Podcasts about almighty god

What gives believers the courage to obey God when His plan seems confusing or impossible? The heroes of Hebrews 11 understood that their confidence did not rest in circumstances—it rested in the character of Almighty God. In today's episode of the MY Devotional Podcast, Dr. Michael Youssef reminds us that courageous faith begins by recognizing the greatness of God's power and the certainty of His promises. The God who created the heavens and calls every star by name cannot fail, lie, or make a mistake. When He speaks, His people can trust Him enough to obey. Consider Joshua marching around the fortified walls of Jericho or Gideon facing an army described as being “thick as locusts.” God's instructions may not have made sense from a human perspective, but both men moved forward because they trusted the One who gave the command. That same faith is necessary when our circumstances puzzle us, suffering weighs us down, or the road ahead appears impossible. God does not promise that obedience will always be easy, but He does promise to remain faithful—equipping, guiding, and strengthening His people through every battle. Whatever you are facing today, remember the foundation of courageous faith: God is powerful, God is faithful, God is sovereign, and Christ has already secured the ultimate victory. Keep praying. Keep obeying. Keep trusting the God who works all things for the good of those who love Him. Prayer: God, thank You for the examples of courageous faith found in Your Word. Help me to always trust You and Your plan for victory. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. “For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory” (Deuteronomy 20:4). Learn more in Dr. Michael A. Youssef's sermon They Were Just like Us, We Can Be like Them: LISTEN NOW The voice you hear on the MY Devotional podcast is digitally generated with Dr. Youssef's permission. If today's devotional stirred a question, burden, or need for prayer, you don't have to walk through it alone.

Courageous faith can lead to extraordinary victories—but sometimes it also leads straight into danger, suffering, and persecution. In today's episode of the MY Devotional Podcast, Dr. Michael Youssef turns to Hebrews 11:30–40, where Scripture remembers men and women who trusted God even when obedience cost them dearly. Some conquered kingdoms and defeated enemies. Others endured imprisonment, rejection, torture, and death. Yet both groups were commended for the same thing: faith. From Rahab and Gideon to Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, these Biblical heroes demonstrate that God works powerfully through people who trust Him. They were not flawless. They failed, sinned, and needed repentance just as we do. But when they turned to Almighty God in faith, He received them and used them for His glory. Their courage was rooted not in their own strength but in confidence that God would remain faithful to His Word. They trusted that He would ultimately deal with sin, provide righteousness, and fulfill His promises. Looking forward to Christ by faith freed them to obey God even when the cost was great. Whatever hardship, opposition, or uncertainty you face today, remember: courageous faith is not confidence that nothing painful will happen. It is confidence that God will be faithful through it all. The question is whether we are ready to trust Him enough to say, “Here I am, send me.” Prayer: Father, help me to have courageous faith. During times of persecution, danger, or hardship, help me to stay committed to You because I know that You have the ultimate victory. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen. “Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. . . . the world was not worthy of them” (Hebrews 11:36, 38). Learn more in Dr. Michael A. Youssef's sermon They Were Just like Us, The Warring Faith: LISTEN NOW The voice you hear on the MY Devotional podcast is digitally generated with Dr. Youssef's permission. If today's devotional stirred a question, burden, or need for prayer, you don't have to walk through it alone.

August 24, 2026Today's Reading: Luke 22:24-30 or John 1:43-51Daily Lectionary: 1 Kings 5:1-18; 1 Kings 6:1-7:50; 2 Corinthians 1:23-2:17“A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. And he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.'” (Luke 22:24–28)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Is it greater to serve or to be served? Throughout the world, the answer is obvious: it is better to be served. Kings exercise lordship, and it's good to be the king. But the King of Kings has a different answer. He is the King who says, “the first shall be last” and “Blessed are the Poor.” He is the one who came down from the heavens to serve. The eternal Son took on flesh and dwelt among us, not as a conqueror but as a servant. This continues to be a comfort to us because our God is the one who gave his life on the cross to cleanse us from our sins and did not stop there. Our God continues to sanctify his people, and He has created Good Works for us to do as fellow servants and Children of God. However, God has not stopped serving us. He continues to serve us every Sunday when the saints on earth gather together to receive the Word and Sacrament from our pastors. God's work began for us and continues to be for us as our generous King gives freely to his people for all eternity. Jesus shows that the greater one is the one who serves. If God Himself serves us, we, as His people, continue to serve our neighbor.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Almighty God, Your Son, Jesus Christ, chose Bartholomew to be an apostle to preach the blessed Gospel. Grant that Your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.Jonah Clausen, seminary student at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne.

The Rise of Islam & the Crisis of Biblical Christianity | KWR0062 Kingdom War Room DESCRIPTION What happens when a civilization loses its biblical foundations while competing religious and ideological systems grow stronger? In this powerful Kingdom War Room discussion, Dr. Michael Lake, Dr. Mike Spaulding, and Pastor Corby Shuey examine the growing influence of Islam in the Western world, the ideological conflicts facing America, and the spiritual condition that has left much of the modern Church unprepared to respond. This conversation is not a call for hatred, hostility, or mistreatment of Muslims. The speakers explicitly distinguish between people and the doctrines and ideological claims they are examining. The deeper question is: DO CHRISTIANS ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT THEY BELIEVE? The Church is entering an age in which shallow Christianity will not be sufficient. As competing worldviews grow increasingly bold, believers must understand the Scriptures, know why they believe what they believe, develop biblical discernment, and become deeply rooted in Jesus Christ. This episode examines: ·      The rise of Islamic influence in Western culture and politics ·      Islam, Sharia, jihad, and competing religious worldviews ·      Why Christians must understand the theological differences between the biblical Jesus and the Islamic understanding of Jesus ·      The relationship between postmodernism, cultural deconstruction, socialism, and Islamism discussed by the panel ·      How emotionalism has weakened biblical Christianity ·      Why believers must learn to distinguish feelings from biblical truth ·      The danger of churches abandoning serious biblical study ·      Why spiritual discernment will become increasingly important ·      The need for pastors and Christian leaders to preach biblical truth without fear ·      Why the next generation desperately needs a biblical worldview ·      The difference between emotional conversion and genuine faith in Jesus Christ ·      Why worship must be centered on God rather than human experience ·      The necessity of spiritual discipline and deep biblical conviction Why the Remnant must develop deep spiritual roots for the days ahead One of the central warnings of this Kingdom War Room is simple: A shallow faith cannot withstand a serious spiritual battle. Dr. Lake observes that Christians have moved from being a studious people to becoming an entertainment-oriented people. Dr. Spaulding warns that believers who do not know Scripture or understand why they believe what they believe will find themselves increasingly unprepared for opposition. The answer is not fear. The answer is not hatred. The answer is not political violence. The answer is a Church that returns to the Word of God, walks in the fear of the Lord, develops spiritual discernment, and becomes firmly rooted in Jesus Christ. Pastor Corby makes this especially clear in the closing prayer: the response being advocated is not rudeness, violence, or aggression toward others, but humble submission to Scripture and faithful allegiance to Jesus Christ. The time for "three-millimeter-deep Christianity" is over.  We need roots that run deep.  We need believers who know the Word.  We need men and women who understand their faith.  And above everything else, we need a generation that knows Jesus Christ as Lord, King, Messiah, Redeemer, and Savior. CALL TO ACTION If Kingdom War Room helps you understand the spiritual battles confronting our generation, please SUBSCRIBE to Biblical Life TV and turn on notifications so you do not miss future teachings. LIKE this episode to help more believers discover this discussion. SHARE this program with pastors, ministry leaders, family members, and believers who need to understand the importance of developing a deeply rooted biblical worldview. COMMENT BELOW: What can the Church do today to prepare the next generation to stand firmly upon the Word of God? PARTNER WITH BIBLICAL LIFE TV Kingdom War Room and Biblical Life TV are made possible through the prayers and faithful support of our partners around the world. Your partnership helps us continue producing biblical teaching designed to inform, equip, and strengthen the Remnant for the challenging days ahead. If this ministry has strengthened your walk with God, please prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with Biblical Life TV. Your support enables us to continue producing Kingdom Intelligence Briefing, Kingdom War Room, biblical teaching programs, research, books, and resources without compromising the message God has called us to proclaim. Biblical Life P.O. Box 160 Seymour, Missouri 65746-0160 Online giving is also available through the Biblical Life store. Thank you to every partner who prays, gives, shares these programs, and stands with us. Together, we are helping believers GO DEEP IN THE WORD and GO DEEP IN GOD. The transcript itself closes with this partner appeal and identifies partner support as what makes Biblical Life TV programming possible. TIMELINE / CHAPTERS 00:24 — KWR 62: The Rise of Islam in the Western World 03:08 — Radical Islam, Politics & Sharia Law 07:23 — Concerns About Parallel Islamic Institutions 10:04 — Understanding Islam Through Its Own Writings 12:48 — Postmodernism, Communism & the "Long March" Through Institutions 17:27 — Deconstructionism & the Problem of the "Useful Idiot" 19:00 — Historical Alliances Between Political Movements & Islam 20:06 — Sharia, Halal & Concerns About Islamic Influence 21:53 — Competing Systems & the Coming Global Control Structure 24:15 — The Beast System & Totalitarian Control 26:12 — Why Christians Must Develop Discernment 27:06 — From the Study to the Man Cave: The Loss of Serious Thinking 29:30 — The Biblical Jesus vs. the Islamic Jesus 32:44 — Hosea 11:4–7: Returning to God 39:19 — The Spiritual Void Created by Shallow Christianity 43:30 — Feelings vs. Biblical Truth 46:45 — Emotional Converts vs. Genuine Conversion 48:37 — Faith Must Rest on Fact, Not Feelings 49:08 — How Emotionalism Has Affected Modern Worship 52:06 — The Antidote: A True and Vibrant Faith 53:27 — Accountability, Discernment & Rejecting Deception 55:34 — "Go Deep in the Word, Go Deep in God" 56:22 — Closing Prayer: Awakening, Boldness & Biblical Faith 1:01:08 — Closing Remarks & Upcoming Dr. Richard Booker Interview The closing section strongly reinforces the episode's message with the imagery of Psalm 1: believers need to become like deeply rooted trees capable of remaining fruitful even during drought. KEY SCRIPTURES FEATURED Hosea 11:4–7 — God calls His people back to Himself rather than trusting competing powers and false systems. Job 38:3 — "Dress for action like a man"; the discussion uses Job to emphasize accountability before Almighty God. Matthew 24 — The episode connects contemporary deception with Jesus' warnings concerning the last days. Psalm 1 — The closing exhortation uses the image of the deeply rooted tree as a model for believers who must withstand spiritual drought. The episode also repeatedly emphasizes the biblical confession of Jesus Christ as Lord, Messiah, Savior, Redeemer, and God incarnate. The discussion specifically contrasts that confession with Islamic Christology.

Breaking Free from the Old Gods: The Spiritual War Behind the World System | KIB545 Kingdom Intelligence Briefing DESCRIPTION What if many things modern believers consider normal are actually remnants of a world system from which Christ has called us to separate? In Kingdom Intelligence Briefing Episode 545, Dr. Michael Lake and Mary Lou Lake examine the continuing spiritual battle between the Kingdom of God and the systems of this world. Beginning with the influence of ancient Greek and Roman culture and moving deeply into the Apostle Paul's teaching in Ephesians, this episode challenges the Remnant to recognize just how thoroughly the ways of the old world can become embedded in culture, religion, education, tradition, and everyday life. Dr. Lake focuses particularly on Ephesians 2:1–3, where Paul describes three interconnected dimensions of humanity's former bondage: the world, the devil, and the flesh. But Paul does not leave believers there. Christ has been raised above every ruler and authority, and those who belong to Him have been called into an entirely different Kingdom and way of life. This leads directly into the spiritual warfare of Ephesians 6. The believer's struggle is not merely against bad ideas, political systems, cultural movements, or human opponents. Paul identifies principalities, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, and spiritual forces of evil. The enemy continually schemes to entangle believers in the very system from which Christ delivered them. That makes TRUTH indispensable. The armor of God does not begin with emotionalism, religious excitement, or spiritual spectacle. It begins with the belt of truth. Dr. Lake explains why believers cannot merely SAY that they are putting on the armor of God. The armor must become a lived spiritual reality through obedience, sanctification, prayer, faith, and the renewing of the mind through the Word of God. This episode also examines: ·      The continuing influence of Greek and Roman religious ideas on Western civilization ·      Ancient gods, principalities, and the spiritual warfare behind human systems ·      Why Paul was uniquely prepared to confront Greco-Roman culture with biblical truth ·      Ephesians 2:1–3 and the world, the flesh, and the prince of the power of the air ·      Why Christ's authority is greater than every principality and power ·      How cultural traditions can pull believers back toward the world system ·      Why true biblical Christianity will never comfortably conform to darkness ·      The spiritual meaning of the armor of God ·      Why spiritual warfare is an ongoing wrestling match ·      Emotionalism versus genuine conversion and transformation ·      Why forgiveness is essential in breaking the enemy's influence ·      Torah as the loving instruction of God ·      Jesus as the perfect example of walking in the Father's ways ·      The brazen laver, the altar, and becoming a living sacrifice ·      Why the Remnant must learn again to discern clean from unclean and good from evil ·      How believers can begin disentangling themselves from the world system one decision at a time The early Church could not be conquered by persecution because believers possessed the Scriptures, the testimony of Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit. Dr. Lake argues that abandoning the biblical foundations of the faith has left much of the modern Church unable to discern good from evil and vulnerable on the spiritual battlefield. The answer is not fear. The answer is a return to God. Every time we choose God's ways instead of the ways of the world, another strand connecting us to the world system is broken. Every act of obedience removes another avenue through which darkness attempts to influence our lives. The Kingdom of God is coming. Daniel 2:44 declares that God will establish a Kingdom that will never be destroyed. Revelation 11:15 announces: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." And that Kingdom can begin reigning within the hearts and lives of God's people RIGHT NOW. The Remnant must prepare. It is time to hunger for the Word of God again. It is time to learn His ways. It is time to recognize the schemes of the enemy. It is time to become disentangled from the world system. And it is time to walk as citizens of the Kingdom of God. CALL TO ACTION If this teaching strengthened your understanding of biblical spiritual warfare, help us place it into the hands of others. LIKE this video so that more believers can discover this teaching. SUBSCRIBE to Biblical Life TV and turn on notifications so you do not miss future Kingdom Intelligence Briefings. SHARE this episode with believers who are hungry for deeper biblical truth and want to understand the spiritual battle unfolding around us. Most importantly, STUDY these Scriptures for yourself. Open your Bible, examine the passages discussed in this program, and ask the Holy Spirit to deepen your understanding and help you apply the Word of God faithfully. PARTNER WITH BIBLICAL LIFE TV Kingdom Intelligence Briefing and Biblical Life TV are made possible through the prayers and faithful financial support of our partners around the world. Your partnership helps us continue producing biblical teaching designed to inform, equip, and prepare the Remnant for the days ahead. If this ministry has strengthened your walk with God, prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with Biblical Life. Biblical Life P.O. Box 160 Seymour, Missouri 65746-0160 Online giving is available through the Biblical Life store. Thank you to every partner who stands with us in prayer and financial support. Your faithfulness enables us to continue taking these teachings to believers around the world. FEATURED RESOURCE – THE KINGDOM PRIESTHOOD The Kingdom Priesthood is Dr. Michael Lake's training manual for the Remnant, exploring the biblical priesthood, principalities wars, the fire of God, the believer as both priest and tabernacle, and the calling of God's people to represent Messiah in the earth. The book is designed to help believers understand their priesthood, purpose, and service to Almighty God—and how the Remnant must prepare to stand against the agenda of darkness in the last days. YOUTUBE CHAPTERS / TIMELINE 00:00 – Biblical Life TV Introduction 01:30 – KIB 545: Welcome to the Remnant 01:57 – Prayer for Fires, Flooding & Families Across America 03:20 – The Feasts, Traditions & Examining Their Origins 05:20 – Artemis, Hecate & Ancient Sacrifice 09:15 – Kronos, Saturn & the Ancient Death Cult 12:00 – Greek and Roman Gods Behind Western Culture 14:48 – Pagan Influence Embedded in American Culture 16:13 – Saturnalia, the Old Gods & Spiritual Influence 17:33 – Why the Apostle Paul Was Uniquely Prepared 20:25 – Ephesians 2:1–3: The World, the Devil & the Flesh 23:00 – Christ Above Every Principality and Power 25:04 – A Biblical Theology of Darkness 27:43 – Paul's Message to the Ephesians 29:18 – Why Biblical Christianity Will Never Fit the World 31:40 – Leaving Babylon and Learning God's Ways 33:01 – The Power of God Against Cultural Conformity 33:35 – Ephesians 6 and the Schemes of the Devil 35:00 – Emotionalism Versus Genuine Conversion 38:41 – Forgiveness, Sanctification & Breaking Bondage 40:23 – Spiritual Warfare Is a Constant Wrestling 41:50 – The Spider Web: Understanding the Wiles of the Devil 44:20 – How the World System Tries to Pull Believers Back 46:24 – The New Walk in Christ 48:00 – Why the Armor of God Begins with Truth 49:39 – What Made the Early Church Unconquerable? 50:40 – You Cannot Simply "Say" You Put On the Armor 52:00 – Torah, Jesus & the Perfect Law of Liberty 54:58 – Breaking Free from the Old Gods 56:46 – The Kingdom That Will Never Be Destroyed 57:22 – Revelation 11:15 and the Coming Kingdom 58:20 – Learning Clean from Unclean Again 59:09 – Small Victories Become Greater Victories 59:33 – Closing Prayer: Hunger for the Word of God 1:00:19 – The Kingdom Priesthood 1:02:43 – Biblical Life TV / Partner Information

Friends of the Rosary,Today, August 15, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which honors the Christian belief that the Virgin Mary was taken body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her earthly life.Assumed into heaven, Mary reveals our own destiny.Pope Benedict XVI wrote, “Precisely because Mary is with God and in God, she is very close to each one of us. While she lived on Earth, she could be close to only a few people. Being in God, who is actually within all of us, Mary shares in this closeness of God.”She “knows our hearts, can hear our prayers, can help us with her motherly kindness. She always listens to us, and, being Mother of the Son, participates in the power of the Son and in his goodness. We can always entrust the whole of our lives to this Mother.” As Msgr. Ronald Knox said: “That transformation of our material bodies to which we look forward one day has been accomplished—we know it now for certain—in her.”On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII officially defined the dogma of the Assumption in his apostolic constitution, Munificentissimus Deus:“For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”Ave Maria!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• ⁠August 15, 2026, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

August 15, 2026. Today's Reading: Luke 1:(39-45) 46-55Daily Lectionary: 2 Samuel 5:1-25; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13“Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” (Luke 1:45)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Lutherans honor Mary—not because she rules in heaven or manages our prayers—but because of what God did through her. Jesus' humanity is real—He took flesh from Mary. Second, all but two recorded humans die. If Mary had been taken bodily, assumed into heaven, Scripture would clearly say that — as it does about Enoch in Genesis 5:24 and Elijah in 2 Kings 2:11. Scripture is silent on what happened with Mary later in her life; what we do know is that the Bible never implies that Mary was sinless or deserving of our worship. Instead, Holy Scripture presents her as a faithful servant, uniquely chosen, and consistently points to God's saving work in Christ.We honor Mary because she herself said, and Scripture records, “All generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). She's the Mother of our Lord, the one who heard the word of God from Gabriel and believed it. We honor Mary because God honored her—but we do so in the way she teaches us: not by magnifying her, but by magnifying the Lord.God chose an ordinary, humble woman to bear His Son. Jesus grew like we do, lived in the world we live in, suffered in all the ways we do, was tempted as we are, yet without sin, and He did so as a man. This perfect and sinless body He offered on the cross for our salvation. This is the “great thing” God did to Mary—and the great thing He did to and for us. Mary's greatness is not in or of herself. Her greatness is that she received everything from her Savior. She says she's “lowly,” not special or powerful, and so, her humility is part of the miracle. (Luke 1:29)This is our story. God has done great things to and for us. In Baptism, He claimed us as His children. In the Lord's Supper, He feeds us with His Body and Blood, giving forgiveness, life, and salvation. He puts Himself into us—just as He once put Himself into Mary (Luke 1:35). Our response, like Mary's, is awe: “He has done great things to me.” (v.49)We rejoice with Mary—not in Mary. We rejoice in the Lord who became flesh for us, who poured out His blood to forgive us, who keeps His promises, and who loves us by His death that gives us life.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.We pray: Almighty God, You chose the Virgin Mary to be the mother of Your only Son. Grant that we, who are redeemed by His blood, may share with her in the glory of Your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.Rev. Adam DeGroot, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

True Biblical Worship vs. Strange Fire: What Does God Really Want? | KIB 543 DESCRIPTION Welcome to Kingdom Intelligence Briefing Episode #543 with Dr. Michael Lake and Mary Lou Lake. What does God actually desire from those who worship Him? Modern Christianity often defines worship primarily through music, singing, emotional experiences, and church services. But Scripture presents something far deeper. True biblical worship is not merely an event we attend—it is a covenant lifestyle of reverence, obedience, holiness, truth, thanksgiving, humility, service, repentance, and wholehearted devotion to God. In this episode, Dr. Michael Lake examines the biblical theology of worship from both the Old and New Testaments. Psalm 24 reveals the necessity of clean hands and a pure heart, while Jesus declares that the Father is seeking those who will worship Him "in spirit and truth." This teaching also confronts a serious problem within modern Christianity: worship can become religious performance while the believer's daily life remains disconnected from God. Scripture reveals that obedience itself is worship. Holiness is worship. Serving others can become worship. Thanksgiving is worship. Repentance restores true fellowship with God. Even studying Scripture to discover what pleases God becomes an expression of devotion to Him. Dr. Lake also examines Cain, Nadab and Abihu, Saul, Uzziah, and Israel's golden calf to demonstrate a sobering biblical principle: sincerity does not give humanity the authority to redefine worship. God determines how He is to be worshiped. The episode concludes with a warning that much of contemporary worship risks producing "strange fire" rather than Christlikeness—and a call for the Remnant to return to worship that transforms the worshiper and exalts God alone. IN THIS EPISODE: • Why worship is a lifestyle rather than an event • What it means to worship God in spirit and truth • The Hebrew and Greek concepts behind biblical worship • Why obedience is an act of worship • Why God requires holiness from His worshipers • The relationship between thanksgiving, praise, and worship • Why biblical study itself can become an act of devotion • How religious performance can replace genuine worship • Why worship must remain God-centered rather than man-centered • Cain, Nadab and Abihu, Saul, Uzziah, and unauthorized worship • The danger of "strange fire" in the modern Church • How true worship produces transformation and Christlikeness • Why worship and obedience are powerful components of spiritual warfare Mary Lou also discusses prayer, spiritual warfare, and the importance of recognizing that the heavens belong to Almighty God—not the powers of darkness. The episode opens with a call for believers to respond to spiritual opposition by declaring biblical truth and magnifying the Creator rather than fearing the enemy. If this teaching strengthens your walk with God, please: Subscribe to Biblical Life TV Like this video Share it with someone who desires deeper biblical worship Leave a comment telling us what God has been teaching you about worship Download the teaching notes and study these principles for yourself. Visit Kingdom Intelligence Briefing for additional teachings and resources.  https://www.kingdomintelligencebriefing.com Thank you to our faithful partners around the world who make Biblical Life TV possible. Preparing the Remnant to stand firmly upon the Word of God and fulfill His purposes in the last days. TIMELINE 00:00 – Opening: Preparing the Remnant 01:29 – Welcome to KIB Episode #543 01:55 – Mary Lou: Spiritual warfare and the August 12 heavenly events 05:00 – Declaring God as Creator over occult counterfeits 08:30 – Prayer, spiritual attacks, and recognizing enemy strategies 15:01 – A powerful testimony of thanksgiving after losing a job 16:14 – Realigning believers with biblical worship and prayer 17:20 – Concerns about digital Bibles and preserving physical copies 20:00 – True biblical worship: A lifestyle, not an event 20:45 – Psalm 24: Clean hands and a pure heart 23:00 – Worshiping God in spirit and truth 26:32 – The question every worshiper should ask: What does God want? 27:30 – Hebrew and Greek meanings of worship 30:00 – Biblical study as an expression of worship 31:30 – Isaiah 29: Lip service versus heart devotion 34:00 – Religious performance and modern worship culture 36:00 – Spirit and truth: Avoiding emotionalism and dead religion 38:23 – The Psalms as the prayer book and hymnal of God's people 39:30 – Obedience is better than sacrifice 41:19 – Why the Old Testament provides essential biblical definitions 42:18 – God desires holiness 43:15 – Cover-up culture and accountability in Christian ministry 44:45 – Worship with reverence and godly fear 46:35 – Thanksgiving as worship 48:11 – Worship, obedience, and spiritual warfare 49:11 – Worship as preparation for hearing from God 52:30 – Praise must remain God-centered 54:38 – God desires humility 55:59 – Repentance, love, justice, and mercy 57:30 – Becoming a living sacrifice 59:05 – Why Sunday worship cannot compensate for an ungodly week 1:01:00 – Good works, generosity, and worship through service 1:02:46 – Christ-centered worship 1:03:20 – Cain, Nadab and Abihu, Saul, Uzziah, and the golden calf 1:04:41 – God determines how He is worshiped 1:05:15 – True worship produces transformation 1:06:15 – Strange fire in modern Christianity 1:07:05 – Worship must honor God rather than entertain us 1:09:10 – Closing prayer: Becoming true worshipers 1:09:47 – Biblical Life TV closing HASHTAGS #BiblicalWorship #TrueWorship #StrangeFire #SpiritAndTruth #BiblicalLifeTV #KingdomIntelligenceBriefing #SpiritualWarfare #Holiness #ChristianWorship #BibleStudy #Remnant #MichaelLake

We think of all the things that Moses got to experience: the parting of the Red Sea, water from a rock, the Cloud and Fire. We read in today's chapter that Moses asks God for more. And we might think, "Come on, haven't you gotten enough?" But what Moses is asking for isn't more stuff from God, He's asking for MORE of GOD. To experience Him, to know Him better, to be closer to Him. Let us never take for granted this truth: the Almighty God, Creator of the universe, desires to have a friendship with us, the creatures He breathed out of dust.

This week I'm talking to Roy Teague about his book 'Close Encounters of the Police Kind - Incredible true stories of UFO sightings by British police officers' 'I swear by Almighty God that the evidence I shall give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.' Follow Inspector Roy Teague down the rabbit hole as he explores the intriguing world of UFOs and other inexplicable events, told by the most reliable professional witnesses, UK Police Officers. Close Encounters of the Police Kind is the first ever anthology of United Kingdom Police officer involved UFO sightings and encounters, written by a West Midlands Police Inspector, serving in their elite firearms operations unit. The majority of the cases are new, previously untold and involve not only UFO sightings and encounters but missing time and actual abductions involving sworn police officers. Inspector Teague has conducted numerous interviews with Police UFO witnesses over the last several years. From these interviews, he has obtained direct evidence of the officers' UFO and paranormal encounters bringing them out in the public domain. Many are speaking out for the first time. All have agreed to tell their stories. Each fascinating account in the book is for the reader to judge for themselves based on the evidence provided. UFO or innocent explanation? Bio Roy is a serving British police inspector. After 6 years in the army Roy joined the police and spent time as a fire arms officer. https://www.amazon.com/Close-Encounters-Police-Kind-Incredible-ebook/dp/B0H5WH1F8X https://www.youtube.com/@royteague/videos https://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/alienufopodcasthttps://simonbown.com/My new book, Aspects of Alien Abduction https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GRRPCT9YZen AI bit.ly/zenAI_bpp_ufo Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

August 10, 2026 Today's Reading: Jeremiah 8:4-12 or Jeremiah 7:1-11Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 25:23-44; 1 Corinthians 4:1-21“I have paid attention and listened…” (Jeremiah 8:6a)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.When I was little, I learned to hammer nails into boards. Part of that process, unfortunately, included smashing my thumb with the hammer. The wise counsel of adults was to: “Stop hitting your thumb with the hammer, and it won't hurt.” It was true! I hit my thumb less nowadays, but there's more to the story. Admitting that I needed help, taking direction, following direction, and being comforted WHEN I hit my thumb was the path of greatest comfort. It was the same in Jeremiah's day. God asks, “When men fall, do they not rise again?” (Jeremiah 8:4). We expect people to get up when they fall. Judah didn't. They fell into great sin. They tried to hide their sin and struggle until eventually, it was easier to pretend everything was fine. They convinced themselves that piety and positive feelings covered their sin. People around them kept saying, “Peace, peace,” when there was no peace (v. 11). They spoke lies until they believed them. Even worse, the prophets and priests — those who were supposed to speak God's truth — twisted His Word to excuse sin rather than lead people to repentance. They followed the wisdom of the world, believing it would heal the wounds their sin had caused. It didn't heal anything; it never does… it only kept them trapped in their deception and misery.Yahweh sent Jeremiah to assure the people that God wasn't angry because they were sinners: “I have paid attention and listened…”— Yahweh knew what they were up to, AND He was heartbroken because they believed their sin wasn't that bad, that “God doesn't really mean what He said.” Like Judah — we pretend we're healthy when we're actually dead. God pays attention and listens. His word, through Jeremiah, crushed them, roused them; the word was sent to wake the dead in sin from their sleep. We're all fallen; we cannot rise by our own strength. Jeremiah points them to the promise of Christ — Who, for our sake, willingly took our sin and death and rose again. Christ bore our shame, took our judgment, and still reaches out His nail-pierced hands to forgive and restore you. Being a Christian isn't about keeping the stiff upper lip or exercising stoicism; Adam and Eve tried this with fig leaves, and it didn't work. We rest assured that God knows everything about us, He pays attention and listens — and still wants you, seeks you, and loves you. He clothes you in Christ's righteousness that covers every sin in Baptism, He gives you what you've neither earned nor deserved, and He's overjoyed to do so.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Let us pray: Almighty God, we have sinned against You in what we know and what we do not know. For the sake of Your Son, forgive us all our sin and grant us to serve You and our neighbor. Amen. Rev. Adam DeGroot, pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church in Rio Rancho, NM.

In this Bible Caddie Classic from Episode 89, William Kane, Ben Crane, and Webb Simpson sit down with 12 time PGA Tour winner and two time Masters champion Bubba Watson. Bubba shares the story behind both Masters wins, adopting Caleb and Dakota, his darkest season, and how he finally realized golf was just the way that God got him to where he wanted him to be.Topics covered:- 12 time PGA Tour winner, two time Masters champ, great friend to both Webb and Ben- Webb's favorite Bubba memory: Presidents Cup 2011, thanking God after a win and after a loss- Bubba singing Golf Boys on the microphone at Waste Management while in contention to win- I said, what would Jesus do? And Angie said, all right, what time are you flying out?- Being passed over for the Presidents Cup team as the seventh ranked player in the world and showing up as vice captain to serve- Golf is great, but being able to be a part of something bigger than me on earth, that's bigger than me- It's like the 12 disciples. There's 12 guys on the team and you're like washing their feet. That's the vision I had in my head.- Growing up in Baghdad, Florida hitting plastic golf balls around the house and how that taught Bubba every shot he knows- I had a nine iron for the first year. I was six years old and had a nine iron.- Getting turned down for adoption three times and getting the call on Tuesday of Bay Hill week- My whole focus over the last few months leading up to the Masters was becoming a husband and wife family with a baby- From four down on the back nine at Augusta to winning in a playoff on 10- Man, I got a swing, I got a shot- Winning the 2014 Masters on the back nine with Caleb in his arms high fiving the crowd- Going through mental struggles in 2015, 2016, 2017 and moving back to Pensacola- I got down on my knees and prayed and as soon as I said that in my head I was like, oh my gosh, get off the floor, what are you doing? And that's where my faith really started growing.- Golf was just the way that God got me to where he wanted me to be- I finally realized I'm giving all the glory to God- Why Bubba joined LIV and what he is trying to pour into his teammates- Romans 15:7: therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God- No matter where you've been, no matter what you've done, no matter how many mistakes you've made, Almighty God wants to welcome you through Jesus ChristFollow Bible Caddie:Instagram: @biblecaddieTikTok: @biblecaddieX: @biblecaddieListen and subscribe: https://www.biblecaddie.com/podcastInterested in starting a Bible Caddie Featured Group? groups@biblecaddie.comQuestions or inquiries: info@biblecaddie.comShop Bible Caddie: https://www.biblecaddie.com

Join Rod Hembree and Janice as they delve into the fascinating story of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel Chapter 4 on Bible Discovery TV. Explore the profound themes of humility and faith as Nebuchadnezzar, a pagan king, acknowledges the Almighty God. This episode also features discussions on the historical context, archaeological findings related to the Book of Daniel, and the resilience of Daniel and his companions in Babylon. Discover how these ancient stories hold relevance today and inspire faith and understanding.

Daily Dose of Hope August 5, 2026   Scripture: Genesis 1   Prayer:  Holy God, We come before you with humility and expectation as we start a new reading plan, going deep into Genesis and Exodus.  Thank you for the opportunity to read your Word and hear your voice.  We want to hear from you today.    Thank you for another day, another chance to be a change agent in our world, your world.  Guide us, Lord.  Guide our words, actions, and thoughts.  We want to be more like you.  Help us see others as you see them.  We love you.  Amen.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan.  Today, we begin a new reading plan – a deep dive into Genesis and Exodus.  So, we get to go back to the very beginning, really the very beginning of all time – Genesis 1.    In Genesis 1, we read about God creating the world and everything in it in six days and resting on the seventh day (the rest portion is actually in Genesis 2).  God declares everything he made good and the humans were very good.  The human beings were actually made in God's image.  The Scripture is very clear on this.  To be made in God's image is to be made to reflect God's character and values.  And because we are made in his image, this means we have inherent worth.  All human beings, every single person, has value and worth because they are made in the image of the Almighty God.    This text gives a beautiful over-arching picture of creation, emphasizing the transcendence of God, and it provides the introduction for the rest of the book of Genesis and the Bible as a whole.  As we move into Genesis 2 tomorrow, you will see that there really are two different creation accounts.  The purpose of each creation story is different but I believe they actually complement one another.  We will get into that a bit more tomorrow.   What I really want to focus on today is the concept of creation itself because it sets the scene for the whole Biblical narrative.  Just for some context, the Bible wasn't intended to be a science textbook.  The author of Genesis wasn't concerned with chronological or geological details.  The right question for us to ask is not HOW exactly did creation occur.  The author wasn't trying to give us a good answer about dinosaurs or young earth or old earth.  Rather, this was about explaining the truth about who God is and what God expects of his people.  The question is not HOW but WHO and WHY.    It was Yahweh, GOD, who created.  That is clear from the very beginning.  God created the heavens and the earth and then everything on the earth.  But why?    And this is a hugely important question.  Let's start here:  God didn't "need" creation.  He didn't need us; he wasn't lonely.  He didn't create us because he needed a friend.  Maybe that sounds silly but it is critical.  The Biblical picture we have of God is that he is complete and sufficient and flawless, and without any defect or deficiency. That means, before creation and apart from creation, God was completely and flawlessly God.  Remember, he said I AM who I AM.  And the doctrine of the Trinity, which we tend to struggle with, it helps explain God's self-sufficiency.  God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  There was already fellowship there.  Because the Trinity implies in the relationships between the Father and the Son and the Spirit is that God is love and has always been love. 1 John 4:16 emphasizes that , "God is love." Before there was even a world to love, God was love.   Okay – then why did God create?  Colossians 1:16 reads, For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. Through him and for him.    I think this is kind of a simplistic analogy but it helps me understand this concept.  Often, when we get married, we have a desire to have children.  I think about Richard and myself.  We knew from the beginning that we wanted to try to have a family.  Why?  Because it was an expression of our love.  Putting our labor and emotions into our family was about love. We didn't have to have children, we didn't necessarily need children, but we truly wanted to have them.  We chose to have them. Creation was an expression of God's amazing love too.  Even though God does not need us, He wanted us.  Just like we are still kind of obsessed with our kids' lives because we love them so dearly, God is still intensely interested in our lives. He deeply and tenderly loves us beyond comprehension—not because He has to (out of need), but because He chooses to (out of love).  "The LORD your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17).  God rejoices in us!   Creation was also an expression of God's glory. "Glory" describes all the things God is full of—it includes his love but it is also his wisdom, creativity, beauty, strength, compassion—all the things that make him weighty and wonderful, made manifest for us to see and experience.     Throughout the Bible, we see Scripture telling us that God created to demonstrate his glory.  Psalm 19:1, The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Why is it that we see a beautiful sunset and we are in awe?  Or we look at snow-capped mountains and their majesty and we just feel the presence of God in our midst?  Or we experience childbirth and we marvel at how it all worked out so beautifully and perfectly and we say, wow – this didn't happen by chance.  This was not an accident.  Because all of creation – from gorgeous mountains to stars to a beautiful butterfly to the birth of a baby to scientific principles like gravity --- they all declare God's glory, his wisdom, his beauty, and his love, for this world.  When have your experienced God's glory in creation?   We'll stop there for today.  Looking forward to tomorrow!   Blessings, Pastor Vicki    

Welcome to Day 2918 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2918 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 147:12-20 Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2918 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2918 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. The title for today's Wisdom-Trek is: The Swift Word of the Sovereign King – Fortifying Zion and Thawing the Frozen Wilderness On our previous expedition—on Day Two Thousand Nine Hundred Seventeen—we stepped onto the opening slopes of Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven, exploring verses one through eleven. We marveled at the breathtaking paradox of our Creator: the very same Almighty God who marshals the stars of heaven, calling each one by name, is the gentle Physician who bends down to bandage the broken hearts of hurting exiles. We learned that Yahweh takes no delight in the brute strength of warhorses or human self-reliance, but instead, takes supreme pleasure in those who humbly put their hope in His unfailing covenant love. Today, as we continue along Day Two Thousand Nine Hundred Eighteen of our trek, we move directly into the second half of this glorious hymn: Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven, verses twelve through twenty. In this concluding movement, the psalmist turns his focus toward the fortified walls of Jerusalem, the fierce power of winter weather, and the unique, incomparable privilege of receiving God's holy word. We will see how the sovereign command of yahweh rules effortlessly over both the physical elements of nature and the spiritual destiny of His covenant people. The first segment is: Fortified Gates and the Finest Wheat: The Security of the City Let us open our ears to the exuberant call to worship that begins this second stanza, as recorded in the New Living Translation, grouping together the logical, contiguous thoughts found in verse twelve, verse thirteen, and verse fourteen. Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion! For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within your city. He sends peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat. The psalmist issues a thunderous, joyous summons to the holy city, shouting, “Glorify the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!” He immediately anchors this call in concrete acts of divine protection and flourishing, declaring, “For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within your city. He sends peace across your nation and satisfies your hunger with the finest wheat.” To grasp the profound relief and joy embedded in these verses, we must remember the historical setting of post-exilic Jerusalem. The city walls had been torn down by Nebuchadnezzar's armies, the gates were burned with fire, and for decades, the returning remnants lived in perpetual fear of hostile surrounding tribes. But when Nehemiah and the people rebuilt the walls under Yahweh's guidance, the city gates were once again secured with heavy bars! Yet, the psalmist recognizes that physical iron bars are useless unless the Lord Himself strengthens them. It is Yahweh who establishes real, impenetrable security around the community, allowing children to play safely within the city streets without fear of sudden invasion. Furthermore, notice the scope of this blessing! It extends from structural safety to internal prosperity. Yahweh grants shalom—complete, untroubled peace—across the borders of the nation, and He satisfies the people's hunger with the “finest wheat.” In the Ancient Israelite divine-council worldview, neighboring pagan nations believed that agriculture and territorial peace depended on sacrificing to localized fertility gods like Baal or Asherah. But Israel knew the truth! Yahweh alone controls the borders of the earth, and Yahweh alone opens the bounty of creation to nourish His children with the very best food. The second segment is: The Cosmic Voice of Winter: Snow, Frost, and the Swift Word The narrative now transitions from civil security to the vast, sweeping power of God's command over the forces of nature, combining the contiguous thoughts found in verse fifteen, verse sixteen, verse seventeen, and verse eighteen. He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly! He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then at his command, it melts. He sends the wind, and the ice thaws. Look at the astonishing speed and absolute authority of God's royal decrees! The psalmist proclaims, “He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly! He sends the snow like white wool; he scatters the frost like ashes. He hurls the hail like stones. Who can stand against his freezing cold? Then at his command, it melts. He sends the wind, and the ice thaws.” In this breathtaking section, the word of God—His davar—is personified as an invincible, swift royal messenger! In the ancient Near East, human kings sent runners across their empires to deliver royal decrees, but those human couriers were limited by speed, terrain, and exhaustion. When Yahweh speaks from His celestial throne room, His word runs like lightning across the globe, instantly obeyed by every element of creation. Notice how the psalmist paints the freezing winter weather: snow falling soft and thick like white wool, frost coating the ground like scattered wood-ash, and hail pounding down like jagged stones! Winter in the mountainous regions of Israel could be severe, paralyzing life and threatening survival. The psalmist asks the dramatic rhetorical question: “Who can stand against his freezing cold?” Human military power, heavy armor, and thermal garments are completely helpless when the Creator turns down the tem“erature of the earth! Yet, just as quick”y as the frost seals the land in ice, Yahweh issues another swift command: He releases His warm wind—His ruach—and the ice immediately thaws, streams begin to flow again, and spring returns to the land. In the divine-council framework, the spiritual principalities that pagan nations worshipped as lords of winter or chaos are unmasked as mere puppets before Yahweh; the weather is simply obedient clay in the hands of the ultimate Cosmic Craftsman. The third segment is: The Unique Treasure: Revealing Decrees to Jacob Having demonstrated how Yahweh's swift word commands the physical cosmos, the psalmist reaches the grand finale of the psalm, revealing the supreme, incomparable gift given exclusively to Israel, as recorded in verse nineteen and verse twenty. He has revealed his word to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel. He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations. Praise the Lord! The psalmist seals this magnificent hymn with a declaration of astounding covenant privilege, exclaiming, “He has revealed his word to Jacob, his decrees and regulations to Israel. He has not done this for any other nation; they do not know his regulations. Praise the Lord!” Think about the staggering theological progression of Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven! The God who commands the trillions of stars in verse four, and who directs the freezing hail and melting winds in verses fifteen through eighteen, has chosen to speak directly to human beings! But He did not reveal His holy, written law to the mighty Egyptian empire, nor to the cultured Babylonians, nor to the warlike Assyrians. Instead, He entrusted His sacred decrees, His Torah, and His legal judgments—His mishpatim—uniquely to the descendants of Jacob! To fully appreciate this verse, we must view it through the lens of Deuteronomy chapter thirty-two in the ancient Israelite divine-council worldview. When Yahweh divided the nations after the Tower of Babel, He allocated the pagan peoples under the oversight of lesser spiritual beings, the "sons of God." But Israel was Yahweh's personal, direct inheritance! While other nations stumbled in spiritual darkness, worshipping idols and guessing at the desires of fickle gods, Israel was given the clear, brilliant, life-giving light of Yahweh's written word. They were given the blueprint of cosmic wisdom, showing them how to live in alignment with the Creator. This unique revelation calls for an explosive, ultimate response, ending the psalm with that glorious, unshakeable command: Hallelujah—Praise the Lord! As we conclude today's trek through Psalm One Hundred Forty-Seven,

Detailed Sermon Summary:  "Legacy of Love: The Greatest Motivation" Pastor Bryan Hudson, D.Min. The sermon “Legacy of Love” explores how the love of God not only saves believers but also transforms their motivations, directs their lives, and creates a spiritual legacy that can be placed within other people. The central text is 2 Corinthians 5:14–15: “For the love of Christ compels us…that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” The central message is that the God-kind of love is the greatest motivating power in a believer's life. Christ's love should control, compel, and redirect believers so that they no longer live primarily for themselves but for Jesus Christ and the purposes of God. The God-Kind of Love Because the word “love” is used in many different ways, the sermon begins by distinguishing biblical love from friendship, romantic affection, physical attraction, or human sentiment. The love being discussed is the God-kind of love. John 3:16 provides the clearest definition of this love: God loved the world so deeply that He gave His only begotten Son. God's love was demonstrated through sacrifice and action. However, the sacrifice involved more than the Father sending the Son. Jesus also had to willingly accept the assignment. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus struggled with the suffering He was about to face, yet He submitted Himself to the Father's will, saying, “Nevertheless, not My will, but Yours be done.” The God-kind of love, therefore, is a love that willingly sacrifices itself for others. It does for people what they cannot do for themselves. God sent Jesus, and Jesus willingly gave His life to redeem humanity. The Meaning of Legacy Legacy is defined as what a person leaves behind through character, influence, values, accomplishments, relationships, service, teaching, and personal example. Legacy is not limited to money, property, or material possessions. It includes the lasting impact of how a person lived, loved, served, taught, encouraged, and inspired others. An important distinction is made between inheritance and legacy: Inheritance is what we leave to people. Legacy is what we leave within people. Material possessions can be spent, lost, or consumed. However, what has been deposited within a person can continue shaping that person's life and can be passed on to future generations. God did not merely give believers something to possess. Through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, God placed His love within them. That love changes their character, thinking, priorities, and motivations. The Pattern of Spiritual Legacy The pattern of the legacy of love flows: From God the Father, to Jesus Christ, to believers, and then through believers to other people. God placed His love and purpose within Christ. Christ places that same love within believers. Believers are then responsible for placing truth, wisdom, faith, encouragement, and godly values within others. This is especially important for people who work with others, including pastors, teachers, counselors, parents, mentors, community leaders, and those who minister to young people. True influence is more than giving people material assistance. Giving food, resources, or practical help is important, but love also seeks to place something lasting within people. The goal is not only to put something into their hands but also to put truth, hope, wisdom, faith, discipline, and purpose into their hearts and minds. This is why education, counseling, mentoring, ministry, public policy, and advocacy are so important. Good policies and systems help create environments where people can receive what they need to grow and flourish. Love motivates believers not only to serve individuals but also to stand and fight for what is right. What Love Does The sermon describes several ways that love actively works: Love is leverage. It has the power to influence, lift, strengthen, and transform people. Love is light. It dispels darkness, exposes deception, and reveals truth. Love is life. It brings hope, renewal, restoration, and spiritual vitality. Love is liberty. It frees people from fear, guilt, sin, bondage, and oppressive motivations. Love is labor. True love works, serves, sacrifices, remains committed, and accepts responsibility. Love is lordship. It flows from allowing Jesus Christ to rule within the heart. All these qualities originate in the truth that God is love. God possesses many attributes, including power, holiness, majesty, wisdom, and glory, but His actions toward humanity flow from His loving nature. Love caused God to send Jesus. Love caused Jesus to accept the cross. Love causes believers to serve others even when circumstances suggest they have already done enough. Love as the Greatest Motivation The greatest motivation is not recognition, convenience, personal gain, emotional excitement, or public approval. The greatest motivation is the God-kind of love. Emotions and inspiration may rise and fall, but the love of God remains present within the believer. Human motivation cannot always be trusted because it is often influenced by selfishness, fear, pride, comfort, or circumstances. However, when the Spirit of Christ is working within believers, God's love can reorient their motivations. The love of Christ causes people to continue serving when service is difficult. It motivates them to remain faithful when their minds or circumstances suggest that they should withdraw, slow down, or give up. Paul's Labor to Form Christ in People Galatians 4:19 reveals the Apostle Paul's motivation: “My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” Paul used the language of childbirth and labor to describe his ministry. He did not simply enter a city, preach a sermon, and immediately leave. He often remained with people for extended periods because he wanted Christ to be formed within them. Formation takes time. Whether someone is cooking, painting, building, teaching, mentoring, or developing another person, meaningful results rarely happen instantly. Important things must be worked, shaped, nurtured, and developed. Modern society often demands immediate results, but spiritual formation does not work that way. The legacy of love requires patience, presence, commitment, and sustained labor. “If One Died for All, Then All Died” In 2 Corinthians 5:14, Paul writes: “If One died for all, then all died.” Jesus died on behalf of every person. His death provided the possibility of salvation and new life for everyone. This does not mean that everyone is automatically saved. It means that the provision for salvation has already been made and is available to all who believe. Salvation is therefore not far away. Romans 10:8–9 teaches that the word is near, in a person's mouth and heart. When a person confesses Jesus as Lord and believes that God raised Him from the dead, that person will be saved. People may think they are not ready to receive salvation, but Christ has already completed the necessary work. The provision is ready. The invitation is near. They must recognize their spiritual condition and receive what Christ has provided. Apart from Christ, people may be physically alive but spiritually dead. Christ's death and resurrection make genuine spiritual life possible. Living No Longer for Ourselves Second Corinthians 5:15 explains the proper response to Christ's sacrifice: “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” Once people understand that Christ died to give them life, their motivations should change. They should no longer view life as something to be lived only for personal pleasure, comfort, advancement, or self-interest. Those who have experienced God's grace should ask: Why am I still alive? What has God preserved me to accomplish? How should I live in light of what Christ has done? What should motivate my decisions? Believers do not need to experience a near-death event before appreciating that life is a gift from God. Every day should be lived with gratitude and purpose. Because Christ gave His life for them, believers should willingly offer their lives to Him. They retain the power to make choices, but those choices should be made in light of God's mercy and Christ's sacrifice. The Love of Christ Compels Us The word “compels” communicates a powerful controlling and directing influence. Different Bible translations express this idea in several ways: The love of Christ “controls and compels us.” Believers are “ruled by the love of Christ.” Love is the “controlling force” in the believer's life. Christ's love takes hold of believers so completely that they can no longer continue living according to their former motivations. God's love is stronger and more dependable than temporary emotional excitement. Inspiration may come and go, but the love of God remains within believers as a sustaining and guiding force. God's Love as a Spiritual GPS The sermon uses GPS technology as an illustration of how the love of Christ directs believers. When someone enters a destination into a GPS, the system does more than show the person's current location. It continually provides direction. It tells the driver where to turn, warns when the driver has gone off course, and recalculates after a wrong turn. In the same way, the love of Christ becomes a controlling direction in the believer's life. God's love: Sets the destination. Influences decisions. Gives direction. Warns when a person is drifting. Redirects after mistakes. Brings the believer back on course. The love of God is like a spiritual GPS. It does not merely provide information; it provides direction and redirection. During a ministry trip through the northern deserts of Kenya, there was no cellular service, yet GPS continued to work because it communicated through satellites. That experience illustrates God's spiritual presence. Even when normal human connections, resources, or familiar supports are unavailable, God remains present and able to guide. Just as GPS has become a dependable tool for navigation, believers should learn to depend even more completely upon the love and presence of God. Replacing Lesser Motivations If believers possess the love of Christ, they should not continue depending upon older, inferior motivations. Some lesser motivations include: What I want. What benefits me. How other people see me. What makes me comfortable. How I can maintain control. Fear of criticism. Desire for approval. Self-preservation. Pride. Anger. Personal convenience. Concern about how others see us can be especially damaging because people often imagine what others think without having any evidence. Like the Israelites who assumed that the inhabitants of Canaan viewed them as grasshoppers, people sometimes allow imaginary judgments to keep them from entering God's promises. Believers must become dead to these lesser motivations and alive to the legacy of love. Settling the Matter in Our Minds Paul says, “We judge thus,” meaning that believers must reach a settled conclusion. There are certain truths about which believers should stop wavering. They must make firm decisions from which they will not retreat. This is not a time for spiritual indecision. In a rapidly changing and unstable world, believers cannot remain in a state of confusion or perpetual hesitation. They must settle certain matters in their hearts: Christ died for all. Christ died for me. My life belongs to God. I will no longer live only for myself. The love of Christ will motivate my decisions. I will follow God's direction. I will not return to lesser motivations. When the love of God is operating within a believer, decisions motivated by that love will lead in a righteous direction. Believers should question selfish thinking, but they should not continually question the genuine work God is doing within their hearts. Crucified With Christ Galatians 2:20 summarizes the entire message: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” The old, sinful, self-centered person has been crucified with Christ. The believer now lives a new life through faith in the Son of God. Paul does not merely speak of “my life.” He speaks of “the life which I now live.” This distinction is important because the Christian life is not simply an improved version of the old life. It is the life of Christ operating within the believer. A life controlled only by human ability is limited. A person relying entirely upon “my life,” “my wisdom,” and “my strength” must attempt to solve every problem and confront every spiritual battle alone. However, believers are not limited to themselves. Christ lives within them. They live by faith in the Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them. This is the legacy of love: Christ gave Himself so that His life, love, character, power, and motivation could be formed within His people. The Closing Confession of Faith The sermon concludes with a corporate confession affirming the following truths: Believers are living in the legacy of love provided by Almighty God and Jesus Christ. What they have received from God is not only with them but also within them. They are moving away from lesser motivations toward greater motivations. The greatest motivation is the God-kind of love. The love of Christ compels, controls, and motivates them. Because Jesus died and rose again, they no longer have to live for themselves. They can live for the One who died for them and gave them new life. God's legacy of love functions as their spiritual GPS. Their direction and redirection come from the Lord. God's love motivates them to live beyond: Personal desires. Self-interest. The opinions of others. Comfort. The desire to control everything. They have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer the old self that lives, but Christ lives within them. The life they now live is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved them and gave Himself for them. Central Message The central truth of “Legacy of Love” is that God's love is not merely something believers receive and enjoy. It is something God places within them to transform how they think, live, decide, serve, and influence others. The legacy of love begins with God, is revealed through Jesus Christ, is deposited within believers, and is passed from believers into the lives of others. Because Christ died and rose again, believers are called to abandon selfish and lesser motivations. They are to allow Christ's love to become the controlling, compelling, and directing force of their lives. A genuine legacy of love is created when believers not only give things to people but also place something lasting within them—faith, truth, hope, wisdom, character, courage, purpose, and the life of Christ.

Paul wants the Corinthian church to live under the lordship of Jesus Christ. Divisions had already begun among the church at Corinth, and as we'll see in these first few chapters, some of the division came because believers began attributing themselves to mere men. Paul directs them to boast, not in the teachers they follow, but in Christ and Him crucified. In other words, “let one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” The cross is foolishness to the world, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of Almighty God. The apostles weren't to be placed on pedestals, but they were to be looked to as examples of humility. 1 Corinthians 1 - 1:07 .  1 Corinthians 2 - 6:19 .  1 Corinthians 3 - 9:52 .  1 Corinthians 4 - 13:31 .  1 Corinthians 5 - 18:24 .  1 Corinthians 6 - 20:56 .  Psalm 110 - 24:57 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

Many attempts have been made to define the grace of God. One definition, using an acronym, says “Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense.” Perhaps the most common definition of grace is “unmerited favor.” Another says that grace is “God's favor toward the unworthy.” All of these definitions are helpful as we consider this incredible attribute of God. I suppose my favorite definition is that grace is “God's undeserved kindness.”Main Points:1.  Think about it. God has been so kind to us. Consider all God has given you and all He has done in your life. Why? Why would God be so kind? What have you done to earn the kindness of our Almighty God? What have you done to deserve such affection and goodwill? Nothing. Not a thing. Nada. 2. You and I have received God's kindness because of His grace. Prompted by the love we can't fully understand, God demonstrates His kindness in our lives by giving us His Son, Jesus, to be our savior. It's because of His grace that we have been forgiven. It's through His grace we have a relationship with Him. 3. Maybe today, you are in need of God's grace. Perhaps you need forgiveness of sins. Reach out to God. Ask Him for His grace. He is generous to those who call on him.Today's Scripture Verses:Ephesians 2:8-9 - “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”Psalm 103:10 - “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”Romans 5:20 - “… But where sin increased, grace increased all the more”Quick Links:Donate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group

This is an important lesson for everyone.  The name Jesus is not a name to be cursed.  It is not a name to be used in jest.  It is not a name to be used casually.  It is not a name to be used to make a profit with, and it is not a name to be rejected.   The name Jesus is a name to be worshipped.  It is the name of the Son of the Almighty God.  It is the name of my Lord and Savior.  It is the name that all men, all demons, and all powers, are subject to, and will bow down to.  There is power in the name of Jesus, soul saving, demon conquering, life transforming power, in the name of Jesus. Yet, so many people reject Jesus as the Son of God, and all of the work that He has done to bring salvation to a dark world mired in sin.  It is important to see the significance of this failure to believe that Jesus is the Christ.  The Bible tells us that “he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.”  It is the rejection of Jesus Christ as your Savior that will determine where you spend eternity.  In heaven with Him, or in Hell without Him.  Not good works versus bad works, not how much money you give, not how eloquent you speech is.  None of that will decide your eternal fate.  The Bible says, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved.” In our lesson today, Paul's focus was to bring the people of the region to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit would do mighty works through Paul, making this one of his most effective ministries.  Millions of people would hear the Word of God as the gospel message radiated out from Ephesus like the spokes of a wheel.  Churches would be founded in the region around Ephesus, and people would come to know the Lord Jesus as their personal Savior.   Click on the link below to hear a message on how you can know Jesus, the Son of the Living God.   This is a live recording of The Master's Class Bible Study at LifeChange Church Wichita, KS. Amen.

So today we will look at some of the prophecies of what would be the signs past, present and future of His coming. As the Eternal, Almighty God shares His heart with His prophets, the Ancient Israelites and to us today. As you listen be blessed, empowered and transformed in Jesus name.Send us Fan MailFor more information and free resources visit our website jesuslovestheworld.info Also connect with us in discipleship, watch our videos, follow us on facebook or send us an email

How are you today? His works and blessings are marvellous! In this heartfelt episode, we reflect on the words of Psalm 139: "I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." As I celebrate my birthday, I share personal reflections on faith, life, and God's amazing creation.The discussion looks back at the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling and its impact on America, as well as experiences from my years in government schools. We consider the value and preciousness of children, the importance of teaching them in the love and admonition of the Lord, and the biblical truth that "In the beginning God created."Join us as we celebrate the works of Almighty God and proclaim: "Marvellous are Thy Works."The Voice in the Wilderness does not endorse any link or other material found at buzzsprout.More at https://www.thevoiceinthewilderness.org/

This week, I watched a simple video of a man in a suit with a strong Irish accent explain something so beautifully and so clearly. He talked about how easily we twist salvation into being faith plus works. He posed one question: If you were to die tonight and stand at the gates of Heaven, how would you explain why you’re there? He said if you answer that question in the first person, you’ve already gone wrong. Because I believed. Because I had faith. Because I trusted. Because I did good things. Because I served. Because I stopped doing bad things. Nope. You’ve made it about you. Your way to Heaven never started with you. Look at the thief on the cross. Remember the one hanging beside Jesus? Jesus told him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” And so he was. Just like that. This man was a criminal. He wasn’t baptized. He wasn’t in a Bible study. He never served in children’s ministry. He never got his life cleaned up. He had no opportunity to prove himself worthy. And yet, he made it to Heaven. Imagine the angel guarding Heaven’s gates asking him, “On what basis are you here?” And all he can say is, “The man on the middle cross said I could come.” My friends, that is our only answer too. The Man on the middle cross. It’s not about the Scriptures I’ve memorized, the good works I’ve done, or the sins I’ve walked away from. It’s all about the cross. If I take my eyes off the cross, then suddenly my salvation depends on me. And if your salvation depends on you, it will always lead you to one of two places—absolute despair or horrible arrogance. You’ll either never feel good enough, or you’ll start believing you’re better than everyone else. Both are lies. Keep your eyes on the cross. You are not saved as a result of anything you have ever done or will ever do. You are saved solely because of what Jesus accomplished on that middle cross. And here’s the beautiful thing—your relationship with your Creator isn’t the result of your performance either. You’ve been offered a relationship with Almighty God because of His relentless pursuit of YOU. Grace didn’t simply save you. Grace has been pursuing you all along. The Bible is filled with story after story of God’s pursuit of people who had strayed. People who had failed. People who had royally messed up their lives. People the world had written off as too far gone. And Jesus? He pulled up a chair at their table. He pursued them. Relentlessly. From the moment you were born, God has been pursuing you. Now maybe you’ve spent most of your years running. Yep, me too. Not necessarily running from God, but keeping myself so busy, distracted, and self-sufficient that His knocking went unnoticed and unanswered. And yet, He pursued me. Aren’t you grateful God doesn’t give up easily? Because if He did, how long ago would He have given up on you? How many times have you ignored Him? How many times have you chosen your own way? How many times have you settled for comfortable when He was offering abundant? And still, here He stands today. Offering again. “Will you let me in?” “Will you let me help you?” “Will you draw close to Me? I’ve been drawing close to you all the days of your life.” This is His relentless pursuit of you. And even during the times you’ve given up on yourself, He hasn’t. He has never backed down. God. Still. Wants. You. Psalm 139:7 says: “I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!” You can’t outrun Him. God loves running rebels. He sent His Son on a search-and-rescue mission for YOU. His mission was to seek and save the lost and bring you close to the Father. And that’s still His mission today—to keep bringing you in. Could that be why some of this has been happening in your life? Could the lost job, the financial struggles, the health scare, the crisis, the stress, and the worry be part of God’s relentless pursuit of your heart? Not because He’s punishing you, but because He’s pursuing you. Or perhaps He’s about to show you His power through it all so you’ll never doubt His presence again. If you’ve been running, stop. Just stop. And let Him catch you. That’s my prayer for you today—not that you’ll try harder or do better or become more impressive. My prayer is much simpler than that. Be caught today. Let Him wrap you in His love. Let Him strengthen you. Let Him shield you. Let Him provide for you. Take your refuge in Him. Many years ago, my life seemed to be falling apart. We had run out of money. Our business had dried up. Every light we saw at the end of the tunnel turned into a freight train heading straight for us. I had come to the end of my rope. One day, I sat down on my couch and surrendered. And He caught me. He and I sat on that couch and wrestled it out. I was angry. I was scared. And God was faithful. That day changed my life. God’s relentless pursuit through it all had finally captured my heart. This is where we often get it wrong. We think God primarily wants us to do something for Him. Yes, He calls us to action. Yes, He calls us to be His hands and feet. But don’t twist that. He doesn’t NEED anything from you. Your performance isn’t required. Your trophies aren’t necessary. Your winning record isn’t impressive to Him. More than anything else, He wants YOU. He wants to catch you. He wants you to stop running and simply run to Him. He’s got you. I promise He does. Elevation Worship has a song called Jireh that begins with these words: I’ll never be more loved than I am right now. Wasn’t holding You up, so there’s nothing I can do to let You down. It doesn’t take a trophy to make You proud. I’ll never be more loved than I am right now. Those words get me every single time. Maybe because I’m the girl who has always feared being a disappointment. Maybe because failure has haunted me more times than I’d like to admit. But there’s such freedom in knowing I can’t let God down because I wasn’t ever holding Him up. God isn’t impressed by my trophies, so He’s not disappointed when I don’t win them. And I couldn’t possibly be more loved than I am right now. Maybe you need to hear that too. There is nothing you could do that would make God love you more than He already does. You don’t have to perform for Him. Your failure hasn’t distanced Him. Your weakness hasn’t surprised Him. Your wandering hasn’t stopped Him. He loves you. He loves you so much that after all these years of your running and your trying and your striving and your bright ideas, He is still pursuing you. The fact that you’re hearing these words today is once again evidence of His relentless pursuit. You. Precious and priceless you. The one and only you. He sees you and knows without a doubt—you are worth pursuing. You have not escaped His Spirit. You have not gotten away from His presence. Through it all, He has been right beside you whether you recognized Him or not. You’ve been caught from the fall. You’ve been captured from the running. You’ve been chosen by grace. And when the enemy whispers that we’re not enough, that we’ve failed too many times, wandered too far, or missed our chance, may we remember our answer has never changed. If someone were to ask us, “How did you get here?” the answer isn’t because I was good enough. Or faithful enough. Or disciplined enough. Or because I finally got my life together. It’s much simpler than that. The Man on the middle cross said I could come. The Man on the middle cross pursued me when I was running. The Man on the middle cross caught me when I fell. The Man on the middle cross paid what I could never pay and opened what I could never open. And one day, when I take my final breath here and my first breath in eternity, if I’m asked, “On what basis are you here?” my answer will still be the same. The Man on the middle cross. That’s it. Not my trophies. Not my performance. Not my victories. Not my failures. Not my story. His. And until that day comes, may we stop settling for a comfortable life when God has a great big, beautiful life waiting for us. Not my way, Lord, but Yours. May you be drawn deeper into the life He created for you, all by His grace. And may you stop running long enough to discover you’ve been pursued all along. May you be caught today. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

July 22, 2026Today's Reading: John 20:1-2, 10-18Daily Lectionary: 1 Samuel 5:1-6:3, 10-16; Acts 18:1-11, 23-28“They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?' She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.'” (John 20:13)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Folks have spilled a lot of ink over Mary Magdalene's chastity. Especially since the scriptures don't ever name the prostitute who anoints the Lord's feet with her tears. I think it's on purpose. The blessed evangelists name and leave nameless according to the Spirit. It's on purpose when someone is named. It's on purpose when someone is not. I don't believe the woman who anoints Jesus' feet is left nameless so that we can assume the worst in someone Jesus calls a saint. I believe it's because if Jesus takes away your sin, your sin isn't tied to your name anymore. To be known by your sin is the opposite of Christianity. You are known by your Christ. He bled and died for you. They become His, and your sins are forgiven. You become His, and you are known by your name, washed clean even as you wear His in your Baptism. Your name is redeemed with the rest of you. Your name is sanctified with the rest of you. Jesus insists. It is the same Jesus who pursues Mary. Throughout her sins, her confusion, her disbelief, and her despair. He greets her by name. Mary. And here, she sees who He is. He is the one who gives us clean names again. This is who she is. Mary. Chaste. Faithful. Pure. But most of all, met by a risen Lord. She is witness to the victory over death, the forgiveness, and all the hope that it brings. I don't know if Mary was at one point a prostitute. I do know that her tears are wiped away in any case, and names tied to old sins are forgiven and penned in the book of life. Like yours. You are baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Your identity is tied to this, not your sin. Jesus insists. When He pens your name into the book of life, it is through this Baptism, this redemption. Your name doesn't have an asterisk (*) by it, with all your sins listed out. Those are left at the cross. Jesus meets you in the resurrection and calls you by name. Rejoice with Mary. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Almighty God, Your Son, Jesus Christ, restored Mary Magdalene to health and called her to be the first witness of His resurrection. Heal us from all our infirmities, and call us to know You in the power of Your Son's unending life; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Rev. Harrison Goodman, Executive Director of Mission and Theology for Higher Things.

Here’s my prayer for you today: May you be led by what is in you, not by what is around you. Because what is around you is loud. Distractions. Drama. Disappointment. Fear. Bad news. Negative people. The invitation to live a small, defeated, mediocre life is everywhere. But daughter of God, you were never created to live looking down. Downcast. Downtrodden. Down in the dumps. Down is not your direction. And here’s how I know: Because of what is in you. Romans 8:9 says, “You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.” Then just a few verses later, Romans 8:15 says, “You have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.” Did you catch that? God’s Spirit lives in you. Not beside you. Not near you. Not occasionally visiting you. In you. The mountain-moving, sea-parting, chain-breaking, prison-shaking, death-defeating power of Almighty God lives in you. Let that sink in. Because the enemy works overtime trying to make you forget it. He wants your attention on your failures instead of your Father. He wants your focus on your flaws instead of God’s power. He wants you obsessing over your weight, your money, your job, your house, your image, your circumstances—anything that keeps your eyes off the greatest reality of your life: The Spirit of God lives within you. If you’re consumed by what you see in the mirror, you’ll forget what Jesus placed inside of you. If you’re focused on your problems, you’ll forget you already have access to the power to overcome them. If you’re drowning in negative thoughts, you’ll start believing you’re stuck. But you’re not stuck. You’ve just forgotten what’s in you. The Spirit of God has already given you power to rise. Power to heal. Power to overcome. Power to keep going. Don’t sacrifice your power by entertaining pitiful. I know I’ve done it. I’ve had seasons where I focused more on my problems than my power. More on my circumstances than my Savior. And every single time, I felt defeated. Because when I play pitiful, I stop walking powerful. So let me ask you: Have you been focused on your problems? Have you been rehearsing your disappointments? Have you been sitting in self-pity? Because here’s something I learned a long time ago: You can be pitiful or you can be powerful, but you cannot be both. (Thank you Joyce Meyer.) At nineteen years old, I suffered a massive stroke. I was unable to walk or talk. While I was in the hospital, my newlywed husband kept my family away. He told them I was okay. At the time, I couldn’t understand why my mama and daddy weren’t by my bed. But he understood something I didn’t. Pity would have paralyzed me. Pity would have kept me in that bed. Pity would have convinced me I was a victim instead of a victor. My parents would have given me pity. So my young husband pushed me. He challenged me. He refused to hand me pity. And today I walk, talk, and live whole because I was offered God’s power instead of people’s pity. So why would we choose pity now? Girl, pity never looks good on you. But God’s power? That looks absolutely beautiful on you. Because of the Spirit living in you, defeat is no longer your identity. Mediocrity is no longer your calling. Fear is no longer your master. You don’t wake up expecting less. You don’t settle for surviving. Jesus didn’t die so you could live a little life. He came that you might have life—and have it abundantly. So stop sitting in pity over everything that’s wrong. Not when the Spirit of the Almighty lives in you. Oh no. You have every reason to get excited about today. Every reason to expect good things. Every reason to believe that what stands before you is smaller than the God within you. Why? Because God’s Spirit lives in you. You are not controlled by your feelings. You are not a slave to fear. You are a daughter of the King. And daughters of the King don’t walk through life defeated. They walk with authority. They walk with confidence. They walk knowing who they belong to. So remember this today: Nothing you face is greater than the Spirit within you. You are not helpless. You are not hopeless. You are not stuck. And if you feel that way, you’ve believed a lie that was never yours to carry. Don’t buy what the enemy is selling. A daughter of the King should never settle for the leftovers of a defeated devil. Remember what’s in you. The same power that spoke the universe into existence lives in you. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. The same power that shattered prison walls and broke chains lives in you. The same power that turned water into wine lives in you. That means life is in you. Healing is in you. Freedom is in you. Victory is in you. Change is in you. Hope is in you. Power is in you. So don’t let what is around you make you forget what is in you. The circumstances are real. The challenges are real. The obstacles are real. But none of them are greater than the Spirit of God dwelling within you. That Spirit does not make you a fearful slave. That Spirit makes you a daughter. He brings you into the family. He places a crown upon your head. He declares, “You belong.” So straighten your crown, girl. Life may have knocked you around, but it has not changed who you are. You are chosen. You are loved. You are redeemed. You are a daughter of the King. And the power of Almighty God lives within you. So today, be powerful. Not pitiful. Follow Pamela on Instagram – https://instagram.com/headmamapamela Or Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/pamela.crim Find out more about BIG Life – http://biglifehq.com

The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 11A)  ORISON: Dixi forsitan Tenebrae (Tune: Farmborough) – Arthur S. Warrell (1883-1939); arr. Gregory W. Bloch (b. 1977)  PSALM 139 – Peter R. Hallock (1924-2014)  HYMN: Almighty God, your word is cast like seed (Tune: Walden) – Jane Manton Marshall (1925-2019); arr. Gregory Bloch (b. 1977)  NUNC DIMITTIS in E – Charles Wood (1866-1926)  ANTHEM: Iustus germinabit sicut lilium – Jacob Handl (1551-1591)   […]

Scripture Reading: Luke 1:46-55 To a wide-eyed 5-year-old, the celebration of the birth of Christ means lights and toys and brightly-wrapped boxes under a living room tree.  To a retailer it means increased sales and profits.  To a busy housewife Christmas is a fatiguing schedule of shopping, decorating, and cooking. But to Mary, Jesus' mother, the promised birth of the Messiah was an occasion for an impassioned declaration of unbridled joy.  Her joy is firmly founded on the character and works of God.  In her prayers of thanksgiving, Mary unashamedly proclaims what He is like and what He has done. This is the essence of worship. The poem in Luke 1:46-55 has been called "The Magnificat" taken from the first word of the Latin translation of this text.  In it Mary lauds the majesty of God by praising His … … mercy (vv 48, 50, 52, 54) … power (vv 49, 51, 52) … holiness (v 49) … faithfulness (vv 54, 55) Mary's reaction to the Almighty God is to respond with delight from deep within her.  She says, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior" (Lk 1:46).  This is not a passing, surface, emotional response.  It is a deep desire to take pleasure in God and to make Him known to others.  Our response to Christ should not be less.

പരിശുദ്ധാത്മാവിലുള്ള സന്തോഷം | Joy In The Holy Spirit | Malayalam Christian Message | Br. Damien Antony | Morning Glory 1975 | 20 July 2026നിങ്ങളുടെ ജീവിത സാഹചര്യങ്ങൾ തകിടം മറിയുമ്പോൾ നിങ്ങളുടെ ഉള്ളിലെ സമാധാനവും സന്തോഷവും തകരുന്നുവോ? മാനുഷികമായ താൽക്കാലിക വികാരങ്ങൾക്കപ്പുറം, ഏത് കടുത്ത പ്രതിസന്ധിയിലും നിങ്ങളുടെ ആത്മാവിനെ ജീവനോടെ നിർത്തുന്ന പരിശുദ്ധാത്മാവിൻ്റെ സ്വർഗ്ഗീയ ആനന്ദം ഇന്ന് സ്വന്തമാക്കൂ!This comprehensive Bible study on spiritual warfare and divine deliverance explains how the oil of joy replaces the heavy spirit of heaviness. Through targeted scriptural alignment, anointing prayers and deep insights into the fruit of the Holy Spirit, this Malayalam sermon reveals the ultimate remedy for clinical depression and spiritual exhaustion. Learn how the indwelling presence of the Almighty God creates an everlasting wellspring of peace, righteousness and celestial ecstasy that guarantees absolute victory over every dark attack of the enemy.ദൈവവചനത്തിൻ്റെ അനുഗ്രഹങ്ങൾക്കായി Blessing Today ചാനൽ ഇപ്പോൾ തന്നെ Subscribe ചെയ്യൂ! ✨പുതിയ വീഡിയോകൾക്കായി Bell Icon അമർത്തുക.

When the King James Bible says that showing pity to the poor is “lending unto the LORD,” it reveals an astonishing truth about Heaven's accounting: the helpless may receive the gift, but God personally accepts responsibility for the debt. The orphan cannot repay the medicine that saved his life, the widow cannot return the food that sustained her, and the prisoner may never meet the person who placed a Bible within his reach, but none of that matters. The Lord sees every sack of rice, every gallon of clean water, every King James Bible, every prayer and every sacrificial dollar. What disappears from our hands on earth is entered into an account in Heaven, and the signature guaranteeing its repayment belongs to Almighty God.“He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” Proverbs 19:17 (KJB)One day, at the Judgment Seat of Christ, we ma finally discover what those gifts accomplished. We may meet children from Glory Fellowship Orphanage who lived because medicine arrived, families spared from disease because clean water began flowing, prisoners whose chains were broken by the word of God, and forgotten widows who knew that somebody cared. We gave what was temporary; God produced something eternal. We supplied water, food, medicine and Bibles—but the Lord transformed those things into preserved lives, answered prayers and rescued souls. That is the breathtaking promise of Proverbs 19:17 - when we help someone who has no possible way to repay us, the Lord steps forward and says, “Put it on My account—and I will pay it again.”

When we start the second article of the Apostles' Creed with I believe in Jesus Christ, what does that mean? Luther tells us that this means that we believe that Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father in eternity and also a true human being, born of a virgin Mary, is our lord. The faith claim is that Jesus was God's son, born out of miracle. Although we may be ‘distracted' by the questions surrounding virgin birth, we should also focus on the belief that Jesus is Lord. Today's message comes from Pastor Sarah. Our Gospel lesson is from Luke, Chapter 1, verses 26 - 35, and our New Testament Lesson comes from Colossians Chapter 1, verses 15 - 19a.   Carolyn Winfrey Gillette provides a restated creed: I believe in God the Father, the Almighty God above, Maker of the earth and heaven which were formed in God's great love. And in Jesus, loving Jesus, God's own Son, who makes us new. This the creed of generations, is the faith for our church too. Jesus by God's Holy Spirit was so wondrously conceived, Born unto the Virgin Mary, who your promises believed. Jesus suffering under Pilate, on a cross was crucified. Soldiers mocked hi, friends denied him; he hung there until he died. So it was, our Lord was buried, in a borrowed tomb he lay. To the dead he then descended, where was joy on earth that day? There's more to God's great story: In three days he rose again. He ascended into heaven and he sits at God's right hand. I believe what God has promised: Christ will come as he has said. He will judge the nations' peoples, both the living and the dead. I believe God's Holy Spirit makes the church one family. We're surrounded by God's people, saints who in our Lord believe. I believe that God forgives us for the times we turn away, And that God will raise our bodies on that resurrection day. We rejoice that we'll live forever, singing praise to God's great name. This the creed of generations is the faith that we proclaim.

Be encouraged and enlightened by understanding more life-changing truth about El Shaddai, Almighty God.

Be encouraged and enlightened by understanding more life-changing truth about El Shaddai, Almighty God.

Be encouraged and enlightened by understanding more life-changing truth about El Shaddai, Almighty God.

Isn't prayer an amazing thing? Just stop and think for a moment. The God of eternity, the God who spoke and the world came into existence, the all-powerful, all-knowing, and always-present God, listens to me!Main Points:1. For a new Christian, prayer can be intimidating. We hear others pray, and they seem to do it so well. We think we don't know the eloquent words necessary to talk to Almighty God.  We wonder, “Am I doing it right?”2. Prayer can be spoken out loud. It can be a whisper. Prayer can be given silently in our hearts. In all of these ways we can be assured that God knows and that He hears.3. Prayer is not about the right words. Prayer is about sharing what is on your heart with God. “Help me” is a prayer. “I need you” is a prayer. “Give me peace” is a prayer. “Guide my steps” is a prayer. Today's Scripture Verses:Hebrews 4:16 says, “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”Exodus 33:11 - “Inside the Tent of Meeting, the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.”Matthew 6:8 - “…your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”1 Peter 3:12 - "The eyes of the Lord watch over those who do right, and his ears are open to their prayers…”Quick Links:Donate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group

“And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.” (Genesis 17:1) This is the first o... More...

A Sunday morning sermon by Pastor Brett Deal.In the early church there was a man named Ignatius (30-107 AD). He devoted his life to the way of Jesus, was discipled by John, and served as the bishop of Antioch. In his final years, as a living witness to the rule and reign of Jesus, Ignatius was condemned by the Roman Emperor Trajan. In chains, he was brought to Rome to be executed, torn apart by wild beasts in the Colosseum. On his way to Rome, he wrote seven letters—just like his mentor John—to the churches. In all his letters, he knows many probably knew him better by his nickname, Theophorus. Between his name and nickname, we find an excellent example of what it means to be a disciple on the way to Pentecost! Ignatius means “fiery one.” It describes a burning ardor and passion (Mark 3.17)! His nickname, Theophorus, means “God-bearer.” This fiery one burned bright with the indwelling presence of God in his life!Deep calling to deep, this God-bearing servant rejoiced in his letter to the Ephesians because when they heard he was arrested, they hurried to his side to encourage and pray with him. With his final days, Ignatius “Theophorus” continued to lift up a name above all names, Jesus our Christ. He echoed Peter on Pentecost, exalting the name of Jesus, the One “attested by God with mighty works and wonders and signs God did through Him” who “was crucified and killed by lawless men” (Acts 2.22-23). Facing his own martyrdom, Ignatius knew his life was secure because the Eternal Lord of Life is the Almighty God who raised Jesus from the grave, “loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it” (2.24). For this reason, the Pentecost fire in Ignatius' heart was not quenched as he was paraded “in chains for the sake of our common name and hope.” This persecution only served as a witness to the “faith in and love of Christ Jesus” in which we are truly held.Beloved, on our way to Pentecost, may we hold dear Ignatius' words, that we should “in every way glorify Jesus Christ, who glorified you, so that you, joined together in a united obedience… may be sanctified.”

Who is Jesus? Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that Jesus is not Almighty God, that He previously existed as Michael the archangel, and that He was raised from the dead only as a spirit. But do those teachings agree with Scripture? In this message, we examine what the Bible says about the identity of Jesus Christ. Hebrews declares that the Son is superior to every angel. John teaches that all things were created through Him. Jesus receives worship, shares the Father’s glory, and identifies Himself with the divine name: “Before Abraham was born, I am.” Jesus is not “a god,” a created angel, or merely a perfect man. He is the eternal Son of God, worthy of honor, glory, praise, and worship. This message also equips Christians to speak truthfully and lovingly with Jehovah’s Witness friends, relatives, neighbors, and coworkers.

••• Strategies for Overcoming Pride, Ep 437a . ••• Bible Study Verses: Isaiah 14:12-15, Matthew 6:1-2, Proverbs 6:16-19, Colossians 3:23, James 4:6-7 . ••• “For pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense...the Christians are right: it is pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began” C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity † ••• “Pride, perceiving humility honorable, often borrows her cloak”, Thomas Fuller, 1608-1661, A brilliant English churchman and historian. He is now remembered for his writings, particularly his "Worthies of England", Published posthumously in 1862. He was a prolific author, and one of the first English writers able to live by his pen. † ••• "Jesus is the God whom we can approach without pride and before whom we can humble ourselves without despair" Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, Among the contemporaries of Descartes none displayed greater natural genius than Pascal, but his mathematical reputation rests more on what he might have done than on what he actually effected, as during a considerable part of his life he deemed it his duty to devote his whole time to religious exercises. At 16, Pascal began designing a calculating machine, which he finally perfected when he was thirty, the pascaline, a beautiful handcrafted box about 14x5x3 inches. The first accurate mechanical calculator was born. Pascal was dismayed and disgusted by society's reactions to his machine and completely renounced his interest in science and mathematics, devoting the rest of his life to God. He is best known for his collection of spiritual essays, Les Pensees. Ironically, Pascal, a genius by any measure, with one of the finest brains of all time, died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 39. † ••• “Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud”, Proverbs 16:19 KJV . ••• What is the Origin and Aspirations of Pride? ••• What are 4-reasons why the Almighty God hates pride so much? ••• What are the 5-Dangers of Having Pride in our hearts? ••• What are the 2-types of pride? ••• What are 8 aspects of behavior that ARE NOT PRIDE? ••• What are 5-behavioral characteristics that ARE pride? ••• What are 4-ways that pride manifests in a person's life? ••• Are you going to ask your small group to pray that you will be more intentional about conquering the sin of pride through the power of Holy Spirit? ••• Pastor Otuno expounds on this and much more on the exciting journey of Fresh Encounter Radio Podcast originally aired on WNQM, Nashville Quality Ministries and WWCR World Wide Christian Radio broadcast to all 7-continents on this big beautiful blue marble, earth, floating through space. Please be prayerful before studying The Word of God so that you will receive the most inspiration possible . ••• This Discipleship Teaching Podcast is a listener supported production by all the beloved of God who believe in ••• Broadcaster's Website - https://www.lifelonganointing.com . ••• Exceeding Thanks to Universe Creator Christ Jesus AND photo by Etty Fidele Photography, Paris France, https://www.fideletty.com/, https://www.instagram.com/fideletty/, https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/FideleEtty, Art Direction by gil on his mac with free mac layout software . ••• † https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/search?q=pride+c.s.+lewis . http://christian-quotes.ochristian.com/Blaise-Pascal-Quotes/••• SHARING LINK: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4irvOCxU1qHRyTp2BAmVYj . ••• RESOURCE - Prayer Requests: PRAYER@SWRC.COM . ••• Study Guides at - https://open.spotify.com/show/7naZVpZ02zaiAO04PAaTUq . ••• RESOURCE: FREE Max McLean Chronological Audio Bible! https://tinyurl.com/godspeaks777 . ••• RESOURCE - Amazing Stories: https://www.soundcloud.com/thewaytogod . ••• FERP250711 Episode#437a GOT 250711 Ep437a . ••• Winning The Battle Of The Mind, Part-8a of 9: Strategies for Overcoming Pride . ††† . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's Bible Verse: "The Lord was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains because they had chariots fitted with iron." — Judges 1:19 Judges 1:19 reminds us that even when God is with us, we may still encounter obstacles that feel overwhelming. The tribe of Judah experienced victory because the Lord was with them, yet they struggled to overcome the people living in the plains because they had powerful iron chariots. This passage reveals the tension between God’s presence and the challenges we face. Become a BibleStudyTools.com PLUS Member today: https://www.biblestudytools.com/subscribe/ Looking for a peaceful way to end your day? Listen to "Your Nightly Scripture" to end your day with God's word Meet Today’s Host: Jennifer Slattery Discover more devotions with Jennifer at Your Daily Bible Verse on LifeAudio Jennifer Slattery is a national speaker and multi-published author, She’s passionate about helping believers live with bold faith, rooted in surrender to Christ’s purpose. Jennifer co-hosts both Your Daily Bible Verse and Faith Over Fear, encouraging listeners to step into their God-given identity. Her teachings blend Scripture with personal insight to help others embrace God’s power over fear and move forward with confidence.

In the Epistle Reading today we hear about the nine fruits of the Spirit and they are given to all by Almighty God to shape us and to grow more in His Image and likeness.What are they?Listen...

ദൈവം വിജയം നൽകുന്നു | God Gives Victory | Malayalam Christian Message | Br. Damien Antony | Morning Glory 1964 | 07 July 2026മനുഷ്യരുടെ എതിർപ്പുകളും അദൃശ്യമായ അന്ധകാരശക്തികളുടെ പോരാട്ടങ്ങളും കാരണം നിങ്ങളുടെ ജീവിതം ഒരു യുദ്ധക്കളമായി മാറിയിരിക്കുകയാണോ? സ്വന്തം ശക്തിയിലല്ല, സൈന്യങ്ങളുടെ ദൈവമായ യഹോവയുടെ പരിശുദ്ധാത്മാവിനാൽ ഈ കൺമതിലുകളെല്ലാം തകർന്നു വീഴാൻ പോകുന്നു!Are you fighting heavy structural blockades, toxic opposition, or invisible demonic warfare that strips away your peace? Stop relying on human connections and fleshly strength - your battlefield is spiritual, and the Almighty God is already on your side to declare absolute victory!ദൈവവചനത്തിൻ്റെ അനുഗ്രഹങ്ങൾക്കായി Blessing Today ചാനൽ ഇപ്പോൾ തന്നെ Subscribe ചെയ്യൂ! ✨പുതിയ വീഡിയോകൾക്കായി Bell Icon അമർത്തുക.

This month we commemorate America's momentous 250th anniversary! We can celebrate this tremendous moment in the life and history of our nation by offering profound thanks to God, by whose grace we have enjoyed so many blessings and endured many trials since our founding. George Washington, our first president, declared that it was our duty as a nation "to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor." At America's 250th anniversary, it is most fitting to remember that God is truly the author of every blessing and every good gift we celebrate. May we continue to turn to God with all our needs and, please Lord, bless our nation and grant your peace throughout our land.

Across generations, public moments of prayer and thanksgiving have shaped how many people understand national identity and responsibility. Whether one looks at early proclamations or later seasons of national hardship, the consistent theme is simple: gratitude toward God is meant to be expressed, not assumed. It keeps perspective steady and prevents freedom from turning into entitlement. At its core, this kind of reflection isn’t just about looking backward—it’s about asking what we do with what we’ve been given today. Gratitude becomes a posture that influences how we live, serve, and treat one another right now. Highlights: Scripture invites believers to actively remember and proclaim God’s works Gratitude is a stabilizing force in how we view history and present blessings Public and personal thanksgiving have long shaped spiritual and cultural identity Freedom carries responsibility, not just privilege Remembering God’s faithfulness helps anchor perspective in the present Continue the conversation with the Crosswalk community here: https://forums.crosswalk.com/ Do you want to listen ad-free? When you join Crosswalk Plus, you gain access to exclusive, in-depth Bible study guides, devotionals, sound biblical advice, and daily encouragement from trusted pastors and authors—resources designed to strengthen your faith and equip you to live it out boldly. PLUS ad free podcasts! Sign Up Today! Full Transcript Below: A Call to Be Thankful for America on Its 250th Anniversary By Lynette Kittle Bible Reading: “Give praise to the Lord, proclaim His name; make known among the nations what He has done.” - Psalm 105:1 As America celebrates its 250th Anniversary, we, as citizens of the United States, have much to be thankful for! History books record, and historical monuments stand, in honor of the Christians whom God led across the ocean, who were seeking a land where they could freely and openly serve Him, those willing to leave all they had behind and risk their lives to set sail for a New World. As the forerunners, the Pilgrims’ trek led them to America, where they brought their deep spiritual convictions to lay the groundwork and foundational biblical beliefs; truths that led our Founding Fathers to base our Declaration of Independence on godly principles; and truths that have given us the right to worship God freely and without reserve since their coming. Without our founders humbling themselves before God, there would be no USA today. As American history records, prayer and fasting were called for and practiced in America’s founding and the establishment of our nation, playing a major role in establishing America by the first patriots who practiced James 4:10 on a national level: “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.” By our leaders calling our nation to humble itself before God in prayer and fasting, our founders followed 2 Chronicles 7:14, urging, “If My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.” By humbling ourselves as a nation, our leaders seemed to understand what Galatians 5:13 reminds us: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” America’s History Reveals Decades of National Thankfulness Even before the official establishment of the United States, historical documents record that, throughout the American Revolution, the Continental Congress, in response to winning critical battles, called for national days of Thanksgiving, asking colonists to express gratitude to God for His divine protection over the troops. After the Declaration of Independence, national thanksgiving continued, beginning in 1789, with President George Washington issuing the first official United States Thanksgiving proclamation, calling upon all Americans to demonstrate gratitude to God for the end of the war and the Constitution’s successful ratification. President Washington said, “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.” Following Washington’s example, Presidents John Adams and James Madison also called for national days of Thanksgiving during their presidential terms. As well, President Abraham Lincoln, on October 3, 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. A Nation’s Living Testament to God’s Faithfulness The United States is a living testament to God’s faithfulness and to what happens when a nation is willing to humble itself before God… recognizing His sovereignty over the earth and publicly thanking Him for His protection and provision for its leaders and people. As citizens of the USA, we have much to be thankful to God for our nation, as we celebrate our 250th anniversary. Thankfulness to God for what He has done in America through the faith of our Founding Fathers, who feared and worshipped Him and laid a godly foundation for our land based on biblical truth, and whose beliefs continue to this day across our nation. Intersecting Faith & Life: As our nation celebrates its 250th anniversary, ask God to help you find reasons to be thankful for our country, our godly heritage, and the freedoms we still enjoy today. As well, ask the Lord to move in the hearts of people across our nation, encouraging them to praise and thank Him for all that He has done for us as a country. Further Reading: A Prayer to Praise God for Our Nation Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

When we reflect on freedom, Scripture reminds us that true freedom is ultimately found in Christ. While earthly freedoms are worth recognizing and being thankful for, the greatest freedom we receive is the freedom Jesus provides—the freedom to worship God, share the Gospel, and live according to His truth. As we remember the history and sacrifices that shaped our nation, we can also reflect on the responsibility that comes with freedom: using it to honor God and serve others in love. Highlights: True freedom begins with the freedom Christ gives through salvation America’s founding was influenced by leaders who recognized God’s role in establishing liberty Freedom allows believers to worship, share the Gospel, and live openly for Christ Biblical freedom is not meant for selfish living but for serving others in love Remembering history invites us to thank God for those who courageously stood for freedom Join the Conversation As you reflect on 250 years of freedom as a nation, how do you see God’s hand at work throughout history? How can you use the freedoms you have today to honor God and serve those around you? Continue the conversation with the Crosswalk community here: https://forums.crosswalk.com/ Do you want to listen ad-free? When you join Crosswalk Plus, you gain access to exclusive, in-depth Bible study guides, devotionals, sound biblical advice, and daily encouragement from trusted pastors and authors—resources designed to strengthen your faith and equip you to live it out boldly. PLUS ad free podcasts! Sign Up Today! Full Transcript Below: Celebrating 250 Years of Freedom as a Nation By Lynette Kittle Bible Reading: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” - Galatians 5:1 Our Founding Fathers were a group who believed in God, the freedom He gives each of us, and His providence in establishing the United States of America. Although debates continue over how godly each one lived and how deeply they each believed in God, they still gave us a biblical basis for our nation, one that continues today. As the first Vice President and second President of the United States, John Adams wrote on July 3, 1776, to his beloved wife, Abigail, concerning the high cost of freedom paid to create the Declaration of Independence: “You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not—I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States—Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in that Days Transaction, even although we should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not.” Adams also credited the American Revolution’s success with the spiritual revival in the hearts and minds of the people that preceded it by a generation, laying the foundation for America. The spread of “The Great Awakening” across the colonies greatly influenced and strengthened Patriot leaders, leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in which prayer and fasting played a vital role in helping America establish its freedom. America is a testament of what God has done, leading America’s Founders to establish our nation and government on godly principles. These biblical truths have given us the freedom to live as followers of Jesus Christ without reserve. As Galatians 5:13 directs us, “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” The following are three freedoms that America has granted us as Christians: America gives us freedom to openly worship God. First and foremost is the freedom America gives us to worship God. It’s our highest calling as Christians, and it’s the freedom that tops all the others because it’s also fulfilling the first commandment, recorded in Matthew 22:37-38: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.” America gives us freedom to openly preach the Gospel. In America, we have this freedom, like no other country in the world. As 2 Corinthians 3:17 explains, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” America gives us the freedom to openly live as Christians. We, as Americans, have been granted the right, as citizens, to live as Christians in the freedom Jesus gave us. As Jesus assured us in John 8:36, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” Although we, as Americans, fought for freedom from King George and British tyranny, proclaiming independence from their harsh reign, our independence was rooted in our dependence upon Almighty God and the freedom He gives us through Jesus Christ. Adams supported the spiritual awakening in our country, calling attention to and recognizing the connection between faith in God and freedom in life, validating where true freedom originates. Miracles in American History author, historian, and speaker, William J. Federer, writes, “In defending the Declaration, Adams told the Continental Congress, July 1, 1776: ‘Live or die, survive or perish, I am for the Declaration. It is my living sentiment, and by the blessing of God it shall be my dying sentiment. Independence now, and Independence forever!’” Intersecting Faith & Life: As we celebrate our nation’s 250 years of freedom this July 4th, consider our founders’ faith in God and the fortitude they displayed in standing on His truth amid conflict and tyranny. Spend time thanking God for their bravery and boldness in believing that true freedom comes from Him. Further Reading: How the Church Paved the Way for America’s Freedom Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

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Where is God when we really need Him? Though some give up on God altogether, believers across the ages have experienced loss and devastating trials. In this message from Hebrews 11, Pastor Lutzer unpacks four facts about faith in God in any circumstance. No matter what, we can trust Almighty God.  This month's special offer is available for a donation of any amount. Get yours at https://rtwoffer.com or call us at 1-888-218-9337. Moody Church Media [https://www.moodymedia.org/], home of "Running To Win," exists to bring glory to God through the transformation of lives. Erwin W. Lutzer is Pastor Emeritus of The Moody Church in Chicago, where he served as Senior Pastor for 36 years. He is a prolific author of over seventy books. A clear expositor of the Bible, he is the featured speaker on "Running To Win" and "Songs In The Night," with programs broadcasting on over a thousand outlets in the U.S. and across more than fifty countries in seven languages. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in the Chicago area. They have three grown children and eight grandchildren.   SUPPORT: Tax Deductible Support: https://www.moodymedia.org/donate/ Become an Endurance Partner: https://endurancepartners.org/   SUBSCRIBE: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MoodyChurchMedia Daily Devotional and Weekly Digest: https://www.moodymedia.org/newsletters/subscription/

On the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it's worth asking: What was the American Revolution actually about? We all remember the broad strokes we learned in school: Independence from the British crown. Taxes on tea. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But on a deeper level, the American Revolution was—and is—a revolution in political theory, reimagining what a legitimate government is and what its relationship to its citizens should be. Washington's troops won the ground war 245 years ago at Yorktown, but the ideological battle continues against forces on both the left and the right who are pursuing a ruthless assault on America's core values. The American Revolution isn't over. Inscribed inside the dome of the Jefferson Memorial are the words: "I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson wrote that in an 1800 letter, but that feeling of hostility toward the tyranny of a distant monarch is what drove him and his fellow revolutionaries in 1776. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch summarized the Declaration's core ideas in an interview with Reason: "The Declaration of Independence had three great ideas in it. That all of us are equal. That each of us has inalienable rights given to us by God, not government. And that we have the right to rule ourselves." That's why Jefferson declared that a legitimate government requires the "consent of the governed." Thomas Paine put it more scathingly in his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, writing that "government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens." Monarchy was the Devil's most effective and enduring form of "idolatry." We don't fret over tyrannical kings in today's America. Only ceremonial vestiges of hereditary monarchy remain in the modern world. The Revolution achieved a complete victory in that sense. Yet a counterrevolution is underway, one that views the American Revolution and the republic it birthed as a failed liberal regime that has outlived its usefulness. And these counterrevolutionaries sit remarkably close to the levers of power. Self-Rule Under Threat Three years before he became vice president, J.D. Vance told podcaster Jack Murphy that America had reached a point of no return. "We are in the late republican period," he said. "If we're going to push back against it we have to get pretty wild and pretty far out there and go in directions that a lot of conservatives right now are uncomfortable with. Indeed, among some of my circle the phrase 'extra-constitutional' has come up quite a bit." Vance regularly cites and associates with a group of so-called "postliberals." He appeared on a panel with one of this movement's leading intellectuals, Patrick Deneen, a Notre Dame political science professor and the author of Regime Change: Toward a Postliberal Future, in 2023. Deneen believes there is an unbridgeable divide between the "elite" and "ordinary" people. "What is needed," he writes in the book, "in short, is regime change—the peaceful but vigorous overthrow of a corrupt and corrupting liberal ruling class," which will be replaced by a more virtuous one. He envisions the kind of aristocratic government favored by the ancients like Plato and Aristotle, endorsing "aristopopulism," where an elite class works to further the interests of the masses. "The replacement of the current elites in our society ought to be more closely aligned to the interests of ordinary people," Deneen said at the panel. He invokes a "premodern conception of liberty—expressed in the pages of Plato, Aristotle, the Bible," where institutions like the family, the church, and the state worked together to impose "guardrails" protecting individuals from becoming "slaves" to their own desires. My colleague Stephanie Slade writes about the postliberal right for Reason magazine. "He says people like [himself] should just be in charge of our government. That's what he means by regime change," Slade says. "[That] we should replace the current elites." She notes that postliberals are willing to frame the entire American Founding as a mistake: "They might say, yeah, America did have a liberal founding and that's why it was a mistake. Actually, this whole experiment was a mistake, and it maybe took a couple hundred years for that mistake to play out….We now can see that it doesn't lead to good conservative outcomes." In his book Common Good Constitutionalism, Adrian Vermeule, a postliberal Harvard Law professor and appointee to President Donald Trump's Council of the Administrative Conference of the United States, wrote that "the central aim of the constitutional order is to promote good rule, not to 'protect liberty' as an end in itself." That's a rejection of the spirit of 1776. Paine saw the existence of government as a necessary evil because of "the inability of moral virtue to govern the world." A minimal state, in his view, should be restricted to supplying "freedom and security." As Gorsuch put it in the same Reason interview: "If you think of the Declaration as kind of our mission statement, our ideals, and the Constitution is the how-to manual—well, the Constitution is all about dividing power. Madison realized men are not angels and that their aspirations for power need to be checked and checked and checked again." The "regime change" Deneen and Vermeule call for isn't explicitly violent. Deneen describes "Machiavellian means to achieve Aristotelian ends." The strategy manifests as a steady expansion of presidential authority, as we've seen under Donald Trump's second term: the 143 executive orders he signed in just his first 100 days, more than any other president in history; his decision to send troops to American cities without permission from local authorities; his declaring of 21 national emergencies while in office; and his decision to send illegal immigrants to overseas prisons in defiance of the judicial branch. Incidentally, one of the grievances listed in the Declaration of Independence was King George III's penchant for shipping the accused "beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses." Before he became vice president, Vance encouraged Trump to emulate Andrew Jackson and dare the Supreme Court to try enforcing its rulings against him. "If I was giving him one piece of advice," Vance said, "fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, replace them with our people, and when the courts—because you will get taken to court—and when the courts stop you, stand before the country like Andrew Jackson did and say, 'The chief justice has made his ruling, now let him enforce it.'" "That's a really dangerous idea to be even casually trotting out there, let alone for somebody who is now the sitting vice president to be on the record," Slade says. "He said it a number of years ago when he was just a candidate for office, but I've never seen anything from him since he's been in office that makes me think that he doesn't ultimately believe in that sort of approach to politics." Some postliberals call for measures far more dramatic than the steady erosion of constitutional restraints currently underway. Michael Anton, who worked in Trump's State Department over two terms, wrote in his book The Stakes about the prospect of a "Red Caesar"—a right-wing dictator who would rise from the ashes of the fallen republic. "Caesar's word replaces constitutionalism and even, in the final analysis, law," he wrote. In a podcast conversation with pro-monarchist blogger Curtis Yarvin, Anton discussed what that might look like. "Caesarism is a form of monarchy, but that follows a nonfunctioning republic, a republic that doesn't work anymore," Anton said. Yarvin proposed that the path to power would begin with declaring a state of emergency in an inaugural address, "taking direct control over all law enforcement authorities….Basically like Caesar, you're using all of the force available to you."  "There is just clearly much more of a sense that government power is meant to be used to advance our side in the face of our enemies," Slade says. "And the enemies are the left, the political left, and anyone on the right who isn't going to line up with [them]. [They believe] political power should be used to reward our friends and punish our enemies, and that to me is a clear violation of one of the core principles of rule of law, which is equal treatment for everyone under law." In the COVID era, President Joe Biden imposed national mandates by executive fiat, and his administration tried to suppress dissent by pressuring tech companies to censor critics. The Democratic Party has also flirted with the idea of packing the Supreme Court to get its way, which is not a new impulse for the party. When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt tried to pack the Court in 1937, it cost him the support of progressives who had previously backed the New Deal. FDR is revered by progressives and cited by Yarvin as a prototype for an American Caesar. "Was FDR a dictator? What does it mean to be a dictator? What does this pejorative word mean?" Yarvin asks. "A dictator is somebody who rules alone. And that, I think, is a beautiful thing." The Revolution was, first and foremost, about self-rule: We would no longer abide by a diktat from an overseas king. From the very beginning of the republic, power-seeking men have tried to undermine that vision. In its earliest days, there was a plot to install a Prussian prince as king of a new American monarchy. Jefferson accused John Adams and Alexander Hamilton of being monarchists, recounting in horror a dinner conversation in which Hamilton told him "the greatest man…that ever lived was Julius Caesar." But monarchy is seductive because strongmen promise order in chaotic times. In the wake of Shays' Rebellion, a post-Revolution farmer's uprising, Jefferson worried the Constitution's drafters were overreacting by creating a powerful presidency that would devolve into a monarchy. "What country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?" he wrote. And then, famously: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." Hopefully, patriots won't be shedding blood anytime soon. But Jefferson's point stands: Preserving the promises of the Revolution will always be an ongoing battle. Self-rule was one of those promises. Another was self-ownership, which includes the right to do what you want with your own property. The Rise of 'Right-Wing Progressivism' The Declaration accused the king of "cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world." The American colonies experienced unprecedented economic growth, a topic of keen interest to the laissez faire economist Adam Smith, whose book The Wealth of Nations also turns 250 this year. Smith was fascinated by the American colonies, observing that their "progress has been more rapid than that of the English in North America. Plenty of good land, and liberty to manage their own affairs their own way, seem to be the two great causes of the prosperity." Other imperial powers, such as the Spanish and Portuguese, mandated that their colonists trade only through state-created monopolies. Smith pointed out that because American colonists could export lumber to the wider European market, they were incentivized to clear and improve land. Low taxes enabled them to reinvest their profits. Smith criticized England's Navigation Acts for prohibiting colonists from buying from other countries and for discouraging manufacturing to protect domestic competitors. Although England's "mercantile spirit" hampered the economy, Smith believed that in virtually every other respect the liberty of the English colonists "to manage their own affairs their own way is complete," concluding that both England and the colonies would be better off with an independent America that traded freely with England. Like the American revolutionaries, Smith described economic freedom as not just smart policy, but as a natural right. "To prohibit a great people…from making all that they can of every part of their own produce," he wrote, "is a manifest violation of the most sacred rights of mankind." That revolutionary understanding is still under attack today from both the left and the right. Socialists like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani talk about individual profits as if they are the property of the collective. And Trump has the same mercantilist instincts toward trade that Smith argued against 250 years ago. "I love tariffs. Most beautiful word," Trump said in September 2025. "I said my favorite word in the English dictionary is the word tariff."  The postliberal right argues that laissez faire economics has undermined the working class. "Conservatives have outsourced our economic and domestic policy thinking to libertarians," Vance said at a 2019 National Conservatism Conference. "Do we serve pure unfettered commercial freedom, do we serve commerce at the expense of the public good, or do we serve something higher? And are we willing to use political power to actually accomplish those things?" "It is really important to recognize that what the postliberal right is pushing in terms of economics is progressivism," Slade says. "It's not conservatism." Tucker Carlson made the point in 2019 when he praised Elizabeth Warren's "economic patriotism" platform, noting it "sounds like Donald Trump at his best." What the so-called "economic patriots" of the left and right are converging on is a rejection of the spirit of 1776 and an embrace of monarchy. In the 18th century, many colonists could trade only through state-licensed monopolies. Warren has proposed remarrying corporations and the state through "stakeholder capitalism," in which political appointees sit on corporate boards to steer them in the right direction. Trump took a major step toward the corporatist approach in 2025 when directing the federal government to take a 10 percent stake in Intel. Before him, President Barack Obama took stakes in GM and Chrysler as part of a bailout package. "I don't think it's really a sustainable political equilibrium to have two parties that are both economically leftist," Slade says. "The American people are not on board with that. That is the horseshoe in action. And it's part of why I think there is an opportunity for old-school Reagan-style free-market conservatism to make a comeback." The slow abandonment of the revolutionary ideas of self-rule and private property that American patriots fought for in the late 18th century is downstream of a third, fundamental aspect of the American Revolution that is also under attack: freedom of conscience. Remarrying Church and State The postliberal right wants to tear down the wall between church and state. "They want to integrate church and state instead of separating them," Slade says. In some cases, it's Catholic integralists like Harvard's Vermeule, who has described a strategy of turning the government Catholic by "strategically locat[ing]" integralists "within liberal institutions…to undo the liberalism of the state from within." Deneen has suggested passing "blue laws" that would ban pornography, online gambling, and operating businesses on Sundays. A Protestant variety of Christian nationalism is embodied by pastor Doug Wilson—a spiritual mentor to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, who invited Wilson to lead a prayer at the Pentagon. In a recent interview, Wilson said the "governing authorities should recognize formally that Jesus rose from the dead" and that "the basis of law would have to be Christian, and I would want it to be Protestant." Most of the revolutionaries were Christian Protestants, but they insisted on separating church and state to avoid the horrific religious wars that had ravaged Europe. "Torrents of blood have been spilt in the old world" to end religious discord by establishing state churches, wrote James Madison in opposition to taxes that would have funded an official church of Virginia. An even deeper problem for these devout believers in divine providence was that marrying religion to the state removed the very freedom to choose faith that God desires. In his opposition to the Virginia law, Jefferson wrote that "Almighty God hath created the mind free" and that "all attempts" to force religious belief "are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion." Madison argued historically that Christianity reached its "greatest lustre" in the times before it incorporated with the state, and that religious laws would counterproductively discourage nonbelievers from entering a region he hoped would become a beacon of Christianity. "Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man." Slade draws on her own Catholic faith in making the case. "I am a libertarian because I'm a Catholic, because I believe that every person was created in the image of God," she says. "I just think it's morally wrong from a Catholic or Christian perspective to try to use the coercive, violent power of the state to make people live a certain way. Even if the way that these guys would like to make people live—going to church on Sunday, praying, investing in your community and your family, self-sacrifice—all these good Christian values. They're good Christian values, but they can't be coerced or imposed from the top down. It's wrong and morally offensive from a Christian perspective." Slade says she understands the despair postliberals feel about the collapse of faith and virtue in contemporary America and that they have a point about the progressive capture of institutions. "What they're channeling is a really influential belief, which isn't totally wrong, that the left made a very concerted effort to make what is often referred to as a 'long march through the institutions' and to capture so many of our elite institutions—both at the governmental level but also at the cultural level: higher education, Hollywood, the mainstream media." Critics of the progressive agenda—or "wokeness"—often describe it as its own kind of religion. Linguist and social critic John McWhorter has argued that it has "slowly transmogrified into a kind of replacement for Protestant Christianity" among its adherents. Whether religious or not, progressives have imposed their social values on Americans through public school curricula, federal policy, and civil rights law. They have violated the freedom of conscience that Jefferson and Madison wrote about in a way very similar to how mandating religion would. Postliberalism is part of the political backlash. A poll conducted in early 2021 of people who voted for Trump in 2020 didn't find agreement on nationalist economic policies—tariffs, industrial policy, any of that—but found near-universal agreement on a sense of cultural siege. About 90 percent agreed with statements like "the mainstream media has become just an arm of the Democratic Party" or "Christianity is under attack today." "This sense that the culture has been captured by people who are hostile to people like me and who hate me and want to drive me out of the public square has created so much resentment and so much of a backlash that's driving this postliberal right-wing politics," Slade says. "I don't think it's possible to understand what's going on on the right without looking at what's been going on on the left, definitely ramping up during the period referred to as the great awakening." Slade's new book argues that the remedy to this postliberal moment is a rediscovery of "fusionism"—the reintegration of liberty and virtue. "A good society needs to be both free and virtuous. And the Founders certainly believed this," she says. John Adams wrote just 13 days before the signing of the Declaration that "the only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People…they will not obtain a lasting Liberty." "What he's saying is, we can have a limited government in a free society, but if the people aren't naturally virtuous, if they don't trust each other, if they aren't good to each other—that [the Republic] is going to end up succumbing to tyranny and to a strongman government," Slade says. His fellow revolutionary and intellectual adversary Jefferson flipped the equation by writing that liberty "is the great parent…of virtue." Balancing liberty and virtue means reconstructing some of the civic "guardrails" that Deneen laments having lost in modernity—but not handing the power to regulate our conscience to the government. "What we're seeing a lot is people who are focused either on liberty but don't spend a lot of time thinking about how do we cultivate virtue, or who say, forget your liberty, we want virtue at the point of a gun," Slade says. "Government's job is to protect our basic rights and liberties. It should be prioritizing the protection of liberty." "That doesn't mean that virtue isn't important. In fact, it's the highest, most important thing in life—to pursue a virtuous life," Slade continues. "But it's not OK to expect government to do that for us. Government protects our freedom and we use that freedom to pursue virtue." The solution, Slade argues, has to be ground-up. She invokes Alexis de Tocqueville, who observed when he came to America in the 1830s that Americans excel at coming together and creating voluntary community solutions to social problems. "We should have some muscle memory here. We should be able to get back to that idea of thinking of ourselves as being on the front lines of solving problems, building new civil society institutions, nongovernmental institutions that can try to solve the problems we see in our society," Slade says. "Good policy can make this easier. And bad policy can crowd it out and make it a lot harder." The Declaration of Independence is 250 years old, but the Revolution it started is as vital as ever. During the final days of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was famously asked what kind of government they were in the process of designing. "A Republic," he said, "if you can keep it." Photo Credits: Horst Galuschka/dpa/picture-alliance/Newscom/ Dennis Flaherty / Jaynes Gallery / DanitaDelimont.com / Danita Delimont/ Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Newscom/ TIA DUFOUR/UPI/Newscom/Antonio Perez/TNS/Newscom/ Aaron Schwartz - Pool via CNP/picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos/Newscom/ Ron Adar / SOPA/ Images/Sipa USA/Newscom/ JT Vintage/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom/ AdMedia/SIPA/Newscom/ Hugh Rooney / Eye Ubiquitous/Newscom/ Bonnie Cash - Pool via CNP/CNP / Polaris/Newscom/AdMedia/Newscom/ Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/Newscom/ Polaris/Newscom; Eric Lee - Pool via CNP/ZUMAPRESS/Newscom; Department of Defense The post The American Revolution Isn't Over appeared first on Reason.com.

How many times have we said "No, thank You" to the Lord when He presents us with an opportunity? We feel inadequate, or weak, or too busy—but God knows what He is doing when He asks us to act. In this sermon, Pastor Allen Jackson discusses Moses, one of the greatest leaders in the Bible, and how he walked in humble obedience to the Lord even when he felt insufficient for the assignment. God moves in our lives when we humble ourselves, and He promises to provide for us when we obey His commands. So, we can trust that in the midst of confusion and change around us, we have the strength and authority to make a difference through Almighty God.