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About the Guests: Kathy and Ross Abraham are the founders of the Beautiful Crazy charity, which provides essential care packs to families experiencing the trauma of having a loved one in ICU. The charity was founded in memory of their son Jayden, who tragically passed away following an e-bike accident. They are dedicated to turning their personal grief into support and hope for other families facing similar situations. Their work has expanded to reach multiple hospitals across Australia, reinforcing their commitment to community support and engagement. Key Takeaways: Turning Tragedy into Purpose: Kathy and Ross Abraham transformed the grief of losing their son Jayden into a charitable initiative aimed at aiding other families in similar situations through Beautiful Crazy. The Importance of Community Support: The episode highlights the significance of receiving support from unexpected places and how such gestures can inspire lasting positive change. Grief is a Continuous Journey: Kathy and Ross underline that grief does not have a set timeline and is a lifelong journey, impacting daily life and perspectives. Faith and Healing: Throughout the episode, the Abrahams share how their faith plays a crucial role in guiding them through their grief and in shaping the charity's mission. Extending Support Beyond Immediate Family: Ross and Kathy discuss how the loss of a loved one impacts extended circles, including friends and work colleagues, and the importance of nurturing these relationships. Notable Quotes: "I've come to terms with myself that I'm always going to have a crazy mind…but you've got to admit I'm beautiful. I'm beautiful crazy, Mum." - Jayden Abraham "We made the decision to carry [grief] well. Beautiful Crazy is part of that; it brings hope and healing, not just for us as a family, but for others." - Kathy Abraham "When people find out why I was riding… it's amazing how many had lost children over the years. It's a space we’re in now, and we understand it." - Ross Abraham "Grief doesn't need to be healed. It's not looking to be fixed. It's part of our story." - Ross Abraham "For us, it was about making sure Jayden's legacy goes on. He loved community…it's us putting purpose to the pain." - Kathy Abraham Resources: Beautiful Crazy Website: beautifulcrazy.org Beautiful Crazy Instagram: @beautifulcrazy_ She Wasn’t Born Yesterday, hosted by Janet Evans, a senior advertising creative and Jenni Woodhouse a semi retired social worker Join the discussion of being 40+ faaabulous on Facebook. Listen to more from our Hope Podcasts collection at hopepodcasts.com.au. And send the team a message via Hope 103.2’s app, Facebook or Instagram.Support the show, a product of Hope Media: https://hope1032.com.au/donate/2211A-pod/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
There are two quotes that have stuck with me that have helped me over the years: The first is from AW Tozer who said, It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until he has hurt him deeply. The second is from John Bunyan who said, Conversion is not the smooth, easy-going process some men seem to think... It is wounding work, this breaking of the hearts, but without wounding there is no saving... Where there is grafting there will always be a cutting, the graft must be let in with a wound; to stick it onto the outside or to tie it on with a string would be of no use. Heart must be set to heart and back to back or there will be no sap from root to branch. And this, I say, must be done by a wound, by a cut.[1] Throughout the Bible, I see the wisdom of Tozer and Bunyans counsel as it relates to the hard stuff we experience in life. As much as God has used AW Tozer and John Bunyan, the real question is this: What has God said about the trials that will come and do we trust and believe Him enough to turn to Him even when we do not understand how He will work it out of our good? It is to James that we now turn our attention to discover what God has said about it. Gods Will for the Christians Life is to Finish Well Gods will for the life of the Christian is to receive the crown of life. What is the crown of life you ask? Ironically, it is a type of victors crown that the Christian will receive after he/she has died. During the Isthmian games a crown in the form of a wreath would be awarded the victor who finished whatever event a Greek male athlete participated in. Like the Olympics of today, only the best of the best would compete after training harder than anything else in their lives in the hope that they could receive the coveted crown. Borrowing language from the games, Paul wrote of the Christian life: Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. So they do it to obtain a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. Therefore I run in such a way as not to run aimlessly; I box in such a way, as to avoid hitting air; but I strictly discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified (1 Cor 9:2527). Just before he was executed, Paul wrote to Timothy: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing (2 Tim. 4:7-8). The crown of life is eternal life with Jesus. At first glance, it sounds like James is telling us that in order to receive the crown of life, we have got to dig deep and persevere. This makes our salvation sound like we have to work for our salvation. This is not what James is saying at all, and we know this because of verse 18, which states: In the exercise of His will He gave us birth by the word of truth... The word of truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ that saves. It is of this gospel that Paul wrote in Romans, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes... (Rom. 1:16). It was because of Gods will that we went from spiritual death to spiritual life, and the evidence that we are now spiritually alive is with the life we are living today. Listen to what Jesus said in John 1:12-13, But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. In John 10:16, Jesus said that the evidence of those who belong to Him is in how they respond to Him: And I have other sheep that are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice; and they will become one flock, with one shepherd (John 10:16). So here is the rub that is very important that you not only hear me say, but that you take it to heart. The one who perseveres to the end... even under and through various trials, is the one who was truly born again when they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ; it was in the moment that you were born again that you went from being spiritually dead to being alive with Christ! The crown of life is given not based on your merit, but because of your relationship with Jesus. It was His sinless life, His sacrificial death, and His victory over death that secured, secures, and will secure your salvation. The crown of life is awarded on the basis of your relationship with Jesus with the understanding that His merit is all that you need! The crown of life is not given to those who have good intentions, it is not given to those who are religious, it is not given because of some prayer you said, it is not given because you started out well, for it is given because you have been born again! Here is what the apostle John said of those who do not persevere until the end: They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be evident that they all are not of us (1 John 2:19). If you are wondering how you can know that you belong to Jesus and that you are indeed born again, James provides us with four words: ...those who love Him. The evidence that you have been born again besides the fact that you will persevere under trial, is that you love Him. This is why Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed (1 Cor. 16:22). If you have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and have been born again as a result, you will love Jesus... which is evidence that God first loved you (1 John 4:9-19). Now, when it comes to the trials in life (v. 12) and the temptation(s) we all face, what purpose do they serve in the Christian life? James seems to indicate that trials are both allowed and designed by God while temptation comes from within and is used by the devil and his demons. What you cannot see in your English Bible is that the root of the Greek word for trial (peirasmos) and the root for temptation (peirazō) comes from the same Greek root and both words can be translated test or tempt. Trials are Designed by God to Ultimately Bless the Christian (vv. 12-13) So how do we make sense of these verses? Permit me to offer you an alternate translation of verse 13 that I think will open these verses up for you in a way that ought to help. Here is what I think is a better and more helpful way to translate James 1:13, No one is to say when he is tested, I am being tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. How do we know that God does not tempt us? We know because He is a God of love, we know because He is good, and we know because He is holy! Because God is infinitely good, James states in verse 17, Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. Not only is God good, but because He is God, He has not, does not, and will not change. Because God is good, every trial that God brings or allows into your life is designed to strengthen your faith... not destroy your it. This is why James can say in verse 12 that when the trials do come, you can receive them knowing that such trials will ultimately serve for your blessing. How do I know that? For starters, it is the pattern we see with God in the way that He has always dealt with His people. Consider Abraham as one example of how God will use and bring trials into the lives of His people to do the kind of thing that needs to happen in the life of the one who belongs to Him. After Issac was born and old enough to know better, God told Abraham to take his only son and to offer him as a burnt offering (Gen. 22). What was the purpose of the testing? For starters, to show Abraham that his identity was not to be found in the son he and Sarah had longed for and prayed for their entire lives. Did God make Abraham go through with the slaughtering of his only son? Nope. Abraham would have done it, but God stopped him and then said to him: For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me (v. 12). For most of Abrahams life, he struggled to trust God. All throughout Abrahams life God used the various trials in Abraham and Sarahs lives that God brought, allowed, and even the trials Abraham brought upon himself to temper his faith to the point that by the time we come to Genesis 22, he knew he could trust God even when doing so did not make sense, such as Gods instructions to sacrifice Isaac. How do I know this, besides the fact that Abraham was so committed to obeying God that God had to stop him from following through with sacrificing Isaac? Here is how I know: When Abraham, Isaac, and his servants arrived at the mountain where Abraham was to follow through with Gods instructions, Abraham said to his servants something that reveals that something had changed in his heart; here is what he said: Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there; and we will worship and return to you (Gen. 22:5). God told him to sacrifice Isaac, and the reason why Abraham was willing to go through with it was because over the years God was tempering Abrahams faith to the point that he knew God well enough to know that the God who told him to kill his son was both good and able to raise the dead. Abrahams action was the evidence that his faith in God was not just lip service (see Jas. 2:20-23). Temptation to Sin Comes from Within and Is Used by Satan to Destroy the Christian When the trials come, the primary danger we face in such moments is from within. Suffering can serve as a catalyst to deepen your relationship with God, or it can cause you to doubt the wisdom, goodness, and sovereignty of God. To be tempted is not sin, but it is what you do with the temptation. Notice what James says in verses 14-15, But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death (Jas. 1:1415). God does not tempt, but He does test. His testing often comes in the form of trials that serve to temper our faith for the purpose of making it stronger. Sin comes from within us, and whatever forms the temptation is that we are faced gives birth to sin when we are carried away and enticed by our own sin nature. Facing the temptation is not the sin, but giving into the temptation is. James tells us that when temptation comes (and it will), the downward progression leading to the act of sinning begins with a decision that involves both the mind and the heart. Giving into the temptation to sin begins when you decide to dwell on the temptation instead of run from it. The next step is to be carried away and enticed by your own lust (this is when both your heart and mind are lured by your own lust). Our lust comes from the sin nature that is within all of us, and when left unchecked... it gives birth to sin. Robert Plummer put it this way in his commentary on James: ...just as conception leads naturally to childbirth, giving free rein to sinful inclinations naturally results in discrete moral transgressions. Just as water runs downhill, so evil desire, if allowed to pursue its gravitational inclination, runs down into sinful activity.[2] Where does unchecked sin inevitably lead? It leads to death. Listen, most of the temptation we face comes by way of our own doing because of our own lustful desires. The devil is just one person and can only be at one place at a time. His demons are many, but they are also limited by their number and ability. However, Satan is also known as the Tempter for a reason. He is real and he wants to use temptation as a way to destroy your faith. The greater threat you face through is not the devil but your own heart and passions. To follow your passion is horrible advice if it is not tethered to the will of God for your life that you can only know and discern through His word and prayer. Conclusion Every time Abraham trusted his own heart or caved to his own fears, he was carried away and enticed by his own lust. The same can be said about Adam and Eve, the Hebrews in the wilderness, King David, and every other person we read about in the Bible. It wasnt until Abraham trusted in a good and sovereign God to lead him that he experienced the blessing God wanted for him. For Abraham, that blessing did not come when he wanted, but arrived when God knew Abraham was ready for it. All sin comes by way of trusting what you think is right, instead of believing God and trusting Him for what He has declared is right. So, how do we face the trials of life and at the same time resist the temptation to sin? James offers us some help in verses 16-17. Dont be deceived. Instead of trusting in what you desire, trust in the goodness of God and what He had declared to be good. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above... (v. 17a), so trust the One who is good and wants good for you. Focus on Gods unchanging character instead of your desires. James tells us that all that is good comes from, the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow (v. 17b). We change all the time, our emotions ebb and flow, what we think is right one day may change the next day, but God does not change!His character remains the same. Instead of being carried away by your sin, turn to the God who does not change and trust Him. Trust Gods Word. It is because of His word that you have been born again when you heard the gospel. Tony Evens put it this way: For many, the Bible is like the queen of England. Its held in high esteem but wields no power over them personally. What Scripture accomplished for your salvation, though, it can accomplish for your sanctification.[3] When faced by temptation, Jesus used the Word of God to combat the devil; you can and ought to do the same. Know that God loves you. God called you by the word of truth, and He did it because He loves you. According to James 1:18, God gave you a new birth for the purpose of being His first fruits among His creatures. God instructed His people to give the first fruits of their possessions back to Him; for the Hebrew people, the first fruits were the best and first from their harvest. To be Gods first fruits among His creatures means that you are loved and treasured by Him! What He is doing in your life today, is for the purpose of something greater tomorrow that will ultimately lead to your sanctification and then glorification as His son/daughter. His no from His Word is for your good, your joy, and ultimately your thriving. [1] John Piper, The Hidden Smile of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books; 2001), 65. [2] Robert L. Plummer, James, in HebrewsRevelation, ed. Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, vol. XII, ESV Expository Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018), 234. [3] Tony Evans, The Tony Evans Bible Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019), 1339.
On July 13, 1985 the world experienced a television super concert that has never been replicated. Live Aid was a famine relief effort for Africa, which began with a Bob Geldof song and a "Feed The World" mantra that returns every Christmas. On the 40th Anniversary of a day made famous by so many bands and artists over the years, Nestor gathered his two brotherly pals, Richard and David Abrahams, who traveled to London to see the show at Wembley Stadium while he was in Philadelphia at JFK Stadium, writing a long-forgotten review of the concert that was unearthed. Let them share memories and show and tell pictures and mementos of their experiences four decades later... The post On the 40th Anniversary of Live Aid, lifer Nestor pals David and Richard Abrahams compare Wembley and JFK Philly notes and memories first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.
Wednesday night 7/16/25 - We are continuing our verse by verse study through the book of Genesis - The title of tonight's message is "Lot's Drunkenness and Abrahams Fear" - Genesis 19:30-38, 20:1-18 - Pastor James Eakins
durée : 00:54:51 - Blockbusters - par : Frédérick Sigrist - Le cinéma ZAZ, du nom des producteurs Zucker, Abrahams et Zucker, s'est fait connaître en parodiant les films à succès. De Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ? à Hotshots en passant par la série Police Squad, ils sont devenus des objets cultes qui ont fait rire des générations entières de spectateurs. Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les autres épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France.
durée : 00:54:51 - Blockbusters - par : Frédérick Sigrist - Le cinéma ZAZ, du nom des producteurs Zucker, Abrahams et Zucker, s'est fait connaître en parodiant les films à succès. De Y a-t-il un pilote dans l'avion ? à Hotshots en passant par la série Police Squad, ils sont devenus des objets cultes qui ont fait rire des générations entières de spectateurs. Vous aimez ce podcast ? Pour écouter tous les autres épisodes sans limite, rendez-vous sur Radio France.
If/Then: Research findings to help us navigate complex issues in business, leadership, and society
This week on If/Then, we're sharing an episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, a podcast hosted by Stanford Graduate School of Business lecturer and friend of the show, Matt Abrahams.How do you communicate with others when you're confused yourself? For fellow GSB lecturer Rob Siegel, leadership isn't about avoiding uncertainty: it's about embracing the clarity that ambiguity can bring.In his latest book, “The Systems Leader: Mastering the Cross Pressures That Make or Break Today's Companies,” Siegel explores how leaders today are “living in dualities,” caught between managing existing processes and adapting to emerging disruptions. “The sooner we get comfortable with [change] in the sense of ‘I don't have to like it, but I can deal with it,' then [we can] lead our teams and give them the calm to know they can get through this.”On this episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, Siegel and Abrahams explore how to communicate effectively amid constant change. From preparation strategies for spontaneous speaking to building trust through candid conversations, you'll hear practical tips for communicating with clarity when nothing is certain but change.More Resources:Rob Siegel, faculty profileMatt Abrahams, faculty profileThink Fast Talk Smart If/Then is a podcast from Stanford Graduate School of Business that examines research findings that can help us navigate the complex issues we face in business, leadership, and society. For a full transcript of this episode, visit our podcast's website.Chapters: (00:00:00) IntroductionKevin Cool previews season three and introduces a featured episode from Think Fast Talk Smart.(00:00:40) Introduction to Rob SiegelMatt Abrahams welcomes Rob Siegel and introduces his new book The Systems Leader.(00:01:34) Teaching in a Time of ChaosRob explains how his course on systems leadership evolved amid global uncertainty and AI disruption.(00:02:39) Frameworks for Modern LeadershipRob outlines key leadership frameworks, including five cross pressures from his book.(00:04:01) Communication's Role in LeadershipThey discuss how facts, context, and communication help leaders navigate uncertainty.(00:06:18) Balancing Innovation and ExecutionThe conversation turns to managing the tension between creative innovation and operational goals.(00:08:00) Leading Through AmbiguityThey explore how leaders can embrace ambiguity as a normal, strategic part of leadership.(00:09:41) Navigating Short- vs Long-Term ThinkingRob breaks down how leaders balance quarterly goals with long-term planning and vision.(00:12:32) Strength and Empathy in LeadershipMatt and Rob examine how leaders can balance warmth and strength in team relationships.(00:16:03) How to Keep Students EngagedRob shares his best practices for engaging students through preparation, spontaneity, and challenge.(00:18:55) Building Trust Through Genuine CareThey reflect on the role of genuine interest in others as a foundation for trust and communication.(00:21:35) Communication Role Models and RecipesRob names Irv Beck as a communicator he admires and shares his top three ingredients for great communication.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Scott Sholder is co-chair of the Litigation Group at Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, one of the premier law firms in media and entertainment. A frequent writer and speaker on copyright and trademark issues, Scott has been recognized by Variety as “a thought leader in the artificial intelligence space as it relates to entertainment.” He was also featured in The Hollywood Reporter's 2024 “Power Lawyers” list. In addition to litigating on behalf of clients across the entertainment and media industries on copyright matters, Scott is representing world famous authors in a copyright class action litigation concerning the unauthorized use of literary works for generative AI “training.” He is the chair of the Copyright & Literary Property Committee A.I. Subcommittee whose mission is to keep tabs and stay current on the latest developments at the intersection of copyright law and generative A.I. Presented by the New York City Bar Copyright and Literary Property Committee and hosted by Theodora Fleurant and Jose Landivar, we discuss the latest developments in copyright law and artificial intelligence, discuss how taekwondo and power metal have shaped Scott's practice, and what it takes to be a high-performing litigator in 2025. (The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast belong solely to the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect those of any organizations, employers, or affiliates they may be associated with. This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to provide legal or professional advice.) Selected Links from the Episode: New York City Copyright & Literary Property Committee: https://www.nycbar.org/committees/copyright-literary-property-committee Copyright Claims Board: https://ccb.gov/ Red Rising by Pierce Brown: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Rising-Pierce-Brown/dp/034553980X Ghost, “Mary On A Cross”: https://open.spotify.com/track/2wBnZdVWa5jVpvYRfGU7rP?si=511c7ba7d3df4e21 Unleash the Archers,”Northwest Passage” https://open.spotify.com/track/3Fiz4tFoVBosOUm2uMgdlL?si=8af4660100604e89
Galaten (5 minuten) In Paulus' tijd was Galatië een regio in Klein-Azië, grofweg het huidige Turkije. Een interessant weetje is dat hier veel Galliërs woonden die enkele eeuwen daarvoor, vanuit wat nu Frankrijk is, waren verhuisd. Uiteindelijk veroverden de Romeinen deze regio. Paulus stichtte kerken in enkele grote steden in het zuiden van Galatië: Antiochië, Ikonium, Lystra en Derbe. Je kunt hierover lezen in Handelingen 13 en 14. De brief die wij ‘Galaten' noemen, is gericht aan de kerken in de hele regio. En hij is niet mals. We hadden natuurlijk in Handelingen al gezien dat er veel strijd was tussen de Joodse en de niet-Joodse volgelingen van Jezus. Het ging dan om de vraag of de wetten en voorschriften uit het Oude Testament moesten worden nageleefd. De Joden hielden zich nog steeds aan de gebruiken en wilden dat de niet-Joden dat ook gingen doen. De ‘wet' hoorde er gewoon bij en wilde je bij Gods familie horen, dan moest je je daaraan houden. Paulus teleurgesteld Het ging zelfs zover dat deze Joodse christenen hun niet-Joodse broeders wilden dwingen zich te laten besnijden. Velen ondergingen deze pijnlijke operatie. Toen Paulus dit hoorde, was hij zwaar teleurgesteld en gefrustreerd. Hij schreef daarom deze brief, waarschijnlijk kort na het jaar 49. Hij vermeldt namelijk de Jeruzalem-conferentie waarin de kerkleiders met elkaar discussieerden over de wet en deze bijeenkomst vond waarschijnlijk plaats in 49. Het zit Paulus hoog dat de christenen in Galatië de lijn hebben gekozen dat mensen zich nog steeds aan de wet moeten houden om te worden gered. Dat is een verdraaiing van het evangelie. Jezus redt, niet de Wet. Twee dingen vallen op in deze brief. Ten eerste dat Paulus geen positief woord over heeft voor de christenen en ten tweede dat deze brief heel erg lijkt op de brief aan de Romeinen, die Paulus een jaar of tien later zou schrijven. Dezelfde thema's komen aan bod, al is de brief voor de gelovigen in Rome een stuk positiever. Samenvatting van het goede nieuws Paulus geeft eerst een samenvatting van het goede nieuws en vertelt hoe God hem heeft gered, terwijl hij nota bene de christenen vervolgde. God koos hem uit om het evangelie aan de niet-Joden te vertellen. Na zijn bekering op de weg naar Damascus bracht Paulus drie jaar door in Arabië, het huidige Jordanië. Pas daarna bezocht Paulus Jeruzalem, waar hij sprak met ‘Kefas'. Kefas is een andere naam voor Petrus. Vervolgens ging Paulus evangeliseren onder de heidenen en hij kwam pas veertien jaar later terug in Jeruzalem. Hij sprak daar met de leiders van de kerk en vertelde hun dat in de kerken die hij had gesticht, de niet-Joden zich niet hoefden te laten besnijden. De kerkleiders in Jeruzalem waren het met hem eens. Toch kwam het enige tijd later tot een confrontatie met Petrus. Want toen Petrus op bezoek ging in Antiochië, ging hij opeens alleen met de Joden eten, en niet met de niet-Joodse kerkleden. Paulus riep hem openlijk ter verantwoording en Petrus verontschuldigde zich. (Die arme Petrus. In de evangeliën moet Jezus hem regelmatig corrigeren, nu zoveel jaar later doet Paulus dat.) Paulus vat dit als volgt samen: ‘Hoewel wij Joden van geboorte zijn en geen zondaars uit andere volken, weten we dat niemand als rechtvaardige wordt aangenomen door de wet na te leven, maar door het geloof in Jezus Christus. Ook wij zijn tot geloof in Christus Jezus gekomen om daardoor, en niet door de wet, rechtvaardig te worden, want niemand wordt rechtvaardig door de wet na te leven.' - Galaten 2:15-16 Met ‘rechtvaardig worden' bedoelt hij dat we vrijgemaakt zijn van zonde en dus weer bij God kunnen komen. Je houden aan Gods voorschriften is goed, maar kan je innerlijk niet schoonmaken. In mijn woorden: vergelijk jezelf eens met een spiegel. Door te zondigen, veeg je modder op die spiegel. Door niet te zondigen, wordt de spiegel niet smerig. Maar als de spiegel eenmaal vies is, hoe maak je die dan schoon? Jezus heeft dat gedaan. Als wij in Jezus geloven, wast God ons schoon van die zonden. God ziet de volmaaktheid van Jezus in ons Dat is belangrijk, omdat God volmaakt goed is. Hij kan geen onvolmaaktheid in Zijn nabijheid tolereren, want dan is Hij zelf niet meer volmaakt. Die standaard is voor ons te hoog gegrepen, zoals de wet heeft aangetoond. Door ons vertrouwen op Jezus te stellen, verbinden we ons met Hem. Als God naar ons kijkt, ziet Hij de volmaaktheid van Jezus. In Paulus' woorden: ‘Want ik ben gestorven door de wet en leef niet langer voor de wet, maar voor God. Met Christus ben ik gekruisigd: ikzelf leef niet meer, maar Christus leeft in mij. Mijn leven hier op aarde leef ik in het geloof in de Zoon van God, die mij heeft liefgehad en Zich voor mij heeft prijsgegeven.' - Galaten 2:19-20 Als je gelooft in Jezus, accepteer je het offer dat Hij heeft gebracht. Je bent nu met Hem gekruisigd en gestorven. De dood is de straf voor de zonde. Dus die straf is betaald. Je bent ook met Christus opgestaan. Hij leeft in jou en dus hoef je niet te leven voor de wet maar kun je leven voor God. Vertrouwen maakt rechtvaardig Dit is een bevrijdende waarheid. We hoeven niet te werken om rechtvaardig te worden. We zijn al rechtvaardig, omdat we in Jezus geloven. Dat principe gold trouwens ook al voordat Jezus voor ons stierf. Paulus toont aan dat Abraham vertrouwde op Gods belofte en dat maakte hem rechtvaardig. Iedereen die gelooft in Jezus, is dus een kind van Abraham. Maar iedereen die vertrouwt op de wet is vervloekt, want niemand kan zich daaraan houden. De poorten van het koninkrijk van God staan dus wijd open voor zowel Joden als niet-Joden. Het zijn niet Gods voorschriften die ons toegang verlenen, maar ons geloof in Jezus Christus. Waarom gaf God dan toch de wet? Paulus legt dit in Romeinen uitgebreider uit, maar ook hier laat hij zien dat de rol van de wet is om aan te tonen wat goed en niet goed is. De wet is goed, maar de idealen zijn te hoog gegrepen. Daarom was Jezus' offer nodig. Zijn offer was in eerste instantie bestemd voor Israël, maar zeker ook voor de niet-Joden. Vanuit Israël verspreidt de zegen van God zich over de wereld, precies zoals God duizenden jaren geleden tegen Abraham zei. Abrahams nageslacht zou de aarde zegenen. Hoe dan? In de eerste plaats doordat Jezus een afstammeling is van Abraham en in de tweede plaats doordat het goede nieuws zich vanuit Israël verspreidde over de rest van de wereld. Gods Geest in ons Omdat Jezus voor ons de wet heeft vervuld, hoeven we ons aan veel voorschriften niet meer te houden. Mannen hoeven niet besneden te worden en we mogen vrijwel al het voedsel eten dat de natuur ons te bieden heeft. Maar stelen, overspel plegen, een ander haten, et cetera is natuurlijk nog steeds fout. Met dat soort zonden willen we afreken. Niet omdat de wet dit zegt, maar omdat de Geest van God nu in ons leeft. We proberen de ander lief te hebben zoals we onszelf lief hebben. De vrucht van de Geest is namelijk liefde, vreugde, geduld, vriendelijkheid, goedheid, geloof, zachtmoedigheid en zelfbeheersing. Als we leven door de Geest, worden we liefdevoller, ervaren we vreugde enzovoort. We leven nog steeds in een wereld met tekortkomingen en maken zelf ook fouten, maar het is mogelijk om de Geest ons leven te laten leiden. Hier mogen we wél voor werken. Dan gaan we steeds meer op Jezus lijken. We proberen te stoppen met slechte gewoontes en gedrag dat niet past bij een christen. We werken dus niet voor onze verlossing. Jezus heeft ons al bevrijdt. Wij geloven in Hem, waardoor Gods Geest in ons werkzaam wordt. Daardoor kunnen wij aan onszelf werken en zo worden we de persoon die God in gedachten heeft als Hij aan ons denkt.
Discover how the future of digital commerce is being reshaped by trust and AI in this episode of the Commerce Innovators Podcast. Doriel Abrahams from Forter joins Caleb Ryan to discuss the evolution of Forter from a fraud prevention platform to a comprehensive trust platform. They explore how businesses can maximize customer lifetime value through trust-based environments and the emergence of autonomous commerce. This episode underscores the importance of understanding user legitimacy and behavior to minimize friction and enhance customer experience while tackling the challenges posed by technological advancements. Show Highlights: Exploration of trust as the foundational currency in digital commerce and its impact on consumer loyalty. The role of AI in enhancing consumer interactions and transaction efficiency. The challenges and benefits of distinguishing between beneficial AI agents and harmful bots. The future potential of autonomous commerce and its implications for consumer behavior and merchant strategies. Importance of understanding user legitimacy to reduce false declines and improve customer experiences. How technological advancements are reshaping the e-commerce landscape and trust dynamics. Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review,” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second, and it helps spread the word about the podcast. Supporting Resources: Doriel Abrahams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doriel-abrahams/ Forter: https://www.forter.com/partners/salesforce/ Read the article that sparked this conversation: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-agents-ecommerce-opportunity-fraud-prevention-l0yuc 2024 Forter Trust Premium Report: https://explore.forter.com/2024-trust-premium-report/p/1?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=salesforce&utm_campaign=trust_premiumreport_Q424&utm_term=&utm_content=sftpr24 Connect with Forter at Connections 2025: https://hello.forter.com/salesforce-connections-2025?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=salesforce&utm_campaign=FY25Q2_Salesforce_Connections&utm_term=partnermarketing Attend Forter and Salesforce's Celebrity Chef Dinner at Connections 2025: https://hello.forter.com/salesforce-connections-dinner?utm_source=partner&utm_medium=salesforce&utm_campaign=FY25Q2_Salesforce_Connections_Chef_Dinner&utm_term=commerceinnovators *** Episode Credits If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Emerald City Productions. They helped me grow and produce the podcast you are listening to right now. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com. Let them know I sent you.
Geoffrey Abrahams and Teenola Govender are joint-head chefs at Coy Restaurant in the V&A Waterfront. They are affectionately known as G&T in the kitchens were they've worked, and these include Chefs Warehouse and Mazza. Having first met in the kitchen at Chefs Warehouse Beau Constantia, they are an inseparable, creative kitchen team who blew me away with Mazza at Heritage Square and have quickly established Chef Ryan Cole's Coy venue as a must-visit eatery. We sat down for a chat about their journey as chefs and the triumphant return of the Mazza fire-roasted whole fish which now anchors the Sunday (Sundaze) menu at Coy.COY RestaurantZuney Wagyu online shopRussel Wasserfall Media www.rwm2012.com On Instagram @a_table_inthecorner Cover image sketched by Courtney Cara Lawson All profile portraits by Russel Wasserfall unless otherwise credited Title music: 'In Time' by Olexy via Pixabay
Donnez-moi votre feedback par SMS (mobile uniquement)!Matt Abrahams, professeur à Stanford, a écrit "Think Faster, Talk Smarter" pour aider les gens à mieux communiquer situations sous pression.Cause commune à ces situations difficiles: l'anxiété du résultatPlan de gestion de l'anxiétéAbrahams propose de créer un plan personnalisé de gestion de l'anxiété :Identifier les symptômes : Reconnaître les signes physiques et émotionnels de l'anxiété, comme la transpiration, le rythme cardiaque accéléré, ou les pensées négatives.Identifier les situations: Reconnaître les moments pendant lesquels vous êtes potentiellement en danger.Préparation mentale : Se préparer mentalement en se concentrant sur les aspects positifs de la situation et en se rappelant des succès passés.Pratique régulière : S'entraîner régulièrement à parler en public ou à participer à des discussions spontanées pour réduire l'anxiété au fil du temps.Techniques de relaxation : Utiliser des techniques comme la respiration profonde, la méditation, ou la visualisation pour calmer le corps et l'esprit.Importance de l'écouteL'écoute est cruciale pour une communication spontanée efficace.Prendre le temps d'écouter : Avant de répondre, il est important de bien comprendre ce que l'autre personne dit. Cela permet de formuler une réponse plus pertinente et réfléchie… et de gagner du temps.Poser des questions pertinentes: Avoir plus d'informations permet de mieux cibler la réponse.Ralentir le rythme : Ne pas se précipiter pour répondre. Prendre quelques secondes pour réfléchir avant de parler peut améliorer la qualité de la réponse.Focus dans la communicationÊtre concis et clair est essentiel. Il faut se concentrer sur ce qui est pertinent pour l'audience et structurer ses propos.Se concentrer sur l'essentiel : Éviter les digressions et se concentrer sur les points les plus importants pour l'audience.Structurer ses propos : Utiliser une structure claire comme Introduction, Développement, ConclusionProblème, solution, bénéficeAvant, Après, Pourquoi, CommentUtiliser un langage simple : Éviter le jargon et les termes complexes qui pourraient rendre le message difficile à comprendre.Adapter le message à l'audience : Tenir compte des connaissances et des attentes de l'audience pour rendre le message plus pertinent et engageant. Points essentielsFocalisez-vous sur le présent, ce qui se passe là maintenantCréez Pace + Space : adoptez un rythme plus lent, délimitez un espace-temps favorable à l'écoute Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-on-books/author-talks-how-to-speak-confidently-when-youre-put-on-the-spot Accès gratuit à toutes nos ressources: www.coapta.ch/campusAccès aux archives du podcast: www.coapta.ch/podcast© COAPTA SàrlTous les épisodes disponibles sur www.coapta.ch/podcast ou sur votre plateforme préférée (Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts); cherchez "Leadershift" ou "Vincent Musolino" Faites partie de notre communauté sur le Discord officiel COAPTA!
Prepare for silliness! This week on Cocktails & Classics, we're diving deep into the hilarious 1984 Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker masterpiece, "Top Secret!" Join us as we unravel the layers of absurdity, from singing cowboys to underwater bar fights and everything in between. We'll discuss Val Kilmer's comedic brilliance, the film's genius parody of spy movies and musicals, and its lasting impact on comedy. Feeling goofy? Craft a classic cocktail while you listen! Don't miss this episode for a laugh-out-loud exploration of a truly unique cinematic experience, fueled by classic cocktails and hilarious discussions.Topics: * The Smartest Dumb Movie: We take a look at the signature comedic style of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, including rapid-fire jokes, visual gags, and breaking the fourth wall. * Val Kilmer's Comedy Chops: We're blown away by Val Kilmer's surprisingly hilarious performance in his early career. * Spoofing Genres: Explore the film's clever parodies of spy movies, Elvis musicals, and even World War II films. * The Absurdity (and lack) of the Plot: Dive into the nonsensical and constantly shifting plot of "Top Secret!" As Dylan tries to recall what happens in the film. * Iconic Gags and Lines: We go over some of our favorite gags and quotes, and even some of the more off the wall bits. * Spoof Comedy Draft: We take turns choosing our favorite spoof comedies. What ones did we miss? What's your favorite absurd comedy? Share your thoughts on "Top Secret!" and your funniest movie moments on Instagram! Don't forget to share the laughs by sharing this episode with your friends and family, subscribe and leave a rating wherever you listen!
Ever wonder what it really takes to make a podcast about fraud? Join Jordan as he sits down with Doriel Abrahams from "What the Fraud?!" and Forter! They're not just talking about catching bad guys; they're spilling the beans on the wild ride of producing content. From unexpected challenges to the gear that makes it happen (think fancy mics and learning audio the hard way!), they're sharing their behind-the-scenes secrets. Get ready for laughs, honest talk about the podcasting hustle, and a slightly terrifying prediction about the future of ID verification! Tune in to hear how these two navigate the world of fraud, one episode at a time. A special thank you to our sponsor, Disputed (www.disputed.ai)! Their innovative solutions are helping businesses fight chargebacks more intelligently and we appreciate their partnership in bringing this episode to you. Please give their site a visit and checkout their awesome solution!
Zur christlichen Religion gehört der Glaube an ein Leben nach dem Tod. Aber gibt es eine Art Leben vor dem Leben?
Generational differences in the workplace have never been more important to understand. With five generations working side by side, leaders and professionals must navigate diverse communication styles, values, and expectations to foster strong, high-performing teams.In this episode, you'll learn more about how generational diversity can be a powerful asset when approached with empathy and strategy. Our host and CEO Porschia, alongside our guest, Taryn Abrahams, share insight on how to address generational stereotypes, reduce team conflict, and enhance collaboration across age groups.They also explore how to build a more inclusive company culture that meets the shared needs of all employees, including respect, trust, and psychological safety, regardless of age. The conversation provides clear steps for leaders who want to lead with intention and improve team dynamics by embracing generational understanding.Click here for full show notes and to learn more: Check out the free master class Career 911: Solving the Top 5 Challenges Executives and Professionals Have: https://fly-high-coaching.thinkific.com/courses/Career%20911%20Master%20Class!
This live Q&A with host Matt Abrahams celebrates 200 episodes of Think Fast, Talk Smart.In an age of endless content and information, how do we ensure our communication cuts through the noise? Across 200 episodes of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams has discovered four essential ingredients that help messages rise above the chatter: concision, relevance, accessibility, and precision.“Attention is our most precious commodity in the world today, and we need to make sure that we engage our audience so we get their attention,” says Abrahams in this special 200th episode. How do we capture and keep that attention? As he's explored with guests throughout the show, effective and engaging communication — from all kinds of people and in all kinds of places — is concise, relevant, accessible, and precise.In this special 200th episode of Think Fast, Talk Smart, host Matt Abrahams shares insights gleaned from hundreds of conversations with communication experts, followed by a live Q&A with listeners from around the world. From crafting compelling elevator pitches to managing speaking anxiety, this celebration episode offers practical advice for focused communication that is sure to be the focus of your audience's attention.Episode Reference Links:Jenny Luna Ep.78 Three Guiding Principles for Successful Communication Connect:Premium Signup >>>> Think Fast Talk Smart PremiumEmail Questions & Feedback >>> hello@fastersmarter.ioEpisode Transcripts >>> Think Fast Talk Smart WebsiteNewsletter Signup + English Language Learning >>> FasterSmarter.ioThink Fast Talk Smart >>> LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTubeMatt Abrahams >>> LinkedInChapters:(00:00) - Introduction (04:30) - Concision in Effective Messaging (07:42) - Make Your Message Relevant (13:34) - Ensuring Accessibility (17:46) - The Importance of Precision (24:35) - Craft an Impactful Elevator Pitch (28:23) - Build a Stronger Vocabulary (30:19) - Communicating Numbers and Data (32:48) - Responding When Caught Off Guard (34:47) - Confidence for Speaking and Presenting (37:45) - Steering Conversations Back on Track (40:18) - Dream Podcast Guest (41:19) - What's Coming Next (42:59) - Conclusion *****Stay Informed on Stanford's world changing research by signing up for the Stanford ReportSupport Think Fast Talk Smart by joining TFTS Premium.
Chaque année, depuis 1991, des prix sont remis par des lauréats de prix Nobel à des chercheurs qui ont fait des recherches le plus sérieusement du monde sur des sujets le plus souvent scientifiques, mais pas que... PRÉCISION: 7:03 Jacques Chirac en 1996 président de la République en était à la première fois. Merci à un fidèle abonné qui a noté l'imprécision. (@erictisserand2135) Script: Françoise Dulong et Laurent Turcot Adhérez à cette chaîne pour obtenir des avantages : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN4TCCaX-gqBNkrUqXdgGRA/join Pour soutenir la chaîne, au choix: 1. Cliquez sur le bouton « Adhérer » sous la vidéo. 2. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/hndl Musique issue du site : epidemicsound.com Images provenant de https://www.storyblocks.com Abonnez-vous à la chaine: https://www.youtube.com/c/LHistoirenousledira Les vidéos sont utilisées à des fins éducatives selon l'article 107 du Copyright Act de 1976 sur le Fair-Use. Sources et pour aller plus loin: Les prix IGNOBEL, la science qui fait rire et réfléchir, marc Abrahams, Éditions Orion, Londres, 2002 Improbable research www.improbable.com Les prix Ig-Nobel, Le double tranchant de l'humour scientifique, Yves Gingras et Lionel Vérin, p.66 à 71 https://shs.cairn.info/revue-actes-de-la-recherche-en-sciences-sociales-2002-1-page-66?lang=fr “The Ig Nobel Prizes” de Marc Abrahams Christophe, 26 avril 2008 https://www.coindeweb.net/blogsanssujetprecis/index.php?post/2008/04/26/503-the-ig-nobel-prizes-de-marc-abrahams Best of des IG Nobels… de médecine24 novembre 2014 par La rédaction dans Insolite http://www.techniques-ingenieur.fr/actualite/articles/best-of-des-ig-nobels-de-medecine-2813/ Measurement and quantification of cadaveric nasal hairs Christine T. Pham MD, Kiana Hashemi BS, Bobak Hedayati MD, Ella Csuka BS, Arash Babadjouni BA, MSc, Tiana Mamaghani BS, Jamie Wikenheiser PhD, Margit Juhasz MD, MSc, Natasha Atanaskova Mesinkovska MD, PHD , 12 October 2021 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijd.15921 le prix IG-Nobel 2024 sur la chaîne « le pointGenius » https://youtu.be/MZ02hsi9GDQ?si=h-aPU9mrDbDpNgpu Épisode 47 - Gaffes, hasards et Nobel du bizarre, 8 Feb 2025 https://baladoquebec.ca/petites-obsessions/episode-47-gaffes-hasards-et-nobel-du-bizarre Autres références disponibles sur demande. #histoire #documentaire #nobelprize #ignobel #scienceexperiments
In this conversation, Dan Abrahams, a seasoned sports psychologist, shares his extensive experience in sports psychology, particularly in golf, F1 and football. He discusses the critical role of mental activation in performance, the impact of personality traits on athletes, and the importance of fostering a high-performance mindset. Dan emphasises the need for sports psychologists to be integrated into coaching teams and the challenges faced in promoting the psychological aspects of sports. Dan Abrahams discusses the critical role of sports psychology in coaching, emphasising the importance of mental health and player engagement. He introduces his 'Game Face' technique, which helps players focus on their performance by adopting a specific mindset. The discussion also covers strategies for weight loss and the psychological aspects behind it, as well as the evolving landscape of coaching styles, contrasting old school and new school approaches. Abrahams shares insights on how coaches can adapt to better connect with players and enhance their performance. Check out Dan's books on Amazon and where you get your books from Soccer Tough and Soccer Brain Follow him on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/dan-abrahams-b72a306?utm_source=shareutm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=andriod_app Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/footballdroppodcast/ Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FootballDropPodcast/ Follow us on X (Twitter) https://twitter.com/footballdroppod Watch us on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/ @footballdroppodcast Got a story or something entertaining? Email us footballdroppodcast@hotmail.com #DropThePod #premierleague #football #soccer If you like FPL, then make sure you join our FDP League: https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/bu02tp Book your weekend football trip now with Mystery Away Days: https://mysteryawaydays.co.uk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Garth Heckman The David Alliance TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com 19) A. The Three Visitors: Three men appear to Abraham near the oaks of Mamre. They announce that Sarah will have a son. Sarah laughs at the announcement. NOT MUCH IS SAID OF SARAHS FAITH… SHE ACTUALLY HAS NO FAITH OF HER OWN! B. Isaac's Birth: Sarah conceives and bears Isaac. Abraham is 100 years old. She is a woman full of doubt… BUT GOD HONORS HIS WORD SARAH She is a woman full of doubt. GOD CAN MOVE ANYWAY! Faith feeds the invisible (so does fear) Hebrews 11:11 By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. v. 11 A dative of accompaniment She received faith… i.e. by faith of Abraham she received the gift of a son. It was not Sarahs faith it was Abrahams faith that got her pregnant. You don't have to believe… I will believe for you! YOUR SPOUSE DOES NOT HAVE TO BELIEVE YOUR PARENTS, YOUR KIDS, YOUR PASTOR YOUR BOSS - IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU BELIEVE!
Garth Heckman The David Alliance TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com Abe is the father of our faith Galatians 3:6 In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God. 8 What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would make the Gentiles right in his sight because of their faith. God proclaimed this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So all who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith. Detailed outline of Abraham's life as described in the Bible, primarily in the Book of Genesis: I. Early Life and Call (Genesis 11:26-12:9) C. The Divine Call: God commands Abram to leave his country, His family, and father's house. *God must have shown up in a major way for Abraham to just leave. He was the father of our Faith. He practiced great faith with no history or foundation in who God was. 7 promises give to Abraham by God -1 I will make your descendants/nation a great nation AND HE PROMISES HIM TO BE A GREAT NATION… NATIONS ARE DEFINED BY A PEOPLE WHO SHARE A HISTORY, HAVE TERRITORIAL BOUNDARIES, and led by one government. -2 I will bless you -3 I will make your name great -4 I will make you a blessing to others -5 I will bless those that bless you -6 I will curse those who curse you -7 Through you people from every nation on the earth will be blessed. Abrahams father died in Haran…. And now… D. Journey to Canaan: Abram, Sarai, and Lot depart from Haran. Abram is 75 years old. They travel to Shechem in Canaan. God appears to Abram, promising the land to his offspring. Abram builds an altar to the Lord. Abram moves to Bethel and then continues to the Negev. II. Sojourn in Egypt and Return (Genesis 12:10-13:18)
In verschiedenen Radiobotschaften habe ich in der letzten Zeit über das Glaubensleben des Abraham berichtet. Heute möchte ich aus 1. Mose 22 einige Gedanken weitergeben, die uns allen zur Hilfe in unserem Glaubensleben werden möchten. Es heißt dort:" Nach diesen Geschichten versuchte Gott Abraham."
Join us for a fascinating episode as we delve into the ancient secrets and mysteries of British history with the brilliant Marchell Abrahams!
British photographer Mike Abrahams has worked as a freelance photographer for over 40 years having become renowned for his sensitive eye in documenting the lives of ordinary people often in extraordinary situations.In 1981 he was a cofounder of Network Photographers the Internationally renowned picture agency and his work has taken him around the world. His photographs have been published in all the major international news media. In 2024, Mike's much anticipated book This Was Then, was published by Bluecoat Press and has been described as a lyrical portrait of humanity in adverse circumstances. It features photographs taken from 1973 to 2001 in cities from Liverpool to Glasgow. Blackburn to Bradford, Northern Ireland to the coalfields of Kent and London.Mike's work on Faith - A Journey with Those Who Believe, published in 2000, was the culmination of five years work, documenting the extremes and passion of Christian devotion throughout fourteen countries. Awards for this work included the World Press Photo Award in 2000, and the book Faith designed by Browns, was a finalist in the Design Week - Editorial Design: Books. It has been widely exhibited throughout the UK and Europe.Colin Jacobson, picture editor of The Independent Magazine, described Mike's body of work from the conflict in Northern Ireland and published in the book Still War, in 1989 as "Documentary photography at its best - imaginative, comprehensive, confident and concerned". His coverage of the troubles in Northern Ireland was the subjects of a Television documentary Moving Stills.Other important assignments have included coverage of the division of Cyprus, Migrant labour in Southern Africa, the Intifada in the Occupied Territories, the Berlin Wall, the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, the rise in the influence of the religious in Israeli politics, the Cult of Assad in Syria, Northern Ireland and documenting Another Britain. In episode 251, Mike discusses, among other things:Discovering the darkroom at 12Growing up in post-war LiverpoolThe infamous Toxteth Riots of the early 80sNetwork Photographers agencyThe story of the IRA bombingHis interest in religious ceremonyGoing back to his archive of British work for the new book, This Was ThenThe impetus behind itThe sustainability of of a long-term careerPersonal work that he is still doingReferenced:Eugene SmithDavid Douglas DuncanLarry BurrowsTim PageNetwork PhotographersJohn SturrockMike GoldwaterJudah PassowChris DaviesLaurie SparhamSteve BenbowMartin SlavinBarry LewisRed SaundersSid SheltonRoger HutchinsChris KillipDaniel MeadowsPeter MarlowPeter Van AgtmaelWebsite | Instagram“You can go here, there and everywhere, and I have travelled a lot and it's been interesting and fascinating, but you're always the outsider coming in. You don't really know the story. It's glamorous, it's exotic, it's fascinating, but I think it's much harder to photograph your home turf. You come to it with quite an honest perspective. It's the land you're living in, you're conscious of the differences in the country between the north, south, east and west, the regions… it's kind of embedded in you, the differences.” Become a full tier 1 member here to access exclusive additional subscriber-only content and the full archive of previous episodes for £5 per month.For the tier 2 archive-only membership, to access the full library of past episodes for £3 per month, go here.Subscribe to my weekly newsletter here for everything A Small Voice related and much more besides.Follow me on Instagram here.Build Yourself a Squarespace Website video course here.
I have officiated dozens of funerals over the years as a pastor, which means that I was involved in the planning of the service, the delivery of a sermon, and some form of committal service involving the burial of the deceaseds body or placement of the ashes of those bodies that were cremated. The first funeral I officiated was that of my 47-year-old father and since I have been responsible for burying people of all ages as young as grade school to the oldest who was 101 years old. I have been asked to memorialize people from all walks of life, many of whom loved and walked with Jesus as fellow Christians and some who were not Christian. The one thing that every one of the funerals and memorial services I officiated have in common is that every family and friend of the diseased who asked me to officiate the service of their loved one believed and articulated their belief that he/she was in a better place. Just as the old spiritual is true: Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. So, it is true that we will grope for reasons to believe that our loved ones are in a better place regardless of what they believed or even how they lived. Most people do not want death for anyone they love, and when death does come, we want heaven for those we love. After officiating so many funerals, I had come to the place in my experience as a pastor that I believed that I had experienced just about everything there was to experience related to funerals and grieving family member. I am old enough and have seen enough to know better. I remember Ian Whites family who reached out to Northwest Baptist Church (the first church I served as the Lead Pastor in Colorado). Ian was not a Christian, nor was his family; he was found dead on the front steps of his apartment and was 34 years old. I remember their response when I sat down with them to plan Ians memorial service and their request after I asked if they would like a song or two for those present to sing in honor of Ians life. I expected something like Amazing Grace, but Ians family wanted everyone to sing Free Birdby Lynyrd Skynyrd. I remember a woman who started attending the church I planted in Colorado and the grief she carried with her with the death of her husband. I still remember the Sunday she wanted me to know that her dead husband was with her. In that moment I thought she meant his spirit or memory, but no... I discovered what she meant when she opened her purse to show me the urn that contained the ashes of her deceased husband. She brought the urn with her every Sunday she came, and I believe that she even sat her husbands urn on the chair next to her. I guess for this woman, the better place for her husband was in her purse. How do you know if a person who has died is really in a better place? What evidence does one have to make such a claim? What Happens After We Die? One of the things I say at every funeral is that when we die, we will experience the immediate judgment we are warned about throughout the Bible. In Hebrews 9:27-28, we have one such warning: And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. But what kind of judgment are we destined to face? To begin, you need to know that there are two types of judgment every human will face, the first has to do with where our disembodied soul must go, which is temporary. The second judgment we will all face is permanent. For the Christian, the day that you die will be the moment you will be in the presence of Jesus just as we are promised in the Bible: Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lordfor we walk by faith, not by sightbut we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8). Jesus told a parable in the Gospel of Luke about a rich man who lived a life of luxury while ignoring the poor man by the name of Lazarus (not to be confused with Jesus friend who Jesus raised to life in John 11:1ff.). In Jesus parable, both men died; Lazarus soul went to where Abrahams soul dwelled while the rich mans soul went to Hades where he suffered torment. Of Hades, the rich man begged for a drop of water to ease his torment because, his words: I am in agony in this flame (see Luke 16:19-31). Before Jesus told His parable about the rich man and Lazarus, He said this about money: No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (Luke 16:13). The rich man was not in hell because he ignored Lazarus, he was in hell because he loved his money more than God. Had he loved God, he would not have been able to ignore Lazarus. Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about love or heaven, and he did so for a reason. He spoke so much about hell because he came, to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). The reason why Jesus described the distance between the rich man in hell and Lazarus in heaven as a great chasm is because hell is the place where those are sent who, will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Thess. 1:9). Jesus described the place the rich man went to immediately after he died in the following ways: A place of torture (Matt. 18:34), a place where the wicked are cut to pieces (Matt. 24:51), and a place of scourging (Luke 12:47-48), a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 13:42; 24:51; Luke 13:20), and a place of outer darkness (Matt. 22:13; 25:30). Just as there is a new heaven and earth that is promised to the Christian, at the same time there will exist the lake of fire where the devil and his demons will be cast into forever. The lake of fire is described as a place where, ...their worm will not die and their fire will not be extinguished; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind (Isa. 66:24b). In Revelation 20:11-15 we are told of a second judgment that we all will face: Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.... Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. There are only one of two outcomes every person will face the moment of death: eternal life with Jesus that will eventually include a physical resurrection and life on a new and resurrected earth, or eternal death apart from Jesus that will eventually result in eternity in the lake of fire. Neither the lake of fire nor a resurrected life with Jesus on a new earth are temporary, but eternal. So, the question we need to answer is if it is true that every person who dies is in a better place? Jesus Is the Hope of a Better Place There are scores of Bible passages we could have looked at today to discover whether it is true or not that all people eventually go to a better place after they die, but I thought we could settle on Revelation 1:12-18. For me, this is one of the most hopeful and encouraging passages in all the Bible! In verses 12-16, we are given certain details about Jesus to clue us into who He really is. There is a lot packed into these verses that we simply do not have the time to examine, but there are some things that I must show you in order to address the topic of this sermon. Jesus is a Better High Priest First, Jesus is a better priest. Every year, on the Day of Atonement, a high priest would go into the temple in Jerusalem to enter a place called the Holies of Holies to bring a sin offering into the presence of God on behalf of Israel. The high priest would do it with a rope around him just in case he died, and his corpse had to be pulled out due to any sin not yet addressed in his own life before entering. The High Priest wore a long robe and was fitted with a type of belt or sash that was laced with gold. Once a year, every year, the High Priest would act as a representative and advocate for all of Israel. As you know, Jesus died on a cross as the Lamb of God for our sins; when John turned to see the voice that was speaking, He saw Jesus dressed as a High Priest because the sacrifice He made was sufficient to cover all our sins for all time, once and for all. For this reason, Hebrews describes Jesus in the following way: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption (Heb. 9:11-12). Jesus is the Only Sufficient Savior What follows in verses 14-17 are characteristics which reveal why Jesus is sufficient to redeem and save sinners such as us. First, His hair is white like wool and as bright as snow because He is profoundly and divinely wise. Yes, Jesus is fully man, but He is also fully God; Jesus is the Son and at the same time He is the ancient of Days with all the wisdom of eternity (see Dan. 7:9-14). Second, Jesus eyes were like a flame of fire which speak of His ability to see and know all things as God can only do. Third, His feet were like burnished bronze to symbolize His omnipotent strength to judge the nations, crush Satan, and triumph over death as the author and giver of life. Forth, Jesus holds the seven stars that serve as the seven messengers to the churches of which He holds in the palm of His hand; the point is that Jesus is also divinely sovereign. Fifth, out of the mouth of the Savior comes a sharp two-edged sword symbolizing His right to Judge as King of kings and Lord of lords. Sixth, the face of Jesus shines like a powerful sun because of His holiness, majesty, and absolute beauty as One worthy of our worship because He is God. Jesus is presented in Revelation 1:14-16 in the way that He is because of what Adam lost in the garden due to his sin and rebellion; Jesus is the only One qualified to redeem what was lost, for He is the second and greater Adam who is fully man and fully God in one Person. Simply put, because of Adams sin, we are sinners under a curse that God alone is able to sufficiently and completely reverse; Jesus was qualified to do just that! Jesus is the Great I AM The One titled the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8), the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:1-2), and the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16), is the first and the last. Where else have we seen that kind of language: I am the first and the last? I will tell you! We see it in a host of passages, but Isaiah 44:6 will suffice: This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Because He is the first and the last He conquered death because, as the Living One, ...it was impossible for Him to be held in its power (Acts 2:24). When John saw Jesus, he fell at His feet like a dead man, but Jesus declared to him: Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore... John had no reason to fear because Jesus stood as a greater High Priest on Johns behalf, He was the sufficient savior John spent a lifetime following, and Jesus was the only One qualified to pay the penalty for Johns sin by becoming a curse in his place. John not only believed this, but trusted that Jesus was all that he needed, and that is why he had not need to fear. Conclusion This Jesus is the Almighty and the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:12-13). He is the Author of Life (Acts 3:15). He is the Bread from Heaven (John 6:32), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), and the Bright Morning Star (Rev. 22:16). He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and He is the Deliverer (Rom. 11:26). He is the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm (John 10:11). He is the rightful Heir of All Things (Heb. 1:1-2). Jesus is the Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14), the Horn of our Salvation (Luke 1:69), and the Great I Am (John 8:58-59). He is the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Gate for the Sheep (John 10:7), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), and He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)! If all who die eventually go to a better place when there exists a very real hell designed by God for the punishment of sinners, then why did Jesus who is the first and the last willingly take on flesh to become like us for the purpose of dying for us to redeem sinners like us? If some dont go to a better place, but most morally good people do, then why did Jesus say in conclusion to His sermon on the mount: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matt. 7:13-14). If religious people end up going to a better place, then why did Jesus warn us of the following possibility? Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness (Matt. 7:22-23). If there is another way to a better place other than through and with Jesus, then why in the world did He so confidently and boldly declare the following: If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it. For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26) There is a judgment we must all face. The verdict from the moment of conception is this: ...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and judgment for our guilt: The wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord.
I have officiated dozens of funerals over the years as a pastor, which means that I was involved in the planning of the service, the delivery of a sermon, and some form of committal service involving the burial of the deceaseds body or placement of the ashes of those bodies that were cremated. The first funeral I officiated was that of my 47-year-old father and since I have been responsible for burying people of all ages as young as grade school to the oldest who was 101 years old. I have been asked to memorialize people from all walks of life, many of whom loved and walked with Jesus as fellow Christians and some who were not Christian. The one thing that every one of the funerals and memorial services I officiated have in common is that every family and friend of the diseased who asked me to officiate the service of their loved one believed and articulated their belief that he/she was in a better place. Just as the old spiritual is true: Everyone wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die. So, it is true that we will grope for reasons to believe that our loved ones are in a better place regardless of what they believed or even how they lived. Most people do not want death for anyone they love, and when death does come, we want heaven for those we love. After officiating so many funerals, I had come to the place in my experience as a pastor that I believed that I had experienced just about everything there was to experience related to funerals and grieving family member. I am old enough and have seen enough to know better. I remember Ian Whites family who reached out to Northwest Baptist Church (the first church I served as the Lead Pastor in Colorado). Ian was not a Christian, nor was his family; he was found dead on the front steps of his apartment and was 34 years old. I remember their response when I sat down with them to plan Ians memorial service and their request after I asked if they would like a song or two for those present to sing in honor of Ians life. I expected something like Amazing Grace, but Ians family wanted everyone to sing Free Birdby Lynyrd Skynyrd. I remember a woman who started attending the church I planted in Colorado and the grief she carried with her with the death of her husband. I still remember the Sunday she wanted me to know that her dead husband was with her. In that moment I thought she meant his spirit or memory, but no... I discovered what she meant when she opened her purse to show me the urn that contained the ashes of her deceased husband. She brought the urn with her every Sunday she came, and I believe that she even sat her husbands urn on the chair next to her. I guess for this woman, the better place for her husband was in her purse. How do you know if a person who has died is really in a better place? What evidence does one have to make such a claim? What Happens After We Die? One of the things I say at every funeral is that when we die, we will experience the immediate judgment we are warned about throughout the Bible. In Hebrews 9:27-28, we have one such warning: And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. But what kind of judgment are we destined to face? To begin, you need to know that there are two types of judgment every human will face, the first has to do with where our disembodied soul must go, which is temporary. The second judgment we will all face is permanent. For the Christian, the day that you die will be the moment you will be in the presence of Jesus just as we are promised in the Bible: Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lordfor we walk by faith, not by sightbut we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8). Jesus told a parable in the Gospel of Luke about a rich man who lived a life of luxury while ignoring the poor man by the name of Lazarus (not to be confused with Jesus friend who Jesus raised to life in John 11:1ff.). In Jesus parable, both men died; Lazarus soul went to where Abrahams soul dwelled while the rich mans soul went to Hades where he suffered torment. Of Hades, the rich man begged for a drop of water to ease his torment because, his words: I am in agony in this flame (see Luke 16:19-31). Before Jesus told His parable about the rich man and Lazarus, He said this about money: No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth (Luke 16:13). The rich man was not in hell because he ignored Lazarus, he was in hell because he loved his money more than God. Had he loved God, he would not have been able to ignore Lazarus. Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about love or heaven, and he did so for a reason. He spoke so much about hell because he came, to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). The reason why Jesus described the distance between the rich man in hell and Lazarus in heaven as a great chasm is because hell is the place where those are sent who, will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Thess. 1:9). Jesus described the place the rich man went to immediately after he died in the following ways: A place of torture (Matt. 18:34), a place where the wicked are cut to pieces (Matt. 24:51), and a place of scourging (Luke 12:47-48), a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 13:42; 24:51; Luke 13:20), and a place of outer darkness (Matt. 22:13; 25:30). Just as there is a new heaven and earth that is promised to the Christian, at the same time there will exist the lake of fire where the devil and his demons will be cast into forever. The lake of fire is described as a place where, ...their worm will not die and their fire will not be extinguished; and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind (Isa. 66:24b). In Revelation 20:11-15 we are told of a second judgment that we all will face: Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.... Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyones name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. There are only one of two outcomes every person will face the moment of death: eternal life with Jesus that will eventually include a physical resurrection and life on a new and resurrected earth, or eternal death apart from Jesus that will eventually result in eternity in the lake of fire. Neither the lake of fire nor a resurrected life with Jesus on a new earth are temporary, but eternal. So, the question we need to answer is if it is true that every person who dies is in a better place? Jesus Is the Hope of a Better Place There are scores of Bible passages we could have looked at today to discover whether it is true or not that all people eventually go to a better place after they die, but I thought we could settle on Revelation 1:12-18. For me, this is one of the most hopeful and encouraging passages in all the Bible! In verses 12-16, we are given certain details about Jesus to clue us into who He really is. There is a lot packed into these verses that we simply do not have the time to examine, but there are some things that I must show you in order to address the topic of this sermon. Jesus is a Better High Priest First, Jesus is a better priest. Every year, on the Day of Atonement, a high priest would go into the temple in Jerusalem to enter a place called the Holies of Holies to bring a sin offering into the presence of God on behalf of Israel. The high priest would do it with a rope around him just in case he died, and his corpse had to be pulled out due to any sin not yet addressed in his own life before entering. The High Priest wore a long robe and was fitted with a type of belt or sash that was laced with gold. Once a year, every year, the High Priest would act as a representative and advocate for all of Israel. As you know, Jesus died on a cross as the Lamb of God for our sins; when John turned to see the voice that was speaking, He saw Jesus dressed as a High Priest because the sacrifice He made was sufficient to cover all our sins for all time, once and for all. For this reason, Hebrews describes Jesus in the following way: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things having come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by hands, that is, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all time, having obtained eternal redemption (Heb. 9:11-12). Jesus is the Only Sufficient Savior What follows in verses 14-17 are characteristics which reveal why Jesus is sufficient to redeem and save sinners such as us. First, His hair is white like wool and as bright as snow because He is profoundly and divinely wise. Yes, Jesus is fully man, but He is also fully God; Jesus is the Son and at the same time He is the ancient of Days with all the wisdom of eternity (see Dan. 7:9-14). Second, Jesus eyes were like a flame of fire which speak of His ability to see and know all things as God can only do. Third, His feet were like burnished bronze to symbolize His omnipotent strength to judge the nations, crush Satan, and triumph over death as the author and giver of life. Forth, Jesus holds the seven stars that serve as the seven messengers to the churches of which He holds in the palm of His hand; the point is that Jesus is also divinely sovereign. Fifth, out of the mouth of the Savior comes a sharp two-edged sword symbolizing His right to Judge as King of kings and Lord of lords. Sixth, the face of Jesus shines like a powerful sun because of His holiness, majesty, and absolute beauty as One worthy of our worship because He is God. Jesus is presented in Revelation 1:14-16 in the way that He is because of what Adam lost in the garden due to his sin and rebellion; Jesus is the only One qualified to redeem what was lost, for He is the second and greater Adam who is fully man and fully God in one Person. Simply put, because of Adams sin, we are sinners under a curse that God alone is able to sufficiently and completely reverse; Jesus was qualified to do just that! Jesus is the Great I AM The One titled the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5), the Lord of Glory (1 Cor. 2:8), the Pioneer and Perfecter of our Faith (Heb. 12:1-2), and the King of kings and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16), is the first and the last. Where else have we seen that kind of language: I am the first and the last? I will tell you! We see it in a host of passages, but Isaiah 44:6 will suffice: This is what the Lord says, He who is the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of armies: I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God besides Me. Because He is the first and the last He conquered death because, as the Living One, ...it was impossible for Him to be held in its power (Acts 2:24). When John saw Jesus, he fell at His feet like a dead man, but Jesus declared to him: Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living One; I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore... John had no reason to fear because Jesus stood as a greater High Priest on Johns behalf, He was the sufficient savior John spent a lifetime following, and Jesus was the only One qualified to pay the penalty for Johns sin by becoming a curse in his place. John not only believed this, but trusted that Jesus was all that he needed, and that is why he had not need to fear. Conclusion This Jesus is the Almighty and the Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8; 22:12-13). He is the Author of Life (Acts 3:15). He is the Bread from Heaven (John 6:32), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), and the Bright Morning Star (Rev. 22:16). He is the Chief Shepherd (1 Pet. 5:4) and He is the Deliverer (Rom. 11:26). He is the Good Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm (John 10:11). He is the rightful Heir of All Things (Heb. 1:1-2). Jesus is the Holy and Righteous One (Acts 3:14), the Horn of our Salvation (Luke 1:69), and the Great I Am (John 8:58-59). He is the Light of the World (John 8:12), the Gate for the Sheep (John 10:7), the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25), and He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)! If all who die eventually go to a better place when there exists a very real hell designed by God for the punishment of sinners, then why did Jesus who is the first and the last willingly take on flesh to become like us for the purpose of dying for us to redeem sinners like us? If some dont go to a better place, but most morally good people do, then why did Jesus say in conclusion to His sermon on the mount: Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it (Matt. 7:13-14). If religious people end up going to a better place, then why did Jesus warn us of the following possibility? Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness (Matt. 7:22-23). If there is another way to a better place other than through and with Jesus, then why in the world did He so confidently and boldly declare the following: If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, this is the one who will save it. For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels. (Luke 9:23-26) There is a judgment we must all face. The verdict from the moment of conception is this: ...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23), and judgment for our guilt: The wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our lord.
By Ken Loucks - Most Bible readers know that God made promises to Abraham, but few understand their full scope and continuing impact. While many are familiar with God's covenant with ancient Israel at Mount Sinai, there exists an earlier, overarching covenant with Abraham that contains profound promises of national
In this episode of Still Unbelievable, Matthew chats with Liz Charlotte Grant. Liz's book, Knock at the Sky is recommended for anyone who considers themself a doubter, questioner or deconstructor. It is a book that will bring a new perspective to female characters in genesis. We appreciated Liz's book and found her witty and engaging to converse with. We have no doubt you will enjoy this conversation. As always, links to topics we raise are in the show notes, including links to Liz's website and where to buy her book. 1) Liz Charlotte Grant https://lizcharlotte.com/about 2) Pre order the book https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/knock-at-the-sky-liz-charlotte-grant/1146133120 3) Almost Heretical Listen to Liz on almost Heretical podcast https://almostheretical.com/liz-charlotte-grant/ 4) Abraham's Excellent Adventure An alternative version of the Abraham and Issac story, not the one mentioned by Matthew in the episode, but still an interesting retelling. https://www.patreon.com/posts/abrahams-2735409 5) Toxic Empathy https://www.wikihow.com/Toxic-Empathy 6) The Empathy List https://www.thempathylist.com/ 7) The Binding of Isaac https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-binding-of-isaac/ 8) Why the Midrash Has Abraham Thrown into Nimrod's Furnace https://www.thetorah.com/article/why-the-midrash-has-abraham-thrown-into-nimrods-furnace 9) nimrod vs abraham https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112333/jewish/Nimrod-and-Abraham.htm 10) Abrahams birth and back story https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/246612/jewish/Abraham.htm To contact us, email: reasonpress@gmail.com our YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@reasonpress2901 Our Theme Music was written for us by Holly, to support her and to purchase her music use the links below: https://hollykirstensongs.com/ https://hollykirsten.bandcamp.com/
#KonstantinKruse #EcclesiaChurch #OnlineGottesdienst ⬇️ HIER FINDEST DU WEITERE INFOS UND RESSOURCEN ⬇️ ▬ MITSCHRIFT und NACHBESPRECHUNG ▬ Die Bibelstellen zur Predigt und eine Möglichkeit aktiv mitzuschreiben, findest du in der digitalen Predigtmitschrift. Einen Download der Predigt findest du unter den Ressourcen. ✍️ Mitschrift: https://bible.com/events/49374184YouTube: https://youtube.com/live/vzD4s7Pf6oA ▬ JESUS ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Falls du dich für ein Leben mit Jesus als deinen Retter entschieden hast, wollen wir das mit dir feiern. Lass es uns gerne über unsere digitale Kontaktkarte wissen✝️ http://kontakt.ecclesia.church ▬ NEU HIER? ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Du bist neu in der Gemeinde und suchst Anschluss, hast Fragen, oder du willst einfach mal mit jemandem reden? Dann melde dich gerne im Chat, oder gib uns über die digitale Kontaktkarte Bescheid.Lerne außerdem bei "Next Steps" die Ecclesia kennen.Schau dir auch gerne unsere Kleingruppen an, um zu verschiedenen Zeiten und an unterschiedlichen Orten (auch online) mit anderen über bestimmte Aktivitäten und Themen zusammen zu kommen.Kontaktkarte: http://kontakt.ecclesia.church⛪️ Next Steps: http://nxs.ecclesia.churchKleingruppen: http://gruppen.ecclesia.church ▬ KIDS-GOTTESDIENST ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Gottesdienste, für deine Kids und die ganze Familie, aufgeteilt in zwei Altersgruppen, findest du unter http://kids.ecclesia.church ▬ GEBET ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Du wünscht dir Gebet? Lass es uns über diesen Link wissenhttp://anliegen.ecclesia.church ▬ GEBEN ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Erfahren alles darüber, wie du auch online deinen Zehnten geben und spenden kannsthttp://geben.ecclesia.church ▬ BLEIBE IN KONTAKT ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ Abonniere uns auf Youtube (und aktivere die , um nichts zu verpassen)Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ecclesia.church/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ecclesia.churchDE⚪️ Newsletter: http://news.ecclesia.church⚫️ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/ecclesia-church-podcast/id1088572376Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4imqfw3NjcvuKafOk0UwUg
Explore the journey of Avram and the unfolding of Yah's Covenant in this insightful Torah reading. Delve into the significance of faith and obedience as Avram moves from Ur to Canaan, building altars and receiving divine promises. Understand the phases of the Avrahamic Covenant and its impact on humanity.
This week, Seamus and Garrett have One Short episode to Dance Through the Popular new musical blockbuster, Wicked! Plus, remembering recently passed film legends, and a new AMPTP contract for the Animation Guild. Episode timecodes: News - 0:47 RIP James Abrahams - 0:47 RIP Adam Smmner - 2:20 Animation Guild/AMPTP contract deal - 4:49 Wicked - 7:17 Wicked spoilers - 30:15 Pop Culture Reference (Wizard of Oz rights and adaptations) - 53:45 Save The Rec Center (Skeleton Crew & The Witch) - 1:02:48 Reach the show: Email: popculturereferencepod@gmail.com Twitter: @PCR_Podcast TikTok: @PCR_Podcast Instagram: @PCR_Podcast Facebook: facebook.com/PopCultureReference Music from filmmusic.io "Wallpaper" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) License: CC BY (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Tire Tutor is the “only true all-in-one solution in the automotive industry,” and it was born right here at MIT's Trust Center. In this episode, we sit down with CEO Jason Abrahams, an alumni of our delta V accelerator program, to chat about building a start-up from the ground up.TireTutor's products include a modern POS with integrated tire ordering and online scheduling, custom websites with service forms and e-commerce tire catalogs, B2B wholesale ordering software with real-time inventory, and AI-optimized advertising SEM campaigns.“It's Toast for Auto Shops”
It has been a few weeks since we were in Ephesians. The last sermon I preached was on the shoes of the gospel of peace. I have a confession to make, and it is not one to be proud of: I am not very good at creating space for my own rest. One of the symptoms that a break and vacation is needed is when your pastor takes 15-20 minutes to talk about shoes during his sermon introduction! In preparation for this sermon, I have been thinking about the importance of rest as it is related to faith. One of the Ten Commandments is to, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exod. 20:8-11). Here is the irony with the fourth commandment: The first four commandments address our relationship with God and the last six commandments address our relationships with one another. I am of the opinion that a Sabbath rest has less to do with the seventh day of the week and more to do with our need to separate ourselves from the noise of life. Regarding the fourth commandment, Jesus said: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28). The purpose of the Sabbath is that it creates space for you to listen to God for the purpose being strengthened in Him. The reason why the fourth commandment is sandwiched between the first three concerning our vertical relationship with God and the final six concerning our horizontal relationships with your neighbor is because if you ignore a Sabbath rest, both your relationship with God and your relationships with others will suffer. If you ignore the fourth commandment, you will be more prone to develop idols in your heart and become little good to those around you. So, here is what I want you to hear as we move forward: Sabbath rest stabilizes gospel grounded faith. The kind of rest I am talking about must include the kind of rest described in Psalm 46:10, Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth. Now, with Gods command for a Sabbath rest as our backdrop, lets consider again the armor of God: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. (Eph. 6:1013) Remember that the schemes belong to the devil, but the armor we are to put on belongs to God. The belt of truth is our identity in Christ, the breastplate of righteousness is our righteousness in Christ, and the shoes of the gospel of peace enable us to keep our footing in the whole Gospel, that includes our salvation but also the full redemption of all creation. The whole Gospel includes our resurrection, but it also promises us a day when sorrow and sighing will flee away: And the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with joyful shouting, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isa. 51:11). The fourth piece of Gods armor is the shield of faith. The questions we need to answer are what is it really; and how does one use the shield of faith? What is the Shield of Faith? The shield Paul had in mind was not the small round shield you would expect a soldier to have for hand-to-hand combat, for it was light but left most of the body exposed. Instead, the shield Paul envisioned was more like the one a soldier carried to protect his whole body from the enemys arrows shot from a distance. The large shield was called a scutum and was typically used by Roman legionaries. It was designed not only to protect the soldier wielding it from arrows, but was designed especially to protect him from arrows that were dipped in pitch and lit on fire before they were launched. The front of the shield was covered in leather that could be soaked in water; in this way, when the flaming arrows hit the shield, the fire would be quenched. For what purpose did a flaming arrow (aka fire arrow) serve? What is fire known for doing? The enemy would launch flaming arrows to set on fire anything that was flammable such as buildings, materials, and enemy troops. Fire consumes and destroys, and this is exactly what the rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places desire to do to any and all of Gods people. We are told to take up the shield of faith to protect us from such attacks from the enemy, but what is it? Is the shield of faith a self-determined will to hold on to what you believe? Is it something that you would have more of if you simply believed more? Is the shield of faith more about having enough faith in what we read about in the Bible so that you can claim financial, emotional, relational, spiritual, and physical healing and wholeness for yourself? I dont think the shield of faith includes any of that. Remember that Paul did not just come up with the armor of God because of some Roman soldiers around him. Paul received his shield metaphor from the Old Testament. To address Abrahams fear about being without an heir, God promised Him, Do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great. In Psalm 28:7, David celebrated the God who hears the prayers of His people with these words: Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the sound of my pleading. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart triumphs, and with my song I shall thank Him. However, I think Proverbs 30:5 is the most helpful verse that helps us understand what the shield of faith is: Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. So, which is it? Is God our shield and if so, how can our faith be the shield? On this point Iain Duguid is helpful: Faith is the means by which we flee to God for refuge. It is how we cling to God and find in him comfort and protection in times of difficulty and distress.[1] It is one thing to believe that God exists but is quite another thing to flee to the God you know to be true because of the way He has revealed Himself through His Word. The more you know about God, the more inclined you will be to flee to Him as your refuge and strength, for the Bible says, the people who know their God will be strong and take action (Dan. 11:32b). The way you cling to God and find Him to be your comfort and protection is through His Word! We are told in Ephesians 5:26 that Jesus intends to sanctify and beautify His church through the washing of water with the word. It is the word of God that we use to saturate our shield to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. This is not a New Testament concept; it is a Genesis through Revelation principle for living faithfully before God. Listen to Psalm 119:10-11 and tell me if you cannot hear the same tone that you hear in Ephesians 6:16, With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. I have treasured Your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You. How do We Use the Shield of Faith? It is all well and good to know what the shield of faith is, but how do you use it? To answer that question, permit me to show you something that I have read dozens of times and missed because I did not read Ephesians 6:14-17 as carefully as I should have. There are six pieces that belong to the armor of God. The first three are all pieces that a soldier puts on and keeps on so long as he is active: ...having belted your waist with truth (v. 14a) ...having put on the breastplate of righteousness (v. 14b) ...having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace (v. 15) Each of these pieces are attached to the Christian as part of his/her identity in Christ. The belt of truth is your new identity in Christ, the breastplate of righteousness is your righteousness in Christ, and the shoes of the gospel of peace are the promise of full redemption that Jesus makes possible. You put on these pieces of armor by standing in the gospel, confidently recognizing that all your righteousness is in Christ, and that your identity is rooted in Christ as truth for all of life! Now notice the final three pieces of the armor of God and how Paul distinguishes them from the first three pieces with the words, in addition to all...: ...taking up the shield of faith (v. 16) ...take the helmet of salvation (v. 17a) ...take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v. 17b) The soldiers shield, helmet, and sword were all a part of his armor, but they were pieces he could take up and put down at will. The enemy can tempt you to believe that Christ is not enough, but what he already knows is that your righteousness is Christs righteousness; wearing the breastplate of righteousness is simply walking in light of that truth. However, when the enemy attacks with his flaming arrows in the form of temptations, lies, and accusations, you can choose to take up the shield of faith or allow those arrows to pierce you so that their fire can overwhelm, consume, and incapacitate you. If you are a Christian and you have truly been born again, the flaming arrows may not be able to destroy your soul, but they certainly can wound to the point of rendering you immobile and unable to fully engage and participate in Gods mission in the world and purpose for your life. If you are a Christian, the enemy knows that God chose you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-6), that you were fully and completely redeemed by the blood of His Son (1:7-12), and that you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit as Gods inheritance to receive all of His promises (1:13-14, 18-23). In fact, I am convinced that the devil has more of a theological grasp over what it means for you to be a Christian than many Christians, but if he can deceive you, if he can aid in destroying your Christian witness, if he can paralyze you with shame and guilt to keep you from clinging to all that the cross of Christ represents, then he will do all within his ability to do just that! Dear Christian, when those flaming arrows come, you have a shield God has given that you can take up to defend yourself from such attacks! God has given us all that we need, but faith in His promises, a dependance upon Him, and the responsibility to proactively saturate our faith with the word of God is something we must do. Conclusion The enemy will launch his flaming arrows but make no mistake from what we have learned so far from Ephesians, there is also the danger we face from self-inflicted wounds when we fall into temptation. The devil never makes us sin, we do that all on our own! This is why it is important to take on the full armor of God. When we are mindful that Jesus is our identity and not our sin, when we are fully aware that Jesus is our only hope and righteousness, and then stand in the truth of all of Gods redemptive promises, our resolve to resist sin and temptation becomes more determined. But, when the flaming arrows fly you can lower your shield and let them pierce and consume, or you can take up your shield. When the enemy whispers: You sinned and now you are too disgusting for God to love you! You take up your shield saturated with the word of God and say: Do not rejoice over me, enemy of mine. Though I fall I will rise; though I live in darkness, the Lord is a light for me... He will bring me out to the light, and I will look at His righteousness (Micah 7:8, 9). You take up your shield saturated by the word of God and say, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.... For if while we were enemies we were reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom. 5:8, 10). Dont you think that Mary and Joseph endured many the constant barrage of the enemys flaming arrows the moment they found out about the conception of Jesus while Mary was still a virgin? Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus (Luke 1:30-31). Her only question was: How? since she was a virgin. After the angel told her that the Holy Spirit would make it possible miraculously, her response was simply: Behold, the Lords bond-servant; may it be done to me according to your word (v. 38). Mary could have been overwhelmed by fear over what her mother, father, relatives, and neighbors would think, but instead she raised up her shield of faith in the form of a song saturated with what she knew from the word of God: My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bond-servant; For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. And His mercy is to generation after generation Toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, And sent the rich away empty-handed. He has given help to His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, Just as He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever. (Luke 1:4755) Joseph could have walked out on Mary in disbelief, but He took up his shield as well and believed that God was not only big enough to make the conception of Jesus supernaturally possible, but he too believed the word of God: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel (Isa. 7:14; see also Matt. 1:18-25). So, how do you use the shield of faith? How do you take it up to defend yourself? You take up the shield of faith each time you flee to God for refuge through the truth of His word and cling to Him to find your comfort and protection in times of difficulty and distress. [1] Iain M. Duguid, The Whole Armor of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2019), p. 68.
It has been a few weeks since we were in Ephesians. The last sermon I preached was on the shoes of the gospel of peace. I have a confession to make, and it is not one to be proud of: I am not very good at creating space for my own rest. One of the symptoms that a break and vacation is needed is when your pastor takes 15-20 minutes to talk about shoes during his sermon introduction! In preparation for this sermon, I have been thinking about the importance of rest as it is related to faith. One of the Ten Commandments is to, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exod. 20:8-11). Here is the irony with the fourth commandment: The first four commandments address our relationship with God and the last six commandments address our relationships with one another. I am of the opinion that a Sabbath rest has less to do with the seventh day of the week and more to do with our need to separate ourselves from the noise of life. Regarding the fourth commandment, Jesus said: The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28). The purpose of the Sabbath is that it creates space for you to listen to God for the purpose being strengthened in Him. The reason why the fourth commandment is sandwiched between the first three concerning our vertical relationship with God and the final six concerning our horizontal relationships with your neighbor is because if you ignore a Sabbath rest, both your relationship with God and your relationships with others will suffer. If you ignore the fourth commandment, you will be more prone to develop idols in your heart and become little good to those around you. So, here is what I want you to hear as we move forward: Sabbath rest stabilizes gospel grounded faith. The kind of rest I am talking about must include the kind of rest described in Psalm 46:10, Stop striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth. Now, with Gods command for a Sabbath rest as our backdrop, lets consider again the armor of God: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. (Eph. 6:1013) Remember that the schemes belong to the devil, but the armor we are to put on belongs to God. The belt of truth is our identity in Christ, the breastplate of righteousness is our righteousness in Christ, and the shoes of the gospel of peace enable us to keep our footing in the whole Gospel, that includes our salvation but also the full redemption of all creation. The whole Gospel includes our resurrection, but it also promises us a day when sorrow and sighing will flee away: And the redeemed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with joyful shouting, and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away (Isa. 51:11). The fourth piece of Gods armor is the shield of faith. The questions we need to answer are what is it really; and how does one use the shield of faith? What is the Shield of Faith? The shield Paul had in mind was not the small round shield you would expect a soldier to have for hand-to-hand combat, for it was light but left most of the body exposed. Instead, the shield Paul envisioned was more like the one a soldier carried to protect his whole body from the enemys arrows shot from a distance. The large shield was called a scutum and was typically used by Roman legionaries. It was designed not only to protect the soldier wielding it from arrows, but was designed especially to protect him from arrows that were dipped in pitch and lit on fire before they were launched. The front of the shield was covered in leather that could be soaked in water; in this way, when the flaming arrows hit the shield, the fire would be quenched. For what purpose did a flaming arrow (aka fire arrow) serve? What is fire known for doing? The enemy would launch flaming arrows to set on fire anything that was flammable such as buildings, materials, and enemy troops. Fire consumes and destroys, and this is exactly what the rulers, powers, world forces of this darkness, and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places desire to do to any and all of Gods people. We are told to take up the shield of faith to protect us from such attacks from the enemy, but what is it? Is the shield of faith a self-determined will to hold on to what you believe? Is it something that you would have more of if you simply believed more? Is the shield of faith more about having enough faith in what we read about in the Bible so that you can claim financial, emotional, relational, spiritual, and physical healing and wholeness for yourself? I dont think the shield of faith includes any of that. Remember that Paul did not just come up with the armor of God because of some Roman soldiers around him. Paul received his shield metaphor from the Old Testament. To address Abrahams fear about being without an heir, God promised Him, Do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great. In Psalm 28:7, David celebrated the God who hears the prayers of His people with these words: Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the sound of my pleading. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart triumphs, and with my song I shall thank Him. However, I think Proverbs 30:5 is the most helpful verse that helps us understand what the shield of faith is: Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. So, which is it? Is God our shield and if so, how can our faith be the shield? On this point Iain Duguid is helpful: Faith is the means by which we flee to God for refuge. It is how we cling to God and find in him comfort and protection in times of difficulty and distress.[1] It is one thing to believe that God exists but is quite another thing to flee to the God you know to be true because of the way He has revealed Himself through His Word. The more you know about God, the more inclined you will be to flee to Him as your refuge and strength, for the Bible says, the people who know their God will be strong and take action (Dan. 11:32b). The way you cling to God and find Him to be your comfort and protection is through His Word! We are told in Ephesians 5:26 that Jesus intends to sanctify and beautify His church through the washing of water with the word. It is the word of God that we use to saturate our shield to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. This is not a New Testament concept; it is a Genesis through Revelation principle for living faithfully before God. Listen to Psalm 119:10-11 and tell me if you cannot hear the same tone that you hear in Ephesians 6:16, With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. I have treasured Your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against You. How do We Use the Shield of Faith? It is all well and good to know what the shield of faith is, but how do you use it? To answer that question, permit me to show you something that I have read dozens of times and missed because I did not read Ephesians 6:14-17 as carefully as I should have. There are six pieces that belong to the armor of God. The first three are all pieces that a soldier puts on and keeps on so long as he is active: ...having belted your waist with truth (v. 14a) ...having put on the breastplate of righteousness (v. 14b) ...having strapped on your feet the preparation of the gospel of peace (v. 15) Each of these pieces are attached to the Christian as part of his/her identity in Christ. The belt of truth is your new identity in Christ, the breastplate of righteousness is your righteousness in Christ, and the shoes of the gospel of peace are the promise of full redemption that Jesus makes possible. You put on these pieces of armor by standing in the gospel, confidently recognizing that all your righteousness is in Christ, and that your identity is rooted in Christ as truth for all of life! Now notice the final three pieces of the armor of God and how Paul distinguishes them from the first three pieces with the words, in addition to all...: ...taking up the shield of faith (v. 16) ...take the helmet of salvation (v. 17a) ...take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (v. 17b) The soldiers shield, helmet, and sword were all a part of his armor, but they were pieces he could take up and put down at will. The enemy can tempt you to believe that Christ is not enough, but what he already knows is that your righteousness is Christs righteousness; wearing the breastplate of righteousness is simply walking in light of that truth. However, when the enemy attacks with his flaming arrows in the form of temptations, lies, and accusations, you can choose to take up the shield of faith or allow those arrows to pierce you so that their fire can overwhelm, consume, and incapacitate you. If you are a Christian and you have truly been born again, the flaming arrows may not be able to destroy your soul, but they certainly can wound to the point of rendering you immobile and unable to fully engage and participate in Gods mission in the world and purpose for your life. If you are a Christian, the enemy knows that God chose you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-6), that you were fully and completely redeemed by the blood of His Son (1:7-12), and that you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit as Gods inheritance to receive all of His promises (1:13-14, 18-23). In fact, I am convinced that the devil has more of a theological grasp over what it means for you to be a Christian than many Christians, but if he can deceive you, if he can aid in destroying your Christian witness, if he can paralyze you with shame and guilt to keep you from clinging to all that the cross of Christ represents, then he will do all within his ability to do just that! Dear Christian, when those flaming arrows come, you have a shield God has given that you can take up to defend yourself from such attacks! God has given us all that we need, but faith in His promises, a dependance upon Him, and the responsibility to proactively saturate our faith with the word of God is something we must do. Conclusion The enemy will launch his flaming arrows but make no mistake from what we have learned so far from Ephesians, there is also the danger we face from self-inflicted wounds when we fall into temptation. The devil never makes us sin, we do that all on our own! This is why it is important to take on the full armor of God. When we are mindful that Jesus is our identity and not our sin, when we are fully aware that Jesus is our only hope and righteousness, and then stand in the truth of all of Gods redemptive promises, our resolve to resist sin and temptation becomes more determined. But, when the flaming arrows fly you can lower your shield and let them pierce and consume, or you can take up your shield. When the enemy whispers: You sinned and now you are too disgusting for God to love you! You take up your shield saturated with the word of God and say: Do not rejoice over me, enemy of mine. Though I fall I will rise; though I live in darkness, the Lord is a light for me... He will bring me out to the light, and I will look at His righteousness (Micah 7:8, 9). You take up your shield saturated by the word of God and say, God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.... For if while we were enemies we were reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom. 5:8, 10). Dont you think that Mary and Joseph endured many the constant barrage of the enemys flaming arrows the moment they found out about the conception of Jesus while Mary was still a virgin? Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus (Luke 1:30-31). Her only question was: How? since she was a virgin. After the angel told her that the Holy Spirit would make it possible miraculously, her response was simply: Behold, the Lords bond-servant; may it be done to me according to your word (v. 38). Mary could have been overwhelmed by fear over what her mother, father, relatives, and neighbors would think, but instead she raised up her shield of faith in the form of a song saturated with what she knew from the word of God: My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bond-servant; For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; And holy is His name. And His mercy is to generation after generation Toward those who fear Him. He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, And has exalted those who were humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, And sent the rich away empty-handed. He has given help to His servant Israel, In remembrance of His mercy, Just as He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever. (Luke 1:4755) Joseph could have walked out on Mary in disbelief, but He took up his shield as well and believed that God was not only big enough to make the conception of Jesus supernaturally possible, but he too believed the word of God: Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel (Isa. 7:14; see also Matt. 1:18-25). So, how do you use the shield of faith? How do you take it up to defend yourself? You take up the shield of faith each time you flee to God for refuge through the truth of His word and cling to Him to find your comfort and protection in times of difficulty and distress. [1] Iain M. Duguid, The Whole Armor of God (Wheaton, IL: Crossway; 2019), p. 68.
John Carpenter, the master or horror behind such classics as "Halloween" and "The Thing" brings a different take on the possession genre with a little science fiction flair in this lessor known 80s flick, Prince of Darkness. Reuniting with Dr. Loomis himself (Donald Pleasence) and with a surprise appearance by Alice Cooper this cheesy, yet intriguing horror film is quite entertaining. We are joined by special guest G.G. Abrahams of the Ridiculous World of G.G. Abrahams in this latest episode of FYC Film Review.
Frank Drebin first graced our screens in 1982 with Police Squad, but 6 episodes is all we got. Fast forward 6 years and we get to this week's Chris pick with The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! The production of The Naked Gun was like a case file thick with mystery, mayhem, and, most likely, unpaid parking tickets. Directed by the Zucker brothers with a firm grip on comedy and a loose grip on reality, this cinematic marvel brought Lieutenant Frank Drebin to the big screen, much to the delight of the three people who remembered Police Squad! from 1982. They say this movie was made on a modest budget, but Frank's always said, if you can't solve it with duct tape and a pair of sensible shoes, you're probably not on his police force. The budget might've been low, but the jokes were plentiful, and if one didn't work, we were already onto the next one by the time the first one hit the ground. They brought Frank to Los Angeles, where the sun is as relentless as a perp with nothing to lose. The Zuckers and Abrahams had a vision: combine slapstick and deadpan to make every scene feel like an all-points bulletin of laughter. With a crack team of talented actors and stuntmen who were probably just as confused as anyone, they pulled it off, and The Naked Gun became an instant classic. It's not every day that the badge, the gun, and a suspect list full of clowns come together, but when they do, you can bet Frank'll be there, saying something profoundly misguided. And remember, if you see something suspicious… well, keep it to yourself. If you enjoy the show we have a Patreon, so become a supporter. www.patreon.com/thevhsstrikesback Plot Summary: I, Lieutenant Frank Drebin, find myself on the trail of a sinister plot—someone wants to harm the Queen of England during her visit to Los Angeles. Naturally, I can't let that happen, not on my watch, and certainly not before lunch. As I dive into my investigation, things get complicated. There's Jane, a mysterious woman who's got more charm than a box of donuts and who may or may not be involved with a devious businessman named Vincent Ludwig. Ludwig, by the way, is planning something big, and I don't mean a charity bake sale. So there I am, trying to stop an assassination attempt, win Jane's heart, and look good in a cheap suit—all at once. Somehow, it all ends with me frantically searching the stands at a baseball game, dodging mascots and hot dog vendors as I try to save the Queen. But don't worry; I handle it with all the precision and grace you'd expect from a seasoned detective. In the end, justice is served, more or less, and I come out looking like a hero. thevhsstrikesback@gmail.com https://linktr.ee/vhsstrikesback --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thevhsstrikesback/support
In this week's episode Averi, Blaine and Robert all sit down with Brianna George, Alexis Abrahams and Soulava Gabr from the Field Hockey team. They discuss the dynamic of being a captain on a high school sport, the roles of coaches/captains and players and how to create a great team dynamic. Let's just say that the BearSpot was a blowout this week.
Today I sit down with author Tom Abrahams to dscuss his books and his career. What an awesome expierience to interview one of yourfavorite authors about hs creative worksand his creative process. Tom has over 40 books to his nam and counting with new seires to drop early 2025. Aditionally Tom is a broadcaster in the houston,Tx area. I hope you enjoy this episode. Link to his Author bio on amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B009HD83MS Link to his show "This Week in Texas" https://youtu.be/4hBARJFFpRA?si=ON0JihvfgOaU9BTH link to yhe full length interview on out youtube: https://youtu.be/9wSX786UxCk?si=5xuhwdV8oe_ekMP7 Questions or comments? Email us: Info@ikcpodcast.com Check us out on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ikcpodcast2985 Support our work and become a member of our private discord: http://subscribestar.com/ikcpod Check out our content Instagram: @ikcpodcast @freedomandfarmsteading Check us out on TikTok: @ikcpodcast
We are taking a step back in time to the original days of this podcast. Back in the heady days of 2018 and 2019, a team known as Elevate-KHS dominated the scene. Many of our guests, and even one host, came through that program, and even more were mentored and influenced by riders who had Paul Abrahams as their DS. Jordan talks with Paul all about that time and his experiences in the sport. This week we are brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo. Visit right now and use promo code CRITNATION at checkout to get yours today!!! By using the code CRITNATION you'll get a free heart rate monitor with your purchase of a Karoo. Go to Hammerhead.io today, add both items to your cart, and the HR monitor is on us!
It's episode 154! We're keeping the spooky season celebration going with a recap of two great events The Steve & Crypto Sow were guests at, Halloween Xspo and Fall Festicon, featuring a few guests from the events! First we have a celebrity guest at Halloween Xspo, and star of The Faculty, Scary Movie, and the current #1 film in America, Terrifier 3 (at time of this episode release), John Abrahams (www.instagram.com/therealjonabrahams)! Then later in the show we feature chats with members of the Horror Writers Association, Josef B. Wilke (www.instagram.com/hashtagspooky) and Brianna Malotke (www.malotkewrites.com)! Be sure to stick around to the end of this episode for some spooky surf rock from The Rumtones and support them at https://therumtones.bandcamp.com/album/the-rumtones And...We ran in to some technical difficulties, so there might be some weird spots, but...THE SHOW MUST GO ON!!! Check out and support our spooky friends and performers we mentioned in this episode, and stay tuned in to The Steve & Crypto Show, and keep an eye out for more spooky content from your 3rd favorite podcast. More Friends and Sponsors: Goth Cloth Co. is an amazing female owned and ran company featuring clothing, decor, accessories and more to fill your spooky and goth needs during the spooky season and beyond. Visit www.gothclothco.com and use the code GHOUL10 for 10% off your first purchase! Crypto Zoo Clothing is another amazing shop where you can find all the rad spooky gear and accessories and more. Get all their details at https://linktr.ee/cryptozoostore?utm_source=linktree_profile_share
Hey, all you ScreamFace Killers! What's your favorite scary movie? In this silicone-stabbing episode, our sexually oppressed rednecks, Brennon & Adam, are teaming up with actor Jon Abrahams LIVE at Spokane's X-SPO horror con to bring you this Scary Movie podcast! So grab your hedge trimmers and come launch Anna Faris into the ceiling with us on Super 90s Bros! Featuring The Real Slim Shady by Eminem.
Enhancing Communication Skills: Insights from Matt Abrahams Welcome back to our delicious and captivating conversation with renowned communication expert Matt Abrahams in the latest installment of this engaging series. . Here in part two we uncover a structured approach to swiftly grasp and respond to inquiries, along with essential strategies for managing anxiety, enhancing clarity, and excelling in impromptu speaking scenarios. . Benefit from Matt's wealth of wisdom gained from his tenure at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, featuring practical insights backed by real-world experiences. Explore the profound impact of martial arts, persuasion techniques, and past traumas on effective communication. . Unveil a structured methodology designed to enhance quick thinking and articulate responses. Discover key strategies to manage anxiety, prioritize clarity, and excel in spontaneous speaking situations. Gain valuable insights from Abrahams' experience at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, supported by real-life anecdotes. Explore the impact of martial arts, persuasion, and trauma on effective communication. . Join the conversation to unravel the secrets to successful communication: . Website gsb.stanford.edu MattAbrahams.com FasterSmarter.io . Social Media https://www.linkedin.com/in/maabrahams/ . Introduction to Matt Abrahams Understanding the Components of Effective Communication . Crafting Clear and Structured Messages . Demonstration of Practical Methodologies . Personal Influences and Valuable Insights . Exploring the Role of Trauma and Persuasion in Communication . Influence of Martial Arts on Communication Skills . Building Resilience vs. Anti-Fragility . Key Tips for Communication Excellence and Reflections . Wrapping Up with Final Thoughts and Farewell Don't miss this opportunity to enhance your #CommunicationSkills, elevate your #PublicSpeaking prowess, and invest in your #ProfessionalDevelopment. Delve into an enlightening conversation with communication expert Matt Abrahams in part two of this series. Unveil a structured methodology designed to enhance quick thinking and articulate responses. Discover key strategies to manage anxiety, prioritize clarity, and excel in spontaneous speaking situations. Gain valuable insights from Abrahams' experience at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, supported by real-life anecdotes. Explore the impact of martial arts, persuasion, and trauma on effective communication. . Join the dialogue and uncover the secrets behind successful communication: Dov Baron's brand new course has just been released on coursifyx.com/belonging ------------- Titled: "CREATING A CULTURE OF BELONGING." The course is divided into eight sections, each of which will guide you through exactly how to create a culture of belonging. . Because: CREATING A CULTURE OF BELONGING MAXIMIZES PERSONAL AND CORPORATE SUCCESS. Get Ready to strap on the tanks and Dive Deep into, What it Takes to Create a Culture of Belonging in your organization! Curious to know more? coursifyx.com/belonging . "Those Who Control Meaning for The Tribe, Also Control The Movement of That Tribe" #leadership #leadershipdevelopment #emotionsourcecode #neuroscience #emotional #meaning #emotional #logic #culture #curiosity #humanbehavior
In this episode, we sit down with Doriel Abrahams, the Principal Technologist at Forter, to explore the intricate world of fraud prevention and trust in digital commerce. Doriel shares his compelling journey from Tel Aviv to Brooklyn, detailing his transition from studying biology and neuroscience to becoming a leading figure in online fraud prevention & identity intelligence. The discussion highlights the critical role of trust as a currency in enhancing customer experiences and driving revenue growth, especially during the holiday shopping season and beyond. Listeners will gain valuable insights into balancing loyalty programs with fraud strategies, the importance of seamless shipping and return policies, and the future of personalized shopping shaped by AI. Tune in for practical advice and expert perspectives on navigating the challenges of modern digital commerce. Together, Forter and Salesforce have helped some of the world's largest enterprises mitigate risk while maximizing revenue and customer lifetime value. With Salesforce Commerce Cloud, merchants can seamlessly integrate Forter's fraud prevention solution, instantly improving the accuracy of their fraud decisions. To learn more, visit forter.com/partners/salesforce/. Looking to stay ahead in digital commerce? Join us at Forter's 2024 IMPACT Conference on October 9th in NYC. Use code SFDC24IMPACT to register for free at forter.com/impact! Plus, we've partnered with Forter on their 2024 Trust Premium Report to explore how brand trust is shaping shopping behavior and driving revenue. Read the full report here. Show Highlights: The significance of trust in digital commerce as a crucial element for enhancing customer experience and driving revenue. Strategies for balancing loyalty programs with fraud prevention. Addressing the challenges retailers face during the holiday season. Preparing for holiday shopping from a fraud prevention perspective. The role of AI and predictive analytics in shaping personalized shopping experiences and combating fraud. The partnership between Salesforce and Forter in offering fraud prevention solutions and improving merchant performance. Follow and Review: We'd love for you to follow us if you haven't yet. Click that purple '+' in the top right corner of your Apple Podcasts app. We'd love it even more if you could drop a review or 5-star rating over on Apple Podcasts. Simply select “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review” then a quick line with your favorite part of the episode. It only takes a second and it helps spread the word about the podcast.
Tezna grew up thinking that maybe one day, she could be a Paralympic swimmer. At 12, she became South Africa's para national champ. When Tezna got in an accident one week before the Rio Paralympic Trials, she took a step away from sports to reset. Years later, she decided to pick up track and field "to stay fit," and within the year, she became a 3x African Record and South African Paralympian competing in the 200m and long jump. Because there's not (yet enough) serious prize money in para athletics, Tezna also works full-time in iGaming and is pursuing her Masters degree in Sports Management. That's right: she's a full-time athlete, full-time employee, and full-time student all at once. One day, Tezna hopes women and para athletes are able to make a living off of their professional athletic careers. In this conversation -- recorded before the Paralympics -- Tezna shares how she stumbled upon track, her aspirations for the future, and why representation matters. According to Tezna, "You have no idea how much you being there makes a big difference to someone else." While she's the only mixed athlete on the South African Paralympic track & field team and is proud to be a role model who can inspire future generations of athletes, "we are more human than we are our skin color. If you cut us open, we all bleed the same." ---------- Flame Bearers is the world's first media and production company specifically illuminating the unsung stories of resilient women Olympians & Paralympians. We tell stories via podcast, video, and live events and are working towards a world where people feel more represented, empowered, and enlightened about the power of community. Learn more on our website: flamebearers.com Watch & subscribe to our YouTube channel to exclusive video interviews and bonus content ► / @flamebearers Follow us on social media for behind the scenes content: Instagram: /flamebearers Facebook: /flamebearerspodcast Linkedin: /flame-bearers Tiktok: /flame_bearers X: /flame_bearers
80% Chinese Cranes, Drones vs. Abrahams, a RAG kickstart, a Canary-based Security Maturity Model, and more... Check out Wiz for a Free Could Security Scan:https://www.wiz.io/ul Subscribe to the newsletter at: https://danielmiessler.com/subscribe Join the UL community at:https://danielmiessler.com/upgrade Follow on X:https://twitter.com/danielmiessler Follow on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielmiessler See you in the next one!Become a Member: https://danielmiessler.com/upgradeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker – together they created some truly classic comedies: Airplane!, Top Secret, and The Naked Gun. They recently wrote a book called Surely You Can't Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!. We've got Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker on the latest episodes to talk about the book and the rules of comedy. They also dive into why they cast Leslie Nielsen in their projects and what it was like to work with him.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy