Podcasts about as moses

The readings for this homily: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/021926.cfmFather Matthew Tomeny, MIC invites us to contemplate today's Gospel in light of the witness of St. Thomas More and St. Anthony the Great.Jesus warns, “Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Mt 16:24; NABRE). In the same breath He calls us to “pick up our cross daily and follow Me” (Lk 9:23; NABRE).The drama of Thomas More, who refused King Henry's demand for a divorce and chose fidelity to Christ above crown and comfort, illustrates the cost of true discipleship. When Rich perjured himself for worldly gain, the saint reminded him that “the whole world is fleeting; what truly matters is the kingdom of God.” This echoes the “Catechism”: “The Christian is called to die to self and live for God” (CCC 1033).Saint Anthony the Great taught the same radical love: “Die daily, if you wish to live eternally.” Our lives are like a house on fire — clinging to material treasures ensures our destruction, while abandoning them opens the path to everlasting life. As Moses declared, “I have set before you life and prosperity, death and doom” (Dt 30:15; NABRE).Thus, each day presents a choice: hold fast to the fleeting comforts of this world, or lay them down at the foot of the Cross. The cross is not a burden to be avoided; it is the gateway to the resurrection. By surrendering our will to God's will, we align ourselves with the divine plan and secure the promise of eternal life.Let us, like St. Thomas More, abandon pride, ambition, and fear, and like St. Anthony, practice the daily death to self. In doing so, we fulfill Christ's invitation: “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15; NABRE). ★ Support this podcast ★

In this Bible Story, Pharaoh is at war against God and refuses to let Israel go. Pharaoh sees himself as God’s equal, and does not budge despite numerous plagues. This story is inspired by Exodus 7:8-9:35. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Exodus 9:14 from the King James Version.Episode 36: As Moses and Aaron bring God’s request before Pharaoh and Pharaoh refuses, signs are given from God to prove His request. But Pharoah, far from scared, replicates these signs and tells Moses and Aaron no! Thus begins God’s display of power upon Egypt, sending plague after plague.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world’s greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Transfiguration Sunday, just before Lent begins, we climb the mountain with Peter, James, and John and watch Jesus reveal who he truly is. Our conversation with Lars Olson leans heavily into Luther's Law and Gospel distinction: God's holy voice exposes our sin and leaves us in fear, while Jesus delivers mercy through his speaking. As Moses and Elijah fade and only Christ remains, we hear that salvation doesn't come from building booths or getting it right, but from listening to the Son who goes down the mountain to the cross for us. CARE OF SOULS - ADDICTIONIn Care of Souls, a special mini-series podcast from Luther House of Study, Lutheran pastors and theologians come together to explore the deeply personal and pastoral task of preaching to and caring for those struggling with life's challenging situations: addiction, death, family disharmony, and more. Rooted in the theology of the cross and the Lutheran tradition of radical grace, this series offers both theological depth and practical guidance for pastors, church workers, and lay leaders.With conversations, real-life stories, and reflections from the front lines of ministry, Care of Souls equips listeners to enter the broken places of addiction not with easy answers, but with the crucified and risen Christ.Because in the end, it's not about fixing people—it's about preaching the Gospel.Listen to Care of Souls wherever you listen to podcasts or on the Luther House website: Care of Souls - AddictionCOURSES Do you like what you learn in the conversations on Scripture First? Luther House of Study has numerous interactive courses available for free on subjects ranging from the Lutheran Catechism to core Christian beliefs. Visit lutherhouseofstudy.org to see their available courses, create an account to track your progress, and dive deeper into your learning. GOSPEL Matthew 17:1-9 1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Get up and do not be afraid." 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, "Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead"Support the showInterested in sponsoring an episode of Scripture First?Email Sarah at sarah@lhos.org or visit our donation page: lutherhouseofstudy.org/donate

Audio Transcript All right, well, beautiful singing. So I’ve not met you. My name is Aaron and I’m the preaching pastor here. And we’re glad you’re with us. I know sickness is kind of spreading around right now, and so I’m glad that you’re well enough to be with us this morning. So if you have a Bible with you, could open up to the Gospel of Luke. Our texture study today is going to be Luke 6, 2020. If you don’t have a Bible with you, there are pew Bibles kind of scattered throughout if you want to find your way there to Luke 6. Also, the word should be on the screen on either end of the stage if you want to follow along there. And if you’re visiting, if you open up your Bible, please do keep them open. So we do a style of preaching here. Actually, we talk about this in a sermon called Expository Preaching. So I’m going to read the passage, we’re going to pray, and then I’m going to walk us right back through the text. And so please do keep your Bibles open in this time. So Luke 6 starting verse 20. So please hear the words of our God. So Luke wrote, and he lifted up his eyes on disciples and said, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil on account of the Son of man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy. For behold, your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. So that’s God’s word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me? Lord, thank you for your word. And Lord, please help me to be a good communicator of your word today. Please give the congregation ears to hear what the Spirit is saying. I pray this all in Jesus name. Amen. Okay, so if you’ve been around here, you know every story starts out, at least for mine. So there we were. So there you were, myself and a man from our home church in Greenway, Wisconsin, and we’re getting together for breakfast. And this is Shortly before my wife, Tia and I were about to move to Louisville, Kentucky for seminary. Now, the man I got breakfast with that morning from our home church is actually a very influential, strong leader in his field. Before he retired, actually, he was the CEO of one of the largest and most profitable companies in the state. Over 7 billion in annual sales. And we got together that morning for breakfast. My friend had a bit of a surprise for me that was very much tied to sobering encouragement that he wanted me to have. Surprise he had for me was an autographed baseball. A baseball that I actually received through some personal connections to a legendary player who signed it for me, a former player, an all time great player named Hank Aaron, who played a good portion of his career for the Milwaukee Braves before that team relocated to Atlanta and then finished up his career for my beloved Milwaukee Brewers. And Hank Aaron not only is one of the greatest players of all time, but he also was my dad’s favorite player when he was growing up. A player that he just adored when Aaron played for both the Braves and the Brewers. In fact, my dad loved Hank Aaron so much that I was born. He named me Aaron after him. And this is something actually my friend knew, and this is one of the reasons why he got this autographed baseball for me, because he knew that it meant a lot to me to have that ball. It’s a pretty sweet gift, pretty thoughtful. But what made that ball even more sweet, even more thoughtful was the sobering encouragement tied to the ball that my friend also wanted to pass on to me. And that sobering encouragement from my friend was reminded me of a different man named Aaron. Not his last name, but his first name, Aaron. Aaron from the Old Testament, who was the brother of Moses. You may remember that now if you remember Moses. So he’s a great leader and prophet, but he also had a stuttering problem. So much so that Moses actually pleaded with the Lord to provide someone who could speak on his behalf, which ended up being his brother Aaron. As Moses spoke on behalf of, or as Aaron spoke on behalf of Moses the prophet who was speaking on behalf of God himself. And for my friend, his sobering encouragement to me through this ball, as I was about to head off to seminary to hopefully get trained to be a preacher, was that every time I look at this baseball, which is currently sitting amidst all my sports treasures in my basement ball, that I see often, by the way, college students, if you’re planning to come to my house next week for pass the pass pastor’s house, I’ll show it to You. But as I look at this baseball with the name Aaron on it, my friend hoped I had the sober encouragement that as I preach like Aaron for Moses, as I preach, I’m speaking on behalf of God from His perfect holy word. Now, obviously, I’m not a prophet like Aaron was as a preacher, but preaching still is speaking God’s word to his people, which, my friend, he wanted this to be a sobering truth for me, sobering as I went to seminary to study there, to study hard, to put forth my best effort in that seminary experience. You also want to be sobering for me one day as I write sermons, as I prep for sermons the way I should, to never cut corners, to give my best effort each sermon I write. You want to be sobering for me as I deliver sermons every time I stand behind the pulpit, that there should be a real, sober sense of what I’m doing, because the weighty responsibility and privilege it is to communicate God’s word. Now, I tell you all this this morning, so sobering this should be for me every time I do this, but maybe even more sobering for me this week, because this week and actually the next couple weeks, my assignment is to preach you from God’s perfect holy word on a passage that is often viewed as the greatest sermon of all time. Meaning my attempt is to give you a sermon from the greatest of all sermons, a sermon that was given by the Lord Jesus Christ, one that he actually gave on more than one occasion. If you’re with us, last week Wes actually mentioned this. I’m going to mention it again today. The sermon we’re about to go through is often referred to as a sermon on the plain, as we learned in our text last week. Verse 17. If you want to take your eyes there, that Jesus gave this sermon, he was standing on a level place. And this sermon on the plain that Luke records is very similar in content to perhaps the most famous of all sermons, that Jesus gave, the Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in Matthew 5, where Jesus gave that the side of a mountain. Now, I will mention that for some, the Sermon on the Plain here in Luke 6, as well as the Sermon on the mount in Matthew 5. Some believe this actually is like the same event of the exact same sermon. So perhaps there was maybe like a little bit of a plateau on the mountain that gave a level ground for Jesus to preach. And while it is possible that Matthew 5 and Luke 6 record the same event, the exact same sermon, there’s enough little details between the Sermon on the Mount and the sermon on the plain that led many, myself included, to believe these are actually two different events where Jesus preached to two different people, but basically gave the same sermon two different times. You know, as mentioned, to two different people groups, which, by the way, this is actually not a problem. Jesus gave the same sermon at least two times, so. So in this time frame, rabbis are annoying, giving like the same teachings on multiple occasions throughout history, church history, many pastors, myself included, have preached the same passage more than once, where the sermons are very similar. In fact, maybe the most famous sermon, at least in our culture here, that God used to help ignite the Great Awakening first Great Awakening, the sermon titled Sinners in the Hands of Angry God. Maybe you heard that one by Jonathan Edwards. He actually preached that on multiple occasions. So it’s not an issue that Jesus preached the same basic sermon more than once. In fact, knowing that Jesus preached this same basic sermon more than once probably just highlights how important of a message this was from our Lord, which for me further underscores why this is often viewed as the greatest sermon of all time. Okay, now before we get to the text, the sermon that Luke records, just a few things, just a reminder where we’ve been the last few weeks. So. So the ministry of Jesus is now very much in public view. He’s become like the trending topic all over the region, leading more and more to come to him as great crowds were forming around our Lord. And from these crowds included some who Jesus uniquely called to himself to be his disciples, which included some fishermen who we met in chapter five, a despised tax collector who we met in the beginning of chapter six, as well as those listed in our text. Last week, in the middle of chapter six, where none of the disciples seem to be like popular people or influential people, rather they just seem to be like normal, everyday common people like you and me. Yet in his grace, in his wisdom, that is who the Lord Jesus called uniquely to himself, where he’d use these men to become his apostles that in time would like, he would use to completely set the world on his head. Furthermore, as mentioned in previous sermons, but I wanted to mention this again here, as the public ministry of Jesus is in full swing, as the crowds of people are coming to Him. No doubt a large part were coming because of the signs and wonders that Jesus was performing through various healings as well as like exorcism of demons. But the primary reason why the crowds were forming around Jesus because of the primary ministry he had, was actually preaching and teaching, which by the way, would also be the primary ministry that his disciples would have as disciples would be used by God, as mentioned, to turn the world on his head through preaching. So all the different things happening around Jesus, all the things signs he was performing, yet preaching, teaching, giving sermons like the one that we’re about to look at in the text, this is at the center, this is at the focal point of Jesus’s ministry. Which actually leads to the second thing I want to mention here this morning as it relates to sermons and the sermon on the greatest of all sermons of Jesus. The main focus I have to you this morning is to communicate to you from the text, what does the text say? However, as we work through this sermon, the sermon on the plane, I also want to just give you something that I did for myself personally this week was to try to pull insights from the sermon when it comes to preaching. So this is actually a good exercise for me this week as one who preaches often and I thought it would be a good exercise for us as a church as a whole today just to kind of help us think about preaching. What does it look like? What does that mean? Why is it so important mentioned? This is at the heart of the ministry of Jesus and hopefully it means it’s at the heart of our ministry here at Red Village Church as well. We desire preaching and teaching to be the focal point of our church. Not that other things in church life are important, but the pulpit is to me remains central. Many others throughout church history have said as the pulpit goes, so does the rest of the church. So as members, yes, pray for sermons, keep the pulpit accountable. And for some, you at some point you maybe are moving out of Madison. You have to look for another church. Unite to. There are many factors for you to consider discern as you’re trying to find a church. But the pulpit, the sermons really ought to be at the top of your priority list where there’s a steady diet of expositional Christ centered preaching. I hope I do feel for us in this time. So if that is a little bit longer intro, look back with me in the text on the sermon on the plain, they would be looking at just the start of the sermon, verses 20 through 26. So verse 20 we see in the passage that as Jesus stood on the level place, the plain, we see in the text that he began the sermon by lifting up his eyes on his disciples. Okay, not ready. Just a couple things. So first the lifting up of eyes. So commentary is read this week signified from Jesus that there’s like resolve in him, like he has resolve as he’s about to speak mean this is going to be some type of like casual conversation from his pulpit on the plane. Rather, Jesus is about to speak in ways that carried weight significance. Let’s go back to the story I began the sermon with. That’s what my friend was trying to impress upon me. When it comes to preaching, there ought to be a real weight significance that preachers are to understand as they communicate God’s word. By the way, as a church, this is why we pray for those who fill the pulpit, myself included, the preachers will preach with like resolve, resolve to you, the congregation that you have resolve. Actually you take in sermons, right? This should not be something that’s like casual lackadaisical for any of us. A lot of different points. The sermons can have some light hearted elements tied to them, but overall the tone, the tenor should have like sober minded resolve. That’s what Jesus has as he looks up as the disciples. Second, the sermon that Jesus was about to give was primarily meant for his disciples, those he named, verses 14 through 16 that Wes gave us last week. Now I assume other people are there who are listening in. In fact we get the sense when we get to verse 24 does seem like Jesus changes the primary audience that he’s talking to for just a bit there. But the first primary audience of this sermon was to disciples, those who were followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the risk of trying to push this too far, but unless the sermon is clearly intended for those who are not Christian, with some type of evangelistic thrust to it, which Scripture tells us is a thing, sermons, particularly in church life, the primary audience is meant for disciples to teach disciples of Jesus, those who are trusting in him, what it looks like to joyfully follow and obey him, which is certainly the case in this sermon that Jesus gave on the plane, right? This is not a sermon on how one becomes a follower of Jesus, which comes through repentance and faith. Rather, this is a sermon for those who are disciples, those who have repented, who have trusted in Jesus, as Jesus is going to help them to know how to live out their faith in ways that honor him. As Jesus looks at his disciples, we see him begin the sermon, which in our time today this will be in two parts. So the first part will revolve around the blessings that comes by faithfully following after him. Which by the way, this is why this sermon started. It as well as the Sermon on the Mount is often referred to as like the Beatitudes of Jesus with the beatitude word for like blessing. So the first part of the sermon are blessings from Christ. But then the second part, this is a series of woes, strong rebukes for actually not following after him. And we get to the woes. This is the section where I think there’s a little bit of a change in who Jesus is communicating to, as the woes have actually a bit of evangelistic thrust to them, to those who are on the plane who are not yet disciples of Christ, as Jesus is warning them that if they do not repent and believe in him, what would happen? Let’s go back to the blessings, and I want to say I’m going to read them as a whole again with the hopes of like kind of rereading these as a whole. Just capture some of the weight, momentum that I think is there in the sermon of Jesus. And after rereading it again, let me just point out a few things. So look back with me again. John, verse 20. He, Jesus told them, blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry, for you should be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you should be satisfied. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you, and when they revile you and spur your name as evil on account of the Son of man. Verse 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for your reward is great in heaven. For so their fathers did so, for the fathers did so to the prophets. Okay, now just to break this up, a few things I want to point out. So first, just this term, blessing or blessed. So this is a term or phrase that’s actually scattered throughout Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, where the word blessing is often correlated with wisdom, particularly wisdom in this life. Now, this week I thought about Psalm 1, and I did kind of wonder if Jesus maybe had this passage in mind as he gave this sermon. So in Psalm 1, so blessed or happy is the man who walks in this life in the wisdom of God, where this blessed happy one in this life does not associate with evil. Rather, the blessed happy man is the one who delights in God’s word and obeying God’s word, what plants him like a tree by streams of water. And while the sermon on the plain, this teaching of Jesus on wisdom certainly is tying to some stuff in this life. But it’s a little different in that Jesus connects the ultimate blessing, the ultimate happiness, not in this life, which so much of the Old Testament is, but rather in the life that is to come, the eternal life that Jesus would usher in. So look back with Me again just to see the forward pointing blessedness that Jesus preached on that was to come for his people. So verse 20. Yes, you’re poor now, but for yours is the kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of God that is, yes, here, now. But a kingdom, the fullness of, of it is still yet to come. And when the fullness of kingdom comes, that’s where the fullness of blessedness, happiness will be found, in the life that is to come. Verse 21. Sure, you are hungry in the here and now, but look ahead, you will be satisfied. The future will come and you will be satisfied. Yes, in the here and now, in this life you weep, but in the future, there is a time that is going to come that you will laugh. Yes, in the here and now, in this life there might be people who hate you and exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil because of your faith in Christ. But look ahead to the future, you will rejoice, you will leap for joy, because in heaven there awaits a reward for you. And for us, this is actually really important for us as we think about being disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, in this life we live with wisdom, but we do so even more with our eyes towards that which is to come. That is where wisdom is set to faithfully live out this life with an eye towards that which will last forever. And this is actually so much of the teaching and preaching of Jesus on, on the better country that is to come, the heavenly one, as Jesus reminds us, the scripture reminds us that we’re simply sojourners, pilgrims headed to the promised land. And that’s where the blessedness will fully be experienced, this eternal reality that waits God’s people. Which by the way, this is why we strive to seek up, to store up treasures in heaven. This is why we poured our lives as offering, as an offering to service to God and others. This is why we’re even willing to suffer in this life for the cause of Jesus. Because we know that our suffering is not in vain. To know that one day our eyes will be our tears and our eyes will be dried. That this will all be temporary. And as that day comes, we’ll be replaced with blessedness, with joy, with rejoicing. Second, in this sermon, Jesus is helping his disciples understand the reality that as we live out our faith like in this life, it might bring some painful, unpleasant realities that we’ll have to endure. In the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus talked about the reality of potentially being poor. In the Sermon on the Mount speaks Of being poor in spirit, which is tied to humility and as maybe this is what Jesus is referring to here, the sermon on the plain. But to me this actually feels like Jesus is speaking towards like financial poverty of being poor. Where many throughout church history, including the 12 disciples falling after Jesus in his life, would bring like financial hardships for a host of different reasons which because of financial hardships at times in this present life, in this sermon, God’s people had to battle real physical hunger. Although we mentioned here, the hunger here could also be a hungering for righteousness with the sermon the Mount speaks to. However, I do think that Jesus is actually speaking towards like physical hunger here where plenty throughout church history, including his disciples. They didn’t always know where their next meal might come from, which adds meanings to like the Lord’s Prayer and give us our daily bread. Furthermore, in this life many Christians have faced hardships for being disciples of Jesus. Hardships that even the prophets had to endure. Hardships in the text has caused many to weep. Weeping that has come because of others have hated them or excluded them from certain things. Weeping because of how their name has been reviled and spurned as evil simply because of their faith in Jesus, the Son of Man. Yes, as a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ, we live with the joy of eternal life that is to come, which is a joy that we can even experience in different measures in this life. However, that being said in this sermon, for disciples of Jesus, if we faithfully live out our faith, pain, difficulty, hardships, they can be a reality. A reality is part of the cost of following after Christ. A cost that we must count. A cost that many throughout history, including many today face. For us, this is like a hard truth that Jesus is giving to his disciples in this sermon on the plain. This is not like an easy thing for them to hear or for us to hear, which by the way also should be part of what preaching should have. Where at times, as the text calls for it, hard things need to be said, hard things need to be heard. Scripture warns us that sermons just can’t be there just like to tickle our ears, to just maybe tell us what we want to hear. Rather to tell us the hard truth like this, the sermon that we need to hear. As you keep going. As hard as it would have been for disciples to hear this, how being a disciple could bring a lot of hardships towards them in this life, hard things could come their way, but it actually would have been a harder truth for those who are like listening in, who are not yet his disciples, which, by the way, I do recognize might be somewhat true for some of us here this morning. That you’re here, we’re grateful you’re here, but you’re here, you’re not yet a follower of Christ. So in this sermon, after the four blessings, blessings that come for those who by faith follow him, we see in verses 24 through 26, we now see Jesus pronounced four woes, woes that come for not following him. Woes. If you’re not a Christian, I actually want to plead with you to hear hears. It’s almost like ice water, like running down your back, back that causes you to like to wake up and to by faith run to Jesus and the blessedness that he is. So let’s read through the woes again. I want to read them the same way I read through the blessings and ways that hopefully create some momentum and weight that the sermon Jesus had. And then I want to circle back to give some details, details on the Wo. So verse 24 says, but woe to you who are rich, for you received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did, the false prophets. Okay, now a few things here. So first, the four woes, these obviously stand in sharp contrast to the four blessings that Jesus started his sermon with. And this woe here, this is actually used by Jesus in very forceful ways where he’s still having like, resolve in his eyes as he communicates these woes, where through these woes, Jesus communicated like a declaration of like, judgment and misery from God on those who reject him. So I mentioned this in the past, but I want to mention this again. So in Scripture, there’s. There’s really only two ways that one can live. There’s a blessed way that comes from following Jesus, that will result in eternal life with him. But then there’s the woeful way of judgment and misery that will come with eternity apart from Jesus. Since Scripture does not give us some type of middle ground option, yes, this is a hard but important truth for us to hear to understand. This life is headed to two different, very different realities. The blessed way, the woeful way. Second, this word woe is actually something we also see throughout the Old Testament, much like we see the word blessing throughout the Old Testament, where throughout the Old Testament there’s actually woes given to God’s people for entertaining false prophets. What the sermon speaks upon and for us, I think maybe a little bit more subtle ways. So Jesus was giving his sermon here on the plain. This is like a sermon based on scripture, as Jesus is expounding, expositing scripture in light of himself. And this is actually one of the main reasons why we believe expository preaching is so important. If Jesus preached God’s word, should not every preacher and every sermon preach God’s word? Third, do you notice how the four woes, like the four blessings also are grounded in what? That. That which lies ahead. We’re in the kingdom of God as it fully comes. Like everything’s like turned around. We’re in this life. For the Christians who are suffering through hardship, in the end they’re going to be rewarded with blessing upon blessing, the fullness of joy and happiness for all eternity as you get to be with Jesus. But for those who reject God, who might be like receiving some benefits here and now, but in the end, not only will those benefits be removed, but with misery that will never wane. So back to the text. So sure, in this present life one can get rich without God in their life and enjoy some of the temporary benefits that wealth can offer. Where yes, those riches you can use to fill up your stomach. Where yes, in this life one can laugh it up and receive some type of like worldly praise. But if that’s all you have in this life, that’s all you have without God. In the end, not only will those things all vanish, but as mentioned, they’ll be replaced with misery. A couple things just on this back to winter earlier. So poor and hungry. This is why I think real physical poverty. Hungry is what Jesus is speaking to here. Not speaking about some type of poor in spirit or hunger and righteousness. This is how the rich and the full are used. So I think it’s meant to be. In contrast, second, having wealth, a full belly, laughter, reputation, others admire. So none of those things are wrong in themselves in this life. Okay, so don’t be mistaken there. In fact, in this life, those things actually be like blessings from, from God. In this life, the problem lies if we have those things apart from Christ, where these things almost become like idols to us that we’re putting like our hope and our trust in like wealth or reputation. That’s the problem, A problem that we actually must be warned of because those idols in the end will be idols that proved to be vain, where in the end they will not satisfy you, they will not in the end make you happy, they will not deliver to you what you need, which is forgiveness of sin and eternal blessedness of heaven. Only Jesus can offer those things through his death, through his resurrection from the dead, right? Those things in himself are not wrong. In the end, if you do not have Jesus, they’re in vain. They will not satisfy. They will lead you to misery. Which, by the way, kind of on that note, this is why every sermon should point us to Jesus Christ as the only one who will satisfy, as the one that we do desperately need, the One who loves us in such a way that he would die for us to take on all of the woes of God on the cross, where Jesus bore all of the misery, eternal misery upon himself to bear the punishment of our sin, so that through him we could find forgiveness and eternal life and joy forever and ever. Which leads to the conclusion of our sermon today. So let me just get a couple just summary thoughts on this greatest of all sermons of Jesus. So the first two will just be from the text and the last one is just from sermons. So first let God’s Word teach us that which is true. This is why the preaching and teaching was at the center of Jesus’s ministry, right? Jesus is the the way, the truth and the life. And he came to teach us the truth so that by the truth, the truth of God’s Word, that’s how we can be set free. So that by the truth we could have life, abundant life, both now and in eternity. While a sermon might be hard for us to digest, maybe some of the truths here in this passage might be hard for us to digest. These are truths that we need to hear, truths that we need to know, truths we need to believe in, truths we must obey, right? These hard truths are connected to the blessings of God. These harder truths are also connected to the woes of God. So we must hear that which is true. Second thing to where these truths of this text are pointing us to is we’re to live our life in light of eternal life that is to come and the kingdom of God that Jesus promises one day to usher in. So if this is it, just like just this life, nothing more, then sure, eat, drink, be merry, live for self, enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. But Scripture is so clear, including the sermon here from Jesus. The truth is, there’s so much more than just the here and now. There is an eternal life that is to come that for those who have faith in Christ will be the blessed life. Living with Christ in the heavenly places, experiencing the fullness of his joy in the new heavens and new earth. Let’s say it again. For those who reject him, there’s a life of eternal misery and judgment of sin for us. We must live our life in light of this eternal reality that is to come. Even though there could be a great cost in this life for doing so. Cost like suffering and pain. However, we must trust what our suffering that we might suffer for our faith in Christ and eternal life. Not only will Jesus fully comfort us in the text, he will even reward us when the sermon says even a great reward which reward whenever suffering we have in this life. As we get that rewards we’re with Jesus. Any suffering will feel slight and momentary in comparison to the weight of glory that awaits. And by the way, if you’re looking for some help on maybe how to think ahead, like how to live your life with an eternal like view. So there’s great ministry that is called Eternal Perspectives and I find it pretty helpful. So established by a former pastor named Randy Elkhorn who wrote one of my favorite books. I haven’t mentioned this in a little while, so I’ll mention it again. Book called Heaven. And so if you’d want some help to try to think through, you know, how do you live your life in ways that’s looking ahead, you know, I would look to eternal perspective ministry. Read the book on heaven. Especially now if you’re looking to try to read a book for the stretch run of winter that we have left, that’s one I’d recommend. Okay, last one. So be sober minded about preaching. Which brings us back to the start, what my friend wanted me to have as a preacher. But it’s actually not just preachers who are to be sober minded when it comes to preaching. The congregation should as well. Now, when it comes to preaching, obviously none of us can preach a sermon like Jesus. In fact, even the Apostle Paul referred to his preaching as folly, which is true for all preachers. Even more so, right? None of us are apostles like Paul was. It’s folly. Folly where every sermon is like soon forgotten. Almost like a meal that we consume. Soon forgotten. However, scripture tells us that it’s through preaching. That’s how God chooses to manifest His Word in ways that through His Holy Spirit he speaks to his people in ways that we can see. The Lord Jesus Christ that God is using preaching to bring people to faith, to grow us in our faith, to sustain us in our faith, to persevere us in our faith all the way to the life that is to come. So be sober minded when it comes to preaching. If a preacher should have resolve in his eyes, a congregation should have resolve in your ears. So say it again. Please pray for the preaching here at Red Village that God would use it to communicate truth, even hard truth. Please keep the pulpit here at Red Village like lovingly accountable that the word is preached in season and out of season. As a congregation, we never settle for anything less than God’s words exposited in ways that point us to Christ, who he is, what he’s done for us. Have a longing in your heart to hear the word preached. We’re actually seeking to prepare your own heart to receive sermons. By the way, this is also one of the reasons, maybe a primary reason, why we hope you’re actually here every Sunday to take in a steady diet of the word preached. I say it not to guilt you or shame you. Things can happen. But just imagine if you went weeks without feeding your physical body or if you just happen to feed your physical body just like every so often as is kind of convenient, just imagine how weak, how malnourished your body would be. As important it is to feed your physical body to the steady diet, how much more important to feed your souls week in, week out with God’s Word. Yes, most sermons are like meals. You consume them and you forget them. But yes, say it again. That is how God is revealing himself to us, to grow us, to sustain us, to persevere us in the faith. So church, whether you’re preaching God’s word or taking it in, may we all be sober minded when it comes to the word that is preached. Knowing that in the grace of God, the preached word is a pretty sweet gift, a pretty thoughtful gift from a kind and generous God. Let’s pray. Lord, I do pray that you’d help us to not only hear your word but heed to it. Lord, please help us to live rightly in ways that you defined are true for blessedness. God, help us to live in light of that which is to come. I pray for those who might be here this morning, who are not yet disciples of Christ, that today you would open up their eyes to see the beauty of Jesus, that they would turn into him. And Lord, I do pray just for just this pulpit, the sermons that come from it, whether it be me or others. Lord, please help us to rightly divide the word of truth. And Lord, please bless the preaching of your Word for our good and your glory in Jesus name, Amen. The post The Greatest Sermon of All Time – Luke 6: 20-26 appeared first on Red Village Church.

From poetry most often attributed to King Solomon, we explore the vanity of what humanity places so much gravity on –  wealth as well as conventional signs of a so-called exceptional life. Our Preacher proclaims: There is an evil I have seen under the sun and it is heavy and common upon men. He then asks you to envision a man whom God allots wealth and honor and lacks nothing of his desire.  More than we realize, God does not allow him to consume what he has.  At times, it all passes to a stranger.  Such focus on the material is an evil affliction.  Our Preacher is once again taking the view of one who experiences life without embracing the Transcendent.  In this role, he examines how earthly status fails to bring satisfaction. For even if man has all the possessions of a King or begets a hundred children and lives 2000 years, the soul must be satiated.  The meaninglessness of everything beyond the Almighty will slap you in the face, no matter how many generations you are permitted to walk the earth. As Moses and Jesus instructed in Deuteronomy 8 and Matthew 4: Man does not live by bread alone, but lives on every word that is revealed by the Lord.  Excess riches and attendant responsibility can compound misery.   Further, the greatest among us can come to lack a decent burial -- long considered an ignominious end.In contrast of our spiritual lives, what awaits our earthly adventure is all-encompassing death.  Qohelth proclaims, persisting in his role: Better are those who are born dead.  Such a soul never has to deal with the suffering some endure.  This is another verse that evokes the Lamentations of Job.  Our Preacher conveys the same despair and asks: Does not everyone go to the same place? This is a fleeting reference to the afterlife, which the Hebrew Bible says remarkably little about. Qohelet acknowledges how little life seems to make sense and reiterates: The labor of man is for his sustenance, yet the soul is not satisfied.He then asks:  What advantage has the wise man over the fool? As St. Paul wrote in one of his letters to the Corinthians:  Hath not God made foolishness the wisdom of this world?; God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty. In somewhat in cryptic language, Qohelet continues:  What good is it for the poor man to walk before the living.  Ultimately, a so-called simple man's capability in dealing with life's challenges may bring him no more or less benefit than it will a wise man. Qoholet is having you question the  value of wisdom.He moves on to this ole truism: Better is what the eyes see than desire. Here, one of the central tenants of Buddhism is referenced - for desire is an effort as useful as herding the wind. Scholar Robert Alter indicates that the sense of this is that it is advantageous to enjoy what one views and brings joy as compared to frustrating path of trying to fulfill boundless desire.     Qohelet concludes the chapter noting how our fate appears determined and the doldrums we can find ourselves in over the seeming meaningless of it all. He preaches: Whatever one is, he has been named already by the Lord.  For it is known that he man is man. This calls to mind how in Genesis, it is implied that to give something a name is to designate its nature, like how Adam was given responsibility for naming the creatures of the earth.Our Preacher channels Job yet again noting how man cannot contend with The Lord. Job essentially said the same, teaching how to attempt to prove oneself against the Almighty, who orchestrates the Cosmic symphony,  is the stamp of futility. Look around your own life and weigh how much of it amounts to vanity.Qohelet has this observation to complete the chapter: For who knows what is good for man in life, all the days of his vain life which essentially pass like a shadow?  The short answer, is:  You will never find out…so submit to the wisdom of him above.

As Moses and Aaron confront Pharaoh once more, they don't know what to expect. They don't know what the plagues will be or how God will rescue His people. But as the story unfolds before them, the great work of God is on full display! (Exodus 7)

As Moses headed back to Egypt, uncertain as he was, hesitant, fearful, unsure, he held tightly to the "staff of God." In the years ahead, whenever he felt anxious again, Moses would hold tightly to that same staff because God had promised him that it would be instrumental in bringing forth miraculous things. We don't have a staff like that today as Christians, but we have something even better to hold on to when we are anxious or unsure: we have God's promises as found in His Word!

Psalm 90 calls us to consider the weight of eternity and the reality of our fleeting days in light of who God is. This message invites us to reflect on the contrast between our weakness and God's greatness, urging us to live with wisdom, humility, and reverence before Him. As Moses leads us to number our days, we are drawn to trust the God who stands outside of time, rules with perfect authority, judges with righteousness, and shows steadfast compassion to His people.Key Points:1. The Eternality of God 2. The Sovereignty of God 3. The Justice of God 4. The Grace of God

As Moses tried to convince God that he was not the right man to go to Egypt and be used by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery, God made three promises and gave Moses three signs to show him that he would be successful. Yet Moses still hesitated. One of the excuses Moses used was that he was "slow of speech." What did he mean by that?

Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!Revelation 15 John sees another great and marvelous sign in heaven: seven angels with the seven last plagues, which complete God's wrath. Standing beside a sea of glass mixed with fire are those who were victorious over the beast and its image. They hold harps given by God and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, praising God's mighty works and justice. All nations will come to worship Him, for His righteous acts have been revealed. After this, the sanctuary in heaven is opened, and the seven angels come out dressed in pure, shining linen. One of the four living creatures gives them seven golden bowls filled with God's wrath. The sanctuary is filled with smoke from God's glory and power, and no one can enter until the plagues are finished.  This worshipful chapter demonstrates that God's judgment is not random or cruel, but rather holy, complete, and characterized by justice and righteousness. Those who overcome the beast stand victorious, worshiping God with songs of praise. Their faithfulness reminds us that suffering is not the end, and that victory belongs to those who remain faithful to the Lord. The song of Moses and the Lamb celebrates God's power, His works, and His justice. We are called to worship Him with the same awe and devotion. Even when the world rejects His truth, we are to stand firm. God is preparing to complete His plan, and we must live in reverence, trusting His timing and walking in purity, hope, and faithfulness.  Worthy Lord, You are great and marvelous in all Your works; all Your ways are just and true. As Moses sang, You are our strength, our song, and our salvation. Who among the nations will not fear You and glorify Your name? All Your judgments are righteous, and all creation will worship before You. Help us stand firm like those who overcame, singing with joy and trust in Your power. Fill our hearts with awe at Your holiness and prepare us to live in purity. May our lives reflect Your glory as we wait for the completion of Your perfect plan.  Thought Questions: How does it bring you comfort to know that the faithful who have died are in a place of pure joy, singing songs of praise to God? What is the original context of the Song of Moses? How is a faithful life in Christ like the Israelites crossing the parted Red Sea in Exodus? Revelation often mentions “the wrath of God.” Who has that wrath always been poured out on, and how far will you go to avoid that fate?

Jairus appears as an administrator. He was named, titled, and located inside a functioning system. He knew how things worked, when to ask, when to stop, when a situation was resolved. When he knelt before Jesus, it was already a breach of role, but the text does not stop there. It presses him.While he was still on the way, while the instruction was still unfolding, a message arrived from his own house: Your daughter has died. Do not trouble the Teacher.It sounds compassionate. It sounds final. But it is not merely a report. It is a deception and a false command. Those who pressed Jairus pressed him to stop searching Scripture, to stop pursuing the call of the Prophet. They said: return to your place. Accept the verdict the system of human words has rendered.But there is only one Judge.Jesus answered without addressing death at all. He promised nothing. He uttered the command, Do not fear. Only trust.With that command, the axis of the text shifts. Fear here is not panic. Fear is obedience to human reasonableness. It is enclosure within narrative walls built of human words. Trust is remaining under instruction, exposed to reality, out in the open, where only living, breathing divine words can give life, even when every visible sign says the moment has passed.The crowd moves with them. They are practical. They know how death works. They know when grief must become resignation. They are not simply onlookers. They are the stone Temple outside the synagogue, walls built of human words, set against the living, breathing Word.They do what walls always do. They mark the human boundary. They decide what may pass and what must stop. What they call wisdom is fear of man disciplined into respectability. What they call obedience is resignation taught to bow to something other than God. They are the domesticated gatekeepers of reasonableness, the infrastructure of Herod, the architecture of fear.They are like the children in the marketplace who said:“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not weep.” (Luke 7:32)They do not listen for the sound of God. They pipe their own tune. Whether the sound is mourning or rejoicing, their demand is the same: respond within our script. The problem was not his music. It was their refusal to hear.They are the makers of garments, woven out of fig leaves. As Moses wrote:“Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)“I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Genesis 3:10)Jesus emptied the room. Only Peter, James, John, and the parents remained. When Jesus said She is not dead but sleeping, they laughed. Their laughter was not a misunderstanding. It was fear covered, not by God, but by human craftiness. It restored their order. It set a guard around the girl's tomb. It domesticated the moment. It said: this voice may sing only within the borders of our melodies.No one expected what was about to happen. No one could later claim trust in his Command:“And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, can these bones live?'” (Ezekiel 37:2-3)Jesus took the girl by the hand and spoke: Child, arise. The text is not Greco-Roman. It is not written that her “mind” returns. It is not written that her Platonic “soul” is restored. It is written that her pneuma, her ruaḥ, returns. Breath that had gone out came back in. Life does not rise from within the human system of words. It enters from outside, at the sound of his voice (Genesis 2:7; Ezekiel 37:2-10).“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37:4)Peter, James, and John, like the parents, said and did nothing. They bore witness. Life does not come from parents. Wisdom does not come from disciples, let alone stone temples:“So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh came upon them, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.'” (Ezekiel 37:7-9)The living breath comes not from human words, but from him who commands the four winds, who commanded the Son of Man to breathe his living words upon her.Immediately, Jesus commanded practical care. Feed her. Life is not human spectacle. It is divine instruction, followed by silent obedience:“Tell no one.” (Luke 8:56)Silence is not secrecy. It is judgment. To speak at that moment would rebuild the stone temple of human words in narrative form. It would turn instruction into explanation, breath into human property, life into idolatry.Silence is the test.Like Zechariah leaving the temple unable to speak, the witnesses were stripped of their voice so that God's voice was no longer imprisoned.Hearing must remain intact.Come from the four winds, O breath!The girl was raised and returned, not unto comfort but unto function under his command. As with the man freed from Legion, return to the path of Scripture is always the assignment. Living, moving breath restored from God cannot be managed by those who witness it. They too are sent back under his command, to love the neighbor.Luke tears down every refuge at once. The crowd's boundary-making, parental love, administrative reasonableness, and Jairus's partial trust are all human shelters made of fear. Life, which came before man, will not be housed, measured, ruled, judged, explained, or secured by the words with which humans try to protect themselves.Life, it is written, is not from men, nor through man, but from God, through God:“Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand,O house of Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:6)“On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God?The thing molded will not say to the molder, ‘Why did you make me like this,' will it?Does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?” (Romans 9:20–21)Fear, St. Paul explained, tries to build a platform over God. Fear builds. The gospel dismantles (Genesis 11:4).This week, I discuss Luke 8:49-56. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Friends of the Rosary,Today is Day Three of the Christmas Novena. It's also the Second of the O Antiphons, O Adonai (O Almighty God/O Lord and Ruler).As Moses approached the burning bush ("Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground . . . I am who am."). So we approach the divine Savior in the form of the consecrated host, falling to adore Him.We say, "Come and redeem us with outstretched arm." Ave MariaCome, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New YorkEnhance your faith with the new Holy Rosary University app:Apple iOS | New! Android Google Play• ⁠December 18, 2025, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET

God is holy! As Moses explains that some would be permanently banned and others temporarily banned from membership among the people of God, it is a reminder of the gravity of sin and the enormity of God's grace in Christ Jesus. We are indeed saved by faith and not by the law and yet the law points us to Christ!

Have you ever needed a reminder that God doesn't just lead His people — He loves them, protects them, and holds them close? Deuteronomy chapter 33 is Moses' final blessing over the tribes of Israel, spoken just before his death, and it is overflowing with the tender, faithful love of God. It is a chapter filled with hope, promise, identity, and blessing. As Moses reviews the journey of the Israelites, he reminds them that they are a people loved by God, carried by God, and held in His hand. And in our key verse, Deuteronomy 33:3, we read these powerful words: “Yea, he loved the people; all his saints are in thy hand.” This chapter shows us a God who goes before His people, fights for them, shelters them, and promises them a future. And just as He blessed the tribes of Israel, He continues to bless, guide, and guard His people today. Join us as we walk through this chapter and discover what it means to be people who are loved, chosen, and held securely in the hands of our faithful God. Did you enjoy this podcast? Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can listen to us on all major podcasting platforms like Apple Podcasts,  Spotify,  Google Podcasts,  YouTube, and Podbean. Check out Kim's latest Bible Bit book on Amazon! Do you want to bring Kim Miller to your church, upcoming retreat, or conference? Contact us! This podcast is brought to you by Woman at the Well Ministries and is supported by our faithful listeners. To support this podcast, please visit our support page. 

As Moses leads his people into the desert, God provides manna and quail for His people.  He insists that they take one rule very seriously.  Rest. (Ex 16:13-26, Matt 5:17-18, Gal 3:24-27, Matt 6:25-34, Ex 20:8-11, Gen 2:2-3, Is 40:28, Matt 12:8, Heb 4:9-11)

As Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush continues, he's got questions! Moses asks, “Who am I?” and “Who are you?” The answer to the first question is wrapped up in the answer to the second. Exodus 3:11-22

Find the complete show notes here:  https://watwm.podbean.com/.  Have you ever faced a season of change and wondered how you would move forward?  Deuteronomy chapter 31 meets us right in the middle of those moments. As Moses prepares to leave the people he has shepherded for forty years, he speaks words that every believer needs to hear: “Be strong and of a good courage… for the Lord thy God goes with you.” This chapter is a reminder that even when seasons shift, God remains faithful. Moses passes leadership to Joshua, but the real Leader -the Lord Himself - never changes. The people of God are called to courage, not because life is easy, but because God is present. In this episode of Woman at the Well Ministries, Erika Klose teaches from Deuteronomy chapter 31 and focuses on verse 6, a verse filled with strength, comfort, and promise: “He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” Join us as we learn how to face life's transitions with confidence, how to anchor our hearts in the Word of God, and how to trust the Lord who goes before us, walks beside us, and keeps His promises to the very end. Did you enjoy this podcast? Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can listen to us on all major podcasting platforms like Apple Podcasts,  Spotify,  Google Podcasts,  YouTube, and Podbean. Check out Kim's latest Bible Bit book on Amazon! Do you want to bring Kim Miller to your church, upcoming retreat, or conference? Contact us! This podcast is brought to you by Woman at the Well Ministries and is supported by our faithful listeners. To support this podcast, please visit our support page. 

As Moses repents on behalf of the people we get a glimpse at what it means to be friends with God.

Adam Hoeft was preacher for this service. John 3:14-18: (Jesus said) “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Order of Service: - Prelude - Hymn 544 - Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying: vv. 1 - The Versicles (pp. 120-121) - The Gloria Patri (p. 121) - John 3:14-18: (Jesus said) “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” - Homily - Hymn 544 - Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying: vv. 2 (choir) - The Kyrie (p. 124) - The Lord's Prayer (p. 125) - Hymn 584 - Grant Peace, We Pray, in Mercy, Lord - The Collect (pp. 125-127) - The Benedicamus (p. 127) - The Benediction (p. 127) - Hymn 544 - Wake, Awake, For Night is Flying: vv. 3 - Postlude Service Participants: Adam Hoeft (Preacher), Rev. Prof. Mark DeGarmeaux (Organist), BLC Concert Choir (Choral Group)

Growing In God Podcast Program Number: GIG #274 Title: The Bronze Serpent   Web Description: Do you feel like you are being bitten to death by your circumstances and problems? Get your focus back on Christ. Renew and deepen your relationship with Him because He Himself is the answer. He Himself is the victory and the overcoming of any situation that we are in. And by believing in Him, we will not perish in our circumstances but instead have eternal life.   Show Notes: When the children of Israel complained against the Lord and Moses in the wilderness, the Lord sent them poisonous serpents. So the people repented and asked the Lord to remove the serpents. That however is not what God did. Instead, He told Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a standard. And if anyone looked at the serpent, that person would live. That story has great meaning for us today.   The children of Israel had become entirely focused on the material world rather than on the presence of God who was with them day and night. They were entirely focused on what they were unhappy about and what they did not have, ignoring all that God was providing them. As Christians we too tend to lose our focus on the Lord. We start to focus on what we are lacking and what we wish we had in the material world. We sometimes forget that we have the Holy Spirit to lead us and guiAde us, that Christ is in us, and that we can be filled with all the fullness of God.   Just like in the wilderness, we may be asking God to remove our problems that are like poisonous snakes biting us. But we should not be surprised if those problems do not go away. We should expect that God will give us something else to focus on. He may even be using our problems to get our focus back on Him. He is looking to bring us to Himself, to a life in Him, to a life in His Word, to a faith and a walking in Him that we may not be doing at the moment. Christ was lifted up just like that bronze serpent in the wilderness so that in Him we can have eternal life. He is our answer. And we need to live in Him more than we need to try to solve our problems.   Key Verses:   •       Numbers 21:4–11. "If a serpent bit any man, when he looked to the bronze serpent, he lived." •       2 Peter 1:3. "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." •       Psalm 103:2. "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits." •       Luke 21:28. "When these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads." •       John 3:12–21. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up."   Quotes:   •       "It seems almost impossible to think that we would get tired of having the Lord's presence with us day and night. But I think in all honesty, we do lose our focus on the Lord, and we tend to bring our focus back into the lower level or lower realm of the natural world." •       "Instead of taking away our problems, many times what He does is He gives us an answer that brings our focus and our relationship back to Him. Because ultimately, He's the answer." •       "You're going to get tired of this journey that we're on in these end times if you are focused only on what's going on around you. But if we can keep our focus looking up, looking upon the Lord and what He's provided, then these other things are not going to destroy us."   Takeaways:   1.    The children of Israel magnified their unhappiness about the wilderness to the point that they despised God's provision. And we need to realize how we can get so focused on what we dislike about our circumstances that we forget the Lord's benefits. 2.    God's answer to the serpents in the wilderness was not to remove the serpents but to get the people's focus back on Him. And God may not be answering your prayer by removing your circumstances but by getting your focus back on Him. 3.    When you see all the things beginning to happen in the end-time, raise your eyes above the material world and focus on Him and His Kingdom. Make Him your focus and make Him what you are journeying to.

Welcome to Wellspring Church!This week, Pastor David Norris continued our Love and Listen series in Deuteronomy 16:18–20, exploring God's call for His people to be marked by justice rooted in love. As Moses prepared Israel to enter the Promised Land, he reminded them that prosperity without righteousness quickly decays—“milk and honey plus bribery and theft and murder and injustice is gonna wear out real soon.”Pastor David helped us see that justice in Scripture isn't simply a legal system—it's a way of life that reflects the very heart of God. While modern culture tends to define justice through our own experiences or ideologies, biblical justice begins with God's character—His steadfast love for the vulnerable and His willingness to step into human suffering.

As Moses reflects on the Lord, he identifies the Lord as the transcendent Creator.  He then "reminds" the Creator that Man is just dust, and cannot bear up under the Lord's scrutiny.

A Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity Ephesians 4:1-6 by William Klock The world is not as it should be.  We know it in our bones.  Broken relationships, frail health, wars abroad, pandemics, and the simply daily struggle to get by—we all know the pain and the sorrow and the tears.  The Israelites knew this as well as anyone ever has.  They were slaves in Egypt.  They suffered under the bondage and tyranny of Pharaoh.  They knew pain and suffering and tears the likes of which you I can only imagine.  And, the biblical story tells us, they cried out to the living God and he heard their cries.  And because he is also the loving God, he delivered them from Egypt.  He dramatically defeated the God's of Pharaoh and then he defeated Pharoah himself and drowned the world's greatest army in the Red Sea.  And the Lord promised to set things to rights for his people.  He promised to lead them to a land of milk and honey and he promised to live in their midst.  It was—in a limited and imperfect way—a restoration of humanity's original state: of Adam and Eve in the garden, living in the presence of God.  It gave the people hope that, despite the pains and troubles of life, God has a plan to set right what our sin and rebellion has broken. But what was there to keep Israel from becoming just like the Egyptians?  If we're honest, we all know that problem too.  The world is in the mess it's in not only because others sin against us, but because we sin against them.  That's where Israel's sojourn in wilderness enters the great story.  In today's reading from his letter to the Christians at Ephesus, St. Paul quotes a bit of Psalm 68.  “When he went up on high, he led bondage itself into bondage, and he gave gifts to the people.”  It's a reference to the Lord meeting his people at Mt. Sinai in the wilderness.  He called Moses up the mountain, and then sent him back down to the people with the torah, with his law.  On that day the Lord made a covenant with his people: I will be your God and you will be my people and his law set them apart from the peoples and nations of the earth.  The Lord gave them the law to ensure that they wouldn't end up another Egypt—a land of oppression and idolatry—and in doing that he made Israel a community, a family, a covenant people so that, in them, the world would have a foretaste of the day when God restores sinful humanity to himself, sets his broken creation to rights, and wipes away our tears. This is the background, this is the story that gives shape to what St. Paul writes in today's Epistle.  What the Lord had once done for Israel when he rescued the people from slavery and made them his own, he has done again—but on even grander scale, through the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus the Messiah.  This time he didn't just rescue a people from Pharoah's bondage.  In Jesus, he's rescued us all from our greatest enemies, from sin and death themselves.  In the church he's made a new people, a new humanity, a new temple in which he dwells—a people meant to lift the veil on God's new creation, a people who live God's future here in the present—to show the nations his glory and his grace. Brothers and Sisters, the church is the continuation of Jesus' healing and reconciling ministry.  We're a people filled with God's Spirit and entrusted with his gospel, with his good news.  We don't just pray those words of Jesus, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  We're called by God and enabled by Jesus and the Spirit to live that prayer out—to bring God's reconciling message (the gospel) and his presence (the Holy Spirit) to a broken world in desperate need of forgiveness and grace and healing. But what happens when the church stumbles, when the church falters in this calling and mission?  Most of Paul's letters to those first churches were written because they were doing just that.  They were a people rescued from sin and death to be heaven-on-earth people, but they were failing.  Paul wrote to the Ephesians because their unity was in danger.  Earlier in the letter he addressed the division that was happening between Jewish and Gentile Christians.  Jesus had given his people a new law—the law of the Spirit, but the old law of Moses, the law given at Sinai had so defined what it meant to be God's people for so long, that it threatened to create this chasm between the Jewish and Gentile believers.  And so Paul stresses, as he does so often, that it is faith in Jesus, faith in his forgiving and reconciling death and faith in his life-giving resurrection, faith in the gospel, that unites them. But that wasn't all.  Because even when the gospel bridges the divide between Jew and Gentile, even when it makes us one, there's still an endless list of things that threaten to drive wedges between us.  The same things that have made such a mess of the world, the same things that destroy our relationships—they're still with us.  Any time you bring a group of people together, there's going to be friction.  We don't all see things the same way.  Toes get stepped on—sometimes inadvertently, but sometimes on purpose.  We're prone to jealousy and selfishness and competition.  We're often set in our ways and don't like change.  We often hold too tightly to things and don't want to give them up.  We too often think of our wants and needs without thinking of the wants and needs of others.  It's the way of the world and it shouldn't be the way of the church, but the fact is that sanctification, the process of God making us holy, it's just that: a process.  The work of God's word and God's Spirit takes time—sometimes it seems, a dreadfully long time—and so none of us is perfect.  Jesus has made us new, he's given us the life of heaven, but if Israel could end up just like Egypt, so we can end up just like the broken world from which we've been delivered. The blinding light of the gospel, of Jesus crucified and risen for us, of God's great loving and gracious generosity outshines everything else, but we let our guard down and pride creeps in and, Brothers and Sisters, pride is the great cloud that blots out the sun of God's generosity.  And this is what was happening in Ephesus.  So Paul writes to them, if you're following along, in Chapter 4 of Ephesians: “So then, this is my appeal to you…”  And then Paul pauses to say, “I, a prisoner of the Lord.”  He reminds them that he's writing to them from prison.  He's been imprisoned for the sake of the good news about Jesus.  And he reminds them at this point to stress just how important all this is.  They've been called to be a gospel people, not just for their own sake, but for the sake of the world, but they're not taking it seriously.  So Paul's saying, “This is serious business—so serious that I'm in prison because of it—because Caesar and the powers of the present evil age can't stand to be challenged by the good news that it's Jesus who is the world's true Lord and because they can't stand to be challenged by the good news that a new order, that his kingdom is breaking in.”  Brothers and Sisters, think on that, because we often don't take this seriously enough either.  Our Saturday breakfast group has been reading through Rod Dreher's Live Not By Lies this year.  It tells the stories of Christians who knew what serious business the gospel is and who faced the wrath of the Soviet authorities for standing firm for the gospel—men and women who were imprisoned and many who were martyred for their faith.  Because they knew what serious business the gospel is—that the world depends on it if it's ever to be set to rights.  You and I live in a place of such ease that we too easily take the gospel for granted.  We need to be reminded what serious business it is—that Jesus gave his life for this. So Paul goes on and writes, “You've got to live up to the calling you received.”  It's imperative.  If they fail to live up to their calling, they fail to be the church.  He says, “Bear with one another in love; be humble, meek, and patient in every way with one another.  Make every effort to guard the unity the Spirit gives, with your lives bound together in peace.” Bear with one another.  Again, there are going to be points of friction.  We're human and we're not perfect…not yet, anyway.  That's especially true with a community like the church.  Most communities draw together people who are similar, but the church is for everyone.  Jesus is our centre and he calls and draws in people from every tribe and tongue, rich and poor, slave and free, Liberal and Conservative, Ford and Chevy, Canucks and…well, I don't know because I don't follow hockey…but Jesus unites us all together into one people, because we've all known the redeeming love of God in Jesus.  Because the sun of God's gospel grace outshines all the differences that would otherwise make us rivals and drive us apart. We've rebelled against our Creator.  We've sinned.  We've broken his good creation.  We've worshiped other gods and we've worshiped ourselves.  And yet God has never ceased to be patient with us.  And he still loves us so much, he still so desires to reconcile us to himself, that he—the Creator of the cosmos—humbled himself to take on our flesh in Jesus, to be born one of us, and then to die an excruciating and humiliating death he didn't deserve, in order to set us and his creation to rights.  And if we have grasped even a bit of the patient and humble and gracious lovingkindness of God made manifest in Jesus and the cross, Brothers and Sisters, we ought to be overcome by that same love, humility, and patience.  We ought to see each other—not to mention everyone still lost in the world's darkness—we ought to see them through that same loving, humble, and patient lens and desire for them to know the reconciling love of God as we have.  If God can love us, who have made such a mess of his creation and who worship idols, if he can love us so much that he will die to heal the breach between us, how can we ever let the frictions between us destroy the unity he's given?  In light of the sun of his love, every one of our differences—Jew or Gentile, man or woman, slave or free, Ford or Chevy—ought to pale in comparison.  His love doesn't just save us from our bondage to sin and death, it makes—or it ought to make—us his new creation: a people who are light in the darkness, life in the midst of death, a people of love and grace, of mercy and peace, of humility and patience in the midst of hate and strife and selfishness and division.  A people who—even if imperfectly—lifts the veil and gives the world a glimpse of God's future for the world. In verse 7 Paul goes on.  He writes, “There is one body and one Spirit.  You were, after all, called to one hope which goes with your call.  There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.” Let's walk through that.  There is one body.  Jesus didn't create a bunch of different churches.  He didn't create an Anglican church and a Baptist church and a Roman church and a Pentecostal church.  He created the church.  We've fractured and divide because of our failings and these fractures have become so common and so entrenched that we take them for granted, we think they're the norm—we even sometimes think they're good and right.  In some cases, we've grown so far apart and developed our own ecclesiastical cultures and languages that it can be hard to even recognise the gospel when others preach it.  I was listening to a sermon by an Orthodox priest in Croatia this week.  And on the one hand the gospel was so obvious and clear, but at on the other hand, I had to stop several times and re-listen to what he's said, because his way of talking about it is so dramatically different than ours.  And, at this point, there isn't really anything the average Christian can do to restore the unity.  But we can as individuals and we can as the local church do everything in our power to maintain fellowship with those who proclaim the same gospel that we do: Jesus the Messiah, crucified, risen, ascended, and Lord.  That's what Paul's getting at here.  There's one body.  There's one Holy Spirit whom God has poured out on all of us.  There is one Lord Jesus.  There is one faith.  There is one baptism.  There is ultimately one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.  And that is our one, unifying hope.  The hope of every believer is the hope proclaimed by the prophets: that one day the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea; that the reconciling love of Jesus at the cross, that the power of his life-giving resurrection will bring us back to the Father and open the world's eyes to his glory. And note: we don't create this unity.  Jesus and the Spirit have created it already.  Paul's point is that it is our duty—so far as we are able—to maintain it.  And at the most fundamental level, we do that as we bear with each other.  As we forgive the sins of others just as we have been forgiven.  As we love each other, just as we have been loved.  As he live humbly with each other and seek reconciliation with each other, just as God has humbled himself to die in order to reconcile us to himself. Being overwhelmed by the brightness of the sun of God's love—you'd think—would be enough to drive away the pettiness and the selfishness and the pride, but still we need God's help.  And so Paul goes on in verse 7—I want to go a few verses past the end of our Epistle so we can let Paul finish his thought.  He writes: “But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of the Messiah's gift.” God has poured out his grace—his unmerited favour—on us, and not just poured it out, but poured it out in abundance so that it overflows, so that we can't help but give, share, and pour out that grace on everyone around us.  It's that grace that builds us up and that binds us together.  Specifically, in the next paragraph, Paul's going to go on to talk about how, through the Spirit, God has given the people of his church a diversity of gifts, not just to build each other up, but to accomplish the gospel mission we've been given, but I think here we can understand God's grace more generally.  This is where Paul quotes Psalm 68:18: “When he went up on high, he led bondage itself into bondage, and he gave gifts to his people.”  Again, the Psalm is about Moses going up on Mt. Sinai and coming down shining with the glory of God and with the torah—with a new way of life that would set this people apart and make them a witness to his light and life in the midst of a dark and pagan world.  And Paul quotes this to say that Jesus has now done this, but on a larger and grander scale.  Look at verse 9: “When it says here that ‘he went up,' what this means is that he also came down into the lower places—that is, the earth.  The one who came down is the one who also ‘went up' far above the heavens, so that he might fill all things.” As Moses went up Mt. Sinai to meet the Lord, Jesus has ascended to heaven to take his throne, but he hasn't left us to fend for ourselves.  As God sent Moses down the mountain with the law, so Jesus has sent God's Spirit to indwell and to transform and to empower his people—to fill all things.  Brothers and Sisters, that's temple language.  Moses came down the mountain with a plan for the tabernacle—for a temple where God's presence would be enthroned in the midst of his people.  But in the Holy Spirit, God has come down and made his people themselves—he's made us—his temple.  Jesus has washed us clean from sin by his blood shed at the cross, he's made us holy, and God's own Spirit has come to live in us. And that takes us back—or it ought to—to the very beginning of the story: to Adam and Eve, to humanity, placed by God in his garden temple to be its stewards, to live in his presence, to be fruitful and to multiply, and in so doing to spread his temple and his presence to the ends of the earth.  Brothers and Sisters, in Jesus and the Spirit, God has begun the work of restoring us to that original vocation.  He has made us his temple, he has made us stewards of his good news, he has empowered us with his grace—he has not left us alone to be and to do this in our own strength.  He has entrusted us with his good news, he has shown us what his new creation is like, he has empowered us with his Spirit, and he has filled us with his grace.  And now he sends us out not just to proclaim the good news of Jesus and his new creation, but to actually be that new creation for the sake of the world.  To live and especially to live together in such a way that the world around us will see the bright light of Jesus in us; to make them constructively curious, wanting to know that light for themselves; so that one day the whole earth will give glory to our Father in heaven. Let's pray again our Collect: Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Ezra 7-8; Luke 20 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today's episode, host Hunter guides us through a meaningful journey in Scripture, as we open the pages of Ezra chapters 7 and 8, and finish with Luke 20. As Hunter reads and reflects, we follow Ezra leading the Israelites out of Babylon—a profound echo of the Exodus led by Moses—as God's gracious hand brings his people home after years of exile. We'll also hear Jesus challenging religious leaders in Jerusalem, teaching about divine authority, true obedience, and the promise of resurrection. Throughout the episode, Hunter explores the powerful theme of exodus—moving from captivity to freedom, from the kingdoms of this world into God's kingdom through Christ. We're invited to see how God's mercy and deliverance reach across generations, guiding us homeward today just as surely as they did for Ezra and the Israelites. Settle in as we listen, pray, and are reminded that God's gracious hand is still upon his people, leading us toward his love, mercy, and true life. Let's set our hearts homeward together on this October 7th edition of the Daily Radio Bible. TODAY'S DEVOTION: Ezra is leading an Exodus. As Moses led the people of Israel into the Promised Land, Ezra is leading an exodus out of Babylon. He's going home. For 70 long years, the Israelites were held captive in Babylon. Now the tide's turned. God has once again shown himself strong, and the kings of the day are now bowing in deference to the God of Israel. They're actually paying for their subjects to leave. The theme of Exodus is perhaps the most profound and significant theme that we read throughout all of Scripture. God is performing a grand exodus – He's taking people from the kingdoms of this world into the kingdom of our God in Christ. When God's gracious hand of deliverance is on his people, nothing can stop him. It may take some time—maybe 70 long years—but when the tide of God's mercy has shifted, when the flood comes in, there's nothing that will stop it. The gracious hand of our God was always upon Ezra, but now it is evident for all to see. Ezra was trusting. He was faithful. He was obedient, long before King Artaxerxes had his change of mind and heart. Jesus, too, is leading an Exodus. But he is far greater than Moses. He's far greater than Ezra. And God's gracious hand is certainly on his Son, Jesus—the Father exclaimed on multiple occasions: “This is my Son, whom I love.” People of every tribe and nation and language from every place on planet Earth are being led out and onto an exodus into life. In him, the destination is ultimately the same for all of us. We're all headed back to that new Jerusalem in God's new kingdom with our new King, our Liberator, our Jesus. Greater than Moses, greater than Ezra—He's leading us back home. There may be days of great confusion and heartache, and lots of questions along the way, but rest assured: we are headed home. God is leading this exodus. And as we read in this story, they volunteered to go—it was open and available for everyone to return. So sign yourself up today, to walk with him as we walk with him. God's gracious hand is upon the Son, and we are in him. So that gracious hand is upon you too. And this becomes more and more evident in our lives the more we set our hearts toward home. So let's set our hearts homeward. Be swept up in the tide of mercy and love that is yours today. And know his gracious hand is upon you. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul today. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

This Sunday we'll continue our study of Deuteronomy. As Moses brings his first great sermon to a close, he sums up all he has been saying to the people of Israel, a passage which scholar Chris Wright calls “one of the richest texts in the Hebrew Bible.”

Pastor Rob Hall continues our God Who Hears series by preaches through Moses' prayer found in Exodus 32-34. As Moses meets with God on the mountain top, he intercedes for the Israelites and boldly reminds God of his promises and asks for his presence. A beautiful reminder that prayer is how we cling to God's promises and presence, because without Him we are nothing.Rob HallOctober 5, 2025Series: Year of Prayer - The God Who Hearswww.newnorth.church

As Moses leads the Israelites through the Exodus and into salvation, the people need to decide how they are going to respond to the Lord. Will the salvation of the Lord serve as a point of liberation and yet leave the people with hard hearts? Or is there greater freedom the Lord desires in us and through us?

Mark Booker | Exodus 4:1-18 | This sermon continues to explore Moses' encounter with God at the burning bush. As Moses interacts and wrestles further, God reveals more about his provision for Moses and calls him to trust him and to go on the mission. We, too, are invited to trust the God who has revealed his provision to us in Jesus.

As Moses approached the end of his life, his focus wasn’t on regret, bitterness, or personal loss—it was on God’s people. In Numbers 27:15-17, Moses prayed that the Lord would appoint a leader to guide Israel so they wouldn’t be “like sheep without a shepherd.” Despite his mistakes and missed opportunities, Moses left a legacy of faith, humility, and care for God’s people. This devotional reminds us that true spiritual leadership looks beyond ourselves and points others toward the ultimate Good Shepherd—Jesus—who leads us into rest, protection, and eternal promise. ✨ Highlights Moses’ selfless prayer — Even at the end of his life, Moses was focused on God’s people, not his own loss A legacy of faith — Despite failure, Moses’ life still pointed others toward God’s promises Jesus, our ultimate Shepherd — The fulfillment of Moses’ prayer is found in Jesus, who leads us to spiritual safety and rest (John 10:11) Kingdom perspective — God calls us to live with an eternal mindset, thinking beyond our present circumstances and investing in future generations Carrying God’s light — As Christ-followers, we are called to shine His light wherever we go and leave the world “better than we found it”

Joshua: Slave, Understudy, Warrior, Spy, Successor, Conqueror, and Ruler by Louis McCall Louismccallinternational.com https://www.amazon.com/Joshua-Understudy-Warrior-Successor-Conqueror/dp/B0DGDDY2ZV Joshua is the story of an underdog. His amazing arc of development saw his remarkable rise from the slave pits of Egypt to the pinnacle of triumphantly leading three million former slaves and their descendants into the promised land of Canaan. He had an intimate relationship with God. It showed what God could do. During a 40-year apprenticeship under Moses, Joshua rose from being a slave under the whip of his Egyptian masters to being a prince of his tribe in Israel. He became Israel's first military Field Marshal. Joshua ascended Mount Sinai with Moses, saw God, and heard the voice of God with his natural ears. As Moses neared the end of his natural life, God directed Moses to choose and publicly ordain Joshua as his successor, rather than one of his own two sons or anyone else. Then Joshua went on to see God perform physical miracles for him on a par with what God did for Moses, defying the laws of nature and physics. Miracles of this magnitude did not occur again until 1,400 years later when Jesus Christ walked the earth in the flesh as God and man. Joshua ruled, not as a king, but as the intermediary for God's theocratic governance of the descendants of Israel. Joshua's final work was driving the pagan nations God abhorred out of the promised land of Canaan, including subduing the progeny of a race of giants, and then distributing the land among the tribes of Israel. Being advised by God of his approaching transition from life to death, Joshua assembled the nation, recounted all that God had brought them through and then charged them to serve God or come under a curse that he himself pronounced, before they could eventually be restored.

This week, we wrap up our exploration of Exodus as we delve into the heart of God's character. As Moses ascends Mount Sinai to rewrite the covenant, God reveals Himself in five profound attributes: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and faithful. These qualities paint a picture of a God who is deeply compassionate, yet just; patient, yet righteous. The story reminds us of the tension between God's mercy and justice, a theme that echoes throughout Scripture. As we reflect on these attributes, we're challenged to consider how they manifest in our own lives. Are we showing the same compassion, grace, and patience to others that God shows us? This passage invites us to trust in God's unwavering love and faithfulness, even when we falter. It's a call to embrace our role in God's grand narrative of redemption, knowing that His character remains constant through all of life's ups and downs.

We explore Moses' final messages to Israel. As Moses prepares to pass leadership to Joshua, he urges the Israelites to choose life, blessing, and obedience to God. Despite foreseeing their future rebellion, Moses emphasizes that daily choices of obedience can delay God's judgment. We witness God's commissioning of Joshua, affirming His presence and promising victory in the Promised Land. The episode also covers Moses' prophetic song and blessings for the tribes of Israel, highlighting God's compassion despite future disobedience. Finally, we reflect on Moses' unique relationship with God and his honorable death. Support the showRead along with us in the Bible Brief App! Try the Bible Brief book for an offline experience!Get your free Bible Timeline with the 10 Steps: Timeline LinkSupport the show: Tap here to become a monthly supporter!Review the show: Tap here!Want to go deeper?...Download the Bible Brief App!iPhone: App Store LinkAndroid: Play Store LinkWant a physical book? Check out "Bible Brief" by our founder!Amazon: Amazon LinkWebsite: biblebrief.orgInstagram: @biblelitTwitter: @bible_litFacebook: @biblelitEmail the Show: biblebrief@biblelit.org Want to learn the Bible languages (Greek & Hebrew)? Check out ou...

John 5:12-13 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk'?” But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. I ask myself how on earth did that man not know who healed him? If I apply the information I have in these verses, I can imagine a scenario where the man never got Jesus' name. There were no words of introduction. The portico around the pool was packed with people because of the feast (5:1). Jesus saw the man and asked if he wanted to be healed. The man gave his excuse for not being able to get to the pool, and then Jesus said, “Get up. Pick up your pallet and walk.” The man got up and started walking, and as soon as the man walked away from Jesus, He slipped away through the crowd. I see the man turn back in amazement to thank Jesus, but He's already gone. Why did Jesus slip away so quickly that the man couldn't even thank Him or get His name? Was that loving? I think the explanation lies in why John told this story. In John 20:31, we learn that these things were written so that those who read it might believe in Jesus and be saved. If we go back to John 3:14-21, we get the introduction to the encounters of the Samaritan woman, the men of Sychar, the royal official and the healing of his son, and now the lame man's healing. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God. These are examples of God's love for the Gentile world as well as Israel. Each encounter revealed God's judgment, which is shown by their responses. Jesus is the Light. His deeds and words revealed where God was at work to save and to judge. The unbelieving Jews played an important part in Jesus being lifted up, so we would have a savior. The healing on the Sabbath, the willful blindness of the Jews, and the hardness of the healed lame man are necessary to the gospel story and exemplify what John said about Jesus. They show us that God had given all things into Jesus' hand so we might believe in Him. One thing for sure was that Jesus didn't need or want notoriety or glory from man. He wasn't doing these things for a show. So let's be encouraged today as we love with Jesus to make as little of ourselves as possible, and as much as we can of Jesus. That's what Jesus did. He made much of His Father by entrusting what He did to His Father, and made little of Himself. He humbled Himself as a servant of His Father. May we be filled with the humility of Jesus and make much of Him and little of ourselves. I invite you to become a partner in our ministry. Would you pray about becoming a regular supporter of Elijah Ministries and the Live to Love with Jesus ministry? I hope you will receive the joy and benefit of "giving it forward," so others may receive encouragement to turn their hearts to God and to live to love with Jesus. You may give online or send a check to the address listed at www.spiritofelijah.com/donate.

As Moses nears death, he speaks to the generation born in then wilderness—calling them to remember what God has done, and to walk in obedience as they prepare to enter the land. Joshua is appointed to lead, and God commands him to be strong and courageous. The people finally cross the Jordan, a miraculous moment echoing the Red Sea, and begin their conquest with an unlikely victory: Jericho falls without a sword raised, proving that it is God who gives the land—not human might. (Deuteronomy 4–11; Joshua 1–6)

Bible Study WITH ME through Exodus chapter 35 and ask all the questions!

“Type” has to do with forms, shapes, patterns, images. People demonstrate “typical” behavior when they act in a similar pattern time and again. In typesetting, a block with a typographic character on it makes an image of that character on the page. Our first four Bible studies in this year's series have focused on straightforward messianic prophecies, which abound in the Old Testament. However, Jesus and His church are prefigured in other ways in the Old Testament. This is known as typology — seeing an Old Testament person or event (a “type”) as a pattern for a New Testament one (the “antitype”). This sort of interpretation is employed by the New Testament, which shows us how it can be done responsibly (and not fancifully!). For example, Jesus says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). Here Jesus teaches about Himself and His work by pointing back to Numbers 21:4–9, with the bronze serpent that saved snakebitten Israelites (the type) corresponding to Jesus as One who was lifted up on the cross that we might look to Him in faith and be saved (the antitype). In this study, we will look at more typological connections between the Old Testament and New Testament. Rev. Carl Roth, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin, TX, joins Sarah to talk about the “Searching Scripture” feature in the May 2025 issue of the Lutheran Witness titled “Isn't That Typical?” on Typological Connections throughout Scripture. This year, “Searching Scripture” is themed “Opening the Old Testament” and will walk through ways that the Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy and peace, delivered through the holy Christian church. Follow along every month and search Scripture with us! Find online exclusives of the Lutheran Witness at witness.lcms.org and subscribe to the Lutheran Witness at cph.org/witness.

“Type” has to do with forms, shapes, patterns, images. People demonstrate “typical” behavior when they act in a similar pattern time and again. In typesetting, a block with a typographic character on it makes an image of that character on the page. Our first four Bible studies in this year's series have focused on straightforward messianic prophecies, which abound in the Old Testament. However, Jesus and His church are prefigured in other ways in the Old Testament. This is known as typology — seeing an Old Testament person or event (a “type”) as a pattern for a New Testament one (the “antitype”). This sort of interpretation is employed by the New Testament, which shows us how it can be done responsibly (and not fancifully!). For example, Jesus says, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life” (John 3:14–15). Here Jesus teaches about Himself and His work by pointing back to Numbers 21:4–9, with the bronze serpent that saved snakebitten Israelites (the type) corresponding to Jesus as One who was lifted up on the cross that we might look to Him in faith and be saved (the antitype). In this study, we will look at more typological connections between the Old Testament and New Testament. Rev. Carl Roth, pastor of Grace Lutheran Church in Elgin, TX, joins Sarah to talk about the “Searching Scripture” feature in the May 2025 issue of the Lutheran Witness titled “Isn't That Typical?” on Typological Connections throughout Scripture. This year, “Searching Scripture” is themed “Opening the Old Testament” and will walk through ways that the Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and His grace, mercy and peace, delivered through the holy Christian church. Follow along every month and search Scripture with us! Find online exclusives of the Lutheran Witness at witness.lcms.org and subscribe to the Lutheran Witness at cph.org/witness. Have a topic you'd like to hear about on The Coffee Hour? Contact us at: listener@kfuo.org.

Exodus 33:18-23 — In this sermon on Exodus 33:18–23 titled “Revival Sermon: Glory Concealed,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds the listener of what the ultimate motivation should be for revival as Christians. It should never be for the sake of a large number of converts, or fame and glory, but for the glory of God. Moses asked the Lord to reveal His glory to him and in response, God revealed Himself in His own way. As Moses is hid within the cleft of the rock, God both reveals and conceals, blesses and protects. He is always doing these four things when He reveals Himself to His people. In Christianity, God reveals His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, a Christian is someone who grasps the fact that God has revealed His glory in the face of Jesus Christ and all those who are called by God have beheld His glory. When Christ came to earth, He was concealed in the flesh, and yet He did not leave any of His glory behind. He was not any less God. Believers can be encouraged and filled with great hope in remembering that like Moses, they are in the cleft of the rock, which is in Christ Jesus.

Exodus 33:18-23 — In this sermon on Exodus 33:18–23 titled “Revival Sermon: Glory Concealed,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds the listener of what the ultimate motivation should be for revival as Christians. It should never be for the sake of a large number of converts, or fame and glory, but for the glory of God. Moses asked the Lord to reveal His glory to him and in response, God revealed Himself in His own way. As Moses is hid within the cleft of the rock, God both reveals and conceals, blesses and protects. He is always doing these four things when He reveals Himself to His people. In Christianity, God reveals His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, a Christian is someone who grasps the fact that God has revealed His glory in the face of Jesus Christ and all those who are called by God have beheld His glory. When Christ came to earth, He was concealed in the flesh, and yet He did not leave any of His glory behind. He was not any less God. Believers can be encouraged and filled with great hope in remembering that like Moses, they are in the cleft of the rock, which is in Christ Jesus.

Exodus 33:18-23 — In this sermon on Exodus 33:18–23 titled “Revival Sermon: Glory Concealed,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds the listener of what the ultimate motivation should be for revival as Christians. It should never be for the sake of a large number of converts, or fame and glory, but for the glory of God. Moses asked the Lord to reveal His glory to him and in response, God revealed Himself in His own way. As Moses is hid within the cleft of the rock, God both reveals and conceals, blesses and protects. He is always doing these four things when He reveals Himself to His people. In Christianity, God reveals His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, a Christian is someone who grasps the fact that God has revealed His glory in the face of Jesus Christ and all those who are called by God have beheld His glory. When Christ came to earth, He was concealed in the flesh, and yet He did not leave any of His glory behind. He was not any less God. Believers can be encouraged and filled with great hope in remembering that like Moses, they are in the cleft of the rock, which is in Christ Jesus.

Exodus 33:18-23 — In this sermon on Exodus 33:18–23 titled “Revival Sermon: Glory Concealed,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones reminds the listener of what the ultimate motivation should be for revival as Christians. It should never be for the sake of a large number of converts, or fame and glory, but for the glory of God. Moses asked the Lord to reveal His glory to him and in response, God revealed Himself in His own way. As Moses is hid within the cleft of the rock, God both reveals and conceals, blesses and protects. He is always doing these four things when He reveals Himself to His people. In Christianity, God reveals His glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Therefore, a Christian is someone who grasps the fact that God has revealed His glory in the face of Jesus Christ and all those who are called by God have beheld His glory. When Christ came to earth, He was concealed in the flesh, and yet He did not leave any of His glory behind. He was not any less God. Believers can be encouraged and filled with great hope in remembering that like Moses, they are in the cleft of the rock, which is in Christ Jesus. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/603/29

In this message from Pastor Michael, we explore what happens when leadership meets its limits. As Moses carries the burden of an entire people, God sends wisdom through an unlikely source: his father-in-law, Jethro. This story reminds us that we were never meant to do life alone. The strength of the body of Christ lies not in a few visible roles but in the quiet, faithful work of many. From shared burdens to spiritual mentorship, Exodus 18 reveals a deeper picture of community, humility, and the kind of support that sustains long-term faithfulness. What if growth comes not by doing more but by letting others in? Sermon: You Weren't Meant to Do This Alone Series: The Exodus Speaker: Michael Chinchilla Full Service: https://youtu.be/gFY3I4v3_S8 Apple Podcast: http://thisisvillage.church/podcast/apple Spotify Podcast: http://thisisvillage.church/podcast/spotify Your Next Steps: http://thisisvillagechurch.com/nextsteps Village Kids Online: http://villagekids.online Give: https://thisisvillagechurch.com/give Website: https://thisisvillagechurch.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VillageChurch/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisisvillagechurch/ X (Formerly Twitter): https://twitter.com/thisisvillage TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisisvillagechurch

Bible Study WITH ME through Exodus chapter 19 and ask all the questions!

"As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life."John 3:14-15

Today, Moses preaches against the very sins that end up bringing a curse upon Israel. As Moses continues his prelude to a recounting of the Law to Israel's next generation, he warns them against both idolatry and self-righteousness, which in both cases is a means of robbing God of the glory that is due Him and Him alone. He urges them to remember that the land they are entering has been given to them, not because of their righteousness, but because of the wickedness of the nations they are entering. When they become satisfied with the good of the land, they are not forget to worship God, love Him, and keep his commands. Deuteronomy 8 - 1:01 . Deuteronomy 9 - 4:42 . Deuteronomy 10 - 12:34 . Psalm 62 - 17:01 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible.facebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

As Moses continues his prelude to a recounting of the Law to Israel's next generation, he warns them against both idolatry and self-righteousness, which in both cases is a means of robbing God of the glory that is due Him and Him alone. He urges them to remember that the land they are entering has been given to them, not because of their righteousness, but because of the wickedness of the nations they are entering. When they become satisfied with the good of the land, they are not forget to worship God, love Him, and keep his commands. If they turn from the Lord, they will receive a curse from the Lord, rather than a blessing.Deuteronomy 8 - 1:09 . Deuteronomy 9 - 4:40 . Deuteronomy 10 - 12:11 . Deuteronomy 11 - 17:22 . Psalm 42 - 22:56 . Psalm 43 - 25:04 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

God Desires to Save You! - John 3:16-18... Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. - 1 Timothy 2:4For God – the greatest loverSo loved – the greatest degreeThe world – the greatest companyThat He gave – the greatest actHis only begotten Son – the greatest giftThat whoever – the greatest opportunityBelieves – the greatest simplicityIn Him – the greatest attractionShall not perish – the greatest promiseBut – the greatest differenceHave – the greatest certaintyEverlasting life – the greatest possessionJesus loves me this I knowFor the Bible tells me soLittle ones to Him belongThey are weak but He is strongYes, Jesus loves meYes, Jesus loves meYes, Jesus loves meThe Bible tells me so!Now to best understand John 3:16, we need to see how it ***fits*** in the great chapter that is John 3. John 3 shows not only that God is love (1 Jn. 4:16), but also that God is holy (Psa. 99:9) and that God is good (1 Pet. 2:3).“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” - Jesus in John 3:3For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. - Romans 3:23-24Because God is holy, He must ***judge*** our sin. Had Jesus never come to deal with our sin, 100% of us would be going to Hell because of our sin.As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.Because God is holy, God must judge sin. Because God is good, Jesus was ***able*** to take our sin upon Himself.Because God is love, He offers salvation to all who ***turn*** to Him and believe.Now when someone gives you an awesome gift, what do you want to do for them in return?“He must increase, but I must decrease.” - JTB in John 3:30Dakota's mom said, “I have always been prepared to answer your questions – I was simply waiting for you to ask!”“Son, I am proud of what you have become. I am going to love you well.”To all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God. - John 1:12

In this Bible Story, Pharaoh is at war against God and refuses to let Israel go. Pharaoh sees himself as God’s equal, and does not budge despite numerous plagues. This story is inspired by Exodus 7:8-9:35. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Exodus 9:14 from the King James Version.Episode 36: As Moses and Aaron bring God’s request before Pharaoh and Pharaoh refuses, signs are given from God to prove His request. But Pharoah, far from scared, replicates these signs and tells Moses and Aaron no! Thus begins God’s display of power upon Egypt, sending plague after plague.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world’s greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Moses stands before Israel, they all look to him to solve their problems. This expectation to place all weight upon a leader is what Jethro calls "not good", beckoning back to the Garden of Eden. Today, we are still making the same mistake, weighing down certain members of the Body of Christ with enormous responsibility without realizing it. But it robs us, because it is also our blessing to give and serve, and God wants to use us in ministry like never before - to lift the burdens. In this teaching, PD discusses the Biblical idea of ministry, and how exercising it brings freedom to ourselves and others. Support Rise on Fire Ministries by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/rise-on-fireRead transcript