Podcasts about Aramaic

IntroductionThe stories of Aeneas and Tabitha can seem like small transitional narratives in the book of Acts. We can read Acts and note that the historical record is fine without these stories. Luke, the inspired writer and researcher, records these stories in his orderly account. These two stories testify to Peter's credibility as a witness and apostle of Christ. These stories also assure us that Christ is present with his church even as he is in heaven. In Acts 9:32-43, Luke records two significant miracles that Peter performs. These miracles are not ultimately about Peter. They point beyond Peter to Christ. The people who witness the healing of Aeneas do not turn to Peter in worship. They turn to the Lord in worship. The other thing we note is that Peter's actions echo the ministry of Christ and demonstrate that he is a commissioned messenger sent by God. He is not just the man who denied his Lord three times. No, he is a credible apostle who brings the gospel to the nations, breaking down the clean/unclean distinction. How does Luke establish all this? Healing AeneasPeter performing a miracle that restores Aeneas' mobility is remarkable. The story itself is pretty straightforward. This seems like a good time to review what we understand about the Lord giving his people signs and miracles. We might think that this is done so the person can be in the spotlight. That is not the case. In fact, signs and miracles establish the credibility of the messenger and point people to the God who sent him. When Moses asked how Israel would know that the Lord had truly sent him, God gave him signs. The signs demonstrated that Moses was not simply making claims on his own authority. (Exodus 4)The same principle is evident with Peter. Peter had denied Christ three times. Luke records this failure on Peter's part. Now Peter is ministering in Lydda and Joppa, bearing witness to Christ and performing signs in Christ's name. The man who once denied his Lord is now being used by Christ as a credible witness to his resurrection and saving work. So, as Peter travels, he ministers the gospel. He bears witness to Christ's work. The Lord gives signs that testify to Peter's apostolic authority. Like Moses, Peter brings the Lord's revelation, and the signs and wonders authenticate his ministry as a witness of Christ.This is important because Peter is not the centerpiece. He is not saying, “Look at me.” In fact, Peter's ministry echoes what Jesus himself had done. When Peter tells Aeneas, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” (Acts 9:34), Luke echoes the healing of the paralytic in Luke 5. Peter is not replacing Christ; he is bearing witness to Christ. Luke is assuring us that Peter is a credible witness with apostolic authority.We need to remember that the purpose of spiritual gifts and ministry is not to elevate the messenger but to build up the body of Christ. The ultimate call is to direct the congregation's attention to Christ. The result of Aeneas' healing makes this unmistakable: the people who saw what happened turned to the Lord. The miracle accomplished its purpose because Christ received the glory.Healing TabithaTabitha, also called Dorcas, is introduced to us through her gracious and charitable life. Her name means gazelle. This is an animal that is thought to be full of beauty and gracefulness. Her beauty is a life that is shaped by grace. The widows show Peter the garments she made for them, demonstrating her kindness. Their showing the garments implies they are proud of the garments. Dorcas/Tabitha/Gazelle does not make garments that display their poverty, but garments that express their dignity. We have no idea if Peter knows this woman or ever met this woman. One thing we know is that he meets her in a tragic scene: her funeral. However, we should not see this scene as dire and hopeless. The scene intentionally echoes Christ's own ministry. The language here echoes Christ raising Jairus' daughter in Mark's Gospel. The people are grieving. There is a body prepared for burial. Peter arrives and puts the people outside just as Christ has done with Jairus' daughter. He prays. Peter then commands her to arise and takes her by the hand after she sees Peter. Remember the story with Jairus? First, Jairus requests Christ to heal his sick daughter, but then the girl dies. Christ goes to his house and assures the grieving crowd the girl is sleeping. He takes her by the hand and says, “Talitha (little girl) cumi (I say to you, arise)!” Peter is imitating the pattern of his Lord's ministry, not independently exercising Christ's divine authority. The point is not that Peter has somehow become Christ. Rather, the miracle demonstrates that Peter is a credible apostle whose ministry bears a correlation to the same Lord who conquered death. Christ is still at work after his ascension into heaven. The Lord of life has not abandoned his people. He continues to care for his church, to strengthen his people, and to demonstrate that death does not have the final word. The gospel is not simply a message about something Christ did in the past. It is the proclamation of the living Christ who continues to work among his people.Luke tells us that she was called Tabitha, which is translated as Dorcas. He gives us both her Aramaic name and its Greek equivalent. The gospel is going to the Roman world and to the Gentile peoples, and Luke continues to give us subtle hints that the Lord's intention is for the gospel to go forth.Peter stays in Joppa with Simon, the tanner. A tanner worked with animal skins and dead animals. This is a career that is offensive to Jewish people and to someone concerned about remaining clean. Yet Peter stays with Simon the tanner. And immediately afterward, Luke takes us into the events of Acts 10, where Peter begins wrestling with whether he can enter the home of a Gentile and eat with him.Luke is already beginning to prepare us for the answer. Peter can enjoy the hospitality of a man who would be considered unclean. Surely, he can have a meal with a Gentile, and build fellowship with one who was at one time unclean. Christ is in heaven, but the gospel is going forth. A kind woman makes clothing to build up dignity rather than to shame. Peter can stay with a man who is engaged in an unclean, but not necessarily sinful, occupation. The gospel therefore brings people together not because they share the same nationality, genealogy, background, or outward identity, but because they share the same Redeemer. Christ is bringing his people together in himself.ConclusionThese stories are not some filler so Luke can meet a requirement. First, Peter is shown to be a credible apostolic witness. His past denial of Christ does not define him. Christ has restored him, commissioned him, and is working through him. The signs Peter performs point beyond Peter to the authority of Christ.Second, we are reminded that Christ is still the Lord of life. He has ascended, but he has not abandoned his church. He continues to work through his people, and his gospel continues to bring life where there was death. The gospel is the message of redemption that restores man to receive his glorious inheritance while tasting Christ's blessings today. And finally, we see the gospel beginning to break down the barriers that once separated God's people from the nations. The Lord is gathering his people together in Christ. The distinctions that once marked out clean and unclean are giving way to the greater reality of cleansing in Christ.So when we read these stories, we should not simply marvel at the miracles. No, we should see our Christ. We should trust the apostles who bear witness to Christ. Let us therefore go forward in that gospel not to glorify ourselves, but to be humbled so our Lord can be glorified. Let us walk in Christ, find our life in Christ, and trust the Lord who continues to work in his church.

Learning Pri Tzaddik aka Rav Tzaddok Hakohen Sefer weekly at Shirat David Efrat - The Ushpizin (divine Holy Guests) & Sukkah of Emuna, No Fear as Zera Yisrael (Baal Shem Tov Hakodesh "descendents of Avraham, Yitzchak & Yaakov Avinu", plus Hoshana (Save us Prayers & Hakafot) & Shemini Atzeres (Shlomo Hamelech) Trust etc...Cover

1 Corinthians 1:2020Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?Daniel 2:1-19, 31-351 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 2Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 4Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 5The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. 6But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” 7They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” 8The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— 9if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” 10The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”12Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 13So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 14Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15He declared to Arioch, the king's captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.17Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

1 Corinthians 1:2020Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?Daniel 2:1-19, 31-351 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 2Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 4Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 5The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. 6But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” 7They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” 8The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— 9if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” 10The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”12Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 13So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 14Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15He declared to Arioch, the king's captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.17Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.31 “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. 32The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, 33its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. 34As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 35 Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.

Well, we're going to continue in our study of the book of Ezra. We're now ready for Ezra chapter six. And again, when we look at this chapter, we need to acknowledge that it is not written in Hebrew, but rather Aramaic, and we're going to pay very close attention to what the Word of God literally says, because many times we see that translators are careless. They don't revere the Word of God. They don't have enough reverence for the Word of God, and they are careless with their translations. So I would invite you to pay close attention to what is stated as we translate this sixth chapter, the first 12 verses, and then next week the next half of this chapter. To donate please visit us at:https://loveisrael.org/donate/Checks may be sent to:LoveIsrael.org

Well, we're going to continue in our study of the book of Ezra. We're now ready for Ezra chapter six. And again, when we look at this chapter, we need to acknowledge that it is not written in Hebrew, but rather Aramaic, and we're going to pay very close attention to what the Word of God literally says, because many times we see that translators are careless. They don't revere the Word of God. They don't have enough reverence for the Word of God, and they are careless with their translations. So I would invite you to pay close attention to what is stated as we translate this sixth chapter, the first 12 verses, and then next week the next half of this chapter.To donate please visit us at:https://loveisrael.org/donate/Checks may be sent to:LoveIsrael.org

From the destruction of the First Temple to the synagogues of today, Aramaic reminds us that Jewish identity can endure even when everything around us changes.

Christianity was born in the East. Before the Gospel reached Rome and Western Europe, it was proclaimed in Jerusalem, carried north to Antioch, and received by communities throughout Syria, Egypt, Armenia, Georgia, Mesopotamia, and Persia. In this teaching, we follow the historical journey of the Early Eastern Church from Jerusalem to Antioch, Edessa, Alexandria, Nisibis, Armenia, Georgia, and Persia. We explore how persecution scattered the first believers, how Antioch became a missionary center, and how Syriac—an important Eastern Aramaic language—became a language of Scripture, worship, poetry, and theology. We will also meet influential Eastern Fathers such as Ephrem the Syrian, Aphrahat the Persian Sage, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Antony, and Pachomius. Through biblical texts, historical sources, geography, and meaningful Aramaic terms, we will discover a Christian world shaped by covenant, prayer, martyrdom, hospitality, monasticism, and the living memory of the biblical lands. Join me as we recover this important chapter of Church history and discover how the Eastern Church carried the Gospel across cultures and toward the nations. Learn more at Twins Biblical Academy: www.twinsbiblicalacademy.com

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/03-0918db.mp3 Listen to Bible reading Through My Bible Yr 03 – September 18 Galatians 1 Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle—not from men, nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all of the brothers [1] who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father— 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Not Another Gospel 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, 7 which is really not another gospel at all. There are, however, some who are trying to disturb you by perverting the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven would preach any gospel other than the one we preached to you—a curse on him! 9 As we have said before, so I now say again: If anyone preaches to you any gospel other than the one you received—a curse on him! 10 Am I now seeking the favor of people or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to gain the approval of people, I would not be a servant of Christ. Jesus Gave Paul the Gospel 11 But I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation from Jesus Christ. 13 Certainly you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God to an extraordinary degree and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my own people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 However, God, who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I would preach him among the Gentiles. At that time, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 and I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. Instead I went away into Arabia, and then I returned again to Damascus. 18 Next, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas [2] and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles, except James, the Lord's brother. 20 (Now about the things I am writing to you—look, I assure you in the presence of God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They heard only: “The one who was once persecuting us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they were praising God for what happened to me. Footnotes Galatians 1:2 When context indicates it, the Greek word for brothers may refer to all fellow believers, male and female. Galatians 1:18 Cephas is the Aramaic name for Peter. Both Cephas and Peter mean rock. The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

What if the moments when life seems to be falling apart are actually asking something deeper of us? In this highly unique episode of HEAL with Kelly, I sit down with my dear friend, internationally recognized forensic psychic medium and spiritual teacher Carissa Schumacher, for a fascinating conversation about transformation, surrender, and the unseen forces that may be guiding us through some of life's most challenging chapters. Carissa shares the extraordinary story of how losing nearly everything ultimately led her down a spiritual path she never could have predicted — and eventually to a life-altering experience in which she unexpectedly began channeling the spirit of Yeshua, the true name of Jesus in the language of Aramaic. What followed was a deeply personal journey of learning to trust, integrate and share these channeled transmissions, which Carissa says are not about giving away our power to an outside authority, but about deepening our own relationship with the Divine and learning how to co-create with it. We explore the teachings that emerged through this channeling and are now shared in her new book, The Alchemy Transmissions: A Pathway to Miracles – Yeshua's Wisdom, including why transformation often requires something old to fall away before something new can emerge. From acceptance and surrender to the wisdom of the body, grief, our unique essence, and the power of awe and wonder, this conversation offers a beautiful perspective on navigating the uncomfortable space between who we were and who we're becoming. Whether you're moving through a major transition or simply questioning what comes next, this episode may invite you to see life's hardest chapters — and the possibility of miracles — a little differently. Key Moments You'll Love ✨ :

Opening O Lord, open my lips And my mouth will declare Your praise. Make haste, O God, to deliver me; Make haste to help me, O Lord.   Candle Lighting   Prayer of Approach (from St. Augustine) Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may be holy. Act in me, O Holy Spirit, that my work may be holy. Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, to love what is holy.   Psalm Reading - Psalm 117 - NLT (Pentecost) Praise the Lord, all you nations. Praise him, all you people of the earth. For his unfailing love for us is powerful; the Lord's faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!   Scripture Reading - John 20:16-17 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”   Silent Meditation on God's Word   As we enter this time of meditation on God's Word, we pause to be still, to breathe slowly, to re-center our scattered senses on the presence of God, and to take a moment of silent prayer to ask the Holy Spirit to speak clearly to us through His Word.   -Pause 0:15-   As I read our text for today, listen for one word or phrase that is being spoken by God to you. Ask yourself: Through which word or phrase is God wanting to speak to me today? Allow that word or phrase to guide your meditation today. Repeat it over and over in your mind. Let it wash over you. Let it fill you.   Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”   As the Holy Spirit speaks to You today through His Word, take a moment now to pause and repeat that word over and over in your mind as you allow God's Word to wash over you and fill you.   -Pause 1:00-   Now we reflect on the word or phrase that God is highlighting for us today. Ask yourself: What part of my life needs to hear this word from God? The Spirit has highlighted something in this text for you today. What part of you really needs to hear that? Here, I will read the text again, and then we will have a longer time of silence to reflect on what God is highlighting for you today.   Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”   Take a moment now to pause and consider: What part of your life needs to hear this word from God today?   -Pause 1:15-   Now we respond to God's Word.   As yourself, What is my response to God based on what I have encountered in His Word? Because God speaks to us all in different ways, your response can also take on many different forms. Maybe that response is in the form of a prayer. Use this time to thank and praise God. Speak to and listen to Him. Ask Him for something. Allow your prayer to flow from your heart freely and fully. Or maybe God is reminding you of something. Maybe He's reminding you of your identity in Him. Or of His promises. Or of His presence in your life. And so I encourage you to sit in that reminder. Or is God inviting you to respond in some physical way to the word that you have heard? Maybe it's an encouragement to keep doing what you're doing. Maybe it's an encouragement to stop doing what you're doing. Maybe it's an encouragement to start doing something new. We hear God's Word and respond to it.    Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”   Take a moment now to pause and consider: What is your response to God based on what you have encountered in His Word?   -Pause 1:30-   And now we rest in God's Word. We have read God's Word. We have reflected on it. You have responded to it. Now we return to a place of rest.  Remember that this rest is not based on your works. It is not based on your response to God's Word. But today and every day, we can rest in God's promises and His presence here with us today.   Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”   Take a moment now to rest in God's promises and His presence here with us today.   -Pause 1:00-   Lord's Prayer Our Father who art in heaven: hallowed be Thy name: Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven:  Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us:  and lead us not into temptation: but deliver us from evil: For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.   Invitation to Share   Benediction Eternal Creator of light, Yours is the morning and Yours is the evening. Draw us to Yourself so there will be no darkness within us. Amen. Let us go in peace. Thanks be to God.  

Acts 26:9-20This is the account of the Apostle Paul's testimony of Jesus calling Him to ministry when Paul is on trial before King Agrippa. He said, 9 “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord's people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.12 “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'15 “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?' “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 16 ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. 17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them 18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'19 “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.

​1)      Poskim say that one praying Selichos alone should omitthe paragraphs that are in Aramaic. But how does that reconcile with our reciting (the 1st) Yekum Purkon alone?[1]  2)      May one carry freely within a fenced-in public park?[2]  3)      I have a Yemenite-style Shofar, enhanced with silver rings. Is it okay to use for Rosh HaShono?[3] 4)      I have a Tehillim that has a Rebbe's dime laminated into the cover. Is the sefer Muktzah?[4]  5)      In our school lunchroom, the sinks and toilets are below the level of the city sewer line. The wastewater therefore drains into a sewage/ejector pump, which is activated when the tank fills to a certain level. Is there any issue with using the sinks or flushing the toilets on Shabbos, which may causethe pump to activate?[5] 6)      In Selichos, why do we repeat the phrase דפקנו דלתיך, and why is the repetition said in the reverse order?[6] 7)      Two sentences that were omitted in earlier editions of our Selichos:[7]8)      Feedback re. reciting והוא רחום with feet together: until what point does this apply?[8]9)      Feedback re. cutting the need to round off the corner of a blanket:10)  When Rosh haShono is on Shabbos and we don't blow the Shofar, why then do we still recite the Pesukim of Shofaros in Musaf?[9]To sponsor a Shiur – to honour a special occasion -contact: dayan@lubavitchuk.com[1] זה שהיחיד לא יאמר"מחי ומסי" מקורו בשל"ה (מס' ר"ה), והובא בלוח כוללחב"ד. וקשה: למה בסדורו, הניח אדה"ז לומר "יקום פורקן"(הראשון) ביחיד? בשוע"ר סי' קא ס"ה מביא סברא להבחין בין תפלה הקבועהבצבור או לא. ומקורו ברבינו יונה, ברכות ז' ע"ב. בדוחק י"ל ש"מחיומסי" אינה "תפלה הקבועה בצבור". [2] פסקי תשובות סי' שנח:במתיר.[3] ראה שוע"ר סי' תקפוס"ד להדר בשופר של איל דייקא. ושם סט"ז דן בציפוי, אם משנה את הקול. [4] פסקי תשובות סי' שחסמ"ז מקיל בזה.[5] פתרון פשוט: לחבר המשאבהלשעון-שבת והיא תרוקן כל 4 שעות (לדוגמא).[6] א) הדופק על דלתותבהמ"ק שלמטה, תפלתו בדלתות בהמ"ק שלמעלה (כל בו); ב) ההיפוך הוא לחבר עםהחרוז הבא. [7] התיקונים הושלמו בסליחות – חב"ד מהדורת נ.י.תשס"ה. בגליון ספרי רשום לומר "עצתם . . תסכל", במקום "עצתהרעים . . תבטל".[8] בלבוש (קלד:א) כתב שג' זקנים תקנוהו, כל אחד חלק,ובכל חלק י"ח אזהרות. יעב"ץ מתנצל שלא דקדק אחר המספר. אך ברור דהיינועד "שמע ישראל . . ה' אחד". ובנוסח אשכנז נפילת אפים היא תיכף אחר כך,ואז בא הפיוט "ה' אלקי ישראל". הרי שזה חלק נוסף.[9] מאמר ד"ה יו"ט של ר"ה שחל להיותבשבת, שלהי שנת תשל"ט: ג' דרגות בשעשועים.​ 

Daniel 2:1-231 In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. 2 Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. 3 And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 4 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.” 5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins. 6 But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor. Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.” 7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.” 8 The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm— 9 if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.” 10 The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king's demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean. 11 The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.”12 Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed. 13 So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them. 14 Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. 15 He declared to Arioch, the king's captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel. 16 And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.17 Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, 18 and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. 19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven. 20 Daniel answered and said:“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. 21 He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; 22 he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him. 23 To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king's matter.”

No Favouritism Acts 10:23-48 by William Klock Last Sunday we looked at the first half of the story of Peter and Cornelius in Acts 10.  Peter had gone down to the coast to visit the little Christian communities that were popping up there, and while he was there he had a vision.  He was hungry and waiting for his lunch and he fell asleep.  And he saw this great linen cloth, like a sail, coming down from heaven full of every animal he could imagine.  “What this?” he thought.  And the Lord spoke and told him, “Kill and eat.”  “But Lord, some of these animals are unclean.  They're animals you forbade us from eating.  I've never deliberately broken your law.  I can't start now!”  And the Lord responded, “Don't be prejudiced, Peter.  Don't call something unclean that I have made clean.”  Three times this was repeated.  And Peter, confused, was just trying to figure out what it meant when there was knock at the door.  There were three Romans there.  And they explained that their master, A Roman centurion named Cornelius, had been visited by the God of Israel in a vision and was told to send his people to go down to Joppa to fetch Peter and bring him back to Caesarea to talk with him. So it starts to click for Peter.  It wasn't really about food.  It was about people.  Jews didn't mix with gentiles.  They were unclean.  They didn't live according to God's law.  They worshipped idols.  You didn't go into their houses.  You didn't eat with them.  But Peter understood the vision now—or at least got the gist of it: It was God's way of telling him to go with these Romans to meet Cornelius. And Luke explained: Cornelius was a God-fearer.  He was one of those gentiles, one of those people from the pagan world, who had seen something in the people of Israel.  He'd heard the stories about their God.  And he was drawn to them.  In the world of brutality and moral filth he'd come from, he saw purity and holiness in Israel.  In contrast to the distant, fickle, and immoral gods he'd know, the God of Israel stood out as radically different.  Cornelius couldn't actually become a Jew and live by torah.  He'd lose his job and probably everyone he knew, but he drew near—as close as he could.  He had his face pressed against the glass, longing for the people, the community, the family, and the God he saw inside.  Even if he couldn't get in there, he somehow found hope just in being as close as he could get—again, think of him pressing his face against the glass, longing to get inside. So Peter did the unthinkable: he invited these three Romans in, shared his lunch with them, and put then up for the night.  Now, continuing with 10:23 [page 1092 in the pew Bibles], Luke goes on and tells us. “The next day he got up and went with them.  Some of the brothers from Joppa went with him.  They reached Caesarea the following day.  Cornelius had summoned his relatives and close friends and was waiting for him.  When Peter came in, Cornelius went to meet him.  He fell down at his feet and worshipped him.  “Get up!” said Peter, lifting him up. “I'm just a man, too.” So they talked together, and Peter came in and found lots of people assembled. The temple came to Cornelius.  The thing he'd been longing for.  The place he wanted to go, to be in the presence of God, not any of his Roman gods, but the real God, the God of Israel who had made his glory known in history, it came new to Cornelius.  Brothers and Sisters, do you realise what we are.  What we are when we go out into the world.  What we are when we meet people out there?  We're God's temple.  A people purified by Jesus and made fit to be God's dwelling place.  A people filled with his presence because he's poured his Spirit into us.  Brothers and Sisters, when Peter met Cornelius, Cornelius recognised the presence of God somehow—in him, with him—he recognised it the way people who went to the temple recognised God's presence there.  Cornelius recognised or sensed or saw that in Peter.  And you and I, we should be the same.  Maybe it helped that Cornelius was in tune with this.  It was his desire to meet the one, true, living God.  He'd had his face pressed against the glass for so long, was so wanting to be in that presence, that he was especially ready to know it.  But there should be something in us that the people we encounter see or sense or know the way Cornelius recognised the presence of the living God in Peter.  He was meeting the living temple of God and that is what the world should see in the church, in us.  This would be good to reflect on.  Ask yourself what people recognise in you.  Is it God's presence or is it maybe worry or pride or anger.  Do they find the fruit of the Spirit or the fruit of the works of the flesh?  Do they see the glory of God in you? And so Cornelius did what came naturally.  He bowed down and started worshipping.  Cornelius' response raises the question: Does a pagan see enough of the Holy Spirit in us that he might just bow down and try to worship?  I can imagine how shocked Peter would be.  Jews knew better, but it was the natural response to encountering God's presence.  So Peter pulled him up and set him straight and he got them up to speed on what had happened to him:  Verse 29: “You must know,” he said to them, “that it is unseemly for a Jewish man to mix with or visit a foreigner.  But God showed me that I should call nobody ‘common' or ‘unclean.'  So I came when I was asked, and raised no objections.  Do tell me, then, the reason why you sent for me.” And now it's Cornelius's turn to get Peter up to speed on what this is all about.  Luke writes, “Cornelius gave him the answer. “Four days ago,” he said, “I was praying in my house at around this time, about three o'clock, and suddenly a man stood beside me in shining clothes.  ‘Cornelius,' he said, ‘your prayer has been heard, and your almsgiving has been remembered by God.  So send someone to Joppa and call Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the house of Simon the tanner, beside the sea.'  So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come.  So now we are all here, in God's presence, to listen to everything which the Lord has told you to say.” I would think that Peter and Cornelius' men would talk on the journey and Peter would figure out that this is no ordinary Roman centurion.  But Cornelius makes it clear here: he's someone who respects the God of Israel and it's the God of Israel who has spoken to him.  Luke then says in verse 34 that Peter opened his mouth and began to speak. I think it might better to translate that as, “Peter took a deep breath and began.”  Because things are starting to get clearer for him, but this isn't easy.  He's starting to wrap his head around what God is doing here, and he's realising that it's a total game changer.  He's about to say something that he probably never thought he'd ever say.  “It's become clear to me,” he said, “that God really does show no favouritism.  No, in every nation, people who fear him and do what is right are acceptable to him.” Now, we need to pause here, because as modern people—I talked about this last week when we read about God telling Peter not to be prejudiced—as modern people what we're prone to hearing Peter saying here that there are all sorts of paths to God.  Like Peter used to think that the Jewish people were God's favourites and that only they had an in with him, a way to him, and everyone else in the world was doomed and lost forever, but now, somehow in light of Jesus, he's realised that the ways that the gentiles—or at least some of them—go seeking after God, well, those ways are just as good and that Israel had nothing special.  And we think that, because this is the dominant view in our postmodern pluralistic culture.  Justification is by death—unless you're one of those really obviously bad people like Hitler—so all paths lead to God and how dare anyone remind the world that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” So, no, what Peter is saying is that when he—along with most of his fellow Jews—thought that they were God's favourites and that everyone else in the world was simply doomed to one day know the wrath and judgement of God.  They were wrong.  They were wrong for thinking that when God came to visit his people as he promised, he would set them on top and rain down fire and brimstone on the nations.  There's a sense in which that story is true, but they had the timing wrong.  God will come to establish the faithful and to judge the wicked—at the end, after the gospel and the Spirit and the Church have done their work and his glory fills the earth—but God had something else to do first.  He had a great act of amazing grace to make first in order to redeem both Israel and the nations.  This was the massive revelation that was now beginning to settle on Peter.  You can almost sense how Peter is thinking this through and working it out as he talked to Cornelius.  I think he's explaining it to himself as much to these Romans. It's important to understand: the gospel is still exclusive.  I think this was why it wasn't easy for Peter to work this through.  Jesus changes everything.  Jesus opens the way to God for all.  And yet unclean, unholy, idolatrous gentiles are still on the outside.  What Jesus has done is to reconstitute the people of God around himself.  Faith in him, not torah, has become the defining characteristic, the mark of membership in this new family.  His blood purifies us, Jew and gentile alike and makes us new.  This is why Paul, writing to the gentile Corinthians, can describe them as having once been pagans, led astray by dumb idols, but now they're part of Abraham's family.  Jesus has brought them into Israel's story.  He's seen their faces pressed against the glass and opened the door.  If they'll come through his door, they can finally know the living God.  And, of course, Peter's also realising that since God shows no favouritism, his own people now need to come through that same Jesus door too. So Peter says, yes, there was something special about Israel.  Verse 36: “[God] sent his word to the sons of Israel, announcing peace through Jesus the Messiah—he is Lord of all!”  This was how it had to work.  God had chosen Abraham to be the one through whom he would make himself known to a world that had rebelled against him and forgotten him.  The intent all along was to work through Abraham and then his family to restore the whole human race.  By Peter's day the Jews had taken that to mean that they were God's favourites and he hated everyone else, but what it really meant, well, Jesus said in John 3:16: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him should not die, but have eternal life”—the life of the age to come, life in God's creation set to right and, most important, life in his presence. So Jesus was born one of those people called to steward God's word to the world and he brought God's announcement of peace—of restoration.  He was the promised Messiah, the King, the one in whom God would return to his people and set everything right. So Peter goes on in verse 37: “You know all about this, and how the word spread through all Judaea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John proclaimed.  God anointed this man, Jesus of Nazareth, with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, since God was with him.  We are witnesses of everything he did in the land of Judaea and in Jerusalem.  They killed him by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day, and allowed him to be seen, not indeed by all the people, but by those of us whom God had appointed beforehand. We ate and drank with him after he had been raised from the dead.  And he commanded us to announce to the people, and to bear testimony, that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead.  All the prophets give their witness: he is the one! Everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” Being so close to the people of Israel, I expect Cornelius knew about Jesus.  And I also suspect that wanting to have a relationship with the people of Israel while being an outsider and a Roman, would have made him very hesitant to think of or affirm Jesus as the Messiah.  All of the Jews he knew denounced Jesus as a fraud and laughed at these men and women going around claiming he'd been raised from the dead.  But God broke through that.  He spoke and he brought Cornelius and Peter together.  It's really a stunning story of God's providence working to fulfil his promises.  Jesus had told his friends that they would carry the good news of his death and resurrection from Jerusalem to Judaea, Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.  In the First Century there was no better way of doing that then for the gospel to get hold of a Roman.  And so God prepared a Roman to hear it.  He brought this man to Caesarea where he saw something beautiful, something holy, something of the glory of God and was drawn to it.  And when the time was right, he brought an eyewitness to the gospel story to him and he brought him, he brought Peter in a way that Cornelius couldn't dismiss. And the story here is interesting.  Luke doesn't say anything about Cornelius asking, like others do in other places, something like, “What must I do to be saved?”  Cornelius was so close.  He just needed to hear about Jesus.  And Luke writes in verse 44: “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on everyone who was listening to the word.  The circumcised believers who had accompanied Peter were astonished, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles too.  They heard them speaking with tongues and praising God.” These Romans heard and they just believed.  The Spirit filled them up and as evidence—evidence that these Jewish Christians like Peter and his friends desperately need to see—the Spirit started speaking through these Romans in tongues.  I can imagine those Romans, they spoke Latin, they spoke Greek, they stumbled over Aramaic.  They didn't know Hebrew at all.  And I picture the Spirit suddenly speaking through them to Peter, maybe singing Psalm 110 in fluent Hebrew, because that seems to have been the purpose of tongues in the New Testament.  The Spirit proclaiming the good news and God's glory.  But the main point of this demonstration was to say to Peter and the other Jewish believers that God had seen fit to bring these uncircumcised gentiles into his temple.  Jesus' sacrifice was so powerful, his blood so powerful that it can purify even the gentiles and make them fit to be the dwelling place of God's Spirit.  Cornelius didn't have to get circumcised or change his diet or start observing the Sabbath to fit for the Holy Spirit or to be part of God's new creation.  Because that's going to be the big debate coming up soon in the story.  What happened that day at Caesarea sent a clear message: this new Israel, this new people of God is not defined or marked out by torah, by the law of Moses, but by faith in Jesus and Jesus alone. And Peter gets this.  And so Luke writes, “Then Peter spoke up. “Nobody can deny these people water to be baptized, can they?” he said. “They have received the Holy Spirit, just like we did!”  So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus the Messiah.  Then they asked him to stay for a few days.” Usually it was the other way around: believe, be baptise, be filled with the Spirit and incorporated into God's new temple.  But in these early days God was sometimes mixing up the process to communicate important messages to the early church.  In Samaria it was the opposite.  The Samaritan had believed, but the Spirit didn't fill them until the apostles paid them a visit.  Here the Spirit fills these new believers before they're even baptised.  And so Peter makes it clear: Let's baptise these people. Not, let's circumcise them to bring them into the people of God, but let's mark them out by baptism.  You don't have to be a Jew to be part of this people.  Just the opposite in a way.  Be baptised, be united with Jesus the Messiah, you become a part of this new people of God, and the Spirit circumcises your heart—he does for you really, and deeply what circumcision and the law had always been external symbols of. As I've been reflecting on this story over the last weeks, I've been moved by how it reveals God's faithfulness and his glory.  This is God taking the first steps to fulfil his promise that through Israel he would bring the nations to himself.  And when you think about the context of this story: the Romans and Judaism in the First Century, it's amazing to reflect on God at work, not just setting his own people to rights here and bringing them to a point where they're accomplishing the mission he'd given them two millennia before when he called Abraham, but he's set things up so that it's just the right representative of the gentile nations who meets Peter.  A man already pressing his face against the glass, a man already valuing the very thing that God had given to his people and that so many of them took for granted.  And now he's brought into the family—not through circumcision—and oddly enough not even through baptism, but directly: hearing the gospel and being filled with the Spirit.  Peter has to rush to catch up with the baptism part—because that's essential too.  And giving the gospel to a Roman centurion.  It's like putting the gospel on a high-speed train to the rest of the empire and from there to the world.  This and what comes next are the setup for the rest of Acts and for Paul's story. But here—I'll just say this in conclusion—here we're reminded what the gospel is and what it's about and how we become part of its story ourselves.  Brothers and Sisters, it's not through what we do.  It's not through who we are.  It's through Jesus.  Through faith in him as the Messiah, as the King, as creation's true Lord who has come to set the world to rights, to drive away the darkness, to defeat sin and death, to bring light and life—and most of all God's presence back to men and women.  His blood is what purifies us from the stain of sin and death.  And when he's washed us clean, he fills us with God's Spirit—with new life and a new way of life.  The Spirit in us is God's glorious future in the present.  And it's Jesus who brings us into that life and into the presence of God. Someone recently asked me why we drink wine in the Lord's Supper and whether it was really necessary.  Why can't we just drink grape juice?  Brothers and Sisters, it's because Jesus' blood is powerful.  And because, like alcohol, Jesus' blood is purifying.  Like the wine that hits your tongue with a bit of a shock, the power of Jesus' blood ought to get our attention—the way it did for Peter that day in Caesarea.  Brothers and Sisters, Jesus' blood is powerful enough to wash away the greatest stain—of sin, of idolatry, of death—to make us sons and daughters of Abraham, sons and daughters of the living God.  Come to the Table this morning.  Eat the bread.  Drink the wine.  And give glory to God. Let's pray: Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy; and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall, keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

https://youtu.be/451XDwxqyfE?si=X9Sgw4V9nffqfwZ5 Follow along with us! GRAB 30 HONEST QUESTIONS 30 real questions, short/simple answers….God, science, Bible, suffering, doubt, church hurt… Grab one for yourself. Share one with your friends. Intro – Jonathan Hiesberger ME: My name is Jonathan Hiesberger. I'm from Waco, TX. Born and raised. I went to Waco High School. That's where I met Pastor. School teacher by profession, Year 23 of teaching high school SPED/Math. Pray for our teachers!! My faith is HUGELY important to me. God has done great things in my life. There have been battles. One thing I've learned through trials/struggles I NEED THE WORD OF GOD IN MY LIFE. People who haven't known me very long might be surprised -Dark times -Negative mindsets -Anxiety, Depression…-Worry, fear The only thing that sees me standing? God's Word. God's Word has sustained me through all these battles, but I have had to hold on to and not doubt God's word. Through these storms I had to learn to REALLY trust God's Word. Maybe today you might be wondering “can I really trust God's Word? We are living in an age where we are having trouble trusting the voices of authority speaking into our lives. -People no longer trust traditional institutions -Trust in media is at an all time low -AI deepfakes and content that looks real but is not. -Church leaders. People are asking: “Who can I trust?” That distrust reaches the Bible itself. DO AMERICANS TRUST THE BIBLE? -Only 36% of Americans say the Bible is accurate in the principles it teaches. –1 in 5 Americans believe the Bible was written to control or manipulate people. That is a big divide. People are asking questions like: “Has it been changed?” “Who decided what went in it?” “Was it written to control people?” People are basically asking: “Can I trust the Bible?”  TRUST is a BIG ISSUE – That is why I named this message…  Valid Faith Week 2: Can I Trust the Bible? Scriptures and Reliability If you have been struggling with this, you're not alone. I see many Christians who are wrestling with this topic. Social Media. It's ok to ask the questions. It's ok to engage with the evidence. After today, I believe I can show you there is a REASON for your HOPE. 1 Peter 3:15 NIV I want to give you some reasons for your hope. I want to talk to you about why God's Word is trustworthy.  We know the Bible says that it is reliable The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” – Isaiah 40:8, NIV God's Word is here and it's not going anywhere The Lord said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.” – Jeremiah 1:12, NIV God is active in watching over and superintending His Word.  Luke 1:37, NIV: “For no word from God will ever fail.” Angel Gabriel testifies that God's word is UNFAILING. What does all this mean? God has declared that His Word is Reliable. Think of things in your life that are reliable.  Whether things or people, You feel like you can put COMPLETE trust in them.  God's Word is even MORE reliable. God's Word is Reliable Because of the Preserved Witness of the Early Church The scriptures we have in your New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, the letters of the apostles including Paul Jesus words, Jesus' teachings Who witnessed these things? Those who walked with Jesus, saw His miracles, saw His death, burial, and resurrection. Apostles – trusted eyewitnesses wrote gospels and Letters – received in the churches, shared in the churches, copied, copied again They handed this collection of writings down to us and testified that it was really the writings of inspired men of God who Jesus had spoken with and spent time with.  If you want to know what they witnessed, it is written in YOUR bible. They saw the early things that happened in the new testament church and they wanted you to know. God inspired them to write those things for your benefit. We can trust the Bible because of their testimony. God's Word is reliable because it is preserved in  Greek manuscripts  Ancient versions in different languages Quotations outside the Bible Manuscripts are simply ancient documents (papyrus, parchments) Plants/animal skins                  Scrolls/Books Mentioned copies before Bible original written in ancient Greek Maybe 100? Maybe 500? More than 5,800 Greek New Testament manuscripts exist. These range from small fragments to nearly complete Bibles. 5,800! They wanted to get the WORD to as many people ASAP But not everyone spoke Greek More than 18,000+ additional manuscripts exist in other ancient languages. Old Latin Aramaic Syriac Coptic Armenian Ethiopian Gothic The Early church wanted to bring the saving message to the WHOLE WORLD and we have the manuscripts to prove it. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! People liked to write about Jesus. They lived in a hostile, pagan world and were defending their faith. Writers outside the Bible provide more than one million quotations from the New Testament. 1,000,000 quotations in the years immediately following the apostles.  Imagine something we hope never happens – imagine all the manuscripts disappear – all the Greek, ancient versions, etc We would still have Bible. Why?  These quotations are so extensive that scholars have argued that virtually the entire New Testament could be reconstructed from them, with fewer than a dozen verses being exceptions. The New Testament Has Extraordinary Historical and Manuscript Evidence large quantity of ancient manuscripts ALSO early date of biblical manuscripts.  We have manuscripts and manuscript fragments go back very close to the time of the original writings- to the life of Jesus and the apostles Compare that to other ancient writings Herodotus' History – we have 8 manuscripts 1350 years after they were written Julius Cesar's Gallic Wars – 10 documents 900 years later Tacitus' Historys and Annals – 9 manuscripts 750 years later New Testament: 5800+ manuscripts Fragment: 30-50 years after original Most of NT: 150 years after original All of NT: 250 years after original The New Testament has far greater manuscript attestation than other ancient literature. If manuscript quantity and age alone disqualified the New Testament, virtually all ancient historical writings would face the same problem. If you don't have the Bible, you don't have anything. If you doubt Jesus existed, how can you believe in Julius Ceasar? Modern scholars don't doubt that Jesus existed.  We have more copies than any other ancient work. PERIOD. What about the 1 in 5 people that manipulate? BUT how do we know it hasn't changed over time? The fact there is all these manuscripts show it hasn't changed.  If there was huge changed we would see it in the manuscripts If I had time I could go into detail about the very early fragments,  Very early Greek copies, so autographs are even early Found in different lands from which they are written And they are the same as what is in your Bible! Not the telephone game That's not how the Bible came to you. Thousands of manuscripts received from the churches they were written to being copied Found in completely different countries and lands With the most Ancient agreeing with the later manuscripts which agree with your Bible What would it take for the Bible to have been changed? Impossible to change all the manuscripts. Geographic diversity, all the versions, quotations, manuscripts not even yet discovered Are you seeing how silly this argument is? Who decided what books to put the Bible in the first place? Canons – early church documents that point to what books were accepted and which books were not This is HUGE – we have the witness from the early church showing which books they considered trustworthy; which books to die for if Roman soldiers showed up Early Christians memorized entire books of the New Testament (Egypt and other places it was a requirement to be in the ministry) Muratorian Canon – AD 170 Perhaps oldest known list of most of books of NT List of “Accepted” books and “Rejected” books All 4, Gospels, Acts, Jude, 1 John, another epistle of John, Revelation, and epistles of Paul accepted Accepted books were written by apostles or people who knew apostles Shows us that Early Christians already had a belief about what WAS and what WAS NOT scripture.  Probably written several hundred years after the apostles?? So the church can figure out how to control people, right??? Wrong! This is still when Christians were being killed for their faith They were trusting on Jesus and depending on His Word just to make it. Muratorian fragment preserved in Milan, Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, Cod. J 101 sup. EARLY CHRISTIANITY DID NOT ACCEPT OTHER BOOKS Only one NT book we don't know who author is Gospels of Peter and James, 3rd corinthians, epistle to laodocians, etc OLD TESTAMENT We have manuscripts in Hebrew and Aramaic, and also in Greek of the Old Testament. The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic textual tradition preserved by Jewish scribes called the Masoretes.  We also have the Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament. Jews carefully copied and standardized the Hebrew Scriptures. Until recently, The oldest known complete copies of the Hebrew Bible go back to 900-1000 AD. Although Jews were very careful in the copies, one might still try to raise doubt.  UNTIL what is arguably the greatest find in modern archaeology: The Dead Sea Scrolls Support the Reliability of the Old Testament Discovered beginning in 1947 in caves near the Dead Sea at Qumran. 3 Bedouin shepherds discovered ancient scrolls hidden in the caves. 15,000 texts, 40% of which are copies of Biblical texts There is a scholarly consensus on the age of the Dead sea scrolls Paleographical dating, Radiocarbon dating, and archaeological evidence all support a date of these writings that go as far back as the 3rd century BC. Portions of every Old Testament book except Esther were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. What does this all mean? The scriptures found in your Bible are OLD and some of the go back to BEFORE the time of Jesus and the apostles. Before Christianity. “Many of the scrolls are practically identical with the Masoretic text, which thus takes this recension back in history to pre-Christian times” – Encyclopedia Brittanica The Hebrew text is ANCIENT. Among the discoveries was the Great Isaiah Scroll. The source dates it to approximately 125 BC. It contains essentially the complete book of Isaiah. When the Great Isaiah Scroll was compared with the later Masoretic Text: The two were found to be remarkably similar. Word for Word identical in 95% of the text 5% difference were mostly slips of the pen and spelling Isaiah is important because it foretells the birth of the Messiah (Isaiah 7) the suffering of the Messiah (Isaiah 53) and the reign of the messiah (Isaiah 9) BEFORE Jesus was born! The Dead Sea Scrolls pushed surviving Hebrew biblical manuscripts back more than 1000 years. They provide ancient witnesses to the Hebrew Scriptures and support the stability of the textual tradition. Authenticate the OT in YOUR Bible! Your Bible didnt' just show up yesterday! It is ANCIENT. It is RELIABLE. Your faith is VALID. We're talking about valid faith, believing in God's Word is VALID FAITH. God's Word is reliable for many more reasons! Unique Moral teachings Confirming scientific concepts before science itself did History and archaeology confirms it Fulfilled prophecy If we had more time we could dive in to all those things We know God's Word is Reliable because of how it changes lives! Grew up without a dad Grandma worked 16 hour doubles at the nursing home to feed us Struggled with unusual anxieties, obsessive worries Fear and insecurity and isolation BUT I read about God in His Word That began a conversation Earnestly prayed that God would be real in my life Don't wanna just read about You He brought me into contact with people of faith Started going to church That led me to an altar of repentance A place where i could connect with God I didn't have a fancy prayer I just remember praying God, would you be my Father? That night I had a encounter with God I had an encounter with my Father It started with faith,  you see friends I read about Him in His Word. God gave me His Word He wanted me to know Him. He is my Father and wanted a relationship with Me. And that has changed everything.  And then later when the trials came The dark nights When I lost my way And let anxiety creep And the emotions cloud my thinking and mindset And I didn't know what to do When I returned to the Word of God And REALLY believed it And REALLY applied to my life That's when Victory came!! I am not just sermonizing God's Word has GIVEN ME MY LIFE He has rescued me!! But I had to stand on the Word That's great Jonathan, but does this have to do with me? What does His Word accomplish in my life? The question what can't God's Word do in your life? Do you need wisdom? It has wisdom Do you need hope?  Hope for your family Hope for your finances Hope for your relationships Comfort in the dark times A voice than can push back fear and the lies  That seek to destroy you and those you love God's Word has all these things for you if you will have faith It's not just another self-help book Self-help books can claim to do all these things But the Word of God connects you to the ONE who can Fill that God-shaped hole in your soul. It connects you to biggest thing that's ever going to happen to you And that is an encounter with Jesus Christ Like the encounter an 18 year old boy from Waco Texas had one Wednesday night And a life was saved And a destiny was forever changed It starts with Valid faith We can have faith in God's Word Would you stand with me? 3 things I want you to do with this message Call To Action – How to rely on God's Word  God’s Word is not just information—it is meant to transform us. 1. ABSORB Read God’s Word. Take it in. Feed on it. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” God’s Word is spiritual food. Don’t just read it—absorb it. Hide it in your heart. Make a commitment to spend time in God’s Word every day. 2. AGREE Agreement means saying: “God, even when I don’t understand it, I choose to believe what Your Word says.” We agree with God—not with our feelings, our culture, or our limited understanding. Sometimes we want to argue with God. We want to explain why we think our way is better. But agreement brings us to a place of surrender: “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Agreement is powerful because it is part of repentance. It prepares our hearts to change. Before we can live God’s way, we must first decide that God’s way is right. We meet with God every day in prayer and confess that we want His Kingdom to Come and His  will to be done in our lives. Which leads us to the last step 3. ALIGN Alignment means bringing our lives into line with God’s Word. We don’t just hear the truth—we live it. Even when we don't understand. You see, alignment becomes easier when we have already crossed the bridge of agreement. When the Bible says something like love your enemies, pray for those who despitefully use you And that makes no sense us, but you trust in God and His Word. And we submit that area of our lives to His Will, we can begin to be more like Him. Absorbing God's Word brings us direction. Agreement to God's Word prepares the heart.Alignment to God's Word changes the life. We read God's Word. We agree with God's Word. We live out God's Word. ABSORB. AGREE. ALIGN. Let God’s Word transform you. You can trust God’s Word. It has not changed—what IS changing are people's lives. He doesn't change, but He is changing us to conform to the image of His Son. Keep reading. Keep trusting. Keep growing. And as God’s Word transforms you, you will become more and more like Jesus.

Dr. Stefanie Bennett is a transpersonal psychologist, author, poet, songwriter, and founder of Hagiagraphia. Her work lives at the intersection of depth psychology, Spiritual Science, and Aramaic mysticism, offering a path toward healing that honors both the soul and the sacred.Specializing in recovery from narcissistic abuse and complex trauma, Dr. Bennett integrates contemplative psychology, ancient Aramaic wisdom, and spiritual practice to help people reclaim their inner authority and return to their deepest center. Through her books, sacred art, courses, and teachings, she invites others into a journey of remembrance, healing, and transformation.Her work explores the profound relationship between psychological healing and spiritual awakening, revealing how trauma recovery can become a path of initiation into a more authentic, sovereign life.If you would like to support my channel please consider:buymeacoffee.com/truththath7Thank you for all of your support and for helping to make this channel a reality :)

This week the team is joined in the studio by David Heald, a Quaker, for a conversation that ranges from silent worship to chocolate. Quakers, he explains, grew out of a 17th-century split from the Anglican Church and threw out the trappings most churches are built on — priests, buildings, set services, hierarchy — in favour of meeting in silence and holding peace, equality, simplicity and truth as founding principles. In 1963 they became the first religious group to say publicly that what makes a relationship equal has nothing to do with the sex of the people in it, and David traces that instinct back through an 18th-century Quaker who used they/them pronouns and the 13th-century mystic Julian of Norwich writing that God is neither male nor female. He also explains why the word "homosexual" only dates from 1869, and why the Leviticus passages so often used against LGBT+ people read very differently in the Greek and Aramaic the Bible came from. There's a chocolate connection, too — shut out of the army, Parliament and the priesthood, Quakers built a reputation for honesty that made them the trusted chocolate makers of Bristol and beyond — and David is candid about the harder edges of that history, from persecution after the Restoration to Quakers being arrested today on Palestine Action and climate protests.And this week's Queerstory tells the story of Ewan Forbes — a Scottish doctor, born in 1912 into an old Aberdeenshire family, registered at birth as a girl but understood by everyone who knew him as a boy. In 1952 he had his birth certificate corrected from female to male, married his housekeeper and settled into life as a country doctor. It was only when his brother died in 1965, and the family barony proved able to pass only down the male line, that a cousin challenged his right to inherit, and three years of argument in Scotland's supreme civil court followed. In 1968 Ewan won, the court accepting he was intersex and the Home Secretary confirming him as Sir Ewan Forbes, 11th Baronet. But the case was heard behind closed doors, the press kept out and the judgment never published, so it could never be cited — while an English court's opposite ruling the same year, published in full, shaped UK law for decades. Ewan died in 1991, known outside his community mainly as a well-liked country doctor, until the academic Zoë Playdon pieced the story back together for her 2021 book, The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes.

Ignatius of Antioch  Ignatius of Antioch lived approximately AD 35–107. According to early Christian tradition, he served as bishop of Antioch, one of Christianity's earliest and most important centers. He is often called Ignatius Theophoros (Ἰγνάτιος ὁ Θεοφόρος), usually understood as “Ignatius the God-bearer.” Ignatius belonged to the generation immediately following the apostles. Later tradition connects him with the apostolic generation, especially Peter and John, although we cannot historically demonstrate all the details later traditions give about these relationships. His Arrest and Journey to Rome During the reign of Emperor Trajan (AD 98–117), Ignatius was arrested and condemned. He was taken under Roman military guard from Antioch toward Rome, where he expected to be executed. This journey became extraordinarily important for Christian history because Ignatius wrote letters to Christian communities along the way. These letters provide one of our earliest windows into the organization, theology, worship, and struggles of Christianity in the early second century. Seven letters are traditionally accepted as authentic: Ephesians Magnesians Trallians Romans Philadelphians Smyrnaeans To Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna What Did Ignatius Teach? A central theme in Ignatius is unity. Again and again he urges Christians to remain united around the bishop, presbyters, and deacons. His writings therefore provide extremely important evidence for the development of the threefold ministry of bishop (ἐπίσκοπος), presbyters (πρεσβύτεροι), and deacons (διάκονοι). The Eucharist is also central to his theology. For Ignatius, Christianity was not merely a collection of ideas. The Church was a living community gathered around Christ, particularly expressed in the Eucharistic assembly. He also strongly opposed teachings that denied the genuine humanity and suffering of Jesus. Against tendencies later associated with Docetism—the idea that Christ only appeared to suffer—Ignatius insisted that Jesus was genuinely born, genuinely suffered, and genuinely died. The Famous Expression “Catholic Church” Ignatius is especially important because his Letter to the Smyrnaeans contains the earliest surviving written occurrence of the expression: ἡ καθολικὴ ἐκκλησία — hē katholike ekklēsia Here καθολικός (katholikos) carries the sense of “universal,” “according to the whole,” or “the whole Church.” Ignatius writes essentially: “Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church.” At this early date, we should be careful not simply to read all later denominational meanings of the word Catholic back into Ignatius. His emphasis is fundamentally on the whole, universal Church gathered in Christ. His Martyrdom Ignatius expected to die in Rome, traditionally by being thrown to wild beasts. His Letter to the Romans contains some of the strongest martyrdom language in early Christianity. He famously describes himself as: “God's wheat.” He imagines being ground by the teeth of wild beasts so that he might become the “pure bread of Christ.” The imagery reflects how deeply Ignatius connected martyrdom, imitation of Christ, Eucharistic imagery, and discipleship. Why Ignatius Matters for the Early Eastern Church For your students, Ignatius is especially important because he stands at a crossroads between the apostolic age and the developing institutional Church of the second century. He gives us evidence for Christianity moving outward from its Jewish and Jerusalem beginnings into the multilingual world of Syria and Asia Minor. Antioch itself was culturally complex: Greek was prominent, while the wider Syrian environment was deeply Semitic and Aramaic-speaking. Yet the surviving authentic letters of Ignatius are Greek, not Aramaic or Syriac. So Ignatius should be understood as an Eastern Christian bishop operating within a Greek-speaking literary environment while emerging from the Syrian Christian world. Simple conclusion for your students: Ignatius of Antioch was an early second-century Syrian bishop and martyr who helped define Christian thinking about Church unity, bishops, presbyters, deacons, the Eucharist, the real humanity of Christ, and martyrdom. His seven letters form one of our most valuable bridges between the New Testament Church and Christianity of the second century.

Alan answers a common Muslim challenge alleging that, because Jesus spoke in Aramaic, the Bible doesn't contain the words of Jesus.

Read OnlineOvercoming the Gates of hellJesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:13–16The symbolism associated with Caesarea Philippi is central to today's Gospel. Located north of Jesus' home base in Capernaum, it was a predominantly pagan city known for its shrines to false gods. One of the most prominent was Pan, after whom the region was named Panias (later Banias). Pan, a Greek god, was honored at a shrine near a large cave and spring considered the entrance to Hades. Pan was the god of nature, shepherds, flocks, wild places, fertility, and rustic music, and was often depicted as half man, half goat, with horns and hooves. He played the pan flute and was associated with lust, chaos, and sudden fear—from which we get the word panic.Additionally, the city was the site of a temple dedicated to the late emperor, Caesar Augustus, who was worshiped as a god throughout the Roman Empire. It was into this spiritually dark pagan setting that Jesus led His disciples—on what may have been a two-day journey—for what culminated in a single, monumental question.Jesus took the Twelve away from the comfort of their familiar fishing village and Jewish neighbors for a reason. He wanted them to answer His question not in the midst of the familiar and safe, but in a place marked by spiritual confusion and idolatry. Why? So that faith could be professed even there, and divine grace could confront the darkness that permeated the region.At first, He asked who the people said He was. They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But then He posed the question that reached the heart of His mission: “But who do you say that I am?” This was a moment of divine testing—one which Simon passed with profound faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus' extraordinary and consequential response has enduring significance to this day. He declared:“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:17–19).With these sacred words, Jesus founded His Church upon Peter, making him the first pope. In biblical tradition, a change of name signifies a new mission and identity. Simon, son of Jonah, was now to be called Peter—Petros in Greek and Cephas in Aramaic—meaning “rock.” Peter became the solid foundation upon which Christ's Church would be built. No pagan power, false god, or earthly ruler would ever overcome what Christ established with divine authority.Reflect today on the significance of the papacy. Even now, in the successor of Saint Peter, the words of Simon continue to echo throughout the world: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This is the pope's first and most important duty—to bear witness to Christ, the Son of God. Despite the personal weaknesses of some popes and the saintliness of others, it is Jesus who established Peter and his successors as the visible foundation of the Church. Pray for the Holy Father, and trust in the timeless witness of every pope since that first moment in Caesarea Philippi—a witness upheld not by human strength, but by Christ's own promise. To profess faith in the papacy is to profess faith in the One who instituted it and endowed it with His divine authority.My Lord, You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God. With Simon, I profess this truth and place my faith in You, who established Simon, son of Jonah, as Peter—the rock and foundation of Your Church. I believe and profess that the gates of hell shall never prevail against the Church, not because of human strength or perfection, but because of Your eternal promise. I pray for our Holy Father, the pope, and for all his successors. Make them true and faithful witnesses to the confession first spoken by Saint Peter. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: Christ handing the Keys to St Peter, by Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.

Quick Recap* Meaning of the surah: “The Female Cow.”* Number of ayat: 286.* Nickname: The peak (summit) of the Quran.* Virtue: On the Day of Judgement, Al-Baqarah and Ali Imran will come and shade their companions.On dividing the surah: We are studying Al-Baqarah in nine parts. This division is a teaching aid created by scholars to help us navigate the surah — it is not divine. The order of the surahs themselves (Al-Baqarah, then Ali Imran) comes from Allah, but splitting a single surah into portions is a human tool. Others divide it into five, twenty, or a different number; none of them are “wrong.”Part 1 covers the groups of people. We are almost finished with the first group: the people of taqwa.Ayah 1 — Alif Lam MimThree lessons drawn from the opening letters:* 1. To attract attention.* 2. A challenge to the Arabs. If you don't believe the Quran is from Allah, here are the very letters it is built from — produce something like it. After 1400 years the challenge stands unmet. This is not accepted on faith alone; it is historically established, because the height of Arabic eloquence was during the Prophet's ﷺ time, and no one then could match it.* 3. A lesson in humility. Humans do not know everything; our intellect has a limit.Ayah 2 — Guidance for the People of TaqwaThe Quran is guidance for the people of taqwa. This links back to our central dua in Al-Fatihah — Ihdina as-sirat al-mustaqim (”Guide us to the straight path”).Working definition of taqwa: mindfulness of AllahWhere this definition comes from: the well-known image of walking a path lined with thorns and lifting your garment to avoid being caught. That image was given by the companion Ubay ibn Ka'b, in answer to Umar ibn al-Khattab.Taqwa is internal — you cannot see it directly — but it shows through certain characteristics, listed in the ayat that follow.Ayah 3 — Three Characteristics of the People of Taqwa* 3.1 — Belief in the unseen (al-ghayb).* 3.2 — Establishing prayer (yuqimuna as-salah).* 3.3 — Charity: “and from what We have given them, they spend.”Why “from what We have given them” matters: everything we own comes from Allah. Allah is Al-Ghani, the Most Rich, who owns everything. If you spend the way He asks, He can give you more — His wealth is unlimited and does not run out. The Prophet ﷺ said the one who gives charity will never become poor.⚠ Arabic to verify before publishing: the Arabic for ayah 3 (belief in the unseen, establishing prayer, and spending) arrived with encoding errors in the transcript and has been rendered in English only. Paste in clean Arabic if you want it displayed.Ayah 4 — Belief in RevelationTwo further characteristics:* Belief in what was sent down to you — the Quran.* Belief in what was sent down before you — the previous scriptures.The previous scripturesFour scriptures total, including the Quran — so three before the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, in order:* Tawrah — revealed to Prophet Musa.* Zabur — revealed to Prophet Dawud.* Injil — revealed to Prophet Isa.Understanding the BibleLiving in a globalised world, it helps to understand the landscape of the largest religion, Christianity — close to Islam in numbers. So: which of the three scriptures is the Bible?None of them, exactly. The Bible is not a single book — it is a collection of books. (The word itself relates to biblio, “book,” as in bibliophile and bibliography.) It contains a changed and combined version of these earlier revelations.The Bible has two major parts:* The Old Testament — also known as the Jewish Bible. A Jewish person referring to “the Bible” means only this. Its three major sections are abbreviated Tanakh:* T — Torah (believed to be what was revealed to Musa).* N — Nevi'im (the Prophets).* K — Ketuvim (the Writings). Zabur = Psalms sits here, as a book within this section.* The New Testament — mainly the Gospels plus letters.* Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. These are gospels according to each name.* Letters: written by Paul to the early Christian communities (e.g. the Corinthians) — his written guidance in reply to their questions.Injil = “good news.” “Gospel” also means good news. The Injil we believe in is the Gospel of Isa — which we do not have today. What exists are gospels according to Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John. The first three are called the Synoptic Gospels and broadly agree; John often tells a different story. Historically these were written well after the named figures, in Greek, while Prophet Isa spoke Aramaic — and several authors never met him.Contrast: the preservation of the QuranThe Quran reaches us in two independent ways that reinforce each other:* Unbroken chain of transmission. We recite exactly as the Prophet ﷺ recited — including points of articulation and the length of each sound (e.g. reading a madd at two, four, or six harakat). A reciter's certificate can be traced back through an unbroken chain to the Prophet ﷺ.* Archaeological evidence. The oldest known Quran manuscript, the Birmingham Quran, held at the University of Birmingham, was carbon-dated (announced 2015) to around the time of the Prophet ﷺ. It reached Birmingham via Iraq during the British occupation and sat unidentified in the archives until a PhD student recognised it.Side note — early Arabic script. In the Prophet's ﷺ time Arabic was written without dots or harakat, so words were distinguished by context. A famous (unverifiable) story tells of the governor Hajjaj ibn Yusuf receiving an undotted letter that could read either uqtul (”kill”) or aqbil (”receive”) — prompting the later introduction of dots. Even today dotting isn't fully standardised: in the Moroccan script, for example, qaf takes a single dot and final noon is written without one.How we relate to the BibleWe believe in the original Tawrah, Zabur, and Injil as revelation. Regarding the Bible in its modern form, we hold that it contains both truth and questionable material. The Prophet ﷺ guided us: you may narrate from the Israelite sources without sin — neither believing 100% nor rejecting 100%. Where it contradicts the Quran, the Quran is Muhaiminun alaih — it stands over and supersedes the rest, because its authenticity is guaranteed. This does not mean we disrespect the Bible; it still contains revelation from Allah.Ayah 5 — Certainty in the Akhirah & True SuccessThe final characteristic: the people of taqwa are certain about the akhirah. Certainty is the operative word — not vague hope, but conviction.This certainty changes behaviour. If you are sure Allah sees you and that there are real consequences in the akhirah, you act well in public and private alike, whether or not anyone notices — because Allah knows and will compensate.The akhirah mindset = delayed gratificationWe already accept short-term discomfort for long-term reward: you study now (even though games are more fun) to earn good grades, a good job, and a good life later. That is a long-term view. Now scale it up — life on earth is roughly 80–100 years; the akhirah is forever. A smart person accepts a little discomfort now to secure eternal good.Just as someone serious about becoming a doctor takes biology and prepares deliberately, someone serious about Jannah does the actions that lead there. Saying you want Jannah while doing none of the work is only dreaming.The Marshmallow Test. In a well-known study, young children were left alone with one marshmallow and told that if they waited about 15 minutes without eating it, they'd get a second. Some ate immediately; some resisted and doubled their reward. Tracked into adulthood, many who couldn't wait struggled in life, while many who waited did well. The lesson: delayed gratification is a strong predictor of success. A Muslim, trained through prayer and charity to work now for reward later, should find this second nature.The king in the masjid (an illustrative story, chain unverified). A hooded king prayed Fajr with only a handful of people, then rewarded every person present with a free Hajj. The next morning the masjid overflowed — but the king wasn't there. The point: people chase instantreward. Prayer trains us for the opposite — to put in the work now and collect later.The word for “successful”: muflihunAllah calls these people al-muflihun, the successful — from the root falah. There are other words for success (fawz, fa'izin), but the same root also gives fallah, “farmer.” A farmer is the very picture of delayed gratification: plant, water, and protect the crop now; harvest much later. Placed right after prayer, charity, and belief in the akhirah, the choice of muflihun reminds us again: put in the work now, harvest it in the akhirah.Summary — Characteristics of the People of Taqwa* Belief in the unseen.* Establishing prayer.* Spending in charity from what Allah has given.* Belief in the Quran and in the previous scriptures.* Certainty in the akhirah.These are the people of guidance, and these are al-muflihun — the truly successful.Next week: a short continuation, then the second category of people. Come prepared to list the characteristics of the people of taqwa from memory. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.grounded.day/subscribe

The word Maranatha forms part of Paul's closing remarks to the Corinthians. It is an Aramaic word encouraging believers to remember that the Lord is really coming again. It is first of all a Word of Witness to His coming. Neither Pentecost, nor the death of the believer, some kind of spiritual coming fulfil the Lord's promises to come again. The word is also a Word of Challenge reminding us of the need to be ready. We find here a Word of Comfort for sick, sorrowing and suffering saints. Finally, it is a Word of Warning for those who are not prepared. Aligned to it is the Aramaic word Anathema, meaning "devoted to judgment." Here is the warning for those who do not love Him, or are not rightly related to Him. What will Christ's coming mean for you?

In this profound conversation, Dr. Timothy Hayes sits down with Dale Allen Hoffman to explore Ancient Aramaic Wisdom and its transformative power for modern mental and spiritual healing. As an Ancient Aramaic Wisdom Keeper, mystic, and author of Echoes of an Ancient Dream: Aramaic Toning on the Path of Light, Hoffman reveals long-suppressed secrets that transcend modern religious dogma. The discussion uncovers how ancient vocal toning and indigenous linguistic translation restore deep inner resonance and nervous system balance. Hoffman shares his personal journey of building the One Breath of Life community portal to break free from manipulative social media algorithms and corporate digital noise. Listeners learn practical ways to strip away conditioned guilt and fear while reconnecting with the original, experiential roots of ancient spiritual traditions. This illuminating episode provides a peaceful, grounded pathway for anyone seeking true emotional restoration beyond conventional frameworks.Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share!Here's How »Join the On Your Mind Community today:journeysdream.orgTwitterInstagramFacebookYouTube

Who is St. Peter: faithful disciple, flawed human being, first pope, symbol of the Church, or somehow all of the above? Fr. Peter Walsh welcomes Msgr. Rob Kinnally of St. Aloysius Catholic Church for an ecumenical conversation about one of the New Testament's most famous and contested passages. Together they explore Peter's confession, the meaning of “the rock,” how faith grows and changes, and what Catholics and Anglicans might learn from one another about authority, tradition, and the Church. And beneath it all is the question Jesus still asks: “Who do you say that I am?”Questions for ReflectionThemes & ApplicationMsgr. Rob describes Peter as the “quintessential knucklehead,” someone capable of profound faith and profound failure. What might Peter teach us about being a disciple without having everything figured out? What does Jesus mean when he gives Peter the authority to “bind and loose”? Who should have the authority to interpret Scripture for the Church today?Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions understand Peter and church authority differently. What can Christians learn from one another without pretending those differences don't matter?Personal Reflection QuestionsIf Jesus asked you today, “Who do you say that I am?”, what would your answer be?Where do you recognize yourself in Peter: conviction, doubt, impulsiveness, courage, fear, growth, or something else?Have disagreements within Christianity ever made faith more difficult for you? Have relationships with Christians from other traditions ever strengthened it?Broader Spiritual ConsiderationsIf Peter can proclaim Jesus as Messiah and later deny knowing him, what does that suggest about the relationship between belief and discipleship?Is “the rock” Peter himself, Peter's confession, Christ, or some combination of these? What changes depending on how we answer?Peter suggests that Christian division itself has become a barrier to belief. What responsibility do churches have to make Christian unity visible to the wider world? References & ResourcesVocabularyChristology: The study of who Jesus Christ is, particularly questions about his identity, humanity, divinity, and saving significance. Ecclesiology: The theological study of the Church: what the Church is, where its authority comes from, and how it should be structured and governed.Petros / Petra (Πέτρος / πέτρα): Greek words behind Matthew's wordplay, “You are Peter (Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church.”Cephas / Kepha (כיפא / Kēphas): The Aramaic name meaning “rock” associated with Peter. Msgr. Rob raises the Aramaic background as important because the distinction between Petros and petra found in Greek does not work in quite the same way in Aramaic. Magisterium: From Latin magister, “teacher.” In Roman Catholic theology, the Church's teaching authority, exercised particularly through the pope and bishops. Msgr. Rob connects it with Scripture, tradition, and the continuing guidance of the Holy Spirit.Books & TheologiansAvery Dulles, Models of the ChurchAvery Dulles, Models of RevelationEvelyn Underhill, Mysticism: A Study in the Nature and Development of Spiritual ConsciousnessKathryn Tanner, Christ the KeyMemorable Moments“Pope Francis adds feast of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus to Church calendar” (Read more)“Common Declaration by Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby” (Read more)Learn more about St. Mark's at https://www.stmarksnewcanaan.org

This is the climax of the summer's Matthew arc. Everything since Trinity has been building toward Peter's answer to the question Jesus finally asks him directly: “Who do you say that I am?” Today Peter answers, and the answer shapes everything that follows.* Track One begins Exodus — the birth of Moses, protected by an unlikely coalition of women who defy Pharaoh's murderous order. Psalm 124 sings the deliverance from the other side. * Track Two brings us Isaiah's call to remember the rock from which we were hewn, paired with Psalm 138's personal thanksgiving. * The Epistle turns an important corner: after eleven chapters of theological argument, Paul opens Romans 12 with “therefore” — the practical application begins. Present your bodies. One body, many members. Different gifts, all needed.For preachers continuing a series: this is the destination. The confession is what the summer has been building toward. Next week the Gospel will turn — Peter will be corrected, the way of the cross will be named — but this week we stop and let the confession stand.The ReadingsExodus 1:8–2:10First Reading (Track One) — The Midwives and the Birth of MosesSummaryA new king arises in Egypt who does not know Joseph. Threatened by the growing number of Hebrews, he enslaves them and orders the Hebrew midwives to kill every male child at birth. But the midwives — Shiphrah and Puah, named by the text against Pharaoh's namelessness — refuse. When Pharaoh escalates and orders all male children thrown into the Nile, three more women defy him: Moses's mother, who hides him and then places him in a basket on the river; his sister, who watches from the reeds; and Pharaoh's own daughter, who finds the baby and takes him as her own. Deliverance begins through the courage of women.Key Ideas for Preaching* The story of Israel's deliverance begins with women whose defiance no one wrote down until much later. An unlikely coalition forms across ethnic and class lines. Where in your congregation might God's deliverance be already beginning through people whose work no one has yet noticed?* Shiphrah and Puah are named by the text. Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the story, is not. The narrator has decided who matters. What might it mean for your congregation to notice whose names Scripture chooses to lift up?* The midwives lie — or, dissemble at the very least — to Pharaoh, and the text approves — God deals well with them. Where in your congregation has an obedience to institutional authority been quietly mistaken for faithfulness, when a deeper faithfulness would have refused?Significant Cautions* Do not idealize any of the characters. The midwives are ordinary working women doing what they can. Pharaoh's daughter defies her father but does not free the Hebrews. Their courage is real and it is also partial.* The civil disobedience reading of this text is available, but should not be pressed into any particular contemporary political program.* Say the names — Shiphrah and Puah — from the pulpit when you can. Pharaoh's namelessness is part of the text's judgment on him.Psalm 124The Psalm (Track One) — If It Had Not Been the LordSummaryA psalm of thanksgiving for deliverance, sung from the safe side. If it had not been the Lord who was on our side when enemies rose against us, when the waters would have swept us away, we would have been overwhelmed. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.Key Ideas for Preaching* The psalm is written in retrospect — thanksgiving from safety, not desperate pleading in the moment. What might it look like for your congregation to make a practice of naming past deliverances honestly, so that hope in future ones is grounded in something remembered?* Paired with today's Exodus reading, the psalm reads like a song sung generations after the midwives did their quiet work in a birthing room. What began as unnoticed courage becomes a whole people singing.Significant Cautions* Be careful not to preach this in a way that identifies contemporary political opponents as the “enemies” God delivers us from. The psalm is looking back at Egypt, not writing policy for today.Isaiah 51:1–6First Reading (Track Two) — Look to the RockSummaryA word of comfort to God's people in exile. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, the quarry from which you were dug — remember Abraham and Sarah, from whom your whole people came. God is bringing comfort to Zion, making her wilderness like Eden. Instruction will go out; justice will be a light to the peoples. The heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth wear out like a garment, but God's salvation will endure forever.Key Ideas for Preaching* The prophet asks the people to remember. Look to the rock. Remember Abraham and Sarah. Where in your congregation has the loss of memory made the current moment feel more precarious than it should?* The pairing of “the heavens will vanish like smoke” with “my salvation will be forever” is a striking piece of realism about what lasts. Where has your congregation been placing lasting trust in what will not last?* Paired with the Gospel, this text sets up the wordplay Jesus will use with Peter — “on this rock.” Isaiah's rock is Abraham and Sarah; Matthew's rock is Peter's confession. Both texts are asking about the ground beneath our feet.Significant Cautions* The imagery of Zion's restoration is specific to Israel's exile. Do not press it into a program for any modern nation.* “Look to the rock from which you were hewn” is an invitation to remember, not a mandate to romanticize the past.Psalm 138The Psalm (Track Two) — Do Not Forsake the Work of Your HandsSummaryA psalm of personal thanksgiving that expands to a global vision. The psalmist gives thanks with his whole heart and praises God's steadfast love. All the kings of the earth will one day praise God. The closing line is a prayer that God will not forsake the work of God's hands.Key Ideas for Preaching* “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me… do not forsake the work of your hands.” That is one of the most reassuring sentences in the Psalter — a prayer that trusts God is not done. Where in your congregation are people who need to hear that they are still the work of God's hands?* The psalm begins with a personal thanksgiving and ends with all the kings of the earth. What might your sermon do with a psalm whose horizon widens that quickly?Significant Cautions* “All the kings of the earth” praising God should not be read as a program for religious empire. It is a prayer for a widening praise, not a mandate.Romans 12:1–8The Epistle — A Living Sacrifice; One Body, Many MembersSummaryAfter eleven chapters of theological argument, Paul turns a corner. “I appeal to you, therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Paul then turns to community life: think of yourselves with sober judgment. We are one body with many members, and no member is complete without the others. Different gifts have been given — prophecy, ministry, teaching, encouragement, giving, leading, showing mercy — and each should be exercised in the measure of faith God has given.Key Ideas for Preaching* “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice” is one of the strangest images in Paul. Sacrifices in the ancient world were dead. Living sacrifices are not a category. Paul is describing a whole life, offered without being consumed. What does it look like to preach whole-life offering in a culture that keeps splitting body from soul, work from worship?* Paul opens the practical section with an appeal for humility — think of yourself with sober judgment, not more highly than you ought. This is his first instruction for community life. Where in your congregation might humble self-assessment be the missing precondition for everything else Paul goes on to ask?* The list of gifts is illustrative, not comprehensive. Some are visible (prophecy, teaching, leading). Others are quieter (ministry, showing mercy, giving with generosity). Where in your congregation have visible gifts been overvalued and quieter gifts overlooked?Significant Cautions* “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice” has been misused to justify Christians accepting abuse or unhealthy suffering. That is not what Paul is describing. Handle the language carefully in pastoral contexts where suffering is not chosen.* The gifts list has sometimes been made into a personality test. Paul is describing what happens in a healthy community, not offering a diagnostic for individuals.Matthew 16:13–20The Gospel — Peter's Confession at Caesarea PhilippiSummaryJesus takes his disciples to Caesarea Philippi — a city built by Herod's son at the base of Mount Hermon, next to a massive rock cave that was a shrine to the Greek god Pan, and named after Caesar. In this heavily symbolic place, Jesus asks two questions. First: who do people say that the Son of Man is? The disciples report the various answers — John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, one of the prophets. Then the sharper question: who do you say that I am? Peter answers: you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. Jesus blesses him — this insight, he says, has come from God, not from human reasoning. Then comes the famous wordplay: you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.* (see excursus below) Peter is given the keys of the kingdom. And the disciples are charged to tell no one that Jesus is the Messiah.Photo by Emile Guillemot on UnsplashKey Ideas for Preaching* The setting is not accidental. Caesarea Philippi was named after Caesar and built next to a shrine to Pan. When Jesus asks “who do you say that I am?” he is asking in the shadow of empire and of another religion's holy place. What does it mean for your congregation to make Peter's confession in the shadows of the powers of our own moment?* The other answers the disciples report — John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah — are good answers. Great prophets. Faithful witnesses. But they are not enough. Where might your congregation be settling for a good answer to who Jesus is when a deeper one is being offered?* Jesus tells Peter the confession did not come from “flesh and blood” — it was given to him by God. The confession is not a reward for Peter's cleverness; it is a gift from the Father. Where in your congregation has faith been imagined as something we work out, when the text describes it as something we receive?* Whatever your tradition makes of the Petros/petra wordplay, the fundamental picture is worth preaching: the church is built on a confession. Not on our cleverness, not on our numbers, not on our building, not on our institutional strength. On a confession. What would change if your congregation actually believed that?Significant Cautions* The Petros/petra wordplay has been the site of long controversy between Catholic and Protestant traditions. Both readings have real defenders; do not preach one as the only faithful option.* “The gates of Hades will not prevail” has been used triumphally in ways Jesus's own life will complicate — he is about to head to Jerusalem and be crucified. The victory the passage promises is not the kind that avoids the cross.* The command to tell no one has puzzled readers for centuries. This is the “messianic secret” that runs through Matthew and Mark, and scholars have not settled its meaning. Do not preach a confident theory as if it were obvious.An exursus on the text: I found the following brief commentary from You.com to be helpful in my deliberation of how much to make of the difference between Petros and petra:* The Petros/Πέτρος vs. Petra/πέτρα Contrast (Matthew 16:18)Lexical and Grammatical Background* Πέτρος (Petros): Masculine, used as Simon's new name, means “rock” or “stone.” In Koine Greek, it is not used generically for “small stone”—that would be λίθος (lithos)* πέτρα (petra): Feminine, means “bedrock,” “massive rock,” or “rock formation.” Used metaphorically for a strong foundation* Gender Accommodation: The distinction is primarily grammatical—πέτρα is feminine and unsuitable as a male name, so the masculine Πέτρος is used for SimonAramaic Background* Kepha (כֵּיפָא): In Aramaic, the same word is used for both Peter's name and “rock,” with no gender distinctionJesus likely spoke Aramaic, so the Greek distinction is a translation artifact, not a theological oneMatthew 16:13–20 is a foundational passage for Christian theology and ecclesiology. The Petros/petra wordplay, rooted in Aramaic and preserved in Greek, affirms Peter's foundational role without excluding the importance of his confession or the broader apostolic witness. The passage's other key terms—ἐκκλησία, πύλαι ᾅδου, κλεῖδες τῆς βασιλείας, δήσῃς/λύσῃς, Υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος—draw deeply from Jewish, Old Testament, and Greco-Roman backgrounds, establishing the church as a new, Christ-centered community with authority, resilience, and a confession rooted in divine revelation.Thematic ConnectionsThe Gospel is the climax of the summer's Matthew arc. Since Trinity we have been reading with Peter and the disciples — call, sending, warning, welcome, feeding, walking on water, encounter with the Canaanite woman — and today the question that has been building finally gets asked directly. Peter answers, and the answer shapes everything that follows.On Track One, the Exodus reading pairs with the Gospel in a specific way. Israel's deliverance begins with midwives whose courage no one recorded until later; the church, in the Gospel, is built on a confession made by a fisherman in the shadow of a pagan shrine. Both texts insist that the beginnings of God's great works often happen in unnoticed places, through unexpected people.On Track Two, Isaiah's “look to the rock from which you were hewn” and the Gospel's “on this rock” are worth reading side by side. Isaiah asks the people to remember Abraham and Sarah as their foundation. Jesus builds the church on the foundation of Peter's confession. Both texts are asking the same question in different tenses: what is the ground beneath your feet?Romans 12 sits inside the day as the “so what.” If Peter's confession is true, something has to change about how we live. Present your bodies. Think of yourselves with sober judgment. Use your gifts for the good of the whole body. Paul is describing what a community looks like when it takes Peter's confession seriously.For preachers finishing the summer series: this is the destination. Next week the Gospel will turn — Peter will be corrected, the way of the cross will be named — but this week we stop and let the confession stand. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lectionarypro.substack.com/subscribe

Thursday, 13 August 2026   Again, he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and fatted cattle are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the wedding.”' Matthew 22:4   “Again, he sent other servants, saying, ‘You say to those ‘having been called', “You behold, the ‘brunch, mine' I prepared, the ‘oxen, mine' and the fatted have been sacrificed, and all – readied. You come to the nuptials!”'” (CG)   In the previous verse, Jesus continued the parable of the wedding feast, saying that the servants were sent out to those who had been called, but that none were willing to come. He continues now, saying, “Again, he sent other servants, saying.”   The word allos is used. It signifies others of the same kind. They were different servants, but they possessed the same characteristics as the first. Their instructions begin with, “You say to those ‘having been called'.”   As in the previous verse, the perfect participle is used, indicating those of Israel. They had been called previously, and that calling continued until that day. When they go to these people, they are to say, “You behold, the ‘brunch, mine' I prepared.”   This is a new word, ariston. It will be seen a total of three times, once here and twice in Luke. Its meaning is debated. Strong says, “the best meal (or breakfast; perhaps from eri (‘early')), i.e. Luncheon -- dinner.” HELPS Word Studies says, “...(literally, ‘without boundary, designation') – properly, ‘undetermined,' referring to the meal eaten anytime before the main meal (i.e. ‘supper,').”   A word that will adequately convey any of the meanings is brunch. Along with that, they are to proclaim, “the ‘oxen, mine' and the fatted have been sacrificed.”   Three more new words are seen. The first is tauros, a bull or ox. This is probably etymologically connected to the Aramaic word tor, a bull. That, in turn, is connected to the Hebrew shor, a bullock. One can see the Greek root of Ford's Taraus model car, most of which have been turned into paper clips and razor blades at this point.   The second word is sitistos, a fatling. It is derived from sitos, grain. Thus, it is a grain-fed animal purposely raised for such feasts. This is its only use in the New Testament. The third new word is thuó, to kill as a sacrifice. HELPS Word Studies says, “...to kill as a sacrifice and offer on an altar. 2380 /thýō (‘sacrifice') means more than ‘kill' as it also suggests offering something as a spiritual sacrifice.” Along with these things, a note of urgency is given, “and all – readied.”   A final new word is seen, hetoimos, adjusted, ready, prepared, etc. It signifies that the necessary preparations are complete to meet an intended purpose. With that noted, imperative words of petition are laid forth, “You come to the nuptials!”   One can hear the plea, almost of desperation. “I have done everything for you to join me to share in this marvelous celebration. You gotta come, you just gotta!”   Life application: The words of Isaiah 65:2 come directly into focus –   “I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good.”   It is as if the Lord is standing there, pleading with the people with His arms and hands extended. This continued for generation after generation. When Jesus came, the appeal continued to be made. At some point, anyone would say, “This simply isn't working.”   This is a truth that has to be considered in the world at large. The Lord, through the gospel, has been pleading with the people of the world to come to Him. But there is one point to consider that cannot be overlooked. In the parable, God sent out servants.   This was once active. Jesus commissioned disciples and apostles to go out and spread the word. Now, though active in the sense that we are instructed in the word to send out the message (as in Romans 10), it is also something that is only hoped for in the sense that God doesn't come into our house and say, “Ok, John, you need to go to Papua New Guinea and share the gospel.”   Rather, He relies on us to accept that His word is directive in this manner and that we will comply with what it says. It doesn't take any effort to hand out a gospel tract, open your mouth at work to tell associates about your faith, or to live responsibly as a Christian, filled with the joy of the Lord, so that others will see and want to know about what you possess.   If you are a saved believer in Jesus, God desires to make His appeal to the people of the world through you. Are you willing to comply with His will? If not, you will stand before Him and give a reckoning of your life. There will be loss in such matters. Don't suffer loss. Be one who is rewarded richly for complying with the will of God by sharing your faith with others.   Lord God, help us in the duty we are called to perform in conveying the good news of Jesus to others. May we be diligent in our efforts, carefully and meticulously finding others who need to hear this good news. Help us in this, O God. Amen.  

Was the identification of Nero Caesar with 666 built on a convenient modern theory—or does first-century archaeology confirm the calculation?In this episode, Jay Rogers examines the Murabba'at papyrus, an ancient Aramaic commercial document that preserves the spelling Neron Kaisar, the exact form of Nero's name that produces 666 when calculated through Hebrew gematria.Rather than relying on speculation, this evidence comes directly from the world in which Revelation was written.Jay explores the archaeological discoveries from the Judean Desert, the significance of the 666 and 616 manuscript traditions, and why the spelling of Nero's imperial title matters for understanding the Beast of Revelation. He also addresses common objections and demonstrates how historical evidence strengthens the case that John's original audience would have immediately recognized the reference.If Revelation was written in the first century, the number 666 may not point to a distant future ruler at all—but to a persecuting emperor already known throughout the Roman world.

Was the identification of Nero Caesar with 666 built on a convenient modern theory—or does first-century archaeology confirm the calculation?In this episode, Jay Rogers examines the Murabba'at papyrus, an ancient Aramaic commercial document that preserves the spelling Neron Kaisar, the exact form of Nero's name that produces 666 when calculated through Hebrew gematria.Rather than relying on speculation, this evidence comes directly from the world in which Revelation was written.Jay explores the archaeological discoveries from the Judean Desert, the significance of the 666 and 616 manuscript traditions, and why the spelling of Nero's imperial title matters for understanding the Beast of Revelation. He also addresses common objections and demonstrates how historical evidence strengthens the case that John's original audience would have immediately recognized the reference.If Revelation was written in the first century, the number 666 may not point to a distant future ruler at all—but to a persecuting emperor already known throughout the Roman world.Watch all of our videos and subscribe to our channel for the latest content >HereHere

Was the identification of Nero Caesar with 666 built on a convenient modern theory—or does first-century archaeology confirm the calculation?In this episode, Jay Rogers examines the Murabba'at papyrus, an ancient Aramaic commercial document that preserves the spelling Neron Kaisar, the exact form of Nero's name that produces 666 when calculated through Hebrew gematria.Rather than relying on speculation, this evidence comes directly from the world in which Revelation was written.Jay explores the archaeological discoveries from the Judean Desert, the significance of the 666 and 616 manuscript traditions, and why the spelling of Nero's imperial title matters for understanding the Beast of Revelation. He also addresses common objections and demonstrates how historical evidence strengthens the case that John's original audience would have immediately recognized the reference.If Revelation was written in the first century, the number 666 may not point to a distant future ruler at all—but to a persecuting emperor already known throughout the Roman world.

Today’s Bible Verse: ““Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha).” - John 19:17 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: Reverend Jessica Van Roekel

Identity Politics: Who Are You? 4/8 Rev. Dr. Katie Hays Who is Cephas? “Cephas” is the Aramaic form of “Peter,” i.e. Jesus's most vocal and passionate disciple. Paul has caught Peter in blatant hypocrisy: keeping kosher when certain Jewish- Christian leaders are around, but freely noshing with Gentiles when they're not. Paul says you can't have it both ways. What does it mean to strive for integrity (integration, wholeness) in Christian identity? To tell us your thoughts on this sermon, click through to the web posting and leave us a comment. Or, find us on social media: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Or, email us the old-fashioned way: info@galileochurch.org. To contribute financially to the ongoing ministry of Galileo Church, find us on Venmo, Patreon, or Zelle (generosity@galileohurch.org), or just send a check to P.O. Box 668, Kennedale, TX 76060

The Time Traveler’s Quick Guide to Armageddon       Over the last several months, we have done some deep dives into the principalities and powers in high places, the beast kingdoms, and then more particularly, into the kings of the east, another category that intersects with the beast kingdoms, including the Persian bear.   In term of their proto-prophecies in the Torah, we’ve been all over the place because prophecy is cyclical, even though not identical, from generation to generation. When we read of events in the Psalms, Writings, Prophets, and New Testament, the writers expect us to already be familiar with those proto-prophecies.   It was important to establish the earmarks of the battles with the kings of the east in Torah because Adonai declares the end from the beginning. If we want to have the basic understanding of the sixth and seventh bowls of wrath in the end and how they lure in the nations to Armageddon (Har-Megiddo), then we familiarize ourselves with them at the beginning:   “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”)   And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.   Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.” And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.” (Re 16:12-18)   Har is “mountain,” and Megiddo is “a place of crowds,” so important in its military situation that it has been destroyed and built over numerous times. It overlooks the Jezreel Valley's flat, agriculturally fertile abundance as well as the road to the Western Sea, or Mediterranean, an excellent place to monitor the coastal trade route that connected continents from ancient times. John prophesies of a final crowd that will be drawn to this ancient hill in the ol’ breadbasket of Israel.   Rather than review some of the many points from our Heaven Shaking the Bear series, I will use them to augment some additional points in this newsletter. You can always go back and access the transcripts (thank you, volunteers!) or videos for little details, such as why even Canaanite kings are considered kings of the east. I'd rather add some new information for your handy time travel guide to Armageddon. We'll be half Marty McFly and half Indiana Jones on our hunt for clues to Armageddon.   Let's take a seat in our time machine, the Word, and travel back to our familiar story in Judges 4-5, the story of Deborah, Barak, and Sisera with his 900 iron chariots. A little clue is in Sisera's 900 chariots. It links the ancient with the future. Nine hundred years (plus some) is the typical age of the pre-flood notables from Adam to Noah. In human history, they are the ancients. It was an era marked by the rebellion of the “sons of Elohim” who provoked human beings to such a violence.   Sisera's chariots were iron, denoting the Roman beast kingdom that is mingled with clay in the feet of his image. In other words, something of Deborah's story will establish a template for understanding the final defeat of the Red One, who appears in Revelation as the chosen steed for the Great Harlot Babylon. The nine-hundred-year era of the days of Noah and its violence will link to the end time of Armageddon.   Every time I see the word “Babylonian,” my mind says, “babaloney.” Don't know why. But ick.   Okay, now let's power up the time machine. We need to visit Abraham's time during the battle for Sodom among the kings of the east, the Covenant Between the Pieces, and then visit Moses in the wilderness.   Ready? Push the Abraham button. It might say, Avram, but you'll recognize it. Here we go.   Wait, wait. First, tape a copy of Judges 4-5 and a map of Israel on your steering wheel. We'll need to compare what we see with the first battle of Armageddon that Deborah fought against Sisera to our past future locations.   Okay, here we come, Abrahamic period. We are landing among the four kings of the east, led by Amraphel (perhaps Nimrod), who marched through and defeated territories east of the Jordan. The five kings of the Sodom coalition have quit paying their taxes, so the four kings are on their way to collect plus interest.   Even though those cities of Sodom are situated mostly to the east of the Salt Sea, after the four kings first march and defeat cities east of the Jordan and in the highlands of Bashan, they are continuing as far as the Negev near Kadesh, En-Mishpat, and Hazazon-Tamar. By bypassing the Sodom coalition cities, the four kings are giving the five kings time to muster before the four kings turn back east and meet them near the Salt Sea in battle. Do you see this? Inexplicably, Sodom's five kings are falling into tar pits! Shouldn't they know about those tar pits? After all, this is their territory! How strange!   And there goes Lot and his family as captives. And there…someone escapes and runs to tell Abraham. Okay, we don't have to follow them up to Damascus. We know how this ends. Check your Judges 4-5 Scriptures and map. They're taped to your steering wheel, remember?   Something similar happened to Sisera's iron chariot. Like Pharaoh drove his chariots into the Reed Sea and there his chariot wheels became “confused,” so Sisera drove his chariots into the mud of the Kishon, which he should have known about because he was a Canaanite.   Although Pharaoh was not a “king of the east,” he is the dragon, and his authority was passed to them. This suggests that our soggy bottom boys are experiencing a Divine intervention, not just a human battle. Something flies in their brains, stings them, and causes confusion…perhaps the tzirah, the supernatural hornet of Moses and Joshua?   The tzirah went before the armies of Israel, and it helped Moses conquer on the east side of the Jordan and Joshua on the west side of the Jordan. It first causes confusion, and then it cuts off root and fruit. It is the supernatural bug described as being released from the King of Abaddon in Revelation.   Not so coincidentally, Deborah's name means “bee” in Hebrew, and “hornet” in Aramaic. The root of her name is “word,” as in Devarim, the fifth book of the Torah and perhaps the most apocalyptic since it is the little scroll of Torah. There was a reason Barak would not take his soldiers into battle without her; she represented the Divine power of the Word going before them!   How does Deborah know to tell Barak that he needs exactly 10,000 soldiers mustered from a place named “Kedesh”?   Deborah judged Israel under the “palm tree of Deborah.” A palm tree is a tamar:   “She used to sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the sons of Israel came up to her for judgment (mishpat ????????????).”   Can you see Deborah studying the scrolls of Torah? Those scrolls are rolling her right into the time of Avraham, and she sees the conquests of Moses and Joshua in the wilderness, such as Amalek. She recognizes the conquests of the four kings as having the same names that are in the hill country of Ephraim near Har-Megiddo: From Kadesh to Kedesh. From Hazazon-Tamar to the tamar providing her shade to read the scroll. From En-Mishpat to her job rendering mishpat for Israel.   We know Deborah has spent time scroll-rolling back to Abraham's time because she mentions something specific in her Judges Five song. The Song of Deborah mentions the courage of the tribe of Ephraim in the defeat of Sisera's chariots:   “From Ephraim, those whose root is in Amalek came down…”   If you need to, program in “Amalek in the Wilderness,” and travel there to see a bit of the battle. This “root in Amalek” is thought to refer to the wilderness battle under Moses in which the Ephraimite Joshua defeated Amalek. The tribe of Ephraim is rooted in its leadership in the victory in the wilderness in Israel's first encounter with Amalek.   Deborah knows Amalek is enticed to attack when its opponent looks weak, so that gives her a Divine strategy in enticing this king of the east Sisera to his Armageddon. Okay, now travel back to the battle between the four kings and the five kings. The four kings of the east also conquered Amalek before turning back to battle the five kings of Sodom.   While the battle continues, let's return to this question (you already know how that battle ends): How does Deborah know to tell Barak that he needs exactly 10,000 soldiers mustered from a place named “Kedesh”?   We've only partially answered it. And our answer is based on the battle between bad kings of the east vs worse kings of the east. We don't want to take this as the only source of Deborah's inspired strategy to lure Sisera to Har-Megiddo. Deborah is scrolling through the rolls of the Torah, and she must have some even better prophecies on which she bases her battle with Sisera. Let's leave these guys for Avraham to deal with and travel forward and back to Deborah's palm tree for more clues.   Yes, time travelers. Next week we'll go back to the future with Deborah and spend some more time with Avraham and Moses. There must be a connection between Deborah's forty years of peace in Israel and Moses' forty years in the wilderness. Deborah has the handy traveler's guide to help her map it all out. We'll see her secret of selecting 10,000, and we might even take a peek inside Yael's tent to find that she knew the Torah, and it guided her hand when she drove the tent peg into Sisera's head.   Oh, dear, oh dread. Sandals muddy like heavy lead. Some yogurt he was fed. Then he went to bed. Now Sisera is dead. A tent peg's in his head.   Okay, Deborah is better at composing songs than I am. I gave it a shot. Roll your time travel machines to Judges 4-5, and we'll see you next week.   Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.

Was the Gospel of Mark built on real eyewitness testimony—or is it just another religious legend? In this episode, cold‑case detective and Christian apologist J. Warner Wallace (you) walks through the historical and forensic evidence that Mark's Gospel is rooted in the firsthand experiences of the apostle Peter. You'll discover why early Christian writers called Mark "Peter's interpreter," how Mark's rough Greek, Aramaic quotes, and Roman details fit a live translation of Peter's preaching, and why Peter's fingerprints are visible all over the narrative. We'll examine ancient sources, internal stylistic clues, and the structure of Mark itself, arguing that this is not a distant, polished myth but a raw, early case report from someone in Jesus' inner circle. If you've ever wondered whether you can really trust the Gospels—or if skeptics in your life have raised those questions—this episode will give you solid reasons to treat Mark as powerful eyewitness evidence. If this conversation helps you, please subscribe so you don't miss future episodes, and rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and wherever you listen. Your reviews help more people discover the case for Christianity.

The ancient story of Ahiqar follows a legendary wise man and royal adviser at the court of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. After adopting his nephew Nadan and teaching him a long collection of proverbs, Ahiqar is betrayed, falsely accused of treason, condemned to death, and forced to hide beneath his own house. His eventual return leads to a strange contest of riddles with the Pharaoh of Egypt and a final confrontation with the student who rejected his wisdom.Preserved in an ancient Aramaic papyrus from Elephantine and in later Syriac, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Slavonic, and Ethiopic versions, the Tale of Ahiqar may be the oldest Mesopotamian story to survive beyond the disappearance of cuneiform culture. This episode explores the story's Assyrian background, its relationship to ancient Near Eastern wisdom literature, its memorable proverbs and insults, and the way traditional stories were used to form memory, judgment, and moral character.Topics include Ahiqar, Nadan, Sennacherib, ancient Assyria, Nineveh, Elephantine, Aramaic literature, Syriac literature, Mesopotamian wisdom, ancient proverbs, the Tale of Ahiqar, the Thousand and One Nights, ancient Egypt, Pharaoh, Assyrian court culture, and ancient Near Eastern storytelling.Music from the show: oldeststories.net/music (or search "Oldest Stories Music")Support the show:Books: https://a.co/d/7Wn4jhSDonate: oldeststories.netPatreon / YouTube members get bonus episodes: patreon.com/JamesBleckleyNo-AI readings of ancient texts: youtube.com/@osnightreading

I'm digging into something that's genuinely changed how I spend my free time: using AI to build the tool I've wished existed for decades, one that helps me read the world's great literature in its original language. I tell the story of a chance dinner with a Hertz Fellow who turned out to be a major figure at Anthropic, and how that connection eventually led me back to a project I'd tried and abandoned before, a computer-assisted reader for Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts. Six months ago, the AI models I tried couldn't get past writing a single working line of code. This time was different, and I walk through exactly what changed, what these models are actually good at, and where they still fall apart.I also get into the weeds a bit, sharing my process for getting better results out of these tools, why my public writing on Quora turns out to matter, and a wild multi-round debugging session with Gemini that kept insisting it had "finally" found all the bugs. I close with a personal aside into a physics insight I've been chasing since the 1970s, and how an AI helped me push it further, even if I lost most of the conversation to a very avoidable software glitch. Along the way I make my case for why AI right now is best thought of as a tireless, brilliant, but occasionally hallucinating army of interns, not a replacement for human judgment.In this episode you will learn:(00:00) How a chance dinner with a Hertz Fellow connected to Anthropic changed my skepticism about the current state of AI(03:37) Why I've always wished a computer could do the tedious lexical lookup work of reading Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Aramaic texts(06:35) What large language models actually are under the hood, and why they can "spout like an idiot" and "pontificate like a sage" with equal ease(08:57) The multi-round debugging saga where Gemini kept insisting it had found the last bug, and the last bug, and the last bug(11:48) What gets lost in translation, using the hidden joke behind Don Quixote's horse Rocinante as an example(14:43) Inside the Andrew Winkler Reading Room, from the Septuagint to Shakespeare, and why computers and humans make a great reading team(17:10) My feature requests for Google and Apple after losing valuable AI conversations to a silent clipboard failure(19:36) Why I think of AI right now as an army of knowledgeable but wisdom-less interns, and what that means for companies rushing to replace workers with it(22:01) The physics insight I've been sitting on since the 1970s, and how AI helped me extend it into the standard model(24:28) What was lost when my breakthrough AI conversation on unit-free physics vanished, and why I'm sharing the story anywayLet's connect!linktr.ee/drprandyRead, with computer assistance, the best literature the world has ever producedandrew-winkler-reading-room.overskill.appLove Quotient: Stop Dying of Thirst in an Ocean of Love Kickstarterhttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amwphd/love-quotient Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/03-0723db.mp3 Listen to Bible reading Through My Bible Yr 03 – July 23 Acts 26:1-18 Acts 26 1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2 “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am going to make my defense before you today concerning all the things about which I am being accused by the Jews, 3 especially because you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently. 4 “All the Jews know the way I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5 They have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest party of our religion. 6 “And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7 the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. I am being accused by the Jews concerning this hope, O King. 8 Why does it seem unbelievable to any of you that God raises the dead? 9 “I too was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. 10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. After receiving authority from the chief priests, I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11 I often tried to make them blaspheme by punishing them throughout all the synagogues. Because I was so insanely angry with them, I even pursued them to foreign cities. 12 “That is how I came to be traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13 At noon along the road, O King, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. 14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, [1] ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.' [2] 15 “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?' “The Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16 Now get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen [3] and to the things I will reveal to you. 17 I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. 18 You are to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.' Footnotes Acts 26:14 Or Aramaic. The Greek word is Hebrew but likely refers to the Aramaic dialect spoken by the Jews at that time and place. Acts 26:14 Goads are pointed sticks used to urge or direct an animal. To kick against the goads means to resist stubbornly. Acts 26:16 A few witnesses to the text add of me. The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.

In this episode of the Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe continues exploring the Gemara in Tractate Ketubot, uncovering profound lessons about charity, human dignity, empathy, and trust in Hashem. Building on the previous discussion of anonymous giving, the Gemara recounts the generosity of Mar Ukva, who quietly supported a poor neighbor every year before Yom Kippur. When his son observed the recipient enjoying expensive aged wine, Mar Ukva's response was startling: rather than reducing his gift, he doubled it. Rabbi Wolbe explains that true tzedakah is not merely about meeting a person's minimum needs, but about understanding the life they once lived and the emotional pain caused by losing it. The Torah commands us not only to give, but to deeply appreciate another person's unique circumstances and preserve their dignity. The Gemara then examines the extraordinary generosity of Mar Ukva at the end of his life, when he reviewed his charitable giving and concluded that he had not done enough. Rabbi Wolbe uses this discussion to distinguish between ma'aser (tithing)—the portion of one's income entrusted to us by Hashem for distribution—and voluntary charity beyond the tithe. Through practical examples and inspiring stories, he illustrates that generosity is measured not by the absolute amount given, but by the proportion of one's means and the sincerity of one's heart. The episode also explores the halachic balance between giving generously and maintaining responsibility for one's own family's financial well-being. Rabbi Wolbe concludes with moving personal stories that demonstrate the incredible power of bitachon (trust in Hashem) and faithful tzedakah. He recounts the story of a struggling sofer who committed to giving twenty percent of his income despite having almost nothing, only to witness immediate and life-changing Divine blessing. He also shares remarkable experiences of donors whose acts of generosity were met with extraordinary providence. The overarching message is timeless: we often believe that holding onto money creates security, but the Torah teaches the opposite. Hashem entrusts resources to those who faithfully become channels of blessing for others. When we loosen our grip and allow Hashem to guide our generosity, we discover that true wealth is measured not by what we keep, but by what we faithfully give._____________The Thinking Talmudist Podcast shares select teachings of Talmud in a fresh, insightful and meaningful way. Many claim that they cannot learn Talmud because it is in ancient Aramaic or the concepts are too difficult. Well, no more excuses. In this podcast you will experience the refreshing and eye-opening teachings while gaining an amazing appreciation for the divine wisdom of the Torah and the depths of the Talmud._____________This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by David & Susan MarbinRecorded at TORCH Meyerland in the Levin Family Studios (B) to a live audience on May 15, 2026, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on June 30, 2026_____________Listen, Subscribe & Share: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinking-talmudist-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1648951154Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cZ7q9bGYSBYSPQfJvwgzmShare your questions at aw@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content._____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback, please email: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Help us share Jewish wisdom globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org. Your support makes a difference!_____________Listen MoreOther podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Hey Rabbi! Podcast: https://heyrabbi.transistor.fm/episodesPrayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#Talmud,  #Gemara, #Kesubos, #Rainmaker, #Faith, #Emunah, #Honesty, #JewishWisdom, #Tzedakah, #Charity, #HumanDignity ★ Support this podcast ★

In this episode of the Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe continues exploring the Gemara in Tractate Ketubot, uncovering profound lessons about charity, human dignity, empathy, and trust in Hashem. Building on the previous discussion of anonymous giving, the Gemara recounts the generosity of Mar Ukva, who quietly supported a poor neighbor every year before Yom Kippur. When his son observed the recipient enjoying expensive aged wine, Mar Ukva's response was startling: rather than reducing his gift, he doubled it. Rabbi Wolbe explains that true tzedakah is not merely about meeting a person's minimum needs, but about understanding the life they once lived and the emotional pain caused by losing it. The Torah commands us not only to give, but to deeply appreciate another person's unique circumstances and preserve their dignity. The Gemara then examines the extraordinary generosity of Mar Ukva at the end of his life, when he reviewed his charitable giving and concluded that he had not done enough. Rabbi Wolbe uses this discussion to distinguish between ma'aser (tithing)—the portion of one's income entrusted to us by Hashem for distribution—and voluntary charity beyond the tithe. Through practical examples and inspiring stories, he illustrates that generosity is measured not by the absolute amount given, but by the proportion of one's means and the sincerity of one's heart. The episode also explores the halachic balance between giving generously and maintaining responsibility for one's own family's financial well-being. Rabbi Wolbe concludes with moving personal stories that demonstrate the incredible power of bitachon (trust in Hashem) and faithful tzedakah. He recounts the story of a struggling sofer who committed to giving twenty percent of his income despite having almost nothing, only to witness immediate and life-changing Divine blessing. He also shares remarkable experiences of donors whose acts of generosity were met with extraordinary providence. The overarching message is timeless: we often believe that holding onto money creates security, but the Torah teaches the opposite. Hashem entrusts resources to those who faithfully become channels of blessing for others. When we loosen our grip and allow Hashem to guide our generosity, we discover that true wealth is measured not by what we keep, but by what we faithfully give._____________The Thinking Talmudist Podcast shares select teachings of Talmud in a fresh, insightful and meaningful way. Many claim that they cannot learn Talmud because it is in ancient Aramaic or the concepts are too difficult. Well, no more excuses. In this podcast you will experience the refreshing and eye-opening teachings while gaining an amazing appreciation for the divine wisdom of the Torah and the depths of the Talmud._____________This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by David & Susan MarbinRecorded at TORCH Meyerland in the Levin Family Studios (B) to a live audience on May 15, 2026, in Houston, Texas.Released as Podcast on June 30, 2026_____________Listen, Subscribe & Share: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinking-talmudist-podcast-rabbi-aryeh-wolbe/id1648951154Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cZ7q9bGYSBYSPQfJvwgzmShare your questions at aw@torchweb.org or visit torchweb.org for more Torah content._____________About the Host:Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH in Houston, brings decades of Torah scholarship to guide listeners in applying Jewish wisdom to daily life.  To directly send your questions, comments, and feedback, please email: awolbe@torchweb.org_____________Support Our Mission:Help us share Jewish wisdom globally by sponsoring an episode at torchweb.org. Your support makes a difference!_____________Listen MoreOther podcasts by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe: NEW!! Hey Rabbi! Podcast: https://heyrabbi.transistor.fm/episodesPrayer Podcast: https://prayerpodcast.transistor.fm/episodesJewish Inspiration Podcast: https://inspiration.transistor.fm/episodesParsha Review Podcast: https://parsha.transistor.fm/episodesLiving Jewishly Podcast: https://jewishly.transistor.fm/episodesThinking Talmudist Podcast: https://talmud.transistor.fm/episodesUnboxing Judaism Podcast: https://unboxing.transistor.fm/episodesRabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection: https://collection.transistor.fm/episodesFor a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at http://podcast.torchweb.org_____________Keywords:#Talmud,  #Gemara, #Kesubos, #Rainmaker, #Faith, #Emunah, #Honesty, #JewishWisdom, #Tzedakah, #Charity, #HumanDignity ★ Support this podcast ★

Dave Brisbin 7.19.26 A contemporary theologian and semiotician—how meaning is communicated—saw that our youngest generations process information differently than older Westerners in the modern era. He called it EPIC: experiential, participatory, image-based, and communal. Pretty much the exact opposite of our modern method: propositional, representational, word-based, individualistic. We propose abstract concepts rather than experience a process; passively receive information rather than participate in an exchange; view the world through words as an individual rather than images within community. The hallmark of the modern West is to remain intellectually detached, observing life and attempting control from a safe distance. But the youngest among us jump right in, experiencing and participating in a communal world awash in image. Absorbing this decades ago, the light went on when I realized that ancient cultures, especially the Hebrews who wrote our scriptures, were EPIC too. Here we are, modern Westerners, reading ancient EPIC texts in a diametrically opposed, non-EPIC way. Explains a lot. Jesus called himself the Way. Not as propositional truth to use as a litmus test for orthodoxy, but as the invitation to participate and experience relational truth that could promise liberation no other way. Jesus' earliest followers called themselves Followers of the Way. Not followers of Jesus in a representational, passive attempt to ride his coattails, but in the discipline of living lovingly in community. The Way, urha in Aramaic, means not just the path, but the light that reveals the path and opens possibility. When we view Jesus' sayings of way, truth, life; ask, seek, knock; the five lines of the Lord's prayer through an EPIC lens, they become sequences in a process of participatory experience, not words agreed upon for personal salvation. We want to see the path that leads us to God. But when Jesus says the only Way to God is through him-as-Way, he is EPICly saying an unseen God can only be found on an unseen path…experienced in participation with each step, conveyed through image, and realized in identity with community.

Dave Brisbin 7.19.26 A contemporary theologian and semiotician—how meaning is communicated—saw that our youngest generations process information differently than older Westerners in the modern era. He called it EPIC: experiential, participatory, image-based, and communal. Pretty much the exact opposite of our modern method: propositional, representational, word-based, individualistic. We propose abstract concepts rather than experience a process; passively receive information rather than participate in an exchange; view the world through words as an individual rather than images within community. The hallmark of the modern West is to remain intellectually detached, observing life and attempting control from a safe distance. But the youngest among us jump right in, experiencing and participating in a communal world awash in image. Absorbing this decades ago, the light went on when I realized that ancient cultures, especially the Hebrews who wrote our scriptures, were EPIC too. Here we are, modern Westerners, reading ancient EPIC texts in a diametrically opposed, non-EPIC way. Explains a lot. Jesus called himself the Way. Not as propositional truth to use as a litmus test for orthodoxy, but as the invitation to participate and experience relational truth that could promise liberation no other way. Jesus' earliest followers called themselves Followers of the Way. Not followers of Jesus in a representational, passive attempt to ride his coattails, but in the discipline of living lovingly in community. The Way, urha in Aramaic, means not just the path, but the light that reveals the path and opens possibility. When we view Jesus' sayings of way, truth, life; ask, seek, knock; the five lines of the Lord's prayer through an EPIC lens, they become sequences in a process of participatory experience, not words agreed upon for personal salvation. We want to see the path that leads us to God. But when Jesus says the only Way to God is through him-as-Way, he is EPICly saying an unseen God can only be found on an unseen path…experienced in participation with each step, conveyed through image, and realized in identity with community.

In this episode, host Elizabeth Pittman sits down with Dr. Andrew E. Steinmann to discuss his latest book, co-authored with Rev. Dr. R. Reed Lessing, Wrestling with God: Understanding Difficult Old Testament Passages. Andrew makes the case for why the Old Testament is indispensable to the Christian faith, and walks through some of Scripture's most perplexing passages — from the mysteries of Job to the hidden hand of God in Esther.Episode Timestamps0:00 — Introduction & Welcoming Dr. Andrew Steinmann Back1:52 — Why We Shouldn't Skip the Old Testament4:00 — Wrestling with Perplexing Passages in Job7:00 — Proverbs 8 and Christ's Role in Creation8:00 — Understanding How Numbers Are Used in the Old Testament12:00 — Where Is God in Ruth, Esther, and Song of Songs?17:00 — Coincidence or Providence? God Behind the Scenes in Esther19:00 — Discovering the Trinity Throughout the Old Testament23:00 — The Aaronic Benediction and the Three Persons of God25:00 — Advice for Those Struggling with Difficult Passages27:00 — The Writing Partnership Behind Wrestling with God29:00 — ClosingAbout the GuestDr. Andrew Steinmann taught at Concordia University Chicago as a Distinguished Professor of Theology and Hebrew beginning in 2000 until retiring in July of 2023. At Concordia, he taught a wide variety of classes, including Hebrew I and II, Hebrew Readings, Readings in Hebrew, and Introduction to the Old Testament. His research interests are focused on Hebrew, Aramaic languages, apocalyptic literature, wisdom literature, and biblical chronology. Throughout his career, Dr. Steinmann has written over 50 articles and book reviews that have been published in national and international journals. He serves as a regular guest on numerous radio programs. Dr. Steinmann holds the following degrees: PhD, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; MDiv, Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana; BSChE, chemical engineering, University of Cincinnati. Dr. Steinmann is married to Rebecca. Resources MentionedWrestling with God: Understanding Difficult Old Testament Passages by Rev. Dr. R. Reed Lessing and Dr. Andrew E. Steinmann — cph.orgConcordia Publishing House: Bringing you God's enduring Word in a changing world.

In what languages was the Bible written? Was the Bible originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek?

“Can I attend an SSPX Mass?” This question opens a discussion on the complexities of attending Mass at an SSPX chapel, alongside inquiries about the significance of the altar’s elevation, the implications of not attending Sunday Mass, and the historical context of Latin Mass celebrations. The episode addresses various aspects of Catholic worship and practice. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 01:40 – Can I go to Mass at an SSPX chapel? 11:29 – Why is the altar elevated and the people in the pews tend to sit lower? Does that mean the people are lower than the priest? 16:32 – What can be done where all churches would have the option to celebrate the Latin Mass? Was Summorum Pontificum retracted? 21:07 – Can you explain why it’s a mortal sin not to attend Sunday Mass? 29:04 – Are we supposed to make the sign of the cross after praying the confiteor? 32:24 – During Covid, Masses were shut down. Was this something historical where the mass was shut down? 35:05 – I'm a new Catholic. Should we be raising our hands during the Our Father? 38:55 – How is it called a Traditional Latin Mass if it started in Aramaic and Greek? 44:14 – Can you receive communion with venial sin on your soul? What if you receive communion without realizing you had committed a mortal sin? 47:55 – What if one can't find a Latin mass outside of SSPX? Where should they go? 51:30 – I believe the hand holding during Our Father did not start as imitating the priest but became natural after a retreat.

"If God has placed an immigrant group in your community, we have the opportunity to reach out and share the lovely gifts that God has given us," said Rev Jeff Thormodson, the executive director of the Lutheran Society of Missiology. "The Ethnic Immigrant Institute of Theology raises up leaders who speak Congolese, Aramaic, Telugu. It's a wonderful opportunity to make disciples of all nations." Learn more about how the Lord is raising up leaders in his church through Concordia Seminary, St. Louis!

We have built some real momentum in the readings for this first half of summer. Of course, you may have a congregation that is in a week, out a week — or, if you have lots of snowbirds, either your sanctuary feels more full or more empty. But the texts march on, and so do we!This is the second Sunday inside Matthew's parables chapter. Last week the Parable of the Sower opened the section; this week we get the Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. Both parables share an image of a field, a sower, and a problem — but they ask different questions. The Sower asks what happens to the word once it has been scattered. The Wheat and the Weeds asks how to live in a field where good and bad are mixed and indistinguishable, and what to do when the impulse rises to sort it out ourselves.Image courtesy of Sickle of Truth: A Bible Student BlogThe Old Testament tracks both lead toward the Gospel in different ways. * Track One follows Jacob deeper into Genesis — to the famous dream at Bethel, where Jacob, fleeing his brother's anger, lays his head on a stone and sees a ladder reaching to heaven. Psalm 139 pairs with that scene by insisting there is no place where God's presence does not reach. * Track Two offers a choice between Wisdom of Solomon's meditation on the lenient sovereignty of God and Isaiah's short, sharp declaration of God's uniqueness; both are paired with Psalm 86, including its prayer for an undivided heart. * The Epistle continues the long climb through Romans 8 — today's portion includes some of Paul's most stirring language about being children of God, the groaning of creation, and the patience of hope.A note for preachers following a series: this Sunday continues the new arc of parables. The Sower (last week), the Wheat and the Weeds (today), and in coming weeks the Mustard Seed, the Yeast, the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl, and the Net — these images are the way Jesus has chosen to talk about the kingdom of heaven. Our job as preachers, increasingly, is to slow down enough to let the images do their work.The ReadingsGenesis 28:10–19aFirst Reading (Track One) — Jacob's Dream at BethelSummaryJacob is on the run. He has just cheated his brother Esau out of their father's blessing, and Esau has vowed to kill him. Rebekah has sent him toward her brother's house in Haran, ostensibly to find a wife but really to keep him alive. The selected verses pick him up somewhere on the road, alone, in an unnamed place at sundown. He takes a stone, puts it under his head, and lies down. And he dreams: a ladder, or stairway, with its foot on the ground and its top reaching up into the heavens, and the angels of God going up and down on it. God stands beside him — or above the ladder — and renews the covenant once given to Abraham: this land, descendants beyond counting, blessing for all the families of the earth. And then the line on which the whole scene turns: I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. Jacob wakes, and the first words out of his mouth are: Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it. He is afraid. He calls the place awesome. He sets up the stone as a pillar, pours oil on it, and names the place Bethel — house of God.Key Ideas for Preaching* Jacob is fleeing the consequences of his own deception. The grace God gives him in this dream is given to a manipulator on the run. Where in your congregation are people quietly assuming that God's presence is reserved for those who have their lives sorted out, and how might Jacob's story interrupt that?* “Surely the Lord is in this place — and I did not know it.” That is one of the most honest lines in Genesis. Jacob discovers that God has been somewhere he did not expect, and he himself was the last to notice. Where in your people's lives might God have been present in a place they did not credit, and what would it look like to wake up to it now?* The ladder is set up on the earth. The traffic on it is two-way — angels ascending and descending. Heaven and earth are connected, and the connection runs in both directions. How might this image steady a congregation that imagines God as remote, or imagines spiritual life as something we have to climb up to?* The promise God speaks to Jacob is mostly about presence: I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. Not just here at this holy site, but on the road. What might it mean for your people that the God of Bethel is the same God of every uncomfortable, unconsecrated place their lives will take them?Significant Cautions* Do not romanticize Jacob into a hero of the dream. He is, at this point in Genesis, a deceiver running from his consequences. The point of the scene is not Jacob's virtue but God's grace toward someone who has not earned it.* “House of God” language can be too quickly applied to a church building. The place Jacob names Bethel is a piece of open ground with a stone in it. The text is not really endorsing sacred architecture; it is naming places where God surprises us.* The promise that Jacob's offspring will inherit the land has had a long and painful history of being used to justify the taking of land from other people. If you touch this part of the text, handle it carefully and avoid reading the ancient promise as a blanket endorsement of any modern claim.Psalm 139:1–12, 23–24The Psalm (Track One) — You Have Searched Me and Known MeSummaryOne of the most intimate and personal psalms in the Bible. The opening verses celebrate God's deep knowledge of the psalmist — sitting down and rising up, the thoughts before they are spoken, the path before it is taken. The middle section asks the question Jacob might have asked: where can I go from your presence? The answer is: nowhere. Not heaven, not Sheol, not the wings of the morning, not the deepest sea, not the darkness. Even the darkness is not dark to God; the night is as bright as the day. The lectionary skips the harder middle verses and picks up at the closing: search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my thoughts; see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.Key Ideas for Preaching* This psalm reads like a meditation on Jacob's realization — surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. The psalm extends that to every place. Where in your congregation might people need to hear that there is no place outside God's attention, and what does that mean for the places they are quietly afraid to go?* “Even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day.” That is one of the most beautiful sentences in the psalms. How might your sermon let your people feel the kindness of that line — not God's surveillance, but God's presence in the very darkness they have been hiding in?* The closing prayer asks God to search the psalmist — not to judge but to lead. That is a remarkable posture. Where in your people's lives might openness to being known by God be more freeing than the long work of self-management?Significant Cautions* God's constant knowing can feel like surveillance, especially to people who have lived under abusive or controlling authorities. Be gentle with this language. The God of Psalm 139 holds us, not watches us.* The omitted middle verses (19–22) contain harsh language about hating God's enemies. The lectionary leaves these out for good reason. If you reach for them, handle them with care.Wisdom of Solomon 12:13, 16–19First Reading (Track Two, primary option) — You Are Lord of AllSummaryFrom the book of Wisdom, part of the Apocrypha (or deuterocanonical books, depending on tradition). The selected verses celebrate God's universal sovereignty and patient mercy. There is no other God beside this one, the text says, and this God's strength is the source of righteousness. Because God is sovereign over all, God can afford to be lenient — to spare all, to be patient with all, to leave room for repentance. And then the closing line that may be why the lectionary pairs this with today's Gospel: through such acts, God teaches the people that the righteous must be kind.Key Ideas for Preaching* The connection the text makes between God's sovereignty and God's mercy is striking. Because God is in total command, God can be patient. Cruelty and impatience are the marks of weakness, not strength. Where in your congregation has impatience been mistaken for moral seriousness, and what would it look like to learn the patience of the strong?* “The righteous must be kind.” That is, in five words, the ethical conclusion the text draws from God's character. Where in your congregation has righteousness been imagined as something other than kindness, and what might shift if these two were not allowed to come apart?Significant Cautions* Some traditions (most Protestant ones) do not consider Wisdom canonical. If your congregation's tradition uses Isaiah 44 instead, the next section of this guide covers it.* “The strong are merciful” can sometimes shade into a paternalism that treats mercy as something dispensed from on high. The text is reaching for something different — a mercy that flows from confidence, not condescension.Isaiah 44:6–8First Reading (Track Two, alternative option) — I Am the First and I Am the LastSummaryA short, sharp declaration of God's uniqueness. The Lord, the King of Israel, the Lord of hosts, declares: I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. Who is like me? Let them speak. Who can declare the things to come as I have done? Do not fear, do not be afraid. You are my witnesses. Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.Key Ideas for Preaching* “Do not fear, do not be afraid.” That phrase, echoing several Sundays back in Matthew 10, anchors this short text. The reason not to fear is the same: there is no rival power. What does it look like for your people to hear that the deepest threats they imagine have, in the end, no real competing authority?* “You are my witnesses.” That is a striking thing for God to say. It places God's people inside the testimony, not at the edge of it. Where in your congregation might the language of witness need to be recovered — not as performance, but as the kind of life that quietly testifies to what is true?Significant Cautions* “There is no other god” has sometimes been used in interreligious contexts in ways that flatten and demean other faiths. Isaiah is speaking inside a particular ancient struggle against idolatry, not handing the church a position paper on world religions.Psalm 86:11–17The Psalm (Track Two) — An Undivided HeartSummaryA continuation of the psalm we already heard a few weeks ago (Proper 7). The selected verses contain one of the most quoted lines from the psalms: teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. The psalmist gives thanks for God's steadfast love and deliverance, names the trouble he is in (the insolent and the ruthless are after his life), and pleads for help, for a sign of favor, for God's strength.Key Ideas for Preaching* “An undivided heart.” That is a request many of us would not dare to pray, because we know how divided our hearts are. The psalmist is honest about needing to be given a single-mindedness he does not yet have. Where in your congregation might the gift of an undivided heart be more needed than the discipline of trying to manufacture one?* The psalmist names that ruthless people are after his life — and then, in the same psalm, names God as merciful and gracious. Both things are true at the same time. The psalm does not pretend the threats are not real in order to praise God. How might your people learn to hold real danger and real praise in the same prayer?Significant Cautions* “Show me a sign of your favor, so that those who hate me may be put to shame” is honest prayer but easy to weaponize. Be careful preaching this verse in a way that gives moral cover to grudges your congregation is already nursing.Romans 8:12–25The Epistle — Children of God, Heirs with Christ, Creation GroaningSummaryPaul continues the unfolding of Romans 8. We are debtors not to the old way of living, he says, but to the Spirit. All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God — not slaves anymore, but adopted, with the right to call out, in the most intimate language Paul can find, Abba! Father! If we are children, we are heirs, joint heirs with Christ, sharing in his suffering and in his glory. The passage then opens out into one of the most cosmic visions in the New Testament. The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed. The creation itself waits, with eager longing, for the revealing of the children of God. The creation has been subjected to futility — not by its own choice — in hope. It groans. We groan with it. We who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for adoption and the redemption of our bodies. We were saved in hope, and hope that is seen is not hope. We wait, with patience, for what we do not yet see.Key Ideas for Preaching* Paul calls God by the name Jesus called him — Abba. That is the Aramaic word a child would have used, intimate, not formal. The Spirit makes us able to use that word too. What might it shift in your people's prayer life to hear that the language of intimacy with God is not reserved for spiritual experts?* Paul includes the whole creation in the work of redemption. The trees, the soil, the seas, the suffering creatures — they are not background scenery to the human drama. They are part of it. They groan; they wait. How might this widen your congregation's sense of what salvation includes?* “Hope that is seen is not hope.” Christian hope, by definition, is hope in something we cannot yet point to. We do not have it in hand; we wait for it. Where in your congregation has hope been collapsed into optimism, and how might Paul's patience steady it?* The passage holds together suffering and glory in a way that does not minimize either. Paul does not say the suffering is not real; he says it is not the final word. What does it look like for your congregation to grieve honestly and hope honestly in the same breath?Significant Cautions* “If we suffer with him” has sometimes been used to bless suffering that should be opposed. Paul is talking about the cost of belonging to Christ, not about staying in abusive relationships or harmful situations. Be careful here.* The adoption language has been used in ways that exclude or shame those for whom adoption is a complicated family experience. The word is theological here — about being made part of God's family by grace — but it lands on a particular set of human stories. Handle it with awareness.* “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory” can be heard cruelly by someone in real, present suffering. Paul is not minimizing their pain. He is naming an even larger reality. Say so.* The cosmic creation imagery (the whole creation groaning) has sometimes been used to bless any sentimental view of nature. Paul has something more specific in mind — a creation broken, in hope of being remade. Do not flatten this into pantheism or sentimentality.Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43The Gospel — The Wheat and the WeedsSummaryJesus tells another parable. The kingdom of heaven, he says, is like someone who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds in among the wheat, and went away. When the plants came up and bore grain, the weeds appeared as well. The servants come to the master, alarmed: did you not sow good seed? Where did these weeds come from? An enemy has done this, he answers. They offer to go and pull them up. The master refuses. No, he says — in pulling up the weeds, you would uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time, the reapers will sort them out. The lectionary then jumps to Jesus' private interpretation with his disciples. The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one; the enemy is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. The weeds will be gathered and burned. The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen.Key Ideas for Preaching* The weed in this parable is almost certainly darnel — a real plant that looks identical to wheat in the early stages of growth. You cannot tell them apart until the grain heads form. The master's refusal to let the servants pull up the weeds is not a moral instruction about tolerance; it is a botanical fact. They literally cannot tell. How might your sermon take that fact seriously and let it reshape the whole feel of the parable?* The servants in the parable are confident. They are sure they know which plants are weeds. The master, gently, refuses their confidence. Where in your congregation has confidence about who is in and who is out crept in, and what would it look like to take the master's caution seriously?* Jesus tells the disciples that the field is the world — not the church. That is worth saying out loud. The parable is not giving the church permission to be lenient about who belongs inside its life. It is talking about the much larger field of the world, where good and evil grow together, and where we are not the reapers. What does it look like for your congregation to know the difference between the church's discernment and the final judgment of the world?* The history of Christian attempts to pull up the weeds in advance is, frankly, awful. The church has identified the wrong people as weeds in every generation. Where in your congregation's past, or in your congregation's present, has someone been pulled up who was, in fact, wheat? How might honest naming help your people walk more humbly into the future?* The parable is not a call to moral passivity. The wheat still has to be tended. Injustice still has to be opposed. What the parable forbids is the human attempt to do the final sorting now. How might your sermon hold together active love for what is good and patient restraint from premature judgment?Significant Cautions* This parable has been used in some of the most damaging ways imaginable — to identify whole groups of people as “weeds”. Every Christian generation has done it, and every Christian generation has been at least partly wrong. Be especially careful with any application of this parable to actual people.* “The field is the world” means just that. The parable is not a license for the church to be lax about its own internal life. Paul and other New Testament writers have plenty to say about that. But the parable is talking about the larger field, where the final sort is not ours.* The interpretation in verses 36–43 is fierce — furnace, weeping, gnashing of teeth. Be careful with this language. It is in the text, but it is not the central point. The central point is the master's caution to the servants in the first half: let both grow together. The judgment language is the backdrop, not the foreground.* “Let anyone with ears listen” has been preached as a kind of warning. It is better heard as an invitation. The parable is doing slow, careful work; the listening it asks for is patient.* The parable can be misused in the opposite direction — as a license to ignore evil because the harvest is coming. It does not say that. It restrains us from premature sorting; it does not absolve us from active love and justice in the meantime.Thematic ConnectionsThe Gospel is the natural center for the day. The Parable of the Wheat and the Weeds is one of the most pastorally and politically important parables in Matthew, and the preacher who slows down with it will find that it has much to say to the moment in which most congregations are gathered — a moment in which the human impulse to sort people into wheat and weeds has rarely felt more intense.On Track One, Jacob's dream at Bethel pairs with the parable in a quiet but pointed way. Jacob is, by any honest measure, a weed in his family's field at this point in Genesis. He has cheated his brother and is running from the consequences. And God meets him with grace. The story is its own commentary on the parable: the people we would have written off as weeds turn out to be, in God's hands, wheat in the making. Psalm 139 widens the point: there is no place where God's knowing does not reach, no darkness God does not see clear through. The God who finds Jacob on the road is the same God who finds us in whatever country we have been hiding in.On Track Two, the connection runs through the question of who has the right to judge. Wisdom of Solomon names God as the sovereign whose strength expresses itself in patience. Isaiah names God as the one and only — with no real rivals to fear. Psalm 86 asks for the gift of an undivided heart. Together, these texts ease the listener into the Gospel's harder claim: the final word about wheat and weeds is not ours.Romans 8 sits inside the day as the cosmic frame. The whole creation groans. We groan with it. The hope we wait for is not yet visible. The patience Paul asks for is the same patience the master asks for in the parable — a willingness to let the field be the field, to let the harvest be the harvest, to trust that the One who set this all in motion has not lost track of any of it. The same Spirit who lets us cry Abba is the Spirit who teaches us to wait.For preachers continuing the series: the parables arc is now two weeks old. The Sower last week named God's lavish scattering. The Wheat and the Weeds this week names God's patient deferral of judgment. Together they form a particular picture of the kingdom — generous in its giving, patient in its sorting, and not finally in our hands. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit lectionarypro.substack.com/subscribe

Today we explore the first article of the Apostles' Creed: I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. Some are concerned that  the use of the word Father is less inclusive and depicts a stern, sterile relationship. The original word was Abba in Aramaic; which was papa or daddy - signifying deep intimacy and trust. Some also question why an almighty creator would allow the evils that we see in today's world. Another way to frame this question might be why do humans allow the evils to continue? Today's message is from Pastor Tania. Our Gospel comes from Luke, Chapter 12, Verses 22-31, and our scripture reading is Genesis 1, verses 24-27. Contemporary Lutheran Affirmation of Faith: We trust in God, the Creator of all that is, of galaxies and forests, oceans and deserts, creatures and every human being. God speaks life into existence, calls creation good, and remains faithful to the world God has made.We belive that the earth is no ours to possess, but a gift to recieve with gratitude, to share with justice and tend with humility. We trust in Jesus Christ, Godsl living Word among us, born into this world, sharing our joys and suffering. In his life, he proclaimed God's kingdom of mercy. In his death, he entered the depths of human pain. In his resurrection, he opened the way to new life for all creation. Through Christ, we are forgiven, freed from the need to justify ourselves, and called into lives of faith, hope and love.  We trust in the Holy Spirit, present and active in the church and in the world. Gathering people into communities of grace, awakening faith, renewing hears, and equipping us for service. The Spirit moves among all peoples, inspires care for our neighbors, and calls us to seek justice, make peace and protect the flourishing of creation. We trust that God has not abandoned the world, and is even now making all things new. Therefore we live in hope: for the healing of the earth, for reconciliation among people, for the renewal of the church, and for the resurrection life promised in Christ. To God- Creator, Son, and Holy Spirit, be glory now and forever. Amen.  

Send us Fan MailWarning: We cover necessary and important topics about the marriage relationship and sex. We use frank language without being crude or crass. Our approach is biblical and wholesome, but not intended for singles — especially not for children.We're starting a series to lay the groundwork for reading the Song of Songs with clarity. In this episode we discuss the title, authorship, and the book's unique structure. We share why our approach may feel less traditional (it's really not), yet still honors Scripture and helps couples talk about covenant love and sex without forcing the text into a storyline it never claims to be. why we call it Song of Songs rather than Song of Solomon where the book sits in the Hebrew canon and why it is read at Passover what Solomon's name might signal without proving authorship why Aramaic and historical clues suggest a later composition how poetic devices and double entendre shape meaning and modesty why a narrative plot creates confusion and why an anthology reading fits better how seeing it as a romantic playlist helps couples study and discuss it together Join us at the annual Intimate Covenant Marriage Retreat. This year our theme is BELOVED - exploring love and romance in the Song of Songs.For a deeper dive, here's a list recommended resources to expand your perspective and help in reading the Song of Songs:Allender, Dan B., and Tremper Longman III. God Loves Sex: An Honest Conversation about Sexual Desire and Holiness. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2014. Alter, Robert, trans. Strong as Death Is Love: The Song of Songs, Ruth, Esther, Jonah, and Daniel: A Translation with Commentary. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2015.  Longman III, Tremper. Song of Songs. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001.  Pope, Marvin H. Song of Songs: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. The Anchor Bible, vol. 7C. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1977. Please support these companies that support Intimate Covenant:Married Dance — https://marrieddance.com/?aff=29 We're a Christian-friendly, marriage-centered sex toy and marital aid store for couples that's nudity-free.  Shop from this link for special savings and part of your purchase will support Intimate Covenant.  Coconu — http://www.coconu.com Coconu is committed to helping people lead healthier, happier lives by offering 100% safe and organic personal care products.  Your purchase helps support Intimate Covenant AND you get 15% OFF. Coupon Code: intimateconvenantDate Your Spouse (formerly, Dating Divas) — https://dateyourspouse.myshopify.com?sca_ref=6278443.H6eWDeXGfx Strengthening marriages one date at a time. Shop from this link and your part of your purchase will help support Intimate Covenant. Check out their Sexy Subscription Boxes!Honoring Intimates — https://www.honoringintimates.com/?ref=INTIMATECOVENANT Modest and classy premium lingerie, model-free. Get 20% off and support Intimate Covenant with your purchase.Ginger & Peach — https://www.gingerandpeachlingerie.com/ Ginger & Peach lingerie is a Christian husband and wife owned brand bringing classy, model-free lingerie to the market. Get 10% off your order and support Intimate Covenant with code: “INTIMATECOVENANT"  To send your comments, questions and suggestions, go to our website: www.intimatecovenant.com/podcast and click on the button: “Contact the Podcast” for an ANONYMOUS submission form. Or, send an email: podcast@intimatecovenant.com   Thanks for sharing, rating, reviewing and subscribing!    Cherishing,  Matt & JennSupport the show

Read Online“Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:17–19Though the Church will suffer in many ways, She will ultimately overcome all things. As we celebrate the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, we are reminded of this truth by pondering their lives as two of the greatest pillars of the Church. Neither imprisonments, persecutions, nor apparent defeats kept them from fulfilling the mission God gave them. Likewise, the Church will never be overcome, for She remains under the guardianship of divine providence.The Church shall prevail for one simple reason: Jesus said so. He founded the Church upon the Twelve Apostles, giving unique and supreme authority to Peter: “I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Though Peter's given name was Simon, Jesus changed it to Peter—Petros in Greek and Cephas in Aramaic. Both terms can be used as a man's name but also mean “rock.” Hence, Peter, and the Apostles in union with him, become the rock and immovable foundation upon which the Church is built.By giving Peter “the keys to the Kingdom of heaven,” Jesus granted him singular authority to teach, govern, and sanctify with divine authority. This authority did not end with Peter; it is passed on to his successors through the office of bishop. Since Peter died in Rome, Rome remains the see of the Church's divinely established governance.Though Peter offers the Church the stability and clarity necessary as the immovable rock foundation, Paul reflects the Church's missionary role to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. This is seen especially in today's second reading, where Paul, facing the end of his earthly life, proclaims that he has “competed well,” “finished the race,” and “kept the faith.” His life was poured out as a libation for Christ, tirelessly laboring to make the Gospel known to all nations. While Peter ensures the Church's unity and fidelity to divine truth, Paul embodies her zeal to spread that truth to every corner of the world, calling all people into communion with Christ and His Church.Peter and Paul remain spiritually alive and active today through the unbroken tradition God established through them. Often at World Youth Day, when the Holy Father is present, young people chant, “You are Peter!” It is a beautiful expression of their faith in this foundational truth Christ established. Though every pope is a sinner like the rest of humanity, faith leads us to look beyond human weakness to see the successor of Saint Peter, the solid rock to whom Christ entrusted the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Thus, Peter's mission remains alive today, not only in the person of the Holy Father, but also in our faith in his divinely given authority.Saint Paul remains alive today through the ongoing fulfillment of the mission God gave him. His burning zeal to proclaim the Gospel lives on in every missionary endeavor, every act of evangelization, and every effort to spread the Good News to the ends of the earth. His spirit is especially present in those who courageously preach the Word, catechize the young, defend the faith, and labor tirelessly for the salvation of souls. Just as Peter ensures unity and fidelity, Paul inspires action and outreach, so that the Church may extend Christ's Kingdom to every land and heart.Reflect today on these pillars of the Church and acknowledge the living witness they gave and continue to give. Renew your faith in Peter, alive in the Holy Father, professing him as the rock foundation. See Paul at work by recognizing the missionary activity of the Church, carried out by countless souls with zeal and courage. Allow their witness to inspire within you a deeper love for the Church, and commit yourself anew to the mission entrusted to you: to remain firmly rooted in the truth and to bring that truth to the world with boldness and charity.Saints Peter and Paul, God called you in powerful and unique ways, making you pillars of the Church. Please pray for us, and for the entire Church, that we may continue the mission Christ entrusted to you. I especially entrust myself to that mission and pray that I may remain faithful to it in imitation of your example. Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: Saint Peter & Saint Paul by Lawrence OP, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.Source: Free RSS feed from catholic-daily-reflections.com — Copyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. This content is provided solely for personal, non-commercial use. Redistribution, republication, or commercial use — including use within apps with advertising — is strictly prohibited without written permission.