerThe 5/11 Wholeness JourneyMike gets suddenly illThe Doctors fumble his careMedicinal toxicity and dehydration sets inOne last visitHorrible passingSupermanLoved for 100 years in 20Fields of daisiesName on the front of the buildingA voice for strong homesAmi Quotes:"I always want purpose, not closure. You can't close off a love like this. We are not meant to. We need to continue to live wide open with purpose.""It literally feels like he is on a trip before we get there, but he just got there first.""The night that he passed away my daughter said 'Mom, now it's even. And I said, 'what do you mean?' And she said, 'Well the two babies that are in heaven have Dad, and you have us. It's even."My son said, "I've been thinking, I could be really angry with God that I am 12 and Sadie is 8, and that this would happen, but I got to thinking, if this were going to happen some day anyway, I would rather that it happen when I'm 12 and Sadie is 8, because if it were later in life, you would be all alone, and right now you have us."Resources:Elizabeth Elliot "Path of Suffering"Ami's Website: https://amishroyer.com/Podcast:Journey Through Fields of Daisies (on her website)------------------------------------------For more inspiring stories: https://lettersfromhomepodcast.com/

Tuesday of the Thirtieth Week in Ordinary TimeLK 13:18-21Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?To what can I compare it?It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.When it was fully grown, it became a large bushand the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”

20Our fathers worshiped onthis mountain, but you say thatin Jerusalem isthe place where people ought to worship.21Jesus said to her,Woman, believe me,the hour is coming whenneither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.22You worship what you do not know;we worship what we know, forsalvation isfrom the Jews.23Butthe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Fatherin spirit andtruth, for the Fatheris seeking such people to worship him.24God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.25The woman said to him, I know thatMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes,he will tell us all things.26Jesus said to her,I who speak to you am he.

Evangelho (Mt 19,16-22) — O Senhor esteja convosco. — Ele está no meio de nós. — Proclamação do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo + segundo Mateus. — Glória a vós, Senhor. Naquele tempo, 16alguém aproximou-se de Jesus e disse: “Mestre, que devo fazer de bom para possuir a vida eterna?” 17Jesus respondeu: “Por que me perguntas sobre o que é bom? Um só é o Bom. Se queres entrar na vida, observa os mandamentos”. 18O homem perguntou: “Quais mandamentos?” Jesus respondeu: “Não matarás, não cometerás adultério, não roubarás, não levantarás falso testemunho, 19honra teu pai e tua mãe, e ama o teu próximo como a ti mesmo”. 20O jovem disse a Jesus: “Tenho observado todas essas coisas. Que ainda me falta?” 21Jesus respondeu: “Se queres ser perfeito, vai, vende tudo o que tens, dá o dinheiro aos pobres e terás um tesouro no céu. Depois, vem e segue-me”. 22Quando ouviu isso, o jovem foi embora cheio de tristeza, porque era muito rico. — Palavra da Salvação. — Glória a vós, Senhor.

Evangelho (Mt 15,21-28) — O Senhor esteja convosco. — Ele está no meio de nós. — Proclamação do Evangelho de Jesus Cristo + segundo Mateus. — Glória a vós, Senhor. Naquele tempo, 21Jesus retirou-se para a região de Tiro e Sidônia. 22Eis que uma mulher cananeia, vindo daquela região, pôs-se a gritar: “Senhor, filho de Davi, tem piedade de mim: minha filha está cruelmente atormentada por um demônio!” 23Mas, Jesus não lhe respondeu palavra alguma. Então seus discípulos aproximaram-se e lhe pediram: “Manda embora essa mulher, pois ela vem gritando atrás de nós”. 24Jesus respondeu: “Eu fui enviado somente às ovelhas perdidas da casa de Israel”. 25Mas, a mulher, aproximando-se, prostrou-se diante de Jesus, e começou a implorar: “Senhor, socorre-me!” 26Jesus lhe disse: “Não fica bem tirar o pão dos filhos para jogá-lo aos cachorrinhos”. 27A mulher insistiu: “É verdade, Senhor; mas os cachorrinhos também comem as migalhas que caem da mesa de seus donos!” 28Diante disso, Jesus lhe disse: “Mulher, grande é a tua fé! Seja feito como tu queres!” E desde aquele momento sua filha ficou curada. — Palavra da Salvação. — Glória a vós, Senhor.

Teaching NotesMake a quick list of your first thoughts this morning:Do you wake up to a bunch of WHATs or from a deep WHY?Purpose: “Apply your best to what matters most.” - Dr. Vic Strecher, University of Michigan Public School of HealthCore Components of Purpose:Goals - we are going after something specificMeaning - we are experiencing and offering meaningOthers - we are pursuing it for the benefit of othersPurpose matters…To your brain (pic: MRI scans)To your performance (pic: Janitorial services)To your grit (pic: Incline test)When we have purpose:Resiliency increases by 54%Stress decreases by 33%LIfe Engagement increase by 60%Depression drops by 36%Inclusivity quadruplesLet's go back to Genesis 1:26: “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky… (1:26)God's purpose was to give us purpose in our work.I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.- Jesus, John 10:10Greek: Ἵνα (pronounced: “hina”) Why is “ina” significant? “The reason is to be sought in the teleological understanding of the ways of God and the destiny of man” - Ethelbert Stauffer, “Ἵνα,”I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. -Jesus, John 15:11For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.-The Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:21Jesus' purpose is to make us fully aliveAs he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3Jesus' purpose is to make us fully alive, even through suffering, for His glory.God's purposes never stop in your life.…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.The Apostle Paul, Philippians 2:13To Will: θέλειν (pronounced: thelein) - purpose; desire; enjoy; be of an opinionTo Act: ἐνεργέω (pronounced: energeō) - work; be at work, to cause to be, to result inGood Purpose: Εὐδοκία (pronounced: eudokia): good pleasure; desire, what is wished for What's your “So That…”?Without a clear “So That…” we'll say:Now what?What's next?So what.The “So That…” 5 Circles:What brings you joy?What does the world need?Will they pay for it? (or give to it)Are you good at it?What's in your story?“So That Statement”: “I work so that…” {12-15 words}“So Thats…” won't always make you happyNot all “So Thats…” are pleasing to GodDon't ever say the word “Just.” Going Deeper Discussion…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.The Apostle Paul, Philippians 2:13To Will: θέλειν (pronounced: thelein) - purpose; desire; enjoy; be of an opinionTo Act: ἐνεργέω (pronounced: energeō) - work; be at work, to cause to be, to result inGood Purpose: Εὐδοκία (pronounced: eudokia): good pleasure; desire, what is wished forIf you haven't already, watch the weekend message and have a discussion answering the questions below.What thoughts fill your head when you wake up each morning - a bunch of “Whats” or a “Deep Why?”Can you describe a time in your life when you didn't have a sense of purpose? What did that feel like?How are you personally impacted by the truth that God lives from a deep why and is constantly at work in your life?What are the things that…Bring you joy?The world around you needs?Someone might pay for or give towards?You are good at doing?Do you have a “So That…Statement”—at least one in draft mode? Would you be willing to share it? Sunday Set ListWFC Lenexa + WFC AnywhereGreat Things- Phil WickhamHoly Spirit Come- Patrick MayberryI Speak Jesus- Charity GayleGod of Revival- Brian JohnsonWFC SpeedwayRest on Us- Maverick CityOceans- HillsongForever Reign- HillsonGlorious Day- Passion CityBe sure to save our Spotify Worship Playlist, updated weekly with the upcoming Sunday's set!

Teaching NotesMake a quick list of your first thoughts this morning:Do you wake up to a bunch of WHATs or from a deep WHY?Purpose: “Apply your best to what matters most.” - Dr. Vic Strecher, University of Michigan Public School of HealthCore Components of Purpose:Goals - we are going after something specificMeaning - we are experiencing and offering meaningOthers - we are pursuing it for the benefit of othersPurpose matters…To your brain (pic: MRI scans)To your performance (pic: Janitorial services)To your grit (pic: Incline test)When we have purpose:Resiliency increases by 54%Stress decreases by 33%LIfe Engagement increase by 60%Depression drops by 36%Inclusivity quadruplesLet's go back to Genesis 1:26: “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky… (1:26)God's purpose was to give us purpose in our work.I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance.- Jesus, John 10:10Greek: Ἵνα (pronounced: “hina”) Why is “ina” significant? “The reason is to be sought in the teleological understanding of the ways of God and the destiny of man” - Ethelbert Stauffer, “Ἵνα,”I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. -Jesus, John 15:11For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.-The Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5:21Jesus' purpose is to make us fully aliveAs he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. John 9:1-3Jesus' purpose is to make us fully alive, even through suffering, for His glory.God's purposes never stop in your life.…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.The Apostle Paul, Philippians 2:13To Will: θέλειν (pronounced: thelein) - purpose; desire; enjoy; be of an opinionTo Act: ἐνεργέω (pronounced: energeō) - work; be at work, to cause to be, to result inGood Purpose: Εὐδοκία (pronounced: eudokia): good pleasure; desire, what is wished for What's your “So That…”?Without a clear “So That…” we'll say:Now what?What's next?So what.The “So That…” 5 Circles:What brings you joy?What does the world need?Will they pay for it? (or give to it)Are you good at it?What's in your story?“So That Statement”: “I work so that…” {12-15 words}“So Thats…” won't always make you happyNot all “So Thats…” are pleasing to GodDon't ever say the word “Just.” Going Deeper Discussion…for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.The Apostle Paul, Philippians 2:13To Will: θέλειν (pronounced: thelein) - purpose; desire; enjoy; be of an opinionTo Act: ἐνεργέω (pronounced: energeō) - work; be at work, to cause to be, to result inGood Purpose: Εὐδοκία (pronounced: eudokia): good pleasure; desire, what is wished forIf you haven't already, watch the weekend message and have a discussion answering the questions below.What thoughts fill your head when you wake up each morning - a bunch of “Whats” or a “Deep Why?”Can you describe a time in your life when you didn't have a sense of purpose? What did that feel like?How are you personally impacted by the truth that God lives from a deep why and is constantly at work in your life?What are the things that…Bring you joy?The world around you needs?Someone might pay for or give towards?You are good at doing?Do you have a “So That…Statement”—at least one in draft mode? Would you be willing to share it? Sunday Set ListWFC Lenexa + WFC AnywhereGreat Things- Phil WickhamHoly Spirit Come- Patrick MayberryI Speak Jesus- Charity GayleGod of Revival- Brian JohnsonWFC SpeedwayRest on Us- Maverick CityOceans- HillsongForever Reign- HillsonGlorious Day- Passion CityBe sure to save our Spotify Worship Playlist, updated weekly with the upcoming Sunday's set!

Get more blog posts, photos, and specials at our website: https://www.refocused-ae.com ------------------------------------------------ FOLLOW US: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/refocused.ae/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/refocused.ae/ TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdj9XBMP ------------------------------------------------ For you PODCAST listeners, you can find us on all platforms, just pick your favorite: ANCHOR: https://anchor.fm/anthony-and-essence APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/refocused-with-a-e/id1586192271 GOOGLE: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy82YzU4ZThkNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gfRDlINIjUH7YDuSEJws9 ------------------------------------------------ Show Notes: We have heard the adage of "Loving Thy Neighbor" all our lives, but how do we truly apply this, and when is it used out of line? The Story of the woman at the well (John 4: 7-26) Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”— 8For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food— 9The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a The Jews considered Samaritan women ceremonially unclean. Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God's gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” 11She said to Him, “Sir, The woman's response is due to the fact that “living water” was the normal description for running water. She probably thought that Jesus was referring to the underground water source that fed the well. You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12Are You greater than our father Jacob (renamed Israel in Gen 32:28) was the son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham and father of the twelve sons who established the twelve tribes of Israel. Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?” 13Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.” 15The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” 16At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband'; 18for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your God does not regard cohabitation as marriage. Marriage is a binding, legal covenant between a man and a woman. husband. You have said this truthfully.” 19The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” 21Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God's kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. 24God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Ch

  Wake the Faith up Slayer… This is Garth Heckman with the David Alliance and you can reach me at TDAgiantslayer@gmail.com    Brought to you by wellbuiltbody.com Gym Apparel for men and women that rocks and shocks and ain't for everybody - but just might be for you. wellbuiltbody.com   July 9th - Saturday - A Father Daughter/Son conference called PROTECTOR! Speakers on how to protect your son and daughter Emotionally, physically, sexually, socially and spiritually. Ages 10 and up if you feel your student is mature enough. Price $100 per family. At HillSpring Church New prague south of the Twin Cities Just landed a speaker who will challenge you how to keep your kids safe from human trafficking… you say well my kid will never fall into that… oh not so fast. You obviously don't know what you are talking about… so get ready to sign up!     Ever been fatigued?   Compassion fatigue – too many things to care about so we tune out all of them. Compassion international – sponsor a child Sara McGlaughlin – animals Aids –  Give to the Ukrainian people Save the planet Childrens hospital Special Olympics Red Cross    Salvation Army – kettle drive     I think our faith sometimes gets fatigued as well.     Sure God can Move mountains Sure God can heal Sure God can do miracles But just not for me!  Its only for a special few.       Gary Palermo came to our church and had a huge revival. People were getting saved, people were getting healed, he was giving words of wisdom and prophecies.  It was supposed to be one week and it turned into 6. One particular night we got done with worship and Gary came forward and said those who believe God is here to heal them come up right now! You have 60 seconds… A few people maybe 16 out of 600 came forward. He went down the line and prayed for each one and each one got healed. When he was done everyone was expecting him to preach like he did so many nights in a row – He prayed and dismissed.  Afterwards there were people who were mad, they came for healing but did not go forward. They were hoping for a build up or to be called out of the crowd and to be healed.  When I asked him that night over a late night supper what was up he said they were the only ones who truly believed tonight for their healing.       If I brought someone up here right now who needed healing of ruptured discs in their back – and I asked you do you think God can heal this person   I think we would say yes Will he? Probably not!   We see a story in the gospels of this type of faith!     Mark 9:20-25 20So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.  21Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"    "From childhood," he answered. 22"It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."  23" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."  24Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" I believe – Pistis – I trust you, I believe in you Unbelief – But I don't believe   25When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil[a] spirit. "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again."     Are you like this? I know God can help my finances – but he probably wont I know God can help my marriage – but he probably wont I know God can save my daughter – but he probably wont I know God can get me a better job - But he probably wont I know God can heal me but he probably wont     How do we crossover from I know to I believe!     It is not second hand faith! Faith does not come by seeing: In this same chapter Peter James and John had just seen Jesus and Moses and Elijah       2. It's not just authority -  They were given that by Christ and were sent out and even used their power and authority.    Luke 10:19 I have given you all authority and power! This is an action   v. The right, the option to use your power   But what is the difference this time when they come back and have seen God move?    It's revealed in your secret place.          

Gospel of John, Chapter 3, verses 16-21Jesus, in His conversation w/ Nicodemus, talks about the essence of who God is and, because of that, what God is about. God is love. That's the underlying motive for all God does. And so what does that look like? It looks like saving, not condemning. Original Score written and performed by Bridget Zenk

March 10, 2022 - How important is tradition?Matthew 14:22 - 15:20Mark 6:45 - 7:23John 6:16-21Jesus talks a lot about tradition. How important is tradition? Let's find out together as we study several stories from Jesus' ministry. 

Come, Entrust Yourself to Jesus.Preacher: Jim MastersSunday Church ServiceDate: 27th February 2022Passage: John 2:12-25-------------------Who is Jesus? Jesus is the True Temple, 12-21Jesus is the True Sacrifice, 12-21Jesus is the Word-Fulfiller, 22Jesus is the Heart-Knower, 23-25

Rev. Tammy JacksonScripture - Luke 4: 13-21Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised.On the Sabbath, he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read. The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah.He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me. He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners, and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. He began to explain to them, ‘Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.'Givehttps://secure.accessacs.com/access/oglogin.aspx?sn=90290Get connected with a ministry area.https://forms.gle/nG2ttsfAh6jcf8Xv6Request care from our pastors. https://forms.gle/vFUnGUCGfpEizGwc6

It is Wednesday morning, 10th November, the year 2021, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for the day.“Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind.”Luke 14:21Jesus loves all people and he invites everybody to his banquet table - The poor, the rich, the weak, the strong, the old and the young. Those who have made mistakes and those who have been even written off by society. All they have to do is simply accept His invitation to come to the banquet.“For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."Romans 10:13You know, one of my heroes is D.L. Moody: Dwight Lyman Moody. He lived a long time ago in Chicago. He was an American. He was a shoe salesman, by trade, and came from a farming background. He got gloriously saved. That is right - He went to the banquet and Jesus saved him, he got so excited. He wanted to tell others to come to that same banquet and so when he became a Christian, he went and said, “I want to become a Sunday School teacher.” They said to him, “You have to wait. There is a waiting list of many people who want to become teachers.”He said, “I can't. I can't wait.” They said, “Well, why don't you go down to the ghetto of Chicago and go and tell those street children, those urchins, about the Lord.' He said yes, he would. Do you know within months, that man had a thriving Sunday School with hundreds of children in an abandoned factory! What he did was, he would take his horse and put a bag of oranges on its back and, like the Pied Piper, he would go down the street and say to the children: “Would you like an orange?”“Yes please!”“Follow me!”And he would take them into that big deserted factory and that would be his church. He would go and get a beautiful singing canary, put it in a cage and hang it up in the front and say to the children, “The first one who doesn't miss a Sunday will get this as a gift.” He was desperate to get the children in and many, many got saved and became followers of Jesus Christ.You and I need to do the same today. Let's go out to the highways and byways and tell people that Jesus loves them.Have a wonderful day and God bless you.

John 14:15-21Jesus said to his disciples:“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you always,the Spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”Fr. Jim's Gospel Studies followed the Catholic Lectionary 3-year cycle. A Vision to Guide Us is the second Gospel Study for Lent in Year B. We are calling this "Season 2" since the season has to be a number and we are starting this Gospel Teachings podcast in Year/Cycle B.Gospel Study: Fr. Jim WilligGospel Narration: Fr. J Michael Sparough, SJNarration: Lili Fuller Narration Producers: Lili Fuller and Joe SofrankoPrimary Music: Michael KramerAdditional Music: Gettin Through It by Brent Wood licensed to Nathaniel Stubblefield via SoundstripeProducer: Nathaniel Stubblefield